Rainville eyed run against Jeffords as a Democrat

By Shay Totten | Vermont Guardian

Posted July 26, 2006

WILLISTON — From her opening salvo into Vermont politics and at just about every public appearance she makes, Martha Rainville likes to talk about how she was courted by both Democrats and Republicans.

Long before she dipped her toe into the political waters as a Republican, Rainville in early 2005 sought out top Democrats to back her planned bid as a Democrat against Sen. Jim Jeffords.

At the time, February 2005, Jeffords was still expected to run for reelection, and he was beginning to rack up endorsements from some of Vermont’s top politicians, both Democrats and Republicans.

From the week of Feb. 8-15, 2005, Rainville and Judy Shailor, Rainville’s top aide at the Vermont National Guard who would later help launch her campaign committee, made it clear that Rainville wanted to move into politics — as a Democrat.

This runs counter to the narrative Rainville often tells publicly — that it was the Democrats who approached her, and she rebuffed their advances.

In fact, according to one individual contacted by Shailor at the time, Rainville was thinking about politics before anyone knocked on her door.

On Feb. 9, 2005, former Gov. Howard Dean, who was about to be elected chairman of the Democratic National Committee, said on the steps of a Washington brewery that he intended to support Jeffords’ bid for reelection as a way to show how he would be a different sort of DNC chairman. Jeffords, who was in the crowd, joined Dean on the steps.

Within days, Shailor called Luke Albee, then chief of staff for Sen. Patrick Leahy, on his office cell phone late in the afternoon. Albee, who said he wasn’t sure if he had met Shailor before, said she was irate over Dean’s decision and made it clear that Rainville was thinking seriously about running against Jeffords as a Democrat.

“In my 20 years of politics, it was one of the most bizarre phone calls I had ever received, given Sen. Jeffords at the time was a hero to Democrats not just in Vermont, but around the country,” said Albee.

Shailor, contacted by the Guardian about the phone call with Albee, failed to address it directly.

Instead, she said that Rainville was talking with people on both sides of the aisle at the time.

“It is no secret that Martha was heavily courted by both parties to run, and I had several conversations with people from both sides of the aisle around that time. These conversations included people on the governor’s staff as well as people from Sen. Leahy’s staff,” Shailor said in an e-mail to the Guardian. “I think the fact that both parties recruited Martha is a testament to her appeal as a strong leader and a person of integrity and trust. Martha is a person who listens to everyone, and has worked with politicians from both sides of the aisle, which is why she is such an effective leader. However, in her announcement she clearly spelled out that her principles and politics are most closely aligned with the Republican Party.”

Albee said Shailor’s recollections don’t match the timeline of events.

“It is disingenuous for her to play the role of reluctant patriot when they were clearly scheming long before it had dawned on the rest of us,” said Albee of himself and other Democrats.

Rainville has reiterated her version of events during her public appearances, saying she was recruited by “very influential members of the Democratic Party” to run for elective office, but realized, upon reflection, that “that party and their principles are simply not my principles.”

She said so again at a July 22 event where she was to receive a boost from Sen. John McCain, R-AZ. McCain’s plane couldn’t land at the Rutland State Airport due to weather, so Rainville was left to field questions alone.

At one point, a member of the audience asked her why she was running for Congress.

“I’ve always really enjoyed public service,” she replied. Given that she had set a self-imposed limit on her terms as adjutant general, she was wondering what she would do after her tenure at the Vermont National Guard, she said.

“All of the change started taking place, and influential members from both parties talked to me about running for elective office as a way to continue serving,” said Rainville.

A week after Shailor’s phone call to Albee, both Leahy and Gov. Jim Douglas came out in support of Jeffords’ reelection bid.

At the time, it was no secret that Democrats supported Jeffords’ reelection bid. After he left the Republican Party in 2001 to become an independent, shifting control of the Senate to Democrats, Vermont Democrats in 2003 bestowed their top honor, the David W. Curtis Award, on Jeffords.

In a Feb. 16, 2005, article, the Associated Press quoted Leahy as saying, “Jim has shown the kind of independence you expect in Vermont. I look at this as a Vermonter, not as a Republican or Democrat.”

In the same article, Douglas said that although he would support any “qualified Republican” who chose to run against Jeffords, he would not “actively campaign” against Jeffords.

Jeffords announced on April 20, 2005, that he would not seek reelection. That set off a scramble for two of Vermont’s three seats in Washington because U.S. Rep. Bernie Sanders, I-VT, announced he would seek Jeffords’ Senate seat.

Gov. Jim Douglas briefly considered a Senate run, as did Lt. Gov. Brian Dubie. Dubie was also thought to be a strong contender.

On the day that Jeffords announced his retirement, Jim Barnett, executive director of the Vermont Republican Party, put in a call to Rainville.

“I told her that I thought she would be a good candidate for some office, but we didn’t talk specifically about the House,” Barnett said. “At the time I didn’t know if she was a Republican, but I certainly hoped she was a Republican, and was glad to find out that she was.”