Friday, August 14, 2020
"Gee, I don't know. I don't know what to tell you," he said when asked whether such an endorsement was in the offing. "I support all Republicans in the 2020 election, and that includes Phil Scott." He added, "I don't always endorse all his policies. You can say that. But I do endorse him as our candidate. I do."
Less than a week before the primary, Klar filed as an independent candidate for governor. He told Seven Days earlier this week he had not decided whether he would actually pursue such a bid but wanted to keep the option open should he lose the primary. Candidates have up to 10 days afterward to withdraw.
Tags: election , Election 2020 , governor , Governor's Race , John Klar , Phil Scott , Vermont , Web Only , Image
June Heston, a nonprofit consultant from Richmond in her first-ever political race, told Seven Days she filed her request with the Chittenden Superior Court on Friday afternoon.
"This is the first time that we've had such a large number of mail-in ballots," Heston said in a phone interview, referring to the record number of absentee votes sent in for Tuesday’s primary election. "I feel that I owe it to my supporters — with such a tight margin — to ensure that we are being responsible and following through with the democratic process."
Tags: June Heston , recount , Chittenden Senate district , Chris Pearson , Web Only , Image
Scott issued an executive order clarifying that any local government — from college-rich Burlington to tiny hamlets with a single bar — has the power to issue such restrictions under the new order.
Evidence from other parts of the country suggests that “uncontrolled parties and crowded bars and clubs are a big part of the problem" in spreading the virus, Scott said.
“I believe giving our towns, especially the college towns, some additional mitigation measures to work with is the right thing to do,” Scott said.
Tags: COVID-19 , Gov. Phil Scott , Miro Weinberger , curfew , colleges , Web Only , Image
Ariel Quiros, 64, the former owner of Jay Peak and Burke Mountain ski resorts, appeared at a virtual hearing in federal court in Burlington on Friday morning and admitted to conspiring to commit wire fraud, laundering money and making false statements. The charges stem from a massive embezzlement scheme in the Northeast Kingdom involving the EB-5 program, which offers foreign investors U.S. residency in exchange for $500,000 investments in approved job-creating businesses.
Tags: EB-5 scandal , Ariel Quiros , Vermont , Bill Stenger , Ponzi-like , AnC Bio Vermont , Web Only , Image
Thursday, August 13, 2020
While the theme of the Vermont Democratic Party's postprimary press conference was "unity," the Dems made clear that their olive branch would not be extended to one person in particular: Gov. Phil Scott.
"Our current governor may be a nice guy," said Brenda Siegel, who finished third in the lieutenant governor primary. "But his veto pen is not. He has vetoed bill after bill and issue after issue that would have helped my family and families all across Vermont."
Tags: David Zuckerman , Election 2020 , Governor's Race , Lieutenant Governor's Race , Molly Gray , Tim Ashe , Vermont Democratic Party , Web Only , Image
Wednesday, August 12, 2020
Unofficial results from the Vermont Secretary of State’s Office show that 170,586 people voted in the primary election, a 39 percent higher turnout than the recent primary record of 122,437 set in 2000.
The remarkable showing suggests that the circumstances surrounding this election cycle — an unprecedented health and economic crisis, nationwide protests for criminal justice reforms, and a presidential race featuring one of the most polarizing figures in modern history — have gotten the attention of the electorate.
Another possible explanation: It was easier to vote.
“The easier you make it for people to participate, the more participation you have,” explained Deb Markowitz, who was Vermont’s secretary of state from 1999 to 2010.
Tags: Absentee Ballots , Election 2020 , November , Record , Vermont primary , Voting , Web Only , Image , Video
"I don't think there's ever been a forecast with greater uncertainty than we have right now," the legislature's chief economist, Tom Kavet, said Wednesday morning during a meeting of the Joint Fiscal Committee.
"We're really in a situation that's extremely fluid," echoed Jeff Carr, the administration's chief economist, during an afternoon meeting of the state's Emergency Board. "Things are changing weekly, even daily."
Kavet and Carr were making the rounds Wednesday after settling on a consensus revenue forecast for the current and coming fiscal years. Their latest estimates, which were formally adopted by the Emergency Board, will guide legislators as they reconvene this month for an unusual late-summer session to complete the state's 2021 budget.
Tags: Tom Kavet , Jeff Carr , Phil Scott , Adam Greshin , Dick Sears , Jane Kitchel , Web Only , Image
Tuesday, August 11, 2020
Lt. Gov. David Zuckerman, a veteran Progressive politician, claimed Vermont’s Democratic gubernatorial nomination on Tuesday, besting former education secretary Rebecca Holcombe. In this fall’s general election, he’ll take on two-term Republican Gov. Phil Scott, who easily outdistanced conservative challenger John Klar and three others to win the GOP nomination.
In the upset of the evening, first-time candidate Molly Gray defeated Senate President Pro Tempore Tim Ashe (D/P-Chittenden), activist Brenda Siegel and Sen. Debbie Ingram (D-Chittenden) to win the Democratic nomination for the open lieutenant governor’s seat. Scott Milne, a former GOP nominee for governor and the U.S. Senate, prevailed over Meg Hansen and three others for the Republican nomination for LG.
Though the election was conducted in the middle of a global pandemic, Vermont appeared to have “shattered” the previous record for voter turnout in a state primary, the Secretary of State’s Office wrote Tuesday night on Twitter. Even before Election Day, more than 110,000 people had cast their vote — taking advantage of a new system that encouraged Vermonters to request absentee ballots. Early results suggested that more than 160,000 people voted this time around, well more than the recent record of 122,437 set in the 2000 primary.
Tags: Primary , David Zuckerman , Rebecca Holcombe , Pat Winburn , Phil Scott , John Klar , Molly Gray , Tim Ashe , Brenda Siegel , Debbie Ingram , Scott Milne , Meg Hansen , Web Only , Video , Image
The federal complaint says that U.S. Border Patrol agents use the interior checkpoints for general crime control instead of immigration enforcement.
As a result, Border Patrol detains hundreds, if not thousands, of individuals who are lawfully traveling in northern New England without any suspicion that they have broken any laws, the ACLU affiliates said in a press release.
Tags: Border Patrol , ACLU Vermont , Checkpoints , Immigration , Web Only , Image
Three people — the maximum allowed for social distancing — were filling out ballots already, so three waited in the blazing sun.
"It's been steady," Lawrence said.
Vermonters largely heeded requests by elections officials to vote by mail to protect poll workers and their fellow residents from the coronavirus, keeping lines, when they formed, short. But the push for mail-in voting and a high level of interest this year were expected to lift voting turnout to a record high for a primary. Municipal clerks had received at least 110,022 ballots by Monday afternoon, more than the 107,637 votes cast in the entire 2018 primary election, according to the Secretary of State's Office.
Lawrence said she’d already received and tabulated 1,200 absentee ballots — far more than the 988 total votes cast by any means in the 2018 primary. Judging by the in-person turnout, the total voting in town seemed likely to also eclipse the 2016 presidential primary peak of 1,452 votes cast.
Tags: voting , primary , election , mail-in ballot , Web Only , Image