The Hand of Harlan

I told you the real behind-the-scenes Vermont Dems weren’t going to sit on their hands and watch Anthony Pollina play in the media spotlight for long. Trust me, they’re scrambling – and fighting. I happen to know because my little in-box has gotten some fun little misdirected missives over the last 24 hours. The talk yesterday – that Louis Porter nailed this morning – was a possible candidacy for governor by Peter Galbraith, the former diplomat, Iraq war critique and son of noted economist, John Kenneth Galbraith.

Galbraith represents the third trail-balloon candidacy that has Senator Peter Shumlin’s fingerprints all over it. And it’s no coincidence that all three people Shumlin is trying to push over the cliff – er, make that: run for office – are people with little to no chance of winning. First, as you recall, it was Vincent Illuzzi. Then came Pollina. And now it’s Galbraith. Shumlin just wants a nice sacrificial lamb to come in and soften Douglas up for what he hopes will be his run for the office in 2010.

But there’s one big stumbling block to Shumlin’s political hopes: The real behind the scenes kingmaker of Vermont politicians, Harlan Sylvester of Smith Barney money fame, can’t stand him. And don’t feel left out if you don’t know who Sylvester is because he keeps way behind the scenes. But, sadly, if you want to win the governorship in Vermont, you’ve got to have the blessings of Sylvester and his cadre of well-heeled business leaders who fall into line the minute Pope Harlan anoints his chosen one.

Don’t believe me? Who do you think was behind Dean’s stronghold on the office? Harlan Sylvester. And who gave his blessings to Douglas’ pursuit of the office? Harlan Sylvester. And who keeps slamming the door on the legitimate Dem challengers to Douglas: Harlan Sylvester. Yep, when the rest of the state was thinking Doug Racine was going to walk right into Dean’s office in 2002, the insiders knew that the Sylvester machine was on Douglas’ side. If you’d like to see who Sylvester runs with, just go here and check out the names.

Oh, and by the way, the word on the street is that while Sylvester may not be in love with Douglas in the same way he was with Dean, he’s still mighty proud of how Douglas is willing to go to bat for his Smith Barney clients. It was Sylvester who got Dean to poke the ideological eye of the Dems and pass his massive Republican-like tax cut in his first year in office. Here’s how the illusive Sylvester spoke about Dean in an article in the American Prospect in 2002:

Sylvester praises Dean for forcing through a dramatic tax cut during his first year in office, over the objections of “the left of the party [who] wanted to soak the wealthy,” Sylvester explains, leaning back in his chair in an expansive office just off Lake Champlain. “One-quarter of 1 percent of Vermonters pay 16 percent of state income taxes,” he says. “That’s 829 people, and a lot of them are clients of mine. Four of them moved out of state rather than pay Vermont taxes.”

Hmm, Dean sure changed his tune once he got out from under Sylvester and hit the national stage, huh?

Oops, ran out of time again. I’ll be back later with a little look into the recent huffing and puffing of Peter Welch. Stay tuned.

[P.S. Yes, those are my horses on the front page of the Times Argus this morning. If you missed it, click here for a look.]