Freyne Land

*Updated last at 4 p.m.*

Debate: To argue about a subject, especially in a formal manner.

It's about 8:45 in the morning, and at 9:05 there’ll be a gubernatorial debate LIVE on The Mark Johnson Show on WDEV. That’s 550 A.M., and the 96.1 FM comes in fine in Addison County all the way down Rutland way.

Plus, in this modern age, it’s also on the Internet, at www.wdevradio.com.

That’s how I get it down the hill here in Beautiful Burlap!

Feel free to tune in at work!

Check back for updates on Debate Land.

For one thing, we've got the suspicion one of the keys to Gov. Jim Douglas' reelection to a third term on the Fifth Floor, is having as few, head-to-head, big-audience debates as possible with Democrat Scudder Parker, that farm-kid-turned-minister... turned-Vermont state senator...turned renewable-energy expert at the PSD... the guy with the funny first name.

As you may have read in "Inside Track," WCAX-TV NEWS - "Vermont's Own" as they call themselves - is not going to host/broadcast a VERMONT Governor Debate. The "New York Station" - Plattsburg-based WPTZ-TV NEWS, aka "NewsChannel 5," is.

Go figure, eh?

Check out the new edition of Vermont Woman which has a very interesting piece about Gov. Scissorhands ducking debates with women's organizations.

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*First Update*  11:56 a.m.

The WDEV debate was held at a senior citizen center. (Won’t be long, eh, Freyne?)

About 45 minutes into the 55-minute show, "Mark the Moderator" had an elderly resident ask a couple questions. She lives a half-mile off Route 2 in Waterbury, she said,  and she can’t get Verizon to provide her with DSL.

Nice company, that Verizon, eh?

“And one more thing,” she said, “I don’t see why they worry so much about the windmills when every time you try to got take a picture of a mountain or a scene and you’ve got all these telephone and electric wires running back and forth [so] you can’t even get a picture.”

Gov. Jim Douglas and his Democratic challenger, Scudder Parker, see things in Vermont very, very differently. And with a recent poll showing only 19 percent of Vermonters think the good Ol’ USA is heading in the right direction (and I’d love to meet each of them so they could explain why they think that), energy is a major issue with no bright spots down the road....at least at the moment under the current administration.

Hey, if Republican Lt. Gov. Brian Dubie were governor, at least we’d have a "top gun" who, like the vast majority of Vermonters, supports commercial-scale wind-power in Vermont.

Moderator: Let’s focus on that. Is there a point that each of you would agree to that windmills would be acceptable - a height?

Jim Douglas: - "Yeah, I don’t know what the exact footage is, but I certainly support windmills to an extent. To an appropriate degree. I think they should be Vermont-scale. Not huge structures that are as tall as the Bennington Battle Monument. I don’t think that we should industrialize our ridge lines which are what give Vermont a great deal of its natural beauty. That’s why people come here especially this time of year to look at the foliage. To see the natural landscape of our state and I don’t think we should impair it.

"But in certain circumstances - on a small scale - I think wind-power can play a role in our future. I supported the four-turbine demonstration project at East Mountain in the Northeast Kingdom. I thought it would give us a good chance to see how we like it. The Public Service Board, of course, said no.

Scudder Parker - "Well, Jim, actually half your administration supported the East Mountain Project and the other half didn’t. And the other half won. So, I’m not sure which half you are on that one.

"But, the reality is that Jim Douglas has not planned and met the obligation the administration has to plan for our energy future. The wind discussion is always brought up as a kind of aesthetic debate, fundamentally it’s a question about whether we will have secure longterm  sources of energy that help us keep our rates down for businesses and homeowners in the state of Vermont. I think wind needs to be a part of the system. And I think we can start by a partnership among utilities and out Agency of Natural Resources, the Department of Public Service and build systems in place where they respond to community needs and where their longterm contracts make it very clear that the benefit will flow through to the ratepayers in the state.

"In 2012, we’re facing rate increases in the range of 40-60 percent, and Jim Douglas has not been clear with us about the risks that that imposes. And he has not been taking action and investment in the dams on the Connecticut River, on energy efficiency and in wind turbines and other technologies that will help us meet that energy crisis of affordability in 2012."

Check back for more updates.....Got a lunch date, but I'll be back!

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*SECOND UPDATE" 2 P.M.

REPUBLICAN DIRTY TRICKS

Look, I'd like to keep this Vermont-based blog as open and as hassle-free as possible, but it depends on the posters.

This is a very, very small corner of Planet Earth and it really would help-more-than-harm if posters were for real, rather than nasty partisan pretenders like the bogus, pro-GOP, pro-Jim Douglas poster we ID below - one who changes "names" and uses phony email addresses to champion the Republican Party cause!

Hey, maybe his real name is "Jim" and he works in the corner office on the third floor of the Capital Plaza Hotel?  The Vermont Republican Party HQ!  Perhaps he would feel embarrassed if Freyne Land readers knew that his was the commentary of a paid, state-party official using various bogus names to hide his nastiness.

Perfectly understandable. It's dishonest and juvenile to use various phony names to vent your bias. It'd be nice if he could cut that stuff out, eh?

Life is very short, my friend. Just be honest, be yourself, even if you are the state GOP chair or paid staff. Be brave!

Here's this phony-named dube's last two posting "names,"  which makes it look like there's more of him!. His emails bounced back and his last two IP addresses tell us that they originated from the exact same computer.  Small world, eh?

Deceit and dishonesty, are, after all, well-established trademarks of the current Bush White House. Must be where this Vermont Republican picked them up so eagerly, you think?

Name: John
Email: [email protected]
IP: 24.53.113.91

Name: Gareth
Email: [email protected]
IP: 24.53.113.91

The vast majority of posters have been grown-ups. Met some nice folks. And for that we're thankful.

The fewer dishonest partisan sleaze bags like this, the better.

More later......

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*THIRD UPDATE *  3:55 p.m.

Email from Vermont Republican Party Chairman/Executive Director James Barnett:

“I want an apology. that's bullshit what you posted suggesting that I am blogging on your blog under a fake name.  just total crap.  I have posted exactly one blog in my life and it was under my own name in response to one of your buddies who had the nerve to insult then-Rep. Doran Metzger as a "braindead Republican" upon his departure to serve in Iraq.”

Jim Barnett
Chairman
Vermont Republican Party
100 State Street, Suite 308
Montpelier, VT 0560

Thank you for your very professional comments. Didn’t realize the skin was that thin these days, James.

However, it is still the good ol' United States of America, even after six years of Bush-Cheney and all they’ve brought us from a needless war to a record deficit and environmental negligence and on and on.

I merely speculated on the possibilities of who on the Vermont Bush-Cheney Team did not want their name on the nasty, anti-Democrat, pro-GOP missives. Here are the lines I wrote that I believe you are offended by:

Hey, maybe his real name is "Jim" and he works in the corner office on the third floor of the Capital Plaza Hotel?  The Vermont Republican Party HQ!  Perhaps he would feel embarrassed if Freyne Land readers knew that his was the commentary of a paid, state-party official using various bogus names to hide his nastiness.

Perfectly understandable. It's dishonest and juvenile to use various phony names to vent your bias. It'd be nice if he could cut that stuff out, eh?

Life is very short, my friend. Just be honest, be yourself, even if you are the state GOP chair or paid staff. Be brave!

Look, I'd suggest that to speculate in America that any political party big shot might be writing pro-party, anonymous. mean-spirited,  blog emails, even without using a whole name, is not a crime.

You replied quickly, Mr. Chairman, and indicated you’re not the nasty GOP poster. Fine. I believe you.

Any idea who it is?

You might want to tell him to stop, eh? Makes your team look real bad.

Thanks, James.

Always a pleasure to hear from you!

Do write back.

P.S. Given some of the poison-pen press releases you regularly put out, Mr. Chairman, like your recent one sliming Rep. John Murtha of Pennsylvania upon his recent visit to Burlington, I have a difficult time understanding your definition of "bullshit." Please, feel free to elaborate! I'm sure many readers would be interested.

Talk about a flashback to the old "Red-Baiting" days of my youth!

Republican U.S. Rep. Charlie Bass of New Hampshire went after Vermont’s one-and-only U.S. Independent Rep. Bernie Sanders at a GOP fundraiser at Lake Morey in Fairlee two night ago.

Vermont GOP hopefuls Rich Tarrant (Senate) and Martha Rainville (House) were in attendance. And (see below) you can watch Rep. Bass’ outrageous remarks yourself online over at You Tube:  "Charlie Bass Unplugged in VT!"  Don’t you political junkies just love the Internet?

You can also read about Bass’ intelligent remarks in a column by John Gregg in today’s Valley News:

Charlie's Party?

Come election time, U.S. Rep. Charlie Bass, R-N.H., has long appealed to independent voters by portraying himself as a moderate Republican.

But that didn't stop him from lobbing heaps of red meat Monday night to 200 Grafton and Orange County Republicans gathered at the Lake Morey Resort for their annual dinner. Did the six-term lawmaker use code words that some might consider un-PC? Judge for yourself.

First, Bass equated Vermont Independent Bernie Sanders with Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, a fellow socialist.

“Ah, yes, it's going to be nice not to have Hugo Chavez across the Connecticut River, representing Vermont at large,” Bass said of Sanders, who is leaving the House to run for the U.S. Senate. “Bernie Sanders and his ‘Sandernistas' can go back to taxi-driving in the Bronx of New York City where they came from to begin with.”

Bass also knocked Sanders (who is from Brooklyn, not the Bronx) in referring to his possible replacement in the House, Republican Martha Rainville, the former adjutant general of the Vermont National Guard. Bass said she is “somebody who has real substance, not fluff, somebody who has a real career in public service.....”

Read the entire column. And here's the You Tube link,  Give it a shot over here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5_qklmIbXdA

Look, we’ve already declared Sanders the winner-by-landslide in the Vermont U.S. Senate race to replace Jeezum Jim Jeffords.

We’re holding off on the Rainville-Welch race for a little while longer, but it’s not looking good for Marvelous Martha. Even without the plagiarism on her website and the porn probe left behind at the National Guard, it’s simply not a good year to be carrying a Republican torch anywhere in the United States of America.

And the DCCC has a poll out today indicating things may be slipping away for Marvelous Martha Rainville in the House race against Democratic State Sen. Peter Welch for Ol’ Bernardo’s open seat. As long as she continues to refuse to publicly criticize the Bush administration in any way for its deceitful and reckless invasion of Iraq in 2003, Rainville's credibility looks a bit thin, eh?

Head to Head: Welch 52%, Rainville 41%.  A stunning 19% of voters in Vermont think that the country is going on the right track, while 68% say we’re headed down the wrong track and only a 21% give President Bush a positive rating for the job he is doing. [Greenberg Quinlan Rosner Research, 401 voters; October 8-9; margin of error 5%]

Also debate-wise, the League of Women Voters and the Rutland Herald are sponsoring one tonight at 7 p.m. at the Paramount in Rutland. Sanders-Tarrant-Welch-Rainville will all appear onstage for 2 hours taking the same questions. Darren Allen's the moderator. Sue Allen from the Freeps editorial page and Editor Sabina Haskell from the Brattleboro Reformer will ask questions.

AND - for those looking for Governor debates (which. it appears, is something the incumbent Republican is not real eager to paticipate in this year), there is one Friday morning at 9:05 A.M. on radio hosted by Mark Johnson on WDEV. That's 96.1 FM and 550 A.M. And it'll also be online (which, unfortunately, tonight's Rutland Herald debate will not!).

Went for a spin around Burlap on the two-wheeler during this evening's rush hour, before the Six O'Clock News - and the dark news of the missing UVM student still missing. Never saw so many unmarked cars at BPD. Lots of people working this one flat out.

The "Big" City of Burlington, Vermont was unusually quiet for a rush hour.

But there was a simmer beneath the surface, a building, growing, spreading and deeply felt determination rising, to vote the incompetent, dishonest bums currently in power in Congress out of power on November 7. I want my country back and I am not alone.

Took along the new little digital camera Pamela & Paula, the Queens of Seven Days, laid on me. Snapped a shot of Lake Champlain, Juniper Island and the mighty Adirondacks of New York from the top of Lakeview Terrace. It was absolutely serene and silent.

Wheeling down Peru Street in the Old North End I hopped off the bike to get a shot of the front of the home of author and musician Marc Estrin. Somebody's been keeping track, eh?

Good.

That's the US Iraq death toll in the middle. On the right, The Lancet's estimate, released today, of Iraqi deaths by violence and disease.

Gen. Casey quickly dismissed it,  saying 50,000 civilian deaths was the highest toll he had heard.

OK. Split the difference. It has been an unrestrained bloodbath of innocents. And the abuse of the U.S. military - Army, Navy, Air Force, Marines & NATIONAL GUARD - by the Liars Administration of George W. Bush and Dick Cheney and Donald Rumsfeld and Condoleezza Rice and Paul Wolfowitz is the stuff of high crimes and misdemeanors.

But what does the "342" on the left reference?

Answer: the U.S. death toll in Afghanistan. (Thank you, Marc.)

Then back at the top of Church Street in front of the Unitarian Church I caught the Five O'Clock Club. A good mix of folks, with a distinguished Irish poet from Co. Cork, Greg Delanty, on the right.

Horns were honking and hands waving in support. A majority of Vermonters, and now a majority of Americans, are seeing through the Bush administration's wall of bullshit.

I can't wait for the Bush II Impeachment Hearings to begin, can you?

You decide.

Thought I’d have room to deal with it in today’s “Inside Track” print column, but No!  Along came Kate O’Connor. Space is tight. Lots going on. So let’s update the Vermont Guard Porngate story here in Blog Land. Nice pic of Candidate Rainville and the campaign pooch. That's Campaign Manager Judy Shailor on the right, Press Secretary Brendan McKenna on the left.

Last week, we reported in Track on an anonymous letter alleging Martha Rainville, as adjutant general, had investigated and covered up a case involving the production and distribution of a homemade porn DVD by a Guard officer who was a Rainville favorite. The letter, sent to the Welch for Congress campaign and to yours truly, also alleged there is a subsequent investigation underway under Rainville’s successor - Gen. Mike Dubie, brother of Brian.

Last Wednesday October 4, Rainville held a presser at her Taft’s Corners HQ.. She was closely questioned about it by reporters. On Thursday October 5, a story related to Porngate appeared in the Times Argus, but other media outlets did not mention it. Nonetheless, the questions by Freeps reporters Sam Hemingway (SH), Terri Hallenbeck (TH) and editorial writer Sue Allen (SA),  as well as from Ross Sneyd (RS) of the Associated Press, were very, very direct.

We suspect press outlets did not go with a Porngate-at-the-Guard story because they could not get anyone to go on-the-record to confirm it. I went with it in Inside Track because I found several credible sources who confirmed it. However, they would not allow their names to be used. No way!

In fact, as you'll read below, Marvelous Martha actually confirms there had been a related investigation under her command, and a subsequent one under her successor.

From the October 4 Rainville press conference transcript:

PF: Did you confiscate or destroy a sexually explicit DVD in an investigation of ...

Rainville: You know, Peter, I know that you’ve received a letter that, although looks like it was signed was 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 and that should not be discussed. So I will just say I know only bits and pieces. I do not have any inside information or privileged information on what’s going on there now.

But you don’t lead an organization for nine years without having a sense of something that’s happened. But the current adjutant general is very professionally looking into it. The military has an independent way of investigating through their IG (Inspector General) system.  Allegations can be looked at outside the chain of command. We need to respect that, if in fact that is exactly what’s happening, which I expect it is. So I’m not going to answer specific questions. As AG I had numerous cases to deal with. I dealt with them fairly and I dealt with them directly and I dealt with them as expeditiously as I could.

SH: Why can’t you answer Peter’s question? Yes or no -  did you destroy any sexually explicit DVD material like that. That’s a good answer about what the Guard’s doing now, but, when you were commander, did something come into your possession that you destroyed or not?

Rainville: Because if I answer that, I get into a realm of  talking about personnel issues or possible disciplinary issues that are not to be talked about publicly. They’re not public information. I’m also saying. in this case. this an anonymous letter that was sent. There are 34 days in the election. It was sent out to my political opponent and I’m now going to get sucked down into some negative issues. This is why I came out with a Clean Campaign Pledge [and] invited opponents to join me because this election isn’t about anonymous allegations. This election is about the issues that affect Vermont. Vermonters don’t want to hear it.

SH: Are you saying the Welch campaign had something to do with this?

Rainville: No, I’m not.

SH: Then why are you bringing them up?

Rainville: Because it’s a fact that the letter was sent to the Welch Campaign. It’s a fact that there’s 34 days to the election. It’s a fact that I’m a major party candidate, that there’s an anonymous letter that is questioning my integrity. So I’m not going to talk about specifics and I will just say this is not what the race needs, this is not what Vermonters want. We need to stay focused on the issues. I’m not going to answer anything that was part of an anonymous allegation. Are there any other  questions on other topics?

TH: Well, Vermonters do want to know how you might have handled something like this particularly with the Foley case out there. Voters do want to know if someone’s accusing you of pushing something under the carpet. They need to know whether that could happen or not.

Rainville:  I can say that the allegations in the letter are untrue. I can say my record of leadership speaks for itself. The way I dealt with any issue in the Guard, particularly sensitive issues, emotional issues, was directly and straightforwardly and by the book. I made sure my senior staff dealt with issues in an ethical, legal moral way.  That is what’s important in a leader. That’s what Vermonters need to know about me.

Then the presser moved to other topics for about 10 minutes - including the plagiarism found on her campaign website - before returning to the Porngate topic.

TH: Do you think there’s some risk here of you’re tying to say “Trust me I did everything by the book,” and Vermonters are just supposed to say, “You said you did everything by the book. We don’t have the proof.” It does lead to questions hanging. How do I know?

Rainville: Well, I’m sure there’ll be questions that will be fully exploited by others, too. But how do you know?  You can look back at nine years of leadership. Certainly, again, the unfortunate position I’m in is I cannot give you proof. They’re protected decisions. They’re protected records. I’m sure the person who wrote the letter knew that, and I’m not going to try and quibble or try and give you sorted information, but not give you information on something. That’s not right. But I am the person I am. I do have morals and ethics and values. And I spent nine years doing my best to move the Guard forward and to make decisions that were true leadership decisions and to make sure that the other senior leaders followed suit.  That we treated people fairly. That we gave them due process. That we gave them the benefit of the doubt, when there was any doubt and that we worked to be sure that people were professional at all times.

SH: If you were presented with information when you were commander, that somebody did the things alleged in this letter, what would you have done?

Rainville: When? Because at different times I was presented with different information and I had to make a decision. I had to make a decision at different times throughout my tenure whether something warranted further investigation whether it involved the government. Whether it involved government time, or whether it was a strictly personal issue.
The Guard has limited jurisdiction and you have to be sure of yourself. I used the independent system quite frequently when I said - this is a decision I’m not comfortable with. I want an independent person to investigate it and I went to the IG {Inspector General] and probably used the IG a lot more than other commanders did or had before me and I encouraged my commanders to do the same thing. Cause the most important thing is that people are treated fairly. That they get due process and that you have the facts. And I did my best to act on the facts and to make solid judgments every time.

SH: You wouldn’t have put up with somebody, ah, thinking  homemade porn involving officers. I mean, I can’t imagine you would have....

Rainville: I would never have put up with what is alleged in the letter of distributing porn. Of using Guard members for that. That’s ludicrous. That’s ludicrous.

SH: Is somebody out to get you at the Guard, do you think?

Rainville: Out of 4000 members currently and thousands through the years, I’m sure there’s a few who don’t agree with me. I’m sad to think that any would want to use a race to get at me. or to use the Guard for political purposes. That isn’t in anybody’s best interest. But I’m not surprised that there are those who are disgruntled or that there are those who have a beef. I’ve been in supervisory and command position long enough to know that sometimes that bubbles up, but again, I know that I’ve always acted ethically and professionally and that’s what it’s all about.

RS: Are there public records that would answer any of this? Criminal charges, court martial?

Rainville: There are no criminal charges that I know of. I don’t know what may transpire from anything that’s happening at the Guard now. It’s been six months since I was there. So I would say no. There are no public records for anything, I would imagine, that might be implied.

SA: Was the investigation triggered by the letter or was the investigation ongoing?

Rainville: You’d need to ask Gen. Dubie about that for any specifics. All I have is an impression that there was something they were looking into already, but you really need to ask him specifics on that.

RS: How did you have that impression?

Rainville: Because we have a great retiree breakfast network and I’ve talked to Mike [Dubie] a few times. Again, I tidied up all the issues I had before I left. And he had a fresh slate coming in. So we didn’t discuss details. Again it was just an impression. There might be....

SH: But you didn’t hand off an investigation to him that you can see the link to this letter?

Rainville: Um. No.

SH: And do you have any suspicion that this is some kind of dirty tricks by the Democrats? Or by Welch?

Rainville: I don’t know what to think to be honest with you. I don’t know what to think. I don’t want to make any judgments.

PF: But did not Carolyn Dwyer, Welch’s campaign manager, contact this office immediately when they got the letter? And wanted to speak to you?

Rainville: What I know is she came over and gave us a letter, ah, the letter. Yes.

PF: But didn’t she say that we just got this.

Rainville: I didn’t talk to her. I wasn’t here when she came but I know she came and brought the letter.

PF But even though she did that, and I would assume, denied anything to do with the letter - I didn’t either by the way - that you still think they may be connected?

Rainville: I didn’t say that. I’m not making any judgments. I don’t know where the letter came from.

PF: I understand. But you cannot say “I have no reason to believe Peter Welch is connected to this?”

Rainville: I hope they would and I have no specific reason to believe they did. I hope they would never do that. Peter and I have engaged on the issues. We’ve conducted ourselves I think very well in this campaign to the extent that people around Vermont are commenting on how they’re enjoying the debates because they don’t have to listen to mud-slinging. I know that we both want to keep it that way.

TH: What do think of the way Carolyn Dwyer did handle the letter?

Rainville: I think she handled it in the best way she could have by bringing it over here. So. anything else?

PF: What do you like best about politics?

Rainville: The people. I love the people ad feeling there’s the opportunity to do something to make a difference.

PF: Cool.

Rainville: Thank you.

Democratic congressional candidate Peter Welch got a boost Tuesday from Pennsylvania Rep. Jack Murtha. Murtha is the former Marine and Vietnam War vet who had the courage last November to change his position on the bankrupt Iraq War that President George W. Bush and Co. have dragged America into. Murtha's switch from pro-war to antiwar may well be looked back on as the moment the American people had enough of the Bush administration's lies and deception.

Murtha, said Welch, "has a deserved reputation in Congress of being a strong defender of a strong military. He has a strong record supporting national security. But what he did when he started to look at the facts, instead of just getting stuck in the ideology, was say that it was a mistake to vote to go to war and it was time for us to change our policy."

Welch said Murtha has been "providing leadership in Congress to bring together those who supported the war, and now see it's making us weaker not stronger, and those originally opposed to the war (e.g. the entire Vermont delegation).

Murtha said he felt war was the right thing to do back in October 2002 when Congress voted on the factually-dishonest Iraq War resolution Mr. Bush sent Congress.

"I thought we ought to give the President a club," said Ol' Jack, "and I found out that was a mistake. It didn't take me long afterwards to recognize that. In fact, " he said, "I went to Kuwait five days before the war started and I saw a red line the military had drawn around Baghdad. And they said when we cross that red line,  they're going to attack us with biological-type weapons."

"Well, they didn't attack us," said Murtha, "and it didn't take me long to recognize they didn't  have any."

Rep. Murtha said that under Republican control, Congress works just two days a week and accomplishes little other than running up the national debt to record highs.

"And I say when the Democrats take over, and I believe we will, we're going to be open for business five days a week. We're going to work and we're going to get some of these problems solved. We can't solve 'em until we quit spending $11 million-an-hour on this war. We can't solve Medicare or education or any of those problems when we're spending $8 billion a month on this war!"

Peter Welch, he said, "is the kind of thoughtful, independent-minded individual we need in the United States Congress."

Well, what did you expect him to say?

Last Monday opened for Republican congressional candidate Martha Rainville with word her campaign website contained at least three instances of plagiarism. She took down her campaign website, fired the campaign policy researcher responsible, and apologized profusely.

Then she had the little problem with the anonymous National Guard letter charging her with favoritism in her treatment of an officer in an investigation allegedly involving an X-rated, locally- produced DVD. She denied doing anything wrong, but in doing so, acknowledged there had been an incident.

Then today - a letter from Independent U.S. Sen. Jim Jeffords to the chairman of the National Republican Congressional Committee complaining about a Rainville TV ad they're running that includes a photo of Jeezum Jim. He asks they stop running it.

Why?

"The country will be better served with the Democrats gaining control of the House of Representatives."

Jeffords, the former Republican, says he's for Democrat Peter Welch.

Download Jeffords letter .pdf

NRCC spokesman Ed Patru told Wilson Ring at the Montpeculiar bureau of the Associated Press:

"The ad simply makes the case she is an independent, thoughtful leader in the tradition of Aiken, Stafford and Jeffords "We do appreciate his kind words in the letter, especially his reference to her as a thoughtful leader."

Said Candidate Rainville:

"I think it is a nice ad. I'm pleased they're staying positive. I don't see any reason to stop using the ad. I think it's complimentary to everyone who's shown in it."

Said Welch campaign spokesman Andrew Savage:

"This brings to light the pattern of misleading information appearing in the national Republicans' ad campaign for Martha Rainville."

Well, the TV ad has had one unexpected effect. It's gotten Jeezum Jim to let a wide audience know he thinks Welch is a better choice.

And as long as they keep running it, Vermont viewers will be reminded.

Effective advertising?

Sure.

But for which candidate?

Election Day is four weeks from tomorrow.

Any chance of an upset in the governor's race?

"The reality is that people are learning my name," said Democrat Scudder Parker, the only candidate to grow up on a Vermont dairy farm. "People are coming up to me when I go to events and saying 'Oh, Scudder, I wanted to meet you!'"  said the Scudster at a Monday morning presser in Burlap.

"So the name is getting out there," said Parker. "The response is there. And that's exactly what we need to be doing four weeks out from the election."

"Do you feel confident?" we asked.

"Absolutely," replied Parker. "I felt confident for 14 months, but I feel even more confident now."

Mr. Parker called the presser at Democrat HQ in Burlington Monday morning to shine the light on Louis Porter's Friday frontpager in the Rutland Herald/Times Argus that blew the lid off the behind the scene cozy dealings between Gov. Jim Douglas and the right-wing anti-Wilderness Bill crowd.

“We now know that two senior Douglas officials were thinking more about helping the Governor’s political campaign this summer than they were about looking out for the interests of the people of Vermont,” Parker said.

“Those kinds of calculations have no place in this discussion, and memos like that certainly wouldn’t be written by anyone I appoint. In a Parker administration, I will make it very clear to those I nominate for senior posts that I expect them to offer advice based on sound policy, not partisan politics.  And if anyone were to write me a memo like the ones written by Mr. Torti and Mr. Wood, that official would be subject to disciplinary action.”

“Thanks to good reporting and the legislature’s passage this year of the bill outlawing the Douglas Administration’s attempts to hide behind a deliberative process privilege, the truth has come out.  And the truth – that Jim Douglas cast aside a long public process, intervened at the final hour, and effectively killed the bill by writing to anti-environment Representative Richard Pombo – is not pretty.”

Parker concluded, “When it comes to our commitment to protecting our forests and protecting the voices of all Vermonters, the difference between me and Jim Douglas could not be more clear. Jim Douglas doesn’t seem to understand that this is about so much more than just the wilderness bill.  It’s about treating the public engagement process with the respect it deserves and allowing the voices of Vermonters – which came together through a process of deliberation and compromise – to be heard.”

Interesting.

So's the fact that Gov. Scissorhands does not have a weekly gubernatorial presser scheduled for this week, making it his third consecutive week without one.

That's a bit strange, isn't it?

So's the fact WGOP, er, WCAX aired a live U.S. Senate debate last night between Independent Bernie Sanders and Republican Richie Tarrant. Mr. Sanders, polls show, is crushing Mr. Tarrant by a 2-1 margin.

It's over.

But Ch. 3 does not have a gubernatorial debate scheduled between Douglas and Parker.

That's odd, since the governor's race appears to be closing in the wake of the incumbent's scuttling of the Wilderness Bill at the last minute and other issues.

You'd think the station that calls itself "Vermont's Own"  would sponsor a debate on the race for CEO of Vermont, - a race that's still up in the air? Instead, WCAX holds a Sanders vs. Tarrant debate, even though Tarrant looks like he may not break 30 percent on November 7!

Oh, but that's right, Richie Rich has been spending moola by the millions at Ch. 3 since January. Got to keep the customer satisfied, eh?

Leaf-peepers are everywhere and clear skies are in the forecast!

Hey, did you see the moonrise last night? It’ll be full tonight.

I was downtown, crossing Main Street near Nectar’s about 6:40 p.m. when I looked east up the Main Street hill. Bumper-to-bumper cars heading down the hill. It’s Parents Weekend in this fine college town and the restaurants in the People’s Republic of Burlington were going to be packed last night. And then, all of sudden, there it was -  a huge ball of white light right at the top of Main Street over UVM.

Nice. And a few of you may remember firsthand that night of July 20 back in 1969: “One small step for man. One giant leap for mankind.”

I was 19 years old. Just finished three years in Maryknoll’s college seminary outside Chicago and was transferring downtown to Loyola in the fall to finish up on the sociology degree.

Spent the summer of 1969 caddying at Scarsdale Golf Club ($14 for a double) and drinking beer with the gang at Foley’s in White Plains. The Vietnam War was dividing the country as it damn well should have. The White House had lied to us about the reasons we needed to protect America and freedom and democracy by fighting the North Vietnamese. The "domino theory" was considered real by our leaders. It warned that the Commies would spread like falling dominoes and conquer the world for the Karl Marx lovers. It was absolute, complete propaganda/bullshit!

The Gulf of Tonkin “incident” that our government used to justify racheting up military action was, as we later learned, a total fabrication. A lie. And it was a lie with enormous consequences. More than 58,000  Americans of my generation died young as a direct result.  And more than 1 million North Vietnamese and Viet Cong did as well. Plus innocent civilian casualties. War is hell.

Why do the “best and the brightest” get third-rate leaders?

Back in 1969, the German-accented Henry Kissinger was President Richard Nixon's National Security Adviser.

Some things never change, eh?

Word has come out in the last week that Kissinger has been advising President George W. Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney on the Iraq War.

That’s right.  Dubya - who ducked the Vietnam War draft and the Vietnam War by using his inside connections to get to the top of the Texas National Guard list - gets advice on the Iraq War from Henry Kissinger!!!

A perfect fit! Incompetence and dishonesty are their strong suits. No wonder it's turned into an absolute disaster.

How does this happen?

Maybe it’s because the only two requirements to become President of the United States of America are:
1. being over 35, and
2. getting the most electoral votes.

As we know all too well, getting the most votes isn’t enough. They have to be electoral. Ask Al Gore. And what a price we’ve paid, eh?

In lives and limbs. In racking up the greatest debt in American history. In ignoring the global-warming crisis. In destroying our country's reputation in the world as the champion of freedom and democracy.  And on and on and on....

Shifting gears....

Thanks to the good folks in the blogoshpere who have forwarded me this funny little ditty from Daily Kos. It’s subject matter is the embarrassing campaign of Vermont Republican U.S. Senate candidate Rich Tarrant, the guy who is happilly throwing millions from his own private stash down the toilet. In the print column, I got into Tarrant last year. His Florida residences. His shaky behavior on the Fletcher Allen hospital board, his public attack on those who criticized the deceitful hospital management (CEO Bill Boettcher's now in federal prison), his shady sale of IDX software to Fletcher Allen in small $1.5 million packages to avoid state oversight etc. and so forth. It's not a pretty record.

Now thanks to his multi-million dollar TV ad campaign everyone knows Richie Tarrant - and most, quite frankly, are quite sick of him. The only question left on the Senate race is whether or not Tarrant will break 30 percent. His per-vote cost may well set an all-time national spending record.

One thing is certain: Rich Tarrant will not be missed when the election's over and he joins his lovely second-wife at his true residence, one he purchased for a measly $9 million. The address is 1131 Hillsboro Mile, Pompano Beach, FL 33062. 

Want a peek?

Just cut and paste the above Florida address into Google maps. See for yourself. Meanwhile, Tarrant pretends his $460,000 summer home in Colchester is his true principal residence. Unbelievable!

And here's the Daily Kos ditty about Richie Rich's savvy campaigning skills:

I am in Vermont now for a week and I went to alovely church supper yesterday. Who should walk in but Rich Tarrant, Republican candidate for the U.S. Senate, facing Bernie Sanders, who is officially an independent, but in practice a Democrat. Tarrant works the room, shaking hands with about 80 people and making small talk with all of them. I was one of the last. So I said to him: "You realize that everyone in this room except for the little kids who are serving and half a dozen cooks is from out of state?" He looked like somebody had just punched him in the stomach. Here is a guy from Vermont who doesn't know the state is overrun by leaf peepers from all over the country the first week of October? He also didn't realize that the supper had been organized by one of the local churches to be neighborly to the tourists and maybe make a little bit of money for the church (they charged $8.50 a head but members of the congregation donated the food). I guess Tarrant is not a member of the reality-based community.

*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!

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

*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.