Wednesday, December 27, 2017
Brock is a stalwart of the Vermont Republican Party. He served as state auditor from 2005 to 2007 and spent two terms in the Senate, from 2009 to 2013. He won the Republican gubernatorial nomination in 2012 but lost the general election to incumbent Peter Shumlin. He ran for lieutenant governor in 2016, losing to Progressive/Democrat David Zuckerman.
Degree, a two-term senator, resigned his seat in November after Scott appointed him to a senior post in his executive office, coordinating workforce development programs.
Tags: Phil Scott , Randy Brock , Dustin Degree , Carolyn Branagan , Daniel Pipes , Steve Trahan , Corey Parent , David Zuckerman , Image , Web Only
Wednesday, December 20, 2017
Under current policy, a panel of five lawmakers presides over complaints in the House. Among the shortcomings of such an approach: witnesses aren't able to file complaints; panel decisions can’t be appealed; the process is almost entirely confidential and the panel consists only of legislators.
In total, the Office of Legislative Council flagged a dozen significant concerns in a memo it drafted last week at the request of House Speaker Mitzi Johnson (D-South Hero). Johnson said Wednesday that she'll work with the House Sexual Harassment Prevention Panel to make changes to the policy in the upcoming session.
Vermont lawmakers are facing questions about sexual misconduct — and their methods for addressing it — after a torrent of allegations nationwide, and some at home, including a complaint filed against a sitting senator last session. Legislators have refused to provide any information about the nature of the complaint or the senator's identity.
Tags: Vermont legislature , sexual harassment , Mitzi Johnson , Legislative Council , Statehouse , Statehouse sexual harassment , Image , Web Only
Tuesday, December 19, 2017
With congressional Republicans on the verge of approving major tax cut legislation Tuesday, Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) and Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) deployed a procedural tactic likely to delay its passage until Wednesday.
After the House passed the bill on a largely party-line vote of 227 to 203, Sanders and Wyden objected to the inclusion of three provisions with no budgetary impact. In order to approve legislation through the budget reconciliation process — with just 51 votes instead of the usual 60 — senators are barred from considering unrelated policy matters.
The violation of the so-called Byrd Rule will force the Senate to strip those provisions from the bill and vote on a different version than what passed the House. That, in turn, will require a second vote from the House, likely on Wednesday, before the legislation can advance to President Donald Trump's desk.
“In the mad dash to provide tax breaks for their billionaire campaign contributors, our Republican colleagues forgot to comply with the rules of the Senate,” Sanders said Tuesday in a written statement. “We applaud the [Senate] parliamentarian for determining that three provisions in this disastrous bill are in violation of the Byrd rule.”
Tags: Senator , Bernie Sanders , Patrick Leahy , Peter Welch , tax reform , Image , Web Only
Dartmouth-Hitchcock on December 14 sent a letter to the Green Mountain Care Board arguing that the proposal should not trigger a permit review. The letter specifically seeks a "non-jurisdictional" ruling from the board to affirm that it agrees with the hospital's interpretation of the law.
The board has not responded or discussed the request but will do so within 30 days, board spokesman Conor Kennedy said Tuesday.
Tags: University of Vermont Medical Center , helipad , helicopter , UVM , Green Mountain Care Board , Tristram Coffin , DHART , Image , Web Only
In a 6-3 vote, the Vermont Educational Health Benefits Commission recommended ditching district-by-district negotiations, though it gave no guarantee that such a change would save the state money.
Gov. Phil Scott began pushing the legislature for a statewide health insurance contract late last session, suggesting it would save $26 million. Democratic lawmakers balked, questioning Scott's numbers and arguing that they needed more time to consider the proposal. The standoff led Scott to veto the budget and tax bills, prolonging the session into June.
As part of a compromise deal, the legislature created a study committee, with members appointed by Scott, House Speaker Mitzi Johnson (D-South Hero), Senate leadership, school unions, and the superintendents and school boards' associations.
Tags: Phil Scott , Vermont-NEA , Vermont legislature , Darren Allen , Tim Ashe , Mitzi Johnson , Image , Web Only
As the Times-Argus first reported on Saturday, the Professional Responsibility Board, which oversees attorneys' conduct, has raised questions about a "community fund" that Williams oversaw. In at least a few instances, defendants who pleaded guilty to charges filed by Williams paid money intended for the fund, though Williams told the board that none of the money had been spent, and the fund itself has not been formally established.
That's according to a six-page letter dated August 16 that Williams wrote to Sarah Katz, disciplinary counsel for the Professional Responsibility Board. In the letter, posted online by the Times-Argus, Williams, who was elected in 2014, said that he discovered his predecessors ran a fund to support crime victims and other initiatives. They had dissolved the fund, and left behind proceeds, but little other information.
Tags: Scott Williams , Washington County State's Attorney , John Campbell , Brad Stetler , Professional Responsibility Board , Brattleboro Retreat , Image , Web Only
Joseph Montagno will receive $30,000 as part of the agreement between the city and the American Civil Liberties Union of Vermont, which represented Montagno after he was evicted from his Church Street apartment in 2016.
Because of the court's decision, "vulnerable people in Burlington will no longer lose their housing simply because they need police assistance," ACLU staff attorney Jay Diaz said in a statement Tuesday.
Burlington officials started tracking Montagno's calls to police in 2015 and labeled him a "frequent caller" and a "public nuisance." Montagno argued that he had been threatened and his apartment had been vandalized. City authorities allegedly pressured the apartment owner to evict Montagno by threatening to remove his certificate of occupancy.
Tags: Jay Diaz , ACLU , City of Burlington , Joseph Montagno , Image , Web Only
Monday, December 18, 2017
A regional center would combine the operations of up to eight municipalities — Burlington, Colchester, Essex, Milton, Shelburne, South Burlington, Williston and Winooski — depending on which ones vote in March to move forward. The existing system uses seven dispatch centers.
Burlington Fire Chief Steven Locke said the change could save between 60 and 70 seconds in response time on each 911 call. Depending on how many towns participate, the move could also save money, Locke told Seven Days.
Tags: Steven Locke , Brandon del Pozo , Max Tracy , regional dispatch , Image , Web Only
A 62-year-old Vermont man who beat and disfigured his estranged wife in a brutal 2007 attack has died while serving his sentence at a Pennsylvania prison, corrections officials said.
Herbert Rodgers died Monday morning at a Harrisburg, Pa., hospital, according to Janette Hoague, an executive staff assistant at the Vermont Department of Corrections. It "appears [his death] was related to an illness," she said.
Rodgers is the third Vermont inmate who has spent time at the Camp Hill prison to die in the last two months. Roger Brown, 68, died there of untreated metastatic cancer on October 15. Timothy Adams, 59, was serving his sentence at the prison when he was diagnosed with metastatic cancer in September. Officials transferred him to the Southern State Correctional Facility in Springfield, Vt., where he died in early November.
Tags: Department of Corrections , Pennsylvania , Camp Hill , Herbert Rodgers , Carmen Tarleton , Roger Brown , Timothy Adams , Image , Web Only
"I have stood for due process throughout my years as a prosecutor and in chairing the Judiciary Committee," Leahy said in a written statement. "I regret not doing that this time. The Ethics Committee should have been allowed to investigate and make its recommendation."
Twelve days ago, Leahy joined a group of Democratic senators calling for Franken to resign. The Minnesota senator announced the next day that he would do so in the "coming weeks."
Tags: Patrick Leahy , Al Franken , sexual misconduct , Image , Web Only