Incumbent Gov. Jin Douglas (R-Middlebury) and gubernatorial challenger Anthony Pollina (I-Middlesex) continued to lock horns on Tuesday with just one week left until the general election.

On Monday afternoon, Pollina criticized  the governor for his agricultural policies and for not supporting Pollina's proposed Vermont Credit Card. The Douglas camp fired back early Tuesday, calling Pollina’s credit card idea “bizarre,” especially during the ongoing global economic crisis.

“Anthony’s credit card scheme is not only the wrong direction for Vermont, it’s irresponsible to push more debt on the backs of working Vermonters,” said Douglas’ campaign manager Dennise Casey in a statement.  “This is a time when we should encourage Vermonters to save more money, not incur more debt.”

But the governor’s campaign had not finished it’s rebuttals against Pollina’s remarks from Monday, releasing a second statement to the press on Tuesday morning.

Responding to Pollina’s attacks about the governor’s record on agriculture initiatives, the Douglas camp pointed to Pollina’s involvement with the Vermont Milk Company, which news media outlets reported earlier this year that farmers had not received some payments and employees had been fired. Pollina stepped down from the company to pursue his campaign for governor.

Casey added in her statement that Pollina “built an entire career around talking the talk” and that the independent exaggerated his charges against Douglas.

Pollina, however, had his own challenge for Douglas.

The independent promised to challenge Douglas' spending on negative attack ads and accused the Douglas camp of using misleading statements in the ads.

"With so many Vermonters struggling to pay bills, it amazes me that Jim Douglas keeps throwing so much money at negative attack ads,” Pollina said in a statement. “And given his misleading statements on jobs, economic development and taxes it is hard to imagine anyone actually believing what he says in the attack ads. We would all be better off he made a donation to the food shelf and promised to tell the truth.”

Casey told PolitickerVT.com, that Pollina's remarks amounted to nothing more than a ploy, "to distract from the fact that Anthony Pollina does not have a plan to address our economic challenges."

Over the past few days, Douglas has increased his attacks on Pollina. The governor previously focused his attacks on Democratic gubernatorial challenger, and House Speaker, Gaye Symington.

About the Vermont Milk Co,:

http://www.timesargus.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20081005/NEWS01/810050392/1002/NEWS01

http://www.politickervt.com/putting-vermont-milk-under-microscope