Friday, February 24, 2017
The briskly-entitled Joint Committee on Campaign Finance Education, Compliance and Reform was created by Attorney General T.J. Donovan and Secretary of State Jim Condos. They chose to fill the panel with political insiders: Four of its five members are actively involved, or very recently involved, in partisan politics.
Donovan calls them “the experts” who know the campaign finance system. He rejects the notion that he’s given the foxes a majority on a Henhouse Reform Committee. “I think you have enough diversity on the committee, and we’re open to more members,” he said after the hearing. “But the point is to listen to Vermonters.”
The event was the first in a series of listening sessions around the state. Afterward, the panel will issue a report, which might include suggested legislation or changes to rules and procedures governing campaign finance in state elections.
Thursday, February 23, 2017
“I think we’re doing something really special here today,” said Senate President Pro Tempore Tim Ashe (D/P-Chittenden). “It really does send a different kind of message ... Whether you look different or pray differently or whatever it is, you’re welcome in this place that respects differences.”
The Senate voted 30-0 in favor of the bill, which was written in response to President Donald Trump’s recent immigration orders.
Lawmakers said the legislation seeks to do two things: prevent the federal government from deputizing local police to enforce immigration law, and bar the state from providing residents’ personal information to be used for a religious registry.
Tags: immigration , Donald Trump , Vermont Senate , Burlington High School , Image , Web Only
Two cases in point: an “inelegant” press release from the new chief of the Agency of Natural Resources and a nice reward for an arguably undeserving developer.
First, ANR Secretary Julie Moore is launching a “statewide listening tour” that started Thursday with a stop in St. Johnsbury and continues through March 2.
The purpose of the tour? To gather input from the agency’s “customers.”
And who, pray tell, are its customers? According to the release, they are “business owners, planners, real estate agents and others with regular business before the Agency.”
Hmmm. So the ANR’s “customer base” consists of business and development interests? Not, say, individuals, communities, advocates — or, you know, the environment itself?
Tags: Julie Moore , Agency of Natural Resources , Phil Scott , Hermitage Club , Image , Web Only
Prosecutors will drop 16 pending criminal cases investigated by a Burlington police officer who resigned Monday after allegedly lying during a drug investigation. Authorities on Thursday said they are still considering whether to charge Christopher Lopez with perjury.
Chittenden County State's Attorney Sarah George told reporters that Lopez — who allegedly made up a justification to search a vehicle in October — could no longer be a reliable witness.
"He lied," George said during a Thursday afternoon press conference in City Hall Park.
Tags: body cameras , Brandon del Pozo , cannabis related , Christopher Lopez , Leroy Yoder , Michael Mullen , Sarah George , Image , Web Only
Wednesday, February 22, 2017
In a letter to the Burlington Police Department, Chittenden County State's Attorney Sarah George said that patrol officer Christopher Lopez had made "patently false" statements in a sworn affidavit in October and would no longer be used as a witness by local prosecutors.
Officials said that Lopez falsely claimed that he smelled marijuana to justify a vehicle search that led to an arrest. The damning evidence came from the officer's own body camera audio, on which he can allegedly be heard conceding to another officer that he had made up the story.
Lopez, who joined the Burlington Police Department in September 2014, was placed on paid leave earlier this month. He resigned on Monday in advance of a disciplinary hearing on Tuesday, police said. Burlington Police Chief Brandon del Pozo said he planned to fire Lopez at that hearing.
Tags: body camera , Brandon del Pozo , Burlington police , cannabis related , Christopher Lopez , perjury , Sarah George , Image , Web Only
Leaders of all three political parties agreed the recount could not take place because a bag of ballots had been opened in Chelsea in late December. Though the Secretary of State’s Office had been consulted about the opening process, and there was no allegation that ballots were missing, the parties agreed to halt the recount.
“I don’t see how we can move forward,” said Rep. Robin Chesnut-Tangerman (P-Middletown Springs), the House Progressive caucus leader. “The whole point of the recount was to ensure a process we could all have faith in.”
He, along with Republican and Democratic House leaders, declared Rep. Bob Frenier’s (R-Chelsea) election no longer in question.
Tags: election recount , Susan Hatch Davis , Bob Frenier , Vermont legislature , Image , Web Only
On Thursday morning, the Senate Health and Welfare Committee took a first look at a draft bill aiming to identify solutions for the system's intractable problems. The bill has yet to be formally introduced, but is poised for quick approval. Committee chair Claire Ayer (D-Addison) expects to move the bill out of committee by the end of next week.
"The rationale behind the bill is to take a look at a system that should work, that was designed to work, but that isn't working," Ayer explained.
The bill's scope takes in the entire system, but focuses on a few known trouble spots: chronic underfunding and understaffing at community-based agencies, a rising tide of geriatric and forensic psychiatric patients, and improving the coordination between different parts of the system.
Tags: Senate Health and Welfare Committee , Claire Ayer , Al Gobeille , designated agencies , mental health care , Image , Web Only
Tuesday, February 21, 2017
Rep. Sam Young (D-Glover) is the lead sponsor of a bill due to be introduced Wednesday. On Tuesday, he collected cosponsors and said he expected to have about 15 lawmakers sign on.
"If we're going to legalize marijuana, I think we should also tax and regulate it," said Young, who is vice chair of the Committee on Ways & Means.
Young said he's received no assurances from legislative leaders that his bill would pass. Taxing and regulating marijuana is an approach the Senate passed last year, but that failed to gain traction in the House.
Tags: Cannabeat , marijuana legalization , Phil Scott , Sam Young , Vermont legislature , Image , Web Only
Abdullah Sall, a former legal assistant in the Chittenden County State’s Attorney’s Office, plans to file an employment discrimination lawsuit against his former boss, newly appointed State’s Attorney Sarah George, his lawyer told Seven Days on Tuesday. The lawyer, John Franco, alleged that Sall faced “disparate treatment” in the office because he is a Muslim immigrant from Liberia.
In an interview with Seven Days earlier this month, George confirmed that she had let Sall go, but she declined to elaborate on her reasoning. Reached again Tuesday, she said she “cannot comment on specifics” of what she called “a personnel matter.”
“I would say that any time an employer has to make a decision, it’s guided by performance, the needs of the office and the law,” she said. “And I followed those principles when making my decision.”
In an interview Tuesday, Sall alleged that his firing may have been motivated by a desire to “undermine [his] campaign.” He did not offer evidence supporting that assertion.
Tags: Abdullah Sall , Sarah George , John Franco , T.J. Donovan , Image , Web Only
The rumor mill was right.
Vail Resorts is buying Vermont's most iconic ski area, Stowe Mountain Resort, from the American International Group, the two sides announced Tuesday.
The Colorado-based company will pay $50 million for the Mt. Mansfield ski area, which began as a Depression-era trail cutting project and became known as a luxury winter resort.
“We’re thrilled to add Stowe Mountain Resort to our family of world-class mountain resorts. With the investments in both mountain infrastructure and base area facilities that AIG has made over the years, Stowe Mountain Resort has become the premier, high-end resort for East Coast skiers and snowboarders," said Vail chairman and CEO Rob Katz. "We look forward to working with AIG to continue enhancing the guest experience and to ensure the resort’s long-term success.”
The purchase includes "base area skier services (food and beverage, retail and rental, lift ticket offices and ski and snowboard school facilities) at Mount Mansfield and Spruce Peak,” Vail said in a statement. Other related facilities — including the Stowe Mountain Lodge, Stowe Mountain Club and Stowe Country Club — will remain in AIG’s hands.
Tags: Stowe Mountain Resort , Vermont , Vail , business , skiing , epic pass , winter , Image , Web Only