Vermont Watch

Archived Videos: Lobbying & Communications Bootcamp 2011

2012-01-14T18:23:00.001-05:00

Common Good Vermont: Lobbying & Communications Bootcamp 2011 Part 1 of 2

Presented by KSE Partners and Common Good Vermont. Lobbying & Communications Bootcamp took place at the State House in Montpelier on Tuesday, November 15. This brass tacks training will help you become better acquainted with advocacy best practices, the legal do's and don'ts of nonprofit lobbying, how to motivate your followers to take action and what really gets lawmaker's and media attention.

This program is geared towards organizations that want to pass legislation and for orgs and activists that want to raise their profile and relevance amongst lawmakers and media.

[via CCTV, here]

Bootcamp 2011 Toolkit: Blueprint for a Successful Campaign Worksheet (here).

Common Good Vermont: Lobbying & Communications Bootcamp 2011 Part 2 of 2

Part 2, Where the Rubber Meets the Road. Presented by KSE Partners and Common Good Vermont. Lobbying & Communications Bootcamp took place at the State House in Montpelier on Tuesday, November 15. This brass tacks training will help you become better acquainted with advocacy best practices, the legal do's and don'ts of nonprofit lobbying, how to motivate your followers to take action and what really gets lawmaker's and media attention.

This program is geared towards organizations that want to pass legislation and for orgs and activists that want to raise their profile and relevance amongst lawmakers and media.

[via CCTV, here]

FEMA Trailers to the Rescue?

2011-09-28T19:45:00.000-04:00

(cross-posted from Green Mountain Daily, here)

(above subject header sounds like what should be the title of a song. blues anybody?)

FEMA housing units headed to Vermont

‘Superstructures’ may be needed for winter

By Peter Hirschfeld
Vermont Press Bureau - Published: September 28, 2011

MONTPELIER — Displaced flood victims unable to find permanent shelters before winter could end up in mobile housing units provided by FEMA, state officials said Tuesday.

The Federal Emergency Management Agency has already delivered 10 “park unit mobile homes” to a staging area in Springfield. Secretary of Commerce Lawrence Miller says additional units are at the ready if newly homeless residents cannot secure suitable shelter in advance of the cold season.

“We’ll use these as essentially the last resort,” Miller says. “We’d much prefer to find more traditional rental housing. But this could be a very good solution for some Vermonters.”

[...]

Read the article in full (via Rutland Herald; not behind paywall, at least for the moment anyway), here.

Now I finally know what was being indirectly referenced, however briefly, by Governor Peter Shumlin when he spoke during the half hour or so appearance he made at today's joint Vermont Affordable Housing Coalition (VAHC) and Vermont Coalition to End Homelessness (VCEH) meeting.

Please excuse me while I simultaneously scratch my head during a "say what!?" moment and also pick up my jaw from off the floor where it fell after reading this article about something that appears to make about as much sense to me as the state seriously pondering going back to the two upper floors of the state hospital -- which would be fine if it were to provide office space for the Department of Mental Health (DMH), but not for returning patients or staff there.

Hmmm, in the meantime, maybe those who think the FEMA trailers are a good option for those in need could volunteer to live in them and allow those in need of housing as a result of Tropical Storm Irene to use their housing instead. As if ....

Would really like to learn more about the meeting the article reported about as well as specifically who was at the meeting when this particular option was approved as well as, as importantly, who was not at or represented during the meeting.

Although one understands the need to do something versus doing nothing in such cases, one would of course hope there has to be better and different ways to resolve these matters.

One only hopes someone truly knows what they are doing in these regards.

By the way, has anyone done some rigorous and *independent* quality control, structural, health and environmental testing on at least one of these trailers to the standard of the worse of what they could be put through during a long, hard Vermont Winter, etc.? If not, maybe now is the time, before it is far too late to do so. And, if these are used as a "last resort", please do not put them within a flood plain either.

Morgan W. Brown
Montpelier

Thoughts on "Government Accountability"

2011-09-12T12:51:00.002-04:00

(cross-posted to Green Mountain Daily, here)

Will be heading over to state house to listen in to the afternoon segment of the Government Accountability Committee meeting shortly. They are mainly focused on "Measurable Outcomes for Mental Health Services & Substance Abuse Treatment & Recovery" today (here).

To my knowledge, this particular committee is the hold over of what used to be termed or known as "Challenges for Change", which a lot of taxpayer funds, resources and time spent was on doing and, all the nickel and dime'ing done in the name of "CoC" ended up costing lots more than it was supposed to have saved and, we have been paying for it since in a number of ways, the least of which has been taxpayer dollars and that is no small bit of change or challenge to pay for either (pun intended).

However this does that mean certain of those within either the legislative or administrative branches of state government will ever get a clue and leave it alone, heck no, of course not. They just call it something else, move on so-to-speak and keep on keeping on as if they are really doing something different and better when it is neither.

The fact is "Government Accountability" is an oxymoron, at best, particularly when it is government as well as political officials of the same trying to police itself.

Thoughts on Governing & Legislating

2011-09-08T10:54:00.000-04:00

Below is the text of a lengthy comment of mine, slightly edited here for the purposes of clarification and readability, as otherwise posted to a blog post concerning matters related to governing and legislating on Green Mountain Daily, here:

As I understand it, the administration's role is to govern the day to day, carrying out policy and, beyond what the state treasurer's role might be in such matters, administrate the receipt and spending of state funds according to the budget as enacted by the state legislature, which although it does include emergencies does not mean this should preclude or otherwise limit greater legislative oversight as well as further involvement and input beyond what the emergency board might do.

This is not about not allowing the Governor to be the Governor, however it could be true this is about the administration and its allies attempting to limit the legislature from being the legislature as prescribed by the state constitution and also fulfilling the expectations of those who voted for them, by using excuses, including the cost of a special session in order to do so.

Of course this is not the first administration that has tried to do so.

The legislature's role does not just limit them to lawmaking and, while their role includes forming and enacting overall policy as well as, after one is proposed by the administration, includes deciding and then passing a budget, something that is their constitutional duty, not the administration's.

In addition, when something major and unexpected occurs along the nature of this emergency that changes the future and outcome of a given budget, well exceeding what usually can be taken up during the yearly budget adjustment process upon their return in January, a special session is crucial.

In my opinion, considering everything at stake -- including both major, long term policy matters and millions upon millions of dollars no matter the source, this is one of those times a special session is best to be called. It could prove to be worth what it would cost to hold one.

This particular emergency goes far beyond what is typically the scope of the administration's alone and begs for attention by the full legislature, sooner rather than later.

This is what we elect and pay them to do. We should let them do their jobs.

The state legislature should be seen as the resource it is during times like these, not as an impediment as some appear to view it as.

It would be easy enough for legislative leaders to figure out what the legislature wanted to do, limit their focus as well as how long they stay in order to accomplish their limited goals. It has been done before.

A quick special legislative session will not limit or unduly slow down the recovery effort one bit and, in fact, it could help speed the process up as well as also provide greater support and extra sets of eyes, not too mention helping to provide additional (read: deeper as well as more) institutional memory the administration might otherwise be lacking.

To wait until January when they come back for the regular session will be much too late.

By the way, just to make it clear given my position, I am not "a pathological groupie" of Ron Paul, nor anyone else for that matter.

FEMA Is Not So Social: Public Relations Failure

2011-08-31T00:54:00.000-04:00

(cross-posted to Green Mountain Daily, here)

There were two huge Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) trucks and their crews parked near the Vermont State House yesterday afternoon (Tuesday, August 30, 2011).

One, parked on Baldwin Street out front of the Joint Fiscal office building to the left of the state house, serves as the communications and command post for technical infrastructure and logistical support crews and staff, among others. The other, parked out front of the state house, as I understand it, serves as the hub for the public relations, social media and news desk crews and staff.

These vehicles can not be missed, not only due to their size, but also because the huge satellite dishes each has accompanying them.

Had stopped by the PR truck, but although I was able to strike up casual conversations with a few people, they all but blew me off no matter how hard I tried to ask them to at least pass along my request to speak with someone and have a conversation so I could blog some posts about their being here and what they do, etc.

That said, it is still hoped someone there will contact me, but I will not be holding my breath either.

So much for public relations or "social media", something no one there seems to truly get, at least no one I was able to speak with yet anyway.

Meanwhile, in Vermont ... (re: How do the homeless evacuate?)

2011-08-28T04:57:00.001-04:00

In response to a blog post posted to Green Mountain Daily asking [h]ow do the homeless evacuate, which was mainly about people living homeless in cities and regions outside of Vermont along Hurricane Irene's path, after having posted links and excerpts of information found online about such, I posted the following observations and insights as well as remembrances of previous experiences of my own, here (slightly edited in two instances: i.e., third paragraph: correcting spelling of "nearby" instead of "nearly" and, afterwards, deleting a repetitive occurrence of the word "would"):

given how there are a lot of people living homeless outside, particularly this time of year and many do so in areas around rivers, creeks and other waterways and, also doing so staked out underneath bridges where it can be most dangerous during flash floods, etc., I have yet to come across anything about efforts within our state to reach out to such persons and offer them safe shelter during storms including like this, including proper nutrition and hydration, clothing as well as meaningful human contact and, while they are at it, volunteer help toward then becoming permanently housed again, which would be an excellent opportunity to do so (using a peer approach is oftentimes more useful and effective in such cases).

As is too often the case however, the state does not and many local municipalities do not have people living homeless anywhere on their radar or within their top priorities either, save to move them on somewhere else. The more things change, the more they stay the same.

Cannot recall the number of times when I was forced to camp out during the Summer and early Autumn months of 2008 and 2009 (as well as previous years at times) and it was raining as well as blowing real hard, leaving me wondering if and when some huge tree nearby would land on top of my tent while I was sleeping in it and, truth be told, actually hoping as well as praying that it would in order to end my misery once and for all. Never did manage to sleep well most nights, with my body being in too much pain, particularly on those wet days and nights. What helped was when I could manage to hole myself inside somewhere, whether in a motel or elsewhere for a time, until I finally was able to become permanently housed just over two years ago on August 15, 2009 thanks to the efforts of certain people who did everything they could to help me toward bringing it about. They made all the difference.

If it could be done for me, it can also be done for others. Doing so takes making it a top priority, finding the will to see it through and doing so in a fashion and manner based on terms acceptable to the person (i.e., person-centered) based on trust, mutual-respect and their values, not those imposed by others.

It is hoped that the state and various municipalities will not forget those living homeless outside and help them in their efforts to seek shelter both during the oncoming storm(s) and also with safe, decent, affordable, permanent housing of one sort or another.

Beyond the Governor's Summit on Housing the Homeless

2011-08-26T00:50:00.000-04:00

(cross-posted to Green Mountain Daily, here)

Ongoing efforts concerning seriously as well as meaningfully addressing homelessness within Vermont:

Yours truly has been serving on two different subcommittees concerning the Vermont Intergency Council on Homelessness (VICH).

One concerns the VICH and the drafting of a new executive order. Four of us met once three weeks ago and, among other things oftentimes passionately discussed during the meeting, we commissioned one of our members to draft a version for us to get started on. We had agreed to continue our work via e-mail from there on out rather than meeting in person again. Received the initial draft this evening and, for my part, I have gone over it and suggested a version built and crafted from the original draft. There will of course be much more work done to it before it is ready to be presented to those attending the next VICH meeting as well as later on to the administration.

The other subcommittee I am serving on concerns the 10-year plan for ending homelessness. This subcommittee had its initial meeting two weeks ago and had even more people around the table for a long and productive discussion as well. There is another meeting of this particular subcommittee coming up on September 1st, however since it is being held in Waterbury and I do not have transportation and am disinclined to go begging for rides, will not be able to attend it.

There is a VICH meeting also being held in Waterbury afterwards, yet because I just received word there will be the means to attend it via video conferencing at various sites across the state including Barre, it looks like I will be able to be present for that one. Had not been able to attend the last VICH meeting in person, but did so via phone and that means does not really work so well, thus I think the video conferencing should improve things quite a bit.

Although much of this is taking place deep behind the scenes and is happening somewhat slowly with a lot more hard work ahead, it is my belief that we are on course to have good proposals to move forward with which to present to the administration in time for them to consider well prior to what they might put forward to the state legislature upon their return next January (2012).

Save Pete the Moose et al!

2011-08-20T12:23:00.000-04:00

*Updated 3x* (view *Updates* below)

Please help save Pete the Moose['s] ~~as well as his~~ friends today!

Apparently there is a plan afoot by the State of Vermont and its Fish and Wildlife Department to execute ~~them~~ [over 200 whitetail deer and 12 other moose] on or about September 1st~~, despite what had been indicated previously would be the case~~:

Governor Peter Shumlin should save Pete the Moose['s friends]~~, just like he said he would~~. There is no good or rational reason not to do so.

One wonders if Governor Shumlin has gone up to Irasburg in order to look Pete and his animal friends straight in the eye to ~~let them know he has broken his promise and~~ say something along the lines of "sorry Pete, but we're going to have to execute ~~you and~~ your friends after all". If not, then maybe he should do so.

Shame on Governor Peter the Hypocrite (aka Governor Peter Shumlin)!

Make sure to check out the related action going on at Facebook, here, here and here.

*Update 1*: Although I cannot get up to Irasburg myself, I hope there will be huge numbers of people turning out up there before as well as on September 1st to show solidarity for Pete et al as well as to protest against this senseless slaughter.

*Update 2*: As posted to Governor Peter Shumlin's Facebook page (here):

Facebook post on Governor Peter Shumlin's page(click onto above image in order to view enlargement)

Text of statement:

I understand your recent concerns regarding Pete the Moose. In corroboration with H.91, I pardoned Pete and on Wednesday night the Vermont Fish and Wildlife Board voted to stand behind Pete's safety. As Governor, I can ensure Pete's pardon is still in effect, as can Vermont Fish and Wildlife Commissioner Pat Berry, the Vermont Legislature and the Vermont Fish and Wildlife Board. I will continue to keep your comments in mind as this moves forward.

If I now understand it correctly, it is not Pete the Moose whose head is on the block, however possibly over 200 other animals who will be shot instead (i.e., "Over 200 Whitetail and a dozen moose"), here.

*Update 3*: fyi (excerpt; view full text of Act 54 (2011) summary, here; emphasis mine):

[...]

[...] Upon transfer of regulatory jurisdiction to the department, the captive cervidae facility shall be regulated as a captive hunt facility under the fish and wildlife board's (board's) rules governing the importation and possession of animals for hunting, except for the following: the entrapped wild cervidae may remain at the facility but shall be subject to hunt during an open season set by the board; the board shall adopt by rule a process to reduce the number of white-tailed deer or moose at the facility to zero over a three-year period from September 1, 2011, provided that the moose known as Pete shall not be hunted or killed; and the board shall adopt a process and protocol for a disease surveillance program at the facility. The act prohibits the owner of the captive cervidae facility from charging for the right to take white-tailed deer or moose, and no person may knowingly or intentionally allow wild cervidae to escape or be released from the facility.

[...]

*Note*: posted updates; last updated on Thursday, August 25, 2011 at 2:53 PM (EDT).

IMO: Need for Safer Roads Policies, Laws & Regulations

2011-08-19T17:08:00.000-04:00

(cross-posted to Green Mountain Daily, here)

On Banning of Cell Phone Use When Operating Moving Vehicles

In my opinion (IMO), ...

All cell phone use as well as other such devices, whether hand-held or otherwise, by anyone driving a moving vehicle should be banned within the state, no exceptions. The only thing an operator of a moving vehicle should be doing behind the wheel is focusing on the road, nothing else.

One is not sure why current policies, laws and regulations do not already restrict what one is allowed to do when operating a moving vehicle without requiring new laws to specifically spell out and restrict such.

If new legislation and law is required to address such matters however, what the state legislature should seriously consider doing is, rather than drafting and enacting a bill to ban such devices, to instead draft and enact a bill that further clarifies license and driving policies, laws and regulations concerning what is allowed as well as not allowed to be engaged in while operating any moving vehicle, including bicycles.

To my way of thinking, this would be a better approach rather than an outright ban of certain devices, etc., while operating a vehicle. Restricting what one can and can not do behind the wheel of a moving vehicle would appear to be better to do versus attempting to ban the use of specific devices while one is driving. Although it might seem to be the same thing, it is using a different approach to achieve the same result, however doing so focused more on the behavior in question rather than the device itself.

This could also prove to be sound public policy since it is not the devices that are the problem, but rather the person's use of these and other distractions while operating a moving vehicle and not all vehicle operators exercise good judgement unless and until there are specific regulations about what is allowable and what is not as well as severe consequences clearly laid out in law and then made known about what will result if one fails to comply.

This is my opinion on the subject. What is yours?

Bethany Knight's Letter to Governor Shumlin re: VSH

2011-07-25T14:38:00.001-04:00

Below is a copy of Bethany Knight's e-mailed letter to Governor Peter Shumlin concerning the Vermont State Hospital (posted with direct permission from its author):

July 23, 2011

The Honorable Peter Shumlin
Office of the Governor
State Street
Montpelier, VT 05602

Dear Governor Shumlin

Build it and they will come?

No. Please don't invest our tax dollars in an arcane, expensive institution to serve Vermonters diagnosed with mental illness.

People who spend any length of time in mental hospitals are permanently damaged. Whatever their original disability, it is overshadowed by the unnatural behaviors and quirks they adopt while institutionalized.

Most Western cultures have more successful and far less expensive models of care for this unique population. All human beings, regardless of label, yearn to feel secure, safe, loved and useful. Vermont already has several small, comfortable settings to serve residents with mental illness challenges. Check out Safe Haven in Randolph; you need to understand the peer-based approach. It works. It is also affordable.

The Federal government is not known for being progressive or a leader in health care. Yet, this very government has, for several years, rated the Vermont State Hospital as unfit to remain open! Building a better building won't change the model. Same staff, same approach, same results. Beware: once a state facility opens, the pressure to keep it full will be enormous. Swapping a new albatross for an old one is not good public policy.

Orphanages used to number in the thousands in the US, until society realized this model of care damaged children. Once considered a state of the art model, the orphanage was replaced with home based foster care.

My personal and professional life has included being the guardian to a woman who lived in Vermont state institutions most of her life. I was able to work for her release from the VSH. The case went to the Vermont Supreme Court, where we prevailed over the Vermont department of mental health, which fought her release at every level. In her sixties, Florence lived successfully in the community at large, after VSH professionals told the courts she could not. My work with the Vermont Coalition for the Handicapped (now VCDR), Citizen Advocacy and the Vermont Health Care Association taught me that mental hospitals don't work.

Today, in the nursing home I administer, we admit men and women who have lived a large portion of their lives behind the locked doors of the VSH. Happily, they adapt to our less restrictive setting, often with ease and grace. Those few individuals who need facility-based mental health care can be served through existing hospitals and nursing homes.

Please, Governor Shumlin, don't build a new facility. We don't need it. We don't want it, or to pay for it. Think of what that money could do in the community programs!

With kind regards,

Bethany Knight

The above letter was written and sent in response to an e-mailed advocacy action alert by yours truly, a version of which was blogged to the Beyond VSH blog, here.

Thought of the Day (TOTD): Q&A

2011-07-24T11:27:00.003-04:00

Photo: View of Camel's Hump
taken from Hubbard Park Tower, Montpelier, VT
by Morgan W. Brown (Autumn 2005)
made to look like painting using, getpaint.net
(click upon above image in order to view enlargement)

Text of TOTD:

Do questions truly result in the discovering of answers or, upon more careful examination and consideration, merely lead to further questioning?

View additional TOTD's, here (larger slideshow version, here).

Joseph Gainza's Letter to Governor Shumlin re: VSH

2011-07-22T17:00:00.007-04:00

(cross-posted to Green Mountain Daily, here)

Below is a copy of Joseph Gainza's e-mailed letter to Governor Peter Shumlin concerning the Vermont State Hospital (posted with direct permission from its author):

Dear Governor Shumlin,

I am the former director of the Vermont Coalition of the Handicapped (VCH), now named the Vermont Coalition for Disability Rights. In that capacity I became familiar with the mental health community in Vermont and learned about the negative impact on patients of extended institutionalization. VCH worked closely with the State to close Brandon Training School and develop a more decentralized system which better served the former residents of the School.

I am writing to request that you rethink your decision to build a new facility to replace the Vermont State Hospital. That decision represents traditional thinking about how best to treat people with mental and emotional disabilities, thinking which has been shown to be detrimental to the people served and to the state’s ability to adequately serve them.

You have shown yourself to be an innovator and risk taker in other areas of your responsibility. I admire and support the direction you are taking Vermont in the areas of health care, Vermont Yankee and the future of Vermont’s working landscape. I also appreciate your recognition that, in light of global warming, we must take bold steps to reduce Vermont’s carbon footprint.

I ask you to take similar bold action regarding the way Vermont cares for and supports people with mental or emotional disabilities. Rather than spend scarce resources on re-creating a failed institution, our tax dollars would be better spent creating local, peer run drop-in centers, affordable housing and other services and support programs across Vermont. Experience with the Brandon Training School shows us how to avoid many mistakes in designing this new system and the innovation which arises when many methods of providing serves are tried.

If Vermont is successful in creating a reformed health care system as you envision it, we will be in a much better position to direct dollars toward building a mental health care system which truly respects people and supports them with a rich variety of services available throughout the state.

Thank you for your consideration. Joseph Gainza

Joseph Gainza
Vermont Action for Peace
Plainfield, Vermont

WGDR/WGDH Radio
Gathering Peace
91.1 FM/91.7 FM; www.wgdr.org
Tuesdays 8:30-10:00AM

The above letter was written and sent in response to an e-mailed advocacy action alert by yours truly, a version of which was blogged to the Beyond VSH blog, here.

Time to Close VSH, Support Community Services

2011-07-22T04:31:00.005-04:00

(cross-posted to Green Mountain Daily, here)

*Updated*

Governor Peter Shumlin recently declared his firm commitment to replacing the embattled Vermont State Hospital (VSH) with a new version of the same old thing.

Besides building along these lines, the administration's plan also includes providing an additional 16 to 24 beds elsewhere as well.

This all to the tune of millions and millions of state taxpayer dollars in remaining dependent on an outdated institutional treatment model surely to follow wherever the facility or such other beds would be located.

This is much like had been done in New Hampshire to the detriment of the community mental health system there and, as a result, the state came under scrutiny by the U.S. Department of Justice, which issued a scathing report earlier this year (here and, here).

Such monies, as Governor Shumlin is recommending be put aside to replace the state hospital in this fashion, could be better used to build the holistic community system needed in closing VSH and, not replacing it, save for a small forensic facility to be located somewhere within the state.

If we could close the former Brandon Training School without building a new version of the same old thing, creatively putting in place a more robust community system instead, we can indeed close VSH and, although there might be differences in such a system, do much of the same for our fellow citizens currently forced to languish at the state hospital, in prison, in homeless shelters or on the street.

Read more on the subject (via Beyond VSH blog), here.

*Update*: Read Joseph Gainza's letter to Governor Shumlin on the subject, here.

Read a longer version of this blog post (via Beyond VSH blog), here.

Morgan W. Brown
Montpelier

*Note*: posted an update; last updated on Sunday, July 24, 2011 at 3:14 AM (EDT).

New Thought of the Day (TOTD): Bureaucracy

2011-07-20T23:02:00.001-04:00

Text of TOTD:

Bureaucracies are much akin to turtles, with their thick, hard shells and, being rather slow moving, unless and until they need to move for cover.

View additional TOTD's, here (larger slideshow version, here).

Virtual ADA Budget Ax?

2011-07-20T18:18:00.003-04:00

One wonders, since, much like his predecessor, Governor Peter Shumlin cut much needed funding for vulnerable people with disabilities within his 2012 budget proposal (read: Douglas 2.0), whether he will bring his budget ax along with him at the Vermont American with Disabilities (ADA) celebration being held on the State House lawn tomorrow (here)? If so, it would make for an excellent photo op.

It is ironic how a state that it is decided can no longer support people with disabilities to live independently within their communities as it once had been committed to doing can still afford, among other such things that can add up within a budget cycle, two fancy gas guzzling SUV's to ferry our Millionaire Governor around (here and, here).

This is not even taking into account how this administration appears to be hellbent on building a new version of the same old thing, along with additional beds at the Brattleboro Retreat, to the tune of millions and millions of taxpayer dollars in remaining dependent on the Vermont State Hospital and the outdated institutional model that will follow no matter where it is located (here).

This is much like had been done in New Hampshire and, as a result, they have been under the gun by the U.S. Department of Justice (here and, here).

It might be unintentional, however there appears to be the makings of a pattern here.

Tell us it ain't so Governor, tell us it ain't so. More importantly, show us by your actions and efforts on our behalf that it ain't so.

Will Shumlin Administration Seriously Consider Alternatives to Building New State Hospital?

2011-07-13T11:57:00.012-04:00

(cross-posted to Green Mountain Daily, here)

*Updated 2x* (see bottom of post, below fold)

Word is it appears there could be a meeting between Governor Peter Shumlin and certain members of his administration concerning the Vermont State Hospital (VSH) to be held tomorrow morning (Thursday, July 14, 2011).

The subject of the meeting is said to include considering the exploration of potential alternatives to building a new state hospital facility, which it is reported a member of the administration has taken the initiative of exploring behind the scenes of late, including speaking with various members of the mental health community as well as advocates and the like within the last several weeks or so.

Last week Agency of Human Services (AHS) Secretary Doug Racine was a guest on Vermont Public Radio's VT Edition talking about VSH and the administration's plans to replace it, here.

Also last week, it was reported to this observer about how no matter what results from the meeting or, any process that might come out of it, beds of the new brick and mortar variety were also to be in the mix in a major fashion and, therefore, it was not expected to be much of a major change of course from the current plan being floated and pursued in one form or another by the administration.

That said, although it is yet uncertain what the outcome could be due to the fact that most of these discussions are taking place well behind the scenes within the administration up to now, it is also possible things could still be rather fluid as well.

When the matter of such a potential meeting came up last month, it was indicated the meeting would include both AHS Secretary Doug Racine as well as Deputy AHS Secretary Patrick Flood.

While it is pure speculation on my part, since they have also been within the loop as well as due to their recently (re)sifting VSH patient data within the last two weeks or so, it would not surprise this observer if the meeting also included Department of Mental Health (DMH) Commissioner Christine Oliver as well as Department of Disabilities, Aging and Independent Living (DAIL) Commissioner Susan Wehry.

In addition, since he has also been within the loop of course, more than likely such a meeting would include Agency of Administration (AOA) Secretary Jeb Spaulding, not too mention other members of the administration as well of course, including Deputy DMH Commissioner and, now also interim Executive Director of VSH, Rebecca Heintz.

If the reported meeting does indeed occur and, no matter whomever ends up attending as well as participating, it is completely unknown at this point what if anything meaningful might potentially result from the meeting and whether or not alternatives or, put another way, other options to building a new version of VSH will also be taken under serious consideration by the administration at its highest levels or, if what appears to be their current course and plans will continue to dominate and dictate future mental health policy.

What is rather sad in all this is up to now, the administration seems to be solely focused more on VSH as well as replacing it mostly bed for bed (including with their plan to use Brattleboro Retreat bed space) rather than focusing on the entire mental health system as a whole, which a new facility -- even if it includes beds at the Brattleboro Retreat -- and what will prove to be a huge cost, will not help and will most likely do great harm, just like the dependence on the current VSH has up to now.

In my opinion, building a brand new version of the same old thing based upon the same old treatment model does nothing to address what is wrong with the entire system, nothing at all, save potentially further bankrupting both it as well as the state, not too mention keeping the mental health system within a vacuum where, among other things and factors, prejudice and discrimination continue to reign.

There is nothing to indicate a new VSH will also include a brand new treatment model, particularly when the new facility will still employ most if not all of the same treatment, including institutionalization in its various forms (no matter how long or short), incarceration, forced treatment and forced drugging.

When she learned about the administration's meeting taking place tomorrow as well as the discussions occurring behind the scenes, longtime mental health advocate Marty Roberts stated:

I think it is crucial right now for advocates and other interested people to keep the issue of community services in front of the Governor, Sec. Racine and all of the other people involved in making this decision. I do not think that they have any conception about the value of community services, both in supporting people so that they don't need hospitalization and as resources and supports when people come out of hospitals.

I am so afraid that community services are going to be cut because the administration does not get it.

*Update 1*: Although, along with many others, I am looking forward to finding out what results from the meeting between Governor Peter Shumlin and members of his administration said to be occurring tomorrow concerning VSH, one wishes they could be a fly on the wall in order to hear what gets said as well as decided, however it is highly doubtful members of the press and public as well as pesky mental health advocates, bloggers and tweeters like myself would ever be allowed to attend and listen in of course. So much for transparency.

*Updated 2*: While waiting for a friend to enjoy supper with Thursday night (July 14th), I bumped into a different member of the administration on the street, this one who works within the Governor's office on policy and one I dealt with concerning the homelessness summit.

They focused more on how Thursday's meeting regarding VSH was private, which they mentioned more than once, as if that is the sole issue and nothing more counts.

For my part, among many other things I stated about VSH, etc., I mentioned how even if the meeting might have been deemed private, the administration should be more open about these discussions as well as reaching out to various stakeholders -- and not just those who support or are part of their current plans to replace VSH -- both before and after such meetings; and there should not just be one administration official who took the initiative on their own to do so and who is exploring alternatives to building a new version of the same old thing, whom has received quite a lot of push back within the administration.

When the private meeting topic was brought yet again, I reminded them how during the campaign that transparency was brought up quite a bit, but now this administration got into office, it seems to have disappeared, at least when it comes to certain matters like these.

*Note*: made several, mostly minor, edits for the purposes of clarification and readability; posted two updates; last updated on Saturday, July 16, 2011 at 8:35 PM (EDT).

Thoughts on Activism

2011-06-05T08:00:00.002-04:00

Vermont State House
(taken by Morgan W. Brown; 2005)

Figuratively speaking only of course, rather than settling for taking crumbs from off the table, it is oftentimes far better for one to bake their own bread with whatever reserve they have on hand in order to do so and then share it with others who are as hungry or even more in need than they are for such:

i.e., creating basic services and resources for themselves and others in need with whatever is available as well as community building on their own, along with other like-minded persons, versus waiting for others to provide such and do so for them.

If we wait for political leaders, government or others to do it for us, it will either be too little too late, come with too many strings attached or, quite possibly, it will never happen.

Governor's Housing the Homeless Summit Open to Public

2011-05-18T19:44:00.008-04:00

(cross posted to Green Mountain Daily, here)

*Updated 3x* (featuring updates with additional information, below the fold, see *Updates 1, 2 & 3*)

Are you concerned about families or individuals who are living homeless or at risk of becoming homeless within Vermont?

Are you among those who are seriously committed to doing what it takes to end homelessness across the state?

Are you someone who is currently living homeless, at risk of becoming homeless or formerly have lived homeless?

If the answers to one or more of the above questions is in the affirmative (i.e., true), join others at the upcoming Governor's Housing the Homeless Summit to discuss concrete solutions designed to help people living homeless move to stable as well as permanent housing.

Six key issues were identified and organized work groups have developed proposals to address each one. At the Summit, these proposals will be presented for discussion and changes, resulting in recommendations to Governor Peter Shumlin's administration.

The Summit is open to the public and will be held at the Vermont State House in Montpelier on Tuesday, June 7th from 9:00 AM to 4:30 PM.

To help organize the day and, although it is not necessary in order to attend the event, those interested in attending are asked to respond to Diane Nealy or by phone at (802) 241-2244 (subject: Governor's Housing the Homeless Summit).

To obtain updated versions of the six work group proposals prior to the Summit, make a request to the above contact person as well.

View a cropped screenshot version of Governor Peter Shumlin's letter announcing the Housing the Homeless Summit (click upon image in order to view enlargement):

*Update 1*: Below via copy and paste method from an attachment is a second notice concerning the Governor's Housing the Homeless Summit being held at the Vermont State House on June 7th. Although RSVP's are requested to help in planning ahead for the event, including for those who plan to take lunch at the state house cafeteria, the event is open to the public and people are welcome to attend without providing an RSVP. On Tuesday it was learned that thus far 110 people have already provided an RSVP of their intention to attend the summit.

From the Vermont Agency of Human Services (VT AHS):

Governor’s Summit on Housing for the Homeless
SECOND NOTICE

We are sending this second notice about the Governor’s Summit for four reasons:

1. To remind you that lunch will not be provided at the Summit. If you would like to purchase lunch in the statehouse cafeteria, please rsvp to Diane Nealy at diane.nealy@ahs.state.vt.us to ensure the cafeteria will be prepared to handle the number of requests. Please RSVP by May 30th. You may bring your own lunch or visit one of the nearby restaurants.

2. Six proposals for changes in how we address homelessness will be presented at the Summit. Each attendee will have the opportunity to participate in work sessions on two of the six proposals. We will ask that when you register that morning to select which two sessions you would prefer to attend so we can use the larger rooms in the statehouse for the work sessions with the highest expected attendance.

The workgroups that will be presenting their proposals are:
• Security Deposit Guarantee/Risk Pool
• State-Subsidized Rental Subsidies
• Specialized Housing Options
• Increasing Permanent Housing Options
• AHS Housing Policy
• Access: Barriers to Housing

We are posting the proposals on the AHS Website. The proposals that are being posted were the most recent as of May 9th and are subject to change. We will have the final versions posted by the time of the summit.

3. The Summit is intended to address major concerns that impact Vermont’s ability to successfully address homelessness, and evaluate new approaches in how we do business. We recognize that there are other discussions that must happen soon about the best use of state funds appropriated to combat homelessness, but those discussions will happen on a separate track and will not be addressed at the Summit.

4. Following is the agenda so far:
9:00 – 9:30 – opening remarks, and introduction to the day, with remarks by Governor Peter Shumlin
9:30 – 10:40 presentation of three of the six proposals emanating from the six work groups
10:40- 11:00 break
11:00 – 12:00 presentations of the other three proposals
While the intent is not to take questions during the presentations, we will ask participants to write questions that can be shared during the afternoon sessions.
12:00 – 1:00 lunch on your own
1:00 – 1:50 first work session, in which participants can discuss and comment on the proposals.
2:00 – 2:50 second work session
3:00 – 4:00 Governor Shumlin joins us to hear the results of the work groups discussions and
give us a charge for next steps

Thanks and we look forward to seeing you at the Summit.

*Update 2*: The work group proposals for the upcoming Governor's Housing the Homeless Summit can be found on the AHS Website, here.

The ones posted are current as of May 9th. It is my understanding that, either by the end of the month or just shortly prior to the Summit being held, final versions will be posted.

*Update 3*: By the way, I had forgotten to include mention about how paragraphs four (4) through seven (7) were drawn in part or in some cases in whole from the Governor’s letter concerning the Housing the Homeless Summit, here.

Was merely trying to convey the information found there and did not mean to represent those particular words as being my own.

*Note*: posted updates; last updated on Tuesday, May 24, 2011 at 3:07 PM (EDT).

Governor's Homeless Summit Smacks of Paternalism

2011-05-03T20:03:00.003-04:00

*Updated* (see below *Update*)

An e-mail received late last month about an event concerning ending homelessness within Vermont closed as follows:

The "Housing the Homeless Summit" is scheduled for June 7th and is an invite-only event intended for agencies/providers directly involved in efforts to end homelessness.

A more recent personal e-mail mentioned how the Deputy Commissioner of the Agency of Human Services (AHS):

... is sending out invitations to the Governor’s Summit on Housing the Homeless and needs your mailing address.

The event is being held at the Vermont State House and is being hosted by Governor Peter Shumlin.

If those involved in planning, hosting, sponsoring and holding the summit were indeed serious in doing more than merely talking about ending homelessness within Vermont and, going beyond finding new ways to do the same old thing, then the summit should be open to any and all interested members of the public, including people currently living homeless as well as those who formerly had lived homeless and not just a token select few either.

Since the event is by invitation only and not open to the public however, I have declined an invitation and will not be attending. In fact there is a very good chance I will be out front of the state house protesting this exclusionary, elitist and paternalistic event, even if I have to do so on the sidewalk.

Morgan W. Brown
Montpelier

*Update*: After quite a bit of intense advocacy over the last few days, the Vermont Governor's Housing the Homeless Summit has been opened to the public.

View a cropped screenshot version of Governor Peter Shumlin's letter announcing the Housing the Homeless Summit (click upon image in order to view enlargement):

*Note*: posted an update; last updated on Friday, May 6, 2011 at 12:54 PM (EDT).

Vermont Autism Awareness Day

2011-03-28T14:42:00.000-04:00

(click onto above image in on order to view enlargement)

fyi: Vermont Autism Task Force

Housing Dilemma Worsening Across Vermont: Part 1 (of 3 parts)

2011-03-14T04:12:00.008-04:00

*Updated* (with the usual edits; + link to VSHA staff memo posted; cross-posted to Green Mountain Daily, here)

Housing Dilemma Worsening Across Vermont

(part one of three parts)

by Morgan W. Brown

Imagine being one of the many individuals or families across Vermont who are in need of rental assistance in order to afford to pay the rent for an apartment.

Sample letter via VSHA
(click onto above image in
order to view enlargement)

Further imagine having been among the 4,017 individuals or families currently on the waiting list for the Section 8 Housing Choice Voucher (HCV) program administered by the Vermont State Housing Authority (VSHA) and having one’s hopes raised after receiving a letter about how such a rental assistance voucher was available.

However, when it comes to real-world experiences, beyond imagining is what one also eventually comes to learn about how difficult it can be to manage to find a place with which to rent under the HCV program guidelines within the sixty (60) day period one has to do so.

Then, once more, imagine receiving another letter stating how “[d]ue to insufficient federal funding at this time, VSHA must rescind the voucher which was recently issued …”. This means the “voucher is no longer active” and VSHA could not “consider any requests for tenancy approval” and they were unable to provide assistance at this time.

Sample letter via VSHA
(click onto above image in
order to view enlargement)

Sixty-six (66) individuals or families across the state who in fact recently received the latter letter, as well as advocates and service providers who learned about such from some of their clients they work with on an ongoing basis, were left with only being able to imagine the worse.

Seven (7) of these individuals or families who had already managed to line up housing after having received the initial notification letter were able to actually still receive their voucher.

Although this leaves fifty-nine (59) individuals or families in limbo when it comes to being able to rent an affordable, safe and decent place with which to live for the time being, the decision to rescind the vouchers allowed VSHA to return them to the top of the HCV waiting list for when funding becomes available to once again award vouchers to these persons or families.

During a telephone interview with Kathleen Berk, Director of Housing Program Administration for VSHA, late last week as well as along with related information provided within a follow-up e-mail sent shortly afterwards concerning these matters, Ms. Berk reported how the “VSHA waiting list for Section 8 HCV assistance closed on September 30, 2010. At the time the waiting list closed, there were 4017 applicants listed. Opening and closing the waiting list is a normal administrative function. ... [W]hen the waiting list opened on October 1, 2009, there were just 300 applicants listed.”

The follow-up e-mail included information about how “VSHA's current average HAP (Housing Assistance Payment) is approximately $528 per month. VSHA's 2010 funded HAP was $470/unit/month - significantly less than our current HAP expense.” (note: emphasis mine)

The change in the average HAP expense is said to be in part a result of some individuals or families having far less available income due to the poor economy, whether due to having less hours of employment, loss of or changes in employment or, lessening of employment income or, lessening or loss of income benefits compared to the previous year(s), it therefore requires a greater amount of the rent to be subsidized.

Under the HCV program, an eligible individual or family pays up to thirty percent (30%) of their adjusted gross income toward the rent and the Public Housing Authority (PHA) subsidizes the rest.

However, if the income of an individual or family goes up, then their contribution toward the rent goes up.

In certain cases where an individual or family might lose their income while on the program, the PHA subsizes the entire amount of the rent. This allows such persons or families to remain housed while they seek employment or apply for income benefits.

In addition, the cost of housing units within the state remains high.

Meanwhile, although HAP expenses have been increasing, what VSHA receives to cover the cost of the HCV program has remained the same.

According to an internal memo issued by Ms. Berk that was sent to VSHA staff last month (update: read memo, here), the course of action to rescind the 59 recently issued vouchers had been necessitated at least in part due to the HCV program being funded at fiscal year 2010 levels as a result of inaction by Congress to pass a budget for the 2011 fiscal year.

Among the unknowns and stressors is how much the program will be funded when the new budget eventually gets passed by Congress.

Within the memo Ms. Berk reported how “[t]he HCV program is the agency’s single largest rental assistance program, with a budget of approximately $19,000,000. Given the likelihood that congress will fund the voucher program budget this year – based on 2010 numbers, we are needing to take proactive steps to prevent the need to terminate contracts later in the fiscal year.”

The memo continued to state how “[f]or example, if we were to continue business as usual – continue leasing voucher units up to our baseline allocation using the payment standards in-place today, we would need an additional 2.1 million dollars in budget authority to support these additional HAP expenses. Or, another way of looking at this is we would have a $2.1 million dollar shortfall – that could only be resolved by terminating existing contracts of assisted households. This is not anything we ever want to do.”

Ms. Berk also mentioned how their “goal to reduce voucher utilization over the remaining months in the fiscal year by 200 households.”

The plan to achieve this goal includes not reissuing vouchers returned to the HCV program whether due to a recipients income having changed to a level that no longer allows them to remain eligible or their having moved out of state or so on.

To learn more about these matters, view or read a report by WPTZ - Channel 5 TV - News regarding VSHA closing its HCV waiting list last year, here. In addition, listen to an interview by Jane Lindholm of Vermont Public Radio (VPR) of Richard Williams, Executive Director of VSHA, concerning these matters as well, here.

As far as what one can do to help address concerns they might have about these matters, several of those spoken with while doing research for this story said it would be crucial for people to contact their congressional delegation and let them know of such concerns as well as what should be done.

Vermont's Congressional Delegation:

Housing related informational resources:

To be continued …

(stay tuned for part two, hopefully within this week or so)

Contact Morgan W. Brown: morganbrown@vermontwatch.net

*Note*: made several, mostly minor, edits for the purposes of clarification and readability; posted link to internal VSHA staff memo (with permission to do so); last updated on Monday, March 14, 2011 at 11:38 AM (EDT).

Local WGDR Homelessness Marathon Broadcast Coverage Report

2011-03-01T00:36:00.002-05:00

*Updated* (with the usual edits)

As it turned out I did not go to the WGDR Community Radio 91.1 FM studio for their local coverage as part of the national Homelessness Marathon radio broadcast and, due to health and related reasons, decided to stay home last Wednesday (February 23rd) through Thursday morning. This allowed me to listen online as well as more easily do the live blog remotely.

Whether by those who went to the studio in person or who did it by phone, WGDR ended up with such a good lineup panelists who participated in local roundtable discussion on given subjects and matters.

During the 3:00 PM hour Governor Peter Shumlin called into WGDR and was the first person interviewed they went on air with.

They had a good roundtable panel during the four o'clock hour dealing with domestic violence and homelessness with people associated with Circle of Barre represented on it.

A person currently living in the woods as well as a Central Vermont Community Action Council (CVCAC) staff member was on during the 5:00 PM hour and was joined by Agency of Human Services (AHS) Secretary Doug Racine as well.

During the 8:00 PM hour, WGDR cut in with additional local coverage featuring Pastor Ralph Howe of Hedding United Methodist Church in Barre, state Senator Anthony Pollina (D-Washington) and Kevin Moore from Veterans Place as panelists on the roundtable. They were later joined by Jon Kilian, associate director of Good Samaritan Haven located in Barre.

WGDR cut in again within the 10:00 PM hour with discussion featuring state Representative Tom Stevens of Waterbury as well as Dr. Marvin Malik concerning various matters including state as well as federal human service budget cuts as well as health care related matters when it comes to people living homeless as well as in poverty in general.

WGDR's 11:00 PM panel featured Ed Bush of the Vermont Center for Independent Living (VCIL), who formerly lived homeless as well as Amos Meacham, who works as the housing coordinator at Washington County Mental Health Services (WCMHS) and whom also is the chair of the Washington County Continuum of Care.

At 4:00 AM WGDR cut in and host Joseph Gainza did a recap of the previous local coverage as well as read some related articles, etc. He was going to return the national Homelessness Marathon broadcast feed at 5:00 AM, however I had called in during a music break just to talk with him off air. Joseph put me on air and we ended up getting into a rather long conversation concerning various matters and then were joined by another caller. This went on for quite some time, until Joseph tied it into playing the recorded interviews WGDR staff members had done with others to air during the early morning program.

The first of these recorded interviews was of Myron Dorfman and Stephanie Frazier discussing their views on how homelessness became an industry in New York City in the late 80"s early 90's and the economics of homelessness.

The second was a local precorded segment aired on WGDR was done by Dr. Marvin Malik and was titled Public Health Radio, this edition concerning homelessness and related matters.

Afterwards WGDR featured a recorded interview of staff members of Northeast Kingdom Youth Services. In addition, later on there was a live follow-up interview by phone with another staff member from the same organization.

WGDR never did manage to return to the national Homelessness Marathon broadcast feed due to all the local coverage and participation they managed to provide in one fashion or another.

Do not know if they digitally recorded their local coverage so they can make it available in archived audio format or not. Although it is not the same as also listening to the broadcast as well, the live blog is available in archived format, here.

In addition, view various archived video clips of the national Homelessness Marathon broadcast (the first six and a half minutes of the initial video is of them setting up):

Watch live streaming video from freespeechtv at livestream.com

*Note*: made several edits for the purposes of clarification and readability; last updated on Tuesday, March 1, 2011 at 5:13 PM (EST).

Live blog: WGDR Homelessness Marathon Broadcast Coverage

2011-02-23T00:35:00.004-05:00

WGDR Homelessness Marathon Broadcast Local Event Coverage

WGDR Radio (91.1 FM, Plainfield, Vermont) plans to preempt their usual programming in the afternoon for some local coverage concerning homelessness and related matters within Vermont. Therefore the above live blog is scheduled to begin at 2:30 PM (EST) and go until to 6:00 PM (EST) or so as well (Wednesday, February 23rd).

Afterwards, live blogging of WGDR's coverage during the 2011 Homelessness Marathon broadcast originating from Kansas City, Missouri will begin at 7:00 PM (EST) on Wednesday, February 23rd and, barring any technical difficulties or falling asleep, will continue until 9:00 AM (EST) on Thursday, February 24th, 2011.

Excerpts of information from sidebar of WGDR Website:

The Homelessness Marathon is an annual 14-hour radio broadcast featuring the voices and stories of homeless people from around the United States. The Homelessness Marathon features live call-ins all night long via a national toll-free number. WGDR invites everyone to come down to the station during the marathon. We are a “listening station” where people can gather in solidarity around the issue of homelessness. The station is on the Campus of Goddard College, Plainfield, Vermont.

[...]

Call Ruth Wilder at the station for more information about the special program, or if you want to participate. 802-322-1720

Listen to WGDR in the Central Vermont area on 91.1 FM or stream the station live, here.

Word is Governor Peter Shumlin is planning on calling into WGDR sometime around ~~or after 2:30 PM~~ 3:05 PM or so (Updated).

It is also reported that Agency of Human Services (AHS) Secretary Doug Racine will be at the WGDR studio sometime during the day as well.

In addition, information has it that state Senator Anthony Pollina also plans to call into WGDR during its homelessness related broadcast.

Elsewhere within Vermont, WVEW - 107.7 FM - Brattleboro Community Radio will also be airing the Homelessness Marathon as well as preempting their usual programming to provide hour-long local coverage beginning at 6:00 PM (EST).

Read an article about it (via The Commons), here.

One can also view the entire broadcast of the Homelessness Marathon, whose Website will have an embedded player streaming live video feed via Free Speech TV.

In the meantime, to learn more about this consciousness raising event, view a brief promo, here and, a short clip from a 2009 interview of Jeremy Alderson aka Nobody, here (via YouTube).

On Corporate Personhood

2011-02-16T22:38:00.003-05:00

(cross-posted to Green Mountain Daily, here)

One wonders whether, if corporations are considered persons under the laws of the land, should not then people likewise be considered corporations as well?

Being that such would be completely absurd of course, neither should corporations be considered persons, who are afforded all the rights that ought be reserved to actual persons alone, not corporate interests.

Ours is supposed to be government of the people, by the people, for the people, not government of the corporations, by the corporations, for the corporations.

Among the problems with corporations being granted rights of persons is they only want those rights and none of the responsibilities, obligations and duties that also go along with such or, at least only those they decide to pick and choose from, something which people do not have a choice about since one comes with the others.

When doing a search concerning a resolution currently before the state senate on the subject, I came across a good article (via Valley Advocate, here; Thursday, February 10, 2011; Northampton, Ma.):

Vermont: Corporations Aren't People
Vermont lawmakers push back on High Court's Citizens United ruling

By Tom Sturm

The wording of a new resolution brought to the Vermont State Legislature by state senator Virginia Lyons is stark and unambiguous: "The profits and institutional survival of large corporations are often in direct conflict with the essential needs and rights of human beings." Corporations, the resolution continues, "have used their so-called rights to successfully seek the judicial reversal of democratically enacted laws," leaving democratically elected governments "ineffective in protecting their citizens against corporate harm to the environment, health, workers, independent business, and local and regional economies."

Lyons introduced the bill on the recent first anniversary of the U.S. Supreme Court's controversial Citizens United decision, which, through Byzantine interpretations of precedents that gave corporations "personhood" via the 14th Amendment, allowed them the same First Amendment rights as citizens are granted under the Constitution. President Obama somewhat boldly addressed members of the court at last year's State of the Union Address, saying the decision would "open the floodgates for special interests—including foreign corporations—to spend without limit in our elections."

Much of the controversy surrounds another facet of the ongoing argument—the notion that money is equivalent to speech, and that therefore no limits should be placed on expenditures for political advertising during federal election campaigns. Many argue that even well-organized groups of individuals cannot hope to compete with the vast amounts of aggregated cash that corporations can produce as needed, and that most individuals do not own their own newspapers, television stations or the other media networks that offer a greatly amplified voice to the political views of corporations that do.

[...]

Read the article in full, here.

Information on the resolution can be found, here.

In addition, on Saturday, March 5th at 2:00 PM, Senator Bernie Sanders will be hosting a Town Meeting to discuss the issue of corporations being afforded the status as "persons" under the constitution, here.

Poster (click onto below image in order to view enlargement):

Montpelier City Council District 3 Race Could Be Close

2011-02-14T06:29:00.006-05:00

(cross-posted from Green Mountain Diary, here;
with addition of candidate photos within this version)

For those interested in learning more about what is brewing when it comes to town meeting day and politics at the local level as well as behind the scenes of the same, there are two candidates seeking to represent the residents of district three (3) on the Montpelier City Council, which has been the seat held by City Councilor Jim Sheridan for the last twelve (12) years (*Update*: Jim Sheridan is not running for re-election).

This could prove to be an exciting and rather interesting as well as, I predict, a close race between the two candidates and one well worth paying attention to during the next two short weeks leading up to the election.

Each of these candidates will bring a fresh perspective, energy and commitment of their own to addressing issues and problems facing the capital city.

After town meeting day and, no matter whom is elected to fill the district three seat, the council will have four (4) of six (6) city councilors serving at the same time who are After town meeting day and, no matter whom is elected to fill the district three seat, the council will have four (4) of six (6) city councilors serving at the same time who are ~~under forty (40) years of age~~in their early forties or younger, not counting the mayor (correction).

These candidates also appear to already harbor ambitions to eventually seek to serve within the state legislature someday should the opportunity afford itself.

Angela MacDonald-Timpone

While this is her first run for political office, Angela MacDonald-Timpone is by no means a complete stranger to the world of Vermont politics as is often played out at the local level however. She had previously worked on the campaign and also on the staff of Bernie Sanders when he was serving as the state's lone Congressman in the U.S. House of Representatives.

In addition, Mrs. Timpone reports having been a frequent visitor to his house and listening in on many political discussions while she was growing up due to living on the same street as him and his family back during the time he was Mayor of the City of Burlington.

To learn even more about the candidate, read both a brief profile as well as her responses to a variety of questions posed by yours truly to each of the two candidates, here.

James Merriam
(click onto above photo
in order to view enlargement)

In what will be his second run for political office within less than a year, the first being for one of the two seats the capital city has within the Vermont House of Representatives, James Merriam has now focused his efforts on seeking to represent the residents of district three (3) on the city council.

Mr. Merriam had previously served as the student representative on the Montpelier school board from 2005 through 2007.

To learn even more about the candidate, read both a brief profile as well as his responses to the questions posed, here.

Contact information is also provided on those same informational pages linked above in case anyone has additional questions for the candidates.

Get over it Facebook!

2011-02-02T03:55:00.011-05:00

(cross-posted from Green Mountain Daily, here)

*Update*: After doing some further searching, had managed to come across word on the Bring Back Sarah Lavigne Facebook page set up on her behalf which indicates that as of the early evening of Monday, January 31st, Sarah had gained access to her account once again.

*Updated* (with the usual edits)

Breastfeeding mom wants answers

By JOSH STILTS / Reformer Staff

Tuesday February 1, 2011

BRATTLEBORO -- A local woman who had her social networking and business account disabled for posting pictures of her breastfeeding her son wants answers.

Sarah Lavigne, 36, of Marlboro, said she never though she'd be at the center of such a large controversy but that people need to understand that breastfeeding isn't pornography.

In January, Lavigne had her personal and business pages removed from the social networking site, Facebook, for allegedly violating the website's Terms of Use by posting a photo of herself breastfeeding her infant son, Basil Leoniak.

[...]

The group Bring Back Sarah Lavigne has 840 Facebook users who "like" the page and it's growing daily.

Lavigne said she hopes Facebook reinstates her account if for nothing more than to be able to get contact information for people.

[...]

Read the entire article (via Brattleboro Reformer), here.

(the following was posted by me as a comment post to the above article and is shared here to both help raise awareness as well as to attempt to help spread the word to others who might be as concerned and outraged regarding these matters as I am)

Say what!?

Say it ain't so Facebook.

Am glad I wisely dumped my account a while back or I'd be raging on Facebook for hours about this.

Both my son and daughter, who were born in the mid-80's, were breastfed by their mother.

As I recall, when there was day-work available from the professional temp service she worked for as a bookkeeper or whatever was the job on a given day or week and it was for day-long, my daughter was oftentimes breastfed at their mother's workplace around or during lunchtime on those days she had me bring our son and daughter there to pick up breast milk she had pumped out earlier.

This way the breast milk she pumped out could be brought home in our little cooler -- that was just big enough to hold the reusable freeze packs and also breast milk -- and then stored away when the three of us arrived back home and later used when needed.

Although this was not within Vermont, the city we lived in was a fairly conservative one compared to others elsewhere within Massachusetts at the time. Yet there was never a fuss raised by anyone, ever, at least not as I can best recall anyway.

Yeah, I was a stay-at-home dad during this time period, offering to do so since she wanted to work badly and she could also bring home much leaner bacon and way more of it than myself. No shame in that either. However, when we needed more income and work was available on my end, I also worked night shifts at times during that particular year or so. Anyway, I digress.

Back on the subject, ...

Maybe the youngsters at Facebook were never breastfed, either that or they forgot their experience?

Because, if they were breastfed as well as managed to remember anything from their experience, they would well know breastfeeding is not only good as this article mentions, but it is also not something to ban or punish someone for doing.

They would also know, as the mother in this article said, breastfeeding photos are not pornography. Too bad the youngsters at Facebook can't get a life and quit playing nanny over what is clearly nothing to be shunned.

If those involved in setting and enforcing policy at Facebook were actually breastfed however, it appears they are sorely in need of a lengthy and passionate heart to heart talk with their mothers. Imagine if only their mothers were in charge of Facebook and setting sound policy on such matters?

Who is in charge at Facebook, the lawyers or what? It is high time Facebook revised its "Terms of Use" policies and rules as well as then get all ~~your~~[their] monitoring nannies on the same page. It also might help if they found one's who were breastfed or at least have them be screened for whether they find breastfeeding photos as being obscene and as pornography.

Not really wanting too put words in the mouth of my ex-wife and probably catch trouble for doing so, I would not at all be surprised if she were to come across this article or word about it she just might be heard screaming: Get over it Facebook!

-- 55-year-old proud Dad to two breastfed, well-raised and now grown and healthy as well as on their own adult, kiddos (their mother deserves all the credit of course).

P.S.

When going over the rusty memories within my mind from way back then again, had found myself not being quite sure whether the breast feeding mentioned happened while our son may have still been breast feeding or later, after our daughter was born. However, whichever is the case, am fairly certain that the rest of the story is as correct as I can best recall.

*Note*: made several, mostly minor, edits for the purposes of clarification and readability; also posted an update (P.S. at bottom of post); last updated on Wednesday, February 2, 2011 at 8:18 AM (EST).

Shumlin Administration Offers What Basically Amounts to a Hobson's Choice on Human Service Cuts

2011-02-01T17:07:00.003-05:00

(cross-posted from Green Mountain Daily, here)

Yesterday, during his interview on Vermont Public Radio (VPR) VT Edition (here) and in defence of Governor Peter Shumlin's budget cuts to human service programs, it was rather disheartening to listen to Agency of Human Services (AHS) Secretary Doug Racine make the veiled threat of going before the state legislature to offer alternative cuts to other programs they would find even more unacceptable than the ones already offered.

This would of course merely serve as a Hobson's choice of sorts in terms of being a way to try to get the state legislature to accept the budget cuts to human service programs offered within Governor Shumlin's budget or else.

This was a tactic often employed by the Douglas administration and is pure Douglas 2.0 on the part of the current administration. Shame on them!

As far as making other recommendations of what to do in terms of attempting to address the FY2012 budget shortfall, my own recommendations can be found, here (via vtdigger).

However, looking on the brighter side of things, it just warms the heart to know how much as well as how hard the Governor and his administration has been working on one of his recent top priorities in ensuring that small amounts of real maple sugar will be offered with servings of Fruit and Maple Oatmeal at McDonald restaurants located within Vermont (*updated*).

How sweet it is! -- save for anyone who is diabetic or whom otherwise must refrain from consuming added sugars and the like.

7-Step FY2012 Budget Recommendation

2011-01-28T18:03:00.004-05:00

(cross-posted to Green Mountain Daily, here)

The Vermont Legislature should consider adopting as well as enacting something along the lines of the following seven (7) recommendations when it considers addressing the current shortfall in terms of crafting the fiscal year 2012 budget:

Tap up to half of the rainy day reserve funds, not counting the Agency of Human Services (AHS) caseload reserve fund as is already proposed to be used;
Create a tax scheme along the lines of what former Governor Dick Snelling and the state legislature had wisely enacted back in the early 1990's. This could be used to both help raise a portion of the current shortfall as well as ensuring to have a certain amount of those tax receipts be dedicated to help build back up the tapped rainy day reserve funds;
While still needing to find and make cuts to the Fiscal Year 2012 budget to cover the shortfall, this time around make sure to cut the fat where the fat truly exists: i.e., At the top and mid level regions of the higher paid and positioned bureaucracy across state government, starting within the administration itself and ensuring that the rank and file state workforce that delivers direct services to the citizens of the state are able to be held harmless: e.g., during these tight budget times, the state cannot afford nor does it need all the deputy commissioners at the department level across state government, including at the department of mental health;
In addition, put or keep in place a permanent cap on all salary increases, bonuses, merit increases or whatever they might be termed these days for those working in top or middle management positions across state government, including and starting with the administration. This policy should be kept in place until the economy fully recovers and, also not be ceased until all human services program cuts are then fully restored to what they were prior to the series of cuts that have been made within previous years as well as any forthcoming cuts;
As was done previously, cut salaries of higher level state employees receiving $60,000 or more. However this time do so by 10 percent (10%), beginning with members of the administration, including the Governor. It is certain there are others who are as well qualified and also willing to serve within those positions who could step in to take over for anyone not willing or able to take such cuts and who choose to leave their positions as a result;
Put an end to providing meal allowances and other such stipends for any and all state employees, including the Governor and members of the state legislature, etc.;
Severely restrict out of state travel allowances for state employees across state government, including members of the administration and the state legislature and recommend use of teleconferencing or use of other electronic means rather than attending meetings in person. In addition, also severely restrict allowances covering conference fees and the like for all state employees, including within the administration and state legislature, whether it be for instate or out of state conferences or other such meetings.

These are some of the places state government should be looking to cut first and foremost. Rather than beginning at the bottom and working their way up the food chain, they should be starting at the top and working their way down.

WCAX News: What will proposed cuts mean for the mentally ill?

2011-01-27T01:17:00.001-05:00

Thanks to the wry wit of Peter Freyne, former Governor Douglas' gifted moniker was Governor Scissorhands.

To my way of thinking, Governor Douglas had earned it as much for deeply cutting budgets as he might have done for his skill at cutting ribbons.

Speaking of deepening or rather impaling budget cuts, view the following archived video of a news report on the subject:

via WCAX - Channel 3 TV - News (includes transcript), here.

One is then left to only wonder however whether the moniker Governor Shumlin could eventually earn down the road someday will be that of Peter the Impaler?

Rep. Anne Donahue on Mark Johnson Show Tuesday, 1/25th at 10:15 AM re: H. 3, Tasers/Act 80 Training ...

2011-01-24T21:47:00.001-05:00

(cross-posted to Green Mountain Daily, here)

Word is Rep. Anne Donahue (R-Northfield) will be a guest on the Mark Johnson Show tomorrow (Tuesday, January 25th) at 10:15 AM concerning the Tasers and Act 80 mental health/disabilities police training bill, H. 3.

The radio talk show itself starts at 9:00 AM and ends at 11:00 AM. Listen live locally on WDEV Radio 550 AM or 96.1 FM or, via streaming audio online, here.

For those who are not able to listen to the show segment live, later on Mark Johnson often posts archived audio clips of some interviews on his blog, here.

On Thursday, January 27th at 10:00 AM, the House Committee on Government Operations will have Rep. Donahue speak to them briefly regarding H. 3. Check the committee's schedule, here.

Related information:

2010 Updated Act 80 Report from the Vermont Attorney General to the state legislature; note group recommendations beginning on page 4 (PDF version)
Use of Force Preferences study (full text; via Schizophrenia Bulletin)

Read the following as an example of why Crisis Intervention Team (CIT) training -- which is what the following article refers to and is much more extensive than the Act 80 training -- is better to do so sooner rather than later or, put another way, proactively versus reactively: Cardalls want mental health training for cops (via Salt Lake Tribune), here.

Montpelier, Vermont and Tasers

2011-01-17T14:40:00.000-05:00

Montpelier, Vermont and Tasers: An Informational Presentation
(slideshow format)

Obie's Lessons Learned

2011-01-10T11:05:00.003-05:00

Vermont State House
Photo by Morgan W. Brown
taken November 2005
(click onto above photo
to view enlargement)

Last week, (now former) state Representative Michael Obuchowski (aka Obie) resigned his House seat due to having been appointed as Commissioner of the Department of Building and General Services (BGS) by Governor Peter Shumlin.

Obie served within the Vermont state legislature for 38 years, since 1973, including as House Speaker and chairing several different standing committees as well.

As found online within last Friday's (January 7, 2011) House journal (here; via PDF version), is the text of the resignation letter submitted by him, which includes Obie's Lessons Learned:

Communication from Representative Michael Obuchowski

“Don Milne
Clerk, House of Representatives
State House
Montpelier, VT 05633

Dear Don:

We who serve the public in the Vermont House are the luckiest Vermonters in the world. it is an institution whose accomplishments are bounded only by our ability to work together.

It is with immeasurable hope and faith in the future and what it portends, that 1 tender my resignation from the Vermont House of Representatives Windham 4 district effective at 5 p.m. with the swearing in of Governor elect Peter Shumlin on Thursday, January 6, 2011.

Nearly two generations of service in the House have taught me many lessons, some of which are worth sharing with those now serving and those to follow:

Obie's Lessons Learned

Do what you think is right despite the consequences.
Treat each other with dignity and respect.
Be honest.
Never give up. Anything is possible.
Don't engage in battle over little things. Save it for situations that matter.
Work hard.
Worry the Governor, like the wolf worries sheep.
Keep a line of communication open. Listen.
Treat the taxpayers' money as if it were your own.
The House Clerk is always correct.
Work together for the public good.
Be judicious with the power to tax.
And remember your constituents are in charge. Protect their rights.

May the Vermont style of government, based on mutual respect and trust and an unrelenting interest in the public good, never perish. The outcome is in our hands and those who follow.

Thank you very much.

Sincerely,

/s/Michael J. Obuchowski
Representative Windham 4”

Read news articles profiling Obie, here (via Burlington Free Press) and, here (via The Commons).

A Question of Legacy: Ronald Reagan vs Howard Dean?

2011-01-05T22:28:00.001-05:00

*Updated* (with the usual edits)

Image via Wikipedia

An article published by the Christian Science Monitor reads (here):

Howard Dean says Ronald Reagan had no accomplishments 'for the ages'

[...]

By Dave Cook, Staff Writer / January 5, 2011

Washington
Fans of Ronald Reagan are preparing a variety of festive occasions to mark the 100th anniversary of the 40th president’s birth Feb. 6.

But when former Democratic National Howard Dean was asked to assess Mr. Reagan’s legacy, he was restrained in his praise, saying “I think it is hard to point to particularly singular accomplishments that are for the ages.”

[...]

Read the article in full, here.

Image via Wikipedia

One seriously wonders if the writer of the article has found anyone actually worth quoting who can list Howard Dean's accomplishments 'for the ages', other than his Iowa scream?

If not, then Howard Dean is not one to talk about a lack of "accomplishments 'for the ages'", whether it be Ronald Reagan or anyone else of his stature.

If only Ronald Reagan were still around to do so, one would love to hear what the Quipper er, the Gipper, would have to say in response to Howard Dean's assessment of him.

The former certainly had the latter beat as far the quipping department goes. No comparison on that or most other fronts either.

However, this is the sort of thing that can happen when some wanna-be is asked to assess the legacy of someone who actually held a high level position they lusted so badly after, that they could just scream, quite literally (read: major case of envy).

By the way, speaking of the Howard 'Dean Scream', check out this video clip (a full 9 minutes and 40 seconds worth; via ABC News, here; January 19, 2004):

In addition, for all his talk about the longstanding partisanship of Washington and, especially when it concerns Republicans either within or outside the D.C. Beltway, this is no way to go about showing he is less so.

This is of course just my opinion though, speaking as someone with absolutely no accomplishments 'for the ages' of their own for that matter either.

*Note*: made several, mostly minor, edits for the purposes of clarification and readability; last updated on Thursday, January 6, 2011 at 12:37 PM (EDT).

Poll: Are You One of Gov.-elect Peter Shumlin's Phone Buddies?

2011-01-04T04:51:00.003-05:00

Background (via Burlington Free Press, here; emphasis mine):

MONTPELIER — Days before he is to become Vermont’s 81st governor, Peter Shumlin is still taking and making calls on his own cell phone, the one that it seems just about everyone in Vermont has the number to. A new state-issued cell phone with a restricted phone number sits untouched in its box in the next room at his transition office.

[...]

Vote in the poll (here):

View poll results, here.

Loyal to the End

2010-12-29T07:16:00.006-05:00

*Updated* (P.S. at bottom of post)

Vermont Watch site stats visitor page
(click onto above screenshot image
in order to view enlargement)

By the way, either oddly or interestingly enough (or both), someone using lunderville.com domain as the host for their e-mail account, clicked onto the link to the previous poll blog post.

It is not the first time the blog has been visited from someone using that particular domain hosting their e-mail account either.

Whoever it was did vote in the poll and gave Governor Jim Douglas an excellent grade (I know because it is the only other visitor to the blog within the time frame since the first and only other vote had been cast up to that moment).

It appears they also had cast a vote in the other current poll within the sidebar asking:

Has Governor-elect Peter Shumlin & his transition team been doing enough to solicit input & ideas concerning VT government, problems & solutions from the public?

They voted no.

There had been another brief visit to the blog by someone else very shortly after the post was published, however only one other vote between then and when the other visitor happened along. The sidebar poll had been previously unchanged until long after the earlier visitor had come and gone.

While I have no idea whether it is Neale Lunderville (Secretary of Administration for Governor Jim Douglas) or otherwise someone else with the same last name, if it is indeed the former, then someone must be up early updating their resume as well as having little else to do but vote in an unscientific poll concerning his boss?

Not that it is a big deal even if it was Neale Lunderville, merely odd and one to chuckle about if it was.

Heck, I know just what it is like to be up at all hours and not having anything meaningful to do.

Hold on, after all that, it finally came to mind to run a whois search for the domain and, guess who owns lunderville.com?

(click above screenshot image in order to view enlargement)

It is not like he was doing so while serving in an official capacity, right?!

Except for one thing, as I sometimes have done in the past, I went to the Governor's page and sent a communication using the online submission form (here).

One is left to wonder whether the secretary of administration monitors such, since it is apparent he received an e-mail about the post and clicked the link for the post using his domain hosted e-mail account.

If so and, even if it may have been passed through official channels, it is not like he was on the clock (i.e., during office hours or while at the office), right?!

Not that it truly matters either way really, since he is busy packing up his things from his office anyway.

Water under the bridge!

For those interested, Neale Lunderville's current bio is (click below screenshot image in order to view enlargement):

Thank you Mr. Lunderville for making it so easy for me to verify that you have visited and read this blog of mine from time to time.

In addition, I am certain that your boss will be pleased by this latest token of your loyalty.

That said, if it was not you, then someone else must have access to an e-mail account linked to a domain you own.

:-) [smile]

Happy New Year!

P.S.

Please note:

Not only is it very rare to even bother checking my site stats, but these stats also usually do not reveal much about a visitor, save when someone is clicking a link directly from an e-mail account hosted at a domain they own and have control over, which will of course provide a clue, as it has done in this particular circumstance.

Not to mention that the person could have easily clicked onto the link for the poll hosted at Twtpoll and left absolutely no trace at all. Duh!

*Note*: posted an update; made a few, mostly minor edits for the purpose of clarification and readability; last updated on Wednesday, December 29, 2010 at 8:16 AM (EST).

Poll: Grade Governor Jim Douglas' 8 Years in Office

2010-12-29T01:51:00.004-05:00

Want to get a last word in on Governor Jim Douglas' years in office?

Answer the following poll question by selecting the grade you believe is deserved:

View poll results, here.

Vote for Miss Vermont 2010 Caroline Bright

2010-12-08T03:51:00.006-05:00

Last month Vermonters who voted in the general election cast their ballots and elected Peter Shumlin as the Green Mountain State's new Governor.

Along with electing others for several statewide offices, they also re-elected Peter Welch as the state's sole Representative within the U.S. House and also its senior U.S. Senator, Patrick Leahy, as well as electing or re-electing local state representatives and state senators for seats within the Vermont General Assembly.

While it is true the general election is finally behind us, save for possibly a few details yet to be determined or finalized in certain cases, there is yet another important vote Vermonters -- as well as anyone else who loves our state as much as we do -- can partake: i.e.,

Vote for Miss Vermont 2010 Caroline Bright

(emphasis mine)

[...]

The Miss America Organization is proud to announce your opportunity to vote for a finalist at the 2011 Miss America Pageant, presented by DSW live from Planet Hollywood Resort & Casino in Las Vegas on Saturday, January 15, 2011 on ABC.

Vote now for the contestant who you would like to see become America's Choice. You may vote once per contestant per voting method. Voting closes at 11:59 p.m. PST on January 13, 2011. Only votes cast through one of the official voting methods will count. "Likes" on videos posted on other Facebook pages, personal Facebook profiles or any other website will NOT count toward the final tally. [...]

[via YouTube, here; posted by MissAmericaOrg (December 3, 2010); length: 1:17 minutes/seconds]

Caroline Bright is working very hard and doing her absolute best to represent our state and make us proud. It is now time for all of us to do our part by taking just a few moments to help her out in this effort.

For those without a texting enabled mobile phone or, without either or both Facebook or YouTube accounts, an anonymous as well as easy and painless method to cast your vote for Caroline is by visiting the voting page for her, here.

Visit www.missamerica.org/videocontest for full contest information and to read the Voting Terms and Conditions.

For additional information on the subject, read Caroline's blog post, here.

Check out the official Miss Vermont organization Website, here.

Found Aglow

2010-12-06T05:28:00.005-05:00

*Updated* (featuring added slideshow)

Found Aglow

The Vermont State House is found aglow,
amidst a light shroud of falling night snow.

Morgan W. Brown
Montpelier, VT
December 6, 2010
(screenshot via National Life Webcam, here;
click upon above photo in order to view enlargement)

*Update*:

"Found Aglow Amidst Light Shroud of Night Snow"

Create a free slideshow with Picnik!

fyi:

*Note*: posted slideshow; last updated on Monday, December 6, 2010 at 8:49 AM (EST).

Housing in Review: An Introduction to Housing in Vermont

2010-11-20T14:07:00.000-05:00

Janet Green "Community Member" and Danielle Bombardier "VHCB AmeriCorps Member" provide a general status of housing in Vermont.

[via CCTV, here; length: 29:08 minutes/seconds]

fyi: Vermont Housing & Conservation Board (VHCB)

Latest Thought of the Day (TOTD): Newsworthy, Reliable & Quotable Sources

2010-11-18T14:52:00.000-05:00

text from the 'sources unknown' department
Photo: Camel's Hump
taken from Hubbard Park Tower
by Morgan W. Brown
Montpelier, Vermont; November 2005
(made to look like painting using getpaint.net)
click onto above image in order to view enlargement

View full, updated, TOTD slideshow presentation, here.

Urge Governor-elect Peter Shumlin to Make Homelessness & Housing Top Priorities

2010-11-17T05:54:00.010-05:00

*Updated 2x*

When campaigning for office earlier this year, Governor-elect Peter Shumlin had promised to make addressing homelessness and affordable housing top priorities within his administration.

As his transition team goes about its business, they will be working on what his top priorities will be and how they will go about fulfilling the promises the Governor-elect made during the campaign.

Thus, since there were also many other promises the Governor-elect had made concerning a slew of various matters or issues, now is the time for people to call upon him to ensure that he will fulfill the ones he made regarding homelessness and affordable housing.

*Update 1*: With today being my fifty-fifth (55th) birthday (i.e., November 17th), if you take the time and effort to urge the Governor-elect to do so, this will be the best present ever. Thank you in advance.

If you are a Twitter user, please consider signing onto the Actly petition on the subject, here. If you have already done so, thank you very much.

*Update 2*:

Concerning contact information for Governor-elect Peter Shumlin's transition office and team, this morning I received the following in reply to an e-mail of mine after using the Peter Shumlin gubernatorial campaign Website online contact submission form last night (excerpted):

Dear Morgan,

The transition office does not yet have a website or contact email. The office phone number is (802) 828-3480. Thank you.

[...]

On Wed, Nov 17, 2010 at 6:21 PM, ... wrote:

Submitted on: November 17, 2010

Your Name: Morgan W. Brown

Message:

When will contact information for public to get in touch with Governor-elect Peter Shumlin or his transition staff or team be made available. What is the transition team office phone number and e-mail address? In addition, will the transition office put online at least a basic Website and make the effort to allow the public interact with them?

Am asking because people are asking me for contact information so they can communicate with the office and hopefully Governor-elect Shumlin.

Back to original post:

By the way, ~~as I understand it,~~ the Governor-elect is scheduled to speak during the Vermont Statewide Housing Conference tomorrow, so it is quite possible that it will be learned whether he will signal either his willingness to indeed fulfill his promises made regarding these matters or if he will backpedal on them instead.

Read Peter Shumlin's promises:

Peter Shumlin's statements on addressing homelessness and affordable housing as submitted during Democratic gubernatorial primary (here):

2010 VT Gubernatorial Candidates’ Responses to Homelessness and Affordable Housing Questions

Five-Part Question Posed to 2010 Vermont Gubernatorial Candidates:

If the voters were to elect you as Governor of the State of Vermont, when it comes to addressing homelessness and affordable housing across the state, please answer the following five-part question:

What priority would both of these matters hold within your administration?
What concrete steps would your administration take to address these matters?
What are the expected outcomes by which your administration would measure the effectiveness of such proposals?
What timelines would your administration set for addressing such?
How would your administration fund such proposals?

[...]

Peter Shumlin (PS):

PS 1. Homelessness and affordable housing would hold top priority in my administration, as these issues have during my tenure as President of the Senate. I learned a few years ago, by listening to homeless advocates and the Vermont Affordable Housing Coalition, that there had been virtually no increase in funding for the emergency shelter grant program for more than ten years, at a time when the need had grown significantly. I’m pleased to have been able to add $250,000 to the base amount of state funding administered through the Office of Economic Opportunity. In addition, I’ve also advocated for small annual increases to help homeless individuals and families in each of the past budget years. As Governor, I would continue my commitment to these important issues.

PS 2. I believe that housing is the basic right of every Vermonter. It is very difficult to address persistent problems such as mental or physical illness, addictions, developmental issues, chronic health conditions or access to education or job opportunities when a person or family is homeless. As Governor, I would advocate for a “housing first” policy that goes beyond shelter and offers every person safe, decent and affordable housing. I would seek to provide a continuum of local non-profit housing options to meet the diverse needs of the community through adequate funding of the Vermont Housing and Conservation Board. And while this may take more than one year to achieve, I will set the goal and establish a plan to reach it.

PS 3. Simply put, I would seek to assure that all individuals and families are safely housed, and that no one is homeless in Vermont. Because many people are forced to pay 50-85% of their incomes for housing, I would set the goal that, whenever possible, Vermonters pay no more than 30% of their income in housing costs.

PS 4. Upon being elected in November, one of my first acts as Governor would be to assure that no Vermonter has to live outside. I would assure that there is adequate funding and language in the general assistance program to provide shelter for all Vermonters in the winter months.

By January 2011 when I present my first budget to Vermonters, I will assure that it includes adequate funds for a continuum of housing options to be funded through the Vermont Housing and Conservation Board and adequate services through the agency of human services.

I would then work with a range of stakeholders to develop a multi-year plan to anticipate, develop and pay for a continuum of housing options.

PS 5. Vermont’s Housing and Conservation Board and network of local non-profit organizations is an award winning model that has not been adequately funded in recent years. As President of the Senate I have repeatedly fought the Douglas/Dubie Administration’s attempts to decimate this important organization. My administration would adequately fund VHCB, preferably through returning to full dedication of the property transfer tax and/or through a combination of general and capital funds. In addition I would look to re-examine some of the deep cuts to human service programs that have left some of the service supported housing projects for vulnerable populations without the support they need to be successful.

In recent years, as budgets tightened, the current Administration pulled back from the commitment to provide either shelter or housing to each and every person in Vermont, especially in the winter. This past winter, families with children and those who met narrowly drawn criteria were provided a certain number of nights in a hotel or other facility, but those who failed to meet the guidelines were literally left out in the cold, even on the most brutal nights. This policy causes unneeded suffering and places people unnecessarily at mortal risk. One of my first acts as Governor would be to assure that the general assistance program has the needed guidelines and funding to assure that no Vermonter has to live outside, no matter what the season is, due to homelessness.

*Note*: Updated post with two additional paragraphs; added embedded link within paragraph 6; last updated on Thursday, November 18, 2010 at 10:10 AM (EST).

Reflections & Observations on 2010 Vermont Elections

2010-11-14T19:53:00.017-05:00

*Updated* (with the usual edits)

Vermont State House
taken by
Morgan W. Brown
November 2005
(click onto photo to
view enlargement)

A couple of days ago a good friend of mine, Bethany Knight, who had formerly served as a lobbyist at the state house many years ago -- which is where I had first met and came to highly respect both them as well as their work, e-mailed to ask about whether the ~~eight~~*nine* recounts of local legislative races across the state were symptomatic of confusion in VT political electorate, signaling somekind of shift or change (*updated link to new blog post on subject*), as well as their wondering whether it was common to have so many recounts take place and also mentioned how they thought it might be worthy of a blog post.

After trading e-mails about it with them, they felt my initial response to them should be blogged mostly as is, which is as follows (although edited somewhat as well as also further refined and in certain cases added to for purposes of clarification, readability and presentation).

In addition, also included are further thoughts of mine on the subject sent within follow-up e-mails as well (which can be found under the heading of: Upon further reflection):

Reflections & Observations on 2010 Vermont Elections:

First, to cut to the chase however (excerpt of paragraph 10 of the following section):

[This election cycle] started much too soon,
lasted way too long, had far too much money
involved ... and had gotten too darn ugly ....

Image by Getty Images via @daylife

While to my knowledge there are ~~eight (8)~~nine (9) recounts in various local legislative races for seats within the state general assembly, I am not sure how much of a record it really is, more than it just being a fluke with all the contested races as well as also having more than two candidates in one seat races or more than four in two seat races, which could cause close races (especially when one or more of the newer faces catches people's attention, etc.; plus in open races when there is no incumbent running for re-election and so it can be harder for people to choose, much like the Governor's race).

If I recall correctly, some within the media have been writing about these matters and maybe some political blogger types too (however I have not even bothered to read them beyond the headlines or a few paragraphs if that much).

Even if I were to consider doing a blog post on the subject, it would seem to take a bit of homework and tough analysis to do correctly, not too mention needing to be able to know or learn enough background about the races and candidates as well as issues at play in the given areas, etc., in order to get it right and not just be caught in a guessing game or mere speculating.

To my way of thinking, even if this many recounts might not happen often or, even ever previously, having eight close races in which a recount is in order is not really all that big deal when one factors in one hundred and fifty (150) seats within the house and thirty (30) seats in the state senate (even given those seats that were uncontested with an incumbent running for re-election).

My guess is that each of these close legislative races had their own distinct differences and there would not be a clear or direct correlation between them enough to draw conclusions of something being amiss or otherwise signaling some sort of shift or change on the statewide level, save at the local level and most likely for very different reasons in most if not all cases.

photo of
Take Back Vermont
sign
(via Take Back Vermont
manifesto, here; click
onto photo in order
to view enlargement)

It is not like this is a Vermont version of the Tea Bag phenomenon mostly playing out elsewhere (if this was not true, then an example of this would have been for the secessionists guised er, running as Independents would have done much better and won numerous seats within the legislature and also statewide offices and, unless I am mistaken, none managed to do so) or akin to the Take Back Vermont (anti-civil unions) phenomenon from years ago either (i.e., 2000; by the way, for those who read the previously linked item, be sure to also read, here).

Without looking at it deeper, that is my general take on the matter, at least for now.

We will see how the recounts play out, however I have not gotten excited about it yet and, much like most people I suspect, am just glad this damned election cycle is -- almost -- over, save these recounts of course.

The truth is that I did not like this election at all.

It started much too soon, lasted way too long, had far too much money involved coming from every conceivable direction or source and had gotten too darn ugly in more than one race and on both sides of those particular races as well (i.e., not just one candidate either).

Then, to make matters worse, the news media and press often reported every detail and had to do an article or news story concerning each and every stupid and vile press release as well as the back and forth of course.

On top of all that, now we have to hear all the political journalists, pundits and bloggers pick it all apart, analyse it to death and then explain it to us until they and we all turn blue er, red er, purple.

Ugh! Enough already!

Upon further reflection:

Another means of measuring these close races and, while depending on the results of the recounts concerning them, the party makeup and control of the House and state Senate will more than likely end up remaining about the same as they were before, save for some new faces of course.

For my part, I had actually thought Vermont Republicans might do a little better and pick up more gains since it looked to me like Peter Shumlin would manage to win by a narrow margin -- although under 50%, both of which latter things happened as I predicted -- and, if they did, would serve to provide a little more balance or buffer to whom for some could prove to be a very liberal Democratic governor with major clouds of doubt hanging over them as well as, also, with a Democratic majority in both legislative bodies.

My reasoning was about how Vermont voters have seemed to prefer to have a somewhat divided government or at least a bit of balance of a sort between these two branches (governor and legislature) of late, so I figured they might go a little more conservative locally when it came to the state legislature.

However, possibly because within many areas where voters were going with Brian Dubie, they might have been doing what they did before with Jim Douglas and electing state legislators to serve as a check and balance or vise versa.

All to suggest that to my way of thinking and without further research and analysis of course, that if anything, this might also help to explain some of the close races and eight recounts.

If there was something at the statewide level bleeding into and having a cause and effect upon some of the closer local legislative races, in my opinion, it was people's indecision of whom to vote for in the Governors race and, a result, voters concern about the makeup and resulting balance of what the state legislature could bring to bear against the excesses of whomever became elected as governor; particularly given there could have perceived downsides to fear from either of the two major party candidates, no matter how much some voters may have liked one over the other(s).

Remember, many people -- especially among Independent voters -- had been undecided, even upon going into the polls to vote and, even among those who made a decision prior to then, their vote and support could have been real soft and wavering.

This could have easily rippled into some close legislative races, at least this time around anyway, it was that much of a factor in my opinion.

Not too mention all the uncertainty people were experiencing over the economy as well as their small end of it and then how the politicians play off of that fear as well as the confusion and added uncertainty such causes; much like the fog of war and, during this election cycle, too much so if you ask me (i.e., it was much more hype than grounded in reality and there is a major price to be paid for the hell this sort of thing causes to the economy when the confidence of people are shaken and it is mostly -- if not all -- pure and dangerous hyperbole, just so they or their side can win election and not caring at all about the many consequences that can often result).

Lastly, yet not leastly:

Had bumped into Chris Graff (yesterday afternoon: i.e., Saturday, November 13th) and, although I did not mention names to him, told him of the questions and general conversation about the close legislative races and eight recounts.

He basically said that, in his opinion, it was a sign of competitive races in which there were good candidates running and plenty of choices for voters to choose from among or, something along those lines and was much shorter as well as to the point than I have stated. Am in total agreement with him.

*Note*: Made several, mostly minor, edits for the purposes of clarification and readability; last updated on Wednesday, November 17, 2010 at 4:24 AM (EST).

Latest Thought of the Day (TOTD): Irony of Modern Mankind

2010-11-07T15:58:00.002-05:00

View full, updated, TOTD slideshow presentation, here.

My VPR VT Edition Question(s) for Governor-Elect Peter Shumlin

2010-11-05T01:20:00.002-04:00

Question(s) of mine submitted in advance for Governor-elect Peter Shumlin (as also posted on Vermont Public Radio VT Edition episode page, here; this particular version includes a copy of his statements concerning these matters as submitted during the campaign -- see below):

Congratulations on your victory Governor-elect Shumlin.

As raw cold weather begins to set in across Vermont and, given that during the gubernatorial campaign you had promised to have these be among the top priorities within your administration if and when elected to office, what will you and your new administration do in order to meaningfully address homelessness and affordable housing both in the short as well as long term and how will you do so?

In addition, please also explain what you will do to address the dire situation concerning both the Vermont State Hospital and the community mental system as a whole?

Morgan
Morgan W. Brown
Montpelier, Vermont

Background, fyi:

Peter Shumlin's statements on addressing homelessness and affordable housing as submitted during Democratic gubernatorial primary (here):

2010 VT Gubernatorial Candidates’ Responses to Homelessness and Affordable Housing Questions

Five-Part Question Posed to 2010 Vermont Gubernatorial Candidates:

If the voters were to elect you as Governor of the State of Vermont, when it comes to addressing homelessness and affordable housing across the state, please answer the following five-part question:

What priority would both of these matters hold within your administration?
What concrete steps would your administration take to address these matters?
What are the expected outcomes by which your administration would measure the effectiveness of such proposals?
What timelines would your administration set for addressing such?
How would your administration fund such proposals?

[...]

Peter Shumlin (PS):

PS 1. Homelessness and affordable housing would hold top priority in my administration, as these issues have during my tenure as President of the Senate. I learned a few years ago, by listening to homeless advocates and the Vermont Affordable Housing Coalition, that there had been virtually no increase in funding for the emergency shelter grant program for more than ten years, at a time when the need had grown significantly. I’m pleased to have been able to add $250,000 to the base amount of state funding administered through the Office of Economic Opportunity. In addition, I’ve also advocated for small annual increases to help homeless individuals and families in each of the past budget years. As Governor, I would continue my commitment to these important issues.

PS 2. I believe that housing is the basic right of every Vermonter. It is very difficult to address persistent problems such as mental or physical illness, addictions, developmental issues, chronic health conditions or access to education or job opportunities when a person or family is homeless. As Governor, I would advocate for a “housing first” policy that goes beyond shelter and offers every person safe, decent and affordable housing. I would seek to provide a continuum of local non-profit housing options to meet the diverse needs of the community through adequate funding of the Vermont Housing and Conservation Board. And while this may take more than one year to achieve, I will set the goal and establish a plan to reach it.

PS 3. Simply put, I would seek to assure that all individuals and families are safely housed, and that no one is homeless in Vermont. Because many people are forced to pay 50-85% of their incomes for housing, I would set the goal that, whenever possible, Vermonters pay no more than 30% of their income in housing costs.

PS 4. Upon being elected in November, one of my first acts as Governor would be to assure that no Vermonter has to live outside. I would assure that there is adequate funding and language in the general assistance program to provide shelter for all Vermonters in the winter months.

By January 2011 when I present my first budget to Vermonters, I will assure that it includes adequate funds for a continuum of housing options to be funded through the Vermont Housing and Conservation Board and adequate services through the agency of human services.

I would then work with a range of stakeholders to develop a multi-year plan to anticipate, develop and pay for a continuum of housing options.

PS 5. Vermont’s Housing and Conservation Board and network of local non-profit organizations is an award winning model that has not been adequately funded in recent years. As President of the Senate I have repeatedly fought the Douglas/Dubie Administration’s attempts to decimate this important organization. My administration would adequately fund VHCB, preferably through returning to full dedication of the property transfer tax and/or through a combination of general and capital funds. In addition I would look to re-examine some of the deep cuts to human service programs that have left some of the service supported housing projects for vulnerable populations without the support they need to be successful.

In recent years, as budgets tightened, the current Administration pulled back from the commitment to provide either shelter or housing to each and every person in Vermont, especially in the winter. This past winter, families with children and those who met narrowly drawn criteria were provided a certain number of nights in a hotel or other facility, but those who failed to meet the guidelines were literally left out in the cold, even on the most brutal nights. This policy causes unneeded suffering and places people unnecessarily at mortal risk. One of my first acts as Governor would be to assure that the general assistance program has the needed guidelines and funding to assure that no Vermonter has to live outside, no matter what the season is, due to homelessness.

Ode to Election Day 2010

2010-11-02T02:40:00.001-04:00

Ode to Election Day
Photo: Camel's Hump
taken from Hubbard Park Tower,
Montpelier, Vermont; November 2005
Poem, photo and image by Morgan W. Brown
Tuesday, November 2, 2010
(made to look like painting using getpaint.net)
click onto above image in order to view enlargement

Text only:

Ode to Election Day 2010

Today the voters of Vermont will head to the polls

Leaving muck and mire of political campaigns behind

While voting their conscience when casting ballots

With the future of their beloved state kept in mind.

by Morgan W. Brown

Montpelier, Vermont

Tuesday, November 2, 2010

Poll: Remaining Indy and Third Party VT Gubernatorial Candidates

2010-10-31T14:55:00.001-04:00

View poll results, here.

Scariest 2010 VT Gubernatorial Candidate Poll Results

2010-10-31T11:28:00.000-04:00

During the wee hours of this Halloween day, the latest tongue-in-cheek political poll of mine closed.

The week long poll had asked who was the scariest among the Vermont gubernatorial candidates on the 2010 general election ballot.

Final results of the poll found Brian Dubie to be the scariest candidate, with Peter Shumlin a distant second and the other candidates receiving at least one vote a piece with the only exception being Dan Feliciano, who was found not to be scary at all (i.e., having received no votes), at least in comparison to the other candidates on the ballot (here):

Still Undecided: Watch VPT Gubernatorial Debate

2010-10-26T17:45:00.001-04:00

Watch the full episode. See more Vermont Political Extras.

Watch the Vermont Public Television (VPT) gubernatorial debate held back when there were still seven candidates in the running, however only six participated in the event (Dan Feliciano did not attend).

In the news today, Ben Mitchell has announced this morning that he has dropped out and is endorsing Peter Shumlin due to the the race being so close. Read about his decision, here (via Blurt, 7Days Staff blog).

Brian Dubie Says Stun Guns Are Nonlethal

2010-10-26T01:40:00.008-04:00

*Updated* (with links to additional articles under further reading)

During Saturday evening's WCAX gubernatorial debate, when questioned by Mark Johnson once again about the issue of state police Taser stun guns, included within his answer Brian Dubie mentioned that these weapons were among those considered to be nonlethal.

WCAX gubernatorial debate archived video (stun gun question at 28 minute mark):

Why, when even Taser International and also many police departments using these weapons these days are no longer making such claims amidst growing evidence that have proven otherwise over at least a half-dozen years, is Brian Dubie insisting that Taser stun guns are nonlethal? Could it be that he is either mis or ill informed on the subject?

Maybe Brian Dubie should attempt to sell his nonlethal stun gun theory to the families, friends and colleagues of the victims who were alive until they had been tasered by stun guns at the hands of police both across the nation as well as elsewhere within the world.

Let us only hope no one has to die within Vermont after being tasered by police in order to finally convince Brian Dubie and others that Taser stun guns are actually potentially lethal, something which others have found out after it was far too late to do anything to prevent such tragedies.

Further reading on the subject (and merely the tip of the iceberg):

Tasers "are now recognized by Minneapolis police as potentially lethal", here (via Star Tribune);
Use of 'nonlethal' force may be a factor in many deaths, here (via St. Petersburg Times);
Amnesty International 12/16/2008 report on Tasers and industry 'non-lethal' claims, here;
Taser Settled 10 of 52 Cases It Said Were Dismissed, here (via Bloomberg);
Training incident spurs Taser lawsuit, here (via Lawrence Journal-World);
Autopsy links Taser to Cardall’s death, here (via Salt Lake Tribune);
Watsonville man shocked by Taser, injured in 2006 reaches $2.85M settlement with stun-gun maker, here (via Santa Cruz Sentinel);
Safety: In Stun Gun Training, Officer’s Spine Is Fractured, here (via NY Times);
Cops raise Taser safety claims: Metro officers hurt during training sue company, say warnings didn’t suffice, here (via Las Vegas Sun);
State trooper from Grafton suing over Taser injury, here (via Worcester Telegram).

*Note*: posted six additional links under further reading; last updated on Tuesday, October 26, 2010 at 5:53 AM (ET).

Observations & Reflections Upon the 2010 Gubernatorial Race: Part 2

2010-10-25T22:23:00.005-04:00

*Updated* (with the usual edits)

Upon further reflection this evening, it finally came to mind that all the scorn Brian Dubie, his campaign and supporters have shown and continue to show toward Peter Shumlin as well as his campaign and his supporters is one huge and unsettling difference between the two gubernatorial candidates.

For all of Peter Shumlin's faults and there are too many to number, yet no more or less than Brian Dubie or any one of us, I have not seen him be contemptuous toward either Brian Dubie or anyone else he has run against during this campaign cycle.

This is a major difference that indeed sets them apart.

One has to wonder why someone who so many had perceived as being such a 'nice guy' would hold as well as express such contempt for his political opponent in all the different ways that have been exercised during this campaign.

In fact, by those stately qualities of character and principles we most cherish within Vermont, it has gone quiet far beyond what is both reasonable and decent.

Whatever the reasons behind his doing so, there is no good or justifiable excuse for it.

Enough is enough!

And, given Peter Shumlin as well as his campaign and surrogates have all too often done quite a bit to attempt to provoke and enrage Brian Dubie at any opportunity they could, this particular statement also goes for him as well as his campaign, surrogates and supporters too of course; and, as such, it is no less excusable, nor justifiable.: i.e., enough is enough!

None of this is stated as an endorsement of Peter Shumlin in any manner or form, but simply as observations that came to mind while reflecting upon the gubernatorial race as well as these two particular candidates as well as their behavior toward each other during it thus far.

As stated within part one (here), Vermont voters should keep in mind that there are actually seven candidates running for Governor during this general election cycle.

Among these include five Independent or third party candidates who also earned the right to appear on the ballot and whom have worked both tirelessly as well as very hard during the campaign to attempt to get their messages and platforms out to the public, here.

*Note*: made a few, mostly minor, edits for the purposes of clarification and readability; last updated on Tuesday, October 26, 2010 at 12:25 AM (ET).

Observations & Reflections Upon the 2010 Gubernatorial Race: Part 1

2010-10-25T22:18:00.005-04:00

*Updated* (update below)

Both Brian Dubie’s and Peter Shumlin’s campaigns use sack and sully tactics not only to cast doubts concerning their opponent(s), but to also distract voters from their own candidate’s and campaign’s known weaknesses, which it is apparent that each is very mindful of as well as highly sensitive about and thus is why they are bullying each other so much.

However, among the problems caused when these candidates and their campaigns use such sack and sully tactics include merely creating an opposite as well as ping-pong effect(s).

The way each is waging their end of the gubernatorial campaign is much like a messy divorce and, as such, it is extremely difficult as well as increasingly painful to watch or, given the public is often pitted in the middle of all this, to be a part of even when on the sidelines.

Vermont voters should keep in mind that there are actually seven candidates running for Governor during this general election cycle.

Among these include five Independent or third party candidates who also earned the right to appear on the ballot and whom have worked both tirelessly as well as very hard during the campaign to attempt to get their messages and platforms out to the public, here.

*Update*: Read part two, here.

*Note*: posted link to part two; last updated on Tuesday, October 26, 2010 at 2:49 AM (ET).

Poll on Scariest 2010 VT Gubernatorial Candidate

2010-10-24T02:53:00.000-04:00

View poll results, here.

TOTD: Thought of the Day (slideshow presentation)

2010-10-17T14:15:00.002-04:00

Peter Galbraith's Oil-Stained Millions: Part 3

2010-10-11T11:11:00.001-04:00

Additional background information concerning the oil-stained millions of Peter Galbraith reported on recently by Vermont Public Radio (VPR) News (here):

Inside Iraq - Peter Galbraith - 23 Oct 09

[via YouTube, here; posted by AlJazeeraEnglish (October 23, 2009); length: 23:12 minutes/seconds]

related articles and info:

More on the Galbraith Story: Translated Text of the DN Article about the Tawke Oilfield (via Iraq and Gulf Analysis; Monday, 12 October 2009), here.

New Information in the Tawke-Gate Affair: Galbraith Was Also a Paid DNO Consultant (ibid; Monday, 19 October 2009), here.

Galbraith Was Paid by DNO when He Sat In on Sensitive Constitutional Drafting Sessions in 2005 (ibid; Thursday, 12 November 2009), here.

A Weak Attempt at Rebuttal: Galbraith (2009) Is Contradicted by Galbraith (2006) (ibid; Monday, 16 November 2009), here.

Once More, Peter Galbraith Fails to Clear His Name (ibid; Thursday, 14 January 2010), here.

Read previous blog posts of mine on the subject:

Part 1, here.

Part 2, here.

Indy and Minor Party Gubernatorial Candidates on VPR VT Edition Today

2010-10-11T07:44:00.000-04:00

Featured on today's episode of Vermont Public Radio (VPR) VT Edition, airing live during the noon hour and re-aired at 7:00 this evening, will be three of the five Independent and minor party candidates who will be participating (here):

There are five other candidates for governor of Vermont, beside Republican Brian Dubie and Democrat Peter Shumlin. We've invited them to argue for their platforms and share their perspectives from outside the two-party system. Cris Erickson of Putney is with the United State marijuana Party; Dan Felicano is an independent from Essex; Ben Mitchell of Westminster is with the Liberty Union Party; Emily Peyton of Putney is an independent; and Dennis Steele of Kirby is an independent.

We learn the policy priorities of the candidates, and hear their ideas for tackling the toughest problems facing Vermont.

You can ask your questions of Dan Feliciano, Emily Peyton and Dennis Steele by recording them at (800) 258-1619, or emailing vermontedition@vpr.net

Note: Cris Erickson declined to participate. Ben Mitchell is unable to attend due to his work schedule.

My question for the candidates, which I had called in on the question recording line, e-mailed as well as posted on the episode page just in case, is as follows:

What skills, abilities, life and work experience, level of education as well as other qualifications do they have to become Governor as well as carrying out the duties such involves?

Brian Dubie Speaks to Supporters in Manchester

2010-10-10T14:29:00.004-04:00

Alternative photo caption:
Brian Dubie: The fish that got away was this big.

Original photo (via Bennington GOP yfrog photo stream), here.

VT Watch Seeking Team Members & Independent Fact Checker

2010-10-09T06:55:00.010-04:00

*Updated and Republished*

Are you or someone you know either an amateur or recovering political, news or information junkie of one sort or another, particularly concerning local and statewide politics or news and journalism or both as they pertain to Vermont?

If so, Vermont Watch is seeking independent-minded Vermont-based experienced bloggers to join as team members.

Vermont Watch is also in need of someone willing to serve as a researcher and independent fact checker with proven (read: documented) experience as well as skills doing such whom could blog up their findings to the blog.

Vermont Watch is a citizen-based effort to help in monitoring Vermont statewide and local politics as well as news and journalism about such in a truly nonpartisan manner.

There are no financial rewards from any of the work involved in blogging on the blog. This is solely a labor of love (read: passion): i.e., both in the figurative and literal sense, of course.

Team members of the blog, including anyone taking on the role as researcher and fact checker, must be free of conflicts of interest involving any of the political parties or political campaigns in any form or nature (exceptions may be considered for those whose previous involvement was strictly limited to being an unpaid volunteer, yet are not engaged in such at this time or, should they join the blog, while they are actively a member of the blog team).

Find out more about Vermont Watch, here.

In addition, browse through the blog posts as well as tweet stream to gain a better idea of the flavor of its postings.

If either you or someone you know are interested in finding out more and in potentially being considered for a role on the blog, check my profile for contact information, here.

*Note*: originally posted on Wednesday, September 24, 2008; made several edits for the purposes of clarification and readability; last updated and republished on Saturday, October 9, 2010 at 10:27 AM (ET).

Peter Galbraith's Oil-Stained Millions: Part 2

2010-10-08T02:41:00.007-04:00

*Updated 2x*

Peter Galbraith's responses do not answer questions,
they merely raise additional ones
There are several questions left unanswered as well as raised by Peter Galbraith's responses as reported by Vermont Public Radio (VPR) News on the subject (here), including:

(emphasis mine)

[...]

(Galbraith) "I think the people of Windham County know me well. They know the positions I've taken. They understand that this is a normal business relationship. I think people understand that if you go to court and you win, it is because what you did was legal."

[...]

If this had indeed been a normal business relationship, then why all the secrecy over so many years?

i.e., At least until a journalistic -- not governmental -- investigation of the oil company involved (not of Peter Galbraith) eventually came upon a link that then led to revealing a year or so ago who the secret third party involved was or so I have read within various recent as well as previous reports (here: part 1).

What was there to hide if this was a normal business relationship?

Sorry, however this and other such responses of his do not seem to wash.

One is left wondering why he has not been pressed much harder on such matters.

By the way, not only do I not have a horse in the race he is a candidate in, but I am also an Independent; one who believes -- as Peter Galbraith seems to also suggest -- there certainly appears to be much more to all of this than meets the eye.

Not that it is directly related to the above, however here is a video of when he held higher ambitions than running for the state senate (January 22, 2008):

Peter Galbraith addresses the House Democratic Caucus

[via YouTube, here; length: 3:59 minutes/seconds]

Peter Galbraith is a 2010 state senate candidate, running as a Democrat to represent Windham County in one of two district seats.

*Update 1*: Further excerpts from VPR News story (here):

[...]

But a series of New York Times articles has questioned the propriety of that dual role. Critics have suggested that Galbraith's undisclosed "stake" in Kurdish oil might even shed doubts on the integrity of Iraq's constitution.

Galbraith dismisses those claims.

[...]

But he says the stories carried in The New York Times accusing him of ethical misdoings originated in Norway.

And he suggests that the Norwegian government has an axe to grind. Galbraith was a U.N. envoy to Afghanistan until November 2009.

[...]

By the way, for the sake of full disclosure, I am half-Norwegian by descent, so maybe this is just a Norwegian conspiracy thing after all (not).

*Update 2*: Check out part 3 on these and related matters, here.

*Note*: posted an update for sake of full disclosure; last updated on Monday, October 11, 2010 at 1:42 PM (ET).

2010 Washington County State Senate Debate

2010-10-07T15:34:00.001-04:00

2010 Washington County State Senate candidates debate held on Wednesday, October 6, 2010 in Barre and hosted by Vermont League of Women Voters of Central Vermont.

Video clips via Vermont Press Bureau (by way of Vermont View, here).

Peter Galbraith's Oil-Stained Millions: Part 1

2010-10-07T09:05:00.012-04:00

*Updated 4x*

Image via Wikipedia

Yesterday (Wednesday, October 6, 2010), the Boston Globe's Political Intelligence blog reported on the Iraqi Kurdistan oil-stained millions of dollars that Vermont state Senate candidate Peter Galbraith is due to receive in what had previously been a
secret deal, here.

Today's Boston Globe article on the subject and key excerpts drawn from it worth noting, here:

[...]

It is not clear how the money or the controversy over the oil deal will affect Galbraith’s political ambitions in Vermont.

“It’s a non-issue,’’ said Garrison Nelson, professor of political science at the University of Vermont. “I would say that less than 10 percent of Vermonters could find Kurdistan on the map.’’

[...]

Yesterday Galbraith said that his involvement in developing Kurdish oil fields is not at odds with his political platform.

[...]

He said he has been asked about the Iraqi oil deal only once during the campaign, by a radio host. But yesterday’s announcement served as a reminder that much of Galbraith’s expertise lies far beyond the borders of Vermont. In a telephone interview from Norway, DNO communication director Tom Bratlie said the company initially partnered with Galbraith because of his extensive contacts in Iraq. “Peter Galbraith’s main role was that he knows the political situation in the region very well,’’ he said.

Galbraith, who developed connections with Kurdish leaders as a staff member on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee in the 1980s, helped DNO hammer out an oil exploration agreement with Kurdish authorities and received a financial stake in exchange.

[...]

Read the article in full, here.

related articles and info:

Boston Globe article from last year (10/15/2009), here.

historiae.org article (10 October 2009), here.

Radio Free Europe - Radio Liberty - article (October 15, 2009), here.

Statement by By Peter W. Galbraith (via New York Review of Books; January 14, 2010), here.

*Update 1*: VPR News report, here.

*Update 2*: Read follow-up blog post on subject, here.

*Update 3*: additional related article and blog post:

NY Times article (11/11/2009), here.

Vermont Daily Briefing blog post on subject (November 13th, 2009), here.

*Update 4*: Check out part 3 on these and related matters, here.

*Note*: posted link to additional news item; last updated on Monday, October 11, 2010 at 1:44 PM (ET).

Poll on "Most Ethically Challenged" VT Politician

2010-10-06T09:28:00.004-04:00

*Updated*

*Update*: For those whom it may have been lost upon:

Disclaimer: This is yet another unscientific and meaningless -- tongue-in-cheek -- poll and, as such, should not be taken seriously; nor is it worthy enough of receiving press attention, at least not from any self-respecting rag, publication or news outlet anyway.

Related background on subject (via Vermont Public Radio: VPR), here as well as (via 7Days), here.

VT Gubernatorial Candidates on Housing & Homelessness

2010-10-03T12:45:00.001-04:00

*Updated*

The following is among what certain 2010 Vermont gubernatorial candidates have stated they would do in order to address either or both affordable housing and homelessness should they be elected as the next Governor (key excerpts):

Brian Dubie (here): Answers not received

Cris Ericson (here):

The first day I'm elected into office, I will write an Emergency Executive Order requiring the use of all taxpayer paid-for facilities which have showers and toilettes and space to lie down and sleep on blankets to be used during off-hours as homeless shelters, IN EVERY SINGLE TOWN IN VERMONT.

Dan Feliciano (here):

I have not adequately studied the homelessness issue and therefore I’m unprepared to answer questions about how I would eliminate or reduce the root causes of homelessness.

Ben Mitchell (here):

As governor I would actively pursue HUD (Rural Development) funding to build affordable housing. This would not be done through "private" organizations, but by the state directly. We need to build highly efficient housing for which rent is determined by a percentage of income. No income; no charge.

Emily Peyton (here):

[...] This is going to be an administration that promotes the work ethic for the simple yet exquisite pleasure of being productive and creative. Everyone needs to pitch in. But my very first act as governor is to be thankful, thankful that, at last, we will work together and restore the power to the people where it rightfully belongs- power is responsibility, I think the people are ready to shoulder it.

Peter Shumlin (here):

I believe that housing is the basic right of every Vermonter. [...] As Governor, I would advocate for a “housing first” policy that goes beyond shelter and offers every person safe, decent and affordable housing.

Dennis Steele (here):

[...] We must begin the process of liberating Vermont from the federal government in order to reclaim the money that is being wasted on illegal, immoral and unconstitutional wars. This money could then be used to help the homelessness and affordable housing.

Make sure to go beyond the above excerpts by reading the questions posed to the gubernatorial candidates as well as their responses in full, here.

*Note*: posted excerpt from Dennis Steele's responses; last updated on Wednesday, October 6, 2010 at 3:07 PM (ET).

Thoughts on Commercial News Media Online Edition Content Paywalls

2010-10-01T00:02:00.008-04:00

*Updated* (with the usual edits)

More and more commercial news media or newspapers of various forms are heading toward creating a fee to read or, more commonly referred to as a paywall model of one sort or another, for either select content or most if not all of their content. Others, including within Vermont, have already established such.

The free online versions of such news media or newspaper Websites as they currently exist include a revenue-generation model in the form of paid ads on its pages. The fee versions will probably offer the same as well, the only difference will be people will have to be paid subscribers in order to view its content.

Unless online edition readers can gain access to additional quality content that makes it well worth paying for a subscription, it is most likely only those with enough disposable income to afford such will be able to gain access and, those who cannot afford to do so will lose access to content that had been available up until paywalls were or are put in place.

These news media sources or newspapers may gain some online subscribers for the paid content area of their Website, however could also end up losing numbers of visitors who use to visit as well as bring others to content of mutual interest and, whom might have clicked through onto paid ads as well.

Even for those who can afford to subscribe to the fee versions of these news media sources or newspapers, one would be less prone to e-mail, tweet or blog about and link to such content if one’s family members, friends and peers or followers and blog readers cannot gain access as well, unless they paid for it of course.

Thus, while gaining a certain amount of income from paying subscribers, these news media sources or newspapers could lose income on the other end and it could prove to be a wash, if not a net loss (no pun intended).

In addition, the haves will have access if they pay for such and, the have-nots will lose out because they cannot afford to pay for it, unless they go to the library and are able to read the print edition there.

What this paywall trend will most likely bring about is for the community and weekly newspapers that have viable print editions (some of which are free) as well as full online editions and, do not charge for access to their online content (since the ads bring in plenty of revenue), will continue to grow in greater popularity and will also be able to feature more and better quality content.

The dailies as well as those weeklies or monthlies based on the older business model, who cannot manage to afford to keep up, will be forced to downsize more and more, which has been happening already, both elsewhere as well as also within Vermont.

The fact is that news media sources or newspapers that are more about business or the financial bottom line than they are about providing quality news and rich, meaningful content will continue to decline.

While those that are more about providing quality news and rich, meaningful content, than they are about business and their financial bottom line, will continue to grow and thrive. This is proving to be true all over and it seems will remain so.

This will also help to foster the growth of citizen media sites and various blogs, most of whom do not have feewalls, yet might generate revenue through paid ads and the like, including through tip jars. There are many examples of blogs that have grown a healthy readership and do well because of it.

In fact, many within traditional media attempt to blame these sites and blogs for their woes, even though many of them were in trouble both long before such emerged as well as, even after these sites or blogs appeared on the scene and became well established, for much different reasons.

Among the reasons people create or are drawn to visit such sites and blogs is due to these providing something traditional media either had little interest doing in a quality manner or not being engaging or interactive enough to allow people to feel they have a real and meaningful voice on matters of concern and interest to them.

As far as myself goes, especially for all the many news media sources or newspapers I visit when access to such content of interest is free, I certainly cannot afford to pay for paid subscriptions for the fee area of these online versions.

Yet, even if I were somehow able to afford to do so for some, tweeting or blogging links to content within these paywall areas would not make sense, because most of my followers or blog readers would not have access unless they paid for it. This would actually cause me not to bother to do so, since a lot of my visiting and reading is part of the social networking model of news gleaning and sharing I do for the various advocacy efforts I engage in solely on a volunteer (unpaid) basis.

That is my two cents on the subject, what is yours?

(cross-posted to Green Mountain Daily, here; iBrattleboro, here; and, with a slightly different version given the more national scope on Daily Kos, here; note that each of these might have different and interesting conversations taking place within the comment threads)

*Note*: made several, mostly minor, edits for the purposes of clarification and readability; last updated on Friday, October 1, 2010 at 4:13 AM (ET).

Major Party Gubernatorial Candidates Q&A on Housing Issues

2010-09-30T19:27:00.001-04:00

Archived video of joint meeting of the Vermont Affordable Housing Coalition (VAHC) and the Vermont Coalition to End Homelessness (VCEH) Q&A of major party gubernatorial candidates. Independent and minor or third party candidates were not among those invited to participate.

Elections: Gubernatorial Candidates Q&A on Housing Issues

A joint meeting of the Vermont Affordable Housing Coalition and the Vermont Coalition to End Homelessness with address by Vermont gubernatorial candidates in Randolph, Vt 9/22/10. The candidates make statements about affordable housing and respond to audience questions.

[via CCTV, here; length: 1:26 hours/minutes]

Read answers to a five-part question of mine on affordable housing and homelessness sent to each of the gubernatorial candidates, here.

2010 VT Gubernatorial Candidate Field

2010-09-29T00:20:00.001-04:00

*Updated and republished*

Democrat:
- Peter Shumlin: Website; Twitter
Independent:
- Cris Ericson
  (under United States Marijuana banner):
  Website; Twitter
- Dan Feliciano: Website; Twitter
- Em Peyton: Website
- Dennis Steele: Website;Twitter
Liberty Union:
- Ben Mitchell: Facebook page
Republican:
- Brian Dubie: Website;Twitter

Brian Dubie's Phantom Prisoner List

2010-09-28T22:28:00.007-04:00

*Updated* (additional related info links)

Dubie Prisoner List

[via VtDems, here; length: 38 seconds]

Read an article that reports on how Brian Dubie's list does not appear to be what it was said to be (via vtdigger), here.

Related information:

7Days Blurt post on Steve Howard differing with Peter Shumlin's prison plan (here);
State Senator Dick Sears press release regarding Brian Dubie's attack ads on prison plan (here);
Vermont View post on controversy and robotic call concerning it (here);
Archived audio of Brian Dubie campaign robotic call (here);
State Senator Dick Sears Op-Ed: Facts about crime in Vermont (via Times Argus, here);
Times Argus article on Steve Howard and Lt. Governors race tie-in (here).
Lengthy, detailed Burlington Free Press article providing background of evolving controversy, here;

*Note*: posted additional related info links; last updated on Wednesday, September 29, 2010 at 6:15 AM (ET).

5-part Question for 2010 VT State Senate & House of Representatives Candidates

2010-09-26T15:40:00.008-04:00

*Updated* (with the usual edits)

Five-Part Question Posed to 2010 Vermont General Assembly Candidates regarding homelessness and affordable housing:

If the voters within your legislative district were to elect you to the seat within the Vermont General Assembly being sought, when it comes to addressing homelessness and affordable housing across the state, please answer the following five-part question:

What priority would both of these matters hold within your set of legislative priorities?
What concrete steps would you propose the state take to address these matters?
What are the expected outcomes by which the state should measure the effectiveness of such proposals?
What timelines would you propose be set for addressing such?
How would you recommend the state fund such proposals?

Due to the extensive work involved in contacting various campaigns as well as compiling responses from the candidates, which I experienced somewhat when doing the 2010 Vermont Gubernatorial candidates version, this version will mainly be blogged up in the hope that candidates will avail themselves of the opportunity to answer such and make their answers known to voters within their district. In addition, if a given candidate has a blog or Website, they can list their responses to the questions there and/or can also provide their answers by posting a comment to this blog post.

Voters should also feel free to pose these as well as related questions to the candidates running for seats in either the state senate or house of representatives.

(cross-posted to Green Mountain Daily, here)

*Update*: These same questions were also posted to iBrattleboro, here.

*Note*: made edits to questions for the purposes of clarification and readability; last updated on Tuesday, September 28, 2010 at 7:30 PM (ET).

Winning 2010 VT Gubernatorial Race Theme Song Contest Nomination: "Money" by Pink Floyd

2010-09-26T01:08:00.002-04:00

Belated congratulations goes to Luke Eriksen for his winning nomination "Money" by Pink Floyd for the 2010 Vermont Gubernatorial Race Theme Song (here):

There were only three votes cast in the voting held over a two week period and his nomination received all three (here; via twtpoll).

The only prize to be earned was that the name of the person with the winning nomination be blogged and tweeted as the one who picked the winning theme song music video that best represents the 2010 gubernatorial race.

Vote for Best 2010 VT Gubernatorial Race Theme Song

2010-08-06T10:13:00.002-04:00

Vote for what in your musical, artistic, poetic and/or political opinion is the theme song music video among those nominated that best defines the 2010 Gubernatorial race as well as all of the candidates running for the office on the whole (cast your vote after viewing the nominated theme song music videos):

Voting deadline: Thursday, August 19, 2010 at 11:45 PM.

View poll results, here.

Nominated 2010 Gubernatorial race theme song contest music videos entry information:

Dire Straits - Money For Nothing (From "Live At Knebworth" DVD)
Submitted by Morgan W. Brown
Reason behind nomination:

Isn't it obvious!? (for those who wonder just what it is that politicians do that is real or meaningful and on whose behalf, as well as wondering why they get paid for doing do)

Ship of Fools - World Party
Submitted by Morgan W. Brown
Reason behind nomination:

Self-explanatory! (since it seems that none of the candidates are truly offering new, different or better ideas and either merely offering rhetoric about doing new or repackaged versions of the same old things or, otherwise are not offering specific details about ideas or plans of theirs and, voters keep supporting and voting for them anyway)

Pink Floyd - Money (Original Video 1974)
Submitted by: Luke Eriksen (via Twitter, here)
Reason behind nomination:

I'm coming to the realization that to become Governor takes money not ideas

How to do the Hokey Pokey
Submitted by: Dan Allen (via comment post, below)
Reason behind nomination:

This song reflects a theme of unfailing efforts by all the candidates traveling all over the state, attending countless forums, newspaper interviews, all dedicated to making Vermont better.

Read nomination request and guidelines post, here.

Clarendon Elementary Students' Tribute Video

2010-08-02T06:45:00.001-04:00

Video of Clarendon Elementary students' tribute to members of the Vermont National Guard serving overseas:

Box of Kisses

A Troop Tribute performed by Christina Skleros and the Clarendon VT Elementary School (the video and audio include some of those children and families most affected by the War).

[...]

[via YouTube, here; length: 4:16 minutes/seconds]

fyi:

Boxes of Kisses
WCAX News story (August 1, 2010)
Times Argus news story (July 14, 2010)

Democratic Gubernatorial Debate on Telecommunications (July 15th)

2010-08-01T12:11:00.000-04:00

Democratic candidates Susan Bartlett, Matt Dunne, Doug Racine and Peter Shumlin debate. Susan Allen moderates. Candidate Markowitz was unable to attend. Sponsored by ORCA Media. Questions focused on telecommunications and the future of PEG in Vermont, job creation, saving Vermont farms, containing the costs of education. Recorded at Montpelier City Hall July 15, 2010.

[via CCTV - Channel 17, here; length: 1:32:30 hours, minutes, seconds]

20th Anniversary Celebration of ADA (July 22nd)

2010-08-01T11:24:00.001-04:00

20th Anniversary Celebration
of the
Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA)

A celebration of 20 years since enactment of the Americans with Disabilities Act. Celebration took place on the Vermont Statehouse lawn on July 22, 2010 and was organized and sponsored by Vermont Center for Independent Living and the Vermont Division of the Blind and Visually Impaired. Speakers include board members and staff of both organizations as well as local elected officials.

[via CCTV - Channel 17, here; length: 1:04:59 hours/minutes/seconds]

fyi: Vermont Center for Independent Living (VCIL)

Channel 17 Democratic Gubernatorial Candidates Forum (July 27th)

2010-07-28T21:30:00.000-04:00

Susan Bartlett for Hyde Park, Matt Dunne of Hartland, Deb Markowitz of Montpelier, Peter Shumlin of Putney, and Doug Racine of Richmond seek to win the Democratic Primary for Vermont Governor. Hosted by Rob Michalak and co-sponsored by Vermont Businesses for Social Responsibility.

[via CCTV, here; length: 1:15:40 hours/minutes/seconds]

Channel 17 Democratic Lt. Gubernatorial Candidates Forum (July 27th)

2010-07-28T21:01:00.000-04:00

State Representatives Steve Howard of Rutland and Christopher A. Bray of New Haven seek a win in the Democratic Primary for Vermont Lieutenant Governor. Moderated by Rob Michalak and co-sponsored by Vermont Businesses for Social Responsibility.

[via CCTV, here; length: 29:35 minutes/seconds]

Doug Racine Candidate Question Response

2010-07-26T20:19:00.001-04:00

*Updated*

On Friday, June 18, 2010 or shortly afterwards I sent a five-part question to each of the primary as well as general election candidates running in an effort to become the next Governor of Vermont.

The question(s) asked about how they would meaningfully address homelessness and affordable housing across the state.

Reviewing the question(s) posed:

If the voters were to elect you as Governor of the State of Vermont, when it comes to addressing homelessness and affordable housing across the state, please answer the following five-part question:

What priority would both of these matters hold within your administration?

What concrete steps would your administration take to address these matters?

What are the expected outcomes by which your administration would measure the effectiveness of such proposals?

What timelines would your administration set for addressing such?

How would your administration fund such proposals?

In response, Democratic primary candidate Doug Racine answered with the following:

Homelessness and affordable housing are companion social issues. As a result of the recession, more Vermonters find themselves in the situation of not being able to pay housing costs and often becoming homeless. According to data provided by the emergency 211 call system, the number of homeless related calls went from 438 in 2007 to 814 in 2009. The annual point in time homeless survey in Vermont found 2800 people homeless on one day in January. Over one quarter were children. This is a 22% increase over 2008. A modest 2 bedroom apartment now costs $920 a month on average. This would require an hourly income of $17.70 per hour. (Between a Rock and a Hard Place 2010 Update). Many homeless shelters in Vermont are full nearly every night. The State got housing money under the Federal ARRA grants but those funds will run out sometime this state fiscal year. General Assistance funds also used for emergency housing have been under great pressure and the State has narrowed eligibility for who qualifies.

My goal is that no economically disadvantaged family member or person with a disability will go homeless under my leadership.

Affordable housing is a challenge. In the short term, I would like to find ways to provide more rent subsidies on a transitional basis to those homeless most in need. Sometimes people just need some transitional help and then can take care of their own needs. Sometimes it is a security deposit for an apartment or employment assistance. These services need to be focused on homeless people so that we can find them permanent housing. It is often less expensive to get people into an apartment than to house them in shelters or motels.

I would pull together several ongoing housing assistance programs in the State so that we can better coordinate efforts to help homeless people. I would build up the capacity of community based organizations to better serve this need.

The reality is money in State government is in short supply to start new services. However, I believe that some services are not optional. Housing the homeless is one of them.

Read the replies of other candidates who have responded (click onto below links for each candidate):

Emily Peyton, here;
Susan Bartlett, here;
Cris Ericson, here;
Deborah Markowitz, here;
Matt Dunne, here;
Peter Shumlin, here;

*Update*: View Democratic Gubernatorial primary candidate responses within one document available via online viewer (via Google Docs), here.

*Note*: posted update; last updated on Tuesday, July 27, 2010 at 1:14 PM (ET).

2010 Gubernatorial Race Theme Song Music Video Contest

2010-07-22T08:50:00.028-04:00

*Updated* (with the usual edits; + submitted nominations)

Vermont Watch is launching a theme song contest asking Vermont residents to nominate a theme song by way of music video available on YouTube that in their musical, artistic, poetic and/or political opinion best defines the 2010 Gubernatorial race as well as all of the candidates running for the office on the whole.

2010 Gubernatorial Race Theme Song
Music Video Nominations
Video Player:

Information about nominated theme song music videos are near bottom of post.

Contest rules and instructions:

To enter, each person interested in entering is asked to go to YouTube and search for the theme song by title, artist or band they believe suits the above broad criteria (please keep it clean and, if possible, also keep it fun and entertaining).

Once the preferred version of a music video for one's theme song nomination is found, post a comment to this particular blog post, making certain to include the link to the music video, name of song and artist, along with the reason behind the choice of nomination: e.g., how it relates to the theme of contest as well as how and why it applies to the broad criteria: i.e., how it best defines the 2010 Gubernatorial race as well as all of the candidates running for the office on the whole. The theme must relate.

*Update*: Those following @vtwatch on Twitter can also submit theme song music video nominations that way as well by either replying to my tweet on subject or sending me a DM (direct message) if I am also following back as well, as one person has already done (end of update).

It has to be a music video of a song that has already been posted to YouTube and has not been blocked for violating copyright, etc.

Try to be creative and original if at all possible, since if others have already selected the exact same song, then the pick goes to the person who first nominated it. First come gets first dibs. To try to avoid this, when I have time as well as energy to do so, I will try to do my best to update this post with songs that have been nominated thus far.

If like me, one theme song music video nomination is not enough, it is permissible to enter two choices.

The deadline for contest submissions is no later than: Thursday, August 5, 2010: by 11:59 PM.

If and when submissions are received and, once the deadline has passed, a poll will be created and the nominated theme songs music video will be able to be voted upon. The deadline for voting will end on Thursday, August 19, 2010 at 11:59 PM.

Since this is a contest and, people will of course want to know what the prize is going to be, all that this low income blogger can offer to the winner is that their name will be blogged and tweeted as the person who picked the winning theme song music video that best represents the 2010 gubernatorial race. Cannot promise anything else. However, if I can manage to figure out something else of absolutely no value appropriate for such a contest with which to add to the pot, I'll update this post accordingly. However, once again, this is not a promise.

Nominated 2010 Gubernatorial race theme song contest music videos entry information:

My own two nominations:

Dire Straits - Money For Nothing (From "Live At Knebworth" DVD)
Reason behind nomination:

Isn't it obvious!? (for those who wonder just what it is that politicians do that is real or meaningful and on whose behalf, as well as wondering why they get paid for doing do)

Ship of Fools - World Party
Reason behind nomination:

Self-explanatory! (since it seems that none of the candidates are truly offering new, different or better ideas and either merely offering rhetoric about doing new or repackaged versions of the same old things or, otherwise are not offering specific details about ideas or plans of theirs and, voters keep supporting and voting for them anyway)

Submitted nominations received:

Pink Floyd - Money (Original Video 1974)
Submitted by: Luke Eriksen (via Twitter, here)
Reason behind nomination:

I'm coming to the realization that to become Governor takes money not ideas

While not the video associated with the above nomination as submitted in a follow-up message (via DM) and the song itself is already nominated, in the fun nature and entertaining spirit of the contest, I have included a live version of same song for the sake of entertainment (this particular music video is not among those nominated however, only the original music videos version of same): i.e., Pink Floyd - Money - Live 8

How to do the Hokey Pokey
Submitted by: Dan Allen (via comment post, below)
Reason behind nomination:

This song reflects a theme of unfailing efforts by all the candidates traveling all over the state, attending countless forums, newspaper interviews, all dedicated to making Vermont better.

*Note*: made several edits for the purposes of clarifications and readability; posted incoming nominations received; last updated on Sunday, July 25, 2010 at 11:20 PM (ET).

Walking through life: Dennis Steele

2010-07-22T06:50:00.001-04:00

Click to play

[Linda Carbino Talks] with Dennis Steele [who is] running for Governor of Vermont

[via blip.tv, here]

"Walking through life " tv show is a talk show about real people. The shows host Linda Carbino is a women in long term recovery from mental illness and addiction issues. ]...] Linda Carbino has been doing her show for three yrs now. [...]

Visit Walking Through Life Channel, here and, check out their Facebook page, here.

"Walking Through Life" is aired on Community Access Television - Channel 8 (CATV 8), serving the towns of Hanover and Lebanon, New Hampshire along with Hartford, Hartland and Norwich, Vermont.

VT Democratic Gubernatorial Primary Guessing Game

2010-07-20T20:10:00.018-04:00

*Updated 2x* (with the usual edits; plus *2 updates* -- see bottom of post)

With all the Democratic Gubernatorial primary candidate debates and forums held across the state thus far, not to mention all the news coverage as well as candidate interviews and profiles, one would expect likely or potential primary voters would have more of a clue about whom to vote for by now.

However, since it seems the candidates have been busier attempting to be perceived as running against Republican Brian Dubie and, more easily making distinctions between him and themselves as a result, they have not managed to do the same between themselves and their primary opponents to a similar degree.

Thus, this appears to be causing many primary voters to keep guessing about whom is best qualified to vote for and, if this keeps up, there could be a risk voters will eventually tire of paying attention and simply give up. This would be both sad as well as unfortunate.

Although, while the candidates do have a responsibility to make any distinctions clear as to why voters should vote for them and, one need not go negative in order to do so either, people should not expect political candidates to do what is essentially the voters' own homework for them either.

If one wants to learn more about each of the candidates running for a particular political office, then seriously consider talking to each of them. Do not make excuses, just do it. Do not assume the candidate is too busy or could not be bothered to do so.

If the candidate wants the office they are seeking and a voter's vote bad enough to earn it, then they will make the effort and will not make excuses for not doing so, no matter how high the office that is being sought. What is one's vote worth, if it is not worth it enough to speak one on one with whom it is being sought?

This particular primary might be the one which voters can have such access like never before, since the gossip going around is that three of the primary candidates are said to be running very close for the lead in the crowded five-way race.

Unattributed gossip has one of the five Democratic primary candidates leading by only 23% (+/-) over two of the others who are at or near 20% (+/-) [margin of error unknown]. The names of whomever is supposedly among the leaders in the primary was not either available or made known. (check out *update 2* at bottom of post for follow-up information)

Therefore, if potential voters cannot manage to figure out yet which of the primary candidates to vote for and, one has not been able to talk to the individual candidate(s) in person at events and the like, then another option available is to look up the home phone number(s) of each and every one of the primary candidates and call in order to talk to them in person.

If either someone other than the candidate answers and the candidate is not at home or otherwise unavailable to take the call at the time or, an answering machine or service answers instead, leave a brief message including one's name, phone number as well as also the reason for calling and ask that the candidate call back personally. Make certain to be polite, both when leaving a message as well as when talking to a candidate.

Do not settle for being directed to talk with someone else associated with the candidates' campaign either, they are not the one running for the office, the candidate is.

If the candidate does not manage to answer the question(s) directly, clearly or specifically enough, press on and ask them again or rephrase such or ask a follow-up question until one is satisfied the question(s) have been fully answered.

If that fails, then you have your answer and can grade them accordingly (read: incomplete).

Remember, it is your vote and it is worth taking such pains to find out who best deserves it.

By the way, speaking of guessing games, guess which of the five Democratic Gubernatorial primary candidates is the only one with their home phone number listed on their campaign Website and, in addition, whom personally also answers their calls, as well as carries on a rather friendly and lively conversation, when they are home as well as available to do so?

The answer is (below):

Click onto above photo to view enlargement

*Update 1*: The last paragraph as well as the above Web page screenshot are provided merely on an informational basis and should not be considered as a political endorsement of any kind.

*Update 2*: Regarding Vermont Democratic gubernatorial primary candidates race polls gossip: One poll is reported to show a range of 23% to 19% among three (unnamed) leaders with a 5% margin of error.

*Note*: made several, mostly minor, edits for the purposes of clarification and readability; last updated on Thursday, July 22, 2010 at 4:56 AM (ET).

Peter Shumlin Candidate Question Response

2010-07-19T23:55:00.003-04:00

Homelessness and affordable housing would hold top priority in my administration, as these issues have during my tenure as President of the Senate. I learned a few years ago, by listening to homeless advocates and the Vermont Affordable Housing Coalition, that there had been virtually no increase in funding for the emergency shelter grant program for more than ten years, at a time when the need had grown significantly. I’m pleased to have been able to add $250,000 to the base amount of state funding administered through the Office of Economic Opportunity. In addition, I’ve also advocated for small annual increases to help homeless individuals and families in each of the past budget years. As Governor, I would continue my commitment to these important issues.

What concrete steps would your administration take to address these matters?

I believe that housing is the basic right of every Vermonter. It is very difficult to address persistent problems such as mental or physical illness, addictions, developmental issues, chronic health conditions or access to education or job opportunities when a person or family is homeless. As Governor, I would advocate for a “housing first” policy that goes beyond shelter and offers every person safe, decent and affordable housing. I would seek to provide a continuum of local non-profit housing options to meet the diverse needs of the community through adequate funding of the Vermont Housing and Conservation Board. And while this may take more than one year to achieve, I will set the goal and establish a plan to reach it.

What are the expected outcomes by which your administration would measure the effectiveness of such proposals?

Simply put, I would seek to assure that all individuals and families are safely housed, and that no one is homeless in Vermont. Because many people are forced to pay 50-85% of their incomes for housing, I would set the goal that, whenever possible, Vermonters pay no more than 30% of their income in housing costs.

What timelines would your administration set for addressing such?

Upon being elected in November, one of my first acts as Governor would be to assure that no Vermonter has to live outside. I would assure that there is adequate funding and language in the general assistance program to provide shelter for all Vermonters in the winter months.

By January 2011 when I present my first budget to Vermonters, I will assure that it includes adequate funds for a continuum of housing options to be funded through the Vermont Housing and Conservation Board and adequate services through the agency of human services.

I would then work with a range of stakeholders to develop a multi-year plan to anticipate, develop and pay for a continuum of housing options.

How would your administration fund such proposals?

Vermont’s Housing and Conservation Board and network of local non-profit organizations is an award winning model that has not been adequately funded in recent years. As President of the Senate I have repeatedly fought the Douglas/Dubie Administration’s attempts to decimate this important organization. My administration would adequately fund VHCB, preferably through returning to full dedication of the property transfer tax and/or through a combination of general and capital funds. In addition I would look to re-examine some of the deep cuts to human service programs that have left some of the service supported housing projects for vulnerable populations without the support they need to be successful.

In recent years, as budgets tightened, the current Administration pulled back from the commitment to provide either shelter or housing to each and every person in Vermont, especially in the winter. This past winter, families with children and those who met narrowly drawn criteria were provided a certain number of nights in a hotel or other facility, but those who failed to meet the guidelines were literally left out in the cold, even on the most brutal nights. This policy causes unneeded suffering and places people unnecessarily at mortal risk. One of my first acts as Governor would be to assure that the general assistance program has the needed guidelines and funding to assure that no Vermonter has to live outside, no matter what the season is, due to homelessness.

Read the replies of other candidates who have responded (click onto below links for each candidate):

Emily Peyton, here;
Susan Bartlett, here;
Cris Ericson, here;
Deborah Markowitz, here;
Matt Dunne, here;
Doug Racine, here;

*Update*: View Democratic Gubernatorial primary candidate responses within one document available via online viewer (via Google Docs), here.

*Note*: added candidate response link; posted update; last updated on Tuesday, July 27, 2010 at 1:16 PM (ET).

Could VT Democratic Primary Results Cause Voters to Become Fit To Be Tied?

2010-07-19T05:33:00.010-04:00

*Updated 3x* (with the usual edits; also posted update's: see below)

It came to mind that, given the crowded five-way Democratic Gubernatorial primary race and how it seems to be shaping up thus far and, even if some might think there could be slim chance of such happening, there could still exist a possibility of a tie.

This then caused me to ponder whether if a tie were to occur, could it -- or, rather the remedy provided by state election law to resolve such ties in a given primary race -- have the potential to cause some primary voters to become fit to be tied?

When all the votes are counted after the end of primary voting on August 24th, if the Democratic Gubernatorial primary were to end in a tie, can you guess what Vermont election law provides as a remedy to decide the winner?

Current state election law provides the following as a remedy for such ties (here; via Office of the Vermont Secretary of State; Elections Division; once on page, allow exact section to load, might take a moment to do so) [emphasis mine]:

§ 2369. Determining winner; tie votes

Persons who receive a plurality of all the votes cast by a party in a primary shall be candidates of that party for the office designated on the ballot. If two or more candidates of the same party are tied for the same office, the choice among those tied shall be determined:

(1) Upon five days' notice and not later than 10 days following the primary election, the state committee of a party, for a state or congressional office; the senatorial district committee for state senate; the county committee for county office; or the representative district committee for a representative to the general assembly shall meet to nominate a candidate from among the tied candidates. (Amended 2010, No. 73 § 1.)

(2) The committee chair shall certify the candidate nomination for the general election to the secretary of state within 48 hours of the nomination. (Added 1977, No. 269 (Adj. Sess.), § 1; amended 2010, No. 73 § 1.)

This caused me to submit an inquiry via e-mail to State Archivist Gregory Sanford to ask:

... what if any, how many and the timeline as well as the results of previous ties that might have occurred in Vermont election history for major statewide political races, particularly primary races for Governor?

However, also wondering if the above remedy to decide primary ties as written then precludes either candidates or others from requesting a recount of the primary election results, especially if any issues have been raised or complaints filed concerning any aspect relating to votes cast or the election process and, not knowing if he could answer that particular question, I also included Deputy Secretary of State Bill Dalton and Elections Division Director Kathy DeWolfe via CC in case they should choose to provide an answer in the instance of that one question.

If and when a response is received, this blog post shall be updated in order to provide such information.

In the meantime, read about the Direct Primary in Vermont and also check out state primary election results from 1916 on, here.

*Update 1*: State Archivist Gregory Sanford responded briefly stating he was not aware of any ties in statewide races, either in the primary or general election.

In a follow-up exchange he mentioned, if one occurred it would be historic or unique, however also suggested that, [w]hile it is an interesting idea, even with a five way race the odds of there being a tie are pretty small.

For her part, Elections Division Director Kathy DeWolfe replied:

In the event of a close race (within 2%), a candidate can file for a recount. 17 V.S.A. section 2606.

You have quoted the correct section in the event of a tie in a primary.

In the case of the Vermont Democratic Party, their state committee list can be found, here.

*Update 2*: Having sent out e-mail versions of this blog post to various people who might find it of interest, including members of the Democratic State Committee, I received a reply from John A. Burgess, Parliamentarian of the Vermont State Democratic Committee who wrote (excerpted and with permission to quote granted):

As a longtime member of the State Democratic Committee, I can attest there has been no primary vote tie in the Vermont Democratic primary since 1962.

If it were to come before the State Committee of the Democratic Party, the bylaws require a secret ballot.

[...]

Then, in reply to my e-mail to him within which included my mention in response that bylaws could also be amended, he responded:

[...]

The bylaws may be amended BUT not within the time between anouncing a tie and the need to select a candidate. Amendments require notice, usually the review by the bylaws committee, and a vote and then become efffective at the NEXT meeeting.

*Update 3*: The below excerpted news story reported on what happens if the Vermont Democratic Gubernatorial primary ends in a tie. However, the story implies if a tie were to happen, it could be between two candidates and, in a crowded field like this one and voters having trouble making up their minds, nothing says there could not be a tie between two or more candidates (e.g., a three-way tie), which would be even more interesting than a tie between two of them of course. Either way, if a tie does occur, it would be historic, not to mention problematic (via Fox 44 News; July 21, 2010, here):

[...]

If two candidates tie in August there's only one group that has the authority to make the final call: the Executive Committee of the Vermont Democratic party. While the law outlines who would take over in the event of a tie it does not outline how the committee would have to break the tie. Executive Director, Robert Dempsey said, "We will really have to invent a process."

Dempsey says it would, most likely, be based on a vote by about 50 people who make up the committee. He said, "What we would do is to bring the candidates in to discuss and debate who we'd actually like to have as our candidate." One thing's for sure, the vote would have to happen within ten days of the primary because the state has to get ballots printed for the November elections.

[...]

Read the entire story, here.

*Note*: made several edits, mainly reworking third paragraph, for the purposes of clarification and readability; posted a response update; added emphasis to highlight related passages of reference; added links to VT Dems pages; posted yet another update; last updated on Tuesday, August 2, 2010 at 6:59 AM (ET).

Doug Racine's Campaign Banner Ads

2010-07-18T18:40:00.003-04:00

Racine campaign
banner ad screenshots
via vtdigger

The gubernatorial campaign of Democratic primary candidate Doug Racine has banner flash ads up online.

The ones I came across were found on the vtdigger article concerning Vermont gubernatorial candidates' campaign finance reports, etc. (however, as I recall, these ads were not there when the article was initially posted, nor soon after either; to my knowledge, having visited the article page from time to time since it was first posted, they seem to have been rolled out only sometime recently), here.

The banner ad placed on the inside pages as well as section front pages of vtdigger features a two part flash type of ad, showing one banner and then rolling with the other.

Click upon above
screenshots in order
to view enlargements

Clicking upon the banner ad had taken me to the Racine campaign Website main page.

In checking 'inside page rates' for a top banner sponsoring ad placement, like the Racine campaign is currently employing, the rates for doing so on vtdigger are listed as being (here; PDF version): $70 per week, $250 per month and $700 per quarter.

In addition, rates for 'section front' page for top banner placement are listed as being: $100 per week, $325 per month and $850 per quarter.

Susan Bartlett's Questions About Campaign Spending Raises Questions About Her Own

2010-07-17T14:13:00.025-04:00

*Updated* (with the usual edits)

During the Montpelier Democratic Gubernatorial primary candidates' forum held on Thursday of this week in City Council chambers, Susan Bartlett raised questions about all the campaign money Republican Brian Dubie has managed to raise and spend thus far, suggesting that it illustrated how -- for someone who calls themselves a fiscal conservative -- there seemed to be a conflict between that and all the money that his campaign has spent and what if anything he had to show for it (here; 8:10 PM live blog post of mine):

SB: notes she has not raised as much as others. cannot understand what Brian Dubie has done with all he has spent thus far. does not sound like being fiscally conservative

In her mind, it did not seem to show proper or sound money management or at least her version of such.

This is as if she could or would do differently or better if she had managed to raise the same amount of contributions. Yet, how would we ever really know, right?

Not really or, so it would appear.

Since, although her recent campaign financial report indicates she has raised slightly more than $70,000, [o]f the $60,000 she's spent, some $45,000 has gone to out-of-state consultants (via Shay Totten, Blurt, 7Days Staff blog; 14th paragraph: here):

[...]

Bartlett has raised the least money, at slightly more than $70,000, and has about $11,000 in the bank. Of the sum she's raised, $11,700 came from her previous senate campaigns and $5000 from herself and her husband. Bartlett has received about $12,000 from out-of-state contributors. Of the $60,000 she's spent, some $45,000 has gone to out-of-state consultants, with the rest going to her lean campaign staff.

[...]

On the other hand, ... (paragraphs 15 and 16):

Meanwhile, Dubie raised an impressive $943,000 — almost more money than he's raised in all his races for lieutenant governor combined. He's received about $120,000 from out-of-state contributions, which came from a mix of individuals, businesses, business PACs and GOP political PACs.

Dubie has spent $36,000 on direct mail, another $32,000 on political consulting and $26,500 on polling. Meanwhile, he's plunked down $46,450 to have his face pop up on your computer screen — via online ads that embed in such websites as the New York Times and other national sites viewed by Vermonters. He's also paid out more than $6000 to Michigan-based firm Stormo & Associates for "opposition research."

When one compares what each of these two candidates for Governor have raised and then what they both spent on campaign consultants and, what if anything they might have to show for such expenditures, one is forced to question who Susan Bartlett is to question Brian Dubie or anyone else about exercising proper or sound money management practices or being a self-described fiscal conservative either for that matter.

*Update* (after additional thought and to help clarify):

The point being that what should be at issue here is not merely about how much or how little one has raised or spent in terms of dollar amounts, but rather whom it was raised from and also how, as well as then how it was spent and on what, including what was gained as well as potentially promised. Simply because one has raised and spent lots more does not then mean they are not spending wisely or prudently. Conversely, just because one has raised much less and then has far less to spend, does not mean they are spending what they have more wisely or prudently. What is critical to examine is what they prioritize and how they do so, which helps toward informing about what they would do with the state's financial resources of course and, is most likely what Susan Bartlett was attempting to allude to; yet she was only looking in one direction when doing so and not bothering to examine her own spending, possibly based on the assumption she had so little in the way of campaign contributions, it would not appear to be such an issue (end of update).

If Susan Bartlett or others are going to raise such questions about other political candidates for a given office they are seeking and, then attack their opponent(s) for such, they ought to take a very good look at themselves as well as their own practices and track record prior to doing so, or at least have someone else do it for them. Maybe her campaign could have even used one of those out-of-state consultants she had invested so much of her small amount of campaign funds for this particular sort of self-exploration, since she apparently has failed to do so herself.

What one also questions is why no one else, including those in the media who might have heard her raise such questions and issues either during candidate forums and debates or on the campaign trail or during press conferences, have not raised questions and done some fact checking about such.

That is if anyone within the media or political blogosphere is bothering to listen to her or take her seriously any more at this point; because too many have written her campaign off, particularly now the campaign finance reports have come in and the money counters have decided who is on top and who no longer counts.

However, just because some within the media and some political bloggers as well as the other campaigns might be willing to write Susan Bartlett off, due to her still being active in the campaign and there are voters who remain open to listening as well as the chance that any one of the five Democratic primary candidates for Governor could end up pulling off a win as a result, there remains an obligation to the voters to take such matters seriously and fact check these issues of concern when they are raised by the candidates or their campaigns.

Yet, that is only my opinion on these and related matters, what is yours?

*Note*: made several edits for the purposes of clarifications and readability; added informational link at end of first paragraph & also added live blog post of reference; added a paragraph, 5th from bottom marked as *update*; embedded link to archived video of forum; last updated on Tuesday, July 20, 2010 at 11:38 AM (ET).

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Poll: Are You One of Gov.-elect Peter Shumlin's Phone Buddies?

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Housing in Review: An Introduction to Housing in Vermont

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Urge Governor-elect Peter Shumlin to Make Homelessness & Housing Top Priorities

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[This election cycle] started much too soon,lasted way too long, had far too much money involved ... and had gotten too darn ugly ....

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My VPR VT Edition Question(s) for Governor-Elect Peter Shumlin

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Observations & Reflections Upon the 2010 Gubernatorial Race: Part 2

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Poll on Scariest 2010 VT Gubernatorial Candidate

TOTD: Thought of the Day (slideshow presentation)

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5-part Question for 2010 VT State Senate & House of Representatives Candidates

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Vote for Best 2010 VT Gubernatorial Race Theme Song

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[This election cycle] started much too soon,
lasted way too long, had far too much money
involved ... and had gotten too darn ugly ....