By Guy Page
On Election Day last Tuesday, Art Peterson of Clarendon proved that a determined challenger can defeat an established Democratic incumbent, without any help from Facebook.
Seven days ago Peterson was a first-time Republican candidate for the Democrat/Progressive controlled Legislature. The outspoken conservative activist was trying unseat a longtime, entrenched Democrat. Making that tough job harder was a mysterious, unexplained October 16 blackout of his Facebook account.
Nevertheless, he won. He and leading Rutland-2 district vote-getter incumbent Republican Tom Burditt unseated Democrat Dave Potter, who had served since 2005. Peterson is among the net-gain of four Republican votes that ended the Democrat/Progressive supermajority. This coming year, the Dem/Progs will need absolute, first-vote fealty and at least one independent to override a veto by Gov. Phil Scott.
State Rep. Dave Potter, left, and Rep.-elect Art Peterson
Potter, a soft-spoken, retired Rutland schoolteacher, co-sponsored controversial legislation like the Global Warming Solutions Act, changes to Act 250, and the plastic bag ban. Still, it would not be fair to label Potter as a legislator of all-things-liberal – for example, he joined the mostly-Republican vote against S54, the retail marijuana law. Yet on June 19 he voted for HR 21, which rebuked both President Trump and Vermont for racial injustice at the height of the nationwide George Floyd-BLM protests.
For whatever reason(s), West Rutland, Clarendon, Wallingford and Proctor voters gave the Vermont Legislature seat to Peterson. It may not be coincidental that Clarendon and West Rutland were among the eight Rutland County towns to vote for President Donald Trump.
Peterson has been in the thick of things on the local level.
In October 2019, the Town of Clarendon became the second Vermont town to ban the retail sale of marijuana. It was a pre-emptive move in the event the Legislature approved retail pot (which it did this spring). Months earlier, as a citizen activist, Peterson researched anti-retail pot legislation for the selectboard.
This July, Peterson helped secure 500 citizen signatures on a petition opposing Mill River school district support for flying the Black Lives Matter flag. He was quoted thus in the Rutland Herald: “The Black Lives Matter flag is a symbol of an organization with Marxist roots, it’s a symbol of an organization that’s continually involved with violence, and when we put that flag on that flag pole we are telling the world we agree with them….And I don’t think the majority of the tax payers of this community agree with it any more than they would agree with a Nazi flag hanging on that flag pole, it’s about the same thing to me. We don’t need to politicize and sexualize our children’s education, and I feel very strongly that’s what we’re doing here.”
Peterson received plenty of local, state and national attention (see episode of the Todd Starnes show) for the BLM flag petition, both pro and con. He recently emailed to Vermont Daily: My opposition to ANY flags on school flag poles came about because I feel it is absolutely wrong to politicize the education of our children. My opposition to legalizing marijuana is because I see it as a health and safety issue which will have long term negative societal consequences, the position taken by both medical and law enforcement experts. Whether or not it helped me or hurt me at the polls I have no feel for; I will call them as I see them. At the very least the voters know EXACTLY how I feel.”
Without warning, Peterson’s Facebook page was dropped on October 16. It reappeared briefly in Vermont Daily’s newsfeed this morning with a post saying “Back From The Dead!” but Vermont Daily was unable to locate it a second time. (This is no doubt due to our own cyber-unsavviness.)
On October 16 Vermont Daily received this email from Peterson: “I thought I would let you know this. Tuesday morning my account was disabled, no reason given, no message, no email. Nothing. I didn’t know if any other conservative voices in the state had experienced the same thing.” On November 5 he wrote, “As far as I know my Facebook account is still disabled. I have received no communication from Facebook as to why it was disabled or any time frame for when it will be re-activated. Congressman Peter Welch’s office has been in contact with me about it with no resolution to date.”
With or without Facebook, Art Peterson seems to have a knack of making his views known. State House, here he comes.
Read more of Guy Page’s reports. Vermont Daily is sponsored by True North Media.
At this point in time Rep. Peter Welch is the embodiment of ineffective representation in his appearance of collusion with Big Tech’s cancel-culture assault upon conservatives. It doesn’t come as a surprise to see Rep. Welch’s ‘Algorithm On Thorazine’ approach at getting to the truth regarding Face Book practices.
Art:
Great job on election day, and always keeping your sights set on the objective. Those of us who have had service in the Army know that the objective is never, never lost regardless of the curve balls thrown in the process. This concept of adjusting and carrying on with the tools we have at our disposal keeps the objective in our reach, and it worked in this case for you.
Great job Art, and God Bless.
Congratulations Art Peterson. Your election proves that that these job killing democrat progressives can be defeated. Vermonters need to know that getting more of these folks out of office will make life in this state a lot better.
Congratulations to Art Peterson on his well earned and deserved victory.
The voters observed Peterson’s community leadership in presenting his case against flying the Black Lives Matter flag at the Mill River school. By doing so, he simply exercised his constitutional rights to air his views on a matter of community interest…….The community rewarded Peterson with an electoral victory that will sent him to the Vermont legislature……A powerful statement of support for Peterson and his thinking from the community.
Now compare Peterson’s situation to what has happened to Windsor School principal Tiffany Riley. She also expressed her views on Black Lives Matter in her community. In doing so she indicated that she believes that black lives do matter, but was troubled by the coercive tactics used by BLM movement in carrying out its agenda…………Ms. Riley was fired and unjustifiably humiliated and harmed by the district School Board.
How can there be two such divergent outcomes from two situations so remarkably similar?
One group, either the Mt. Ascutney School Board or the the hundreds of Rutland District -2 voters, made a gross error in judgement. Generally speaking, the voters usually get it right when they go to the polls.
To see if the Mt. Ascutney School Board got it right, we may ultimately see what the Court has to say about the fairness and legality of the judgement in this matter. In the meantime, the School Board may want to find a way to equitably settle this matter with Ms. Riley as a jury is most likely to think like the voters and that could prove to be very costly to the School Board and impacted town’s citizens.
The old adage of “Stop digging when you’re in a hole”, is advice the Mt. Ascutney School Board may want to heed after seeing the outcome of the Art Peterson win in the court of public opinion.
The decision concerning Ms. Riley also tells us quite a bit about the school board members. Operating in their own tiny bubble, oblivious to the thoughts, desires or beliefs of those they purport to represent, they decided to embark on a vendetta to prove something to their equally demented supporters.
It’s a shame they can’t be held personally liable for the damages their fellow citizens will ultimately have to pay .
There are lessons to be learned here, but history tells us they’ll be quickly forgotten.
It was good talking with you Art, at the Clarendon Transfer Station all those weeks ago. I’m glad we met. Good job, well done. Take care and maintain. “This We’ll Defend.”
Good job Art Peterson – when social media shuts you down, you’re over the right target.