Friday, September 25, 2015
A recent survey conducted by the Castleton Polling Institute found that just 40 percent of Vermonters believe the third-term Democrat is doing a good job leading the state. Forty-three percent think he's not.
The share of Vermonters who disapprove of Shumlin's job performance is slightly lower than last March, when a Castleton poll sponsored by VTDigger.org found that 41 percent approved while 47 percent disapproved. But the figures show that Shumlin still hasn't made much headway with voters since nearly losing his reelection bid last November.
Notably, the poll found that those most attuned to Vermont politics disapprove of Shumlin's job performance the most. Only 32 percent of those who say they follow state news "very closely" think he's doing a good job, while nearly twice as many of those, or 57 percent, do not. In contrast, a plurality of those who say they don't follow the news closely — or at all — think he's doing just fine.
Tags: Peter Shumlin , poll , Castleton Polling Institute , Image , Web Only
Thursday, September 24, 2015
This week, the Partnership for Change announced that Nellie Mae is giving them another year of funding amounting to nearly $690,000. That's a partial victory. The project directors had hoped to receive $1.5 million over three years.
According to project manager Lindsey Cox, Nellie Mae might still give them the full amount — if the partnership can meet certain benchmarks during the current school year. Cox said they're meeting with foundation staff to discuss what the benchmarks will be. Even so, Cox described the decision as “a show of confidence” in the initiative, which so far has promoted different teaching techniques; outreach to the community; and projects like the iLab, which allows Winooski students to pursue independent projects.
The Partnership for Change launched in 2012 with an initial $3.75 million grant that the two school districts won together.
Tags: Burlington , Winooski , Partnership for Change , Image , Web Only
Wednesday, September 23, 2015
The Middlesex Republican has hired Brittney Larrabee Wilson, a Danville native and Groton resident, to serve as a "utility player," focusing on administration and finance.
"I think he's the type of leader we need in the governor's office to kind of restore trust and faith in government," Wilson says. "I think some of that has been lost over the past few years."
Wilson, who most recently served as executive assistant to the state librarian, starts her new gig October 5.
Tags: Phil Scott , Brittney Larrabee Wilson , Image , Web Only
A worker there who flies a large Confederate flag on a personal vehicle is upsetting some coworkers who don't want the flag in the department's employee parking lot.
City administrators, though, say the flag is within the boundaries of free speech. The Vermont chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union agrees.
When an employee started flying the flag recently, people noticed. It's a symbol of racism and hate, and it shouldn't be allowed in a city employee lot, said Tim Ahonen, a department code enforcement officer. He asked his boss, public works director Chapin Spencer, to order the flag removed.
Spencer replied that the employee has a right to fly the flag.
"I have checked with others in the city and we do not believe that we can prevent an employee from having a flag on their private car," Spencer told Ahonen via email. "The flag is a political statement that is in a public area as opposed to an enclosed work environment where employees are required to be to do their work. The analysis would be different if the employee wanted to put it on a plaque on his/her desk, for example."
Tags: Confederate , flag , Burlington , free , speech , Image , Web Only
Tuesday, September 22, 2015
Burlington Mayor Miro Weinberger said Schirling's appointment was part of an effort to reboot the two-year-old BTV Ignite initiative: Officials also announced that a board of directors has been appointed, and that the organization was filing for nonprofit status.
"This creates the footing for BTV Ignite to take off," Weinberger said at a Tuesday afternoon press conference outside the Burlington Electric headquarters. "Burlington has the building blocks to be a great tech city. The simple idea was if we got people from throughout the city together, we would accelerate its arrival."
Schirling, a Burlington native, started work last week. He is the first full-time employee of BTV Ignite, a group focused on bolstering educational opportunities in technology and helping Burlington's established tech companies and startups grow.
"What we're envisioning is everything from getting elementary students, all the way through high school, engaged more in [science, technology, engineering and math] and thinking about tech jobs, to making enhancements to the college and university curriculums so that Dealer.com, MyWebGrocer and Social Sentinel can find local talent," Schirling said in an interview.
Tags: BTV Ignite , Michael Schirling , Miro Weinberger , Burlington , technology , Image , Web Only
Monday, September 21, 2015
The Vermont Progressive Party and a group of Democratic state legislators are backing Bernie Sanders.
The Progs, at their quarterly state committee meeting Saturday, voted nearly unanimously for a resolution singing Sanders’ praises, said Kelly Mangan, party executive director. The resolution notes that the party's positions on many issues align with Sanders' campaign platform, and urges Progressives to support Sanders.
Tags: Senator , Bernie Sanders , Presidential Campaign , Vermont Progressive Party , Vermont Democrats , Peter Shumlin , Patrick Leahy , Image , Recommended Reading , Video , Web Only
Racine won't be running this time around, he said Monday. He is instead backing Democrat Sue Minter, a former state legislator who recently stepped down as Agency of Transportation secretary to launch her campaign for governor.
“I like her politics and I like her experience as a legislator and a manager,” Racine said.
Racine and state Rep. Mary Sullivan (D-Burlington) are hosting an October meet-and-greet for Minter in Burlington. Minter so far is facing House Speaker Shap Smith (D-Morristown) and former state senator Matt Dunne in a Democratic primary.
Tags: Doug Racine , Sue Minter , Peter Shumlin , Shap Smith , Peter Galbraith , Matt Dunne , Image , Web Only
Seventy-seven percent of those polled said they were familiar with the third-term Republican, who announced earlier this month that he'd seek the state's top office next fall. Of those who'd heard of Scott, more than 70 percent said they viewed him somewhat favorable or very favorably. Only 9 percent viewed him somewhat unfavorably or very unfavorably.
"He's in an enviable position," says Rich Clark, who directs the polling institute and conducted the survey.
Just 21 percent said they'd heard of Scott's sole Republican opponent, retired Wall Street banker Bruce Lisman. Of those, roughly a third viewed him positively while about a quarter viewed him negatively.
On the Democratic side, Castleton found that House Speaker Shap Smith (D-Morristown) and Google executive Matt Dunne are far better known than former transportation secretary Sue Minter. Sixty-one percent said they'd heard of Smith, while 57 percent said they'd heard of Dunne and 38 percent Minter.
Tags: Castleton Polling Institute , Rich Clark , Phil Scott , Bruce Lisman , Shap Smith , Matt Dunne , Sue Minter , Image , Web Only
Friday, September 18, 2015
So it's a surprise that, buried in a recent U.S. Government Accountability Office report to Congress on state health insurance exchanges, a chart says Vermont had more fully functioning technology than other states operating their own marketplaces.
"What this means is that we have made some major improvements over time," said Steve Costantino, commissioner of the Department of Vermont Health Access, which oversees the exchange.
The focus of the 109-page GAO report was the effectiveness of federal oversight on the technology projects associated with the health insurance exchanges.
But when Correct the Record, a super PAC supporting Democrat Hillary Clinton, emailed opposition research on Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) to the Huffington Post on Monday, it evidently failed to secure an agreement with a reporter that the source of the information would be kept off the record.
HuffPo wrote about the oppo dump — "A Pro-Clinton Super PAC Is Going Negative On Bernie Sanders" — and Sanders pounced.
"Yesterday, one of Hillary Clinton's most prominent super PACs attacked our campaign pretty viciously," Sanders emailed supporters Tuesday, adding that it was "the kind of onslaught I expected to see from the Koch brothers or Sheldon Adelson." He called on supporters to "make the super PACs pay for attacking us" by contributing to his campaign.
They did. Within 48 hours, Sanders' campaign announced Thursday, it had raised $1.2 million off the attack.
Tags: Senator , Bernie Sanders , Presidential Campaign , Correct the Record , David Brock , Hillary Clinton , Huffington Post , government reform , Image , Recommended Reading , Web Only