Freyne Land

Started the "Media Notes" item in the Ol' Inside Track column way back in the 1980s. The local daily pretty much ignored the existence of the local TV news operations and their staff - they could buy ad space if they wanted to - but that was about it.

But there's no business like show business, folks,  and TV News is definitely show business, eh?

Haven't been doing a good job keeping up with the turnover, so let's catch up in Freyne Land, eh?

Bianca Slota is a new reporter over at WCAX-TV, our local CBS affiliate.

Bianca, a Maryland native, arrives after a couple years breaking into the TV-News biz in Anchorage, Alaska. She studied journalism at the University of Maryland.

That's former Ch. 3 videographer Kika Bronger (a St. Mike's grad), now with New England Cable News, behind Bianca, giving her the "V" sign.

Welcome to Vermont, Bianca!

And someone who needs no welcome to Vermont is Reporter Rachael Morrow.

That's Rachael with the microphone in St. Patrick's gob at a recent presser regarding AG Alberto Gonzales' resignation. She's got a few months in already at WGOP, er. sorry, at WCAX-TV News. Been mostly on the early-morning news shift.

Rachael studied journalism at Lyndon State College and worked at the Caledonian Record in St. Johnsbury.

Also we hear there's another new reporter at WCAX this week, but we haven't crossed paths yet.

Stay tuned.

 Sen. Patrick Leahy made it perfectly clear on Monday (at least I thought so), that Michael Mukasey's chances of replacing Alberto Gonzales as Attorney General of the United States would improve significantly if the Bush White House stopped withholding subpoenaed documents related to its illegal domestic surveillance program, as well as to its removal of nine federal prosecutors for apparently political reasons.

On Tuesday, just before dinner, Rob Roper, chairman of the Vermont Republican Party, issued the following statement:

Judge Mukasey deserves a swift and fair confirmation process. It is unfortunate that Senator Leahy intends, for purely political purposes, to stall confirmation of a gentleman Senator Charles Schumer (D-NY) has called a ‘consensus candidate.’

Leahy’s partisan reaction to a consensus nominee flies in the face of his recent boast, “I've been aggressive in making sure that we [the Judiciary Committee] operate in a bipartisan way.” (Leahy Brings the Law, Burlington Free Press, 9/16/07)

On August 1, Senator Leahy was extremely critical of outgoing Attorney General Alberto Gonzalez for making “law enforcement appear political.” Because when that happens, “the whole system breaks down.” (Leahy attacks Bush, Roberts, by Roger Simon, Aug 1, 2007).  By this logic, confirmation of the United States’ top law enforcement office should not appear political either, yet Leahy is making it so.

And finally, this is simply unfair. Leahy’s demands have nothing to do with Michael Mukasey or his abilities to be a successful Attorney General, a position critical to our national security as we fight the War on Terror.

Patrick Leahy should put politics aside and give our country and Judge Mukasey a fair and speedy confirmation process.

Sen. Leahy's Chief of Staff Ed Pagano sent us this response:

"Too bad the Republican Party chairman once again doesn't know what he's talking about, just what his masters at party headquarters in Washington have told him to say.

Meanwhile Senator Leahy and White House Counsel Fred Fielding both say they are having promising discussions about access to documents that until now have been locked behind the stonewalling.  Mr. Roper won't succeed in undermining that progress.

The President hasn't even sent this nomination to the Senate yet, and the confirmation  process will proceed in due course once he does."

Vermont leaders of several veterans organizations, Monday, praised Congress in general and Independent Sen. Bernie Sanders in particular for recently approving "the greatest increase in veterans health care in history."

The Veterans Affairs committee is one of four, sorry, five committees Sanders sits on and on Monday, representatiuves of the  American Legion, the VFW and Disabled American Veterans joined Ol' Bernardo at his Burlington office to thank him and thank Congress for approving the largest increase in veterans benefits in the VA’s 77 year history. That's the VFW's Ed Laviletta of Highgate in the photo with Bernie.

On September 6 the U.S. Senate passed an $87.5 billion funding package, similar to one already passed by the House - that’s $3.6 billion higher than what President Bush requested.

"Congress can be criticized for a lot of good reasons," said Sanders, "but when Congress does do the right thing," he said, their action should be highlighted.

As for the current quagmire in Iraq and the upcoming congressional debate this month over continued funding for the Iraq War, Sanders told reporters he preferred to focus on veterans issues and did not want to discuss the Iraq War other than to promise that in the next couple weeks there will be "a whole lot of discussion" on Capitol Hill about continued funding for the war and the Vermont senator promised he will be active in the debate.

Ed Laviletta said the veterans groups were "not talking about our current war per se. We're talking about the wounded and the people that need it and the people from previous wars that need to be taken care of. This is what we're praising Bernie for. Nothing else.

"Our delegation from Vermont is top drawer when it comes to these issues," said Laviletta the national legislative officer for the VFW in Vermont. "We don't look to the right or the left of it. We're looking right down the center to veterans issues and nothing else.

As for his opinion of Bush’s nomination of former federal judge Michael Mukasey to be Alberto Gonzales’ replacement as Attorney General,  Sanders said he didn’t have an opinion. In fact, Vermont's junior senator said he knew virtually nothing about Mukasey other than what he’s read in the newspapers.

Was yesterday gorgeous or what?

Followed an impulse and jumped in the jalopy bright and early for a drive out of town. Out to Hinesburg and all the way to Bristol. Back in the early 1980s, when gasoline was "cheap," that was my getaway. It was also my route for distributing that "alternative" weekly: the Vermont Vanguard.

Burlington was but a dusty, crumbling old "city," and it took just a minute or two to get out in the "country." All those upscale housing developments along Spear and Dorset Streets had not yet been built.

Half the shops in Bristol were empty back then. It had a definitive "tiny town that time forgot" feel to it.

Not anymore. Like Burlap, Bristol's all spruced up - no empty storefronts - and there's even a fine coffee shop - the Bristol Bakery & Cafe - that gives Burlington's gourmet coffee shops a run for the caffeine and pastry.

Was on a window stool in the sunlight  when when the bikers showed up shortly after 9 o'clock.  A couple dozen or more had pedaled out from South Burlington - about 34 miles [State Rep. Michele Kupersmith and Deputy State Auditor George Thabault among them]. 

And they were pedaling back, too!

The Saturday "hottie" is by Paul H. Heintz in the Brattleboro Reformer.

Shumlin outraged by energy meetings

BRATTLEBORO -- The Department of Public Service plans to hold five public workshops throughout the state next month to discuss Vermont's energy future. But not one of them will take place in Windham County -- home of the state's single largest energy producer, Vermont Yankee nuclear power plant.

That has Senate President Pro Tem Peter Shumlin, D-Windham, baffled and outraged. {That's Shummy in a Statehouse Freyne Photo from April. He's the one who's not on the wall.]

"There are an awful lot of folks up there who just want us to accept the waste, accept the aging plant and shut up. How better to accomplish that goal than to not hold a public forum down here," he said.

"This is a calculated effort to mute the voices of the citizens in this state who have hosted the plant for 35 years."

In a letter he sent Friday to Commissioner of Public Service David O'Brien, Shumlin requested that the department schedule another conference in Windham County.

"It is only reasonable to expect the Department of Public Service would want to listen to Vermonters who live with a nuclear power plant in their back yard," Shumlin wrote.

But according to O'Brien, the situation is a "misunderstanding."

...O'Brien said he had not heard from Shumlin before receiving the letter late Friday and said a simple phone call and conversation could have resolved the matter.

More here.

Also, may I share this lovely little fairytale a friend sent:

Once upon a time
in a land far away,

a beautiful, independent,
self-assured princess
happened upon a frog as she sat
contemplating ecological issues
on the shores of an unpolluted pond
in a verdant meadow near her castle.

The frog hopped into the princess' lap
and said: " Elegant Lady,
I was once a handsome prince,
until an evil witch cast a spell upon me.

One kiss from you, however,
and I will turn back
into the dapper, young prince that I am
and then, my sweet, we can marry
and set up housekeeping in your castle
with my mother,

where you can prepare my meals,
clean my clothes, bear my children,
and forever feel
grateful and happy doing so."

That night,
as the princess dined sumptuously
on lightly sautied frog legs
seasoned in a white wine
and onion cream sauce,
she chuckled and thought to herself:

“I don't fuckin think so.”

Listening to the Radio Rangers on WDEV, live from the Tunbridge World’s Fair on "The Mark Johnson Show." Listening on the Internet. Modern world, eh?

And as the Barre-Montpelier Times Argus reports this morning:

He's been known as Buster the Wonder Dog's companion, the guy who hosts "Music to go to the dump by," a radio-station owner (WDEV in Waterbury) and personality, a longtime auto racing broadcaster and Thunder Road part-owner.

Now Ken Squier can add a new title to his highly varied resume: 2007 Vermont Chamber of Commerce Citizen of the Year.

The Vermont Chamber of Commerce picked Squier, of Stowe, to honor his extensive service for the communities within Vermont.

Bravo! There’s only one Ken Squier.

Full disclosure: Yours truly’s been a news stringer with ‘DEV, The Friendly Pioneer at 550 AM & 96.1 FM since....1981.

Bernie Sanders winning the mayor’s race by 10 votes is what triggered it.  All of a sudden, Burlington, Vermont had something, and someone, that demanded news coverage, and boots on the ground in the Queen City.

Still have the same microphone.

Hey, it works.

Big day for Ian Carleton, the chairman of the Vermont Democratic Party, and a man who would be king one day, eh?

First he was in The Burlington Free Press, by virtue of the fact that in his day-job, Attorney Carleton represents a Mary Fanny orthopedic surgeon charged with sexual assault.

Then bright and early at 8:15 a.m. [he had a client-mediation session at 9 a.m.], Democrat Chairman Carleton kicked off his presser at Democracy for America headquarters [the old Dean for America HQ in South Burlington] where he questioned the "ethics" of three-term Republican Gov. Jim Douglas. Gentleman Jim?

Why?

Because Gov. Scissorhands' Administration has awarded a $70,000, six-month Washington lobbying contract to a mostly GOP-connected Washington lobbying firm - Dutko Worldwide. I know, it sounds like a furniture-moving company, doesn't it?

Head-scratcher Ross Sneyd from VPR, Nancy Remsen from the Freeps and Kristin Carlson from Ch. 3 also showed up.

Had this nice little back-and-forth with the Democrat Party Chairman, who among many things, called the Dutko contract "an inappropriate, hasty, no-bid decision by the Governor."

However, there's been no complaint whatsoever from our congressional delegation over it.

CARLETON: The lobbyists that Gov. Douglas has chosen through a no-bid process do not appear to represent the kind of politics that Vermonters want to practice.

FREYNE. You’re insinuating over and over that this is "dirty politics," but you won’t say it. But your insinuating it a half-dozen different ways. Right?

CARLETON: What I’ve said is what I’ve said.

FREYNE. I know what you’ve said is what you’ve said, but if I were to report that the chairman of the Democratic Party accused the Douglas Administration of using “dirty politics” would I be correct or would I be incorrect?

CARLETON: I think that that’s a strong statement.

FREYNE. But would I be correct or not?

CARLETON:  No. I think that would be an exaggeration of my statement right now. I’m not outright accusing...let’s put it this way.

Gov. Douglas has made a political career out of convincing people that he is a moderate, common-sense, reasonable guy. This contract does not manifest those characteristics. This is a different kind of Jim Douglas. This is somebody who without consulting Vermonters, without offering an open process, is directing money toward people who were part of the vast conservative right-wing agenda that has brought so much destruction on our country for the last five or six years.

I’m not accusing Jim Douglas himself of being part of that overall demise. What I’m saying is he is directing Vermonters’ taxpayer dollars towards people who apparently were.

The Guv's spokesman, Jason Gibbs {below right] responded to the Democrat Party Chairman's press-conference attack via an e-mail. Here's an excerpt:

"The Attorney General (a Democrat) approved the contract early this week and it has been signed.

"Our focus is navigating the tangled morass of Washington and its incessant partisan sniping and having someone there to help us do that is the right thing to do.  Up to $70,000 seems like a reasonable investment of resources in order to fight for more than $30 million in health care resources, including more than $21 million for children with special needs. 

"Compare this investment to the $1.4 million the democrats just blew on defending an unconstitutional law and their effort to pass another one just like it in the last session.  Or, compare this investment to the $26,000 the Speaker paid to former Democrat Representative Paul Cillo to produce, according to the Speaker herself, absolutely no formal work product—nothing, nada, zip[1].

"Or, you could compare this investment to the more than tens of thousands of dollars the Legislature has spent in the last few years on over-priced consultants to duplicate the work that the state’s more than 9,000 employees are more than capable of doing.  Or compare it to the tens of thousands of dollars the Speaker wasted to have the entire House in session while Cindy Sheehan occupied their chamber for a day."

Hey, why can't we all just get along, eh?

On a lighter note....Thanks, John Gregg.

"He’s the candidate who has spoken consistently and clearly against the war in Iraq," said former Burlington Mayor Peter Clavelle, speaking to an enthusiastic and hopeful crowd of over 100, upstairs at Nectar's in downtown Burlap Wednesday evening.

"He is the candidate who can unify this country," said the former Mayor Moonie, "to make America the great place that it can be."

A upbeat crowd of over 100 gathered for a Barack Obama for President fundraiser upstairs at Nectar's on Main Street. Good vibes. Nothing fancy. Folks are more and more starting to see the ol' light at the end of the tunnel return.

Democratic Attorney General Bill Sorrell [right] read off a list of "10 ReasonsWhy" Barack Obama should be the next president of the United States.They included:

"He's a very smart guy

"You don’t become president of the law review at Harvard," saidSorrell, "unless you’re really smart. And you don't teach consitutionallaw at University of Chicago Law School unless you're really smart. And itstrikes me, we should have a smart president, shouldn’t we?"

Excuse me, was our distinguished Attorney General insinuating something about the intelligence of our current president?

"An EPA under Barack Obama," said Gen. Billy, "will be a leader in improving our environmentin dealing with global warming and it wouldn’t take the states to grabthe feds, kicking and screaming.

"Barack Obama inspires me. I think he inspires a lot of people. And canyou imagine having a leader in the White House who inspires us as anation?"

Also a fiery speech from State Treasurer Jeb Spaulding.

"Barack Obama is a candidate who knew in the first place that we shouldhave never gone to Iraq," said Spaulding,  "just like our entire Vermont congressionaldelegation.

"I got to tell you the truth," said Jeb [ a man they say is himself waiting to be governor in 2010, eh?].  Though Obama took flack from the right for it, Spaulding was "quite impressed,"  he told a cheering crowd, when he "saw a man stand up and say, 'Yeah I would be willingto meet with the presidents of Syria, North Korea and Iran and look atthem in the eye.'"

Time for "fresh thinking in this country, not the same old thing," said Treasurer Jeb.

Really?

The Lake Champlain Regional Chamber of Commerce, said Tim Shea [left], its vice-president, represents almost 3000 business from dozens of towns and communities in the greater Burlington, Vermont area - the booming and bustling Burlington area, I must say.

And on Wednesday chamber leaders unveiled the results of a two-year  project to get “on-message,” i.e. zero in on a common theme or a single brand to use to market our little world to outsiders. [The Burlington "Branding Tool Kit" is available on the LCRCC website.]

The LCRCC spent $35,000 on a consultant who tested focus groups in the Montreal and Boston markets to find out their view of "The Peoples Republic of Burlington," as some of us call it on occasion, and surrounding communities - the lively growing suburbs.

Shea said the focus groups found:
• Montrealers think Burlington is “a whole other world.”
• Bostonians need “a real good reason” to visit Burlington.
• Visitors seek “escape” here, but not “retreat.”
• Tourists also want discovery, serendipity, and adventure — the “found experience.”

What they came up with is a new logo and a new brandname. That's Nancy Wood, executive director of the Burlington Business Association doing the honors. Henceforth, we shall be known as "The West Coast of New England."

"The Burlington brand," said Shea, "conveys what Burlington is: quirky, hip, a wonderful place to live, visit and do business.”

So, how does it feel to live in a place the outside world thinks of as “quirky” and “hip?”

And, yes, I asked, and “progressive” did not make the list. We apparently think of ourselves as more “political” than outsiders do, said chamber officials.

“Politics didn’t come through in the focus groups,” said one.

From the BBC World Service:

Katty Kay: Let's get a response to the testimony and what we've been hearing from Senator Bernie Sanders, an independent senator and thank you very much for joining us.

Q: We said that there will be 30,000 troops coming home. We should make it clear that this takes the number of troops back to pre-surge levels.

SANDERS: Exactly, not lower than that.

Q: Are you satisfied with what President Bush is going to announce?

SANDERS: No, of course I'm not satisfied.  This war has been a disaster from day one. It is a disaster today.  The United States has got to bring our troops home as soon as possible. We need a whole new approach to combating international terrorism. While we are bogged down in Iraq spending billions and billions of dollars, Osama bin Laden remains free. Al Qaeda is growing in strength. The Afghanistan situation is deteriorating.  Pakistan is deteriorating.  Al-Qaeda is growing all over the world. It was al-Qaeda that attacked the United States of America. We have got to address that and get out of Iraq as soon as possible.

Q: Given what you've just said.  Given how unpopular this war is in the American opinion polls, why haven't the Democrats managed to come up with a coherent counter strategy to the present strategy?

SANDERS: That's a good question and a fair question, but I would also remind you and the viewers that in the Senate it takes 60 votes to kill a filibuster, and on any substantive issue the Republicans certainly will filibuster. We don't have the 60 votes to stop them. But I do think we need a strategy that can capture the imagination of the American people who want this war to end.  When Petraeus was asked today, ‘General when is this war going to end? One year? Two years? Five years?’ he had nothing to say. So we're looking right now at a war that has gone on longer than the war against Hitler and it may go on even longer and I think the American people are saying enough is enough.

Q: Senator John McCain, a Republican, said that General Petraeus was great for his message, that he was ‘straight out of central casting’ was how he put it. Do you think General Petraeus will have changed any minds in America?

SANDERS: Well, McCain is right.  General Petraeus is intelligent, he's handsome, he’s good on TV. He is out of central casting.  But I think most Americans understand that this is Bush's war, and the work Petraeus is doing is representing the very failed policies of President Bush.  And the American people want fundamental changes in those policies.

Q: If the next president of the United States is a Democrat, will we see American troops come home sooner?

SANDERS: Well, if I have anything to say about it the answer is yes, and I certainly hope so.  I mean even when you talk about the quote-unquote successes of the surge, the BBC and ABC, as you may know, just did a poll yesterday  They asked the Iraqi people, has the surge made your country safer?  Most Iraqis say no, the situation is deteriorating.

Q: Senator Bernie Sanders, Thank you very much for joining us.