Tuesday, January 27, 2015
The candidate field has crystallized for what will be an unusually busy election season in Burlington.
Monday marked the deadline for candidates to deliver their signatures to City Hall.
As expected, there are four candidates for mayor: first-term Democratic incumbent Miro Weinberger, independent Greg Guma, Progressive Steve Goodkind and Libertarian Loyal Ploof.
In recent years, half the city council's 14 seats and the school board's 14 seats came up for grabs each Town Meeting Day. But this year, thanks to a recent round of redistricting, the entire slate is open. Four current councilors — Progressives Vince Brennan and Rachel Siegel, and Democrats Norm Blais and Bianka LeGrand — decided not to run for reelection, as previously reported.
Under the new system, the council and the school board will consist of 12 seats apiece.
Fifteen people are running for the school board. Ten are incumbents. Stepping down are Patrick Halladay, the current chair, Ben Truman, Alan Matson and Kevin Garrison.
Tags: Burlington , city council , Miro Weinberger , Image , Web Only
Sunday, January 25, 2015
The Des Moines Register reported last week that the two-term senator will spend three days in the Hawkeye State, from February 19 through the 21st. He's scheduled to hold town hall meetings in Iowa City and Des Moines; keynote events in Johnston and Ames; and attend meetings in Cedar Rapids and Tipton.
Next month's trip will be Sanders' first to Iowa this year — and his fifth since he began publicly mulling a 2016 bid early last year.
Sanders told reporters last year that he'd decide whether to run for president after the 2014 midterm elections. In December, he put off the decision further, telling the Associated Press he'd make up his mind "by March."
Tags: Senator , Bernie Sanders , Presidential Campaign , Iowa , campaign trail , Recommended Reading , Image , Web Only
Friday, January 23, 2015
Speaking prior to the vote at city hall Thursday evening, each councilor expressed personal support for the Bridge, a free, twice-monthly publication. But they said it would be inappropriate, and potentially illegal, to appropriate city funds to a for-profit entity — even one that's running in the red.
"That's a non-starter for me," Councilor Tom Golonka (District 1) said. "I have to hold your group to the same standard I'm holding every other group that comes to the city of Montpelier and asks for funding."
Nat Frothingham, the Bridge's editor and publisher, said he submitted a petition with close to 700 signatures Thursday afternoon requesting a $27,254 appropriation from the city. That would require an affirmative vote by the council to place the request on the Town Meeting Day ballot and approval by city residents in March.
Frothingham, who helped found the newspaper 21 years ago, told councilors Thursday that he was "not initially enthusiastic" about asking voters for support because, he said, it's been "a tough year" for many Montpelier residents.
"However, I overcame that reluctance because I thought it would give us a wonderful opportunity to have face-to-face encounters with 600 to 700 voters in town, and I thought it was important for the community newspaper to be in touch and not to sit in our offices and slowly sink under the waves," he said.
Tags: Montpelier , The Bridge , Nat Frothingham , Image , Web Only
Thursday, January 22, 2015
Members of the centrist coalition said Vermont should follow the lead of Oregon, Nevada and New Mexico in transitioning Vermont Health Connect to what's known as a federally supported, state-based marketplace. Such arrangements leave the states largely in charge of their health exchanges, but take advantage of federal information technology systems.
"What we have here today is a viable alternative," Rep. Patti Komline (R-Dorset) said at a Statehouse press conference. "We're not just playing political games with it."
Joining Komline in proposing the idea were Reps. Jim Condon (D-Colchester), Adam Greshin (I-Warren) and Heidi Scheuermann (R-Stowe). They said they were fed up with ongoing technical problems plaguing Vermont Health Connect, a state-based exchange originally built by contractor CGI and now operated by Optum.
"Vermonters deserve a functioning insurance portal," Condon said. "And they don't have that yet."
Tags: Health care reform , Vermont , Image , Web Only
“It’s not a fight that’s going to go away,” former Gov. Madeleine Kunin told those attending the gathering, which was organized by Planned Parenthood of Northern New England.
In the nearby Statehouse cafeteria, tables were littered with fliers emphasizing the value of adoption and offering testimonials from women who regretted abortions. The Vermont Right to Life Committee spent $20,000 to put copies of the fliers in 21 publications around Vermont and will be airing a pro-adoption television ad, executive director Mary Hahn Beerworth said.
“This is going to be a big agenda item for us,” Beerworth said.
By Thursday afternoon, the abortion issue hit the House floor, even though there is no active legislation in Vermont to change state abortion law. Pro-choice activists insisted on a roll-call vote on a resolution recognizing the Roe v. Wade anniversary. The resolution comes up virtually every year, but it's rare for lawmakers to insist on putting members on-record with a roll-call vote.
Tags: abortion , Roe v. Wade , Vermont House , Vermont Right to Life Committee , Image , Web Only
But he also used the occasion to build out his own email lists and lay the groundwork for a fundraising pitch, according to an email chain inadvertently sent to Seven Days. And in an exchange with campaign and Senate staff members planning the Citizens United anniversary, Sanders appeared focused on raising money from Washington, D.C., political action committees.
"YES. Let's do it," the senator wrote his advisers, referring to a Citizens United-focused fundraising pitch. "How are you doing on the DC PAC fundraiser? Thanks. B."
In the emails, campaign aide Nick Carter asked his boss to approve a collaboration between the Sanders campaign and Progressives United, a political action committee founded by former Wisconsin senator Russ Feingold. Together, Carter explained, the two entities would send an email on the anniversary of Citizens United asking supporters to sign a petition saying "Democracy's Not for Sale."
Doing so, Carter wrote, would help "to grow our lists and send a message to legislative leadership to stand strong for progressive values." Later, Carter suggested, the Sanders campaign would return to those who signed the petition to ask for campaign cash.
Tags: Senator , Bernie Sanders , Citizens United , fundraising , political action committees , presidential campaign , government reform , Image , Recommended Reading , Web Only
Twenty-one years after he cofounded the Bridge, editor and publisher Nat Frothingham says the twice-monthly's finances are so dire, he's seeking a $27,254 appropriation from Vermont's capital city.
Frothingham and his staff have spent the past two weeks gathering the 600-plus signatures necessary to place an article on the Town Meeting Day ballot this March asking for the money. He says the paper must gather just 55 more signatures before 5 p.m. Thursday to qualify.
But according to city officials, Montpelier can't legally appropriate money to the Bridge because it's a for-profit entity. They say that even if Frothingham gathers enough signatures, the city council can vote Thursday night against placing the article on the ballot.
"It's an unusual situation to be asked to provide a direct appropriation to a private business that's not a charity or a foundation," says city manager Bill Fraser, who consulted with city attorney Paul Giuliani and determined the request was "not appropriate."
Tags: Montpelier , The Bridge , Nat Frothingham , Image , Web Only
Wednesday, January 21, 2015
New England Newspapers, Inc., announced Tuesday that Tom D'Errico, who has served as executive editor of the Reformer since 2008, has been named to the new position of content marketing manager for the regional publishing group. The Banner's managing editor, Michelle Karas, will now lead both papers.
The changes come as NENI's corporate owner, Digital First Media, attempts to sell off its 76 daily and 160 weekly newspapers. According to industry analyst Ken Doctor, DFM is close to requesting final bids from several national chains and private equity firms interested in all, or just a handful, of its papers.
The masthead shift at the Reformer and the Banner will leave the papers with one fewer top editor, but Karas says she can handle running both.
"I'm hoping so," she says. "When I'm here at the Banner, I can still be in good contact with the people at the Reformer — and vice versa."
Tags: Brattleboro Reformer , Bennington Banner , Digital First Media , Image , Web Only
Tuesday, January 20, 2015
The bad news: That’s bigger than any raise you’ve likely seen in years. As a result, your and other Vermonters’ incomes continue to suffer, and so do the state’s revenues.
With that news in hand, Gov. Peter Shumlin and the legislative leaders who compose the state's Emergency Board signed off Tuesday on an $18 million reduction in anticipated revenues for the next fiscal year, which starts in July.
The move comes days after Shumlin unveiled his fiscal year 2016 budget. Shumlin said that means that with other anticipated changes, he and legislators will have to cut $14 million to $16 million more from the budget. He suggested, however, that he’s expecting the news to improve by the time lawmakers sign off on the budget in May.
“We’re going to manage to the money we have. It’s possible we’ll see some growth coming forward,” Shumlin said afterward. “It’s not an insurmountable challenge.”
Tags: Peter Shumlin , Vermont state revenues , Tom Kavet , Jeff Carr , oil prices , Vermont legislature , Image , Web Only
Mark Larson, who led the rocky rollout of the state's health insurance exchange, is leaving his job as commissioner of the Department of Vermont Health Access in March, Gov. Peter Shumlin's office announced Tuesday.
Both the governor and his outgoing commissioner said Larson made the choice himself to leave.
“Mark led the department through some challenging times, but no one cared more or tried harder to overcome those challenges so Vermonters could access affordable health care than Mark," the governor said in a written statement. "Thanks to the work of Mark and others, tens of thousands more Vermonters are now insured. I appreciate his service and understand his desire to take some time to step back and explore new opportunities."
Larson didn’t return a call seeking comment, but in a text message, he said it was “my choice to step down” and the “right time for me to move on.”
“I don’t currently have any specific plans to announce for what I plan to do next,” he said.
Tags: Peter Shumlin , health insurance exchange , Mark Larson , Lawrence Miller , Doug Racine , Image , Web Only