Monday, December 2, 2019
Spots in all eight wards are up for election in March 2020 and the Progs expect to endorse candidates in every race except Ward 6, according to Vermont Progressive Party executive director Josh Wronski. That seat is currently held by Karen Paul, a Democrat.
Political newcomer Zoraya Hightower is seeking the Ward 1 spot that's belonged to independent Councilor Sharon Bushor since 1987. Bushor and Hightower will go head-to-head for the Progressive endorsement this Wednesday, though each said she would run as an independent.
Hightower works for an international development consulting firm and has lived in Burlington for four years; she's served on the city's Development Review Board for two. She'd like to expand public transit and to create more affordable housing for residents and students.
It will be challenging to take on a 32-year incumbent, but "I think people are excited to see a change," Hightower said. "I hope to be the one to facilitate that."
Tags: Burlington City Council , elections , Town Meeting Day , Web Only , Image
Thursday, September 26, 2019
"I support getting the facts in that inquiry that's happening today," Scott said Thursday morning at an Essex Junction press conference. "I think these are serious allegations, and we need to make sure that we do the fact-finding and figure out what exactly did happen."
Asked specifically whether he supported House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s (D-Calif.) decision this week to launch a formal impeachment inquiry, Scott said, “Well, I think the inquiry’s important. Yes.”
The second-term governor, who has long distanced himself from the Republican president, declined to say whether he believed Trump had committed impeachable offenses and said he would not "predetermine" what actions Congress should take in the future. "At this point, I just want to make sure what we're actually talking about," he said.
Scott made his remarks two days after Pelosi announced that the House would probe whether Trump improperly pressured the Ukrainian president to investigate a political rival, former vice president Joe Biden. The governor first weighed in on the inquiry late Wednesday in a written statement to the Associated Press, in which he referred to it as "appropriate."
Tags: Senator , Phil Scott , Donald Trump , impeachment , Patrick Leahy , Bernie Sanders , Peter Welch , Rebecca Holcombe , Web Only , Image
Tuesday, August 20, 2019
As he wages a race for the Democratic presidential nomination, Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) is facing the familiar question of when to focus on the job he's seeking — and when to focus on the job he already has.
Though Sanders missed more votes in July than the six other U.S. senators seeking the presidency, his overall attendance rate this year is better than that of two rivals. According to a Seven Days analysis of the 262 roll-call votes the Senate has held since January 8, Sen. Cory Booker (D-N.J.) has missed the most: 118, or 45 percent. Sen. Kamala Harris (D-Calif.), meanwhile, has missed 116, or 44.3 percent.
Sanders and Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.) are tied for third in truancy, with 105 missed votes, or 40 percent. The remaining three senator-candidates have missed far fewer votes:
- Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.): 74, or 28.2 percent
- Sen. Michael Bennet (D-Colo.): 71, or 27.1 percent
- Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.): 60, or 22.9 percent.
Tags: Senator , Bernie Sanders , presidential campaign , missed votes , Cory Booker , Kamala Harris , Kirsten Gillibrand , Elizabeth Warren , Michael Bennett , Amy Klobuchar , Web Only , Image , Video
Thursday, August 8, 2019
The chair of Vermont's State Board of Education resigned Thursday after facing criticism from colleagues over her leadership role on a political campaign.
Krista Huling, who has served on the state board for six years and as chair for two, was named treasurer of Democrat Rebecca Holcombe's gubernatorial campaign last month. Since then, she said, other board members have registered their displeasure with her dual — and possibly competing — responsibilities.
"There was becoming a question of whether I could have the ceremonial treasurer role at the same time as I was serving as board chair," Huling, a South Burlington High School social studies teacher, said in an interview. "When that came into question from board members that there may have to be a choice, the choice was clear to me that I wanted to support Rebecca's campaign."
Board member Bill Mathis was among those who voiced objections. “There needs to be a certain distance between the political process and the board,” he said. “It needs to be free of political things.”
According to Mathis, he and fellow board members learned of Huling’s role on the Holcombe campaign through media reports. When he pressed her on why she hadn’t disclosed it during a board meeting, Mathis said, “She said she wanted to keep her lives separate. But, unfortunately, life doesn’t work that way.”
Tags: Krista Huling , Rebecca Holcombe , Phil Scott , Bill Mathis , Web Only , Image
Friday, August 2, 2019
A top Vermont Democratic Party staffer resigned last month over allegations that he embezzled party funds.
In a statement issued to Seven Days, the VDP confirmed that officials uncovered seven "instances of improper use of party funds for personal gain" totaling $2,938 between January and June of 2019. According to the statement, the party "took appropriate actions to remove the source of the misuse and entered into an agreement for repayment of these funds."
The party declined to name the alleged perpetrator, but according to a person with firsthand knowledge of the situation, it was director of party operations Brandon Batham. The source said that he was asked to resign on July 17 and agreed to do so.
Batham, who served a two-year term on the Barre City Council, did not respond to several requests for comment Thursday and Friday.
Tags: Vermont Democratic Party , Web Only , Image
Wednesday, July 31, 2019
Asked to respond to former representative John Delaney’s assertion that his Medicare-for-all plan was “political suicide,” Sanders said simply, “You’re wrong.” With laughter and cheers, the audience at the Fox Theatre voiced its approval.
Later, when Rep. Tim Ryan (D-Ohio) argued that Sanders’ plan would strip union members of health insurance policies they’d fought for, the senator suggested they’d be better off under Medicare. “It covers all health care needs,” he said. “For senior citizens, it will finally include dental care, hearing aids and eyeglasses.”
“But you don’t know that,” Ryan interjected. “You don’t know that, Bernie.”
“I do know it,” Sanders said. “I wrote the damn bill.”
Tags: Senator , Bernie Sanders , Democratic debate , Web Only , Image
Friday, July 26, 2019
The Friday announcement, via emailed press release, came after Seven Days and VTDigger.org published pieces critical of her original assertion, and the Scott administration categorically denied it.
For the first 10 days of her campaign, Holcombe had accused the Scott administration of promoting a statewide school-choice policy that would strip public schools of millions in state funding. In her new press release, she instead accused Scott of promoting a "vision" of a statewide voucher system.
Tags: Rebecca Holcombe , Phil Scott , Web Only , Image
Tuesday, July 23, 2019
But according to a recent filing with the Federal Election Commission, very little of Sanders' campaign appears to be based in Vermont — and he hasn't spent much money in his home state.
A Seven Days analysis of the data found that just 17 of the 279 employees his campaign paid during the first half of the year lived in Vermont. Meanwhile, 101 lived in the Beltway region — including 74 people in D.C., 19 in Maryland and eight in Virginia.
Only $213,666 of the campaign's $3.1 million payroll, or 6.8 percent, went to Vermonters. Meanwhile, close to $1.4 million, or 43 percent of payroll, went to those in the Beltway.
Tags: Senator , Bernie Sanders , Vermont , FEC , campaign finance , spending , election , president , Web Only , Image
Thursday, July 18, 2019
Serving as senior adviser is Brian Lenzmeier, a political operative who appears to have run congressional campaigns in New Mexico in 2014 and in Michigan in 2016; in 2018, he seems to have run a secretive super PAC backing a Pennsylvania congressional candidate.
Lenzmeier did not respond to requests for information about his background, but he did provide the names of Holcombe's other consultants:
Tags: Rebecca Holcombe , Phil Scott , Web Only , Image
Tuesday, July 16, 2019
For the first 15 months of Republican Gov. Phil Scott's administration, Rebecca Holcombe served as his secretary of education. Now she's hoping to oust him from Vermont's top job.
The 52-year-old Norwich resident announced Tuesday morning that she'll seek the Democratic gubernatorial nomination in 2020. That makes her the first declared candidate in the field.
“I’m running for governor because I think it’s time to take the state in a new direction, and I have tremendous experience as an educator, as a teacher, a principal, a secretary,” she said in an interview with Seven Days. “And I want to put it to work for every Vermonter in every corner of the state — not just the areas that are already doing well.”
Holcombe pondered a run for governor in 2018 but ultimately sat out that race. Last month, she told Seven Days she was in "the exploratory phase" of a 2020 campaign. Other potential entrants could include Democratic Attorney General T.J. Donovan, Progressive/Democratic Lt. Gov. David Zuckerman and 2018 Democratic candidate Brenda Siegel.
Scott, 60, said last month that he would not announce whether he would seek a third two-year term until the end of the next legislative session, which is likely to conclude in May 2020.
Tags: Rebecca Holcombe , Phil Scott , governor , Web Only , Image