Rosemary “Rozo” McLaughlin, Democratic Representative from the Windsor-Orange-1 district (Tunbridge, Royalton) has passed away from cancer. From the press release sent out of the Speaker’s office: Until running for the House, Rozo’s life’s work had been running her family’s Hitching Post Farm in Royalton, where she was born and raised. Rozo stepped bit by bit into public service. When her daughter entered public school, she realized that a community thrives when its members are active and engaged, and it wasn’t long before she had a seat on first the school board and then the selectboard.

Rozo considered running for office a duty. “I feel that if there comes a time in your life when you have the ability, and you can possibly share a bit of yourself with the world around you, you should take your turn. It may be just volunteering as a mentor or a chaperone with a school group, or serving on a town board. We all receive the benefits of living in a community, so if we are able, we should give something to it as well.”
Rozo’s most recent work in the Vermont House focused on legislation to connect farms and schools, providing important outlets for farmer’s products and access to nutritious local food for students. She worked across party lines, with legislators and the Douglas administration, with the goal of engaging Vermont youth in becoming lifelong consumers of fresh, nutritious foods.
Representative Ann Seibert of Norwich, said of Rozo, “Who could not like Rozo? She was so open to everyone and everything, honest and truly genuine. Thinking of her reminds me of one of my mother’s old sayings, ‘She was all wool and a yard wide.’”

My own in-person contact with Rozo was limited to an extended walk through part of Randolph with her during the last election season after a campaign event (although we did speak on the phone from time to time). Rozo was wise, quick-witted, and had a real no-nonsense honesty to her. She was also very personable, easy to talk to and immediately likable. While she instantly inspired respect, she did so without seeming intimidating or superior in any way.

Rozo was a very good person who made a real impression on me, and the world truly feels diminished by her passing. I hope her example will inspire others like her to step up and take control of their communities’ destinies by running for public office. This world could use more Rozo McLaughlins.

I’m posting this for a friend, colleague, and ally, Steve Schlipf, who is so busy crunching data for local candidates that he hasn’t got the time to come here and do it himself.

Here’s what he’s got to say about Martha and the Very Bad Crowd:

>>Based on the issues that Martha Rainville holds dear, I am very concerned about the crowd that she has fallen in with.  One of her strong suits has always been taking care of the people she’s responsible for. But what are we seeing now?

>>I can understand that when the importance of environmentalism is a new thing (it was only a few weeks ago that global warming was something that required more study) that it would seem very special to have former EPA chief Christine Whitman come and support you.

>>While an environmentalist would easily argue that Christine Whitman is no environmentalist, I’m looking at the federal judge’s ruling that Christine Whitman misled New Yorkers about air quality after 9/11, leading to incredible health consequences for residents and rescue personnel.  That doesn’t sound like taking care of your people.

>>Maybe that’s an anomaly and Martha just wasn’t aware of this issue.  Let’s look at caring for your people in an area that Martha does know all about.  The Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America has compiled voting records on legislators on issues of concern to troops, veterans and military families since 9/11/2001. This includes 169 House votes and 155 Senate votes.  You can look at the specific votes and the details of who voted how at their website, http://iava.org .

>>But the bottom line is that the average score for Democrats in the House and in the Senate was a B+.  The average GOP score in the House is a C.  The average GOP score in the Senate is a D-.

>>Her website points out “As commandant of the Vermont National Guard, General Rainville has been fully informed of matters affecting the military”.  So why does she support the side that won’t support the troops?<<

NanuqFC for Steve Schlipf
 

The Herald endorsement is not exactly a surprise (unlike the Freeps endorsement of Dunne… although in light of the Freeps’ endorsement of Rich Tarrant this morning, I suppose it was all part of the horse trading going on between the reality based members of the editorial board, and the usual, knee-jerk, live-Republican-or-die editorial suspects over there…).

I’ll admit, part of me was concerned for the RH endorsement, given the high-profile presence of former reporter Brendan McKenna on the Rainville team, along with the Herald’s tolerance for his thinly veiled electioneering on her behalf in the months prior to his leaving the paper. Still, they did the right thing in the end:

Peter Welch, the Democratic candidate for the U.S. House, is knowledgeable, experienced and committed to working for change in Washington, D.C. His Republican opponent, Martha Rainville, has shown herself to be a personable candidate, but she has been unable to show that she fully grasps the scope of the disasters authored by Republicans in Congress and the White House in the last four years.

Welch deserves the support of Vermont voters.

Click here for the whole thing.

In addition to mass murder, tyranny, and grand larceny, Bush Cheney and the Republican party are guilty of identity theft.  Who’s identity?  America’s.  They took over the government despite losing the election of 2000 and proceded to take our identity away from us as a people who are under the rule of law, believe in due process, and expect the government to perform its functions competently and honestly.

Instead they have turned our identity into that of a mindless group of thugs, liars and crooks illegally invading another nation and kidnapping and torturing nationals of many nations. 

We want our identity back. 

[Crossposted on What’s the Point?]

We, in the Vermont blogosphere, have all been plugging away at focusing on Martha Rainville’s forced ambiguous position on the Iraq War — and her similar penchant for trying to have it both ways on a variety of issues.

But, there is one angle that I think has been largely overlooked.

Martha Rainville abandoned her troops in a time of war.

And this is not just me talking here.

It’s recently come to my attention that there’s apparently a wide-spread feeling among many in the Vermont Guard that Martha Rainville put her personal political ambitions over her sworn duty to look after the many brave Vermont men and women who pledged their loyalty and placed their trust in her.

So, when she proudly proclaims that she stood up to the administration to advocate for needed equipment for the Guard serving in Iraq, just remember…

She went and quit the one position where she could’ve had the most influence in doing just that.

Which has created a deep feeling among even Republican-voting Guard members that Ms. Rainville cut and ran when the going got tough. And that she left her troops when they most needed her leadership and advocacy for the most selfish of reasons.

Those are tough words I know. But, that’s a part of the dynamic that will help elect Peter Welch to Congress on November 7th.