Weinberger successor, mayor-to-be booted over crime, Israel invading Gaza
by Ted Cohen
BURLINGTON — The conservative mayor of the socialist capital of the northeast has gone down in flames, thanks to crime, needles in the street and Israel invading Gaza.
This was not just an electoral defeat for Democrat Joan Shannon – it was a clear drubbing.
Shannon, a city councilor for 20 years, was the de facto mayor-to-be even though she didn’t hold the title.
She was running to succeed Miro Weinberger, a 12-year incumbent mayor and Shannon’s political mentor whose city is in such a crime and financial crisis he refused to run for reelection.
The dark horse in the race to succeed Weinberger was Emma Mulvaney-Stanak of the leftist Progressive Party, who came up the inside lane and wiped Shannon out.
It was voter repudiation of the way Democrats have run – or not – the crime-and-drug-infested city.
To add injury to insult the victor parlayed raw constituent anger over her opponent’s failure to acknowledge Israel’s unpopular invasion of Gaza into a huge win.
No one saw it coming – allegedly including Shannon who claimed after losing that she was “surprised” at the outcome – but never said why.
She indeed may have seen it coming, issuing a campaign email a week before the election that said “we’re behind.” She begged contributors for more money.
In fact, Shannon had all the money. She had all the endorsements. She had 20 years on the council.
She solicited from donors $165,000 for a job that pays $115,000. She far outspent her competitor.
Yet none of it mattered.
Mulvaney-Stanak not only defeated a veteran, entrenched, city politician but she beat her by a clear, full six points.
The victory margin was so overwhelming it even negated the need for invoking “ranked-choice” selection to determine the final outcome.
The dark horse, who once served a couple of years on the council and is currently a member of the Vermont House, won with 51% compared to the incumbent’s 45%.
The incumbent nearly lost her home district, in fact, symbolic of the overall devastating outcome for her.
The pro-Palestinian vote – led largely by a group of young Turks from the University of Vermont – helped carry the election for the newcomer.
They were hopping mad at Shannon for recently refusing to condemn Israel’s invasion of Gaza.
They also punished former fellow-UVM student Hannah King, a Democrat city councilor who managed Shannon’s failed campaign, choosing her Progressive Party opponent by 14 points.
Here’s the kicker to the whole thing: The winner held her victory party in the heart of the defeated candidate’s district, which the booted incumbent has represented for two decades.
Shannon, who should have held what could have been the pinnacle of her political career’s victory party in her home district, instead held it in her opponent’s.
Political pundits have been strangely silent on the biggest election upset that Vermont’s largest city has seen since 1982 when an imported Brooklyn socialist named Bernie Sanders defeated a hometown Democrat mayor in a shot heard ’round the world.
The only media outlet other than Patch.com that came close to understanding the shock of Shannon’s defeat is Vermont Daily Chronicle.
Kolby LaMarche‘s Burning Sky‘s column in the Chronicle said Shannon suffered a “devastating defeat.”
In what LaMarche called Shannon’s “political obituary,” the columnist said that at her concession speech she was “visibly shocked” that she lost.
The author is a Burlington resident and retired full-time newspaper journalist.
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Categories: Commentary
The homeowners and business owners/operators…people with actual skin in the game are now a minority in Burlington. The moonbats are in charge over a city where a majority of the population constitute deadbeats, subsidized renters, junkies, vagrants and transient students with no long-term skin in the game. They voted for the mayor they figured would promise them the most free stuff coming at the expense of productive citizens. This is not a socially or economically sustainable situation. Does anyone remember the economic mess created by the last Progressive Mayor…Bob Kiss? Get ready for a repeat performance by the female version. Burlington Progressives live in a world of economic and social fantasy and are not rooted in the realities of human behavior or guided by the concept of personal responsibility. Joan Shannon was the last hope for a revival from the city being taken over by the moral, ethical and economic failures of progressivism. Decent people should pledge to never again visit it or spend another nickel there…starve the beast. Business owners should look for retail space opportunities in the surrounding communities that have not surrendered themselves to the marxist anarchy. Burlington police should quit en-masse, as it is obvious that they are not appreciated by a majority of the population, and there are better opportunities nearby, where they will be appreciated and better paid. RIP Burlington. What a shame…
Rich Lachapelle, they are rooted in the reality of Marxist takeover.
Unfortunately sometimes the only way to rebuild something is to let it burn to the ground, and Burlington is at that point and the voters just threw gasoline on the fire!
A Whoville win!
The decline of Burlington into a lawless lunatic asylum has no impact on the minds and hearts of the majority of Voters in that city. Sadly the rest of Vermont is following the progressive vision of this socialist utopia.
LOL, going from far left to far, far left. The fine folks of Burlington never cease to amaze us all.
Me and my dog love taking morning walks through Burlington. We play the game ‘Don’t step on the Heroin Needle’. It’s getting harder and harder to win.
It really does look like “shxt” out there, doesn’t it?
The lesser of two evils come into play here. I wish Burlington and the new Mayor success at cleaning up Eastern San Francisco. I won’t hold my breath.
So on one hand, people are sick of the crime and drugs but vote against the woman who might actually do something about it? Well I guess they at least got their anger out about Israel. The students have to live in this city too.
burlington/// sounds like a foreign country that i will not visit///
The Burlington Mayor race, well was like all the other Burlington races, the progressives that includes the college crowd, and that’s how Mulvaney-Stanak was elected, it’s the same story, in the eighties it was the same crowd that got Sanders elected, Part-time residences, hold homeowners hostage ………………..
Burlington has become a cesspool, let’s see if progressive Emma Mulvaney-Stanak
can change it back to the Queen City……………… I don’t see it happening !!
Real Burlingtonians should be appalled
…there are not many “real Burlingtonians” left or even remnants of old Burlington. Even an institution like T Ruggs Tavern was subject to a hostage situation by some dirtball with a long rapsheet and no real ties to the city.
It’s really not shocking that Burlington (and Vermont, in general) is going to hell in a hand-basket!
The day that will shock me will be the day when common sense reigns – and that would be the day when a “conservative” (after all these years) has (once again) been elected.
When Bernie was invited into the donkey tent, he brought along his team and supporters. They were welcomed into that tent with open arms and lots of cash in reserve. It should not be a shock the cash reserves have served the purpose intended, but has left the donkey party scrambling for an identity and a sellable platform – their moderate base is fleeing and the minorities are not down with what The Biden and company have delivered to their inner-city neighorhoods after 40+ years of support. Good times!
https://twitter.com/TedCohen1/status/1770150297660219823?t=H1APYBXJvcLPBLPmSPBFKg&s=19