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Explore our coverage of government and politics.

Scott Milne Up With First TV Ad Of 2014 Elections

With seven days until the primary election, the first television ad of the 2014 election cycle hit the airwaves Tuesday.

Republican gubernatorial candidate Scott Milne is spending more than half of the approximately $40,000 he’s raised thus far to broadcast a 30-second spot on network stations across Vermont. The ad buy comes as Milne, owner of a travel company that bears his name, looks to build some name recognition in advance of next week’s primary election.

Milne faces two GOP challengers in the primary contest – Emily Peyton and Steve Berry. And Libertarian candidate Dan Feliciano, who has spent about $8,000 on radio ads over the past week, has launched a late-race write-in campaign to win the Republican nomination.

The winner of the Aug. 26 primary will attempt to unseat two-term Democratic incumbent Peter Shumlin.

Milne’s 30-second TV spot opens and closes with for Republican Gov. James Douglas, who laments the state’s “stagnant economy” before saying Milne is the candidate who can “put Vermont back on track to create more jobs and provide relief to working families.”

Milne, meanwhile, asks Vermonters to reject the leadership of Shumlin, and “end this era of unbridled experimentation with our government” – presumably a reference to single-payer health care.

Feliciano’s radio spots aim to turn the Republican primary into a referendum on single-payer health care. While Milne has adopted a wait-and-see approach to the concept of publicly financed health care, and says he wants to see Shumlin’s financing proposal before casting judgment one way or another, Feliciano denounces unequivocally the prospect of single-payer. He says anyone who shares his view on the wrongness of the single-payer path ought to write him in next Tuesday.  

More than 10,000 voters cast ballots in the 2012 Republican primary. Milne has dropped out of a primary debate scheduled for this evening in Essex, an event at which Feliciano has been invited to participate.

Feliciano hasn’t won the public backing of many name-brand Republicans. But Mark Snelling, treasurer of the Vermont Republican Party, contributed to Feliciano’s campaign recently. And John McClaughry, the founder of the conservative think-thank, the Ethan Allen Institute, recently featured Feliciano’s candidacy in a 90-second radio commentary.

The Vermont Statehouse is often called the people’s house. I am your eyes and ears there. I keep a close eye on how legislation could affect your life; I also regularly speak to the people who write that legislation.
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