The Leahy legacy: Fidel, fundraising and influential friends

The cigar brown office chairs sitting in U.S. Sen. Patrick Leahy’s campaign office in Burlington date back to the 1970s, a vintage furniture set that would have fit perfectly in a room at the Watergate Hotel right around the time of the infamous break-in.

The Watergate scandal unraveled just ahead of Leahy’s first U.S. Senate run in 1974. Republican President Richard Nixon resigned in disgrace in August of that year. Democrats, electoral paws poised, were prepared to make huge electoral gains.

Leahy purchased the brown chairs for his office when he was Chittenden County state’s attorney, and donated them to his inaugural campaign. He ended up winning that 1974 race against Republican Richard Mallary by more than three points.

Like the candidate, the chairs have been in active use ever since.

Read more: http://vtdigger.org/2016/10/26/leahy-legacy-fidel-fundraising-influential-friends/