In a few days, one will win. But in three years time, will you tolerate another fabricated pair?

by Kolby LaMarche

The campaign to become Burlington’s next mayor stretches on well into its fourth month, with just one week and a day remaining until voters will make a decision. 

Somewhere within the flurry of lame stickering, rhetoric, empty campaign pledges, and a deeply divided electorate lies money, and lots of it, driving the narrative.

According to finance reports, submitted on February 24th by both leading candidates, Democrat Joan Shannon and Progressive Emma Mulvaney-Stanak, they have collectively amassed a staggering $253,379.97 in donations.

We are witnessing, by far, the most expensive mayoral campaign in Burlington history.

Shannon has, thus far, taken in $154,823.71, her coffers overflowing with contributions from the city’s business class, developers, realtors, and so on. Like Stuart Wichert, business broker for Pomerleau Real Estate, Ernie Pomerleau, president and CEO, Patricia and Elizabeth Pomerleau; William Bissonette, of Bissonette Properties; Michael Seaver, Vermont regional president of M&T Bank; Brian Boardman, of Coldwell Banker Hickok and Boardman; John H. Cammack of Kingcedar Holdings, and Scott Boardman, CEO of Hickok & Boardman Insurance Group (who insures the city). 

80% of Shannon’s donations were over $100. 

Emma Mulvaney-Stanak raised $98,556.26 from donors like Ben Cohen and Jerry Greenfield of Ben and Jerry’s; Councilor Zoraya Hightower; Councilor Gene Bergman; Rep.Taylor Small; Brooke Giard of June Farm; Melissa Sontag Broudo, co-founder and co-executive director of the Sharmus Outlaw Advocacy and Rights (SOAR) Institute; Robert Kampiafrom Texas, former co-founder and political director of the Marijuana Policy Project, and Stanak’s father, Ed Stanak. 

But, more importantly, more than two dozen of Stanak’s donors live out of state, a figure which her campaign says can be explained by her national contacts as an activist. 

74% of Mulvaney-Stanak’s donations were over $100. 

Share

It is through these campaign finance reports that Burlingtonians are able to see, truly, the agenda of the candidate(s): 

Should Joan Shannon ascend to office, her allegiances would undoubtedly lean towards her associates in the development and real estate sectors, who eagerly anticipate reaping the rewards of her housing initiatives, tailored for the affluent. In critical moments of housing reform, which are bound to arise, Shannon’s decisions are poised to reflect the interests of the Pomerleaus and the Bissonettes of Burlignton, looking to cash-in.

In the unlikely event of Emma Mulvaney-Stanak’s election, she will inject Burlington with a lethal dose of out-of-state idealism, dishing out empty platitudes like candy to a political base too oblivious to remember their mothers wise words, “stranger danger”. She’ll serve, faithfully, her party’s interest, perpetuating the cycle of questionable and corrosive  Progressive decision-making that has hindered the city’s progress. 

The quandary faced by numerous Burlingtonians, stuck in the middle and torn between two styles of leadership that fail to inspire, and two which they don’t want to endure, underscores a growing disinterest and frustration in our electoral process. 

It isn’t anything new, really. This disenchantment has long been evident in Burlington’s persistently low voter turnout, seldom exceeding 35%, with a political class – of mainly well-resourced Burlingtonians, making all of the “democratic” decisions. 

And those, on the outside of politics, who feel directly the weight and impact of council decisions are often outplayed and unheard in the face of such entrenched interests and donors. Unwilling to play the political class’s game, they often lose interest, or get outright excluded. 

If you are feeling stuck in that middle, like me, you aren’t alone and you aren’t crazy. 

Both candidates, despite their apparent differences, exhibit concerning behaviors: they each have dodgy campaign finance records, little to no proactive policy or legislative victories, and who both treat politics as their divinely ordained full-time hobby. Two large cogs turning this political machine.  

In a few days, one of them will win and this will all be over. But in three years time, will you tolerate another false political binary or once again embrace it. 

Burning Sky is dedicated to providing critique and commentary on the issues of the day from an unapologetic perspective, fueling change in the heart of Vermont. Authored by Kolby LaMarche every Saturday.