Freyne Land

*Update 5:30 p.m.*

And a must-read frontpager in Friday’s Rutland Herald/Times Argus:

Foes of forest bill pressured Douglas
October 6, 2006
By Louis Porter Vermont Press Bureau

MONTPELIER - Internal documents and correspondence reveal that powerful industry groups and advocates of "traditional" land uses such as logging put substantial pressure on the administration of Gov. James Douglas to oppose the federal bill expanding the wilderness area within the Green Mountain National Forest.

read on.

October sure came in with a bang on the politics front in Vermont, didn't it?

Just ask rookie political candidate Martha Rainville, the Vermont Republican Party's star maiden horse in the U.S. House race.

Since she defeated Adj. Gen. Don Edwards, the incumbent, in the Vermont Legislature’s 1997 Statehouse election,  Gerneralissima Rainville has performed well on the military stage. But it is a rather limited stage with a much narrower issue-focus that that of a United States congressman. (In fact, I just called the office of the current adjutant general - Mike Dubie, brother of Brian - to double-check how many folks are actually in the Vt. Guard. Apparently, the general's secretary didn't know.Got bumped  to the information officer's answering machine.)

After the story broke on Professor Julie Waters' blog - Reason and Brimstone - last weekend about  plagiarism infecting Martha Rainville’s campaign website, a Vermont voter might reasonably wonder why no warning lights went off?  Not one?

Why a policy position of a Democrat like Hillary Clinton sounded kosher to Republican Rainville?

The Pulitzer Prize winning editorial pages of the Rutland Herald and the Times Argus hit the nail on the head - a must read, folks.

The damage to Rainville comes in two ways. First, she has based her campaign on the idea that she will bring higher ethical standards to Congress. For her staff to steal language from other politicians undermines that claim. Second, the action underscores the contention that Rainville, who is new to politics, is also new to the issues and her record is so thin that it consists of other people's words.

And it gets worse, folks.

I was just checking Martha’s allegedly corrected campaign website. The mistakes are supposed to be fixed, but Blogger Waters, the CCV prof, is still finding examples of the P-word, i.e. plagiarism. Unbelievable!

And just as concerning is some of the Rainville content. Look, I've been covering Vermont elections since 1980. I remember how major party candidates - especially non-incumbents - held weekly pressers on different important issues. One week was environment, another foreign policy, another agriculture etc. My colleagues and I grilled them good with the questions that had to be asked. And voters could learn a candidate's position clearly without all the "spin" and "make believe" that dominates the game in our 21st Century.

Rainville's issue-content raises questions about just how up-to-speed the candidate is. Just take the the No.1 issue of the day - the U.S. War in Iraq. This is Martha's Iraq view as of today:

"Over the last three years, the Iraqi people have taken tremendous steps towards a democratic, stable and free Iraq. As the Iraqis continue to increase their capacity to secure their own country and defeat the terrorists, American troops will continue to withdraw."

"Tremendous steps" toward a "stable" Iraq?" "Continue to withdraw?"

What planet is she on?

Here are a couple Associated Press news-story leads from the present. Makes one wonder if this GOP congressional candidate ever picks up a newspaper or watches CNN?

Former general says Iraq a 'debacle'
October 5, 2006
By Anne Plummer Flaherty Associated Press
WASHINGTON — Gen. James L. Jones, once the Marine Corps' top general, did not deny reports in a new book that he told a colleague Iraq was a debacle and that Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld had emasculated the service chiefs.

Leading Republican casts dismal view of Iraq
October 6, 2006
By Anne Plumer Flaherty Associated Press
WASHINGTON — Sen. John Warner on Thursday offered his darkest assessment yet of Iraq, saying the war there was "drifting sideways" without a commitment from its government to disarm militias.
Warner, a Republican and Bush loyalist, made his comments to reporters upon returning from a recent trip to the region.
He said the military had done what it could and that Congress must make some "bold decisions" if, after three months, progress is not made by the Iraqis to calm ethnic violence and hasten reconstruction.
Warner did not say what he thinks Congress should do, but added all options will be considered. Lawmakers have suggested various remedies, including setting a timetable to pull out U.S. troops and dividing the country into smaller independent ethnic states.

Candidate Rainville might want to rethink her Iraq position, eh?

Fast.

Or at least pick up a damn newspaper and read it!

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*UPDATE 1*  5:30 p.m.

Just got home from a Montpelier document run and taping "Vermont This Week" at Vermont Public Television in Colchester. Mark Johnson filled in for Chris Graff as host. Darren Allen, Vermont Press Bureau chief (Rutland Herald/Times Argus), and Nancy Remsen, Freeps' Capital Bureau chief (though the paper closed it's Montpelier bureau a few months ago), and yours truly. Check it out at 7:30. A few hot topics.

Capt. John Geno from the Vernont National Guard was on my answering machine. The population of the Vermont Guard, he said, is 3500. (I thought it was over 4000 - glad I called.)

Thank you, sir!

Now we know the size diffference. General Martha was responsible for 3500 people. She now seeks another elected position that would make her responsible, according to the U.S. Census Bureau, for an estimated 623,050.

Not saying she isn't capable. She's very talented. Just noting that it is a much, much bigger picture.

The guy she's running against, Democrat Peter Welch, has had experience running the Vermont Senate and getting budgets and laws passed.

Welch also supported the federal Wilderness Bill that the entire Vermont congressional delegation strongly supported.

Rainville opposed it. Most of us just learned that this week. She never put out a press release or held a press conference on it. But it turns out, she was very, very against it. In fact, her side put enough heat on GOP Gov. Jim Douglas to get him to at least get the House GOP leadership to shrink the size of the Vermont wilderness parcel by 6000 acres.

Unfortunately, because of that move, we do not have the new Wilderness legislation Sen. Jim Jeffords worked so hard on.  At the last minute before adjournment last week, the bill passed the Senate again, but did not make it to the House floor. There'll be a token session between Election Day and Christmas. Nothing is guaranteed about it being taken up. The Vermont Wilderness bill is truly in limbo.

However, we do know that if it doesn't pass in the token session and Marvelous Martha beats Peter Welch on November 7, Vermont's lone congressman will not be supporting the bill next year. That makes it D.O.A. - dead on arrival.

Interesting.

It'd make a good commercial, don't you think?

"Vermont has too much wilderness already. Trees, after all, are for cutting and burning and mulching, not for hugging. I'm Martha Rainville and I approved this messsage."

Last Update: 2:30 p.m.

Update 1: *Rainville Campaign Responds*

Update 2: **Rainville's Global Warming Switcheroo - a flashback!**

An interesting week, eh?

Our "Adults Only" item in this week's "Inside Track" prompted quite a few interesting questions at GOP Congressional Candidate Martha Rainville's presser yesterday afternoon. And it's obvious Thursday morning, that Vermont media outfits are approaching it very differently.

The Rutland Herald/Times Argus ran a story, Candidate Dismisses Poison Pen Letter, and we're told from a listener that the VPR morning guy with the Scottish accent reported it, crediting the Rutland Herald.

Nothing in the Freeps, despite pretty direct questioning from the two Freeps' reporters and one editorialist in attendance. Nothing on "Vermont's Own" Ch. 3 News.

No surprise there, folks. Some viewers suggest the station's GOP slant is getting even more blatant and outrageous than ever. It's fair to say that WCAX's Vermont political coverage continues to be of the sort that would make the late, great owner and generous Republican Party contributor Stuart "Red" Martin very, very proud. 

Heck, the Vermont Chamber of Commerce's favorite political reporter Anson Tebbetts didn't even bother to file a Rainville plagiarism story on Monday - the day it broke. Amazing that he totally ignored it, since the rest of the state's mainstream press treated it as the top political story of the day!

A Rainville campaign policy-researcher, Chris Stewart, got fired after being exposed for lifting quotes from other politicians - including Democrat Sen. Hillary Clinton - and attributing them in Rainville-website policy statements as coming from the lips of Martha Rainville herself!

You'd think Martha the Republican would have found Clinton's remarks sounding a little bit off-key?

The Rainville Campaign Plagiarism story was front-page news in Vermont on Tuesday morning - above-the-fold - in Vermont's major daily newspapers.  Even Ch. 5 News had reported it Monday evening.

That very different news judgment may have prompted a little editorial "rethinking" over on Joy Drive on Tuesday. Tuesday evening, a day late and a dollar short,  Reporter Tebbetts did report on Rainville's plagiarism. No big deal. Surely, Democrat Peter Welch would have been treated in similar fashion had he been caught lifting a quote from Republican Dick Cheney and posting it on his congressional campaign website as his own words?

Yeah, sure,

Tebbetts' Tuesday story ran well down the news list at 6:14 p.m. The way Anson spun it, you'd think Martha couldn't possibly be in any way, shape or form the slightest bit responsible. That she was merely a poor victim and that she will surely weather the storm. In case you weren't watching this is what Ch. 3 told Vermont:

Martha Rainville has fired one of her staff members for plagiarism. The Republican candidate for Congress is dealing with this issue as the campaign goes into the final stages. Anson Tebbetts has more.

(tape 9 tile 1) ((Martha Rainville/Republican for Congress "it is disturbing. It's very disappointing.")) Martha Rainville's web site is shutdown as the campaign tries to clean up a case of plagiarism. Rainville fired a member of her staff because he lifted quotes from others and attributed them to Rainville in campaign material. (tape 9 tile 2) ((Martha Rainville/Republican for Congress "I looked at it as take responsibility, address it, head on, take care of it. Because we need to make sure that Vermonters understand that ethics is important. It's the foundation of real progress on all of the issues that are so important to Vermont.")) Rainville's opponent Peter Welch was in Washington and was not available for an on-camera interview but issued this statement. "Issues and ideas matter ... These plagiarism revelations are short-changing to Vermonters who want to know where their candidates stand." Rainville has made ethics the cornerstone of her campaign. St. Michael's Political Science professor Bill Grover says the plagiarism issue is serious but doubts there will be long term damage to Rainville. (tape 315 a) ((Bill Grover/St. Michael's College "I mean it's a serious issue but will people view this as an insight into who she is. They probably will not. 35 days out you don't want anything like this to happen. She will probably weather the storm and move on.")) Rainville believes only one staffer was involved and she hopes to have her web page up and running soon. Anson Tebbetts Channel 3 news Williston.

Poor Martha.  Just a victim!

On Wednesday afternoon, Candidate Rainville held a presser. It had been previously scheduled for 2:45 p.m. at the HQ at Tafts Corners on an environmental topic. Unfortunately, she was 10 minutes late getting back from Ch. 3 where she had gone for an exclusive interview on the presser's topic before any other media outlets got a bite. Special treatment?

I'm just transcribing the tape of that incredible press conference now, and hope to have updates later today, so check back.

Here was Candidate Rainville's first response when asked about the anonymous Vermont Guard Porngate letter:

“I know that you received a letter that although it looks like it was signed is illegible, basically an anonymous letter, a letter that I find disgusting. A letter that was sent to the Welch campaign and to you and a letter that makes some very untrue allegations. I’m not going to discuss the specifics in there. I also know that there have been events that have transpired at the Guard since I’ve been gone that the current adjutant general is dealing with through an investigation  that should not be discussed.

"So I will only say I know bits and pieces. I do not have any inside information or privileged information on what is going on there now."

Listening to the tape, one gets the feeling Martha Rainville sounds a little like she could be in a similar jam as House Speaker Denny Hastert. No one's accused Hastert of engaging in sex with underage pages. Rather the accusation is that he turned a blind-eye and effectively covered it up while other engaged in the illicit behavior.

Is that what Martha Rainville did, too, in her last job as adjutant general of the Vermont National Guard?

Vermonters certainly deserve to know before the November 7 Election Day, don't they?

Later....

*********************************************************************************************

Update 1. Posted 1:55 p.m.

From Rainville HQ via email:

"Martha Rainville was at Channel 3 for a previously scheduledtaping for their spots contrasting the candidates on the issues. It was not, asyou say “an exclusive interview on the presser's topic”

Regards,

Brendan McKenna

Communications Director
Martha Rainville For Congress

Thank you, Brendan!

According to the Monday press release you sent out, the stated purpose of Martha's 2:45 Wednesday presser was:

Rainville to Make Environmental Policy Announcement

WILLISTON, VT– U.S. House Candidate Martha Rainville will make a major environmentalpolicy announcement at a press conference Wednesday.

The press conference will be held at 2:45 p.m. at the CampaignHeadquarters in Williston.

WHO: U.S. House Candidate Martha Rainville

WHAT: Environmental Policy Press Conference

WHEN: Wednesday October 4, 2:45 p.m

WHERE: Martha Rainville for Congress Campaign Headquarters

Junction of Routes 2 and 2a, Tafts Corners, Williston, Vermont

The story reported on the Six News by the station that calls itself "Vermont's Own" was:

18} ENVIRONMENT_RUP

Republican Martha Rainville is getting behind a global warming bill authored by Senator James Jeffords and a Democratic congressman from California. The bill would require the United States to reduce greenhouse gas emissions dramatically over the next 50-years. It also requires use of renewable energy, higher pollution standards for power plants and cars, and investment in new technologies. (tape 859 14:24) ((Martha Rainville/Republican for Congress "the Waxman bill pushes the envelope in a sense. There are only three Republicans who have signed on as co-sponsors. I hope there will be more as well all recognize to step out on this. We as a country sort of treaded water for too long.")) Rainville's Democrat opponent Peter Welch also supports the Jeffords-Waxman bill. Tomorrow, Welch will campaign and hold a rally at Middlebury College on the importance of addressing global warming in the next Congress.

I know. It sounds a little funny. Rainville is, after all, on record opposing even one more acre of Vermont designated as a "wilderness" acre, a position few Vermonters are aware of. Maybe that's because it would put her diametrically opposed to the position of our current entire congressional delgation? And of most Vermonters?

Also, Generalissima Rainville, as recently as July, expressed the view that "global warming" was just a theory - not a fact.

Sounds like she's had a campaign conversion to us - God bless her!

So, Mr. McKenna, two things stand out:

1.  It was indeed an "exclusive" interview. Neither I, nor any of the other journalists from the Freeps, the Rutland Herald/Times Argus, the Associated Press or Ch. 5, the ones who were waiting for Candidate Rainville to return to her headquarters in Williston, got an invite to the exclusive interview she did over at Ch. 3's studios in South Burlington, prior to her scheduled press conference with the rest of the Vermont press,  and

2. Marselis Parsons & Ch. 3 did report on-air what was the intended story -  intended, that is, by the Rainville for Congress Campaign.

Nice teamwork, eh?

Congratulations, Martha! You got the story you wanted on the "top" Vermont evening news broadcast. And they didn't even have to attend your press conference!

**************************************************************************************************

**Update 2:30 p.m.**

From  “Inside Track” on July 12:

Has Marvelous Martha seen Al Gore's global-warming flick, An Inconvenient Truth?

"No, but I do plan to see it," she told us.

No offense, but she desperately needs to see it soon. Why?

Because Martha Rainville sounds like she still is in a state of conservative, pro-business denial when it comes to acknowledging that global warming is not just a theory but actual fact. It's here, and it's happening now.

Is the global-warming crisis as critical to her as it appears to us?

"I think what's critical," replied Rainville, "is that we have to educate ourselves on it. There are obviously different opinions on global warming, but the overarching question is, what is global warming? What is the extent of it? How much of it is influenced by man and the decisions that we make? And what ought we to be doing?"

Martha's answer might have held water 10 years ago, five years ago, or even two years ago, but it simply doesn't hold water in 2006.

Quite simply, Candidate Rainville ought to consider updating her global-warming position quickly. Though she told us she normally only sees movies on DVD, this one might be worth a trip to the theater.

P.S. Looks like she took our advice and updated her global-warming position, eh?

But we haven’t checked back to ask if she’s actually gone to see the movie - the Al Gore movie.

Ten candidates for Chittenden County’s six state senate seats turnedout for a candidates forum at Community College of Vermont in downtownBurlington last night. About 70 students from several classes attended.Few of the students had ever heard of any of the candidates.

Each got up and gave their bio and told how much they want to serve Vermonters. State Sen. Ed Flanagan (D) goteveryone’s attention when he told the students he’d been in "a horriblecar accident" and had "a brush with death" back in November 2005.Returning to Burlington from Montpeculiar, Sen. Flanagan’s car shotoff  the right side of I-89 just before the Richmond exit. He wasn’tfound until the following day and was in critical condition. They gothim just in time.

That’s Fast Eddie with fellow senators Diane Snelling (R) and Jim Condos (D) following last night’s class. Sen. Flanagan wasn't just "looking good," he was sounding good, too!

“I fully appreciate the importance of healthcare reform,” saidFlanagan. “My mission is universal high-quality healthcare. It’s verypersonal.”

Guess who got to ask the last question?

Your favorite local columnist, that’s who. And after 90 minutes oflistening to uncensored politcal BS, we raised an issue some inattendance might actually consider more important than calling forincreased state funding for education or,  in the case of Republicanwanna-be-comeback-kid Dennis Delaney, a invitation to visit the candidate’s website.

But the Delaney remark that stood out to me was something he said about howhe’s just running for the state legislature and is therefore simply too powerlessto deal with a big issue like global warming.

“Could I please get a show of hands from the candidates?" I asked. "How many of you have bothered to go see the Al Gore film An Inconvenient Truth?"

Only three out of 10 state senate candidate hands went up: Ed Flanagan, State Sen. Virginia Lyons (D), who chairs the Senate Natural Resources and Energy Committee, and newcomer Chuck Furtado(R), who said he just wrapped up a military career as a Lt. Colonel inthe Army and in his last job was the Inspector General of the VermontNational Guard. (Bet he has stories to tell, eh?)

The columnist in me couldn’t resist asking a rhetorical question: Howcan you possibly expect these young people to take you seriously if 70percent of you political leaders won’t even see the bedrock, must-seefilm that lays out in great and complete detail the No. 1 problemfacing our human world at this very moment?

Needless to say, that livened things up. In fact, on Wednesday morning,I heard from two of the non-movie-goer candidates who informed me theynow intend to see An Inconvenient Truth as soon aspossible. (It's still playing downtown at The Roxy). One was anincumbent, even admitted in an email to having been “afraid” to see it,just like I once was.

Don’t worry, Senator, you are not alone, but you are in charge. Andbefore you are able to tackle  Mother Earth's man-madeglobal-warming crisis, you have to confront it.

It’s okay to be afraid. So was I last June when I realized that I, likemost friends and colleagues, had also managed to conveniently avoidseeing the heavyweight Gore flick. Maybe that's why the word"inconvenient" is in the title, eh?

It’s 90 minutes in a dark theater with the scariest truth out theretoday. Such an apt title. It is, after all, a very, very inconvenienttruth to accept. That the Earth's temperature is rising as a directresult of the fossil fuel combustion we Earthlings once thought merelyguaranteed we'd always live in "modern" times. That the glaciers arerapidly melting, the oceans are rising, weather patterns are shifting -all with calamatous impacts on the "modern" civilization we take for granted.

Until one really accepts the truth about global warming, one simply won’t be able to effectively address it.

Pretend isn't going to cut it.

*Last Update 4:20 p.m.

Good morning!

Tuesday's my day for writing the print "Inside Track" column in Seven Days. And yes, you're right, there's been a lot happening this week and it's only Tuesday. I think it's fair to say this will be a week GOP Congressional Candidate Martha Rainville will not forget. The Rainville plagiarism story got front page coverage in The Burlington Free Press this morning. Very embarrassing, eh?

However, Marvelous Martha's campaign plagiarism story was completely and totally ignored by Vermont Chamber of Commerce TV News, a.k.a. WCAX-TV - Channel 3. I'm not making this up. Just double checked the Ch. 3 Monday news scripts. The top Vermont political story of the day, a story showing GOP Candidate Rainville in a very bad ethical light, got absolutely no coverage Monday evening by Vermont's top TV news operation, the one I've called WGOP-TV for years!

Hey, if the shoe fits......

But even with WGOP-TV, er, WCAX ignoring Candidate Rainville's problems (and more are coming, folks) the former adjutant general of the Vermont Guard has a very steep hill to climb. Stay tuned.

Over on the gubernatorial side, there was an excellent debate on environmental issues last night between Jim Douglas and Scudder Parker at the Capitol Plaza in Montpeculiar.  About 200 people turned out for the debate which was sponsored by the Vermont Natural Resources Council (VNRC),  Vermont Public Television President John King did an excellent job moderating. A few shaky moments for Gov. Scisssorhands, who was not exactly speaking to a crowd of supporters. From "wind energy" to "wilderness," Vermont's current governor does, at times, seem a bit out-of-touch with mainstream Vermont.

Unfortunately for Candidate Parker, WCAX-TV News did not cover the VNRC debate.

Interesting "news" judgement over there, eh?

Five weeks left until Election Day.

**********************************************************************************************

*UPDATE 10:45 a.m.

Press Coverage Comparison:

Did something I don't do very often these days - I went out to buy the daily newspapers. You now, the ones made out of paper?

Wanted to compare the news judgement at Vermont largest daily newspapers to the news judgement at Vermont largest TV news station - our fave: WCAX.

Worlds apart!

Newswise, both The Burlington Free Press and the Rutland Herald - Vermont's two largest-circulation papers - feature the Candidate Rainville Plagiarism story and the VNRC gubernatorial-debate story on Page 1 - above the fold! Vermont Public Radio did its own original plagiarism story, too, just like the papers. John Dillon had it on the air before 6 p.m. on Monday.

However, both "news" stories were totally ignored by "award-winning" Ch. 3 News Monday night. Not a whisper. Not even at 11 p.m., despite the fact the Rainville plagiarism story moved on the Associated Press wire at 8:29 p.m.  The Douglas v. Parker environmental-issues debate moved at 9:14 p.m.  All 11 o'clock anchor-chair teleprompter news-readers Roger Garrity and Kristin Kelly had to do was rip and read either one. No heavy lifting. 

Hey. Do you think if an aide to a Vermont Democratic congresssional candidate was caught swiping quotes from Republicans to post online in the mouth of the Democrat, that "award-winning" Ch. 3 News would have ignored it, too?

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*UPDATE 4:20 p.m. corrected

In case you missed the broadcasts, as I did, you may not know how WPTZ-TV News covered this Monday. Got this email from Ch. 5 veteran Stewart Ledbetter:

"We had the story on Monday's 5pm newscast. Didn't get Rainville on the
phone until 4:45 so it was tight, and we combined the Welch/Foley story and
plagiarism charge. At 6pm we ran a shorter version only on the plagiarism
and staff employee's responsibility for it."

BREAKING NEWS.....

Last Update: 4:45 p.m.

Plagiarism: n. The practice of taking someone else’s work or ideas and passing them off as one’s own.

Say it ain't so, Martha. Please!

The first week of October 2006 begins with dark skies in Vermont (in more ways than one for some in the Vermont political sphere). This blogger has confirmed disturbing allegations from the blogosphere - that new electronic world your gracefully aging “Inside Track” Seven Days columnist is now inhabiting - that Republican Congressional Candidate Martha Rainville has brazenly posted plagiarized policy statements on her campaign website.  She even lifted quotes from Democrats, including Hillary Clinton!!!

In a nutshell - the congressional campaign of former Vermont National Guard Adjutant General Martha Rainville, personally recruited for the GOP ticket by Gov. Jim Douglas, posted several statements and quotations on her website that were brazenly stolen from - are you ready for this? -

1. Former First Lady and current Democratic Sen. from New York Hillary Clinton re: energy policy

2. Democratic Rep. Jim Cooper of  Tennessee re: the federal budget

3. Colorado Republican U.S. House candidate Rick O’Donnell re: health care

Thank you, Carolyn in Moretown, for alerting me to this Daily Kos posting from Sunday: http://www.dailykos.com/story/2006/10/1/20532/1397

You will find the evidence - the lifted quotations - all laid out right here:
http://reasonandbrimstone.blogspot.com/2006/10/rainvilles-stolen-ideas.html

Also on the Marvelous Martha front this dark Monday from GOP sources:

"Christine Todd Whitman, former Governor of New Jersey and former Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency will be visiting Stowe in support of US House candidate Martha Rainville on Monday October 16. Christine Whitman is a moderate Republican who is supporting like-minded candidates for office.

"The occasion will be a fundraising luncheon to benefit Martha Rainville’s campaign at the Trapp Family Lodge in the Mozart room starting at 12 noon. The cost is $250 per person for the luncheon, or $500 per person for the luncheon in addition to a private gathering with Martha and Christine.

"Martha and Christine will both make thoughtful remarks at the luncheon.

“Thoughtful,” perhaps, but stolen from whom?

Check back for updates. We have a call into the Rainville camp and her chief opponent Peter Welch has called a telephone conference call with the press for I p.m. to discuss Republican Congressman Mark Foley from Florida who just resigned in the midst of a growing Capitol Hill sex scandal.

Good timing for the Republicans, eh?

***********************************************************************************************

Update 1 -  1:50 p.m.

Asked Candidate Welch at the end of his conference call on Rep. Foley's departure about today's breaking news regarding the Rainville website plagiarism. He said he had heard about it from his campaign manager this morning but hadn't had time to personally dive into Blog Land to read it all just yet.

"I haven’t seen it," said Welch. "Obviously they are serious allegations that rightfully would be addressed by Martha Rainville."

Just before the conference call, we did reach Rainville for Congress spokesman Brendan McKenna. He said he was online checking it out as we spoke.

"Martha Rainville," he told us, "has always taken good ideas because they're good ideas, without regard to the source."

Press Secretary McKenna (nice guy, formerly with the Rutland Herald),  corrected himself and asked if he could replace the word "taken" with "considered."

Sure, whatever you like. I'm a blogger. We're flexible.

Unfortunately, "taken" or "considered," it's still plagiarism when you print it on your campaign website as coming from the lips of Martha Rainville.

*********************************************************************************************

Update 2 - 4:45 p.m.

Rainville Website Shut Down & Staffer Fired

GOP Congressional hopeful Martha Rainville told yours truly Monday afternoon she has fired campaign staffer/researcher Christopher Stewart following an internal investigation of the plagiarism scandal involving Rainville’s website.

“I am incredibly disappointed in him and we have shut down the website,” Rainville told us. “We are reworking the wording of our issues and we are continuing  an internal investigation to see if there were any other cases of this or if anybody else was aware of it.”

Candidate Rainville said she was not aware of the plagiarism until the matter was brought to her attention on Monday morning.  She called it “very disappointing news.” Said Rainville, “It’s not acceptable and we are not going to condone it in any way.”

A federal wilderness bill that would expand the Green Mountain National Forest’s "wilderness" designation to an additional 42,000 acres hangs by a thread this weekend. The U.S. Senate has passed it, but the House has adjourned before taking action. The bill could still pass in the lame-duck session that will follow the November 7 election, but nothing is certain in Washington.

What’s certain in Vermont is that self-funded Republican U.S. Senate longshot Richard Tarrant strongly opposes the New England Wilderness Act despite the fact it has the support of Vermont’s entire congressional delegation and governor, including Tarrant’s opponent the Senate frontrunner Bernie Sanders. Richie Rich held a rare presser Saturday morning in front of B.J.'s Gun Shop on Industrial Avenue in Williston. Nice folks inside to chat with. Said Tarrant outside:

"Right now as you know we have in front of us an issue about the wilderness controversy. And I want to state very clearly that I stand behind the sportsmen. I think we have enough wilderness. I’m for conservation. I think we have to conserve our forests. We have to manage our forests, but the bottom line is we cannot take our forests away from traditional Vermonters who not only use them to make a living, but use them to recreate.”

Tarrant, who said he doesn’t hunt, told reporters that if elected to the Senate, he would oppose any expansion of the wilderness designation in Vermont which prohibits ATVs, snowmobiles and logging.

Observing Tarrant’s press conference  was Sanders for Senate campaign spokesman Paul Hortenstine. Afterwards, he described Tarrant’s view as “extremist,” and handed out literature stating Tarrant wasn't telling the truth about the bill restricting Vermonters' right to hunt and fish. Not so:

"The wilderness bill will not restrict hunting and fishing and will preseve hunting and fishing opportunities for generations to come."

"We’ve seen again today," said Hortenstine, "that he would rather hide behind his negative discredited attack ads. And when he finally does take a position on an issue, it’s an extreme position that’s not only out of step with the Vermont delegation but it’s also out-of-step with the Republican governor and with Vermonters."

Tarrant had a dozen "sportsmen" stand behind him, including former anti-civil union candidate for governor Brian Pearl. Pearl finished 10th in 2002 with 569 votes statewide.

Today we're getting a few responses regarding the Wilderness Bill not passing the House....yet. First from Vermont's U.S. Rep. Bernie Sanders' office:

Despite a full court press by the entire Vermont delegation, the clock ran out on their effort to secure passage of the Vermont Wilderness bill late last night when the U.S. House adjourned without taking it up again.  Congress will return for a lame duck session following the November election and Congressman Bernie Sanders intends to continue his bipartisan effort with the all-Republican New Hampshire House delegation to get the Vermont and New Hampshire initiatives approved by Congress and signed into law.

Sanders said, "I am pleased that we got as far as we did in this process.  It puts us in a good position for the lame duck session in November.  Needless to say, I am very disappointed that essentially the clock ran out on our efforts in the last few days to get this done now.  But we are not going to stop pushing for the Vermont Wilderness bill until we get it passed."

Then from Gov. Jim Douglas, who fellow Republican Tarrant declined to criticize, saying he had not spoken to Douglas as yet about the issue. Said the Guv:

"I’m pleased Senators Jeffords and Leahy succeeded in moving our wilderness compromise through the Senate yesterday and I look forward to seeing this measure pass the House when Congress returns later this Fall.  I’ve reiterated my commitment to assist the delegation with this important work.

"All the issues surrounding additional wilderness designations within our Green Mountain National Forest evoke strong feelings from many Vermonters with multiple points of view. By recognizing the value of compromise, we were able to reach an agreement.

"This measure will expand wilderness areas within the Green Mountain National Forest and I appreciate the work our delegation is doing to move this bill through the Congress before it adjourns for the year."

And next from Peter Welch, the Democrat running for Bernie's seat in the U.S. House:

"It is disappointing for Vermonters that wilderness protection for our state has stalled in the U.S. House, despite an agreement between the Governor and Vermont's congressional delegation.  The leadership in the Senate did its job by unanimously passing the compromise language; unfortunately the Republican leadership in the House was unwilling to do theirs.

"I, like most Vermonters, support a balance of land use for our National Forests- land that is truly wild for hunting, hiking, and skiing; active forest management; and recreation use such a snowmobiling.  This is a clear difference between me and my opponent Martha Rainville, who has stated clearly her opposition to 'any more' wilderness protection.

"The New England Wilderness bill is yet another example of why we must put an end to Republican leadership in the House and begin a new direction."

Nothing from the Rainville Campaign....yet.

And finally, this statement just in from Scudder Parker, Democrat for governor:

“Sadly, last night despite the best efforts of Senators Jeffords and Leahy and Representative Sanders, the New England Wilderness Bill failed to pass, leaving the protection of additional wilderness in Vermont in limbo.  Jim Douglas is to blame and must stand up and take responsibility for his actions.

“Douglas's role in derailing the bill is becoming clearer and clearer, and voters are paying attention.  Had he not written the letter to Representative Pombo, we would have a wilderness bill today.

“It is incomprehensible to me that a governor of Vermont, a state that came together over five years to support a workable compromise on wilderness, would have so utterly failed his constituents by playing last-minute political games.  He wrote the letter.  He derailed the process.  He should take responsibility.  He’s had his chance, and in November, the voters will have their say.”

The Guv's race is getting a little interesting, eh?

A number of items have popped up today for sharing:

1. We're  hearing from sources (around 2 p.m.) that the controversial Wilderness Bill is now moving. The one Gov. Jim Douglas almost put the kebash to. Yep, got it confirmed. It's passed the Senate and is on to the House.

2. That's good because it'll give Rich Tarrant, the GOP's self-funded ($6.1 million) candidate for the U.S. Senate ( vs. Bernie Sanders), a hook to hang one of his rare press conferences on:

U.S. Senate candidate Rich Tarrant will hold a press conference tomorrow, Saturday, September 30. Tarrant will announce his Sportsmen for Tarrant coalition and talk about the wilderness issue.

Candidate Tarrant is holding it at BJ's Gun and Sporting Goods store in Williston. Wonder if Richie's been a regular customer?

3. Oh, Canada! From the office of U.S. Sen. Patrick J. Leahy we got this:

House Leaders Drop 11th Hour Bid To Kill Leahy Amendment
That Mandates Improvements In New Border-Crossing System

Leahy Also Beats Back Bid
To Curb First-Responder Grants
To Vermont And Other Smaller States

WASHINGTON (Friday, Sept. 29) – Vermont Friday was poised to score twosignificant policy wins engineered by Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) as theU.S. House and Senate neared final passage of the annual homelandsecurity budget bill, after key House leaders dropped an 11th-hour bidto strip from the bill Leahy’s amendment to mandate improvements in acontroversial new border-crossing ID system.

Leahy’s legislationwill buy more time to improve implementation of the controversial PASSCard system for border crossings – a system that will require newidentity cards and methods for crossing U.S. borders, including theNorthern Border with Canada.  Leahy was joined by Sen. Ted Stevens(R-Alaska) in writing and offering the amendment, which would postponeimplementation of the PASS Card system – part of the Western HemisphereTravel Initiative (WHTI) -- for 17 months, until June 1, 2009....

House and SenateAppropriations Committee conferees on Monday had approved Leahy’samendment and included it in the final bill.  Leahy’s amendment hadbeen in the Senate-passed version of the bill but not the House’sversion.  Since then, House Speaker Dennis Hastert (R-Ill.) and HouseJudiciary Committee Chairman James Sensenbrenner (R-Wisc.) have mounteda rare post-conference bid to strip the Leahy-Stevens Amendment fromthe conference agreement.  .... The House is expected to pass the billFriday, before adjourning this year’s regular session, and the Senateis expected to follow suit either Friday or Saturday.

4. Remember the Global Warming March over Labor Day Weekend? Been quiet on that topic since, but this arrived today:

Will Vermont Temperatures Feel Like Tennessee?
New Global Warming Report: How We Manage Emissions Today Will Dramatically Affect Changes in Northeast Climate and Quality of Life

At a telephone press conference on Wednesday, October 4, fourteen leading university scientists will release a study that uses state-of-the-art science to project the impacts on the Northeast climate under two scenarios:

1) a continued reliance on energy sources such as
coal and oil that produce high levels of heat-trapping emissions, and

2) a shift to clean and renewable energy to power our economy.  These two scenarios lead to starkly different outcomes as children born today reach middle age.  More summer heat waves, greatly reduced winter snow, and shortened seasons are just three examples of how global warming will likely change the lifestyles enjoyed by residents of Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Connecticut, New York, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania.

Took the photo yesterday afternoon. Three busloads of tourists from the South went for a boat ride. They're here to see our fall foliage. Be nice to hang onto it for awhile, eh?

5. Finally, don't you hate to watch law-enforcement types fight?

Re: Chittenden County State's Attorney's Race

AG Praises Donovan’s ‘Energy, Experience and Vision’

BURLINGTON, VT—Today, Vermont’s top law enforcement official, Attorney General William Sorrell, endorsed the candidacy of TJ Donovan for Chittenden County State’s Attorney.  The Attorney General, a former Chittenden County State’s Attorney himself, praised Donovan for clearly possessing the attributes necessary to effectively serve as Chittenden County’s top prosecutor.

“I served two different stints as Chittenden County State’s Attorney,” said Attorney General Sorrell.  “I know what the job demands.  I also know T.J. Donovan.  T.J. has the energy, experience and vision to be a great State’s Attorney for our most populous county.  He has my vote. ”   

Coincidentally, Mr. Donovan's Republican opponent had this letter-to-the-editor in today's Freeps:

As his opponent in the upcoming general election Nov. 7 for State's Attorney, I'd like to congratulate T.J. Donovan on his primary win.

Now, for the first time in many years, there'll be a general election campaign -- and clear choices -- for the honor of becoming Chittenden County's top prosecutor. As Deputy State's Attorney, and entering my 10th year as a prosecutor, I look forward to upcoming debates and forums with Donovan that will highlight the experience and vision of both candidates.

I urge Chittenden County voters to attend these discussions.

All citizens have a stake in the quality, experience, and philosophy of criminal prosecution which the next State's Attorney will bring to the job.

JOHN ST. FRANCIS
Burlington
The writer is the Republican candidate for Chittenden County state's attorney.

In case you can't read between the lines, St. Francis would like to make "experience" the issue i.e. length of experience. He's been prosecuting for 10 years. Donovan only put it a year or so. St. Francis would like you to think Donovan's too young, but TJ's 33, just one year younger than Chittenden County State's Attorney Patrick Leahy was when St. Pat won the 1974 U.S. Senate race.

Posted Thursday Evening:

I knew watching C-Span's Senate coverage Thursday afternoon. Knew that these are the times. Just about everywhere I look this week, these are the times that try all souls, mine included.

"This is a farce," scoffed Vermont's senior U.S. Sen. Patrick J. Leahy during the Senate "debate" this afternoon. "This is a farce!" he shouted. St. Pat ripped off his microphone in disgust and walked away. I want my country back, too,  but they ain't giving it back. We will have to take it back. You and I. I trust everyone realizes that?

The "Farce"  of today is the Senate's impending passage of a law that defines "enemy combatants" in a way that is just as unconstitutional and un-American as the law it is replacing - a law found unconstitutional by our current rather Republican-friendly Supreme Court.

Check out this excellent piece in Salon titled "Tortured Justice."

"This provision would perpetuate the indefinite detention of hundreds of individuals against whom the government has brought no charges and presented no evidence, without any recourse to justice whatsoever," Vermont Democrat Patrick Leahy declared at the start of Wednesday's Senate debate. "This is un-American. It is unconstitutional and it is contrary to American interests."

Amen!

Leahy was clearly frustrated by the white-flag mood among some Senate Democrats. As he said in an interview, "In my own caucus, people say, 'We can't oppose this, look what happened to Max Cleland.'" (A Vietnam veteran confined to a wheelchair because of war wounds, Cleland, a Georgia senator, was defeated by GOP attacks ads in 2002 because he had supported a Democratic filibuster delaying the establishment of the Department of Homeland Security). Leahy recounted that his weak-kneed Democratic colleagues also argue, "'We have to go along with it because we'll never be able to explain it back home.'" That prompted the Vermont senator to add, "Maybe one way to explain it is to say, 'I stood up for you and your rights.'"

Couldn't take any more C-Span. Or CNN or Internet. Went for a spin on the two-wheeler. Rep. David Zuckerman, wife and child were holding their last Farmer's Market at Union Station. They grow for 180 families who buy shares.  Come and get it on Tuesdays and Thursdays. A short season it was with all the rain. Only raised 1500 pounds of Burlington, Vermont  Intervale potatoes this summer instead of the usual 6000 pounds. "Normal" years, they'd go a couple more weeks, said Dave the Prog.

And then there were those four beautiful war protesters in front of the Unitarian Church this evening between 5 and 5:30. God bless them! They show up Mondays through Fridays for years! I don't know about you, but this week has offered darkness everywhere I've looked. The Big Picture's rather scary. Sanity and courage appear in short supply. But I'm not alone in this....and neither are you. Let's not forget that, OK?

The light is there. Just have to look harder sometimes.

In politics people say a lot of wild things, but, still,  you’ve got to admire their moxie sometimes. Yesterday, five veteran GOP members of the Vermont House held a Statehouse presser (forgot to invite yours truly otherwise we’d have a photo!), to announce their call to END the statewide property tax that pays for public schools. The Fearless Five Republican Reps are:
.
Rick Hube of Londonderry,
Steve Adams of Hartland
Rich Westman of Cambridge,
Joe Krawczyk of Bennington
Joyce Errecart of Shelburne.

According to their press release: “Wherever we go across the state, we hear one message, loud and clear, Vermonters are feeling pain. They are overtaxed and asking for help,” said Errecart, a former state tax commissioner.

“But the current system and the statewide property tax that drives it are no longer fixable. We can’t keep slapping Band-aids on a sucking chest wound. We have to wipe the slate clean and start from scratch.”

To do that, the five plan to introduce a bill in January that would repeal the entire school funding apparatus, including the statewide property tax, effective July 1, 2009. They said they are not at this time proposing alternatives, and stressed their proposal did not advocate abolishing property taxes altogether, only the statewide levy.

“We feel confident that with two full sessions, we will be able to develop a new educational funding model that is both fair and affordable and returns to our towns and cities control over their own destinies that has been stripped away by state government in Montpelier,” Westman said.

You’ve got to check out their brand new Repeal & Revolt website!

In Dave Gram's AP story, Bill Lofy, Vermont Democratic spokesman, called the GOP proposal a "publicity stunt," saying it "does nothing to bring Vermonters together to address rising property taxes, but instead pits Vermonters against one another."
House Speaker Gaye Symington, D-Jericho, made similar complaints.

So let’s see if we’ve got this straight. Back in 1997, the Vermont Supreme Court in the Brigham decision ended a very uneven playing field.  It was a rich town - poor town landscape.  And while property poor towns struggled and strained under high tax-rates to educate their kids, the property rich towns, so-called gold towns like Stowe etc. skated along with low tax rates and well-funded public schools.

The Supremes wrote in Brigham v. State of Vermont:

"Children who live in property-poor districts and children who live in property-rich districts should be afforded a substantially equal opportunity to have access to similar educational revenues.  Thus, as other state courts have done, we hold only that to fulfill its constitutional obligation the State must ensure substantial equality of educational opportunity throughout Vermont."

The result was Act 60 since “improved” by Act 68. Income sensitivity plays a role in seeking fairness.

But still, we are talking taxes and NOBODY likes to pay taxes, right?

The only problem for the Fearless Five is passing the “straight-face” test.

If you want to launch a political PR effort six weeks before the November Election calling for the repeal of a tax you don’t like, common decency requires that you at least mention a few of the taxes you’d consider replacing the current statewide property tax with.

After all, it’ll leave behind a $1 billion-plus hole. And money does not grow on trees, not even in Vermont.

Maybe they should have set their sights lower - just end the tax on beer?

P.S. No shortage of weirdness this week, folks. How about this statement from Republican U.S. Senate candidate Richie Tarrant - who reports pumping over $6 million of his IDX fortune into a race aganst Rep. Bernie Sanders that has so far been a public embarassment...for Richie Rich. He's set the bar on TV commercials. Set it at its lowest level in Vermont history.

Statement from Rich Tarrant on the Signing of California’s Global Warming Initiative

“I want to congratulate the people of California for taking a bold step forward in the fight to reduce global warming.

“Today, Governor Schwarzenegger signed a bill into law that imposes the nation’s first cap on greenhouse gas emissions.  It’s now time for the federal government to follow California and take a leading role in the fight to reduce climate change worldwide.  We owe it to our children and grandchildren.”

Word is Richie and Arnold have something in common media-consultant-wise. Maybe Richie can get "The Terminator" to come to Vermont to campaign for him?

Big crowd for sure, eh?

Among the many at Monday’s Barbara Boxer/Bernie Sanders noontime bash at City Hall in Burlap was State Sen. Matt Dunne, the Democrat in the Lite-Gov race. His and Bernie’s were the two alternating ads that ran on this blog page when we started up.

Well, Young Dunne (left), beat Rep. John Tracy, the well-known House Health Care Committee chairman from Burlington, in the primary. He's got a November 7 toughie with Republican incumbent Brian Dubie to his right and Prog physician Marvin Malek to his left.

Meanwhile, the only question in the Sanders-Tarrant U.S. Senate race is whether the Bernie Landslide will cross the 70 percent line.

Matt dropped his Lite-Gov blog ad, but the spot quickly found a replacement.  Not a politician - but  “A safe place to ask the hard questions.”  Yep, a church. Christ Church Presbyterian on UVM’s Redstone campus.

Interesting.

As many of you “Freyne Land” readers now know, I was on the road to the Catholic priesthood as a teenager back in the mid-1960s. Was going to be a Maryknoll Missionary and see the world. Save it, too. It was a nine-year training program after high-school, but I and most of my class of 120 were gone after three years (1966-69).  Only four of my original classmates eventually made it to ordination.

The world has changed and the Catholic Church’s role has diminished greatly in our society. I haven’t been a Mass-goer since 1969. What filled the gap?

Siddhartha and Eastern religions. LSD and marijuana. Gestalt and “Primal Scream” psychotherapy. The normal things of those days. Why even the Vermont House voted to decriminalize marijuana in the 1970s and the young GOP leader from Middlebury - Jim Douglas - supported it!

That’s right. Rep. Jim Douglas voted to decriminalize an ounce of pot on March 17, 1978. The bill passed the Vermont House with 75 votes but died in the state senate.

Twenty-five years passed and Jim Douglas became Vermont’s governor. A medical marijuana bill (lead sponsor Progressive Rep. David Zuckerman) passed the House in 2003 on a 79-48 vote. It passed the Senate 20-7.

But Gov. Jim Douglas didn’t want to go near it with a 10-foot pole. Didn’t want to appear “soft” on drugs. He refused to sign the medical pot bill, allowing it to become law without his signature.

Meanwhile, this posting all began with our noticing the new church ad adjacent. I don’t know about you, but lately, the times have felt heavy. Very heavy. Big picture-wise, a lot of things relating to the current bankrupt, inept leadership at the White House and on Capitol Hill are in flux. But the necessary investigations do not happen unless the Democrats take a majority in one chamber or...just imagine...both!

I want my country back, don’t you?