Dubie dines with men who stare at dictators

Redistricting looms in 2012 and the Republicans are going full tilt to elect as many governors as possible.
Newscorp's Rupert Murdoch just gave one of the biggest single contributions ever to the Republican Governor’s Association.

Thursday the RGA released its first TV ad supporting Vermont Lt. Governor candidate Brian Dubie narrated by none other than our current Governor Jim Douglas (do you suppose words come out of Dubie’s mouth?). This strategy of outside advertising dollar support may be what lead to Brian Dubie’s dinner date with some heavy hitters two weeks ago. Or maybe it was purely a social event. Regardless candidate Dubie is running with fast crowd these days.

Brian Dubie was one of 15-20 dinner guests with at Topridge a 207 acre Adirondack “camp”. The historic camp features buildings inspired by Russian architecture complete onion domes. The host at Topridge was Harlan Crow a wealthy, actually very wealthy and by Vermont standard very conservative Dallas Texas business man.

Lt. Gov. Brian Dubie, the only Republican running to replace Gov. James Douglas, was a guest at a dinner for a very select group of visitors to upstate New York about two weeks ago.
Among the 15 or 20 people at the dinner were former President George Bush and former first lady Laura Bush, U.S. Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas and Harlan Crow. Times-Argus

The Dallas real estate magnate Crow is also a trustee of the George Herbert Walker Bush Presidential Library and of the American Enterprise Institute and a founding member of Grover Norquist’s Club for Growth. He also is reported to have provided funding for the Swiftboat Veteran’s for Truth.

In addition to funding conservative politics Dubie’s dinner host Harlan Crow has another interesting pastime,collecting statues of dictators and fallen despots.

Nearly 20 statues of leaders and heroes of authoritarian regimes occupy the rolling private garden of Harlan R. Crow, a Dallas real estate investor. Heavyweights like Stalin, Mao and Lenin stand among lesser-knowns like Klement Gottwald, the first Communist president of Czechoslovakia.

Dubie’s PAC men

Green Mountain Prosperity a recent political action committee formed as an offshoot of Haley Barbour’s Republican Governor’s Association is funneling big money to Vermont gubernatorial candidate Brian Dubie.
It is reported Green Mount Prosperity raised nearly $160, 00 of $100.00 or more with some of the money having been originally donated to the RGA.

Some who made checks out to the RGA have complained that they never intended to give money to GMP for a Vermont election race. How checks initially made out to the national RGA and funneled to the new PAC Green Mountain Prosperity should be listed remains unresolved according to reports.

Nowhere on its July 15 campaign finance filing with the secretary of state’s office does the PAC note that it is an offshoot of the RGA or that its purpose is to help Dubie. The office does have on a file a spreadsheet showing a registration of a "bank designation" in February of "Green Mountain Prosperity PAC (fka[sic] Republican Governors Association - Vermont PAC)."
Dubie’s campaign denied any knowledge of Green Mountain Prosperity PAC, but welcomed the help.

Here in Vermont in 2004 the RGA was the subject of a superior court injunction forcing it to halt running campaign ads after their funding was thought to have violated the law by failing to register as a PAC and properly report its advertising expenditures.
Its worth noting that Dennise Casey Vermont Governor Jim Douglas’s longtime campaign staffer and Deputy Chief of Staff who left in 2009 now works at the RGA. In the past Virginia gubernatorial race, which may be a model for the Dubie campaign the RGA funded a last minute attack ad campaign against Bob McDonnell’s opponent.