BURLINGTON — Sen. Patrick Leahy brushed off a cascade of criticism from four debate opponents Tuesday, including charges of being sexist, a bully, arrogant, a war criminal and serving in office too long.
The seven-term incumbent returned fire, particularly against his Republican opponent, Scott Milne, and touted his decades of experience and record of accomplishment.
The debate, held at the studios of Town Meeting Television/Channel 17 in Burlington, was broadcast live nationally on C-Span television and was the first of three debates the senator agreed to participate in. All five candidates on the ballot, including three minor party contenders, took part.
Milne argued the biggest issue in the race was “the dysfunction” of the U.S. Senate, caused by career politicians dependent on special interest and corporate campaign donations. Leahy, Milne said, was representative of the problem.
“My opponent’s been in office for 42 years. The problem has really taken root in the last 42 years,” Milne said. “I’m offering Vermonters a voice who think it’s a big problem and want an alternative.”
Leahy said returning the Senate to its role as the “conscience of the nation” was his most important goal.
“Especially watching what has happened in the national races, we have got to have somewhere where Democrats and Republicans can work together as we often have done in the past and be the conscience of the nation,” said Leahy.
Leahy jabbed Milne several times for waiting until last week to announce he would not vote for Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump.
In his most difficult exchange of the evening, Milne argued both presidential candidates were to blame for the low level of political discourse. He said Leahy’s presidential choice, Hillary Clinton, was also poisoning the political atmosphere with derogatory comments about Trump supporters being “deplorable.” Milne said he had talked to more than 1,000 Trump supporters throughout Vermont, and assured viewers they did not deserve such a label.
Milne and Independent Jerry Trudell also chided Leahy for support of Clinton over Sen. Bernie Sanders. Milne said Leahy had “disenfranchised” Sanders supporters by coming out early. Trudell said Leahy had “betrayed the trust” of Sanders’ backers.
Leahy said: “I admire Sen. Sanders. I serve with him. He and his wife are close friends of mine and Marcelle’s. I’m pleased Bernie has picked Montpelier, where I was born, to have a rally next week to support me and the rest of the Democratic ticket.”
Leahy and Milne were respectful to each other during the hour-long debate, though Leahy accused Milne of running the most negative campaign he had ever seen.
Milne, a travel agency owner from Pomfret, portrayed the senate’s most senior member as a cog in a broken political system dominated by special interests who make large campaign donations.
Milne — who almost beat Gov. Peter Shumlin two years ago — appeared confident in challenging Leahy; meanwhile, the most senior member of the US Senate also seemed at ease when under attack, breathing deeply and sighing once during the hour-long debate.
He smiled at times when the alternative candidates attacked him, including when Trudell yelled that Leahy was condescending and acted like he was the “king of the road.”
A poll by Vermont Public Radio that came out Wednesday morning put Leahy easily ahead, with 59 percent. Milne has 22 percent.
Cris Ericson, running under the banner of the United States Marijuana Party, accused Leahy of being sexist and a bully for not debating her when she tried to secure the Democratic Party nomination. Leahy waved off the accusation, saying he was a lead supporter of legislation intended to curb violence against women. (Ericson claimed during the debate she had been “assaulted and battered” by the actor Patrick Swayze and that Leahy had received campaign donations from Swayze’s attorneys. She has 2 percent support in the VPR poll.)
Trudell waved a card for a digital recoder that he said contained stories from “so many Vermonters who are upset with you to varying degrees.”
After several candidates criticized him, Leahy was asked to comment. He chuckled and said “It’s kind of hard to respond to them.”
At one point, when Milne said Leahy “was unable to get the Senate to go along with his position” to move forward the nomination of Merrick Garland, President Obama’s pick for the US Supreme Court, Leahy challenged that claim out loud.
Then Leahy said: “Sometimes with Mr. Milne (he) is so used to attacking me that the attacks are more important to him than the facts,” noting it was not the Democrats but the Republicans who were holding up the court nomination.
Liberty Union Party candidate Peter Diamondstone, who was ill, noted he was the only Socialist among the candidates. He registered 1 percent on the VPR poll.
“This is a panel of capitalists and I’m pretty wiped out, so it’s not a fair (fight),” Diamondstone said. The perennial candidate accused Leahy of being a “war criminal” for the United States providing arms to Saudi Arabia which were used to bomb Yemen and for the senator’s support of Israel, which Diamondstone said committed war crimes in the Gaza Strip against Palestinians.
The other candidates also challenged Leahy on his role as a cheerleader for the EB-5 immigrant investment program, which has become controversial because of nationwide scandals, including charges of fraud filed against two developers in Vermont, one of whom, Bill Stenger, is a friend of Leahy.
Milne tried to tie Leahy to the problems in the EB-5 program, including the Vermont case, by saying the program didn’t have enough oversight, but Leahy noted regulation of EB-5 in Vermont is done at the state level.
Trudell held up a magazine that likened EB-5 investments to “crack cocaine” and said the senator never should have supported the program. When Trudell tried to pin down Leahy on when he found out about the problems in Vermont, and asked the senator a question, he demurred, telling Trudell, “I don’t want to take up your time.”
Leahy said he has been working on reforms in the senate to EB-5, which was extended until the end of the year but without Leahy’s proposed reforms and without his support. The program allows foreign investors to put up $500,000 to gain permanent residency to the United States. In Vermont, the developers were accused of running a “Ponzi-like” scheme defrauding investors of $200 million.
Milne said Leahy showed he was “prepared to shut down the government” when he voted against a resolution for continued government spending because the resolution didn’t also include reforms to the investment program. Leahy said he voted against the resolution to make a point after he knew there were already enough votes for passage of the continuing resolution.
Leahy has also agreed to debates on Vermont PBS, which has invited all the candidates, and Vermont Public Radio, which will have a one-on-one debate between Leahy and Milne in early November.
Editor’s Note: VTDigger Editor/Reporter Mark Johnson moderated the debate.
