Friday, March 13, 2015
The plan, authored by Rep. Mitzi Johnson (D-Grand Isle) and distributed to committee members Friday afternoon, is anything but a final product. It will, however, serve as a framework for House appropriators as they complete a budget in the next two weeks.
Because Gov. Peter Shumlin presented his January budget proposal shortly before an $18.6 million revenue downgrade, Johnson's committee has been in the unusual position of having to come up with far more money than the administration. She proposes doing so through a mix of cuts and one-time money.
Tags: Vermont House Appropriations Committee , budget , Mitzi Johnson , Image , Web Only
Thursday, March 12, 2015
But just how much they're spending to make their case — and who's paying for it — won't be known until April 25, the next lobbying disclosure deadline. By then, the legislature will be days away from adjournment and the question may well have been settled.
The Senate Committee on Government Operations is seeking to change that process. It voted unanimously Thursday morning for legislation that would enhance lobbying disclosure rules. Instead of reporting how much they've made and spent just three times a year, lobbyists would be required to do so five times a year — including once a month during the legislative session.
Perhaps more significantly, those spending more than $1,000 on advertising campaigns meant to influence legislative action would have to disclose such expenditures within 48 hours.
Tags: Vermont lobbyist disclosure , Image , Web Only
Tuesday, March 10, 2015
According to the Democratic Governors Association's website, Shumlin is confirmed for a two-day conference this weekend in Fajardo, a picturesque resort town on the eastern end of the island.
Shumlin's Puerto Rican excursion comes a mere nine days after he returned from a weeklong Town Meeting Day vacation in Dominica, the Caribbean island nation on which he owns property. It also comes a day after crossover, the deadline by which most legislation — with the exception of major money bills — must pass one legislative body or the other.
"As of now he is scheduled to go," Shumlin spokesman Scott Coriell says. "But should the legislature remain in session over the weekend he will cancel those plans."
Tags: Peter Shumlin , Puerto Rico , Democratic Governors Association , Image , Web Only
Monday, March 9, 2015
Veteran Vermont journalist Susan Keese died Saturday morning of complications related to the flu, her family announced Sunday. She was 67.
Keese, who lived in South Newfane, spent more than three decades as a reporter, columnist, editor and writing instructor. Most recently, she served as Vermont Public Radio's southern Vermont correspondent.
"We really miss her. We're all shocked," says VPR news director John Dillon. "She had this totally winning, light-up-the-room incandescence."
Keese's son, Christopher Pyatak, wrote on his mother's Facebook page Sunday that she died "after a complicated and devastating illness triggered by the flu more than a month ago."
"She fought so hard and so courageously, and we did everything we could to save her," he wrote. "There are no words to express how much she has been loved and how much she will be missed."
Tags: Susan Keese , Vermont Public Radio , Image , Web Only
Thursday, February 26, 2015
As they outlined the potential savings in a Statehouse hearing room, lawmakers described them as everything from "tough" to "painful" to "incredibly difficult."
It's unclear which of the cuts will actually see the light of day. House Appropriations Committee chair Mitzi Johnson (D-South Hero) emphasized that the two-page document she presented was merely a menu from which legislators could choose as they seek to close a $113 million gap in next year's budget.
"This is an all-in list," she said. "It doesn't mean that we're doing every single thing on this list. It's that we feel like it's the right thing to do to be as transparent as we can be with the magnitude of this problem, what it's going to take to solve it and the kinds of things that we're looking at."
Tags: Vermont state budget , Mitzi Johnson , Justin Johnson , Vermont State Employees Association , Steve Howard , Image , Web Only
Monday, February 23, 2015
Twigg, 45, of Underhill, will be leaving Vermont Energy Investment Corp., the entity that runs Efficiency Vermont, to become state director for Rep. Peter Welch (D-Vt.). Both offices happen to be located in the Innovation Center of Vermont, on Lakeside Avenue in Burlington’s South End.
Twigg will replace Tricia Coates, who left Welch’s office to become director for external and governmental affairs for Vermont State Colleges.
Twigg’s job has been to lobby state and federal policy makers on energy issues for VEIC. That brought him into contact with Welch’s office. Twigg said when he heard Coates was leaving, he jumped at the chance to apply for the job.
Twigg’s background includes a fair bit of politics. He spent 10 years working for the Wisconsin state legislature and the Madison, Wis., mayor. He was that state’s director for John Kerry’s presidential campaign.
Welch has yet to name a replacement for deputy state director Jon Copans, who recently left to work at the Vermont Agency of Natural Resources.
Tags: Pter Welch , George Twigg , Vermont Energy Investment Corp. , Image , Web Only
Thursday, February 19, 2015
Lisa Gosselin said she plans to join her husband, Angelo Lynn, who owns the company that publishes the Addison County Independent. She'll focus on “business strategy, diversification and creating some new products” for Addison Press, though she would not say exactly how the company plans to diversify.
“I’m thrilled,” Lynn said of Gosselin's new role focusing on new media, including digital and mobile platforms. Business aside, he added, "We've kind of been apart five days a week." Lynn works in Middlebury; Gosselin's current job is based in Montpelier.
Gosselin, who has been commissioner for nearly two years, will be replaced by Joan Goldstein, current executive director of the Green Mountain Economic Development Corp., Gov. Peter Shumlin announced Thursday.
Gosselin said she appreciated her time in state government, but, “At heart, I’m an entrepreneur. I have a strong background in publishing, and my husband’s company has an opportunity to grow. It’s something we’ve been discussing for a long time, and the time seems right to make this move.”
Gosselin spent seven years at EatingWell Media Group, serving as editorial director and editor in chief. Prior to that, she ran Islands magazine, Audubon magazine, Bicycling magazine and Ski magazine.
She and Lynn, who’ve been together as a couple for five years, have never worked with each other. “Having somebody who’s really worked with big national companies and learned a lot from them, I think this is a wonderful opportunity,” Lynn said.
Addison Press publishes the Addison County Independent, the Brandon Reporter, Vermont Ski and Ride magazine and Vermont Sports magazine. Lynn also co-owns the Essex Reporter and Colchester Sun with his brother, Emerson, publisher of the St. Albans Messenger.
Gosselin says she’s particularly proud of her work helping to create a new economic-development strategy for the state and launching its “Great Jobs in VT” campaign.
“I think it’s exciting to see the growth in the Vermont economy, and I think there are many good signs that it’s going to be continuing to grow,” she says. “We have a great team. We have some strong, young people who are future rock stars. I just hope I’m leaving it in a better place than when I came in.”
Political editor Paul Heintz contributed to this report.
Tags: Lisa Gosselin , Angelo Lynn , Addison Independent , Gov. Peter Shumlin , Vermont state government , media , Image , Web Only
Tuesday, February 10, 2015
The city made "really a substantial, substantial improvement" to the way it monitors its money, emphasized the independent auditor, Scott McIntire. He noted that while there was a "punch list of items that still need attention," it was much shorter than in previous years.
But having a clean audit was contingent on the council agreeing to write off the books the $16.9 million that the Bob Kiss administration diverted to Burlington Telecom without approval.
On this point, the accounting discussion turned contentious. That money appeared as a debt in BT's enterprise fund, and as money owed — or a receivable — in the city ledger.
Tags: Burlington Telecom , Miro Weinberger , Burlington city council , Image , Web Only
Monday, February 9, 2015
The hearing was hosted by Vermont Interactive Technologies and screened at VIT sites throughout the state, allowing Vermonters to testify remotely from Bennington to Newport.
But, ironically, the budget they were discussing could end public support for VIT itself. Last month, Gov. Peter Shumlin proposed cutting state funding to VIT, which until recently was known as Vermont Interactive Television, from $817,341 to zero.
Tags: Vermont Interactive Technologies , Image , Web Only
On Monday, the governor named Rhode Island's former secretary of health and human services, Steven Costantino, to replace outgoing commissioner Mark Larson.
Larson announced last month he is leaving the job in March, nearly a year and a half after troubles at the state's federally mandated health insurance exchange, Vermont Health Connect, became public. DVHA oversees the exchange and administers the state's other health care programs.
Costantino, a Democrat, spent 16 years in the Rhode Island House of Representatives, the last two as chairman of its finance committee. He ran for mayor of Providence in 2010, but lost in a primary. Costantino headed the Executive Office of Health & Human Services under independent governor Lincoln Chafee, but was out of a job when Chafee's successor, Democratic Gov. Gina Raimondo, did not keep him on.
Tags: Peter Shumlin , Steve Costantino , Anya Rader Wallack , Mark Larson , Lawrence Miller , Vermont Health Connect , Image , Web Only