More on Those Addison County 2012 Senate Results

Nationally recognized expert on Vermont and national politics, Eric Davis, professor emeritus of political science at Middlebury College weighed in on the 2012 Addison County state senate race between incumbent Sen. Claire (D), Democratic former Vermont House member (as well as having served in a number of other community service posts) Chris Bray and never-ever likely to be  Senator Robert "Needed Killin' " Wagner, a recurring Vermont secession movement candidate who, from  what I can find, has never won any office here or in Brooklyn, NY where he hails from.

This from today's Addison Independent on the race:

"While the 5,073 tallies registered by Wagner were considerably more than the 1,127 he garnered in 2010, political observers did not attribute that to Wagner gaining more traction with his campaign in which he championed, among other things, eliminating the personal income tax and instead taxing natural resource extraction as well as unearned income from land speculation. Eric L. Davis, a political analyst and professor emeritus of political science at Middlebury College, said Wagner’s beefed-up numbers likely came from tallies tossed to him by Republican voters who did not have a GOP candidate to vote on in this year’s race for state senate. For the first time in decades, Republicans did not field a single candidate for Addison County’s two state Senate seats. GOP officials have cited as reasons the rigors of campaigning and the senatorial district losing Brandon (a Republican stronghold) and gaining Huntington (which leans Democratic) through reapportionment. 

Davis noted the election returns show that roughly 17,500 Addison County residents voted for president on Tuesday. Those same people had two votes to cast in the state Senate race, which could have produced a total of around 35,000 votes. But only around 28,000 votes were cast in the state Senate race, meaning that approximately 7,000 voters did not make two selections in that contest. 

“The Wagner vote represents Republicans who wanted another name on the ballot and there were no Republicans to vote on, so they voted for Wagner,” Davis said.But Wagner, reached on Wednesday, discounted Davis’s analysis. 

“We don’t know until we ask people why” they voted the way they did, he said.Wagner said he believes most Vermonters classify themselves as independent, and he perceived his vote total as evidence of growing support. And he believes any votes tossed his way on Tuesday were a statement against majority party rule in general, rather than just a jab at Democrats. He said he is likely to run for state Senate again in the future."

Davis' analysis jibes with what I first posted about months ago and mentioned again two nights ago as the election came to a close: Wagner would pick up votes from some Republicans who had nowhere else to go.  At his website Wagner continues to inflate the importance of his showing but it's all starting to sound too contorted - sad, really.

Meanwhile, in another matter related to Wagner's conflicting positions, there's been no word yet about whether Wagner will be
returning the $288.30 Federal subsidy he received while flying out of the airport in Rutland, VT, which is exactly the kind of Federal subsidy that he "is strongly opposed to" and has argued harms Vermonters that I revealed he'd hypocritically availed himself of (as in sticking his snout in the federal money trough) here. Wagner must publicly give back that subsidy money or he'll be exposed for the hypocritical fraud that many of us Vermonters now know him to be. baas the Dixie singin' Magnolia Vermonter Second Vermont Republic "Vermont Commons" Rob Williams "target="_blank * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * For the archive of the Free Vermont Framework listserv, click here.

BREAKING! Addison County Vermont Senate Election Result

Well, maybe not so much.  Wagner's numbers are up slightly at this point from two years ago but given that no Republican ran against the Dems Ayer and Bray, it's surprising that Senator Robert "Needed Killin' " Wagner did so poorly.  Why Wagner couldn't do better since there are so many Republicans that can't bring themselves to vote for a Democratic candidate might have to do with his dissing Republicans on other websites and Facebook; maybe some of the Republicans who did throw him a vote just hadn't heard that Wagner is a bigtime proponent of neo-Georgist/Marxist economics for Vermont.

No matter.  Wagner continues to be a major Vermont secession movement loser - he didn't replace 1 of the 30 Vermont senators that he'd vowed to have voted out, nor did any of his endorsed indy newbies make an electoral dent as he claimed that they would.

Wagner now supplants weirdo Dennis Steele (2010 secesher gubernatorial candidate) as defacto head of the list of majorly defeated, delusional seceshers that remain on the Vermont political scene.  If he follows his past practice, he'll announce his next campaign sometime tomorrow - not a very Vermont thing.  But, hey, this native Brooklynite who's only lived here a few years and has taken to calling others who've lived here decades longer as being "flatlanders" probably hasn't figured that out yet.

Meanwhile, in another matter related to Wagner's conflicting positions, there's been no word yet about whether Wagner will be returning the $288.30 Federal subsidy he received while flying out of the airport in Rutland, VT, which is exactly the kind of Federal subsidy that he "is strongly opposed to" and has argued harms Vermonters that I revealed he'd hypocritically availed himself of (as in sticking his snout in the federal money trough) here. Wagner must publicly give back that subsidy money or he'll be exposed for the hypocritical fraud that many of us Vermonters know him to be.

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For the archive of the Free Vermont Framework listserv, click here.

So-called Independent Addison County Senate Candidate, "Senator" Robert "Needed Killin'" Wagner, Tries to Finess the Unions and Addison County Voters

I wasn't very surprised when I saw this post on "Senator" Robert "Needed Killin' " Wagner's rambling Facebook page.  Wagner is the Vermont secession movement's candidate for one of Addison County's Senate seats who poses as an "independent."  Wagner is, in truth, a committed, hardcore secesher who, beyond having said that one Addison County resident "needed killin'", hates the Union, Vermont's governmental institutions, virtually all statewide office holders and the legislative community (people who have been elected by their neighbors to serve in a variety of offices, something Wagner has never done), private property and assets, as well as all of the Vermont school system

Typically, the not ever likely to be "Senator" Wagner doesn't tell the whole truth, much like when he gave his position on education to the Addison Independent during his decidedly failed 2010 run for the Vermont Senate here.

You can find what Wagner really thinks by going through the archives of the Vermont secession movement's super secret "Free Vermont" listserv, a place where the seceshers chatted unguardedly since they thought Vermonters wouldn't find them out.  At the time of this beaut, Wagner was using one of his pseudonyms on the listserv, Roderick Sticomythia; it comes from his "Position Papers 8. Education":

"This won't make me any friends, but I am against public education. It is a bad idea and a drain on community wealth, and it should be abolished. The large central schools which require mass driving and busing should be re-purposed; perhaps as shelters to house the suburbanites whose single-family homes in the sprawl will become worthless without affordable fuel to get there and back."

"I am in favour of a return to small community-based and community-run schools, the smaller the better. Children need to be able to walk to school or be a short enough distance to make the trip economically feasible in post-peak-oil Vermont."

"I am against government-imposed standards of any kind, whether they be directed at the classroom, at the administration, or at the physical building itself. Montpelier has far exceeded its authority in the extension of standards into schools; first consolidating schools into large districts and closing down the small schoolhouses, and then failing to block US standards such as 'No Child Left Behind' and 'Race to the Top'. It all ends here and now."

"Government may not impose standards; however, Vermont's children lag behind the rest of the world in many areas. We should be providing tools and funds for schools to re-introduct(sic) young Vermonters to the rest of the world; through cultural exchange, language learning, the metric system, and many other areas. This is where public investment draws huge dividends."

Monday, December 14, 2009 13:18:21

Dennis "Hit List" Morrisseau chimed in later that day with a reply to Wagner's pseudonymous post:

"I happen to agree. Only people that might not is the entire teacher's union and all present overloaded bureaucratic (personal profit oriented!) structure."

"I strongly agree with this. Further, I will bet most Vermonters do."

"But if we provoke the T(eacher)'s Unions too early in our campaign they will be a HUGE PAIN IN THE ASS.....AND A VERY BIG BLOCKING FORCE. (ALL CAPS Denny's) This is one of the few places where i might want us to hold our punches until later....... Your thoughts?"

Monday, December 14, 2009 20:04:58

Naturally, there was no objection from Wagner/Sticomythia or any of the other secesher boneheads on the thread to Denny's design to hide what they intended until they were elected.  Wagner is right about one thing though, he's not going to be making any friends by opposing public education.  No wonder he hid his position at the secret listserv rather than tell the press or put it on his websites during his 2010 run or this go around by him for 2012.  Figures.

Wagner's Democratic opponents in this year's run for Addison County's two Senate seats, incumbent Claire Ayer and running mate Chris Bray, would do well to research some of Wagner's other positions on the searchable listserv.

Meanwhile, in another matter related to Wagner's conflicting positions, there's been no word yet about whether Wagner will be returning the $288.30 Federal subsidy he received while flying out of the airport in Rutland, VT, which is exactly the kind of Federal subsidy that he "is strongly opposed to" and has argued harms Vermonters that I revealed he'd hypocritically availed himself of (as in sticking his snout in the federal money trough) here. Wagner must publicly give back that subsidy money or he'll be exposed for the hypocritical fraud that many of us Vermonters know him to be.

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For the archive of the Free Vermont Framework listserv, click here.