Monday, March 28, 2016
In a letter to Attorney General Bill Sorrell, Vermont Public Interest Research Group executive director Paul Burns called for "an appropriate investigation and determination from your office in order to help clarify the meaning of the law moving forward."
Citing a recent Seven Days story, Burns questioned whether the Vermont House Republican PAC failed to register as a "leadership PAC" — defined in statute as "a political committee established by or on behalf of a political party caucus within a chamber of the General Assembly." Such PACs are prohibited under a new law from accepting contributions from lobbyists and the companies that employ them until the legislature adjourns at the end of a two-year biennium.
The Vermont House Republican PAC accepted $1,000 late last year from the cigarette company Altria Client Services and $2,000 from the drug company Pfizer, both of which employ registered Vermont lobbyists.
Tags: Vermont Public Interest Research Group , Vermont House Republicans , Paul Burns , Don Turner , Suzanne Butterfield , Image , Web Only
She has since flown to Los Angeles and San Francisco for fundraisers in those two cities.
Tonight, Ram will be at it again — passing the hat at The Sheppard, a Washington, D.C., speakeasy just south of Dupont Circle.
"I am taking my message of what Vermont does best and what makes us unique and why I would be the best lieutenant governor for Vermont to other parts of the country to help raise the support from those who love Vermont, who are from Vermont, who feel touched by what we accomplish in Vermont," Ram explains, name-dropping her state no fewer than five times.
Tags: Kesha Ram , lieutenant governor , campaign finance , Image , Web Only
Saturday, March 26, 2016
The western United States went big for Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) on Saturday.
Sanders defeated former secretary of state Hillary Clinton 73 percent to 27 percent in Washington State, where 101 delegates were on the line.
He bested her by similarly large margins in Hawaii, 70 percent to 30 percent, and in Alaska, 82 percent to 18 percent. In those smaller states, the Democratic presidential candidates were competing for 25 and 16 delegates, respectively.
Speaking Saturday in Madison, Wis., Sanders said he was "on a path toward victory."
Tags: Senator , Bernie Sanders , Hillary Clinton , Washington , Alaska , Hawaii , presidential campaign , Recommended Reading , Image , Web Only
Friday, March 25, 2016
Baruth pledged at the time to introduce legislation that would level the playing field. On Friday morning, the Vermont Senate passed his bill by a vote of 19 to 6.
Not all his colleagues agreed with him. Sen. John Rodgers (D-Essex/Orleans), who is considering running for lieutenant governor, said he was worried that the change would encourage more candidates to seek public financing — and therefore cost the state more.
"I think when we're using taxpayer money, the bar should be set a little higher," Rodgers said Friday on the Senate floor.
Tags: Public financing , elections , Phil Baruth , David Zuckerman , John Rodgers , Joe Benning , Image , Web Only
Speaking in a crowded Statehouse committee room filled with energy activists and industry lobbyists, DPS Commissioner Chris Recchia said he made "no apologies for the process used, the resulting content or the recommendations ultimately presented" in a report addressing whether his department adequately represented ratepayers.
Sen. Tim Ashe (D/P-Chittenden) had called Recchia before the Senate Finance Committee to address a recent Vermont Public Radio story suggesting that Recchia had overruled his staff in order to mute recommendations from the department's critics. Quoting report drafts and emails obtained through public records requests, VPR's Taylor Dobbs reported that the commissioner had removed reform recommendations after taking charge of the report.
Though DPS is charged with representing the public interest in the energy and telecommunications arenas, critics have long charged that it actually represents the views of the governor who appoints the department's commissioner. Among the recommendations scrubbed from the report were those that sought to shield DPS' public advocacy staff from political pressure.
Recchia told committee members that nothing "nefarious" had occurred in what he called a standard, if "messy and complicated" editing process, and he alleged that his department's actions were "taken out of context" by the station. Calling his release of early drafts an "unprecedented" show of transparency, he urged the senators to avoid reading too much into what did — and didn't — make it into the final cut.
"I think we all are, or need to be, mature enough to say, 'This is how discussions and debate in an open society occur,'" Recchia said. "And if you want these documents and all to be transparent, better get used to the idea that there's going to be some disagreements, and there's not going to be a clear line from point A to point B."
Tags: Chris Recchia , Tim Ashe , Taylor Dobbs , Department of Public Service , Image , Web Only
Thursday, March 24, 2016
The University of Vermont Health Network, the hospital system they belong to, presented the Green Mountain Care Board with a plan for what its two Vermont hospitals would do with nearly $30 million in surplus revenues from the fiscal year that ended September 30.
Under the proposal, UVMMC and CVMC would give $12 million to community health programs. They would invest $3 million in health payment reform initiatives to help move from the fee-for-service model to an all-payer model.
The two hospitals would address the remaining $14 million when they submit their 2017 budgets for approval, with the intention of using it to reduce rates for commercial insurance.
Tags: Central Vermont Medical Center , Green Mountain Care Board , John Brumsted , University of Vermont Medical Center , UVM Medical Center , Image , Web Only
The national political organization, which claims 3 million members, supports pro-choice, Democratic women running for public office. Last month, it endorsed former transportation secretary Sue Minter’s gubernatorial campaign.
The group’s senior director for state engagement and development, Muthoni Wambu Kraal, noted in a written statement that EMILY’s List had supported Ram since she first ran for office in 2008.
“Kesha has been a champion for early childhood education and access to women's reproductive health care, and will continue her extensive track record of advocating for Vermont's women and families as lieutenant governor,” she said.
Tags: Kesha Ram , Emily's List , Image , Web Only
Wednesday, March 23, 2016
Rep. Ruqaiyah Morris (D-Bennington) said the bill would preserve in Vermont the provisions in the federal Affordable Care Act that guarantee women access to contraception, should the federal law be repealed. It also would expand free coverage to male contraception, which isn’t included in the ACA, and provide supplementary payments to health care providers for the insertion and removal of long-acting reversible contraceptives such as intrauterine devices, or IUDs.
Tags: Long-acting reversible contraception , LARC , Rep. Ruqaiyah Morris , Rep. Vicki Strong , Rep. George Till , Image , Web Only
"Quite honestly, I made a lot of mistakes as a first-time candidate," Riker said at a remarkably candid Statehouse press conference.
Chief among them, the 28-year-old Marlboro resident said, was his decision to contribute more than $59,000 of his own money to the campaign soon after he entered the race last May. By the time Riker dropped out, he and his immediate family had ponied up nearly $66,000.
"I thought it was going to jumpstart the campaign," he said. "Instead, it created a picture that I was trying to buy the seat, which wasn't true. But that was a hard one to get over."
Tags: Brandon Riker , David Zuckerman , Kesha Ram , lieutenant governor , Image , Web Only
After losing five states in a single night last week, Sanders needed to notch some wins Tuesday — and he did: Utah and Idaho voted nearly 4-to-1 in his favor. With 11 pledged delegates left to be apportioned in those two states by Wednesday morning, Sanders was leading Clinton there by a margin of 35 delegates to 10.
Despite campaigning hard in Arizona during the past week, Sanders lost that state by a margin of 58 to 40 percent. Clinton was on track to pick up at least 41 delegates there to Sanders' 22, with 12 yet to be apportioned.
In a statement released early Wednesday morning, Sanders said he was "enormously grateful" for the "tremendous voter turnouts" that led to his victories in Utah and Idaho.
Tags: Senator , Bernie Sanders , Hillary Clinton , presidential campaign , Recommended Reading , Image , Web Only