Tuesday, November 3, 2015
“We see ways to create jobs — good long-term jobs that won’t go away after an initial boom,” said the advocate, Bill Lofy, a former chief of staff to Gov. Peter Shumlin who is now supporting the Vermont Cannabis Collaborative. The organization plans to issue detailed recommendations this month on how to create a Vermont marijuana industry akin to the state's craft beer industry.
But beware, Lofy said: Banking is complicated for companies growing and selling a product still illegal under federal law.
“There’s a myriad of banking issues,” added Joe Veldon of Morrisville, who described himself as a marijuana consultant for a dozen growers, three dispensaries and an extract company in western states that have legalized marijuana. “We haven’t been able to fix that.”
As the Senate Committee on Government Operations continued Tuesday to ponder what legalization should look like, members heard a slew of ideas, some concurring, some conflicting. The committee’s goal is to sort through all the ideas and cautionary tales and turn them into a bill at a Nov. 19 meeting, said committee chair Jeanette White (D-Windham).
Tags: Bill Lofy , Cannabeat , Chris Bray , Jeanette White , Joe Benning , Joe Veldon , legislature , marijuana , marijuana legalization , Vermont Senate , Image , Web Only
Monday, November 2, 2015
Snelling, formerly of Shelburne, made her name in community service and business before following her husband, the late governor Richard Snelling, into the political arena. Her civic achievements included heading the school board that established Champlain Valley Union High School; committees of the Chittenden County United Way that set up the Champlain Valley Area Agency on Aging; and a child care referral service.
Once her four children were grown, Snelling worked as vice president of development and external affairs at the University of Vermont, leaving in 1982 to start her own consulting business — Snelling and Kolb.
She entered politics after the sudden death of her husband, governor Snelling, in 1991. She was elected lieutenant governor the next year and won a second term in 1994. During those years, Snelling stood at the head of the Republican Party and was preparing to challenge Democratic governor Howard Dean in 1996. Dean had preceded Barbara Snelling as lieutenant governor and became governor when her husband died of a heart attack.
Tags: Richard Snelling , Barbara Snelling , Image , 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
“If they won’t listen to us, they need to see we won’t back down,” Kulsic said after returning from a trip to the Montpelier police station with a citation for disorderly conduct.
Kulsic was arrested along with two others, Crystal Zevon of West Barnet and Dave Przepioski of Craftsbury Common, shortly before 8 a.m. as they blocked employees from entering the front and back doors of the State Street building. The protest was the latest in opponents’ efforts to derail Vermont Gas Systems’ project to extend natural gas service from Colchester to Middlebury, and followed a weekend of activism in Montpelier.
Zevon, a longtime activist who said she’s been arrested in New York State, described this cuffing as remarkably polite. “They couldn’t have been more gentle,” she said. She said she considered getting arrested necessary. “If we don’t start doing drastic things, people don’t pay attention.”
Tags: Vermont Gas , Rising Tide Vermont , Image , Web Only
Friday, October 23, 2015
Theresa Wood, who ran for the state legislature five years ago as an independent, is the House’s newest Democratic member.
Gov. Peter Shumlin appointed Wood, 57, of Waterbury, on Thursday to replace Rebecca Ellis, who resigned in August to take a job with the Department of Environmental Conservation. Wood will represent Waterbury, Huntington, Buel's Gore and Bolton.
The local Democratic committee recommended three candidates: Wood; David Clark of Huntington and Amanda McKay of Bolton. Shumlin interviewed them and considered them all to be strong candidates, said his spokesman, Scott Coriell.
Tags: Vermont Legislature , Theresa Wood , Sue Minter , Rebecca Ellis , Image , 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
Monday, October 19, 2015
State officials refused to divulge even the name of a Canadian business they voted preliminarily to offer $200,000. The company, looking to expand in the United States, has considered the Northeast Kingdom for a plant that would hire at least 50 people. Its products and potential location will remain secret until negotiations are completed, members of the Emergency Board said.
Shumlin and the heads of the legislature’s money committees spent two hours behind closed doors discussing Shumlin’s recommendations to tap the Enterprise Fund to try to persuade two companies to open new facilities in rural areas. This special fund was set up to allow state officials to try to lure companies to move or expand in Vermont.
The bigger award — $500,000 — would go to G.W. Plastics, an injection-molding manufacturer with plants in Bethel and Royalton in Vermont, as well as in Texas, Arizona, Mexico and China. The company needs to expand because of a contract with a new customer. According to the Shumlin administration, the company has considered opening a new facility in New Hampshire close to its new customer. Vermont officials hope by offering $500,000 to the company, G.W. Plastics would instead expand in Vermont.
Tags: Emergency Board , G.W. Plastics , Image , Web Only
Friday, October 16, 2015
Walters, 90, wasn’t ill when he started the campaign that led to Vermont’s 2013 Patient Choice and Control at the End of Life Act. Walters said repeatedly over the years that he didn’t know whether he would ever need the law himself, but he knew he would want the option.
Walters, who lived at Wake Robin retirement community with his wife, Ginny, was diagnosed with lung cancer in 2014. His health declined rapidly during the past two months, Necrason said.
“Dick was grateful to be able to direct his own end of life under Act 39,” said Necrason, whose firm, Necrason Group, formerly Sirotkin & Necrason, has represented the advocacy group Patient Choices Vermont for more than a decade.
Necrason said Walters’ family told him Friday afternoon that his death was “peaceful, relatively quick and with some cheer.”
Tags: Physician-assisted suicide , death with dignity , end-of-life choices , Dick Walters , Image , Web Only
Wednesday, October 14, 2015
“We aren’t expecting to use those contingency plans,” Lawrence Miller, chief of health reform for the administration, reported Wednesday to the House Health Care Committee.
Next week, state officials expect to transfer files to the health insurance companies that would roll over all current customers into the same insurance coverage that they have today — but with 2016 premiums and subsidies. If those transfers go well, customers will need to do nothing but pay the bill to continue their coverage — unless they want to change plans or alter who is included under the policy.
Miller predicted fast turnaround for changes, noting that the automated process that has been rolled out over the summer means half of all requests are handled while customers are on the phone.
Tags: Lawrence Miller , Vermont Health Connect , Image , Web Only
Monday, October 12, 2015
"I have an eight-year track record of building consensus with conviction and courage in the legislature," she says. "I think I have been a strong advocate for the people and have gotten results."
The Burlington Democrat has been reaching out to lawmakers this week to enlist their support and plans to hold a formal campaign kickoff on October 26 at Burlington's Main Street Landing.
Ram, who is 29 years old, isn't the first young Democrat to announce plans to run for the position, which is being vacated by Republican Lt. Gov. Phil Scott. Twenty-eight-year-old Brandon Riker announced earlier this year that he's seeking the job. But unlike Riker, a political novice, Ram has served in the legislature since she was 22.
Tags: Kesha Ram , lieutenant governor , Image , Web Only