Category Archives: Progressives

Leftist mag puts Shumlin, Sanders on honor roll

Posted on December 26, 2012 by | 1 Comment

MONTPELIER — Two Vermont elected officials have been named to The Nation magazine’s 2012 progressive honor roll.
Sen. Bernie Sanders was chosen by the left-leaning weekly as its most-valuable progressive. The magazine cites Sanders for his defense of Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid against cut being talked about in Washington.
Gov. Peter Shumlin gets The Nation’s nod as the most valuable governor in the country. It cites Shumlin’s work on budget issues, and his support for a single-payer health care system in Vermont.

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Posted in Politics, Progressives

Smith announces as write-in for governor

Posted on September 27, 2012 by | Leave a comment

MONTPELIER — The loser of Vermont’s Progressive Party primary for governor says she’ll run as an independent write-in candidate in the general election.
Annette Smith of Danby, head of the group Vermonters for a Clean Environment, says she wants to push her message of challenging the power of corporations to determine Vermont’s future.
Smith lost the Progressive primary to party Chairwoman Martha Abbott after a recount.
She’ll be running against Democratic incumbent Gov. Peter Shumlin, Republican Randy Brock, independent Emily Peyton, and two minor-party candidates.

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Posted in Politics, Progressives

Judge expected to finalize primary results

Posted on September 18, 2012 by | Leave a comment

MONTPELIER — A Vermont judge is expected to give the final OK to results confirming Progressive Party Chairwoman Martha Abbott as winner of the party’s gubernatorial primary.
Judge Robert Bent said that as of Monday afternoon, Abbott was leading environmental group leader Annette Smith by a margin of 381 to 340 with six ballots in dispute.
Bent is planning a hearing on Tuesday to review the disputed ballots and declare final results.
An election official says that should clear the way for general election ballots to be printed in time to meet a federal deadline of Sept. 22 for mailing them to military and other overseas voters.

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Posted in Elections, Progressives

Hearing today on Progressive party recount

Posted on September 17, 2012 by | Leave a comment

 MONTPELIER, Vt. (AP) A Vermont judge has scheduled a status conference as part of the on-going recount in the Progressive Party gubernatorial primary.

Washington County Superior Court Judge Robert Bent scheduled a status conference in the recount for Monday afternoon and a final hearing for Tuesday morning.

 It took all of Thursday and half of Friday for county clerks to tabulate ballots of the fewer than 1,000 Vermonters who voted in the Progressive primary on Aug. 28.

Party Chairwoman Martha Abbott appeared to have won the election by one vote in early reporting of results. Abbott renounced the nomination and withdrew her candidacy in keeping with her party’s plan not to run a candidate for governor and focus instead on legislative races.

 But write-in candidate Annette Smith asked for the recount.

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Posted in Central Vermont, News, Politics, Progressives, Vermont News

Vermont Progressive primary to see recount

Posted on September 13, 2012 by | Leave a comment

MONTPELIER — Officials are set to gather at 14 county courthouses around Vermont to recount ballots in the Progressive primary for governor.
Write-in candidate Annette Smith asked for the recount after losing in earlier counting to Progressive Party Chairwoman Martha Abbott by one vote. The party decided earlier this year not to run a candidate for governor, so Abbott withdrew after her apparent victory.
A Smith victory in the recount could upset that plan.
County clerks will have to sort through the ballots of Democrats, Republicans and Progressives on Thursday, pull out the progressive ones and then recount those to see if Abbott or Smith won the primary.

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Posted in Elections, Progressives

Write-in candidate loses narrowly in gov. primary

Posted on September 4, 2012 by | Leave a comment

MONTPELIER — The Vermont Secretary of State’s office has given a 17-vote victory to Martha Abbott in the Progressive Party primary for governor, but Abbott has withdrawn from the race.
Official results released Tuesday by the office show Abbott beating write-in candidate Annette Smith by a margin of 371 to 354. Abbott says she ran just to have the party maintain control of its ballot. She announced she’s withdrawing as a candidate and that the party will not field a candidate for governor.
Some of Smith’s supporters are questioning the vote-counting in individual towns. Smith supporter Stephanie Kaplan says the close result may trigger a challenge or a request for a recount.
Smith is the head of the group Vermonters for a Clean Environment and has criticized Gov. Peter Shumlin’s environmental policies.

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Posted in Politics, Progressives

Official to give count of primary write-ins

Posted on September 4, 2012 by | Leave a comment

MONTPELIER — The Vermont Secretary of State’s office is planning to certify the results of last week’s primary election.
The results to be certified Tuesday should include the Progressive gubernatorial race in which supporters of Annette Smith of Danby promoted her as a write-in candidate over Martha Abbott, who was listed on the ballot as unopposed during last Tuesday’s voting.
A preliminary count of the Progressive gubernatorial race gave Abbott 304 votes with 258 write-in votes, but that did not include votes from all of Vermont’s voting precincts or say who the write-ins were for.
Smith’s write-in candidacy was pushed by Progressive activists opposed to mountaintop wind power projects and other environmental policies backed by incumbent Democratic Gov. Peter Shumlin.
Smith is the head of the group Vermonters for a Clean Environment.

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Posted in Elections, Politics, Progressives

Abbott aims to win suddenly competitive Prog primary

Posted on August 21, 2012 by | Leave a comment

From the Vermont Press Bureau:

As the lone candidate for governor on the Progressive Party’s primary ballot, Martha Abbott looked to have the nomination pretty well in hand.

Until last Tuesday, when she, along with the rest of the political community, learned of an under-the-radar write-campaign launched on behalf of anti-big-wind activist Annette Smith.

Abbott is taking the competition in stride.

Read more at: http://www.vermontpressbureau.com/martha-abbott-aims-to-win-suddenly-competitive-progressive-primary/

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Posted in Politics, Progressives