Wednesday, November 14, 2018
Federal immigration authorities used a civilian informant to infiltrate meetings of Migrant Justice as part of a larger, sustained surveillance campaign that targeted members for their activism, the group alleges in a lawsuit filed Wednesday in U.S. District Court in Burlington.
The Vermont Department of Motor Vehicles has been helping Immigration and Customs Enforcement and the Department of Homeland Security to engage in an illegal effort to “harass, arrest and detain” farmworker activists, Migrant Justice said in a statement. Its suit names ICE, DHS and the DMV as defendants.
The plaintiffs are represented by a coalition of activists and legal heavyweights: the ACLU of Vermont, the Center for Constitutional Rights, the National Center for Law and Economic Justice, the National Immigration Law Center, and Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher, a large law firm headquartered in Los Angeles.
Tags: Migrant Justice , U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement , Department of Homeland Security , Vermont Department of Motor Vehicles , Will Lambek , ACLU of Vermont , Center for Constitutional Rights , National Center for Law and Economic Justice , National Immigration Law Center , Gibson Dunn & Crutcher , Image , Web Only
Tuesday, November 13, 2018
A spokesperson for Jane O'Meara Sanders said Tuesday that federal authorities have concluded a long-running probe into her tenure as president of the now-shuttered Burlington College.
"Jane Sanders has been informed that the U.S. Attorney in Vermont has closed its investigation of the Burlington College land deal and has decided not to bring charges of any kind," spokesperson Jeff Weaver said in a written statement. In a phone interview, Weaver said the feds had shared the news with O’Meara Sanders’ attorneys in “the last couple of days.”
Federal authorities had not previously confirmed the investigation's existence. Kraig LaPorte, a spokesperson for U.S. Attorney Christina Nolan, said Tuesday that he could neither corroborate nor refute Weaver's statement, but he noted that his office does "communicate with represented parties."
The news lifts a cloud that has hovered over O'Meara Sanders and her husband, Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), for nearly three years. It comes as Sen. Sanders contemplates a second run for president.
Tags: Senator , Bernie Sanders , Jane Sanders , Jane O'Meara Sanders , Burlington College , Jeff Weaver , Image
Friday, November 9, 2018
Vermont Attorney General T.J. Donovan said Allenwood at Pillsbury Manor and Pillsbury Manor South, both in South Burlington, and Homestead at Pillsbury in St. Albans were in control of a receiver tasked with stabilizing the homes’ finances and keeping them open.
“When you talk about running out of food, that’s when you gotta step in and protect people,” Donovan said. “And that’s what we did.”
Tags: Andrew White , TJ Donovan , East Lake Capital Management , Allenwood , Homestead at Pillsbury , Pillsbury Manor South , St. Albans , South Burlington , elder care , independent living , Monica Hutt , Image , Web Only
Thursday, November 8, 2018
Protesters chanted, "Two, four, six, eight, we want Mueller to investigate," and "Let Bob do his job," as they marched a winding route through downtown Burlington. Police escorted the protest, which blocked rush hour traffic. Some drivers honked in support of the demonstrators as they passed.
Tags: Senator , Nobody Is Above the Law , protest , Burlington , Robert Appel , Ryan McLaren , Peter Welch , John Tracy , Patrick Leahy , Jessica Early , Bernie Sanders , Donald Trump , Jeff Sessions , Matthew Whitaker , Madeleine Kunin , Image , Web Only
In an interview Wednesday, U.S. Rep. Peter Welch (D-Vt.) would not say whether Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) should reclaim the speaker's gavel. Welch said he had not committed, publicly or privately, to back Pelosi or any potential challenger.
"At this point, what I want is to make certain we get some reforms [to the legislative process] that'll apply whoever is speaker," he said.
Pelosi, the only declared candidate, served as speaker during Welch's first two terms in office, from 2007 through 2010. Now that Democrats are poised to control the House for the first time in eight years, she is hoping to return to the post.
Tags: Peter Welch , Nancy Pelosi , Congress , U.S. Rep. , Vermont , Image , Web Only
Wednesday, November 7, 2018
On multiple occasions during Scott’s first term, the 53 House Republicans blocked Democrats and Progs from overriding his vetoes, which requires a two-thirds majority in the 150-member House. That bulwark blew up Tuesday night.
After reviewing unofficial election results from the Secretary of State’s Office, Seven Days has confirmed that Democrats gained 12 seats in the House while Progressives held onto their seven, bringing the total number of left-leaning lawmakers to 102. Meanwhile, Republicans lost 10 seats to leave them with 43 members, while independents lost two seats and now hold just five.
In the 30-member Senate, Democrats, who already had a two-thirds majority, picked up another seat, leaving Republicans with only six.
Democratic legislators, who have criticized Scott for being unwilling to work collaboratively, say he’ll no longer have that option. “The governor is gonna need to do more than just issue veto threats,” said Rep. Sam Young (D-Glover).
Tags: Phil Scott , Vermont House , Vermont Senate , Tim Ashe , Jill Krowinski , Vermont Statehouse , Slideshow , Image , Web Only
"Good riddance!" Welch said. "This guy is the worst attorney general in my lifetime. I mean, he's the enforcer of family separation, condones voter suppression, the Muslim ban. This guy's absolutely awful."
But Welch, who won his seventh term in Congress the day before, does have one fear: "President Trump is pretty good at finding bad people, and he might replace [Sessions] with somebody that's worse."
For now, Sessions' chief of staff, Matthew Whitaker, will serve as acting attorney general, according to the White House. He will oversee Special Counsel Robert Mueller's investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election and allegations of obstruction of justice by the president and his associates.
That has Welch and Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) worried, because Whitaker has supported defunding the investigation and limiting its scope. Both men said Wednesday that Whitaker should steer clear of the Mueller probe.
"I am strongly in favor of him recusing himself," Welch said. "It would be a way of him providing more reassurance that they're not going to mess with Mueller."
Vermont's third member of Congress, Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), did not respond to an interview request.
Tags: Senator , Patrick Leahy , Peter Welch , Bernie Sanders , Jeff Sessions , Matthew Whitaker , Image , Web Only
By Wednesday afternoon, he decided to embrace the victory after all. Bissonnette announced that he will keep the seat, changing his plan to move out of Winooski this year and retire.
"I told people not to vote for me," 73-year-old Bissonnette explained to Seven Days. "Seeing I still got elected, it seems to me that the people want me to go back to Montpelier."
The Democratic lawmaker won a primary in August. But the next month, he announced his intention to retire to the Northeast Kingdom, where he and his wife, Sharon, had purchased a home. He resigned from the House. He told voters he didn't really want to be on the ballot — but it was too late to remove his name.
If he were not willing to serve, Republican Gov. Phil Scott would appoint someone to the seat. Now, that won't happen.
That's a double blow for Hal Colston.
He's the Winooski Democrat who decided to wage a write-in campaign for Bissonnette's seat. Colston, who ran a successful write-in campaign to get on the Winooski City Council in March, didn't manage a repeat this week.
The write-in votes totaled 939, while Bissonnette collected 1,184 votes and incumbent Rep. Diana González (P/D-Winooski) received 1,824 votes.
That tally gave González and Bissonnette return tickets to Montpelier — even though political observers assumed Bissonnette would decline the trip.
Colston said Wednesday that he had hoped, if he failed at the polls, to be considered for an appointment to the seat. Now that's not an option. But Colston still wants to go to Montpelier. "I'm interested in serving and I'll be running in the next election, on the ballot," Colston said.
Colston said he was pleased with the support he got as a write-in candidate. "I'm not feeling too shabby," he said.
"I wish him well," he said of Bissonnette.
The change of heart for Bissonnette came as the results filtered in Tuesday night.
"I did not campaign," he said. "I did not spend a cent on the election. The people still elected me."
He entered local politics in 1970 and has served as city councilor, mayor and legislator for the Onion City.
He and his wife aren't planning to sell their Winooski home until the spring of 2019, Bissonnette said. He might then rent a room in Winooski to finish out his term in the legislature. It's also possible he would resign before the full two years is up, he said.
Bissonnette said he is sure he's heading to the Statehouse in January.
He said, "We're going to Montpelier and we're going to take it day by day.’’
Tags: Winooski , politics , Clem Bissonette , Hal Colston , Diana González , Image , Web Only
According to data from the Secretary of State's Office, about 279,806 Vermonters cast ballots, roughly 57 percent of registered voters in the state.
Before Tuesday, the record high for a Vermont midterm came in 2006, when 262,568 people — 60.56 percent of registered voters at the time — cast ballots in the final midterms of president George W. Bush's tenure.
Secretary of State Jim Condos, who oversees Vermont’s elections, confirmed that 2018 may set a record for the most ballots cast in a midterm, but said the election likely won't set a record in terms of turnout percentage. He said that’s because the number of registered voters in Vermont is steadily rising.
Tags: Jim Condos , Terje Anderson , voter turnout , Donald Trump , motor voter , automatic voter registration , same-day voter registration , Image , Web Only
What else happened in Vermont on Election Day 2018? Seven Days has you covered. Click the links below or read on for our full coverage:
- Vermont Gov. Phil Scott Elected to Second Term
- Bernie Sanders Wins Third Term to U.S. Senate
- Zuckerman, Down-Ballot Democrats Win Vermont’s Statewide Races
- Walters: Democrats Gain Ground in Vermont Legislature
- Burlington, South Burlington Voters Approve Big Bonds at Polls
- Mr. Popularity: Scott Stands Alone on Bad Night for Republicans
Tags: Senator , Phil Scott , Christine Hallquist , David Zuckerman , Don Turner , T.J. Donovan , Janssen Willhoit , Bernie Sanders , Peter Welch , Mitzi Johnson , Kurt Wright , Slideshow , Image , Web Only