(GMD continues to look like Vermont’s own Daily Kos — the newest similarity is the appearence of a high-profile candidate reaching out to the blogging community. Our welcome to Sen. Dunne, and to any other candidates who might like to try their hand engaging with such an unpredictable crowd! – promoted by odum)

The Rutland Herald published my op/ed on Thursday, April 13:

Free Speech for State Employees:
Gag Orders are not the Vermont Way
By Senator Matt Dunne
April 11, 2006

During my years as a legislator, I have always counted on the willingness of Vermonters to share opinions and ideas with me. At town meeting, on the phone, in person, and now over email, my constituents always help me make better decisions with their input.

The free flow of information and opinion is one of the best things about our state government, something that gives Vermonters particular pride. They know how rare it is in this modern world to have government remain so close to the people.

Over the last few weeks, however, I’ve heard disturbing reports that suggest this flow of ideas and information might be in jeopardy. For the first time in Vermont, many state employees must now formally get permission from their supervisor before talking to their elected officials. Read more…

Oh lord where to begin…as some may have noticed I usually like to have these up on Thursday…now how about some discussion on these for a change…?

* In this diary from way back in the Burlington mayor’s race, I took the Progs to task rather severely for digging up Dem candidate Hinda Miller’s ex-business partner in order to smear Miller personally. While I still don’t think it’s an honorable line of attack, it does seem that – contrary to what was reported at PoliticsVT – Lisa Lindahl stepped forward on her own in response to an email (a copy of which was sent my way) sent out from the Miller campaign to rally support before the Dem caucus. Consider my culpa mea’d.

* Speaking of Progs, it seems there was dissention in the ranks. S.88, a bill relating to the membership of the Labor Relations Board that was supported by organized labor was just killed in committee by a Progressive. Holland Rep. Winston Dowland (who is becoming quite the handful for the Progs) voted with the Republicans and against labor, despite the reportedly very vocal displeasure expressed by fellow Progressive Rep. Sarah Edwards of Brattleboro outside the committee room. Ouch. Welcome to major party life, guys.

* Holy crap! Peter Welch raised $262,175 this last reporting period and has $612,776 on hand! That’s a lot of bumper stickers! Martha Rainville raised $218,972, and $130,000 of that came from Washington insider GOP Pacs such as Tom DeLay’s Retain Our Majority PAC. Martha Martha Martha…

* Speaking of the US Congress race, if you haven’t read Philip Baruth’s interview of GOP dark horse candidate Mark Shepard, get over there NOW. It’s something else. Shepard, an unabashed conservative, speaks openly about being not just dumped by his own Party, but piled on and humiliated more with each passing day. He also discusses how his far-right views are based on simple “logic.” We’re gonna have fun with that one in a later post…

* Hey — the Liberty Union Party got major party status back when I wasn’t looking. Primary time! (Thanks to Burlington Lib for pointing that out)

* Check out this diary from GMD user vtpeace from today and tell me that the latest thing from the Tarrant for Senate camp is not just weird, creepy and wrong. Barbara, if you or anybody else can provide details or links on this, it’d be greatly appreciated.

* …and finally, it’s not local, but –seriously — maybe we should be asking if there are any retired Generals that don’t want Rumsfeld to resign (oh yeah, besides this one)

(This is truly gross, or as UVM Political Science Professor Garrison Nelson said, it “smacks of bribery.” – promoted by odum)

Looks like Richie Rich is setting himself up to be Vermont’s ‘Education’ Senator .. hey, it worked for Dubya (thousands of children left behind) .. Katie, you didn’t argue against this? …

Multi-millionaire Tarrant can afford to hire junior and senior high school students to go door to door with his literature, but is it 10 week employment, or is it a bribe?  Potentially 15,000 students may be asked to submit a 500 word essay saying ‘Why Richard Tarrant Should Be Elected to the United States Senate in order to be considered for($3,000 each and a free laptop computer). That’s a tough job; it’s a no-brainer to submit one that considers why he shouldn’t be!

I wonder if the school boards should put this on their next agenda if they don’t have a policy already in place.

Bernie’s unpaid volunteers are really shaking their heads over this one.

This is another example of someone funding a campaign with his own money — he is answerable to no one — and a good example of why he should not be elected.  This may work where he lives in his Florida gated communities, but I think it will come back to bite him in Vermont.

We can’t be bought!

Barbara

So just what happened on Saturday? It truly was a very impressive meeting, filled with respectful and impassioned statements by people from all over the state. The public statements were overwhelmingly in support of the Rutland Resolution – with the “Rule 603” wording intact. The committee was divided, with the majority focused on the need to win the upcoming elections, and concerned about the potential impact of the Rutland Resolution being plunked into the laps of the legislature this late in the season.

So, was it a Victory? A Defeat? Were the “Rule 603” afficionadoes “had”?

Let’s start with the last question: being “had” would have required going into the meeting blind to the fact that there were folks actively hoping to reduce the result to a statement of support for the existing Feingold censure – if that much. No, we were too aware of the resistance to be “had.”

That leads us to the victory/defeat balance.  No one walked out of the meeting with what they really wanted.  Impeachment was not quashed, and the Rule 603 lever was not added to the Congressional toolkit.

So, I’d say it was a draw, but a very promising draw. It is a draw that means the grassroots, including both long-term party regulars and newly minted activists, were able to swing the party from “no” to “yes” in 6 short weeks. The “yes” wasn’t quite the “yes” we wanted, but it was a sea change in the party’s official viewpoint. And that is a good thing.

In the mean time, others are meeting, and voting. Some in the Democratic party, some in other parties. Some in VT, and some in other parts of the country.

When a thunderstorm forms, the big mass of cloud is built up from smaller bits that collect over the course of the day. As the heat builds, the cloud heightens, the winds strengthen, and then the refreshing rain washes away the heat of the day, often leaving the world awash in the golden glow of late afternoon sunshine. If you listen closely, you can hear the distant rumbling of democracy. Our little bit of energy has been added to the brewing storm.  The rain will come, and we will have been a part of making it happen.

It’s still early in the day, and the rain is a ways off, yet.

We are called to continue this journey. Called by those who fought for the freedoms granted by the Constitution, by the innocents who have died and are dying in an unprovoked war, by the children whose future has been mortgaged for folly, by the victims of torture being done in our names. And sometimes, the call comes from things that are less obvious and more personal – such as the flyer that used to say that there had been no FBI requests for information at the Bradford Public Library.

The following is an email I received from someone in Vermont memorializing the life of William Sloane Coffin, who passed away yesterday. I found it so moving, I asked for, and received from the author permission to reprint it here.

I heard this afternoon that Bill Coffin had died. Since Bill changed and perhaps saved my life, I feel a need to add to the public discourse on his life.

But first, my personal sympathy to Ned, Vi, and Randy Coffin whose loss is private for this wonderful man.

On May 1, 1970, Bill helped organize a rally in New Haven, CT in support of several Black Panthers who had been jailed unjustly. Several of us “radicals” from North Carolina drove up for the rally. Included among the speakers was Jim Fouratt of the Gay Liberation Front.

Click on the link to continue…

Like many of us isolated gay people at that time, my life had been rough. It was really hard 40 years ago in rural North Carolina to even realize that there were other people who did not fit the heterosexual model. I gradually learned that I was not unique in all the world, but what I did learn did not make me comfortable at all with what I felt in myself.

Like many young gays then (and really still now), suicide was something that I thought about a lot. I kept fighting to try to figure things out, and like many young gays, did a transference thing that saw me fighting for the rights of others, the black, the poor, the Vietnamese.

And then, standing at that rally, I heard that not only was I not alone. Indeed, I was worthy of liberation! Being “homosexual” was not something sordid that I should hide, being gay was good, but we needed to fight along with our brothers and sisters in the world to free ourselves.

It was an stunning epiphany, a moment that I will never ever forget.

And it was brought to me by Bill Coffin, Huey Newton, and many of the other people who were so enlightened in those dark days as to give Jim his time on the podium.

On the way back to Chapel Hill, I “came out” to my fellow radicals, who had no choice but to accept me under the post-rally circumstance. I came out to all the local feminists and about half of them came out publicly in a real “debutante” moment there among the southern pines.

Within a couple of weeks, I was in New York seeking out Jim and the Gay Liberation Front. And within another week, I was marching in the first ever Gay Pride March up 6th Avenue.

From that life-changing, life-saving moment, all my future life would develop. And if I have had a small part in making a better world for GLBTQ people, that is part of the heritage I owe to Bill Coffin and many others who broke new ground in those days.

When I then learned that Bill Coffin was a neighbor here in Vermont and began to work closely with his brother Ned, it became possible for me to thank him personally. His reaction was such that I am sure I was the millionth person to thank him for a life-changing moment!

Bill has been important to all of us in our communities. I remember especially the night he spoke to the Sierra Club Board of Directors gathered under the stars on Garden Hill at The Mountain School. He talked of God in such personal and liberated terms that I said to myself that Bill’s God is one in which I could have believe.

And now I hope that Bill has found a heaven with that God.

Thank you Bill!

-Bob Bland

With the emergence of Tom Salmon Jr. of Rockingham to take on Randy Brock for the State Auditor’s position, Democrats are giving notice that the days of letting state offices go unchallenged are long over. Despite Vermonters’ unparalleled record of re-electing incumbents, you’ve gotta like the Dems odds here, assuming Salmon turns out to be a half-decent campaigner.

On the other side of the aisle, however, Republicans, in a steady and coordinated way, have been working to make a case against Secretary of State Deb Markowitz, who has all but become an institution since her election.

Click on the link for the details…

Starting back in October, Randy Brock fired the GOP thesis salvo under the auspices of the State of Vermont. The point of attack was the development of the Statewide Voter Checklist mandated by the “Help America Vote Act” (HAVA) passed in the aftermath of the Florida election disaster of 2000. To combat fraud, one of the reforms was the mandated implementation of a single, centrally administrated Voter File into which all the local Town Clerks would update and maintain their town’s voter rolls. For Vermont, this is quite a sweeping change, as there was a complete lack of uniformity and a total grab bag of technological infrastructure and savvy across Vermont’s municipal offices.

Brock let the GOP cannons fly:

Vermont’s new statewide voter checklist lacks written plans, system documentation and performance standards, and has other problems, state Auditor Randy Brock said in a report made public Thursday. 

“A system so critical to the functioning of our voter registration process warrants the use of a disciplined and robust systems development process, without which the state runs the risk that the system will not work as intended or in a secure manner,” Brock said.

Markowitz was quick to defend herself with the common-sense assertion that, well, the statewide checklist wasn’t done yet. Sen Jim Condos (D-Chittenden), seeing the writing on the wall, was one of the Dems who spoke in her defense, before the report was even released, saying:

“To audit a checklist that isn’t complete yet boggles my mind,” said Sen. James Condos, D-Chittenden, chairman of the Senate Government Operations Committee. “The auditor campaigned on the need for a nonpolitical auditor. This appears to be a fishing expedition and one might be lead to the question of whether this has politics behind it.”

Still, the issue is not necessarily so easy to dismiss. The right-wing Cool Blue Blog opined:

Requirements are meant to specify not only how the system works under normal, fault free conditions, but most importantly how it will work under failure conditions. And for a system like this, Security requirements will be absolutely critical.

I mean who hasn’t heard of ISO 9000 and ISO 9001? It has, for better or for worse, become an international standard for Quality. And what do they require?

Have a written process and follow it.

…and truth to tell, he’s generally correct. Building an Enterprise-level application isn’t like building a sundeck, it’s more like building a house. It’s a far more modular endeavor. In a house, for example, it’s appropriate to review the design before completion, as well as examine the individual working parts before during and after the overall project is set for habitation. Plumbing, heat, electricity, roofing — these are all independent components that should be reviewed as discrete components, as well as within the broader context.

So, do the Republicans have a technical point?

Maybe.

Do they have a political point?

Nah.

Seriously, this thing will have no legs. One of the reasons we heard so much about the seemingly unrelated issue of Same-Day Voter Registration, and whether or not it should become law during the last Town Meeting Day, was that the combination would have put the maximum strain possible on the new system during what was essentially its maiden voyage. And make no mistake, there is genuine reason to pay close attention to the functionality of this system. It was built using in-house staff. If it was built on the in-house technology used for other such SOS systems, it’s not inconceivable that the thing could buckle under the stress of 250 concurrent live instances. And don’t think this is far from the GOP’s collective mind. Political operative and current Secretary of Civil and Military Affairs Neale Lunderville was a SQL Server guru in his pre-Vermont-political life.

So maybe there’s a problem and maybe not, but as things stand — we’ll never know until after everyone has voted in November.

Presumably if the GOP had thrown the dice and gotten their system crash, they likely would have run on more than an incompetence argument. HAVA provided Vermont with several million dollars, a good chuck of which was set-aside for the statewide checklist. Given that the li’l Green Mountain State has but a paltry 400k-plus-change registered voters, a comprehensive database would hardly be a challenge. Technically speaking, you could probably pay thirty bucks for server space with a password-protected MySQL database that could easily handle the data and traffic from any one of a hundred web hosting outfits (although such a stategy wouldnt meet HAVA’s strict security requirements).

This means that they would have tried to turn it into a scandal about a waste of taxpayers money, and would have built a high-profile media campaign around it to knock Markowitz down the same way they took out Liz Ready. Critical to this would have been publicizing the frustration and anger of the notoriously prickly Town Clerks.

So given that Deb dodged the bullet, where is this strategy now?

In the doghouse, basically.

First of all, without a smoking server, the whole issue is an abstraction at best. Sure there are isolated reports of troubles with the database, but it doesn’t sound like anything of any tangible or political consequence at this point. And trying to extrapolate such an abstraction into a financial issue that will resonate with voters will be next to impossible.

Second of all, the Town Clerks love Markowitz. Despite their pronounced distaste for the Same-Day Voting issue, they rightfully credit Deb with transforming the traditionally combative relationship between the SOS and municipal offices into a true partnership. They are not likely to turn on her.

So at the end of the day, the GOP will spend a lot of time and energy for a big ol’ goose egg. Who they’ll spend that energy on behalf of is an open question. Former GOP Caucus Leader Connie Houston is a name I’ve heard floated about (and hey, ya gotta wonder if ex-dba Lunderville isn’t dying for a shot at her like his buddy Bertrand had…no, no, I haven’t heard anything in that department, but this is a blog dammit, I get to impusively and randomly speculate if I want to…)

To listen to the press coverage, the best of which can be heard here at VPR, the impeachment movement in Vermont ended with the State Committeee meeting. Supporter Euan Bear, while clearly stating why a Jefferson Manual approach was far more desirable than the alternative that was agreed on, still waxed defeatist.

“It’s the only crowbar we have and otherwise we’re just a party, partisan group stamping our feet and yelling at the president. So I’m disappointed. I think we didn’t do anything that was unexpected. If we had sent it to the Legislature and asked them for action – that was the thing that would have caught attention and would have shown us really standing up”

Even Jeff Taylor, the author of the Rutland Resolution, seemed satisfied with the result and resigned that it was over, given that the legislature looks like it will wrap by the end of the first week of May.

Still, the final wording of the resolution allowed a bit of rhetorical daylight for disheartened impeachment proponents. In a final amendment after the Jefferson Manual pieces had been expunged, wording requiring the final resolution be sent to the Clerks of The Vermont Legislature for non-specific “appropriate” action was tacked on.

[BTW — if anyone has the final resolution text, I’m sure folks would appreciate seeing it posted.]

And there’s the matter of the petition process, which has been moving forward independently of both the Town Meeting resolutions and the Democratic Committee debates, based on Chapter I, Article 20 of the Vermont Constitution which allows (without specifics) for the direct petition of the Vermont Legislature by citizens. Between the online version located here, and the smattering of traditional, hardcopy versions, the signatory count is well more than 600, and organizers definitely want those signatories to be honored in some fashion — even if it’s only symbolic.

How would a direct overture to the Legislature on the heels of the State Committee meeting be received?

Not with great enthusiasm, to be sure. Make no mistake: despite some very positive feelings, unanimous sentiments and rousing cheers at the conclusion of the meeting, there were those who felt none too warm and fuzzy as a result of the whole affair. Rep David Deen was outright patronizing, suggesting that all the silly rabble who supported the original measure were out of their depth and should leave such serious matters to the professionals. There was one committeeperson whom I’ve always gotten along quite well with (someone I specifically had recommended bringing into the Party decision making structure back when I was a staffer) who was moved to go out of her way to make her disapproval of the whole thing known with a sneering, nasty verbal jab at me on my way in.

Whoa!

On the other hand, there’s the fact that an impeachment resolution has already been bouncing around the Statehouse since January — one penned by Progressive Representative David Zuckerman.

So supporters are faced with two questions to answer very quickly:

1. How do they best honor the signatures on the various petitions?

2. Do they try to approach Zuckerman to retrofit his impeachment motion into a “Rutland Resolution” style piece and risk it degenerating into another futile Prog-Dem pissing match?

…for that matter, does Representative Zuckerman feel strongly enough about impeachment to actively avoid it becoming the basis for another Prog-Dem pissing match, either by sitting on it entirely, or by reaching out for Democratic co-sponsorship?

So — is the issue of Presidential impeachment in the Vermont Legislature dead?

Who knows…?

Somehow, it seemed too obvious. So obvious that I just assumed I was missing something. I didn’t ask anybody about it, didn’t post a curious blog entry. Nothing.

Out of a field of several solid candidates being floated, the legislature selected Brig. Gen. Michael Dubie to succeed Martha Rainville as the Vermont National Guard CO.

So, there are some obvious head scratchers, right? Rainville has established this position (and in a distasteful way) as a potential springboard for statewide office. And this Dubie is the brother of the other Dubie — you know, the highest profile social conservative in Vermont; Republican Lt. Governor Brian Dubie, who can now take statewide elections quite handily.

So it seems obvious, yes? That the Democratic Legislature could be creating and empowering the next dangerous political challenge to Democrats a few years down the road? Am I nuts here? It seemed so obviously dangerous that I assumed legislators must have had real reason to believe that he would not go political on them — that he would focus on the job bestowed upon him and leave the policy arena to the policy makers. That he had no partisan ambitions.

Note to self: never make assumptions…

From the Burlington Free Press:

Brig. Gen. Michael Dubie said the resolution that calls for a study of how overseas deployments affect the troops and the National Guard’s readiness to respond to emergencies in Vermont would be acceptable if the hearings it called for were confined to the narrow wording of the proposal.

“I know that in any public process you run the risk of having discussion on this resolution … by people who would turn it into an anti-war or a referendum on the war or even a referendum on, say, the present administration,” Dubie told the House Appropriations Committee. “I am very worried that if that is the case, that it would sent a very negative message to our soldiers and our airmen that are currently deployed and also their families.”

Dubie also said that the six public hearings called for across the state were too many.

“I’ve said oftentimes in the past it’s not what is done, but the message that is sent,” Dubie said.

Do I need to break this down? The argument goes:

1. Dont discuss the bill, because it could lead to a broader discussion on the Iraq War.

2. A discussion of the Iraq War would lead to people making public comments opposing it.

3. To oppose this war undermines our troops.

(and then sprinkle in a healthy dose of telling the Legislature how to do its job, in re public hearings, which he apparently isn’t fond of)

In case you hadn’t noticed (perhaps you’ve been in a coma for three years…it happens), there is no more political statement one can make in this day and age than number 3 above. It’s the classic “shut up and slap on your Bush bumper sticker” garbage people who oppose this fiasco been hearing for years. It’s patently ridiculous on its face, a longtime administration talking point, Fox News standard copy, and has become such a wild-eyed, rabid line of rhetoric, even Republicans have finally started distancing themselves from it.

So he’s political already, and in the most annoying, even petty, way possible.

If there are any legislators reading this, I’d love to hear why you didn’t think this would happen. Short of some insight, all I can say is; thanks loads. At least when he decides it’s his turn in a few years, he can recycle his brother’s giant roadsigns and call himself the environmental candidate…

Missed the Vermont Dems State Committee meeting? Want to know the gist of the discussions? Look no further. The following clip coincidentally encapsulates it perfectly (the impeachment portion, obviously — it starts about halfway through the clip after some Hillary discussion — hey, it is Fox, after all). John Gibson of Fox News has been promoting popular myleftwing.com blogger (and poster of GMD’s first user diary (such as it was)!) Maryscott O’Connor, presumably because he knows she’s a no-holds-barred firebrand and he figures she’ll “pop” on air and embarass liberals (many more timid lefty bloggers feel the same way). Once again, however, she provides an absolute slamdunk for the left. Click on the picture for a link to the spot. It’s a refreshing case of speaking truth with clarity and confidence to corporate power — and demonstrating what liberal unity is shaping up to look like in the process (and this was on Fox News, the enemy camp…where they only bring on lefties in order to try and humiliate them!).

( – promoted by odum)

At the end of the special Vermont State Democratic Party meeting today there was a lot of cheering and applause – relief that the almost 3-hour meeting was finally at an end, relief that we’d gotten through it with no screaming or name-calling, and relief that we had made a decision that maybe nobody absolutely hated. (maybe?)

After being amended twice, the new version of the Rutland Resolution sailed through on a unanimous voice vote. The most heated discussion from the committee members was in response to a proposed amendment to send a request for impeachment proceedings directly to the US House of Representative – sparing the Vermont House from having to wrestle with it, and abandoning the idea of using Section 603 of the Jefferson Manual to start impeachment from a state legislature.

Once that amendment passed on a (paper ballot) vote of 26 to 17, and it became clear that the Rutland Resolution was done, the discussion moved to additional tweaking of the new version. The second amendment passed instructed the state committee to send this resolution to the clerk of the Vermont House and the clerk of the Vermont Senate for “appropriate action.”

I’m personally sorry that we won’t be directly and explicitly asking our state legislators to hold the President accountable for his illegal actions. But I’m also glad that the whole idea of impeachment wasn’t thrown out as one for the nutballs. The room was full of people  – many of whom were not committee members but who are just as much a part of the process – speaking passionately and fervently about “the right thing to do” – people urging courage in the face of Fox News, strength in the face of Republican control, and steadfastness in the belief that our values are worth standing up for.

I hope that this is only one step in the process of bringing George W. Bush to justice.