Wednesday, October 19, 2016
With a possible strike looming Thursday, the Burlington Education Association and the city school board were in a daylong, last-ditch negotiating session that extended into the evening.
Talks began early Wednesday at the Burlington School District central office on Colchester Avenue, and federal mediator Ira Lobel spent the day going back and forth between the teachers and the school board hoping to bring them together — without immediate success. There was still no resolution as of 5 p.m. Wednesday.
“Hopefully he’s working his magic,” said Darren Allen, communications director for the Vermont-NEA, in a telephone interview.
Superintendent of Schools Yaw Obeng said late in the afternoon that schools were “absolutely” still scheduled to open Thursday. Teachers have vowed to strike Thursday morning if no contract deal is reached.
The conflict over pay and benefits has dragged on for more than a year. In September, the school board imposed employment terms that gave teachers an average raise of around 2.75 percent but cut certain perks and increased teachers’ share of health insurance costs.
Teachers saw the board’s move as a power play. They responded with pickets, claims that the board was trying to bust the union, and a vote authorizing a strike Thursday, pending the outcome of Wednesday’s meeting.
Tags: Burlington School Board , Burlington Education Association , Vermont-NEA , Image , Web Only
A new poll commissioned by Vermont Public Radio finds that the leading candidates for governor are statistically tied.
Among likely voters surveyed over the first two weeks of October, 39 percent said they support Republican Lt. Gov. Phil Scott and 38 percent prefer Democratic former transportation secretary Sue Minter. That's within the poll's 3.9 percent margin of error.
Some 14 percent of voters remain undecided in the gubernatorial race and another 2 percent back retired Major League Baseball pitcher Bill "Spaceman" Lee of the Liberty Union Party.
The survey, which was conducted by the Castleton Polling Institute, found that the presidential race isn't even close in Vermont.
Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton is supported by 45 percent of likely voters, while only 17 percent plan to vote for Republican nominee Donald Trump. Libertarian Gary Johnson picked up just 4 percent and Green Party nominee Jill Stein 3 percent. Another 4 percent said they would vote for Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) — even though the former presidential candidate isn't on the ballot.
Tags: Senator , Sue Minter , Phil Scott , Bill "Spaceman" Lee , election 2016 , Bernie Sanders , Hillary Clinton , Donald Trump , Image , Web Only
Asked what they saw as "the single biggest issue" of the campaign, Leahy's challengers instead listed their biggest problems with him.
Republican Scott Milne called him a "career" politician. Independent Jerry Trudell criticized him for supporting Hillary Clinton over Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt) in the Democratic presidential primary. And U.S. Marijuana Party nominee Cris Ericson assailed him as a "bully," "sexist," "totalitarian," "fascist," "undemocratic" and, for good measure, "un-American."
Liberty Union Party nominee Peter Diamondstone showed up seven minutes late to the debate, which was held at Channel 17's Burlington studios and simulcast on C-SPAN, but after catching his breath he managed to call the incumbent a "war criminal."
Leahy took the earlier allegations in stride.
"It's kind of hard to respond to them," he said with a chuckle. "As the person who wrote the Violence Against Women Act and greatly expanded it, I don't think there's any group of women in this country that call me sexist."
Tags: cannabis related , Cris Erickson , election 2016 , Jerry Trudell , Patrick Leahy , Peter Diamondstone , Scott Milne , U.S. Senate debate , Vermont , Image , Web Only
Tuesday, October 18, 2016
But even pressed directly by their opponents, both candidates still managed to avoid answering some of the questions.
“Are you ready to admit that adding a sales tax on services is a really bad idea?” Republican Phil Scott asked his opponent, Democrat Sue Minter.
“I will not increase sales on services that burden middle-class Vermonters,” Minter replied.
She highlighted her proposal to levy a sales tax on lobbyists, private jets and limo rides. But, as in the past, the former transportation secretary did not explain how she would differentiate which services are used by middle-class Vermonters and which are used by the wealthy.
Tags: Phil Scott , Sue MInter , Peter Shumlin , Bill Lee , election 2016 , Image , Web Only
Kirk, who represents Ward 7 in the city's New North End, should resign, said parent Alison Segar, in a post on the Support Our Burlington Schools Facebook page.
"I have just looked at his Facebook page which spews forth hatred towards many of the groups of people represented in our school district. I think we should be calling for his resignation," Segar wrote. "I am embarrassed that he is a representative on our board and that he is part of the decision making process. UGH."
In a telephone interview with Seven Days, Segar said she wanted to hear what Kirk had to say about the page. But she also vowed to bring to the school board her request that he resign. "I will certainly make my feelings known at the next school board meeting that I can attend," Segar said.
Kirk did not immediately respond Tuesday to a request for comment.
Tags: Burlington School Board , David Kirk , Image , Web Only
In one recent television advertisement, Minter raises the dissembling to a whole new level. The ad, which the campaign did not post online, responds to Republican Governors Association attacks on the former transportation secretary.
"These ads attacking Sue Minter are trying to trick you," her ad begins. "They're paid for by a national Republican group whose biggest funder is the oil billionaire Koch brothers."
That's true. According to the Center for Responsive Politics, the RGA's top donor is Koch Industries. As Seven Days reported earlier this week, the RGA has spent $1.8 million promoting Scott and criticizing Minter.
"But here's the real trick," Minter's ad continues. "Phil Scott voted to raise the gas tax and supported a tax on every mile you drive. So while the Koch brothers are trying to hide Scott's Republican agenda, Sue Minter's the one working for Vermont families."
Tags: Sue Minter , Phil Scott , gas tax , Republican Governors Association , Koch brothers , Image , Web Only
These are just a few of the 46 businesses that donated to Republican Phil Scott's gubernatorial campaign in late September and early October, according to his latest filing with the Secretary of State's Office. All told, the companies contributed $49,050 — or 36 percent of the $135,000 Scott raised during the 15-day reporting period that ended October 12.
It's been like this all along. Since launching his campaign last December, Scott has collected more than $429,000 from corporate entities. That's 33 percent of the $1.31 million he's raised to date. (The incumbent lieutenant governor has raised another $20,500 from political action committees — many of which represent corporations or trade groups.)
Scott's opponent, Democrat Sue Minter, hasn't taken a dime from corporate entities — at least, not lately. Last May, after facing sustained pressure from a Democratic primary opponent, Matt Dunne, she returned $11,055 in corporate contributions and promised to leave them on the table in the future.
Remarkably, Minter has still managed to raise more money than Scott — every single reporting period. Her latest disclosure, filed Saturday, shows that she raised $165,000 in the latest 15-day period and nearly $1.7 million since joining the race last October.
Tags: Phil Scott , Sue Minter , campaign finance , Image , Web Only
Monday, October 17, 2016
Vermont's junior senator plans to embark on a three-week book tour (with a brief break for Thanksgiving) starting November 14 in New York City and concluding December 2 in San Francisco, according to publisher Thomas Dunne Books, an imprint of Macmillan Publishers. The tour will touch down in Vermont on November 22 with stops in Burlington, Montpelier and Manchester.
In the book, called Our Revolution: A Future to Believe In, Sanders "shares his personal experiences from the campaign trail, recounting the details of his historic primary fight and the people who made it possible," according to the publisher. He also outlines a progressive agenda for "the millions looking to continue the political revolution." The book's publication date is November 15.
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The tech-based roundtable discussion, part of Innovation Week in the Queen City, exposed that and other key differences between Democrat Sue Minter and Republican Phil Scott just weeks before Election Day.
“The governor does need to actually drive this forward,” Minter said. “We cannot have kids unable to actually do their homework in the same speed and at the same conditions as others.”
Scott countered that he won’t promise to bring universal broadband across Vermont. Both current Gov. Peter Shumlin and former governor Jim Douglas proclaimed they’d make such a vision a reality — but never saw it through.
“I’m going to stop short of promising that,” Scott said, later calling for incentives to encourage private companies to expand broadband coverage.
Tags: Sue Minter , Phil Scott , Bill Lee , Peter Shumlin , Innovation Week , election 2016 , Image , Web Only
Connelly, who is 71 and has spent three decades as publisher of the Northeast Kingdom weekly, announced the contest back in June. The concept was simple: People would submit a 400-word essay along with a $175 entry fee, and a panel of judges would pick the winner.
News outlets across the country, including the New York Times and Washington Post, picked up the story. Despite the media buzz, there apparently aren't many people interested in the grueling job of running a local newspaper in a remote, rural community. Connelly had determined that he needed 700 entries to make the contest financially viable for him; the Associated Press reported earlier today that he'd received only 140.
Tags: Hardwick Gazette , essay contest , Northeast Kingdom , Ross Connelly , Image , Web Only