Friday, February 21, 2014
Each weekday, Seven Days scans the news across the Vermont media landscape to find the smartest, best and most compelling stories. We bundle them up in an email and send them out to our subscribers early each afternoon. It's called the Daily 7.
So which Vermont news stories are you reading? And which should you be reading? Here are the stories you clicked on most from this week's editions of the Daily 7:
Sometimes You Just Have to Vent About Cellphones
By Pamela Polston, Seven Days Live Culture — Monday, February 17
The big news of the week was someone yapping on a cell phone at the Flynn — and Seven Days co-editor Pamela Polston ranting for the rest of us about it.
Resort's Radio Ads Leave a Bad Taste for Some
By Eric Blaisdell, Times Argus — Monday, February 17
A Jay Peak Resort radio ad that features the voice of a 9-year-old talking about drinking beer has raised the hackles of a few Vermonters.
Tags: crime , law enforcement , politics , radio , media , jay peak resort , Image , Web Only
Thursday, February 20, 2014
President Barack Obama is scheduled to headline a Democratic Governors Association fundraiser in the nation's capital Thursday night. And introducing him will be none other than Vermont Gov. Peter Shumlin, according to DGA spokesman Danny Kanner.
Shumlin and many of the nation's governors will be in Washington, D.C., for the long weekend to attend the annual winter meeting of the National Governors Association, a bipartisan group. While they're in town, both the DGA and its counterpart, the Republican Governors Association, will hold their own meetings and fundraisers.
Obama has committed to appear at more than 18 fundraisers to support Democratic groups in the run-up to this fall's elections, according to the Associated Press. In addition to Thursday's reception and dinner at Washington's St. Regis Hotel, he plans to appear at fundraisers for the Democratic National Committee and various entities working to elect Democrats to the House and Senate.
Tags: Peter Shumlin , Barack Obama , Democratic Governors Association , Image , Web Only
That's always been a stretch, given his 24-year career at the failed investment bank Bear Stearns and the $1 million-plus he's plowed into CFV. Now, thanks to a new book by former New York Times reporter Kevin Roose, we know that Lisman also belonged to an elite secret society of the powerful and wealthy during his Wall Street days. (WDEV's Mark Johnson and Green Mountain Daily's "farjas" first noted the Vermont connection.)
In an excerpt from the book, called Young Money, published Tuesday on New York magazine's website, Roose describes the society as "a sort of 1-percenter's Friars Club" whose annual dinners are filled with elitist, sexist and homophobic humor.
Founded in 1929, Kappa Beta Phi counts a slew of top bankers, regulators and titans of industry as members. Among them? Former New York City mayor Michael Bloomberg, AIG CEO Bob Benmosche, BlackRock CEO Larry Fink and hedge fund billionaire Paul Tudor Jones.
Also on a membership list procured by Roose is a pair of Vermonters: Lisman and Sugarbush owner Win Smith, whose father helped found the company that became Merrill Lynch and who himself served as a senior Merrill exec. According to the list, the fathers of two former Vermont politicians — Howard Dean and Gaye Symington — served as "grand swipes," or leaders, of Kappa Beta Phi in the '60s and '70s.
Tags: Bruce Lisman , Campaign for Vermont , Win Smith , Kappa Beta Phi , Image , Web Only
But in the past week, three GOP challengers have announced their intention to run for the Senate. And according to Vermont Republican Party political director Brent Burns, two more are soon to jump in. He says he hopes the early announcements will help the party reverse its dwindling political influence in the state.
"We're trying to make gains," he says. "Even a one-seat gain would be a different direction than we've been headed."
At a Montpelier fundraiser for the Senate Republicans' political action committee Wednesday night, two candidates announced their bids. Former party chairwoman, House member and longtime administration official Pat McDonald said she would seek one of three Washington County seats. And Williston attorney Joy Karnes Limoge said she would run for one of six Chittenden County seats.
Last Friday, former House member Dustin Degree said he would seek one of two Franklin County seats. And according to Burns, Bob Frenier of Chelsea plans to challenge Democratic Sen. Mark MacDonald for Orange County's sole Senate seat. Burns says the party has recruited a fifth, as-yet-unnamed candidate to run for one of three Rutland County seats.
Wednesday, February 19, 2014
“We don’t want to go on strike, but the union and the members are prepared to go on strike,” bus driver Rob Slingerland said at a press conference Wednesday. “We’re tired of fighting.”
Drivers, along with supporters from the Vermont Worker’s Center and other groups, gathered on Church Street near a bus stop, and aired their grievances against CCTA as they prepare for a negotiating session on Friday.
The union rejected CCTA’s most recent offer in late January by a 53-4 vote and drivers have been operating without an agreement since a three-year pact expired in June.
The drivers’ focus is not on pay and benefits. Rather, drivers say they are primarily concerned about working long hours during split shifts, which they say could make them tired and put them at increased risk of accidents. They also say they are worried that a CCTA push to use more part-time drivers may eventually threaten jobs.
“We are determined to protect our union and continue providing transportation that our public and our union deserve,” Slingerland said.
The top Republicans in the Vermont House and Senate on Wednesday called for a federal investigation into anonymous allegations of fraud allegedly perpetrated by the state's health exchange vendor.
In a letter to U.S. Attorney Tristram Coffin, Rep. Don Turner (R-Milton) and Sen. Joe Benning (R-Caledonia) wrote that there was "sufficient legal and factual predicate to begin a federal investigation" into whether CGI Technologies and Solutions had defrauded the state.
The allegations relate to a demonstration CGI officials conducted for state workers last summer to showcase their progress building Vermont Health Connect, the state's version of a federally mandated, online insurance marketplace. While billed as a live demonstration of the site's connection to the Federal Data Services Hub, an anonymous source quoted in a recent Newsweek story alleged that "the system was in no way operable" at the time.
In their letter to Coffin, Turner and Benning cited as evidence the Newsweek story and an unsigned letter they attached from a person claiming to be a "Vermont Health Connect team member."
"As minority leaders of the Vermont House and Senate, we hereby formally request a federal investigation into whistleblower allegations alleging a fraudulent software demonstration on July 26, 2013, by [CGI] to Vermont officials charged with overseeing and monitoring the company's state contract," Turner and Benning wrote.
Tags: Peter Shumlin , health care , Obamacare , Vermont Health Connect , Republican , Democrat , fraud , Image , Web Only
Greco, who is not seeking re-election, accused three councilors of orchestrating “a mockery of democracy.” Chairwoman Pam Mackenzie and council members Pat Nowak and Chris Shaw constituted a “bloc of three” that ignored the views of many South Burlington residents and appointed political supporters to city positions, Greco charged.
“I am very concerned that this city will go back to the old way of doing business in which residents' wants were overshadowed by what big developers wanted to do in our city,” the former council chairwoman added in a prepared statement.
Greco's barbed farewell remarks demonstrated the passion and polarization that have come to characterize politics in South Burlington. The bitter battle over the F-35 was representative of a wider fissure in a changing community where aggressive liberals have challenged the suburban-style conservatism that has long prevailed.
Tags: Roseann Greco , South Burlington , F-35 , Image , Web Only
Councilor Karen Paul, D-Ward 6, described the Monday evening event as “historic.” But, as Council Dave Hartnett, D-Ward 4 later pointed out, few members of the public stayed to witness it. All but a handful of the residents in the audience had cleared out of the Contois auditorium by the time the vote took place late in the council's meeting.
Crowd or no, Mayor Miro Weinberger said the consensus — all 14 councilors co-sponsored and voted for the resolution — sends an important message to the Vermont Public Service Board (PSB), investors and lenders, whose approval and wherewithal will be key to the settlement plan’s success.
The city is settling the $33.5 million lawsuit brought by Citibank for $10.5 million and a share of the future value of Burlington Telecom (BT). The mayor announced the agreement earlier this month.
The deal, according to Weinberger, will allow BT to continue to operate, while minimizing the impact of its debt burden on taxpayers. He also expects it to restore the city’s credit rating, which dropped precipitously when BT was on the verge of financial collapse in 2009.
Tags: Burlington Telecom , Miro Weinberger , Burlington City Council , Citibank , Image , Web Only
Tuesday, February 18, 2014
On two separate occasions in 2005 and 2006, a Chittenden County judge issued relief-from-abuse orders against Emerson, after Sarah Hart, the mother of his child, complained of allegedly violent behavior.
During an interview on Monday morning, Emerson acknowledged the orders but said he'd closed that chapter of his life. “I went through a very dark period in my life with alcoholism and depression. Now seven years later, looking back, I’m a lot different person. Sarah and I have a great relationship now, and I’m just moving on.”
Emerson, 27, emailed this statement to Seven Days on Tuesday: "This campaign has been about the issues facing Ward 2. Out of respect of the voters, and not wanting to distract from those important issues, I am formally dropping out of this race. I wish Max Tracy well in his second term of faithfully serving our ward."
The deadline for candidates to enter the race has passed, so Emerson’s decision clears the way for incumbent Max Tracy to secure a second term. He was the only Progressive candidate facing serious opposition. Emerson's announcement positions the party to up its representation on the 14-member council, from four seats to five.
Emerson announced his bid for the Ward 2 seat in early December, and public safety was a cornerstone of his campaign.
Tags: Ryan Emerson , Max Tracy , city council , Ward 2 , Image , Web Only
Sick leave was the topic of the day in the Vermont Statehouse on Tuesday. Not long after a morning session in which the Senate passed a bill prohibiting companies from penalizing workers for taking sick days, the Vermont State Employees Association kicked off an afternoon of campaigning for a separate bill that would extend sick leave to the 60,000 Vermont employees currently ineligible for it.
The bill that cleared the Senate in the morning, S.213, would ensure that no employer in the state of Vermont could punish employees for making use of their benefits. It first appeared in the Senate Economic Development Committee last month. Sen. Philip Baruth (D-Chittenden), the committee’s vice-chair, sponsored the legislation.
In the fall, Baruth was approached by food service workers at the University of Vermont, where he is an English professor. Those employees alleged that Sodexo — the company to which UVM, the Vermont State Colleges and other colleges in Vermont subcontract their dining services — was punishing them for taking sick days. (Getting more attention at the time, the company had also planned to reduce workers' eligibility for benefits to be in compliance with the Affordable Care Act; the company delayed implementation of the plan after school administrations objected.)
The sick leave bill passed on its third reading almost unanimously, with just one dissenting voice vote. It now moves to the House.
Tags: paid sick leave , labor , Image , Web Only