Friday, May 29, 2015
"A man goes home and masturbates his typical fantasy. A woman on her knees, a woman tied up, a woman abused," Sanders begins. "A woman enjoys intercourse with her man — as she fantasizes being raped by 3 men simultaneously. The man and woman get dressed up on Sunday — and go to Church, or maybe to their 'revolutionary' political meeting."
The long-forgotten piece found a new audience this week after Mother Jones unearthed it as part of a Sanders profile it published Tuesday, just before the two-term senator formally kicked off his campaign for the Democratic presidential nomination.
Mainstream news organizations such as CNN, Slate and The Hill quoted liberally from it, mostly without characterizing its contents. Vox called it "bizarre." Several conservative organs touted its coverage — or lack thereof — as proof-positive of a media double-standard: Had a Republican candidate written such words, argued Breitbart News senior editor-at-large Ben Shapiro, he or she would have been sidelined from the election.
Tags: Senator , Bernie Sanders , Presidential Campaign , Vermont Freeman , essay , article , Recommended Reading , Image , Web Only
Wednesday, May 27, 2015
In the footage, obtained by a hidden camera in a hotel bar, the lawmaker's face is blurred. The story does not identify him by name. But his voice is unmistakable: that of Rep. Bob Helm (R-Fair Haven).
"It was me, unknowingly being recorded and photographed," says Helm, who serves as ALEC's Vermont state chair. "I had no idea. But whatever I said, I can go to bed with it. I can sleep fine. It was the truth."
Helm's 50-second cameo comes near the end of a six-and-a-half-minute piece documenting ALEC's role in drafting and promoting state legislation friendly to its corporate sponsors. In the story, WXIA-TV chief investigative reporter Brendan Keefe attempts to cover a recent ALEC retreat in Savannah, but he's rebuffed and eventually kicked out of the hotel.
In footage obtained the night before his unceremonious departure, Keefe captures Helm explaining how such conferences are financed.
Tags: Bob Helm , ALEC , Howard Dean , Image , Video , Web Only
Wednesday, May 20, 2015
Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) will host a campaign kickoff next Tuesday afternoon at Burlington's Waterfront Park, his campaign announced Wednesday.
Vermont's independent senator announced three weeks ago via email that he would seek the Democratic nomination for president and held a brief press conference outside the U.S. Capitol later that day. Next week's event promises to be a more celebratory affair, featuring free Ben & Jerry's ice cream — of course — and music by Mango Jam, the Vermont-based Zydeco/Cajun band.
Feel free to bring your hula hoops, glow sticks and goo balls.
Tags: Senator , Bernie Sanders , Presidential Campaign , kickoff , waterfront park , Peter Shumlin , Image , Recommended Reading , Web Only
Toensing, the vice chairman of the Vermont Republican Party, wrote a committee of state's attorneys Tuesday requesting they consider two new allegations against Sorrell.
According to Toensing, Sorrell turned a blind eye to allegedly illegal spending by the Democratic Attorneys General Association on his own reelection efforts during the 2012 campaign. Toensing further alleges that Sorrell accepted legal representation in that case and others from a Burlington attorney, Richard Cassidy, who was arguing a separate matter before Sorrell's office. Toensing called the situation "an indisputable conflict of interest."
Neither Sorrell nor Cassidy immediately responded to requests for comment late Tuesday.
Tags: Brady Toensing , Bill Sorrell , campaign finance , Image , Web Only
Sunday, May 17, 2015
After weeks spent castigating the Vermont legislature for raising too much revenue and cutting too little spending, the third-term Democrat opted Saturday to forgo a messy veto fight with leaders of his own party. With just a few concessions in hand, he sealed a deal with House and Senate Democrats early Saturday afternoon, clearing a path to adjournment later that night.
In a closing address to the Vermont House, Shumlin put a brave face on a legislative session marked by his diminished influence over a Statehouse in which he has served for decades.
"Thank you for having the courage to come together to solve the problems that Vermonters sent [us] here to do," Shumlin told a partially filled House gallery. "Good work. Drive carefully."
With that, at 11:04 p.m., House Speaker Shap Smith (D-Morristown) gaveled out one of the strangest sessions in recent memory.
Tags: Vermont legislature , adjournment , Peter Shumlin , John Campbell , Shap Smith , Image , Web Only
Saturday, May 16, 2015
"You will be an extraordinarily tough act to follow," said Rep. Susan Hatch Davis (P-Washington), who represents Milne's hometown of Washington.
After the announcement, House members gave Milne a lengthy, standing ovation.
Tags: Don Milne , Bill Magill , Scott Milne , house clerk , Image , Web Only
Half a day after legislative leaders threatened to send Gov. Peter Shumlin a tax package he would surely veto, all sides stepped back from the brink Saturday afternoon.
Shumlin, who was described by legislators as disengaged from negotiations Friday, spent Saturday morning working toward a compromise with House Speaker Shap Smith (D-Morristown) and Senate President Pro Tem John Campbell (D-Windsor). At 1:50 p.m., the three men emerged from the governor’s office to announce they’d reached a deal on a $30 million tax bill.
“Everyone’s given a little,” Shumlin said, standing side-by-side with his erstwhile adversaries. “I think it’s an incredibly sensible plan.”
Having struck a deal, the trio said they believed they could muster the votes for passage later Saturday and adjourn until next January.
Tags: Peter Shumlin , Vermont legislature , Shap Smith , John Campbell , Image , Web Only
Shumlin has spent weeks urging the House and Senate to trim their budget proposals and ditch income and sales tax hikes he opposes. But after a long day of closed-door meetings throughout the Statehouse, legislative negotiators unveiled a $30 million tax package at 10:30 p.m. that did not appear to meet with his approval.
Asked if he expected Shumlin to veto the plan, House Speaker Shap Smith (D-Morristown) said, "You know, I'm eternally optimistic, but perhaps it is unwarranted in this instance."
The governor himself remained out of view Friday, hunkered down in his ceremonial Statehouse office for much of the afternoon and evening. Members of his staff roamed the Statehouse halls but did not appear heavily engaged in deliberations with legislative leaders. The governor's spokesman, Scott Coriell, said he would not comment on the plan until Saturday.
Shortly before midnight, a House and Senate conference committee signed off on next year's $5.4 billion budget. Those charged with finalizing the tax bill and a health care bill left the Statehouse for the night without formally agreeing to either item. But Smith said he believed the legislature might still meet its goal of adjourning Saturday night.
Tags: Shap Smith , John Campbell , Peter Shumlin , Tim Ashe , Janet Ancel , Image , Web Only
Thursday, May 14, 2015
A week after he was arrested on sex charges, Sen. Norm McAllister (R-Franklin) left a message for Lt. Gov. Phil Scott Thursday morning saying he would not resign, according to the lieutenant governor.
In response, Scott and his fellow members of the Senate Committee on Committees voted Thursday afternoon to strip McAllister of his committee assignments.
The lieutenant governor announced the shakeup late Thursday afternoon from the Senate dais. He read a letter he wrote to McAllister saying he was “extremely disappointed” in the Franklin County Republican’s decision to remain in office.
“I truly hope you will reconsider,” Scott said in the letter.
Tags: Norm McAllister , Phil Scott , committee assignments , Image , Web Only
As lawmakers negotiate a final tax package to fund state government, the third-term Democrat has voiced strong opposition to several taxes that the House and Senate have approved. On Wednesday, the gov assembled a group of nonprofit executive directors at a Statehouse press conference to take aim at a proposed cap on income tax deductions they say would harm Vermont charities.
Though Shumlin hasn't said publicly he'd veto a bill that included such tax increases, Senate President Pro Tem John Campbell (D-Windsor) said Wednesday that the governor has dropped the v-word in private.
To override a gubernatorial veto, Democrats would have to muster two-thirds majorities in both the House and Senate. But House Republicans said Thursday they would oppose such an override and vote as a block to sustain a Shumlin veto.
"If the governor is serious, then we want to make sure that we send a loud and clear message that we're with him or we're not," House Minority Leader Don Turner (R-Milton) said Thursday during a lunchtime caucus meeting at the Statehouse.
Tags: Don Turner , Peter Shumlin , Shap Smith , Image , Web Only