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Seabee to run for re-election while overseas

MONTPELIER, Vt. — State auditor Thomas Salmon, a Navy reservist, said Thursday he’s been called to active duty in Afghanistan but will run for re-election anyway.

“With the Navy’s permission, I hope to be in regular, but limited, communication with my office in Montpelier, where our staff of professionals has an ambitious work plan to tackle during my absence,” he said in a letter to Gov. Jim Douglas and legislative leaders. “I am confident that they will be able to adequately handle the demands of the office with occasional guidance from me as permitted.”

Military rules limit the role Salmon could play in running his office from abroad and they forbid active campaigning, he said. He said he hoped to have surrogates speak for him in the campaign.

Holding elected office while on active duty with the Navy requires permission from the secretary of the Navy. Salmon said he received the permission verbally Wednesday.

A Navy spokeswoman, Lt. Candice Tresch, said she had no information Thursday and wouldn’t be able to comment before Friday.

Salmon, 44, a petty officer with a Brunswick, Maine-based Seabee unit, departs Sunday, said he goes first to Gulfport, Miss., for training in advance of deployment in support of Operation Enduring Freedom. The deployment is expected to last up to nine months.

Salmon said he had been reluctant to call attention to his possible deployment because of his junior role in the Navy.

“I’m only an enlisted guy. I show up, shut up, follow directions, probably cut my hair to a quarter inch... We’ve had more than 3,500 Vermonters called to serve in this war. I’m not that special.”

In 2006, Salmon, a Democrat and son of former Gov. Thomas Salmon, won the auditor’s office by the slimmest of margins, beating incumbent Randy Brock in a recount. Brock said he hasn’t decided whether to challenge Salmon this year.

“To be honest, I have some reluctance to run against someone who is serving his country, possibly in a war zone,” Brock said. “And he is someone who is not in a position to be able to respond in a normal campaign debate.

“I certainly wish him well,” Brock added. “I realize it’s a difficult time for both him and his family and congratulate him on his willingness to serve.”