Political notes: Weekend with Bernie and the Chester GOP; now go vote

By Cynthia Prairie
©2026 Telegraph Publishing LLC

It was a busy Saturday in Chester, coming off two political scandals — one a whisper campaign and one ignited by two MAGA trolls.

The whisper campaign was apparently snuffed out when the main target — Select Board member Arne Jonynas —  wrote a letter to the editor to disabuse the public of the notion behind the campaign.

The trolls, however, successfully forced a Green Mountain Unified school board candidate to withdraw from the race for the safety of his wife.  Jesse Bailey’s name, however, remains on Tuesday’s ballot.

Then early Saturday evening, the Chester Republican Committee and a group called the Concerned Citizens of Chester held a candidates forum for those in contested races in which they were given three minutes to speak, before a social hour began. About 45 people filled the back dining room of the Fullerton Inn to hear from the candidates.

Most of the candidates for both Select Board and the GM Unified School District board showed up. Those who attended were Select Board candidates Kelly Spaulding, Tim Roper, Steve Mancuso, Lauren Fierman, Jerry Ucci and Arne Jonynas and school board hopefuls Ucci, Randy Miles and Jeff Hance. Patricia Benelli had had a previous commitment and, even prior to dropping out, Bailey told The Telegraph that he did not intend to attend.

Each candidate was warmly received with a round of applause at their introduction and at their finish. Seems that the one candidate who won the most laugh points — and likely a few undecided votes  — was school board incumbent Jeff Hance, whose opening line – in response to the applause – was a deadpan, “Thank you for the clap.”

Sometimes a dance party is just a dance party

Buzz circulated about the event that U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders was holding that night at Chester Town Hall, billed as a Winter Dance Party. A few Republicans speculated that Sanders was holding the event to stir up the Democrats in an area where the GOP was making a resurgence.

I asked Sanders’ State Director Kathyrn Van Haste, who was standing in the Town Hall vestibule as guests poured in. She said no, the GOP was not the impetus. Sanders, she said, began holding these dances last year, with two. Chester was just lucky enough to be the site of the third one since he has not been here in a while. From my viewpoint, that would be quite awhile.

The second floor was bedazzled, a DJ stood on stage spinning rock ‘n’ roll favorites from the 1950s (Buddy Holly) onward, and a disco ball lit up the darkened room. Just like a prom.

Sanders arrived at 8:09, coming from earlier dinner event. Taking the stage to welcome everyone, Sanders spoke less than a minute. In his staccato voice, he said, people wonder why he was putting on a dance in Chester, “The world is falling apart. We need to do a dance in Chester Vermont.” The crowd boogied away.

He then went into the crowd to dance a bit, chat with people and to, as one person told me later, take “an insane amount of pictures” with as many attendees as possible. Word is there were no partisan politics and even a few of the 250+ people in attendance were indeed Republican.

VOTE VOTE VOTE VOTE

Just a reminder: Tonight is Town Meeting in Chester at Chester Town Hall, 556 Elm St. The meeting starts at 6 p.m. and attendees will vote on 17 articles from the floor.  You can read about them as well as issues on the March 3 Australian ballot here.

Then balloting takes place from 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. on Tuesday, March 3, also Chester Town Hall, 556 Elm St. Learn about the Select Board candidates here and here. And learn about the Green Mountain Unified School District candidates here and here.