Sen. Jim Jeffords didn’t take too kindly to seeing his face on the National Republican Congressional Committee’s ad for Republican U.S. House candidate Martha Rainville.
The retiring senator has written to the committee’s chairman, Rep. Tom Reynolds of western New York, and asked that the NRCC cease running the ad immediately. Jeffords, who says he is not endorsing candidates this year, then comes pretty darn close to doing that.
“I must advise that while I think Martha Rainville is a talented leader, I feel very strongly that the country will be better served with the Democrats gaining control of the House of Representatives in the 110th Congress. Therefore, I believe Peter Welch is a better choice for Vermont,” Jeffords says in the letter.
The NRCC has no plans to stop running the ad, which first appeared on Vermont TVs last Thursday, spokesman Ed Patru said. The committee doesn’t consider Jeffords’ presence in the ad as a suggestion that he’s endorsing Rainville, Patru said.
— Terri Hallenbeck
