Freyne Land

Woke to about 5 inches of the white stuff tumbling down in beautiful Burlap. Soft and fine. I could clear the walkway just with a brush of the boot. Heavy overcast. So dark the auto-flash lit up the snowflakes. It's still coming down steady, too.

Work day in Freyne Land.

End-of-year deadline crunch for a couple fine Vermont publications.

And what a year it has been...

A dramatic change at the Statehouse in Montpelier, Vermont.

The coppers have new outfits!

Veteran Capitol Police Chief Dave Janawicz [left] and the other three gentlemen who make up the distinguished Capitol Police Force have bagged the white shirts and gray pants and ties and gone dark blue!

"It's different," said Chief Dave, who has been patrolling the halls under the Golden Dome since 1995. "If you have dandruff, it'll show," he quipped.

Why the switcheroo?

Chief Dave said the idea was to make the Statehouse police "more easily recognizable as police officers."

I don't know. I never had any trouble recognizing him, even with the goatee.

What do you think?

I miss the white shirts. It's the Vermont Statehouse not Detroit.

Best line of the day!

Got it from the lips of the state GOP chairman after the Gaye & Shummy Show today at High Noon in the crowded Cedar Creek Room.

"Healthcare Reform" was the hot topic for the two Democratic boss-types who allegedly run things under the Golden Dome in Montpeculiar: House Speaker Gaye Symington and Senate President pro tem Peter Shumlin.

Didn't they already cave on healthcare reform to Republican Gov. Jim Douglas?

The doomed-to-failure Catamount Plan that started up this fall - a "product" to provide health insurance coverage to the uninsured - won the Republican Guv the AARP award - not the two Democratic leaders.

Look, it's no longer a secret. In America, we pay double what the rest of the civilized world does and get much worse outcomes. Great platitudes today from Gaye and Shummy.

“The Legislature is committed to taking the next step to make sure that all Vermonters have access to the healthcare they need when they need it at a price they can afford," said Symington.

"And I’d just add," said Pistol Pete, "that the Legislature understands that small businesses now need help too, that we’re not just talking about the uninsured. We’re talking about all the Vermonters who are struggling everyday to afford health insurance and do the right thing for their employees and we feel it’s time we do something for you.”

Among those in the pack listening to all this was Rob Roper [waving], the somewhat low-key chairman of the Vermont Republican Party. His reaction?

Chairman Roper had the line of the day - he suggested Shummy & Gaye were trying to squeeze "two pounds of manure in a one-pound bag."

"What they’re offering is extremely vague," said the GOP Chair.  "The one thing Peter Shumlin was not vague about is that taxpayers will be left on the hook to pay for this."

*UPDATED*

Yours truly also asked Gaye & Shummy a question on another hot healthcare-related topic they had chosen to entirely ignore - Jim Douglas, State's Attorney Bobby Sand and criminal prosecution of marijuana smokers.

FREYNE: Where are you guys on marijuana in the coming session?

SHUMLIN: We’re going to need a lot of it to get through.

SYMINGTON: Thanks.

SHUMLIN: I’ve been pretty clear on that issue. I think that we are wasting tremendous resources in small charges and researching small charges to take them to court for marijuana related offenses. We’re going to be asking the Senate Judiciary Committee to find a better way to proceed.

SYMINGTON: I would say that I appreciate the Governor has found a way to retreat from his intrusion into the prerogative of the world of the state’s attorney and that it seemed to have resolved their differences.

SHUMLIN: You know, every once in awhile even the governor is wrong and he was wrong on that one. 

That's what GOP Gov. Jim Douglas would like to find - and find swiftly. The end of the paragraph that closes the public dust-up he's had in the last week with Windsor County State's Attorney Bobby Sand over marijuana prosecutions

Declaring Sand had a "blanket policy" on letting first-time marijuana possessors off with court diversion, Gov. Scissorhands had issued an order that, henceforth, first-time pot cases in that county brought by state police will be prosecuted by the attorney general or the U.S. Attorney.

But Sand [pictured at left],  had no such policy. Ever. Though he has publicly suggested some of our current drug laws may do more harm than good. Sand was a guest on VPR's Vermont Edition during the noon-hour today. I missed it 'cause I was at the gubernatorial ribbon-cutting, but it is available for listening online.

"The end of the paragraph,"  Gov. Douglas told us, "is we should look to the future. We should focus on enforcing the law, confronting the serious drug problems that we have in Vermont, more and more people coming from out of state to prey on our kids, to peddle their illicit wares and we need to focus on that as an important strategy to maintaining public safety. Whatever happened in the past is prologue."

"Did you misinterpret what Sand said," asked Freyne Land, "or did you overreact?"

"I stand by everything I've said, Peter," the Guv replied, "but let's look to the future."

Why not? Especially since looking at the past does you no good whatsoever on this one, eh?

Gov. Douglas spoke to yours truly prior to his remarks at the official ribbon-cutting marking Dealer.com's grand opening on Pine Street in the People's Republic of Burlington. The company gives one a little of that Silicon-Valley feel. There are 150 techie-types. Been operating out of Burlap since 1997. That's Burlington Mayor Bob Kiss the Progressive socialist to the left of GOP Jim and the Dealer.com founders and top executives surrounding them.

Mellow, brainy, laid-back, personable crew. The re-roofed and redesigned former Specialty Filaments factory that produced plastic brush-bristle fiber for brooms, now has an organic cafe and big new gym.

Cool.

According to Vermont bird & butterfly man extraordinaire Bryan Pfeiffer at Wings Environmental that's a male Yehl Skipper he photographed a few years ago. What a beauty!

What's he doing, you ask?

Why, he's eating bird crap!

According to Bryan the Birdman, bird crap is a source of protein and amino acids.  And Bryan knows his bird crap. Heck, once upon a time, this Birdman was a journalist on the Vermont political beat, writing for the Rutland Herald/Times Argus Statehouse bureau and, before that,  the weekly alternative paper - the Vanguard Press.

Anybody remember the ol' Vanguard?

In fact, the birdcrap-eating Yehl reminded us of the Guv's Tuesday afternoon statement in which he ate his recent "Reefer Madness" declaration - the one where he directed Windsor County marijuana busts of first-time offenders that are conducted by state police shall henceforth be prosecuted by the Office of the Attorney General.

Apparently it never occurred to Gov. Jim Douglas that Attorney General Bill Sorrell's office is a little busy these days prosecuting things like murder and child molesting, eh?

Yikes.

Douglas claims there was a miscommunication. He thought veteran Windsor County State's Attorney Bobby Sand had a "blanket policy" of giving diversion to all first-time offenders.

Nice try, Jimbo.

Ain't true.

Got some attention this evening on Burlington's Church Street Marketplace from this suspicious-looking band of older fellas singing in the snow.

Singing pretty damn well, too. A real treat. And the snowflakes obliged.

It's the one-and-only Green Mountain Chorus!

More here.

Thanks, guys!

Just had a conversation in Uncommon Grounds about what an especially depressing Christmas Season this is given:

1. The endless Bush-Cheney War in Iraq that everyone knows is based on Dubya's success in deceiving the American people.
2. The melting ice caps and the global-warming crisis that worsens day-by-day in the Age of Exxon.
3. The cost, quality and accessibility of healthcare in our beloved America, and
4. The fact we've got more than a year left of America's worst staying in charge.

Ti's the season to be jolly
Fa la la la la,
la la la la.

Quick.

Who's the mayor of Burlington, Vermont?

Mayors come and go, folks, but the mayor's secretary doesn't change, at least she hasn't changed in the last 20 years.

Faye Lawes started behind the big desk as mayoral gatekeeper in Vermont's largest city back in 1987 when that socialist guy with the Brooklyn accent and the frequent press conferences was in the job.

And she's still the gatekeeper for the current occupant of the corner office at Church & Main - whatshisname? The quiet guy?

Stopped in for a chat with Big Bad Bob yesterday.

Interesting fellow. Loves the job.

More in the "Inside Track" on Wednesday.

Took a break over the weekend from the hustle and bustle, so I didn't catch the House Republican Caucus on Saturday In Montpeculiar.

Looks like nobody did.

Veteran Ch. 3 Reporter Andy Potter tried, but had this to tell viewers Saturday night.

Republicans held their meeting behind closed doors Saturday, without reporters present, calling it a planning session rather than an official party caucus.

Then he gave the GOP House Leader Rep. Steve Adams [left] of Hartland face time to say what terrible things he anticipates the House Democrats will try to do in terms of raising taxes.

Excusez-moi.

This is a democracy. An open government.

And the GOP holds its pre-session caucus "behind closed doors?"

Just change the name of the meeting of elected representatives from "caucus" to "planning session," and y'all can lock the damn doors and keep press and public out?

What kind of an example is that setting?

Has the law been violated?

And are Vermont Democrats, Progressives, Independents  - heck - even other Republicans - going to let such officially-sanctioned secrecy stand unchallenged in Vermont?

We'll see, won't we?

P.S. Vermont House Democrats met in Montpeculiar the previous Saturday for their pre-session caucus -  no "behind-closed-doors" secrecy.  Public and press were admitted, as usual,  to observe the discussion you elected them, and pay them, to have.
 

No, we're not getting any younger.

And this week, two People's Republic of Burlington regulars are moving on.

Michael Monte's been in City Hall since the magical election of March 1981 when the candidate of "poor people, working people and the elderly" he worked for - some guy named Bernard Sanders - won the mayor's race by 10 votes. He started up and ran the Community and Economic Development Office and proved that socialists do indeed know how to do business.

Bright, personable, fair and decent, Michael [right] was a key player [along with Phil Fiermonte who he's about to share a hug with at last night's Community Boathouse celebration], in the political revolution that changed Burlington, Vermont from a dusty, bedraggled town without a decent waterfront into the people-friendly "metropolis" that you see today.

"Well, that was the idea," said Monte. "To foment a small revolution that had some long-lasting value."

Michael starts Monday as the Chief Operating Officer at the Champlain Housing Trust.

Also departing is Chief of Police Tom Tremblay. Tommy Guns has been tapped by Republican Gov. Jim Douglas to be the next commissioner of public safety which will put him in charge of the Vermont State Police.

Maybe Commissioner Tremblay will have a wee chat with Gov. Scissorhands about the Guv's current law-and-order view on prosecuting marijuana cases, eh?

Incidentally, Windsor County State's Attorney Bobby Sand is scheduled to appear on "The Mark Johnson Show" this morning on WDEV AM-FM in the 9-10 o'clock hour.

He's the brave prosecutor who's willing to say publicly our drug laws simply do not work!

Democratic House Speaker Gaye Symington of Jericho shared with reporters, Thursday, what she described as the “still evolving outline of my vision for economic development in Vermont.”

It’s a product of her travels around the state this fall, listening to Vermonters with an emphasis on what works in Vermont and why.

“It really helped me from my thinking for this strategy for economic development in Vermont. I have, for the last five or six weeks, really been test-driving this approach, building on Vermont’s strengths, articulating and being intentional about what we do well in Vermont and why people come to Vermont to locate and grow a business and then using those strengths as the place from which to build."

She told us she intends to kick off the 2008 Legislative Opera with a “Why Vermont Works" Forum on the second Wednesday of the session. A dozen business leaders will be invited to discuss what works in Vermont and what can we be doing to make things work better.

Asked by a reporter what she had heard raised in her travels as the No. 1 concern of Vermonters, Speaker Symington said it was "the cost of health care." She said she’ll have more to say on that issue next week.

Good. Because a lot of Vermont small business opened the mail within the last few days and read that their health insurance premiums are increasing 15-20 percent.

Speaker Gaye's "Why Vermont Works" six-pager is a work in progress, but it is available for your perusing on her website - column left.

Asked where all the "negativity" out there is coming from, Speaker Gaye replied:

"There’s an increasing message and much of it is driven by Gov. Douglas and the message he puts out, but I also find it in the businesscommunity itself and I am trying to suggest there’s a more constructiveway of framing issues so that we can make progress and not getentangled in all of the negativeness."