Vermont Business Magazine US Senate candidate Scott Milne made the following statement Wednesday morning: “After 42 years in Washington, Senator Leahy seems to think he should be immune from criticism, and that anyone who dares to call him out for his record of accepting millions of dollars in special interest money and tens of thousands of dollars in corporate-sponsored travel, or his hypocrisy on transparency in government as he continues to refuse to release his office records related to the EB-5 scandal, is running a negative campaign. To the contrary, reforming Washington and eliminating special interest influence peddling and ending political careerism is the most positive message a candidate can embrace, and it is required if we are to end the dysfunction in DC.
"If Senator Leahy does not want to be criticized, he can divest his campaign and PAC of special interest money, come clean on his EB-5 records, and explain why his fingerprints are all over the alleged Ponzi scheme in the Kingdom and EB-5 messes around the globe.
"And, if he wants to discuss any of the myriad of issues, from the national debt to immigration to health care to terrorism that have only gotten worse on his watch, he could have accepted my repeated calls for multiple broadcast debates. The fact that he will not tells you all you need to know about how more than four decades in Washington changes someone."