Thursday, February 19, 2015
His former legislative colleagues were due to vote later in the morning on whether to reelect him to a two-year term. Brooks knew the score. He had seen the way some wouldn’t make eye contact with him.
Brooks, 72, of Montpelier, opened a letter that had found its way to his office. It was addressed to the "State of Vermont, State Street, Montpelier." Inside, a woman had included the title to a car, a death certificate and some instructions.
Why the letter reached Brooks was unclear, but the sergeant-at-arms, as the manager of the building at the heart of state government, deals with a lot of unusual requests. Brooks looked through the documents and worried about getting them to their proper destination, presumably the Department of Motor Vehicles.
An hour later, Brooks climbed the stairs to the second-floor House chamber to usher lawmakers in for the joint session. They were to either reelect him sergeant-at-arms or go with Janet Miller, who worked down the hall from him as Legislative Council deputy operations director. A third candidate, Chuck Satterfield, had withdrawn from the race.
Tags: vermont , sergeant at arms , state politics. legislature , security , Image , Web Only
Wednesday, February 18, 2015
“We’re just not going to open up the bill to amendments,” said Sen. Claire Ayer (D-Addison), chair of the Senate Health and Welfare Committee, after the hearing. She seeks to limit the scope of any changes to a law that some would like to repeal.
Those with concerns about the law said it was clear that Ayer’s committee was interested in hearing only what members wanted to hear. “The purpose of today’s hearing was to reassure them that everything was going fine and to not ask the hard questions about what they don’t know,” said Lynne Cleveland Vitzthum, an opponent who represents the Vermont Center for Independent Living, a disabilities advocacy group.
The five committee members asked few questions of the dozen witnesses. Noticeably absent were questions about the law’s impact on doctors, hospice nurses, pharmacists and others who are involved.
Tags: Vermont legislature , assisted suicide , Patient Choice and Control at End of Life , Claire Ayer , Maggie Lake , Image , Web Only
Tuesday, February 17, 2015
That’s what legalized recreational marijuana use could look like here, at least under matching bills legislators are introducing.
Sen. David Zuckerman (P/D-Chittenden) introduced S.95 today and
and Rep. Chris Pearson (P-Burlington) said he will introduce an identical bill in the House this week. They are hoping their detailed plan will bring new focus to the debate.
That it might do, though their bills are unlikely to get very far this year. Key state leaders have said they want to wait for more information about how fledgling legalization laws are working in Colorado and other states. Earlier this year, Senate Judiciary Committee chair Dick Sears (D-Bennington) indicated legalization wouldn’t make it onto their agenda: "I don't expect it to come up this session,” he said.
The sponsors want marijuana to be regulated much like alcohol is. “More than 75 years of criminalizing marijuana has failed to prevent marijuana use,” says an advance copy of the legislation, obtained by Seven Days. “Responsible use of marijuana should be treated the same as responsible use of alcohol.”
Tags: Cannabeat , Chris Pearson , David Zuckerman , Marijuana legalization , Vermont legislature , Image , Web Only
Monday, February 16, 2015
“I saw enough theatrics at the Statehouse this week,” he says.
Now chief of staff to House Speaker Shap Smith (D-Morristown), the 28-year-old Wallingford native has long since traded his musical aspirations for political ones.
“I want to be in a job where I’m serving the public,” he says. “I truly am bought into that.”
On the surface, Giambatista fits the mold of the up-and-coming political aide: clean-cut, polite and a touch overeager. He even bears a striking resemblance to his boss, which prompted Smith to introduce him at a Democratic caucus last December as his “doppelgänger.”
But in the Vermont Statehouse, Giambatista’s background is anything but ordinary. He dropped out of high school in 10th grade, couch-surfed for years, toured with a band he describes as “quasi-straight-edge hardcore” and has more than a few tattoos.
Tags: Dylan Giambatista , Shap Smith , Rough Francis , Image , Web Only
Friday, February 13, 2015
Two challengers are running against Francis Brooks, who has been sergeant-at-arms since 2007. The legislature on Thursday is to elect one of three candidates to a two-year term.
Janet Miller, who is director of operations for Legislative Council in the Statehouse, and Chuck Satterfield, a part-time detective with the Northfield Police Department, are challenging Brooks.
Legislators say the protests led to concerns. “There’s a general level of discontent with the way the office is run,” said Rep. David Deen (D-Westminster). He also said, “There is no organized effort for a candidate that I am aware of.”
“There were concerns about the way security and access to the chamber were dealt with during the govenor’s inaugural,” said House Majority Leader Sarah Copeland Hanzas (D-Bradford). “That’s when the conversations started happening.”
Brooks said he was surprised by the challenge. “It bothers me that people are supposedly upset or whatever and I can’t honestly tell you why,” Brooks said.
Tags: Vermont Statehouse , Francis Brooks , Chuck Satterfield , Janet Miller , Image , Web Only
Thursday, February 12, 2015
Last spring, the Riverside School eighth grader wrote Sen. Joe Benning (R-Caledonia) to suggest that Vermont adopt an official Latin motto: Stella quarta decima fulgeat — or, "May the 14th star shine bright."
Now a ninth-grader at St. Johnsbury Academy, Kubicke testified Wednesday in favor of legislation that would do just that. After a mere 45 minutes of discussion, the committee unanimously approved the bill — with Sen. Chris Bray (D-Addison) voting "affirmativus" — and sent it along to the full Senate.
"I think maybe not all bills go this efficiently," Kubicke remarked after the vote. "I was really excited that it passed all the way through and that I'm spreading the Latin culture. It's just keeping the torch moving."
Not all Vermonters, apparently, were sure which culture Kubicke was hoping to spread. After WCAX-TV reported on her campaign last month, dozens of linguistically, geographically and historically challenged audience members posted venomous comments on the station's Facebook page, evidently confusing ancient Rome with Latin America.
“No way this is America not Mexico or Latin America," wrote Ronald Prouty, Jr. "And they nee [sic] to learn our language, just like if we go there they want us to speak theirs.”
Tags: Vermont latin motto , Stella quarta decima fulgeat , 14th star , Image , Web Only
Tuesday, February 10, 2015
Hundreds streamed into the Statehouse for a hearing held by two Senate committees, filling the House chamber and overflowing into nearby rooms to watch it remotely.
Wearing green shirts and buttons were those who backed a controversial bill establishing new restrictions on guns sold privately to felons and those who are mentally unfit. In blaze orange shirts, vests, hats and stickers were those opposed to any new gun laws in Vermont.
Orange far outnumbered green, but both sides expressed equal passion.
Tags: gun control , Vermont legislature , Image , Web Only
Monday, February 9, 2015
The hearing was hosted by Vermont Interactive Technologies and screened at VIT sites throughout the state, allowing Vermonters to testify remotely from Bennington to Newport.
But, ironically, the budget they were discussing could end public support for VIT itself. Last month, Gov. Peter Shumlin proposed cutting state funding to VIT, which until recently was known as Vermont Interactive Television, from $817,341 to zero.
Tags: Vermont Interactive Technologies , Image , Web Only
On Monday, the governor named Rhode Island's former secretary of health and human services, Steven Costantino, to replace outgoing commissioner Mark Larson.
Larson announced last month he is leaving the job in March, nearly a year and a half after troubles at the state's federally mandated health insurance exchange, Vermont Health Connect, became public. DVHA oversees the exchange and administers the state's other health care programs.
Costantino, a Democrat, spent 16 years in the Rhode Island House of Representatives, the last two as chairman of its finance committee. He ran for mayor of Providence in 2010, but lost in a primary. Costantino headed the Executive Office of Health & Human Services under independent governor Lincoln Chafee, but was out of a job when Chafee's successor, Democratic Gov. Gina Raimondo, did not keep him on.
Tags: Peter Shumlin , Steve Costantino , Anya Rader Wallack , Mark Larson , Lawrence Miller , Vermont Health Connect , Image , Web Only
Thursday, February 5, 2015
A 27-page bill unveiled in the committee provided an indication that long-debated changes to Vermont's education system may indeed come to a vote by the end of the session in May.
Committee chair Dave Sharpe (D-Bristol) said that while he expects his members to amend the proposal, he wanted to set a framework for discussion.
“I felt pressure to get a bill on the table,” said Sharpe, who expressed confidence that his committee would send the bill to the House floor by mid-March.
“This is really just step one out of the gate,” said Rep. Ann Manwaring (D-Wilmington), who serves on the panel.
Tags: Vermont legislature , education financing , Rebecca Holcombe , Peter Shumlin , Dave Sharpe , Image , Web Only