Thursday, August 6, 2020
In a one-page memo, Weinberger wrote that he objects to "the timing, avoidable expense and substance" of the city council's July 13 resolution to bring back ranked-choice voting. The measure, passed by a slim 6-5 majority, sought to place the question on the November ballot.
"I am returning the Resolution ... to you unsigned," the mayor wrote in the August 6 memo. "I do not take this action lightly."
Weinberger wrote that it would be "wasteful" to spend $45,000 on separate local ballots this fall when the question could be called on a Town Meeting Day ballot for no extra cost. The city budget is already constrained this year due to the coronavirus pandemic, he added.
The ballot question "will divide and distract" from the city's pandemic response and racial justice efforts, Weinberger continued. He said that debating the "polarizing and divisive issue ... will consume community attention and resources at a moment in which those finite resources are urgently needed elsewhere."
Tags: ranked-choice voting , instant runoff voting , IRV , Burlington City Council , veto , Mayor Miro Weinberger , Web Only , Image
Monday, August 3, 2020
West's consent form came in just before 5 p.m. Monday, the deadline for independent presidential candidates to file to appear on the ballot. Condos didn’t know offhand whether West had filed as an independent or as a minor party candidate; the deadline for the latter to file is 5 p.m. Thursday.
TMZ reported that West named "biblical life coach" Michelle Tidball as his running mate in Vermont, but Condos could not immediately confirm that detail. He said elections staff must verify whether West's form is complete —including naming his VP pick — before the rapper can officially be listed on the ballot.
Tags: presidential election , Donald Trump , Joe Biden , elections , Jim Condos , coronavirus , voting , Kanye West , Web Only , Image
Sunday, August 2, 2020
This story was updated at 4:15 p.m. with further details and again at 10:20 p.m. with information from Scott Milne's late report.
In the homestretch before the August 11 primary, Rebecca Holcombe raised more money in the last month than her rivals for the Democratic gubernatorial nomination, according to reports filed Saturday with the Secretary of State's Office.
Holcombe pulled in $64,913 between July 1 and August 1, edging out Lt. Gov. David Zuckerman, who collected $60,229 during the same final reporting period before the primary.
The result puts the former education secretary back to the front of the fundraising class, following Zuckerman’s strong performance in the last reporting period. At that point in the race, between March 13 and the end of June, Zuckerman had hit his stride and was far out-raising Holcombe, reporting $101,276 more than her during the period.
The late surge by Holcombe, who entered the Democratic primary six months before Zuckerman, extends her total fundraising lead over the lieutenant governor. To date, she has raised $546,278 to his $349,047, according to the latest filings. That includes $27,541 in donations from herself or family, including a $10,512 payment that she made last month to a political consultant for research services.
Tags: Phil Scott , David Zuckerman , Rebecca Holcombe , Tim Ashe , Molly Gray , campaign finance , Web Only , Image
Tuesday, July 28, 2020
Dan Barkhuff, a former Navy SEAL who is now an emergency room doctor at the University of Vermont Medical Center, also praised Trump's Democratic rival, Joe Biden, in the minute-long video titled "Conservative."
"I don't agree with Joe Biden on many issues," Barkhuff says in the ad. "But one thing we agree on is that we are a nation of laws, and the Constitution is a sacred document — a document that I fought for, and some of my friends died for."
"Protecting our freedoms and the rules of the game is a fundamentally conservative act," Barkhuff continues. "President Trump shows no such respect for the Constitution. He and his cronies disrespect freedom of assembly, due process and state's rights."
Tags: Dr. Dan Barkuff , Lincoln Project , Donald Trump , conservative , Never Trump , president , campaign , election , Web Only , Image
Monday, July 27, 2020
Vermont's most influential politician has thrown his weight behind Lt. Gov. David Zuckerman's gubernatorial campaign.
In a written statement Monday morning, Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) encouraged Vermonters to vote for Zuckerman in the August 11 Democratic primary.
"I am proud to endorse David and know he will continue to ensure Vermonters have an economy that works for all of us, by growing good paying Vermont jobs, fighting climate change and leading a progressive recovery out of this pandemic," Sanders said in the statement, highlighting Zuckerman's support for a higher minimum wage and marriage equality. "I hope you will join me in supporting David to be our next Governor."
The two progressive pols have been allies for decades. Zuckerman credits Sanders with inspiring him to become involved in politics in 1992 when the former was a student at the University of Vermont and the latter was a member of the U.S. House. That fall, according to Zuckerman, he volunteered on Sanders' reelection campaign and helped to register fellow UVM students to vote. Zuckerman stumped for Sanders during the 2020 Democratic presidential primary, spent time with him the night of the New Hampshire primary and spoke at his Super Tuesday rally in Essex Junction.
Tags: Bernie Sanders , David Zuckerman , Election 2020 , Governor's Race , Senator , Web Only , Image
Friday, July 24, 2020
A prominent former AIDS activist, 62-year-old Anderson has been party chair since late 2017. In a statement, Anderson said the unspecified health problems prevent him from being able to devote enough time and energy to the role.
Tags: Terje Anderson , Vermont Democratic Party , Web Only , Image
Tuesday, July 21, 2020
Holcombe, a former state education secretary, has been hammering Zuckerman since March over his past skepticism of vaccine science and his efforts to derail legislation that eliminated the state's philosophical exemption to vaccine mandates. Zuckerman, a two-term lieutenant governor, has claimed without evidence that Holcombe is misrepresenting his record.
In a new television advertisement released Tuesday morning, Holcombe argues that Vermont's next governor will need to ensure that a potential coronavirus vaccine is distributed properly — and she suggests the LG isn't the one to do it.
"My opponent, David Zuckerman, is a nice man, but he's questioned the science behind vaccines," she says. "The anti-vaxxers call him their hero. As governor, I'll always follow the science, and that's the difference between us."
Holcombe went even further during Tuesday's debate on Vermont Public Radio and Vermont PBS, which also featured Democratic candidates Pat Winburn and Ralph Corbo. Given the opportunity to question a rival of her choosing, Holcombe said that Zuckerman had "cast doubt and fed fears about the safety of long-proven vaccines," and she asked him whether he took responsibility for "actually undermin[ing] the public health of Vermonters."
Tags: David Zuckerman , Rebecca Holcombe , Pat Winburn , Ralph Corbo , Web Only , Image
Monday, July 20, 2020
According to the Secretary of State's Office, 113,735 residents requested absentee ballots by Monday afternoon. That exceeds the 107,637 who voted by any means in the 2018 primary and is nearing the 120,132 who voted in the 2016 primary.
It's also more than 22 times the number of people who requested an absentee ballot at an equivalent period before the 2018 primary. That year, just 5,051 residents had done so within 22 days of the election.
"We are very hopeful that we will continue to see this increase," said Secretary of State Jim Condos. "As I've always said, the more people that vote the better our democracy is."
Many of those who requested ballots are still contemplating their options. According to the Secretary of State's Office, town clerks have received 19,237 completed ballots.
Tags: Jim Condos , Will Senning , elections , Vermont , mail-in voting , absentee ballots , primary election , general election , absentee voting , Web Only , Image
Thursday, July 16, 2020
The event, aired on Vermont Public Radio, was the second of four statewide primary election debates hosted by the station and Vermont PBS.
Similar to Tuesday's debate among Republicans, candidates were given time to interrogate their opponents. But in contrast to some of the softballs lobbed by their GOP counterparts, the four Democrats showed up with a bag of grenades.
Emerging from the rubble with the most airtime were assistant attorney general Molly Gray and Senate President Pro Tempore Tim Ashe (D/P-Chittenden), who, whether directly or indirectly, were the subject of all eight of the field's questions.
Tags: Tim Ashe , Molly Gray , Debbie Ingram , Brenda Siegel , Democratic debate , Lieutenant governor , Web Only , Image
Tuesday, July 14, 2020
They outlined approaches for combating Vermont's demographic crisis, largely emphasizing job creation and deregulation. They weighed in on whether they support a carbon tax — no — and explained how the state would be better off if they were elected.
But one of the more illuminating points during Tuesday's event — the first of four statewide primary election debates hosted by Vermont Public Radio and Vermont PBS over the next eight days — came when the five hopefuls were offered a chance to ask one of the other candidates a question.
What followed was a series of odd exchanges that featured a surprising number of softballs and few of the pointed questions that voters have come to expect in political debates.
Tags: lieutenant governor , Vermont , Scott Milne , Meg Hansen , Jim Hogue , Jim Hogue , Dana Colson Jr. , Web Only , Image