By Keith Whitcomb Jr. THE RUTLAND HERALD
Vermont Democrats have accused several members of the state GOP of being fascists.
In a July 19 statement, Jim Dandeneau, executive director of the Vermont Democratic Party, congratulated Vermont GOP Chair Paul Dame for disavowing the candidacy of Mark Coester, who is running for the Republican party’s nomination to the Vermont State Senate in Windham County, as well as for U.S. Senate as an independent.
Dandeneau cites a VTDigger piece quoting Dame where Dame encourages people to vote for the other two Republicans on the ballot.
Coester has drawn criticism for flags and symbols associated with him at parades. According to another VTDigger piece, at a July 4 parade in Colchester his logging truck bore stickers featuring the Pepe the Frog character, while someone riding on the truck carried a flag with a yoke and a bundle of arrows on it, a symbol connected to Falangism, which some scholars have connected to fascism.
According to the Anti-Defamation League, the Pepe the Frog image, while not originally a hate symbol, has been adopted by hate groups in recent years, however the group notes it depends on the context in which the image is being used.
“We are encouraged by the Vermont Republican Party’s newfound opposition to fascism, ‘’ states the release from Dandeneau. “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.”
The Democrat’s release lists 23 Republicans, a mix of candidates, current and former party officials, and office holders.
Among them is Greg Thayer, of Rutland City, who is seeking the GOP’s nod to run for lieutenant governor.
“There is not one person on the Democrats’ list that is a fascist, including Mr. Coester,” he stated Friday in an email. “They are all great liberty fighting Constitutionalist Vermonters that are highly concerned in the direction that the Democratic party of BIG government, of total government, control policies is doing to hard-working Vermonters.”
He then accused Democrats of rioting and challenged them to denounce it.
“I hope that Democrats will be ready for real conversation and debate on policies affecting Vermonters, and stop their lies, hate and control tactics during the General Election,” he stated.
Another GOP leader the Democrats called out was Terry Burke, Rutland County Republican chair. She stated in an email Friday that she hadn’t seen the Democrats’ letter but believes the term “fascist” is often misused.
“Personally, I am about as far from this ideology as anyone could get as I believe our U.S. Constitution has allowed for the best system of the world (when followed!) based on representative government with checks and balances between the 3 branches that is meant to defend and promote the inalienable rights of individuals and private property,” she wrote.
Coester said Thursday the VTDigger pieces regarding him are “twisted.” He said the person carrying the yoke and arrows flag on his truck was a young man of color to whom the symbol meant freedom.
“This is all drama and (expletive) and the left likes to twist things and try to make people look bad,” he said. “Paul Dame, the Vermont GOP chair, isn’t anything but a Democrat anyways, so he jumped on board, so the Democrats are rallying behind him.”
When asked about the Pepe the Frog stickers, Coester said that frogs were one of the seven plagues visited on Egypt in the Bible. He then said he got the stickers after having the front of his logging truck repaired, to serve as symbolic lookouts of sorts, akin to graphics sometimes seen on airplanes.
“I don’t care what meaning they want to put to a picture of a frog,” he said.
Dame said Thursday that the Democrat’s release is a cheap attack.
“It’s quite the stretch from a guy carrying fascist flags in a parade this year to some document I have not seen from two years ago,” Dame said. “Many of the people they list aren’t on the state committee anymore, so they’re two years late to that.”
He claimed Democrats would rather talk about the events of 2020 and early 2021 rather than the economy.
Dame said he doesn’t consider Coester a Republican because he chose to run for the Senate seat as an independent. He added that giving attention to candidates like Coester, even to criticize them, raises their profile.
“From my perspective, Joe Biden won the election,” he said. “I understand people have concerns about things that may have happened on election day, but every state certified the results, and once those states certify those results there’s nothing that can be done at the federal level.”
Anyone who engaged in violence on Jan. 6, 2021, at the Capitol should be punished appropriately, he said, but noted that many showed up simply to attend what they believed would be one of President Donald Trump’s last rallies.
Dame said he hasn’t been watching the Jan. 6 hearings because he believes voters are more concerned with other issues.
“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,” reads the statement from Dandeneau, adding that if they won’t then Republicans like Gov. Phil Scott, and former U.S. Vermont district attorney, Christina Nolan, who is running for Senate, should.
keith.whitcomb @rutlandherald.com
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