Republican Senator Brian Collamore says he knew nothing about political mailers pairing him with two Democratic House candidates. State filings show late reports, shared PAC leadership and no named funder, and two of the three pictured candidates say they were never notified.

by Dave Soulia, FYIVT.com

For at least the second time in the 2026 political campaign, supporters of Democratic candidates have distributed flyers aligning their candidates with popular Republicans – but without permission.

When Republican House candidate Aida Nielsen alerted FYIVT to a political mailer featuring her Democratic opponent, Jeff Haylon, something about it caught her attention.

Pictured alongside Haylon was Republican State Senator Brian Collamore, a highly popular local radio executive, longtime hockey referee, and United Way leader.

Nielsen, who is running against Haylon for the open Rutland-9 House seat, is a friend of Collamore’s and has campaigned alongside him. She said she was shocked when the postcard arrived in her mailbox and called Collamore, who told her he knew nothing about it.

Yet the postcard paired Collamore with Haylon beneath a message declaring there were two candidates voters could “TRUST to make Vermont affordable.”

There was just one problem.

Collamore says he had no idea his photograph was being used.

And there wasn’t just one postcard.

A second, nearly identical mailing, which Collamore brought to FYIVT’s attention, paired him with Democrat Chris Siliski, who is running against Republican Cindy Laskevich for the open Rutland-6 House seat in Rutland City.

Both mailers prominently advertise endorsements by the Vermont State Employees’ Association (VSEA).

The Rutland campaign flyers resemble the political strategy Democrat Chittenden North Senate candidate Irene Wrenner’s use of a favorable quote by now-deceased Milton Rep. Don Turner, a Republican legislator and highly popular public servant in his hometown. Turner’s family has publicly complained that the quote was used without their permission.

The VSEA endorsed all three featured Rutland County candidates. That helps explain why they were grouped, but an endorsement from VSEA is not an endorsement from Collamore.

The distinction matters because the postcards could give voters the impression that the pictured candidates are campaigning together.

Following the Money

Both postcards identify Public Service PAC as their sponsor.

According to Vermont Secretary of State filings reviewed by FYIVT, the committee registered September 18, 2026, as an independent expenditure-only political action committee.

Its two mass-media reports (Collamore and Haylon; Collamore and Siliski) each document an expenditure of $1,056.51, dated October 26, to B&B; Offset Printing in Somersworth, New Hampshire, for postcards.

The combined reported spending was $2,113.02.

Both reports name Collamore as a candidate whose name or likeness appears in the mailing. One also names Haylon, the other Siliski. The Haylon report lists the office he is seeking as “Selectperson.” He is running for the Vermont House.

Both reports also show their own due date, October 27. Neither was filed until October 29.

The committee’s own records establish that both reports were filed after their deadlines.

Each report also has a section for contributions over $100 the PAC has accepted, which independent expenditure-only PACs must list there. Both read “NO DATA ENTERED.” So does the section asking who else paid for the mailing.

When the printing orders were actually placed remains unknown.

When Should Collamore Have Been Notified?

Under 17 V.S.A. § 2971, anyone who spends $650 or more on a mass mailing within 45 days of an election must report it to the Secretary of State, and send a copy to candidates whose names or likenesses appear without their knowledge.

The deadline is 24 hours after the expenditure, the activity, or the signing of a contract for it, whichever comes first.

That means the reporting clock can start when a binding printing order is placed, not when the printer is paid or the postcards are mailed.

The form Public Service PAC filed spells the duty out in its own fine print: report such expenditures “to the Vermont Office of the Secretary of State and to each candidate whose name or likeness is included in the activity, within 24 hours of making the expenditure(s).”

Public Service PAC reported October 26 expenditure dates. Its filings do not show when the printing orders were placed.

Collamore told FYIVT he neither approved the use of his photograph in these mailers nor received any notification of them.

The statute does not require a candidate’s permission to use a photograph in political advertising. It does require timely notice.

Collamore says he never received one. So does Haylon, who is also pictured (see below). The PAC has not answered FYIVT’s question about why.

A Cross-Party Ballot Line

There is another detail worth understanding.

Although Collamore is a Republican incumbent, he also appears on the November ballot as a Democrat, after receiving enough write-in votes in the August Democratic primary, when no Democrat ran for the county’s three Senate seats.

His ballot designation is Republican/Democratic.

Thomas Fagan, chair of the Rutland County Democrats, told VTDigger the Republican senators’ acceptance of both labels was “a strategic move,” and that the party does not endorse them.

VSEA, meanwhile, made its own endorsements across party lines, choosing Collamore, Haylon and Siliski.

None of that establishes that Collamore supported either Democratic House candidate or approved the mailers featuring them.

Two PACs, One Treasurer

The registration papers show another connection.

Elizabeth Aiken is the registered treasurer of Public Service PAC.

She is also the registered treasurer of VTPAC, VSEA’s Vermont Political Awareness Committee.

The two committees’ registration statements list the same treasurer email address, the same treasurer post office box, and the same committee phone number, (802) 223-5247, which is VSEA’s main line. Public Service PAC’s mailing address, 155 School St. in Montpelier, is one word off from VSEA’s headquarters at 155 State St. The committees list different banks.

VTPAC is a traditional political action committee that gives directly to candidates. Its 2026 filings show $15,205 in contributions to candidates this cycle. Public Service PAC registered as independent expenditure-only.

The registration statement Aiken signed for Public Service PAC quotes the legal definition at the top of the form. Under 17 V.S.A. § 2901, an independent expenditure-only PAC is one that “conducts its activities entirely independent of candidates” and “is not closely related to a political party or to a political committee that makes contributions to candidates.”

A shared treasurer and shared contact information do not by themselves establish a violation. Whether these committees are independent enough is a separate question, and one FYIVT has put to Aiken.

FYIVT found no recorded transfer of money between VTPAC and Public Service PAC in the disclosures examined.

As of October 29, Public Service PAC’s financial summary showed $0.00 on every line: contributions, expenditures, ending balance, and even “Mass Media Activity,” despite the two mass-media reports filed the same day.

That does not necessarily mean anything was reported improperly. The next regular disclosure deadline is October 30, the Friday before the election, when more financial information may become available.

For now, the source of the money behind the mailings remains unidentified.

FYIVT has reported on Rutland-area PAC filings before.

Vermont Has Enforced Late Reporting Before

Missing a campaign-finance deadline in Vermont can cost money.

In October 2020, the Vermont Attorney General announced that the Vermont Democratic Party and the Burlington Democratic Committee had agreed to pay a combined $2,750 civil penalty for failing to file reports on time for the March 2020 Town Meeting Day election. Some were filed months late.

Whether Public Service PAC’s filings will draw similar scrutiny remains to be seen.

What the Candidates Say

FYIVT contacted Aiken, Haylon and Siliski with questions about the mailers’ funding, preparation, candidate notification, and the relationship between the two committees.

Haylon responded Thursday night. He said he knew nothing about the mailer until it arrived in his own mailbox, noting that candidates are legally barred from coordinating with PACs on such spending. He said his campaign has no relationship with Public Service PAC or VTPAC, that he received VSEA’s endorsement through its standard questionnaire, and that he has refused all PAC money, including VSEA’s. He said he has spoken with Collamore only in passing and would not have agreed to appear beside him if asked.

“I have no interest in mailers that conflate my politics with someone else’s, even unintentionally,” he wrote.

Asked in a follow-up whether the PAC had notified him, Haylon said that to the best of his knowledge he has received no contact or reports of any kind from Public Service PAC, VSEA or VTPAC about the mailer, before or after it went out. He said he has received mass-media reports from other PACs about other mailers that mention him, so he is confident the notices are not landing in a junk folder.

Aiken and Siliski had not responded by press time. Any response will be added to this story.

Questions Still Open

With Election Day on November 3, several questions remain.

Who paid for the mailers? When were the printing orders placed? Why did two of the three pictured candidates never receive the notice the law requires? And who decided how these candidates would appear together?

On October 27, Secretary of State Sarah Copeland Hanzas said, “Campaign finance transparency is a fundamental part of supporting an informed electorate and a healthy democracy.”

For voters receiving these postcards, the open questions show a practical problem: political messages can reach mailboxes before the public has a full accounting of who produced and paid for them.

And sometimes that accounting does not arrive until after the votes are cast.

The filings: Public Service PAC registration, mass-media reports for Collamore and Haylon and Collamore and Siliski, VTPAC registration. Both committees’ records are on the Secretary of State’s campaign finance portal: Public Service PAC, VTPAC. For more on Vermont campaign-finance law and the Legislature, search Finder.