For nearly one week after the VTGOP called on Sen. Vyhovsky, Rep. Brian Cina and Rep. Kate Logan to confirm or denounce the statement from the Democratic Socialists of America in support of Palestine after the terrorist attacks on Israel, all three elected officials – as well as most news outlets – remained deafeningly silent.
Those calls from the VTGOP were echoed by Burlington Democrat and former City Counselor Ed Adrian. But for several days none of the three officials responded.
Then on Friday Sen. Vyhovsky finally took to Twitter, not to clarify her position on the DSA statements, but instead to simply retweet a video from a rally in New York city which repeated Hamas talking points of Gaza being an “open-air prison” and accused Israel of “genocide”.
In response VTGOP Chairman Paul Dame issued the following statement,
“After a week of total silence, it’s clear that Sen. Vyhovsky is indeed siding with the national socialist organization that is parroting the talking points of Hamas and defending these acts of terror as being somehow justified. Her retweet was yet another silent dogwhistle to signal support for anti-Israeli actors while trying to avoid attention from centrists and others who support Israel’s right to self-defense.”
”We intend to hold Sen. Vyhovsky accountable to the voters, and will begin more intense recruitment for this seat since we believe the people of Winooski, Burlington and Essex do not want to be represented by a someone holding such extreme views in justifying the work of terrorists.”
“We will also continue to call on Rep. Brian Cina and Rep. Kate Logan to clarify their own positions whether they support or oppose statements made by the DSA and their fellow socialist Sen. Vyhovsky”