In a flashy front page scoop, the Burlington Free Press reported today that Vermont's three D.C. amigos "will follow President Obama's lead in giving some of [their] income to charity in response to federal spending cuts."

The damage? $8700 apiece for Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) and Congressman Peter Welch (D-Vt.), who each make $174,000 a year, and $9670 for Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.), who pulls in $193,400.

Here's how Gannett's Nicole Gaudiano, who covers the Vermont delegation for the Freeps, put it in the story, which ran with the headline, "Shared Sacrifice": 

The lawmakers, who announced their decisions in response to a Burlington Free Press query, say they will donate 5 percent of their congressional salaries to Vermont charities.

But here's the thing: It doesn't quite sound like the three "announced" anything — nor that they were "follow[ing] President Obama's lead." 

It sounds a little more like Gaudiano posed a question to the delegation and, not wanting to look like tone-deaf congress-critters, they then decided they were better off giving away the cash than suffering a few tough headlines.

In other words, the tail of the Freeps was wagging the dog of Bernie's beat-up old wallet.

Nearly a year and a half since he first asked for it, Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-VT) is poised to get his mitts on a controversial legal memo justifying the use of lethal force against suspected American terrorists living abroad.

The White House has closely guarded the secret Office of Legal Counsel memo, which was used to justify the killing by drone strike of the American-born cleric Anwar al-Awlaki in September 2011. Despite Leahy's repeated calls for access to the memo, only the Senate and House intelligence committees have seen it.

But as The Hill's Jordy Yager is reporting, the White House has told Leahy that he and other members of the Senate Judiciary Committee will be granted access to the memo today:

Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) told The Hill that he and other members of the panel will be given access to the detailed Office of Legal Counsel (OLC) memos...

On Tuesday Leahy said the administration was planning to come to Capitol Hill and make documents available for committee members to read on Wednesday.

Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa), the panel's ranking member, is also planning to be there to see the documents, according to his spokeswoman. 

Read The Hill's full story here.

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One week and six votes later, the Burlington City Council broke a deadlock Monday night and reelected Ward 5 Democrat Joan Shannon council president.

Shannon's selection came after her sole opponent, Ward 6 independent Karen Paul, pulled out of the race, saying a continued stalemate "is not in the best interest of the city." It also came after Shannon and her fellow Democrats promised to share power with the council's non-Democrats and cede to them the presidency next year if another tie occurs.

"I very much appreciate the spirit of compromise of this council," Shannon said after Paul ended her candidacy. "It really says that we're all trying our very best to work in the interest of the city of Burlington, to get to the business of the city and to not delay any further."

(Pictured: Shannon, second from back left, speaks with Councilor Kevin Worden; Paul, back right, speaks with Councilor Norm Blais.)

A slip of the tongue by First Lady Michelle Obama in an interview with a Vermont television reporter has gone viral among the gaffe-giddy Washington, D.C., politerati.

In an on-camera discussion at the White House with WCAX-TV's Bridget Barry Caswell, Obama described herself as "a busy, single mother," before quickly correcting herself to note that she's, um, married to this guy who's kind of a big deal.

Caswell was one of several Vermont reporters who traveled to Washington Thursday to cover a delegation of Milton Elementary School students selected to help Obama plant the White House Garden. Caswell scored a sit-down interview with the first lady and quizzed her on her initiatives to encourage healthy eating and exercise.

Obama's verbal stumble came when Caswell asked her how busy families can make the time to adopt healthier eating practices.

"Believe me, as a busy single mother— or, I shouldn't say single," Obama corrected herself. "As a busy mother— sometimes when you've got a husband who's president, it can feel a little single, but he's there."

See the clip below — or watch Caswell's full interview over at WCAX.

"Even though divorce is a sad occasion, Deb and I will be forever blessed by many extraordinary years together and two remarkable daughters," the two said in a joint statement issued Wednesday.

"No parents could ask for a greater gift than Olivia and Becca, and Deb and I are grateful that we remain friends and will continue to share our strong family. We make this statement in light of my public office, but Deb and I will have no further comment on this private issue."

The news was first reported Tuesday by BuzzFeed's Ruby Cramer, who asked Shumlin about Vermont's leadership in fighting for marriage equality. As we noted in this week's Fair Game, Shumlin was in New York City to meet with reporters and donors in his capacity as chairman of the Democratic Governors Association.

Here's what Cramer wrote:

Shumlin, who is divorced from his wife, joked that he initially couldn't understand why gay couples would even want to "hop onto that bridge," he said. "Heterosexuals are only getting it right half of the time, or less — myself included — so if you have half of the people getting across a bridge and the other half are falling into the river, you wouldn't lure more people onto it."

"That was sort of how I looked at it, and it wasn't until I heard the families — the moms and the moms, and the dads and the dads — talking about the real struggles they faced, and I thought, 'of course, of course,'" Shumlin said. "A real light bulb went off in my head, and I suspect that's going to happen to the rest of America over time."

Image courtesy of Terry Allen — it appeared in Andy Bromage's  March 2, 2011 Whiskey Tango Foxtrot column about Shumlin's marital status.

To that end, party chairman Jack Lindley on Tuesday announced the hiring of a new political director: 29-year-old Texas native Brent Burns.

"We've got a whole lot of things to do," Lindley says. "Rebuilding the party structure, helping me with fundraising. Everything under the sun is his to do."

There's no question Lindley and Burns have a big job in front of them. The party's presence in the state has dramatically contracted in the few short years since former Republican governor Jim Douglas won his last statewide race in 2008. The GOP holds just one statewide office — that of Lt. Gov. Phil Scott — and is vastly outnumbered in the legislature.

Last fall, it struggled to match the organization and professionalism of the Vermont Democratic Party, which swelled to 16 paid staff members at the height of the campaign season.

Burns, an Army veteran and former political consultant, says he knows he's marching into an uphill battle.

"You're not always going to win," he says. "We get pretty comfortable winning in Texas, but there's definitely room for improvement [in Vermont]. The way I'm looking at it is as an opportunity to see what we can do as a party to not only separate us as a state, but also to build the brand of what it means as a Vermont Republican."

He adds, "We need to define ourselves."

Unlike a certain other 14-member Burlington policymaking panel, the city's school board had no trouble electing a chair in a vote held Tuesday night. Alan Matson, an independent financial consultant, unseated incumbent chair Keith Pillsbury in a 9-5 vote. This photo shows him in the chair's seat, next to superintendent Jeanne Collins.

There was none of the drama that had accompanied the city council's failure the previous night to agree on a leader. The school board session, held in the cafeteria of Burlington High School, drew a 25-member audience — hardly the standing-room-only crowd that turned out Monday evening to witness the council's 7-7 deadlocked presidential vote. The whole process of choosing a school board chair lasted about 15 minutes.

In remarks prior to the vote, Matson cited his work as head of two board committees — policy and finance — and promised to promote greater efficiency in the body's deliberations. Noting that school board candidates often run unopposed, Matson said he would strive to ensure "the time commitment is not so daunting that we put people off from running or from playing an active role on the board." He also said he would focus on improving communications with schools superintendent Jeanne Collins and on developing a long-term financial plan for the district.

Pillsbury, a retired teacher first elected to the Burlington board in 1987, told his colleagues he would seek "more rigorous evaluation and accountability of all employees" if he were chosen for a second two-year term as chair. Pillsbury added that he had sought to develop relationships with several groups involved with the schools, including "our budget critics."

Matson had nothing negative to say — or even imply — about Pillsbury's performance. But the longtime member was weakened politically when he barely survived a Town Meeting Day challenge for his Ward 1 school board seat by write-in candidate Kyle Dodson. Pillsbury also presided over the board during a period marked by diversity-related tensions — the school system has recently experienced major changes in the racial make-up of its student body.

Matson was gracious in victory. Referring to the "challenges" of the past year, he said of Pillsbury, "I have held him in admiration."

All the board members, as well as several district staffers in attendance, rose from their seats as they applauded Pillsbury's service to the schools.

William R. Milnes Jr. won't be getting any more money out of Blue Cross Blue Shield of Vermont. At least, not anytime soon.

A federal judge has dimissed a lawsuit filed by the HMO's former chief executive officer that sought an additional $575,000 in retirement pay.

Readers will remember Milnes as the Blue Cross exec who departed the company with a jaw-dropping $7.2 million golden parachute in 2008. State insurance regulators ruled in 2009 that the pay package was excessive under state insurance law, and ordered Blue Cross to reimburse $3 million of that sum to subscribers in the form of lower rates.

In the aftermath, Milnes moved to Florida. But he resurfaced in Vermont last year when he sued Blue Cross in federal court for another $575,000 in retirement pay — plus $200,000 in interest — that he said the company still owed him.

Last week, U.S. District Judge J. Garvan Murtha ruled that Blue Cross doesn't have to pay it. The company would be in violation of that same insurance law barring excessive compensation if it awarded the $575,000 to Milnes, the judge ruled. Murtha also said the "impracticability doctrine" excuses Blue Cross from meeting its contractual obligation to Milnes.

"Mr. Milnes would have BCBSVT pay him additional compensation above and beyond the amount already ruled excessive," Murtha wrote in the 18-page decision. "Although due to Mr. Milnes following his retirement, these payments reward work performed during the same years BISCHA ruled he received excessive compensation."

Shortly after Burlington Mayor Miro Weinberger had declared a half-dozen times Monday night that the city is "moving in the right direction," the city council showed it was at an impasse over choosing a leader.

Councilors voted three times on whether Democrat Joan Shannon (right) or independent Karen Paul (left) should be president of the 14-member body. Each time, the seven Democrats, four Progressives, two independents and one Republican deadlocked 7-7. The Dems all voted for Shannon; everyone else voted for Paul.

A 15-minute recess ensued, during which councilors huddled in shifting groups. But when Chief Administrative Officer Paul Sisson, presiding as a temporary — and uncertain — chair called the meeting back to order, independent Councilor Sharon Bushor proposed that she and her colleagues take a week to confer and perhaps emerge with a consensus choice as president. The council agreed to reconvene on Monday, April 8, at 5:30 p.m. in city hall to vote again.

In interviews following tonight's meeting, councilors said no third candidate had been identified in private discussions as a possible compromise choice. But unless at least one member defects to the other side on the Paul-Shannon standoff, the council will have to come up with an alternate choice if it is to avoid displaying symptoms of Potomac Disease: a stubborn refusal to compromise.

While you nurse an Easter candy hangover, here's what's happening in Vermont news and politics this week. Got a newsworthy event for next week's calendar? Email by Friday to submit.

Monday, April 1

• At 7:10 a.m., House Minority Leader Don Turner is on "Charlie + Ernie + Lisa in the Morning" - WMVT 620 AM. At 8:10 a.m., the guest is Burlington Police Chief Mike Schirling.
• Congressman Peter Welch will confab with renewable- energy execs in Williston today to announce legislation on funding clean-energy projects. 12:45 p.m. at AllEarth Renewables.
• Showdown at the Burlington City Council: Joan Shannon vs. Karen Paul for all the marbles. 7 p.m. Mayor Miro Weinberger also delivers a state-of-the-city address.

Rest of the week after the break...