TV guy big fail

By Ted Cohen/Patch.com

Even with a whopping $50,000 in unprecedented campaign gold Stewart Ledbetter couldn't parlay his TV name into a retirement political job in Vermont.

Ledbetter, recently retired as a TV newsman, never gave a definable reason for needing to knock off any of three state senators - other than trading on his name.

The incumbents made clear they resented what they perceived to be his self-presumed entitlement.

Ledbetter's race was perhaps most notable for an awkward generally circulated apology issued via email just a day before the Democrat primary election by a Burlington city councilor - Joan Shannon - for her having claimed that Ledbetter had the endorsement of former Gov. Howard Dean, D-Vermont.

"It was my error in stating he had endorsed Stewart," Shannon emailed party advocates.

In fact, Dean's endorsement was one of the most visible missing from Ledbetter's campaign portfolio.

Ironically, Shannon excluded from her "apology" email any reference to Ledbetter's endorsement by Vermont's Republican Gov. Phil Scott, who was looking to support more moderate Democrat candidates in the opposing party's primary.

Shannon, a 20-year veteran councilor, in the spring lost resoundingly to a city political new-ager in her first mayoral bid.