Tuesday, January 10, 2017
Senators officially declared this year’s Town Meeting Day, which takes place March 7, in honor of the longtime lawmaker. The Montpelier Republican is known throughout the state for the annual Town Meeting Day poll he started in 1969.
Doyle, 90, sat quietly in his wheelchair as several former colleagues spoke glowingly about his commitment to democracy, free buffet food and his constituents. Among the speakers was newly installed Gov. Phil Scott.
The state’s longest-serving senator, who also teaches political science at Johnson State College, lost his reelection bid in November.
Lt. Gov. David Zuckerman, who, at 45, is half Doyle’s age, noted that Doyle had served in the Senate “longer than I have served as a human on this planet.”
Tags: Bill Doyle , Town Meeting Day , Phil Scott , David Zuckerman , Tim Ashe , Image , Web Only
The former Republican state senator from Franklin County was released on bail and will be sentenced at a later date. He could be sentenced to up to seven years in jail. McAllister will undergo a psychosexual evaluation with the Department of Corrections before sentencing.
McAllister must register as a sex offender.
The deal came shortly before 5 p.m., after a jury had been selected for his trial and most of the people in the courthouse earlier had gone home.
McAllister responded soberly to Judge Martin Maley’s questions about his pleas and three times announced “no contest.” He left the courtroom without responding to a request for comment.
Tags: Norm McAllister , Image , Web Only
Monday, January 9, 2017
But ask Moore his preference in the race and the cofounder of the Waterbury-based SunCommon solar company — and former clean energy advocate for Vermont Public Interest Research Group — will sidestep the question.
Instead, on Monday, he pivoted quickly to embrace the governor he got over the governor he might have wanted.
“I’m thrilled that he’s here with us,” Moore said as Scott agreed to spend his very first press conference as governor highlighting a SunCommon solar project in Montpelier.
Scott’s morning appearance showing off the Hunger Mountain Co-op’s new solar canopy did reveal something about Vermont politics: All sides are quick to embrace reality, even as they struggle with their differences behind the scenes.
Tags: Phil Scott , James Moore , SunCommon , Hunger Mountain Co-op , solar canopy , Image , Web Only
Last week’s court decision will allow Scott, a Republican, to name a replacement for Justice John Dooley, who has announced he will retire at the end of March.
Former Democratic governor Peter Shumlin was prepared to name a replacement for Dooley before leaving office last Thursday. The court, including Dooley, ruled 5-0 last Wednesday that Shumlin could not make the pick because the vacancy did not yet exist.
Tags: Phil Scott , Peter Shumlin , John Dooley , Vermont Supreme Court , Image , Web Only
Friday, January 6, 2017
“None of that matters to me,” Baruth said. “It’s so resoundingly ridiculous to me. When you buy a new gun you have to go through a background check. Then I can sell it on the internet without a background check.”
The bill Baruth is sponsoring — S.6 — would require background checks for all gun transactions, except for those between family and law enforcement.
Baruth and other supporters will hold a press conference touting the bill Tuesday afternoon at the Statehouse. He plans to go full steam ahead in hopes of building support. “My read on the Senate is that it would pass if there were a vote,” he insisted Friday.
Tags: gun control , Phil Baruth , Dick Sears , Mitzi Johnson , Evan Hughes , Phil Scott , Image , Web Only
Two committees will have new leadership. Sen. Ann Cummings (D-Washington) is the new chair of the Senate Finance Committee, replacing Ashe; and Sen. Philip Baruth (D-Chittenden) replaces Cummings as chair of the Senate Education Committee.
It’s a second chance at Finance for Cummings, who chaired the influential committee during the 2011-2012 session. At the end of that year, she launched a campaign to displace then-president pro tem John Campbell; after he was re-elected, Cummings lost her Finance post.
Tags: David Zuckerman , Vermont State Senate , Committee on Committees , Tim Ashe , Dick Mazza , Ann Cummings , Philip Baruth , John Campbell , Anthony Pollina , John Rodgers , Ginny Lyons , Francis Brooks , Carolyn Branagan , Kevin Mullin , Image , Web Only
Thursday, January 5, 2017
Scott, 58, of Berlin, a Republican who has served the last six years as lieutenant governor, called becoming governor “the greatest honor of my life.”
“I do so with the understanding of the challenges we face, and those who sent us here to solve them,” he said during the 30-minute address.
Scott, a Barre native who co-owned an excavation company and made a name for himself as a race car driver, said he never envisioned becoming governor. He honored his late father, Howard, who lost both legs in World War II and died of his injuries when Scott was 11. The flag that had covered his father’s casket flew Thursday on the Statehouse lawn in commemoration.
Tags: Phil Scott , Vermont Legislature , Lake Champlain , economy , education , inauguration , Image , Web Only
GMCB chair Al Gobeille is leaving the board to become Agency of Human Services secretary. Board member Betty Rambur is resigning effective January 15 to move out of state. “This is a completely personal decision,” she told Seven Days. “My husband-to-be lives in Rhode Island, and I have an opportunity for a position there. The stars just lined up.”
Indeed, she’d thought about resigning in September, but “we wouldn’t have had a quorum” because Dr. Allan Ramsay had just resigned and Con Hogan was on medical leave. “A lot of health care decisions are made in September, and the board would have been unable to do its work,” she said.
Tags: Green Mountain Care Board , Al Gobeille , Betty Rambur , Phil Scott , Image , Web Only
Liberty Union candidate Boots Wardinski surely didn’t get 69,000 votes, thought Rep. Kurt Wright (R-Burlington) as he heard the number.
Indeed, Wardinski tallied just 7,038 votes — but legislators had come within a whisker of certifying the wrong numbers.
“It’s actually pretty serious,” Wright said as the legislature’s canvassing committee reconvened to figure out what went wrong.
Tags: Vermont elections , Vermont legislature , Kurt Wright , David Zuckerman , Jim Condos , Chris Winters , Image , Web Only
Governor-elect Phil Scott announced eight more appointees on Wednesday and Thursday, five of whom served in outgoing Democratic Gov. Peter Shumlin’s administration.
The announcements came just days after House Minority Leader Don Turner (R-Milton) criticized the prevalence of Shumlin holdovers in Scott’s administration.
Among the new faces is Dr. Mark Levine, who will serve as Scott’s commissioner of health. Levine is a primary care physician at the UVM Medical Center and an associate dean at the UVM College of Medicine.
Levine replaces Dr. Harry Chen, who led the Department of Health under Shumlin but chose not to reapply for his job.
Tags: Phil Scott , Peter Shumlin , Mark Levine , Image , Web Only