Tuesday, September 8, 2015
Scott, in an email announcement, said he will be forming a team and raising money in the coming months for the 2016 campaign, with an official campaign kickoff sometime in the fall. He has about $100,000 left over from last year's lieutenant governor race and this summer sent out fundraising appeals as he was making his decision.
Scott will be in a primary race with at least one other Republican candidate, retired Wall Street executive Bruce Lisman.
Two Democrats — House Speaker Shap Smith (D-Morristown) and former state Sen. Matt Dunne — have also announced their candidacies. Democratic incumbent Gov. Peter Shumlin is not seeking reelection after three terms.
Scott focused most of his announcement on economics. "I will be a steady hand at the helm, provide balanced leadership that values listening, stand up for working families and confront our crisis of affordability in meaningful ways," he said. "Practical leadership that delivers — instead of over-promising — will rebuild faith and trust in government and move Vermont forward in very positive ways."
Tags: Phil Scott , Peter Shumlin , Bruce Lisman , Shap Smith , Matt Dunne , Image , Web Only
Monday, September 7, 2015
Scott, 57, a Republican who lives in Berlin and co-owns an excavating company, plans to hold a campaign kickoff later this fall. He will face a primary race against retired Wall Street executive Bruce Lisman of Shelburne, who announced his candidacy last week.
So far, two Democrats have also announced their plans to run: House Speaker Shap Smith of Morristown and former state senator Matt Dunne of Hartland. Transportation Secretary Sue Minter of Waterbury could follow with an announcement of her own shortly.
Democrat Peter Shumlin, the three-term incumbent, announced in June he is not running for reelection.
Tags: Phil Scott , Bruce Lisman , Peter Shumlin , Shap Smith , Matt Dunne , Sue Minter , Image , Web Only
Friday, September 4, 2015
Burlington crossing guard Steve Norman says he has launched the group to spread the word about his favorite presidential candidate, Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.).
"There are 50,000 school crossing guards in the country, mostly retirees, single moms and disabled folks — few if any [are] millionaires," Norman said, tapping into Sanders' man-of-the-people message.
The longtime lefty activist moved to Burlington in 1983 and has known Sanders since. Norman plans to take the first step toward spreading the word at roughly 4 p.m. Monday during the launch party for the new advocacy group Rights & Democracy in Burlington's Battery Park.
He should be easy to spot: He'll be wearing a bright orange vest and holding a stop sign.
Tags: Senator , Bernie Sanders , crossing guards , presidential campaign , Image , Web Only
Thursday, August 6, 2015
Liberty University, the Christian college in Virginia founded by Jerry Falwell, requires its students to attend convocations. This fall's speakers include Christian singers and authors, the university’s own senior vice president for spiritual development, and Darryl Strawberry, the former baseball player who founded a Christian ministry.
Oh, and Bernie Sanders, the independent Jewish senator from Vermont who is seeking the Democratic nomination for president and was quoted in June in the Christian Science Monitor as saying "I'm not particularly religious."
Sanders is scheduled to speak September 14. He’ll be addressing what the university describes as “North America’s largest weekly gathering of Christian students,” about 12,000 people.
“We have speakers from all walks of life,” Liberty University's president, Jerry Falwell Jr., the late founder’s son, said Thursday by phone from Virginia.
Tags: Senator , Bernie Sanders , Liberty University , Jerry Falwell , Presidential Campaign , Recommended Reading , Image , Web Only
Tuesday, July 28, 2015
Haslam announced Monday that he's stepping down as the center’s executive director in order to lead a new Vermont-based advocacy group called Rights and Democracy. It's slated to launch on Labor Day.
In his new gig, the 41-year-old Haslam hopes to elect state leaders who support causes the Workers' Center has long championed, such as livable wages, health care reform, affordable housing and environmentalism.
Suffice it to say, Haslam is dissatisfied with what politicians in Montpelier have accomplished on those fronts.
Tags: Senator , James Haslam , Vermont Workers' Center , Bernie Sanders , Peter Shumlin , Vermont politics , Image , Web Only
Thursday, July 23, 2015
What he’s really dishing up is Bernie Sanders. Basiliere is among hundreds of people who are hosting events around the country Wednesday night to spread the word about the Democratic presidential candidate.
This is taking the Tupperware party technique to politics. Back in 2004, when Howard Dean was running for president, his campaign supporters held meet-ups around the country. Now, the Sanders campaign is encouraging supporters to organize events Wednesday at homes, coffee shops and union halls from Maine to California.
Sanders hopes the events will provide those interested in his campaign ideas for how they can help, said spokesman Michael Briggs. “He’s looking for the grassroots movement that he keeps talking about,” Briggs said.
Tags: Senator , Bernie Sanders , Howard Dean , 2016 presidential campaign , Image , Web Only
Barnes had planned to go to graduate school until the job with Sanders came through. She will work alongside Sanders’ New Hampshire political director, Kurt Ehrenberg, in Concord, N.H., according to Sanders’ office.
In Vermont, Conor Casey will replace Barnes as executive director of the state party. He spent nearly eight years as legislative coordinator with the Vermont State Employees' Association.
Barnes has presidential-campaign experience in New Hampshire, which will hold the nation’s first presidential primary next February, following the Iowa caucuses.
Tags: Senator , Bernie Sanders , presidential campaign , Vermont Democratic Party , Vermont State Employees Association , Conor Casey , Julia Barnes , Recommended Reading , Image , Web Only
Thursday, July 16, 2015
That flight has started.
David Mears, a Vermont Law School professor who cut short his Fulbright scholarship work in China to join Shumlin's administration as Department of Environmental Conservation commissioner in 2011, is going back to the law school, Shumlin’s office announced Thursday. He’ll lead the South Royalton school's Environmental and Natural Resources Law Clinic, .
Mears’ departure is significant. It comes just as the state is about to hear from the federal Environmental Protection Agency on its Lake Champlain cleanup plans and just after the governor signed a hefty new water cleanup bill into law. The highly regarded Mears has been managing that for the state, but won’t be there to implement the plans.
Tags: David Mears , Vermont Law School , Peter Shumin , Aly Richards , Jon Copans , Joe Flynn , Image , Web Only
Friday, July 3, 2015
As I travel around and around this great nation of ours, I’ve met too many Americans going down the road feelin’ bad. Whether it’s here in Chicago or down in New Orleans, they don't need a Washington politician to tell them that the American middle class is going to hell in a bucket.
Oh, baby, it ain’t no lie: This country faces more serious problems today than at any time since the Great Depression. The Wall Street billionaire class has become a friend of the devil and turned our great nation, this American beauty, into a brokedown palace.
Today, we have more income and wealth inequality than any other major country on Earth, where the gap between the very rich and everyone else is wider than at any time since the 1920s. A handful of billionaires, their super PACs and their lobbyists have flooded our democracy with a black muddy river of corporate campaign donations. Meanwhile, the rich man in his summer home is singing, “Just leave well enough alone.” But his pants are down, his cover’s blown.
Tags: Senator , whimsy , Bernie Sanders , Grateful Dead , Presidential Campaign , Image , Recommended Reading , Web Only
Friday, June 26, 2015
Congressman Peter Welch (D-Vt.) unfroze Vermont’s gubernatorial race Friday by announcing he will run instead for a sixth term in Congress in 2016.
The 68-year-old Norwich resident had been contemplating a run for the state’s top political job since Gov. Peter Shumlin, a fellow Democrat, announced June 8 that he would not seek reelection next year. Acknowledging the congressman’s seniority and political prowess, other potential Democratic candidates had been awaiting Welch’s decision to make their own.
After discussing the matter with his wife, Public Service Board member Margaret Cheney, and close friends, Welch said he had decided to stay put.
“Congress is, these days, not highly regarded by the American people. But strange as it may seem, I really continue to love my job,” Welch said Friday morning during a conference call with reporters. “I am very, very energized about continuing my work here in Congress, very grateful to Vermonters who have shown their trust in me, and I want to continue to work on their behalf.”
Tags: Peter Welch , Peter Shumlin , Vermont politics , Shap Smith , Matt Dunne , Image , Web Only