Monday, January 26, 2015
Hudson, of Montpelier, is the Republican National Committee's new secretary.
She won the position at the organization's winter meeting this month, defeating a rival from the District of Columbia, a victory she attributes to relationships she's built over 15 years of involvement with the committee.
Hudson, who ran Republican Ruth Dwyer's 1998 campaign for governor, is a former Vermont Republican Party executive director and former Republican National Committee staff member. She works in a St. Johnsbury law office.
Her new position with the RNC means she'll be calling the roll at the committee's meetings, held three times a year. She expects to learn more about other duties next month, she said. The committee's focus will be on the 2016 presidential election, she said.
Tags: Republican National Committee , Reince Priebus , Susie Hudson , George Bush , Image , Web Only
Through his arrest, conviction and years of fruitless appeals from prison, John Grega insisted that he was innocent. Someone else, Grega insisted, had raped and murdered his wife while the couple vacationed in West Dover in 1994.
In 2012, after 18 years behind bars, Grega walked out of prison a free man, the first and only Vermont inmate to be exonerated on the basis of DNA evidence.
"I always said I would walk out," Grega said after he left Southern State Correctional Facility in Springfield to cheers from his fellow inmates, according to the Bennington Banner. "I never gave up. I feel good."
His freedom was short-lived. Grega 52, died on Friday night, after his van smashed into a telephone pole in his hometown of Lake Ronkonkoma on New York's Long Island.
"It's just so sad and tragic," said Gordon Bock, who served time in a Swanton prison with Grega and kept in touch after they were released. "He went through this horrible, 18-year experience, came out the other end and only a few years later ... I'm having a hard time with this."
Tags: John Grega , murder , DNA , Image , Web Only
Sunday, January 25, 2015
The Des Moines Register reported last week that the two-term senator will spend three days in the Hawkeye State, from February 19 through the 21st. He's scheduled to hold town hall meetings in Iowa City and Des Moines; keynote events in Johnston and Ames; and attend meetings in Cedar Rapids and Tipton.
Next month's trip will be Sanders' first to Iowa this year — and his fifth since he began publicly mulling a 2016 bid early last year.
Sanders told reporters last year that he'd decide whether to run for president after the 2014 midterm elections. In December, he put off the decision further, telling the Associated Press he'd make up his mind "by March."
Tags: Senator , Bernie Sanders , Presidential Campaign , Iowa , campaign trail , Recommended Reading , Image , Web Only
Saturday, January 24, 2015
As he has every January for the past five years, former governor Jim Douglas descended upon the Statehouse last week with a small crowd of smartly dressed college kids in tow.
Like a star quarterback returning to his alma mater, the Middlebury Republican gripped and grinned his way through the state capitol, hugging old friends and cracking corny jokes.
“Madame chair-babe!” Douglas exclaimed as Sen. Peg Flory (R-Rutland), the Senate Institutions Committee chair, approached him in the ornate Cedar Creek Room.
“There’s a long story,” Flory explained to a red-faced reporter before turning back to the governor emeritus. “How are you? It’s so good to see you.”
“It’s nice to be seen, except I keep looking older than the fella on the wall,” Douglas said, gesturing to Kate Gridley's portrait of himself hanging just outside the governor’s ceremonial office.
“We all are,” Flory remarked as she carried on toward the Statehouse cafeteria.
Tags: Jim Douglas , Middlebury , Montpeculiar , Image , Web Only
Friday, January 23, 2015
After 12 hours of deliberation, a jury of eight women and four men found Edin Sakoc guilty on a charge of unlawful procurement of naturalization. He now faces a potential prison term and deportation.
Sakoc sat stone-faced as the verdict was read in U.S. District Court in Burlington, just as he had throughout his two-week trial. After jurors left the courtroom, he exchanged handshakes and hugs with his attorneys and shrugged his shoulders.
Afterward, prosecutors said they will seek to deport Sakoc, 55, who does not have a prior criminal record. The conviction can also carry a 10-year prison sentence.
Judge William Sessions III released Sakoc to live with friends in Essex Junction while he awaited his sentencing later this year.
He's told his lawyers he hasn't committed any crime, and his family and those who know him believe in him, defense attorney Steven Barth said afterward.
“It is an important case because we have laws that govern immigration into this country, and when we receive information that raises questions about whether a person has abused that system in coming in there’s an obligation to investigate it and follow through,” Acting U.S. Attorney Eugenia Cowles said.
Sakoc’s attorneys said they would file an appeal.
“It would be a tragedy for him to be deported,” attorney David McColgin said. “It would have a terrible impact on him and his family.” Sakoc has a wife and 7-year-old daughter in Vermont. He also has an adult son and a grandchild in Bosnia.
Tags: Burlington , Edin Sakoc , Bosnia , Image , Web Only
The local writer and activist started testing the waters publicly in November, but appeared to back off from the idea. Friday, he told supporters that he had "finally reached the conclusion that my presence in the race was needed, and also that a successful campaign is possible."
Guma, whose decision comes just ahead of the January 26 filing deadline for candidates, said he's collected more than the 150 signatures required and plans to submit them Monday.
The candidate count stands at four: Democratic incumbent Miro Weinberger, Progressive Steve Goodkind, Libertarian Loyal Ploof and Guma.
Tags: Burlington , Greg Guma , Miro Weinberger , Image , Web Only
Speaking prior to the vote at city hall Thursday evening, each councilor expressed personal support for the Bridge, a free, twice-monthly publication. But they said it would be inappropriate, and potentially illegal, to appropriate city funds to a for-profit entity — even one that's running in the red.
"That's a non-starter for me," Councilor Tom Golonka (District 1) said. "I have to hold your group to the same standard I'm holding every other group that comes to the city of Montpelier and asks for funding."
Nat Frothingham, the Bridge's editor and publisher, said he submitted a petition with close to 700 signatures Thursday afternoon requesting a $27,254 appropriation from the city. That would require an affirmative vote by the council to place the request on the Town Meeting Day ballot and approval by city residents in March.
Frothingham, who helped found the newspaper 21 years ago, told councilors Thursday that he was "not initially enthusiastic" about asking voters for support because, he said, it's been "a tough year" for many Montpelier residents.
"However, I overcame that reluctance because I thought it would give us a wonderful opportunity to have face-to-face encounters with 600 to 700 voters in town, and I thought it was important for the community newspaper to be in touch and not to sit in our offices and slowly sink under the waves," he said.
Tags: Montpelier , The Bridge , Nat Frothingham , Image , Web Only
Jurors are now in their second day and ninth hour of deliberating the fate of Edin Sakoc, the Burlington man charged with lying to immigration officials about violent acts he allegedly committed during the Bosnian War. Prosecutors say that Sakoc, a 55-year-old father who has lived in Vermont for more than a decade, raped a woman and left her at a prison camp. They say Sakoc stood by while a soldier shot two women, and then helped him drag their bodies away. He is charged with lying about those acts while applying for American citizenship.
So what are jurors trying to sort out?
Last night, after deliberating for an hour, jurors requested to hear nearly two hours of testimony offered during the trial. This morning, they asked the judge if they could have a dictionary to look up the meaning of the word “persecution,” one of many words used in questions on immigration forms. (Judge William Sessions III denied the request; no dictionary had been introduced into evidence.)
What could be going on in the jury room?
First, a big disclaimer: Lawyers will tell you that the best way to look foolish is to try and predict what a jury is doing by interpreting the length of their deliberations and the nature of their questions. But for the sake of discussion, please excuse my foolishness.
Jurors could be hopelessly deadlocked. There could be one holdout. They could have reached a tentative decision but want to make sure they are right. They may have held out for a free lunch. (Don’t laugh. Rare is the jury that will return a verdict while the time for their next free meal is near.) They could be scheming for ways to get to serve on this dude’s trial.
But as we wait for a decision, let's consider some unique features in this case.
Tags: Edin Sakoc , Burlington , Bosnia , Image , Web Only
Thursday, January 22, 2015
Members of the centrist coalition said Vermont should follow the lead of Oregon, Nevada and New Mexico in transitioning Vermont Health Connect to what's known as a federally supported, state-based marketplace. Such arrangements leave the states largely in charge of their health exchanges, but take advantage of federal information technology systems.
"What we have here today is a viable alternative," Rep. Patti Komline (R-Dorset) said at a Statehouse press conference. "We're not just playing political games with it."
Joining Komline in proposing the idea were Reps. Jim Condon (D-Colchester), Adam Greshin (I-Warren) and Heidi Scheuermann (R-Stowe). They said they were fed up with ongoing technical problems plaguing Vermont Health Connect, a state-based exchange originally built by contractor CGI and now operated by Optum.
"Vermonters deserve a functioning insurance portal," Condon said. "And they don't have that yet."
Tags: Health care reform , Vermont , Image , Web Only
“It’s not a fight that’s going to go away,” former Gov. Madeleine Kunin told those attending the gathering, which was organized by Planned Parenthood of Northern New England.
In the nearby Statehouse cafeteria, tables were littered with fliers emphasizing the value of adoption and offering testimonials from women who regretted abortions. The Vermont Right to Life Committee spent $20,000 to put copies of the fliers in 21 publications around Vermont and will be airing a pro-adoption television ad, executive director Mary Hahn Beerworth said.
“This is going to be a big agenda item for us,” Beerworth said.
By Thursday afternoon, the abortion issue hit the House floor, even though there is no active legislation in Vermont to change state abortion law. Pro-choice activists insisted on a roll-call vote on a resolution recognizing the Roe v. Wade anniversary. The resolution comes up virtually every year, but it's rare for lawmakers to insist on putting members on-record with a roll-call vote.
Tags: abortion , Roe v. Wade , Vermont House , Vermont Right to Life Committee , Image , Web Only