Len Britton Can Beat Pat Leahy 
By Rob Roper

Scott Brown’s victory in Massachusetts should be a wake up call for Senator Patrick Leahy. Leahy, who has lived inside the D.C. Beltway for thirty-five years, could be the poster child for the arrogant, old-boy politics voters just dramatically rejected. 

A recent, egregious example of Leahy’s out-of-touch behavior was his and his wife’s, taxpayer funded "business trip" to a luxury spa in England. Adding insult to financial injury, Leahy’s boondoggle came at a critical time in the health care debate. Instead of staying in Vermont during the senate recess, talking to constituents and explaining the issues to us directly, he bolted town on our dime. If we had questions or concerns, his website coolly instructed us to send an email. 

But, defenders of the status quo will argue Leahy has too much seniority to be vulnerable. This logic doesn’t hold up to the fact that the even more powerful Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid will likely lose his seat in November. Closer to home, Sen. Chris Dodd from Connecticut, another thirty year veteran, read the tea leaves and his tanking poll numbers and has already bowed out of his race. 

Leahy’s campaign brags his seniority allows him to bring home lots of pork and finagle back-room deals for Vermont, like the kind Ben Nelson got for Nebraska on health care (now derisively known as the Cornhusker Kickback) and Mary Landrieu got for her state (the Louisiana Purchase). But voters are fed up with these kinds of corrupt and/or sleazy inside-the-beltway dealings. It is precisely Leahy’s culture of graft politics and earmark budgeting that has put our country in the debt-ridden, financial crisis we face today. It is at the heart of why regular citizens have lost faith in how government operates. We’ve have had enough. 

But, Brown’s victory aside, Vermont is not Massachusetts. True. Vermont is actually more conservative than the Bay State. Vermont Republicans hold three of nine statewide offices, Massachusetts Republicans hold just one (Brown) of eighteen. In the statehouses, Massachusetts Republicans hold just 10 percent of the seats as opposed to Vermont Republicans who hold about 30 percent. Len Britton, the Republican U.S. Senate candidate for Vermont, will be starting out with a much smaller gap to close than Scott Brown faced, and he has more time to close it. 

But, whatever the issues or the demographics, Leahy has already raised a $3 million war chest. Ask ex-Governor Jon Corzine how much a mega-bankroll helped his campaign for re-election in deep-blue New Jersey. What should alarm Vermonters is the fact that of the $3 million Leahy collected, roughly $2.8 million has come from out-of-state and from special interests, much of it from California (FEC, Sept. Filing Report) Voters are sick and tired of politicians who aren’t connected to the people back home and aren’t listening to them. 

Indeed, over the past three and a half decades Leahy has come to have more in common with the Hollywood types he hangs out with like Bono and the cast of Batman than with the average working Vermonters he is supposed to represent. One has to wonder if in a state where the dress code is Carhartt the voters will discover they’re no longer getting what they need from a guy just named one of GQ’s "District Dandies" for his high-end banker’s attire and "groovy" Panama hats (GQ.com, January 2010).

What should be most worrisome for Leahy is the fact that Len Britton is an attractive, articulate candidate who is everything that Leahy is not. Britton, running as a true citizen legislator, has never held elected office. His experience is down to earth: running a small lumber and feed business, employing people, meeting a payroll, and raising a family of five children in Vermont. Scott Brown may drive a truck, but Len Britton drives a forklift – and he gets what Vermonters are going through. Does Len Britton have an uphill climb ahead? Yes. But is it doable? Given Pat Leahy’s record and the mood of the country… absolutely. 

Rob Roper is secretary of the Vermont Republican State Committee. He lives in Stowe