Thursday, December 12, 2019
The account, @WinkleWatchers, has since been deleted. Del Pozo created the profile to mock Charles Winkleman, a Burlington resident, political activist and known provocateur who regularly takes aim online at the chief, landlords and others in power.
Del Pozo lied when Seven Days asked him about the burner account in July, saying he had nothing to do with it. But days later, del Pozo confessed what he had done to Mayor Miro Weinberger. He took six weeks of medical leave to seek mental health treatment, the mayor said. The chief has been back on duty since mid-September.
Tags: Brandon del Pozo , Burlington Police Department , Miro Weinberger , Charles Winkleman , Twitter , WinkleWatchers , Web Only , Image
Tuesday, December 10, 2019
The head of Vermont's Agency of Human Services said Tuesday that he's hoping the federal government will conduct an independent investigation of the troubled Chittenden Regional Correctional Facility.
Secretary Mike Smith told members of a legislative oversight panel that he was on the hunt for an "appropriate third-party entity" to probe allegations of sexual misconduct, drug use and retaliation at the South Burlington women's prison — and, perhaps, the entire Department of Corrections. He later said to Seven Days that the ideal candidate would be the U.S. Department of Justice.
Got a tip about the Vermont Department of Corrections?
Send it our way. We'll keep your identity confidential.
[email protected], 802-222-0363
Paul Heintz
c/o Seven Days
255 S. Champlain St.
Ste. 5
Burlington, VT 05401
At a community forum Tuesday evening in Burlington, Smith's deputy secretary, Martha Maksym, elaborated on the idea. "We have made a firm commitment to have an external, unbiased investigation of this," she said. "Secretary Smith has been in conversations with [U.S. Attorney Christina Nolan] and she is exploring if this might be something her office can do."
Precisely what such a probe would entail — and whether the feds are amenable to leading it — remains to be seen. Nolan said in a written statement Tuesday night that the U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of Vermont is "considering all options and the appropriate scope of our role." She added, "This includes consideration of potential avenues under federal civil rights laws."
Tags: Chittenden Regional Correctional Facility , Mike Smith , Martha Maksym , Christina Nolan , Mike Touchette , Theresa Stone , Web Only , Image
Cameron Russell, 34, a former state party staffer who managed the Democrats’ unsuccessful bid for the governor's office in 2018, will lead the Holcombe campaign "as it begins to move into a more public phase," Russell wrote in a press release announcing his hire.
Russell is Holcombe's second campaign manager since she announced in July. His predecessor, Kyle Quinn-Quesada, stepped down in November due to an “unexpected health emergency,” Holcombe told Seven Days on Tuesday.
“I’m very pleased that Cam has decided that he wants to join us and help us build a very strong grassroots campaign,” Holcombe said.
Tags: Holcombe campaign , Rebecca Holcombe , Governor Phil Scott , Vermont , Cameron Russell , campaign manager , Democrats , primary , 2020 , election , T.J. Donovan , David Zuckerman , lieutenant governor , attorney general , Web Only , Image
Citing a scheduling conflict at the end of Monday's Charter Change Committee meeting, City Councilor Joan Shannon (D-South District) moved to adjourn before the three-member panel could take up the measure. Councilor Franklin Paulino (D-North District) supported the motion, while Councilor Max Tracy (P-Ward 2), the committee chair, did not.
“It’s just frustrating that we weren’t even able to start the conversation,” Tracy said, adding, "I was willing to stay and continue the conversation. I was hoping we’d be able to get something out, but that did not happen."
The full council needs to consider all charter changes for the Town Meeting Day 2020 ballot by December 16. Without another committee meeting before then, the ranked-choice voting proposal will likely miss the deadline, Tracy said. He hopes to get the item on the November ballot instead.
On Monday, the committee met for more than 90 minutes and did vote to send three charter change items to the full council. The first would allow noncitizens to vote in local elections. Another would add a Winooski representative — and an additional Burlington resident — to the city’s Airport Commission. A third would allow local questions to be printed on a state general election ballot.
Tags: Burlington City Council , instant runoff voting , ranked choice voting , noncitizen voting , charter change , Web Only , Image
Friday, December 6, 2019
The ruling, while narrow, also endorsed the district's unusual decision last year to sue the newspaper rather than respond to its public records request.
The case began in 2018 after the newspaper sought details of former Burlington Tech interim director Adam Provost's departure in January of that year for unspecified medical reasons. Provost had been on administrative leave for months before he resigned.
A Seven Days reporter asked the school district to provide any separation agreement involving Provost. The district believed the document was public under state law but said that Provost promised to sue unless certain details were withheld.
So the district drew up the legal equivalent of a football punt. Instead of responding to the newspaper's records request, it filed a lawsuit asking a judge to decide what it was obligated to release. The filing, known as a request for declaratory judgment, named Provost and Seven Days as defendants.
Tags: public records , Burlington School District , Adam Provost , Seven Days , Vermont Supreme Court , Web Only , Image
Following reports of wrongdoing at the Chittenden Regional Correctional Facility, Human Services Secretary Mike Smith is planning to take direct operational control of the South Burlington women's prison.
Got a tip about the Vermont Department of Corrections?
Send it our way. We'll keep your identity confidential.
[email protected], 802-222-0363
Paul Heintz
c/o Seven Days
255 S. Champlain St.
Ste. 5
Burlington, VT 05401
Chittenden Regional is currently overseen by the Department of Corrections, which is part of the sprawling Agency of Human Services. Smith's plan is to temporarily remove the women's prison from the DOC chain of command and run it from his agency's central office.
"I'm just trying to get the mechanism in place to do it," he said.
Smith said that the prison's superintendent, Theresa Stone, remains on the job, as does Corrections Commissioner Mike Touchette.
Tags: Chittenden Regional Correctional Facility , Mike Smith , Mike Touchette , Theresa Stone , Web Only , Image
Thursday, December 5, 2019
It’s the first time the Vermont Dems have hired a field director to focus on Queen City council races, party spokesperson Christopher Di Mezzo said.
“Time and time again, the state party maybe hasn’t tried, maybe hasn’t fielded a staff member devoted specifically to this mission, and we’re changing that,” Di Mezzo said. “We hope the resources we’re investing in the community in Burlington will bring about Democratic leadership that will support a Democratic agenda in Vermont’s largest city.”
Tags: Burlington City Council , Election 2020 , Town Meeting Day , Vermont Democratic Party , Vermont Progressive Party , Web Only , Image
A document obtained Thursday by Seven Days shows that Vermont Corrections Commissioner Mike Touchette was informed about allegations of drug use and retaliation at the Chittenden Regional Correctional Facility more than two years ago.
Got a tip about the Vermont Department of Corrections?
Send it our way. We'll keep your identity confidential.
[email protected], 802-222-0363
Paul Heintz
c/o Seven Days
255 S. Champlain St.
Ste. 5
Burlington, VT 05401
The two-page report, titled "Retaliation at CRCF," was addressed to Touchette, who was then serving as deputy commissioner at the Department of Corrections. It was provided to Seven Days by Brittany Sweet, a former officer at Chittenden Regional who sued the state that year for sexual harassment and retaliation. Flibotte declined to comment.
Flibotte's report appears to corroborate some of the allegations made in an investigation of Chittenden Regional published Wednesday by Seven Days. That story describes complaints of sexual misconduct, drug use and retaliation at the South Burlington facility. More than a dozen officers and inmates told the newspaper that, for years, Zorzi appeared to be intoxicated during his shifts at the prison. He was suspended in October and is under investigation by the Vermont State Police.
During a press conference Thursday in Montpelier, a Seven Days reporter read a portion of Flibotte’s incident report to Gov. Phil Scott. He called it “concerning” and said that he had not heard such complaints until the investigation was published Wednesday.
“We’re taking this very seriously and I guarantee we’ll get to the bottom of it, because it’s unacceptable,” the governor said.
Tags: Chittenden Regional Correctional Facility , Vermont Department of Corrections , Mike Touchette , Steffen Flibotte , Brittany Sweet , Daniel Zorzi , Web Only , Image
Gov. Phil Scott has appointed William “Bill” Cohen of Rutland to the Vermont Supreme Court.
A superior court justice in Rutland for the last 20 years, Cohen fills a vacancy created by the September 1 retirement of Justice Marilyn Skoglund, who departed after 22 years on the state’s highest court.
“Bill understands the needs of Vermonters as well as the challenges facing the judiciary and the justice system,” Scott said in a statement released Thursday morning. “Among a very strong candidate pool, Bill distinguished himself as someone with the right experience, temperament and character to serve the judiciary with excellence as an associate justice.”
In an interview, Cohen said he was “extremely happy” to be appointed but would also miss the close relationships he has built in Bennington, where he is the presiding judge.
He described himself as a moderate and his judicial philosophy as “to attempt as best I can to not judge out of fear or favor.”
Tags: Vermont Supreme Court , William "Bill" Cohen , Gov. Phil Scott , Max Misch , Web Only , Image
"It was an incredibly tough call," Wright announced on his radio show, WVMT's "The Morning Drive," on Thursday. "I don't make this decision lightly, and I don't feel great about it, but I think for now, I am out of politics as of the end of March."
Wright has served the New North End for nearly 25 years as a city councilor, state representative or both. After losing his House seat to Democrat Bob Hooper last fall, Wright vowed he wouldn't run again for political office. But he said he'd reconsidered in recent months after his council constituents urged him to stay on.
Wright's new talk radio gig, however, posed a problem. Federal broadcasting rules require that WVMT must afford equal time on-air to both Wright and his challenger, Sarah Carpenter, during a campaign. That wasn't feasible, so station ownership told Wright he'd have to take a 60-day hiatus from the airwaves. It was too long a break, he told listeners.
Tags: Burlington City Council , caucus , Election 2020 , Kurt Wright , Sarah Carpenter , Web Only , Image