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Progressives concentrate on keeping major party status

MONTPELIER — The Vermont Progressive Party will concentrate on Statehouse races and the state auditor post in this year's upcoming election, two leaders of the party said Thursday.

Anthony Pollina, who has run unsuccessfully for lieutenant governor and governor in the past, said he will not run for statewide election this year so that he can continue working on a project with Vermont dairy farmers. Pollina said he may run again for statewide office "in the near future."

Meanwhile, Martha Abbott, party chairwoman, will step down and run for auditor. Pollina will take over as party chairman. More audits need to be done focusing on the success of various programs rather than on financial management, said Abbott, 56.

Abbott's campaign, expected to begin in a week or two, also will likely maintain the progressive's status as the third "major party" in the state. At least one statewide candidate from a given party must win at least 5 percent of the vote to maintain the status as a major party.

That status has put the six members of the Progressive Party who serve in the Statehouse on equal footing with Republicans and Democrats, Pollina and Abbott maintained.

It also means the party has a primary.

The two, who announced their plans at the Statehouse, strongly rejected the idea that not running candidates in other races, such as governor, lieutenant governor, U.S. Senate and U.S. House, means the party is weakening.

"We are the strongest and fastest-growing third party anywhere in the country," Pollina said. "What we are doing is very intelligently building a political movement and a political party."

The announcement likely will be welcome news for Democrats running for governor and lieutenant governor.

However, it may be bad news for Thomas Salmon. The Rockingham Democrat and son of former governor Thomas Salmon is running for auditor against incumbent Republican Randy Brock, 60.

Salmon said Thursday he expects to run, although, he has not made a formal announcement.

As a preteen when his father was governor, he said he didn't think much of politics and is a somewhat reluctant candidate. But after witnessing the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina as a member of the U.S. Naval Reserves, Salmon said he realized he should enter political life, Salmon said.

He currently serves on his town's Selectboard, but said he believes that in the job of auditor can make large improvements in the state, he said. "That office could really shore up how we spend money in this state," he said.

Earlier this week Salmon, 42, wrote to the Progressive Party, telling its members he was planning on running for the job. He said he is surprised Abbott is running.

"The issues they have that they feel strongly about do not seem like ones you would take up in the auditor's job," Salmon said.

However, Abbott said the office should concentrate more than it has under Brock on broader performance reviews of programs, rather than financial audits.

Brock said many audits look at both financial and performance results.

For instance, his office is beginning a large audit of Medicaid, Brock said. That report will look at how money is spent, and how much is paid for goods and services, but it also will look at how effective the program is, he said.

"It's a massive audit," he said. "In my view, all of our work has to have a relationship to finance."

The important thing is that any reviews are based on objective criterion and are not politically motivated, Brock said.

Abbott's work background is as a tax preparer, and she founded Impendent Tax Services Inc. in Burlington. "I have 24 years thinking about the fairness of our tax system," she said.

The Progressives also will focus on races for the Vermont House, Pollina and Abbott said. The party already holds six seats there, and hopes to add to its rolls.

Already 15 candidates have come forward to announce they will run, and several more are expected to do so, Pollina and Abbott said.

Speaker of the House Gaye Symington, a Jericho Democrat, said that in districts in which there is not an incumbent Democrat, her party may work with viable Progressive candidates.

"I would hope we can work together and not at cross-purposes," said Symington. "If the outcome is that a conservative Republican gets elected, I don't think that is very constructive" for either party, she said.

"Both Democrats and Progressives are picking up seats in the Northeast Kingdom, in Bennington County and Rutland County," Symington said.

Contact Louis Porter at louis.porter@rutlandherald.com.