UPDATED at bottom with additional comment from a Sanders spokesperson.

In his escalating feud with Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT), gasoline magnate Skip Vallee is preparing to go nuclear.

The owner of nearly 40 Vermont Mobil stations has produced a 30-second political attack ad accusing Sanders of siding with “big business” to damage the state’s environment. And he’s threatening to plunk down a chunk of cash to put his ad on-air.

Sanders and Vallee have been duking it out since July, when the senator launched a campaign against fuel dealers he believes are overcharging for gasoline in northwestern Vermont. Sanders has singled out Vallee for attempting to block Costco’s plan to build a self-serve gas station at its Colchester warehouse — just a stone’s throw away from one of Vallee’s own Maplefields gas stations.

“You ask, why does [the ad] seem like a political campaign?” Vallee says. “Because I think Bernie’s undertaking a political campaign to take a very public position on the Costco process. And this is meant to counteract his advocacy for the project.”

In the ad — which Vallee provided to Seven Days, but which has not yet aired on television — a narrator ruminates over Vermont’s “treasured history of protecting our natural environment.” In the background, a waterfall kicks up spray and a kayaker paddles Lake Champlain.

“Leaders like Sen. Patrick Leahy have fought to provide resources to make Vermont a cleaner place. That’s why we are so disappointed with Sen. Bernie Sanders,” the narrator says as the soundtrack turns darker. “Bernie sided with a multinational, billion-dollar corporation over Vermonters — supporting development that will increase traffic and idling emissions and phosphorous runoff in Lake Champlain, leading to more algae blooms.”

The ad concludes by asking viewers to “take action and tell Bernie he’s wrong to side with big business.”

Here it is:

 

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Paul Heintz was part of the Seven Days news team from 2012 to 2020. He served as political editor and wrote the "Fair Game" political column before becoming a staff writer.

24 replies on “Gasoline Magnate Skip Vallee Slams Sanders in New Ad”

  1. does anyone think that Skip has anything but his own pocketbook in mind in the deal with the COSTCO station?? Well, actually MY pocketbook and his vault. The rumor was that he went to COSTCO and told them outright that his company would not be providing any product to the proposed new station, but COSTCO apparently deals directly with wholesale suppliers themselves, so don’t need the middleman Skip represents.
    Well, actually that is a misrepresentation also, since SKIP is actually both the wholesale guy for your local station (if he already isn’t the owner renting the station to someone to make it look independent) AS WELL AS taking an extra dip into your wallet as the RETAIL seller via his Maplefield’s retail outlets. TWO BITES AT YOUR APPLE??
    Vermonters would be well served to just start to drive past the Mobil retail outlets, and try to get Skip’s hand out of our pocket a little. Being able to control or manipulate any market is not an example of the open and competitive market that most of these mega corporations advocate for from behind the green curtain of OZ.
    Our pockets are being picked in plain sight and Bernie is the only person of prominence willing to stand up and SPEAK UP for the consumer. Corporations will try to manipulate the message, in this case the distraction is “Save the wetlands” but the reality is the Maplefields next to COSTCO saying “save our extra profit and ability to price gouge Vermonters”
    Who should we stand with??

  3. Not with Bernie Sanders, he is a phony politician ! What has he really done but make alot of noise.

  4. Filled up in Montpelier yesterday for $3.48/gallon. Burlington is at least a dime, some places 20 cents higher per gallon. Simple predatory price gouging. Crony capitalism creating price fixing, gouging fellow Vermonters. Nice.

  5. Throwing more money around Skip? You couldn’t buy a State Senate seat and you won’t be able to buy your way out of this one either. Normally I’d be first to say that Bernie is prone to hyperbole, but in your case he’s exactly right. Costco is gonna kick you to the curb, they are interested in serving their customers, not exploiting them.

  6. Vallee claims that the cost is because of environmental requirements in Vermont. If that is true why is gas 20 cents cheaper in Vergennes then Burlington. Same Environmental requirements. He is ripping off the people of Vermont and getting away with it. Costco won’t solve the problem but it will help. We might not be able to avoid all of Vallee’s stations but Maplefiels is a very notable brand.

  7. Both sides of this stink to high heavens.
    A.) Vallee is quite obviously looking to protect his ability to bilk the customers and to keep competition from Costco out of his territory. Gas companies have been screwing their neighbors for years, and something needs to be done. Gas sales are different then most, in that the prices are advertized in plain day on huge signs. Competitors simply set prices in line with their competitors. It’s collusion.
    B.) Bernie is entirely a phony. Rant about trying to meet with these guys and then refuses to meet with the one guy that said ok let’s talk. The man is less then useless and we can only hope that in his late 70’s he will retire and let someone else represent VT that is more on action then words. Furthermore, gas prices in the northwest are cheaper then in the northeast, where these three dealers are not found. Bernie has made this political focusing on getting Costco gas in the area, not to protect VTer’s. If were for all of VT he would focus on why gas prices in all of Northern VT are high, not just in Chittenden County. Moreover, this will amount to zilch, it’s not the proper way to go about fixing the issue. A few rants in the media amounts to some poltical air time, alot like his fillibuster last year was all about raising campaign funds. If he really wanted to address the problem his time would be better spent off the air actually taking action instead of ranting.

  8. Ask Skip Vallee what his average employee makes per hour and see how it compares to the “evil big business” Costco. Big /= Bad and Local /= Good.

  10. Good for Skip for having the guts to take on that calculating fraud Bernie. Doesn’t a US Senator have more important things to work on, like world peace?

  12. Costco selling gas is a red herring. It has nothing to do with the issue, which is price gouging. Vallee wants to protect his cartel, end of story. He wants to be able to continue charging 20 to 25 cents more per gallon in Chittenden County. Why should we stand for it?

  13. completely disingenuous of Skip Vallee. Bernie’s record is
    very environmentally conscious, whereas Skip is charging at least 10 cents per gallon more than stations in Montpelier or Middlebury. Bernie’s charges deserve to be answered since we all want to know why Skip and his cohorts are bleeding the Burlington market. answer the question instead of changing the subject, Skip.

  14. You stand for it because a.) you don’t have a choice and b.) Sanders, nor Sorrell, nor Welch/Leahy/Shumlin will ever do anything meaningful about it.
    Your right though, Vallee wants to protect his business and make as much money as possible regardless of how bad he is screwing his neighbors. Costco is Bernie’s way of “fixing” things. It won’t change the price, since not everyone has a Costco membership. It doesn’t help anyone that lives outside a 15mile radius from the states only Costco in Colchester and certainly isn’t going to help anyone in the NEK where prices are at least 10 cents higher then in Burlington. (Of note I don’t believe Vallee owns gas stations in that area). Bernie would know this if he were serious about fixing things, but since it’s purely a media face time gimmic he just plays to his base.
    Alas it’s Bernie. It’s a shame it’s not Leahy thats ranting about it. Then something might actually get done.

  15. Skip just wants the freedom to keep screwing over people in Vermont with higher gas prices. There is no defensible reason for such a wide disparity in pricing. Skip is just mad his BS was found out and called out.

  16. Introducing lower prices, even for a club store, can and will have a downward effect on the areas gas prices.

  17. It is amazing to me that people could come to such vociferous conclusions about Bernie being a phony of Chip being a price gouger bilking people just from this blog post. The blog post contains mostly just the ‘he said she said’ between them. It’s really easy to pile on Skip Vallee here and just shows that too often people chose the route of “guilty until proven innocent and we also won’t bother taking the time to even prove it.” What are the actual numbers? What’s the price difference in gas in Chittenden county vs. elsewhere? What are the cost differences? Is it the same environmental regulations? How about the cost of the real estate in Chittenden vs. outside Chittenden? What about the cost of labor? It would be nice if Bernie got all of these facts together and made an argument for his point that specifically outlines that doing business in Chittenden is no more expensive in any way so therefore the prices should be the same. If they are currently overcharging, why can’t/haven’t more stations sprung up that offer cheaper gas? I feel pretty in the dark as to the actual math behind this and wonder why people don’t actually want to know the details before coming to stark conclusions and going after Skip, or Bernie.

  18. Do RL Vallee and Wesco and Jolley have to pay the worker who stands behind the counter $18/hour — Burlington’s so-called “livable wage” — when outside Chittenden County they don’t? Gee, I wonder if that could have anything to do with the price of gasoline in Burlington vs. elsewhere — and that’s only one single factor.

  19. Way to chime in with no facts. The livable wag is for business contracted with the city. Additionally Costco pays wages higher than any of Skips outlets and the Costco employees all have benefits, including healthcare. Clearly wages are not the deciding issue, if so Costco could not sell for less than Skip.

  20. Way to embarrass yourself. The Livable Wage Ordinance applies to business that contract with the city AND to businesses IN the city. Everybody who followed the Skinny Pancake debate is clued into this. But not you, I guess. Congratulations.

  22. You’re right on the LWO. I concede. You got me.
    Costco can easily afford to pay higher wages than a local business. Labor costs are undoubtedly a more significant factor for small business than they are for a national giant like Costco. I think that’s an apples to oranges comparison.
    What facts has Bernie shown to prove that the only reason gas prices are higher in Chitt. Cty. than elsewhere is because the three major players are gouging? Has he audited their books? Has he interviewed any decisionmakers? Has he done a study? Or is he just assuming a fact (as I incorrectly did) because that’s what Bernie does — anyone who makes money is gouging.
    .

  24. This is only interesting because Costco wasn’t going to be charging nearly as much for gas as Vallee was, who’d a thunk it?

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