Secretary of State Deb Markowitz had to be crying in her tea Monday when Senate President Pro Tempore Peter Shumlin announced creation of a fund to help Vermont National Guard members come home for the holidays.

The very next day, Markowitz would be kicking off her office’s "Service-for-Service" project, which encourages Vermont schoolchildren to help Guard families.

Both Markowitz and Shumlin are seeking the Democratic nomination for governor. Both are launching these programs as part of their day jobs, with both citing all the calls their offices have received from families seeking help.

Both, it’s not hard to imagine, would love it if people thought what they were doing was so swell that they support them for governor.

Markowitz kicked off her program in Cavendish, where students raised $1,400 for the Vermont National Guard Charitable Foundation, the very same organization that is collecting money for Shumlin’s program.

Markowitz’s program will help the Guard members pay for calls home from Afghanistan. Shumlin’s seeks to fly Guard members home from Indiana for their holiday leave just before the go to Afghanistan.

Are any more of the five Democratic and one Republican candidates for governor raising money for the Guard? Speak now - or wait until tomorrow.

- Terri Hallenbeck

Labels: Deb Markowitz, Peter Shumlin, vermont politics