Monday, January 2, 2017
“I’m becoming increasingly concerned,” Rep. Don Turner (R-Milton), the House minority leader, says of GOP governor-elect Phil Scott’s burgeoning administration. “I wanted to see a Republican governor who wanted to make changes.”
Turner is specifically “concerned” about the large number of extended cabinet members Scott has retained from the outgoing administration of Democratic Gov. Peter Shumlin. And Turner says he’s not alone.
Tags: Phil Scott , Don Turner , Rob Roper , Ethan Allen Institute , Peter Shumlin , Ken Schatz , Monica Hutt , Mike Pieciak , Louis Porter , Andrew Pallito , Al Gobeille , Chris Cole , Bradley Ferland , Joe Flynn , Vermont Health Connect , Mike Smith , WDEV , Jim Douglas , Rebecca Kelley , Ted Brady , Patrick Leahy , Peter Walke , Jaye Pershing Johnson , Bill Sorrell , Martha Maksym , Thomas Anderson , Michael Schirling , Alyson Eastman , Image , Web Only
Saturday, December 31, 2016
Gov. Peter Shumlin released on Saturday a list of 10 year-end gubernatorial pardons that include a pair of notable political names: John Zaccaro Jr. and Richard Mallary Jr.
Zaccaro is the son of the late Geraldine Ferraro, a former Democratic congresswoman from New York and candidate for vice president in 1984. Mallary is the son of the late congressman Richard Mallary, a Vermont Republican.
Saturday’s pardons are separate from Shumlin’s offer of clemency for those convicted of minor marijuana offenses, although five of the 10 were convicted of marijuana charges. The number of pardons is also notable: Before Saturday, according to a press release from Shumlin, the governor had issued a mere six pardons in his six years in office.
“I believe in second chances, and I believe we as a society will continue to move towards a more sensible approach to drug addiction and criminal justice,” Shumlin said in a statement. He added that the pardons would “help relieve what can essentially amount a life sentence of burden and stigma.”
Tags: cannabis related , John Zaccaro Jr. , Peter Shumlin , Richard Mallary Jr. , Image , Web Only
Thursday, December 29, 2016
Scott reappointed Louis Porter as commissioner of the Department of Fish and Wildlife, a post he has held since April 2014. Previously, the Adamant resident served as Shumlin’s legislative liaison, the Conservation Law Foundation’s “lakekeeper” and as a Statehouse reporter for the Vermont Press Bureau.
Longtime state official Bradley Ferland will serve as deputy secretary of the Agency of Administration under secretary-designate Susanne Young, Scott said. The agency has wide-ranging management and fiscal responsibilities and is generally seen as the nerve center of state government. Ferland, who has worked for the agency for more than two decades, currently serves as deputy commissioner of the Department of Finance and Management.
Scott also on Thursday appointed Ted Brady, a veteran of the Obama administration and Leahy’s office, as deputy secretary of the Agency of Commerce and Community Development. He’ll report to secretary-designate Mike Schirling, a former chief of the Burlington Police Department. Brady has served as U.S. Department of Agriculture Rural Development state director for Vermont and New Hampshire since September 2013. Prior to that, he spent a decade with Leahy — working on the senator’s 2004 reelection campaign, in his D.C. office and finally as a field representative in his Vermont office.
Tags: Phil Scott , Bradley Ferland , Louis Porter , Ted Brady , Susanne Young , Bill Sorrell , Michael Schirling , Patrick Leahy , Ken Schatz , Monica Hutt , Chris Cole , Martha Maksym , Al Gobeille , Peter Walke , Julie Moore , Ethan Latour , Tracy Delude , Associated General Contractors of Vermont , Image , Web Only
Tuesday, December 20, 2016
Elmes was a Lyndonville selectman when five Vermont state troopers swooped in — along with a helicopter — and busted him at home, apparently after spotting plants from the air, he said. The news media covered his arrest, and Elmes eventually stepped down from office.
A licensed financial adviser, he had to notify federal financial regulators. As recently as a few weeks ago, Elmes said, Canadian border authorities grilled him about the arrest for several minutes.
“You can’t imagine what a burden on anyone’s life this kind of thing is,” Elmes, 66, said. “It’s with you forever. The trauma of the whole thing was ridiculous.”
Elmes is one of more than 330 people so far who have taken Gov. Peter Shumlin up on his offer to pardon people convicted of marijuana possession in his final days in office. The governor said he will consider pardoning people convicted of possessing one ounce of marijuana or less if they don’t have convictions for violence or felonies. Shumlin’s administration estimates several thousand people could meet the criteria.
Tags: Cannabeat , marijuana , pardons , Peter Shumlin , Phil Scott , Image , Video , Web Only
Monday, December 19, 2016
It’s the final recount of the 2016 Vermont elections — but it might not be over just yet. Davis said significant questions remain about the vote-counting process and said she plans to take her case to the legislature. She was scouring state law Monday evening to figure out how next to proceed.
Frenier won on Election Day by eight votes. After an initial recount using a tabulator machine, Frenier’s lead shrank to six votes. Davis petitioned the court for a second recount, this one by hand.
Tags: Bob Frenier , Susan Hatch Davis , Vermont legislature , Sarah Buxton , David Ainsworth , Image , Web Only
Well, he’s interested in his own elliptical way.
“Yeah, sure, we want to take a look at that,” he told Seven Days last week. “We’ll continue to have that conversation and debate the issue and make our case for why that might be good to consider for future hires. But we’ll take a look.”
Commitment, Phil Scott style: “Have that conversation,” “debate the issue,” “consider,” and, not once but twice, “take a look.” All in one paragraph.
As long as Scott plans to “take a look” at that, Democratic state Treasurer Beth Pearce plans to fight back.
Currently, members of the Vermont State Employees’ Association and Vermont-National Education Association — the state’s largest public-sector unions — enjoy defined benefit pensions: They are guaranteed certain retirement benefits. In a defined contribution system, employer and employee pay into a retirement account, but no specific benefits are promised.
Scott touts defined contribution as a way to cut the cost of public sector pensions. But Pearce argues that it will reduce pension security without saving money — not in the short term, not in the long term.
Tags: Phil Scott , Beth Pearce , Vermont State Employees Association , Vermont-NEA , defined benefit , defined contribution , annual required contribution , Vermont State Employees Retirement System , Vermont State Teachers Retirement System , Image , Web Only
Wednesday, December 14, 2016
He might have a hard time getting either.
“We just passed — literally in June — Act 174,” Senate Natural Resources and Energy Committee chair Chris Bray (D-Addison) said. “I really want to stay with and develop that planning process.”
Bray was referring to a new state law designed to give municipalities more say in siting energy projects.
Scott pledged during the election to push for a moratorium on large-scale wind projects, a heated issue in some parts of the state. This week, speaking to reporters at a press conference, he said he hopes for legislation to pass next year.
He was already hedging his expectations. “What I personally would like to see is to protect our ridgelines in perpetuity,” Scott said. “The reality is that won’t happen.”
Still, Scott expressed hope that he could convince legislators to agree to a short-term halt on wind projects.
Tags: renewable energy , Phil Scott , wind power , Chris Bray , Renewable Energy Vermont , Image , Web Only
Tuesday, December 13, 2016
Governor-elect Phil Scott announced Tuesday that he has chosen a former Douglas administration employee to run the Agency of Natural Resources and a former federal prosecutor who served under Republican president George W. Bush to lead his Public Safety Department.
Julie Moore, who worked six years on Lake Champlain cleanup efforts under former Republican governor Jim Douglas, will serve as Scott’s ANR secretary at a time when the lake is very much at the top of the agency’s agenda.
When Scott takes office in January, the Republican governor is expected to wrangle with the Democratic-controlled legislature over how to pay for phosphorous reduction efforts in the lake. The state and federal governments this year finalized an agreement on goals the state must meet to reduce phosphorous during the next 20 years. Scott has said he will not support raising new revenues to meet the goals, but lawmakers are expected to push him on the issue.
Tags: Phil Scott , Tom Anderson , Julie Moore , George Bush , Jim Douglas , Peter Shumlin , Image , Web Only
Sunday, December 11, 2016
It’s an ideal bully pulpit for the 45-year-old pol — offering high visibility and little responsibility. During his six-year tenure, Scott used it to great advantage, building his reputation while avoiding controversy. How will the new guy handle the job?
Tags: Bernie Sanders , cannabis related , David Zuckerman , Dick Mazza , Phil Scott , Senator , Vermont Democratic Party , Vermont Progressive Party , Vermont Republican Party , Vermont State Senate , Image , Web Only
Thursday, December 8, 2016
Sen. Tim Ashe (D/P-Chittenden) hasn't formally been elected president pro tempore of the Vermont Senate, but he's already named a future chief of staff.
The role will go to Peter Sterling, a liberal activist who ran a labor-backed super PAC and lobbied in the Statehouse for single-payer health care reform.
"Peter's skill set is very well-rounded for the job," Ashe said, highlighting what he called a "comfort level with policymaking" and an ability to "draw a connection" between lawmakers and constituents. "I know he's an extremely high-energy person, very resilient."
Like Ashe, Sterling previously worked for U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), managing his 2002 congressional campaign. Sterling got his start as an environmental advocate in New York, but he is best known in Vermont for his work fighting for health care reform. As director of the Vermont Campaign for Health Care Security, Sterling lobbied for single-payer — and he later served as a paid Statehouse advocate for a tax on sugar-sweetened beverages. Last legislative session, he worked to expand the state's Dr. Dynasaur health insurance subsidies to young adults.
Tags: Senator , Tim Ashe , Peter Sterling , Bernie Sanders , Image , Web Only