Posted on 08/18/2014 9:22:11 AM PDT by EveningStar
He’s dead, huh? Well, whaddya know about that.
(First portion of this post has preemptively deleted by author) and the horse he road in on.
Also deceased, former Rep. Fernand St. Germain (D-RI) who was surprisingly succeeded by RINO Ron Matchley when he retired in 1988.
Wow... Forgot about that guy. “Jumpin’ Jim Jeffords”. Seems like a whole lifetime ago, in a different universe...
Well... prayers for his family in their grief. Sucks to lose someone you love, always.
Politically though... never mind. I’m in a good mood today. I’ll be nice.
Then-Congressman Dick Mallary, who had been expected to succeed the left-wing RINO George Aiken in 1974 (instead beaten by Leaky Leahy) would’ve been no gem, either. Mallary made a legislative comeback decades later and cut his career short when he supported gay marriage and he quit the GOP as well.
Sadly, Vermont’s GOP made the decision that “going left” was to be the future for the party back around the 1950s. Had it gone right, the state might not have ended up as it did.
Fast Freddie. Machtley actually defeated him when St. Germain was the sitting House Banking Chairman, an incredible upset. That district had not elected a Republican since 1938.
No comment.
Right, amazing, what has the reason?
I can’t believe we had both RI seats for that 2-year period. We may never get either again, I think that queer Cicciline would have lost in he was in the 2nd district, but the 1st is too rat.
How come Matchely lost to Lincoln Almond in the gubernatorial primary? it sounds like Almond was considered a has been at that point.
The 50's? Before the hippies came? Real smart, now they hardly exist.
I think you have that backwards. ;d
St. Germain's actions directly led to the S&L Banking crisis. The irony was that it was basically repeated again with the more recent mortgage crisis (yet the Dems didn't pay for that).
"I can’t believe we had both RI seats for that 2-year period. We may never get either again, I think that queer Cicciline would have lost in he was in the 2nd district, but the 1st is too rat."
Came close in 1990 to getting both Senate seats when Claudine Schneider jumped into the race against Stillborn Pell, but that didn't work out for her (and unfortunately, Jack Reed got her seat, and then Pell's). We may yet win one again, as I think Sissy-Lean (I couldn't believe the gay guy wants his name pronounced that way instead of the proper Italian "Chich-ee-lean") is potentially vulnerable to the right candidate. Of course, RI will drop to a single At-Large House seat probably in 2023 (and at the latest, 2033). One reason I think state consolidation for these "baby states" ought to commence before long (merge it with either CT or MA). RI did have 3 members at its zenith from 1913-1933, largely due to the influx of immigrants.
"How come Machtley lost to Lincoln Almond in the gubernatorial primary? it sounds like Almond was considered a has been at that point."
It was curious. Almond himself had run for Congress in 1968 as well as for Governor in 1978, losing both. Still, as a long-time U.S. Attorney in the state, he was a high-profile figure (serving for 21 out of 24 years between 1969-1993, except for 1978-81). Sheldon Whitehouse succeeded him in that office in 1993, so it did prove a good jumping-off point for higher office. Barone didn't have much of an explanation, either, for the race. Machtley was leading by huge margins, both against Gov. Bruce Sundlun (who didn't survive renomination, anyhow) and Almond, but Almond turned it around and beat him 58-42%. Almond was probably a bit more Conservative than Machtley, anyhow, so it worked out OK (with the exception of that termite Kennedy taking Machtley's seat over a good man, Dr. Kevin Vigilante).
Remember that up until that point, there had been a standard operating procedure within the VT GOP for how folks climbed up the political ladder. They would alternate every 2 years or so, also between pols from one side of the state and then the other. There weren’t any particular limitations on Congress or Senate.
In any event, for Governor, usually said person would start out in the House or Senate, move up to leadership there, usually Speaker, then would next climb up to Lieutenant Governor, and then Governor. For the most part, it went like clockwork. Starting in the 1840s, almost everyone served the 2 years (2 one-year terms and then 1 2-year term after they increased the term). Then starting with 1928, they generally began serving 2 2 year terms (with a few exceptions). All but 2 Governors (excluding one who succeeded a resigned Guv) served two terms between 1927-1959.
Where it got upended was in the 1950s. When the Conservative GOP woman Consuelo Bailey moved up from House Speaker to Lieutenant Governor in 1954, she ordinarily would’ve then served 2 terms and moved up to Governor in 1959, but was not to be. The “power structure” essentially told her that the state “wasn’t ready” for a woman Governor and that she was “too Conservative.” They forced her out in favor of young liberal Bob Stafford, who took the Lt Governorship from her after a single term in 1956, and from there, he succeeded to the Governorship in 1958.
1958 marked the last time the Lt Governorship provided a reliable stepping-stone to Governor, and since only one person directly succeeded to the top office (and that due to the death of the Governor, that being the execrable Howard Dean). That was also the year the Democrats took the House seat with ultraleftist William Meyer (which they would not win again until 2006 (not counting Bernie Sanders as the “Independent Socialist”). Gov. Stafford had to abandon a second-term bid in order to take out Meyer in 1960, which he did (and would then remain in the House and Senate for the next 28 years until Jeffords succeeded him in the latter body).
In 1962, the Dems upended freshman Governor Ray Keyser, Jr. and have since alternated the office with the GOP (so since 1960, neither party has had 2 successive Governors). So presumably Dem Gov. Peter Shumlin will either be defeated or replaced with a Republican if the current trend holds.
Sissy-lean’s family must have gotten used to the incorrect pronunciation. That happens I guess, there was a ballplayer named Matt Diaz who pronounces his name Die-az.
Speaking of RI. The rat primary for Governor is wide open.
http://ripr.org/post/wpri-projo-poll-has-mixed-news-raimondo-taveras-pell
General Treasurer (that’s what they call it, would sound better the other way around ) Gina Raimondo 32%, Providence Mayor Angel Taveras 27%, Pell’s Grandspawn Clay Pell 26%.
No recent GOP polls but the last one had presumed GOP frontrunner Allan Fung surprising trailing Ken Block, who was the founder of the “Moderate Party” and ran in the last general election, where he placed 4th with 6.5%. It sounds like Block is fiscal conservative.
Ah yes that, did that Vermont system have a name? I imagine rats campaigned against it.
“So presumably Dem Gov. Peter Shumlin will either be defeated or replaced with a Republican if the current trend holds.”
I hope so. The party is a low point right now.
With that name I’m guessing Conseulo Bailey was Catholic.
Probably, although it should be noted that Fiorello LaGuardia was an Episcopalian and Rafael Edward “Ted” Cruz is a Southern Baptist. And isn’t Congressman Cicilline Jewish?
He is indeed, I didn’t know that. His mother is Jewish, he got her faith.
I hadn’t seen any polling on the RI GOP primary. Fung has always been the presumed front-runner, so if he loses to Block, that will be an upset.
I don’t know if there was a name for the system, it was just the status quo of how things were done. The VT Democrats were so weak (remember, they didn’t elect a Governor from 1854 until 1962 or Congressman from 1850 until 1958 or Senator from 1821 (when it was still Jeffersonians) until 1974), they weren’t in much of a position to make inroads against it.
No, Bailey was Episcopalian. Her maiden name was Northrop.
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