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RNC Chairman Reince Priebus Is Clueless In Vermont

04/14/11-by Bridgette P. LaVictoire
According to the Huffington Post, Republican National Committee Chairman Reince Priebus painted his face in camouflage, donned combat fatigues, and a military pack and crossed over into Vermont through the vast national forest. It certainly sounded like that, at least given that they said “Venturing into enemy territory to rally party faithful ahead of next year’s presidential election, Priebus was the keynote speaker at the Vermont GOP’s $100-per-person spring dinner, where he was warmly received.”

Priebus got a warm reception from the party faithful, but did get some 125 very upset union members protesting outside the dinner party. The anger comes from the fact that the Republican Party is at war with the unions everywhere they can get into power. Vermonters are not going to stand idly by while Priebus tries to turn the Vermont Republican Party into a version of the National Party, though certainly the antics and statements out of House Minority Leader Donald H. Turner lead one to imagine that the Republican Party is going to turn into something of a nasty, mean, and vicious entity in Vermont at the rate that they are going.

Or, as Bob Hooper, the President of the Vermont State Employees Association put it “In Vermont we have a tendency to work things out by talking to each other and reaching compromise, and that does not seem to be something [Priebus’] message contains.”

Hooper also stated about Priebus “Our intention is to tell Mr. Priebus, who we think is the architect to the stuff that happened in Wisconsin, that the message he brings here is not an affective one. . .It has been very pronounced in Wisconsin and Ohio, and has been moving in to Maine and New Hampshire.”

Vermont has three parties of which the Democrats are the largest. Currently, the House, Senate, Governorship, and US Representative and one Senate seat are held by Democrats. The other Senate seat is held by a man who use to be a member of the Socialist Party. Republicans have been in decline since their most recent height back in 2002.

Priebus stated “Where I come from in Wisconsin I know what a real protest looks like, and that was more like a coffee klatch as far as I am concerned.”

As WCAX stated:

Priebus did not want to talk about union concerns instead saying he’s focused on the 2012 presidential election.

He said, “My message is get our country back on track, make Barak Obama a one term president, and unify as a party.”

Vermont was voted the most liberal state in the union by a Gallop poll this winter, but Priebus said turning Vermont red is the next step.

“It starts with winning legislative and senate races,” he said.

Priebus says his party is more concerned with creating jobs, lowering taxes and getting a handle on the country’s debt than controlling state’s collective bargaining laws, but some Vermonters are still concerned

Part of the problem for Priebus is the fact that Vermonters are seeing an increase in jobs, and the state has one of the lowest unemployment rates in the nation. According to WCAX:

Vermont collected nearly $75 million in taxes that support its general fund in March, nearly 9% above the target for the month. As the ninth month of the fiscal year closed, the state had collected more than $813 million in general fund revenue, just two-tenths of a percentage point over its target.

Otherwise, results were mixed. Sales, rooms and meals taxes came in above their March targets, while corporate income taxes and the gasoline tax, which supports the transportation fund, lagged.

By and large, Vermont is rebounding from the recession faster than much of the nation. Vermonters have, however, soured to the Republican Party largely because of their drift to the Far Right, their tendency to demonize their opponents, and their decisions to ignore environmental issues and their tendency to attack minority groups including lesbians and gays.