Thursday, September 22, 2016
With just months remaining in Gov. Peter Shumlin’s administration, his top cabinet official is preparing to take a spin through Montpelier’s revolving door. Secretary of Administration Justin Johnson plans to leave state government next Friday for a gig with the Vermont lobbying firm MMR.
According to MMR president Andrew MacLean, the Australian-born public servant will launch a new practice focused on helping business and government meet new climate regulations.
“Justin brings with him more than 20 years of state, local and federal government experience in the US, Australia and abroad, and will be a great asset to our dynamic firm,” MacLean said in a statement.
Replacing Johnson through the remainder of Shumlin’s tenure, which ends in January, will be Agency of Natural Resources Deputy Secretary Trey Martin. He has some experience following Johnson, having succeeded him nearly two years ago in the No. 2 position at ANR.
Johnson’s move to a powerful Montpelier lobbying firm is sure to raise eyebrows, but both MacLean and Shumlin spokeswoman Sue Allen insisted Thursday that it was perfectly legal.
The Executive Code of Ethics, which Shumlin signed in July 2011, bars former appointees such as Johnson from lobbying “any public body or … the state legislature” on matters in which the state has “a direct and substantial interest” and “in which the appointee had participated personally and substantively while in state employ.”
Tags: Justin Johnson , Peter Shumlin , Trey Martin , Image , Web Only
Friday, September 16, 2016
A man was killed in an officer-involved shooting in Winooski that happened late Friday afternoon near a popular community center.
Winooski cops contacted Vermont State Police around 4:55 p.m. after an officer shot dead a man behind the O'Brien Community Center on Malletts Bay Avenue. Several agencies responded to secure the scene. Police did not reveal any details surrounding the circumstances of the shooting and said the name of the man killed would not be revealed until family members have been contacted.
A few neighbors said they heard several gunshots around 5 p.m.
Tags: Winooski , O'Brien Community Center , Vermont State Police , officer-involved shooting , Image , Web Only
Monday, September 12, 2016
Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) plans to launch his first television advertisements of his reelection campaign Tuesday, according to records filed Monday with the Federal Communications Commission.
Leahy spokesman Jay Tilton confirmed the buy Monday but would not disclose its size. One order placed by the campaign indicates that the seven-term senator plans to spend $31,000 to air ads on Vermont's four broadcast television stations over the course of a week. That figure would not include cable and satellite television advertising.
The move comes soon after Leahy's Republican opponent, Pomfret travel agency owner Scott Milne, held a formal campaign launch Saturday in Washington, Vt. Milne's Senate campaign has yet to buy any television advertising, but his business, Milne Travel, spent nearly $20,000 in August on ads featuring the candidate promoting his company, according to FCC records.
Tags: Patrick Leahy , Scott Milne , Sue Minter , election 2016 , Image , Video , Web Only
The longtime owners of the Rutland Herald and Barre-Montpelier Times Argus are preparing to hand off the papers to two out-of-state investors.
"It looks like we will close the sale late this week, although that may still change," editor in chief Rob Mitchell wrote employees Monday, according to an email obtained by Seven Days. Mitchell's family has owned the Herald since 1947 and the Times Argus since 1964.
Chip Harris, who agreed last month to buy the papers with partner Reade Brower, confirmed Monday that the sale was imminent.
"There's been no official date at this point," said Harris, a semi-retired publishing executive who lives in New Hampshire. "But the hope is we'll be closing by the end of the week."
In his email, Mitchell said that, "as part of this transition," publisher and CEO Catherine Nelson "has decided to leave the company and is retiring."
"We should all wish her well in whatever comes next for her," Mitchell wrote. "My father [Herald Association president R. John Mitchell] and I will be backstopping her role this week or until the sale is final, so if you have questions please come to me or to Dad."
Tags: Rutland Herald , Times Argus , Rob Mitchell , Catherine Nelson , Anthony Edwards , Image , Web Only
Friday, September 9, 2016
"He's a good guy — a good find," said Free Press publisher Al Getler, hailing the new hire as a "solid leader" with a "very positive attitude."
Finley spent 28 years at the Virginian-Pilot, working his way up the ranks from staff photographer to the paper's top job. He served as editor in chief from 2005 until March 2015, when he took a job as communications director for the nearby Chrysler Museum of Art. Finley told Seven Days Friday that he "definitely missed journalism" and had been looking for opportunities to return to the field.
"I miss the daily drumbeat of news coverage — especially when there's an election coming around the corner," he said.
The Free Press has been without a newsroom chief since October 2015, when Townsend and four other veteran employees took a buyout offer from corporate owner Gannett. Getler said that he had stepped in during that period to "provide day-to-day leadership in the newsroom" and was looking forward to handing it off to Finley.
Tags: Denis Finley , Al Getler , Burlington Free Press , Virginian-Pilot , Image , Web Only
Wednesday, September 7, 2016
"Once the foundation is broken, I'm not sure that you get it back," he told reporters at an outdoor press conference on Burlington's Church Street. "We need to do something different."
What that "something" would entail, Scott didn't seem to know. Asked repeatedly what he would put in place of the state-based exchange, the Republican gubernatorial nominee demurred, saying he continued to investigate his options.
"Well, we're still obviously waiting for the results of the study that was enacted by the legislature," he said, referring to a $250,000 independent assessment that's due to lawmakers in December. "They might come up with something as an alternative model to go towards."
Tags: Phil Scott , health care reform , gubernatorial campaign , Image , Web Only
The ad, which is running on broadcast, cable and satellite television, compares Minter's education policies with those of her Republican rival, Lt. Gov. Phil Scott. Its narrator claims that the Democratic nominee would make college more affordable, while Scott thinks Vermont spends too much on education.
The group behind the ad, Our Vermont, is an independent-expenditure political action committee — or super PAC — funded entirely by the DGA, a Washington, D.C., organization devoted to electing Democratic governors. A spokesman for Our Vermont, Sterling Clifford, says the group will spend $150,000 to run the ad through September 19. In that same period, according to Clifford, a super PAC funded by the Republican Governors Association is slated to spend $132,000 on television advertising.
"We are committed to doing whatever we can to help elect Sue Minter," he said. "We think she's a great candidate. We're confident she's in a good position to win this race, and we intend to do everything we can to make that happen."
Tags: Democratic Governors Association , Sue Minter , Phil Scott , Sterling Clifford , Image , Video , Web Only
Thursday, September 1, 2016
The group, called A Stronger Vermont, has received $600,000 in funding from the RGA, a Washington, D.C., party organization that supports GOP gubernatorial candidates, and has spent $523,000 since it was established last March. It began running pro-Scott television advertisements the day after Vermont's August 9 primary election and has since spent nearly $157,000 on TV.
The RGA's counterpart, the Democratic Governors Association, has yet to make a major play in the Green Mountain State. Its super PAC, called Our Vermont, has received $100,000 in startup funding from the DGA and has spent just more than $11,000 of it. According to its latest filing, Our Vermont has hired a firm co-owned by Democratic operative Bill Lofy, a former chief of staff to Gov. Peter Shumlin, and Charlotte entrepreneur Dan Chang.
"I'm helping to provide advice and perspective on the strategic decisions that the organization is making as it relates to the governor's race here in Vermont," says Lofy, who worked for the DGA in 2013 and 2014 when Shumlin was its chair.
The latest round of campaign finance filings, which were due Thursday, cover a 16-day, post-primary period from August 13 through August 29. In that time, Democratic gubernatorial nominee Sue Minter out-raised Scott by nearly 2-to-1. She collected close to $102,000, bringing her campaign total to $1.16 million. He picked up more than $55,000, bringing his to nearly $949,000.
Tags: Sue Minter , Phil Scott , Republican Governors Association , Democratic Governors Association , Image , Web Only
Thursday, August 25, 2016
In that contest, former Statehouse sergeant-at-arms Francis Brooks led Montpelier attorney Ashley Hill in the Democratic primary by just one vote after a recount earlier this week: 3,709 to 3,708. Vermont Superior Court Judge Timothy Tomasi is set to rule on the status of four contested ballots at a Friday hearing. Whoever prevails will win one of three Democratic slots on the general-election ballot for three Senate seats.
At an unrelated press conference Thursday in Burlington, an unusually chatty Shumlin revealed who he had voted for in several primary races. He said he'd cast ballots for gubernatorial candidate Sue Minter, who prevailed in her bid for the Democratic nomination, and lieutenant gubernatorial candidate Shap Smith, who did not. Asked about the hotly contested Senate race, Shumlin had to think for a second.
"I gotta go back and dig into my memory on that," he said. "I had three votes. And I know they were — I wanna say the one I knew the least was Ashley Hill. So I think I voted for the other three."
Tags: Peter Shumlin , Ashley Hill , Francis Brooks , election 2016 , Image , Web Only
Speaking to some 200 supporters at Burlington's North End Studios, the former presidential candidate said he hoped that "hundreds of thousands of people" would join the new group, called Our Revolution. It would immediately get to work supporting more than 100 candidates and seven ballot initiatives this election cycle, he said.
"These are people who will be fighting at the grassroots level for changes in their local school boards, in their city councils, in their state legislatures and in their representation in Washington," Sanders said.
According to Our Revolution executive director Shannon Jackson, Wednesday's launch was webcast to 2,600 house parties and 40,000 viewers across the country. But the event was overshadowed by an unusually public staff revolt within the fledgling organization, as well as questions surrounding its legal status.
As Politico and BuzzFeed first reported Tuesday, at least eight employees quit Our Revolution over the weekend after Sanders' former campaign manager, Jeff Weaver, was brought in to serve as the group's president. They complained that Weaver planned to raise money from wealthy donors and spend it on television advertisements, rather than organize a grassroots political movement.
Tags: Senator , Bernie Sanders , presidential campaign , Recommended Reading , Image , Web Only