Single-Minded Seeker

 Single-Minded Seeker    

Vermont Senators Sanders and Leahy back in their prime

    David Mayhew has a theory that all Members of Congress are single-minded seekers of reelection, and the Members of Congress achieve their reelection goals through advertising, position taking, and credit claiming. Mayhew's theory is dandy and all, but what happens when a Member of Congress makes the choice to retire? Well after doing some digging through Senator Leahy's social media pages, I can confidently say that Senator Leahy is a single-minded seeker of Vermont prosperity—his true homestyle. Since announcing his retirement, Leahy has been fighting tooth and nail for Vermont in terms of funding and human rights issues before his final day in office, and I believe he is using Mayhew's tools to do so. 

First Up: Advertising 

    Leahy has turned his Facebook page into a homage for Vermont's small businesses and upstanding citizens. Earlier this week, Leahy stopped in Vergennes, Vermont, and toured their small town. He tagged a few local business like Lu Lu, Daily Chocolate, and Momument Farms Dairy in a Facebook post shortly after stopping by. He also gives frequent Facebook shoutouts to do-gooders such as a pair of Vermont teens who organized an event for Holocaust Remembrance day or University of Vermont students who created the Academic Research Commercialization. A program which helps entrepreneurial students bring their ideas and inventions to life. 

Leahy and Marcelle totally not posing for reelection pics 

Next up: Position Taking 

    Senator uses his Instagram and Twitter accounts to share his opinions of pressing issues. My personal favorite Instagram tactic of Leahy's is when he posts a a seemly irrelevant picture and then captions a political statement. See Exhibit A  for more details. On Twitter, he matches the pictures and captions much better. (See Exhibit B) But this man is 81 years old and using social media platforms, so you gotta give him credit. 

Finally: Credit Claiming 

    This is where Leahy has championed for Vermont the most. Since announcing retirement, Leahy has sponsored the Reauthorization of the Violence Against Women Act and co-sponsored the Dairy Pricing Opportunity Act. This act will allow dairy farmers the opportunity to have a say in the pricing of their products. If passed, this legislation would be huge for Vermont farmers and farmers seeing as the state leads New England in dairy production. Finally, Leahy is doing good on his promise to direct as much funding towards Vermont as he can. In early December, the senator announced with the help of Vermont Governor Phil Scott $68M in loans would be allocated to Vermont towns in order to install, expand or upgrade public water and waste systems, and just a few days ago, Leahy announced an additional $40M would be allocated to the Lake Champlain Program. These are just a handful of the acts the senator has recently announced, but none the less they all benefit Vermont and its' citizens. 

    

    Over his years in office, Senator Leahy has championed Vermont, but his main focus in his last few months has been giving back to the state which has provided him with so much. 

Exhibit A: Instagram - Sunsets and Voting Rights 

Exhibit B: Twitter (If you can't see, their sweaters say #equalpay)

*All of my information about Leahy's recent activities were found on various posts on his social media accounts*