Vermont’s Dirty Secrets Revealed

Vermont’s Dirty Secrets Revealed
A few steps closer to taking back Vermont.
By Stanley Kurtz of the Hudson Institute

"Who do we love?" shouted the leader of the demonstrators winding their way toward Vermont's state capital's dome. "Everybody!" rang the chorus. Professions of universal love abounded at this demonstration on behalf of Vermont's new civil union" law. That will be good news for the state's Republicans, who can pull their personal ads, stop waiting by their phones for a date, and ready themselves for the warm bath of affection Vermont's liberals will soon be sending their way. Up to this point, however, stereotypes to the contrary, it's Vermont's liberals who've been awash in hatred.

As Republicans threaten to "take back Vermont" from a decade of control by the radical left, the state's liberal establishment, with it's hands on every lever of power in Vermont, is straining mightily to thwart the revolt. Despite the furor over a gay "civil unions" law vigorously opposed by a majority of Vermonters, the Democrats may just succeed in checking the rebellion. With the pro-civil-unions legislature now looking vulnerable, Democrats are concentrating on the governor's race in hopes of vetoing any attempt at repeal. Since the Democrats are in trouble on both civil unions and educational issues, they've taken to whipping up personal hatred against Republicans in general, and Republican gubernatorial candidate Ruth Dwyer in particular.

Tooling around downtown Burlington — urban stomping ground of the hippie movement's survivors — larded in amongst the "In Goddess We Trust" bumper stickers, it's common to see a bumper declaring, "The Road To Hell Is Paved With Republicans." Hardly a paean to universal love, but a seemingly trivial insult nonetheless. Trouble is, in the new Vermont, where ex-hippies rule, the major media might as well be the sides of a 68 VW Microbus. Peter Freyne, the most powerful columnist in the state, works for the "alternative" paper. (Actually, the trouble with Vermont is that there is no alternative to the alternative paper.) Freyne has taken to calling Dwyer "Ruthless Ruth" — or just plain "Ruthless" for short. His latest complaint is about an advertisement that features the handicapped girl Dwyer has been giving horse-riding lessons to. The real Ruth Dwyer is tough and angry, claims Freyne. Besides, she's not even a mother. It's positively misleading to portray her as kindly toward children, says Freyne. Rick Lazio may have violated Hillary's "space," but on any chivalry index Lazio leaves the Vermont press corps in the dust. Ludicrous personal caricatures and absurd accusations of bigotry are daily fare in the Vermont press's portrayal of Dwyer.

With no alternative to the left-leaning media, the character assassination has gained a foothold with ordinary Vermonters, many of whom remain undecided. Since his secret signing of the civil-unions bill, Democratic governor Howard Dean's popularity has plummeted. Many are eager to vote against him, but worried that Dwyer might be the "angry woman" she's made out as in the press. This may be changing, though. Tracking polls by both camps show Dwyer's numbers steadily rising. Earlier this week I attended a candidates' forum in Windsor County. When left-leaning state senator Cheryl Rivers called Dwyer "an angry woman with no constructive agenda," an audience that had been politely silent up until then erupted in jeers at the insult to Dwyer. Vermont's dirty little secret had finally been betrayed. It is the left that is angry. It is the left that hates.

Ross Sneyd, the Associated Press reporter assigned to the civil-unions story, carefully reports on any incivilities shown by the opponents of civil unions to the pro-civil union forces. But traveling through some of the back-roads of Vermont, I saw far more evidence of vandalism against "Take Back Vermont" signs than against any pro-civil union forces. Defaced "Take Back Vermont" signs are everywhere. The guerilla war against the take-back-Vermont movement extends even to the web. Supporters of civil unions quickly commandeered the "Take Back Vermont" name for their own web site, which not only rails against the unsuspecting take-back-Vermonters who visit the site, but even includes instructions on how to deface "Take Back Vermont" signs.

Why does the AP's Ross Sneyd report only on attacks against the left? Maybe it has something to do with the fact that Sneyd himself is a past secretary of the board of directors of " Out in the Mountains," the newspaper of Vermont's gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgendered community. Certainly there is no reason why a gay man should not report on the civil-unions controversy for the Associated Press. But "Out in the Mountains" is a major player in the political battle over civil unions. One can only imagine the outcry if a former board member of TIP (Take It to the People), the most important anti-civil unions group, were covering the civil-unions issue for the Associated Press.

Everyone in Vermont knows that Pat Buchanan was there proclaiming his support for the take-back-Vermont movement. Buchanan's visit was widely reported in the press, both nationally and locally. But who knows that William Bennett was also up in Vermont to lend his support to the take-back-Vermonters? The Rutland Herald, one of Vermont's major paper's, knew. In fact they had been told repeatedly. But they were careful not to report on Bennett's visit. Why report an actual news event when you have an opportunity to pin the Pat Buchanan image on the take-back-Vermonters?

Over-reaching by the left on economic and social issues has put the Republicans in a position to reclaim one of the most liberal states in the union. The take-back-Vermont movement has the potential to reverberate across the nation, just as California's Proposition 13 movement to scale back property taxes spread during the Reagan years. But the forces arrayed against the take-back-Vermonters are powerful, wealthy, and desperate. They understand that control of the state, and the future of gay marriage in the country, are both on the line. At this moment the battle could go either way. The National Democratic Party and the national gay-rights movement have given the Democrats and the pro-civil unions PAC's a decided financial advantage, while the uniformly leftist press has put the Dwyer campaign on the defensive. Both the Vermont State Republican party and the anti-civil unions PAC Take It to the People will need help to pull off what just might be the most culturally and politically significant statewide victory of this election.

Editor's Note: This past week the Burlington Free Press did an article about how nice Governor Howard Dean's opponents were being to him, even though they no longer wanted him as governor, in an article titled, Dean finds the trail friendly, even when it disagrees: Dean, a Democrat and nine-year incumbent, is locked in the tightest race of his governorship, against Republican Ruth Dwyer and Progressive Anthony Pollina. Although he continues to lead Dwyer in the polls, Dean's popularity declined dramatically this year after passage of the civil-union law. Brown, who wore a "Take Back Vermont" T-shirt, was upset with civil unions and demanded to know why lawmakers hadn't listened to the people. But Brown was the closest thing to an angry Vermonter that Dean encountered all day. Pro- or anti-civil union, anti-abortion or pro-choice, nearly everyone greeted him with a big smile and a handshake. Even deep in the Dwyer territory of East Barre, voters smiled and joked with the governor." Now, when you get a liberal paper commenting about how nice the convervatives are being to Dean and in previous articles stated how the conservative legislatures in Vermont are treated by the liberals --- I think that says something.