Upload
sevendaysvermont
View
220
Download
0
Embed Size (px)
Citation preview
8/11/2019 Fragments of a Campaign Diary | Chittenden Magazine | Dec. 1972
1/4
I
ran
for
the
Hackett around
Union. I
got
candidate
for
did
This
article
is not
a
talk
hre about
the
of
taxalion, or
in the state, or
ot the unrepresentative nature of
legislature,
or
the
housing
uisis
in
or the
grossly inequitable
of incore in America
and
or the schools whch
uush
the
of our
children
-
or
about
the dozen
issues we
rased during
the campaign.
do I
talk
here
about Lberty Unionond
hopes and ideasfor itsfuture. llhat Iam
here
simply
recording
some events
the
campaign,
and my thoughts about
with
the hope
that
they
mght
be
of
o
Vermonters who
follow
the
scene.
I
should
mention
that
running
for
of
Vermont was one of the most
interesting
and
informative
of my
lfe.
So
much
happened,
I learned
so
much
about
so many things,
a
hundred
pages
would barely
dojustice
the
experience.
lYhatfollows,
therere, is
avery
partiol
andfragmentedreport
on
campaign.
-
Drove
with
Martha
(Martha
Abbott,
Union
Chairperson) up to Orleans
a
debate
with
Salmon before the
low
association
up there. Hackett
decided
not
to
show
up.
Not
his
I
guess.
It
was
a
beautiful
I
hadn't
been
off the interstate in
the
for
a
long
while. When we
got
to
church
a
young
lawyer-politician,
golng
about
instinctively
were
nodding and
there
as
I
talked
about
taxes,
and
the
phone
company.
I
even
mentioned that horrible
word
socialism
-
nd nobody
in
the
audience
fainted. After
the meeting was over people came
up
to
me
and
told me how
the
phone
company was
screwing
them,
and
this
and
that.
One
beautiful,
toothless
old
man
told
me
about
the socialist
meetings
they held
in Newport
during
the depression.
Newport:
Salmon
did
well and
got
a
good
response
-
but
I
got
a
better
response.
The
real
differences between
us, and
the
difference
between
what being
liberal and radical is
about, became clearer
and
clearer
as the
question
and answer
period
went
on. Of
all the
groups
that
a
candidate
talks
before,
I
prefer
most to speak
to low income
people.
They
know''a
lot
more than most
people
because
their
lives
are constantly
on
the line
and
they
can't
escape behind
$10,000
a
year
incomes
-
as
can
the
good
liberals.
-
Spoke to the
students
of St. Anthony's
High
School
in Bennington
-
and
did
terribly.
It
was
probably
the
worst speech
I
gave
during the whole campa.
I
drove
for
3
hours
to
get
there
-
(leaving
Burlington
at
5 a.m.).
I
got
to
Bennington in time
but
got
lost
getting
to
the
high school.
When Ifinally
got
there
300
kids
were waiting. I
threw
down
my
coat,
and
began talking. Spoke
right off
the
top
of
my
head,
didn't
put
two
coherent sentences together,
and
made
very
little
allowance for the fact
that I was
speaking
before
17
year
olds. The
talkjust
never
came off.
The response I
got
wasn't
bad,
(the
Bennington Banner
called
it
lukewarm ),
but
it
wasn't
good.
The
Banner
reporter
who covered
it
told
me
that Salmon
had
gotten
an enthusiastic
response
before
the
same audience.
I
consider talking
to
young
people
extremely
important
-
and
it
bothered
me
very
much
that
I was unable
to
convey
my
feelings
to
them.
-
Spoke
before the Vermont Labor
Council
at
their
convention
on
Marble
Island. Everyone
knew
that they
were
going
to
endorse
Salmon
but
I
very much wanted
to
go
anyway.
I
really wanted to
talk
to
the
workers.
It
was
a rainy
day,
and
when
Martha
and
I
got
there
we
nrere
greeted
at
the
door by
two slightly tipsy delegates.
It
looked
like
the booze was really flowing.
One
of
the
delegates
asked
me,
in
a
friendly
way:
Where
is
your
beard?
I
thought
you
had
a beard.
I've
never
had
a beard
in
my
life
but
I
guess
that
radicals
are supposed
to.
I
said
hello to Bill Meyer
who
had
finished
speaking a
little
while
before. The lights
were
on
and the
t,v.
cameras were turning when I
gave
my
talk.
(Talking
before
t.v.
cameras
is
always
eerie because
you
know
that
they're
not
going
to
use
your
whole
talk on
the
tube.
So
you
think,
as
you're
talking,
-are
hey
going
to cut
this
part,
or that
part,
or
what?)
I
spoke
about the corporations that
own the country,
about
the regressive nature
of
our
tax system and the things
that
I
usually talked
about.
(And
it
turned
outthat
WCAX
played
back
on
the
news
the
part
about marijuana
and
abortion). I doubtthat
I
got
two votes
from the
audience
-
but they
listened.
When I started talking
everybody
there seemed to be mumbling
or
falling
asleep
-
but they stayed
awake and
attentive
for
the talk.
Afterwards,
a
few
of
the
younger
delegates came up
to
us
and
inquired
about
Liberty
Union and shook
the
not
f\
in
the recent
Salmon
the
percent
vering
a
flowing introduction
om who
gave
one
of
his
better talks
campaign.
As
usual,
I
started
my
talk
knowing what
I
was
going
to
say.
I
well, though, and
it
was
an old
things
which
for
us with
3Vz
article. I
do
or
the corporate
dental care
Peler
CHITTENDEN
37
8/11/2019 Fragments of a Campaign Diary | Chittenden Magazine | Dec. 1972
2/4
See
the
Newest
Better
ldea
from
Ford
The Plnto
Squlre
Station
Wagon
.
,
:'J
l'\EltEtE
w
t
EI
Op.i .-
W..
trl.
.v.rl.tt
lel^L TFAN.FEFIAIII5N eINT-
lOO
lh.l5u.
ld, utllnlon' V.6onl OSaOl
l.l.ph..
lao2l
aa.Orl
. .
WX 7l0.22a-6a21
z
I
z
IT
1l
0
.
Jt
c
ot
g
o
o
(,
tt
tr
.E
,
c
.9
o
a
E
g
,t
o
'
G
c
o
IJ
=
*o
K
E
a
H
E$
9x
=a
a
E
co
6:
9.E
.=
o.
co
o-c
,?
a
-92