Saturday, December 31, 2016
Gov. Peter Shumlin released on Saturday a list of 10 year-end gubernatorial pardons that include a pair of notable political names: John Zaccaro Jr. and Richard Mallary Jr.
Zaccaro is the son of the late Geraldine Ferraro, a former Democratic congresswoman from New York and candidate for vice president in 1984. Mallary is the son of the late congressman Richard Mallary, a Vermont Republican.
Saturday’s pardons are separate from Shumlin’s offer of clemency for those convicted of minor marijuana offenses, although five of the 10 were convicted of marijuana charges. The number of pardons is also notable: Before Saturday, according to a press release from Shumlin, the governor had issued a mere six pardons in his six years in office.
“I believe in second chances, and I believe we as a society will continue to move towards a more sensible approach to drug addiction and criminal justice,” Shumlin said in a statement. He added that the pardons would “help relieve what can essentially amount a life sentence of burden and stigma.”
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The Burlington Electric Department discovered suspected Russian malware code on one of its laptops Friday, the municipal utility confirmed late that night.
According to BED spokesman Mike Kanarick, the code is associated with a Russian hacking campaign known by the federal government as Grizzly Steppe. Kanarick said in a written statement Friday that the laptop was “not connected to our organization’s grid systems.”
“We took immediate action to isolate the laptop and alerted federal officials of this finding,” he said. “Our team is working with federal officials to trace this malware and prevent any other attempts to infiltrate utility systems.”
BED issued a second statement Saturday afternoon saying that there was “no indication that either our electric grid or customer information has been compromised.” It said that similar malware had been discovered elsewhere in the country and was “not unique to Burlington Electric.”
“Media reports stating that Burlington Electric was hacked or that the electric grid was breached are false,” the utility said in the second statement.
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Thursday, December 29, 2016
Scott reappointed Louis Porter as commissioner of the Department of Fish and Wildlife, a post he has held since April 2014. Previously, the Adamant resident served as Shumlin’s legislative liaison, the Conservation Law Foundation’s “lakekeeper” and as a Statehouse reporter for the Vermont Press Bureau.
Longtime state official Bradley Ferland will serve as deputy secretary of the Agency of Administration under secretary-designate Susanne Young, Scott said. The agency has wide-ranging management and fiscal responsibilities and is generally seen as the nerve center of state government. Ferland, who has worked for the agency for more than two decades, currently serves as deputy commissioner of the Department of Finance and Management.
Scott also on Thursday appointed Ted Brady, a veteran of the Obama administration and Leahy’s office, as deputy secretary of the Agency of Commerce and Community Development. He’ll report to secretary-designate Mike Schirling, a former chief of the Burlington Police Department. Brady has served as U.S. Department of Agriculture Rural Development state director for Vermont and New Hampshire since September 2013. Prior to that, he spent a decade with Leahy — working on the senator’s 2004 reelection campaign, in his D.C. office and finally as a field representative in his Vermont office.
Tags: Phil Scott , Bradley Ferland , Louis Porter , Ted Brady , Susanne Young , Bill Sorrell , Michael Schirling , Patrick Leahy , Ken Schatz , Monica Hutt , Chris Cole , Martha Maksym , Al Gobeille , Peter Walke , Julie Moore , Ethan Latour , Tracy Delude , Associated General Contractors of Vermont , Image , Web Only
Friday, December 23, 2016
Dooley announced in September that he would retire when his term ends on March 31. Shumlin raised some Republican hackles by promptly declaring that he would pick Dooley’s successor. Now, the outgoing governor will spend his final days in office defending his decision in court — a hearing is scheduled for January 3.
“By looking to make a consequential executive decision that should rightly be made in April 2017, at a time well past his gubernatorial tenure, Gov. Shumlin is setting a troubling precedent of overreach,” Turner said in a statement announcing his legal challenge.
Reached Friday, Turner said he’s “very pleased” with the court order and is confident he’ll prevail. “When I look up vacancy in the dictionary, it means no one is in the position,” Turner said.
Tags: Vermont Supreme Court , Peter Shumlin , Phil Scott , Don Turner , Image , Web Only
Wednesday, December 21, 2016
Governor-elect Phil Scott on Wednesday named new leaders of the state’s transportation, agriculture and health care reform agencies.
At least one of them may be familiar to viewers at home: WCAX-TV news director Anson Tebbetts, a former deputy agriculture secretary and longtime reporter, will lead Scott’s Agency of Agriculture. He replaces outgoing Secretary Chuck Ross. Tebbetts’ deputy secretary will be Rep. Alyson Eastman (I-Orwell), who plans to resign her seat in the House to take the job.
The governor-elect named Joe Flynn to serve as his secretary of transportation. A former rail director at the Agency of Transportation and director of emergency management, Flynn is currently the deputy commissioner of the Department of Public Safety. He will replace Secretary of Transportation Chris Cole, who has led the agency for the past year.
Scott also appointed Blue Cross Blue Shield of Vermont lobbyist Cory Gustafson to serve as commissioner of the Department of Vermont Health Access. In that role, Gustafson will oversee the state’s health care reform efforts, including the Vermont Health Connect insurance exchange. He replaces Steve Costantino in the job.
Tags: Phil Scott , cabinet , Anson Tebbetts , Alyson Eastman , Joe Flynn , Cory Gustafson , Peter Martin , Roger Garrity , Image , Web Only
Tuesday, December 20, 2016
Lifelong seaman Steve Lobb, who’d planned to spend an entire Vermont winter living aboard his experimental sailboat in Burlington Harbor, called it quits on Monday after enduring last week’s blast of Arctic-like temperatures, subzero wind chills, high waves and iced-over lines.
Lobb, 72, is a retired shipwright from Montpelier who hand-built the 26-foot sailboat, Sled — a hybrid sailboat/sled meant for the Arctic. The vessel can be winched out of the water and pulled across the ice by a dog team or snowmobile.
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Governor-elect Phil Scott announced Pieciak’s appointment Tuesday as commissioner of the Department of Financial Regulation. Pieciak’s four deputy commissioners will also stay on, Scott announced.
Scott credited Pieciak’s work in investigating the controversial EB-5 projects, which generated civil federal charges against developers Ariel Quiros and Bill Stenger.
“Michael has demonstrated a strong commitment to protecting Vermonters’ financial security — especially throughout the EB-5 investigation — while also thinking outside the box to help foster entrepreneurship by modernizing systems to help Vermont meet the demands of a new marketplace,” Scott said in a press release.
Departing Gov. Peter Shumlin had just promoted Pieciak to commissioner in July after Susan Donegan left state government. In 2012, Pieciak, a lawyer who grew up in Brattleboro and lives in Winooski, served as campaign manager for Democratic Attorney General Bill Sorrell.
Scott, a Republican, opted to keep Pieciak along with deputy commissioners overseeing specific areas: Cynthia Stuart for banking, Kaj Samsom for insurance, William Carrigan for securities and David Provost for captive insurance.
Tags: Mike Pieciak , Phil Scott , Peter Shumlin , EB-5 , Bill Stenger , Ariel Quiros , Image , Web Only
Authorities ticketed seven commercial drivers who headed into the Notch after July 1 — the date the fines went into effect.
Tractor-trailers and buses have long been prohibited from the Notch, but the new law imposes a stiff financial penalty, said Col. William Elovirta, the enforcement and safety division director at the state Department of Motor Vehicles.
Six drivers were ticketed for “impeding the flow of traffic” by getting stuck in the Notch, a section of Route 108. That offense carries a fine of $2,347. Authorities issued another ticket, for $1,197, to a driver who violated the commercial vehicle ban for the windy, two-lane mountain pass that connects Stowe and Jeffersonville.
Four drivers were convicted, one case was dismissed and two other cases are pending, according to Joanne Charbonneau, the interim clerk at the Vermont Judicial Bureau.
Tags: Smugglers' Notch , Route 108 , William Elovirta , Image , Web Only
Like, say, Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.).
But Welch believes he has served his constituents by seeking areas of agreement with Republicans. As a member of the minority, he told Seven Days this week, “I needed Republicans to get anything done.” But, he added, “To some extent they also needed me. They needed some Democratic validation to get a bill signed by President Obama.”
Not anymore.
“It’s a totally new world with Donald Trump,” he noted. In response to the Republican firebrand’s election, Welch is trying to “come to some judgments about what’s a practical way for me to represent Vermont.”
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Elmes was a Lyndonville selectman when five Vermont state troopers swooped in — along with a helicopter — and busted him at home, apparently after spotting plants from the air, he said. The news media covered his arrest, and Elmes eventually stepped down from office.
A licensed financial adviser, he had to notify federal financial regulators. As recently as a few weeks ago, Elmes said, Canadian border authorities grilled him about the arrest for several minutes.
“You can’t imagine what a burden on anyone’s life this kind of thing is,” Elmes, 66, said. “It’s with you forever. The trauma of the whole thing was ridiculous.”
Elmes is one of more than 330 people so far who have taken Gov. Peter Shumlin up on his offer to pardon people convicted of marijuana possession in his final days in office. The governor said he will consider pardoning people convicted of possessing one ounce of marijuana or less if they don’t have convictions for violence or felonies. Shumlin’s administration estimates several thousand people could meet the criteria.
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