Friday, October 30, 2015
Voters in Essex, Essex Junction and Westford will decide whether to merge their three districts into one. Morrisville and Elmore residents will vote on merging their two districts.
In each case, one of the towns would have to give up the long–standing tradition of paying tuition to send children to any non-religious high school they choose. Voters will decide if potential tax savings outweigh their desire to retain that option.
Their decisions could offer an indication of how the school choice issue will play out in other Vermont towns. A new state law requiring all school districts to consider consolidation has sown confusion over whether towns that lack their own schools must give up the choice option if they pair with towns that have their own schools.
Tags: Vermont , school consolidation , Act 46 , Essex , Essex Junction , Westford , Morristown , Elmore , Image , Web Only
According to Sanders spokesman Michael Briggs, the two met for an hour Thursday at Biden's official residence at the U.S. Naval Observatory. Briggs said in a statement released by Sanders' presidential campaign that the two discussed their shared support for campaign finance reform and expanded public education, among other topics.
“Under the leadership of President Obama and Vice President Biden, this country has come a long way economically since President Bush left office and we were losing 800,000 jobs every month and the world economy was on the brink of financial collapse,” Sanders said in the statement. “Nevertheless, we still have a long way to go to create the kind of economy that works for all Americans and not just the top 1 percent."
Sanders added that he looked forward to working with Obama and Biden "to tackle some [of] the major issues facing our country."
Tags: Senator , Bernie Sanders , Presidential Campaign , Joe Biden , Image , Web Only
Thursday, October 29, 2015
But he did tell them that he feels their right to burn — marijuana, that is.
For the first time, the Vermont independent urged the federal government to remove pot from its list of controlled substances, calling such a move "long overdue." Sanders did not go so far as to call for nationwide legalization of marijuana, but he said that states should be free to regulate the drug as they do alcohol and tobacco.
"In the year 2015, it is time for the federal government to allow states to go forward as they best choose," he said. "It is time to tax and regulate marijuana like alcohol. It is time to end the arrests of so many people and the destruction of so many lives for possessing marijuana."
Tags: Bernie Sanders , Cannabeat , marijuana , Presidential Campaign , race , Senator , Recommended Reading , Image , Video , Web Only
Tuesday, October 27, 2015
According to the Monmouth University Polling Institute, 65 percent of likely caucus-goers support Clinton, while just 24 percent back Sanders. That 41-point spread is far wider than the single-digit leads Clinton has held in many other recent polls.
“We now have a two-person race, but one of those competitors has just pulled very far ahead,” says Patrick Murray, who runs the Monmouth institute and conducted the poll.
So what accounts for Clinton's surge? The Monmouth poll is among the first conducted after Vice President Joe Biden announced last Wednesday that he'd sit out the 2016 presidential race — and it was almost entirely conducted after Clinton performed well in front of a U.S. House committee hearing on the Benghazi attacks.
But the New York Times's Nate Cohn has another explanation: The poll is flawed.
Tags: Senator , Bernie Sanders , Presidential Campaign , Monmouth Poll , Image , Recommended Reading , Web Only
Monday, October 26, 2015
Seven years ago, a 22-year-old California native named Kesha Ram sought a seat in the Vermont House just months after graduating from the University of Vermont.
"Right out of the gate, I was underestimated," Ram said Monday evening, speaking to supporters at Burlington's Main Street Landing. "I was called a kitten with lipstick. And I, a young woman fresh out of college, was asked: What could I possibly bring to the table?"
Evidently, some political skills. In a hotly contested race in Burlington's Old North End, the Democratic novice defeated Progressive incumbent Chris Pearson, becoming the youngest member of the legislature in 2009. (Ram didn’t identify the author of the “kitten” comment in her speech, but she later said it was an anonymous commenter on a news website.)
"We showed our opponents that this kitten with lipstick could win a House seat," Ram said as she prepared to launch her next big political campaign. "Now, as I travel around the state and stand before you, I am humbled and honored to announce my candidacy to be Vermont's next lieutenant governor."
Ram, who revealed two weeks ago that she'd seek the state's No. 2 job, was the first in the race to hold a formal campaign kickoff. Marlboro Democrat Brandon Riker has been campaigning for the post since last spring, while former state auditor and senator Randy Brock, a Swanton Republican, jumped into the race early this month. Others, such as Sen. Phil Baruth (D-Chittenden), Sen. David Zuckerman (P/D-Chittenden) and Sen. Joe Benning (R-Caledonia), are also considering running.
Tags: Kesha Ram , Vermont lieutenant governor , Image , Web Only
During a 25-minute address Saturday night at the Iowa Democratic Party's all-important Jefferson-Jackson dinner in Des Moines, the Vermont senator promised he would not "equivocate" as president and insinuated that Clinton would.
Bloomberg:
"I will govern based on principle, not poll numbers," Sanders said ... before detailing his staunch opposition to the Defense of Marriage Act, the Iraq war, and major trade agreements — all examples that highlight Clinton's shifting positions over the years. His attack echoed then-Senator Barack Obama’s assertion at the same dinner in 2007 that Democrats have "made the biggest difference in the lives of the American people when we led, not by polls, but by principle.”Sanders did not mention Clinton by name, but his target was clear. Speaking about the Trans-Pacific Partnership, a trade deal Clinton recently joined him in opposing, Sanders said he had never viewed it as the "gold standard of trade agreements" — words she used to describe it in a memoir.
The Vermonter highlighted his vote against the Iraq War, which Clinton supported, and his opposition to two measures Clinton's husband, former president Bill Clinton, signed into law: the 1996 Defense of Marriage Act and the 1999 repeal of Glass-Steagall Act banking regulations.
Tags: Senator , Bernie Sanders , Presidential Campaign , Iowa , Jefferson-Jackson Dinner , Hillary Clinton , campaign trail , gun control , Recommended Reading , Image , Web Only
Wednesday, October 21, 2015
"I thank the vice president for a lifetime of public service and for all that he has done for our nation," Sanders said in a written statement. "I look forward to continuing to work with him to address the major crises we face."
At first glance, it might appear that Biden's decision would bolster Sanders' candidacy. After all, what unconventional upstart would want to compete with a political juggernaut boasting establishment support and the ability to attract a diverse coalition of supporters?
Perhaps the kind that's already facing another political juggernaut boasting establishment support and the ability to attract a diverse coalition of supporters: former secretary of state Hillary Clinton.
Tags: Senator , Bernie Sanders , Presidential Campaign , Joe Biden , Hillary Clinton , Image , Recommended Reading , Web Only
Tuesday, October 20, 2015
Benning delivered the news Friday in a letter to McAllister, who was arrested in May and charged with sexual assault. McAllister, a 64-year-old Highgate farmer, pleaded not guilty to three felony and three misdemeanor charges involving three women — one of whom has since died — and is awaiting trial.
In last week's Seven Days, McAllister insisted he would not resign his Senate seat, nor take a plea deal. That prompted Benning to write his colleague, who, he claims, promised last spring to step down by November if his case was still pending.
“It is therefore with some dismay that I am reading news reports quoting you as determined to go to trial and refusing to resign,” Benning wrote, adding that McAllister’s return to the Statehouse in January would be “extraordinarily uncomfortable for every individual in the building, including you” and would leave the Senate “in complete disarray.”
Tags: Norm McAllister , Joe Benning , Peg Flory , Image , Web Only
Friday, October 16, 2015
Three other longtime employees outside the newsroom will also leave Vermont's largest daily newspaper under the deal the Gannett Corporation offered across the chain to employees who are at least 55-years-old and have 15 years of service as of October 12.
The Gannett buyout, targeting higher-paid employees, is the latest cost-cutting effort by the national media company, which has slashed its workforce during the last 10 years.
Will the shrinking news staff in Burlington shrink some more? In Burlington, all five positions will be filled, including the executive editor slot, according to Free Press Media president and publisher Al Getler. It's too early to say who will take over as the top editor, he said. “It's too important a presence for the state of Vermont to not do a thorough search," Getler said. "It's going to take some time."
Tags: Burlington Free Press , Gannett , Michael Donoghue , Michael Townsend , Image , Web Only
That means that if the rest of his low-dollar donors keep feelin' the Bern, Sanders should have plenty of cash to burn in the months ahead.
"Other campaigns are bankrolled by big donors who have given so much, even under our current corrupt political system, they can’t legally give any more," Sanders campaign manager Jeff Weaver said in a statement. "Bernie’s big base of small donors may give again and again. What is clear now is that this campaign to transform America will have the resources to fight all the way to the convention."
In the quarter ending September 30, Sanders reported raising $26.2 million, not far behind the $29.9 million former secretary of state Hillary Clinton raised. Sanders, who has not yet aired any television advertisements, spent far less than his chief rival for the Democratic nomination: $11.2 million, compared to her $25.7 million.
So even though Clinton vastly out-raised Sanders in the opening months of the presidential race, they now have a similar amount of money in the bank: He's got $27.1 million, while she's got $33 million.
Tags: Senator , Bernie Sanders , presidential campaign , fundraising , Image , Web Only