You may be aware of the effort to boycott Exxon-Mobil products because of their grossly irresponsible environmental practices. It is true that even in the slimy world of oil companies, Exxon-Mobil stands out as a bad actor, and it doesn’t start or end with the Exxon Valdez oil spill.

This is an especially important effort in Vermont, where Exxon and Mobil stations seem to dominate most local markets, but the effort to reform the company doesn’t have to end with consumers.

Democratic State Treasure Jeb Spaulding has joined with other institutional and governmental shareholders to push Exxon Mobil to adopt more responsible environmental policies.

In a letter addressed to the Exxon-Mobil board of directors the investors, who together manage $525 billion in assets, calling on the company to meet to discuss the challenges raised by global warming and the worldwide addiction to petroleum products.

This is a big thumbs-up to Jeb and the other money managers for taking action on this vital issue! It’s hard, if not impossible, to be in the market and have perfectly clean hands, but that doesn’t mean we have to sit back and let the companies use our money to keep ruining the environment.

For more on Exxon-Mobil, take a look here

You’ve heard of the imperial presidency, but right here in Vermont we have the imperial governor.

This past legislative session one of the fights was about the so-called deliberative process privilege, a phony legal principle that the Douglas Administration has used to block citizen access to important state agency documents relating to environmental safety. The legislative response was to propose H. 615, a bill with tri-partisan support that was signed into law on May 4 as Act 132, and explicity excludes the deliberative process privilege in Open Records Act cases against the executive or legislative branches of state government. It goes into effect July 1.

But guess what?

Apparently getting a new law from the Legislature, and signed by the Governor, isn’t good enough for some of Douglas’ political appointees. The Boston Globe reports that Thomas Torti, Secretary of the Agency of Natural Resources, is still sitting on a buttload of documents requested by the Conservation Law Foundation. They say they’re “reviewing [their] options.”

How about this for an option: don’t wait until you have to be ordered by a court to release the records. Do the right thing, comply with the letter and the spirit of the law, and make the information public.

Oh, and have you noticed one other thing? They never seem to have any trouble releasing information when they think it will make them look good, do they?

Have you met Scudder Parker?
Have you talked to him?
Listened to him?
What do you think he needs to do to win the Governor’s race?
Does he have any historical/political baggage that needs to be disposed of before he can rise to the top?
I don’t think so. But I am asking because I don’t know.
In my interactions with him he has been respectful, compassionate and articulate. He has integrity and speaks passionately, from his gut. His eyes don’t glass over when he is confronted about specific controversial legislation. He listens and responds.
I have seen him touch the spirit within people and leave them feeling good, hopeful and motivated.
He isn’t afraid to speak plainly yet has a deep well of knowledge on most of the issues facing the state.
Yet he is humble.
He’s anxious to learn.
He asks the right questions.
He knows that the Governor’s job is to Govern; not to make friends and cut ribbons, but to make decisions that will do the greatest good for the most people.
His campaign staff has been gracious and appreciative of input as well. I like that.
So I contemplate the question that was asked by an astute activist the other day, “What has Governor Jim Douglas actually done in all his time in office?”
What has this Governor initiated that benefits the Vermonters he governs?

I may be new to the game, but I can’t think of an answer to that question.
Not an honest answer that is devoid of the Administrations spin.
In my opinion we all have to do everything we can to replace the Governor.
Unless we elect Scudder Parker there will be no further health care reform and our future energy policy will become more precarious. We need a “green” economic plan for the state. Scudder has addressed these issues. He has detailed plans.
We need a leader. Scudder is one.
The way I see it, together, Vermont can do better than Jim Douglas. Much better.
But, he has the GOP behind him with their war chest.
What can we, the “netroots” do to combat that?
Creative ideas abound in the net. I want to hear some. Don’t you?

Even if the grassroots impeachment movement couldn’t inspire more than a handful of Vermont legislators, it does continue to inspire activism and hope across the rest of the nation, particularly among the younger set (the “holy grail” demographic, always targeted by political campaigns with never more than limited success). From the UCLA Daily Bruin:

Great state of Vermont, stand and be recognized! I have made fun of you before, but you have rushed to the rescue with the most important breakthrough in grassroots activism since the invention of Birkenstocks. Over the past couple months, various townships in Vermont have made national news by calling for the impeachment of Bush. However, such calls made only so much noise until, according to The American Prospect, a Rutland, Vt., man stumbled across an arcane, never-used provision – Section 603 – of a parliamentary manual written by Thomas Jefferson that forces the House of Representatives to consider impeachment proceedings submitted by a state legislature. The Rutland County Democratic Committee adopted the call for impeachment, which became known as the Rutland Resolution, as did several other cities in Vermont. Rep. Dave Zuckerman, P-Burlington, submitted the Rutland Resolution to the Vermont Legislature on April 26.

Other states have followed Vermont’s lead. Illinois Rep. Karen Yarbrough, D-Maywood, joined by two colleagues, has submitted a resolution under Section 603 to the Illinois General Assembly, and California Assemblyman Paul Koretz – who represents Westwood and much of West Los Angeles – has submitted his own resolution to the California Assembly, according to the Sacramento News & Review.

Details of Section 603’s authorship notwithstanding, the piece only gets better after the link…

Suddenly, town halls across the U.S. are holding impeachment hearings against the president of the United States. Petitions are circulating, urging the state legislatures with impeachment proposals to pass them. It has the potential to be the most triumphant volley from the poor little states across the bow of the big, bad federal government since Wyoming beat the Department of Commerce in checkers in 1962. However, let’s not get ahead of ourselves – once the House of Representatives receives any impeachment proposal from a state legislature, it will of course quash that proposal like a bug. But Section 604 of Jefferson’s manual states that the House must act on an impeachment proceeding before it deals with any other business. In other words, the House will be required to squash the impeachment proposal immediately and very publicly. So it would be a pretty big deal, as far as meaningless gestures go, but it would still be only a gesture.

Some, however, are against the gesture; they think it can only give ammunition to Republicans in the midterm elections. But I fail to see how this is possible; why would threatening to fire the boss give momentum to his management team? Since he won’t be impeached unless Democrats take back the House (and even then, probably not), submitting such articles of impeachment would merely be a pretty good indication to Bush and his posse that we Americans take sucking at your job pretty seriously when it’s the most important job in the world.

So there is something disaffected students can do, after all. Where once we were merely able to call Bush names or to suggest improper places where the president can “stick it,” we can now sign the online petitions urging Illinois and Vermont to pass their versions of Section 603.

And for those who do not reflexively dismiss what the “impeachment crowd” has accomplished (and continues to work for) in this state, but instead genuinely wonder why, Vermont Daily Briefing provides a succinct reminder:

* The President has the right to arrest American citizens, on American soil, and detain them without trial indefinitely. Theoretically, these individuals can then be moved to a secret island prison, a place declared a law-free zone by Government officials. There, they can be tortured, abused, or simply disappeared.

And if the secret island prison should prove, ironically, too public, these individuals can be spirited to a network of more secret prisons in Eastern Europe.

* The President can suspend any legislation Congress passes, at his own discretion.

* The President can order the NSA to suspend warrants for the collection and examination of telephone records, not in the case of a handful of suspects, but in broad groups of hundreds of millions of Americans.

* The President has proposed moving an active-duty General to head one of the most crucial civilian counter-balances to the military, the CIA.

* And finally, the Secretary of Defense can now deploy troops within US borders, and these troops will be slowly woven into the fabric of American life in peace time.

…and of course, Philip only scrapes the tip of the iceburg.

The damage being done to our nation and to real human lives is undeniable, and as such conscience and honor demand we do whatever is in our power within the constraints of ethics and law to speak out and fight back. As citizens, we only have so many means by which to be heard.

As Legislators, our elected Representatives have another very powerful means. We would hope that more than a handful would feel as we do; morally obliged to use the tools available to them to do what they can, rather than so readily play the role of Pontius Pilate.

In any event, the matter is gaining steam again as 603 proponents are expanding their working group and discussing formally incorporating to build support before the next legislative session. Details on that when (and if) it happens…

John Berkowitz came to speak to the Washington County Democratic Committee tonight to talk about his organizationVermonters for a Fair Economy and Environmental Protection. I think the message is very powerful, if a bit diffuse. The top line of their full-page newspaper ad is Invest In Vermont, and the message is to raise taxes on the wealthiest Vermonters and use the revenue to fund human needs. Their three-point plan would raise personal income taxes on the top 5% of Vermonters, end the capital gains tax exclusion, and create a financial assets tax, and would raise over $80 million a year.

The obvious question to me is this: where was this agenda during the just-concluded legislative session?

We have majorities in both Houses of the Legislature and plenty of need for the money, but I don’t recall seeing a big push to generate needed revenues from the people who benefit the most from what government does: the rich.

Let’s take education as an example. Douglas proposed a $15,000,000 scholarship program but it didn’t pass  because he wanted to raid the tobacco settlement fund to do it. My reaction is, why do we need the scholarship program? The state is now contributing about $38 million to UVM each year: how about using the fair tax program and dedicate $20 million to the  university? Other potential uses for the money could be transportation, affordable housing, low income energy assistance, or restore the Medicaid dental program.

There are benefits to having Vermont’s income taxes coupled to the federal rate, but we pay a terrible price when the feds slash taxes on the rich. Governor Snelling agreed to raise the top rate when we needed the money back in the 1980’s and I don’t see why we can’t do the same now.

Let’s fight for a stronger Democratic majority in the Legislature and make it happen.