July 19, 2022
Contact: Jim Dandeneau
Executive Director
Vermont Democratic Party
jdandeneau@vtdemocrats.org/802-489-6681
For Immediate Release
News from the Vermont Democratic Party
Montpelier, VT - Vermont Democratic Party [CHAIR/ED] issued the following statement today, following the Vermont Republican Party’s disavowal of openly fascist Windham County Republican Senate candidate Mark Coester:
“We are encouraged by the Vermont Republican Party’s newfound opposition to fascism. We expect that this opposition will extend to all of their members who openly and publicly supported a seditious conspiracy, signing a December 31, 2020 open letter from Vermont Republican activist Bob Orleck to Vice President Pence demanding that he throw out the legal and correct results of the 2020 election. Those signatories include:
Republican Lieutenant Governor candidate and Republican state committee member Greg Thayer
Republican State House Candidates
Judy Stern (Windsor 3)
Jon Christiano (Addison 5)
Kathi Tarrant (Washington-Chittenden)
Charles Wilson (Caledonia 3)
Nancy Gassett (Windham 1)
Windham County Republican chair and State Senate candidate Richard Morton
National Republican Committee member Suzanne Butterfield
Former Vermont Republican Party chair and current State Committee member Deb Billado
Rutland County Republican Chair Terry Burke
Caledonia County Republican Chair Mary Daly
State Republican Committee members
Ron Lawrence Ellie Martin
Barbara Greck
Sharon Quinn
Rose Bean
Linda Kirker
Emily Lepan
Chet Greenwood
Sharon Greenwood
Kathy Wagner
Wendy Bucchieri
And Shelley Huber
We anxiously await action by the Vermont Republican Party to roust these traitors from their midst, many of whom persist in publicly denying the election results, relying on readily disproven conspiracy theories and flat-out lies. Will the VTGOP remove Coester, who marched at multiple Memorial and Independence Day parades with a flag from World War II-era Spanish Fascists, from his positions in Windham County Republican leadership and on the Vermont State Republican Committee?
If the Vermont Republican Party refuses to take action against people from our own state who tried to overthrow the duly elected government of the United States, then it is incumbent on Republican moderates like Governor Phil Scott or Christina Nolan to step up and finally fix their party, or to stop benefiting from their financial and institutional support and leave the Vermont Republican Party once and for all. They can’t have it both ways forever.”
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