Per today’s Rutland Herald, in a great piece by Lewis Porter:
…The job of Jon Kart, a fish and wildlife scientist in charge of helping coordinate protection of non-game animals before they become endangered, is on the list of potential layoffs.
“None of my funding comes from the General Fund,” said Kart… not only will the federal money that is used to pay his salary and benefits be at risk, but the federal money and other funds that go to support his habitat restoration and other work – more than half of which is spent on private contractors and other needs in Vermont – could be lost, Kart said.
Every dollar of Fish and Wildlife spending on his program – mostly from hunting, fishing and trapping licenses – raises $7 in other funds, totaling millions over the years, Kart said.
Laying him off would actually cost the state money, given that his unemployment and other benefits would have to be paid, Kart told legislators.
But yes, let’s pretend that this is about a budget gap and not about trying to eliminate environmental regulations and doing damage to the unions.
We really need a new governor.
all of a kind ,starve the beast Douglas style.Don’t forget they recommended closing a state run environmental testing lab and privatizing it to “streamline environmental enforcement ”
Oddly though his team apparently bungled getting rules written that could have moved forward a business friendly regulation change that he favors.This is the kind of flexibility the governor is always squawking about and his team never acted on it .Efficiency Vermont indeed.
http://www.rutlandherald.com/a…
If you listen to miniME and his popular opinion speach to the Free Press after the employee rally, while his boss was sneaking out the backdoor to the statehouse, it is about what Vermonter’s can afford. Actually it is about a Dick Cheney/Norquist goal of reducing government. Government is about protection or citizens. Remove that protection and you end up with a banking crisis, or a stock market freefall, or a housing crisis, or on a more personal note, less than a gallon at the pump, meat that does not pass inspection in your restaurant meal, water that is not up to standard dripping out of your tap, Neutrons floating down into groundwater in Brattleboro, No deer during hunting season (they were all jacked pre season since no game enforcement folks are around), black ice as the road cover of the season since the plows stay in the garage, and our fellons coming back to Vermont MUCH more educated about how to do it well again after OJT training in Oklahoma or where ever else they get sent to cheap schooling, etc, etc. The picture is of government only serving the poor and needy. Douglas as a manager of progress for Vermont is a sham. His cronies sitting in corner offices pulling down 90K in salary awaiting the next campaign opening (community development??) are evidence of that. Management in Government has grown at a much more significant rate than the workers on the street. If you look at the list of positions “going away”, management is lacking in numbers?? How many Deputy Commissioners does one need??? Snelling said they were the FIRST to go…
The press is not putting any work into the way our lives will change… Vermont will not be the same in a few years due to JimmyHipants… and he will deserve the legacy he leaves us with.
Hey Jim get a clue, why not raise some revenue…on a temporary basis.