Posted on 06/04/2002 7:18:53 PM PDT by RonDog
Leahy Dismisses Conservative Boycott Of Vermont
Burlington, Vermont - June 2, 2002
A radio talk show host is launching an attack against Senator Patrick Leahy reminiscent of the battle over civil unions. When Vermont adopted the landmark legislation giving homosexual couples the rights of marriage, an explosion of angry letters and emails flooded in from around the country. Some threatened to boycott Vermont entirely. Now comes another frenzy -- aimed at Leahy for blocking conservative judges from appointment to federal courts.
Leahy wins applause almost everywhere he goes here at home. After all, he's brought back a lot of federal money during his 28 years in Washington. The new City Market in Burlington never would have been built without the grant that Leahy secured. The crowd at the market's grand opening on Saturday was glad that he held up several Bush administration nominees to federal court -- including personal favorites of Attorney General John Ashcroft. Leahy joked, "I'll tell Attorney General Ashcroft I will speed up the process when he speeds up sending better people." the crowd cheered its approval.
But outside Vermont, among conservatives, Leahy has become a national lightning rod. The latest strike against him comes from syndicated radio talk show host Hugh Hewitt, who launched an email campaign to boycott Vermont tourism.
"It's targeted at Senator Leahy and it's all wrapped around the judicial nominations," Chris Barbieri of the Vermont Chamber of Commerce acknowledged. But he's not too worried. As a result of Leahy's block against the judicial nominations, the Chamber has received 250 emails threatening to cancel visits to Vermont.
"250 boycott emails is really nothing significant," he told Channel 3. "We get eight to eight-and-a-half million visitors every year. We get about five million in the summer and fall, and 250-300 is really a drop in the bucket. It's not really going to have any impact."
Leahy also dismissed the boycott: "As everybody has said, this happens about every year on one issue or another. And it ends up we just get publicity for Vermont and more people end up coming here."
"A rainy weekend in the summer costs us a lot more tourist business than this will ever cost us," Barbieri added.
Leahy says he'll move ahead with the majority of judge nominations, but don't expect him to budge on account of a boycott that appears to be a bust.
Andy Potter, Channel 3 news.
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