Brookfield, Vermont, June 6, 2020: Republican candidate for Governor John Klar today published an article chronicling the sloppy disregard for basic constitutional principles exhibited by Phil Scott in the past, and in events today. Phil Scott has said left-wing protesters who ignore COVID-19 orders may do so with impunity because they are exercising constitutional rights, but Scott has been unconcerned about the constitutionality of remote voting by the Legislature, mail-in voting for voters, or the constitutional rights of businesses, gun owners, and other Vermonters.
The Governor of Vermont must be the chief defender of Constitutional freedoms. Instead, Klar argues, Phil Scott has been its chief dismantler. The current Governor has erased well-recognized gun rights, proudly signed an extremist abortion law that denies any rights to children nearing birth (or killed criminally in the womb), defied federal immigration laws and authorities, opposed recognition of free speech protections for right-wing protesters (including silence against violent Middlebury disruptions), and refused to participate in political debates while finding time to champion attacks against Minnesota police officers.
Glaringly, while Phil Scott devotes substantial resources to address what he calls systemic Vermont racism, he does not oppose the effort by the Legislature to strip his office of any say on mail-in voting -- why is that suddenly permissible? Why doesn’t he fight this progressive takeover of our state? And concurrently, that same Progressive legislature seeks to enact sweeping legislation that will eclipse all traditional Constitutional protections -- the Global Warming Solutions Act.