Man, lots of nastiness flying around yesterday. Jim Douglas doing his pouty pushback after quietly signing the budget supplemental, accusing the legislature of “the sloppiest lawmaking I can recall” (what does that even mean, exactly? – certainly not caucus-control, that’s for sure, although I’m sure he wishes they were still so sloppy at that). Meanwhile, another Democratic lawmaker has accused Douglas of lying, and this one on the record – Senator Shumlin. From VTBuzz:
(Douglas) charged that legislative leaders walked away from the negotiating table – three times….
…”Nobody ever walked away,” Shumlin said. “I don’t know what motivates the governor at this time to say something that is untrue.”
The second time in recent weeks this has happened. So weird that its just treated as background noise by the media. In any other state, it’d be headline news. Bizarre. And why isn’t Douglas jumping up to defend his honor, or make a political stink about it (could it be he doesn’t want any more attention paid to the charges)?
Over on the third dimension, after the legislative Dems owned up to majorly screwing up on the wording of the language demanding Douglas seek their approval for large layoffs (it doesn’t take effect until July, so Douglas is just making sure the layoffs get under the deadline) Rep. Zuckerman (who, more than any other Prog, rarely misses an opportunity to poke Dems, but often tosses in a token compliment to offset the attacks, I guess) wants to be absolutely sure that organized labor understands that the Dems really are their enemies:
“Had this been a bigger priority for the whole session, then I don’t think these kinds of mistakes would have happened,” Zuckerman said. “All session long, it certainly appeared as though leadership in the House and maybe Senate was not really standing up for our state workforce and the services they provide.”
Okay. Whatever. Maybe everybody should acquaint themselves the bill before they vote on it, no? If the Dem leadership is so bad, why wouldn’t you read what they spoonfeed you?
On the other hand, maybe this all adds up to that sloppiness we were hearing about. Perhaps Douglas should be celebrating it, rather than criticizing it.
Lets see… Rs grousing at Ds, Ds grousing at Rs, Ps grousing at Ds. What about Ds grousing at Ps? Ah, well, Burlington never lets us down. Per Shay:
The city’s Dems are positioning themselves to block Larry Kupferman’s reappointment as head of the city’s Community and Economic Development Office. Ditto (Progressive Mayor Bob) Kiss’ efforts to replace Parks & Recreation Director Wayne Gross.
Look, I’m not gonna wade into the vendetta politics that characterize Burlington right now (maybe later), except to say that, fine, I understand that the Dems historically feel ganged up on and bullied by Ps and Rs, fairly or unfairly. All I’m gonna say is you might wanna pick your battles more discriminatingly rather than pick all of them, nomesayin?
But on the lighter side of yesterday, here are the greatest hits from the Montpelier police log!
A North Street resident called, asking for help catching her indoor cat that got out.
An area organization reported they find musicians on State Street irritating.
Police received a report of a female who is on the run again.
Police received a report that a male jumped on traffic signal and it fell over.
A concerned citizen reported the travel lanes through construction zone on River Street are confusing.
A Loomis Street resident called, worried neighbor’s music will cause seizure.
Ah, Vermont living…
that says Douglas fails to respond to charges of lying or Charges of Douglas lying barely raises a ripple with Vermont media.
I wonder if it might sell some papers and you know rise to a level above the regular Vermont buzz.
If you read further in the Times Argus article you get to a great point by Sen Tim Ashe.
We did make a big error that hurt a lot of families. This has to be acknowledged. As someone who helps write the budget, I take responsibility for this.
Let’s not help the Governor though by missing Tim’s point. The issue isn’t whether Douglas can lay off more state employees, but rather whether he should. There are still several options available to avoid layoff and yet he moves forward with plan anyway.
There are actually plenty of times when I just give compliments (to D’s) as well. But there are times when the truth of the building and the sentiment of the leadership does also need to be pointed out. You do it yourself plenty.
What is not in the article (and fair enough…you could not know what the reporter asked) is that I was repeatedly asked whether I thought the Dems messed up ON PURPOSE. I made it very clear to Peter (from the press bureau) that I did not think that was the case. I did not feel that there was anything malicious in what happened.
But I did say that I thought this was not as high a priority as it should have been and if it had been then maybe this would not have happened. I think that Paul Poirer leaving the D’s over labor issues and working people somewhat backs up my thoughts. But go ahead…slam me…it is far easier.
Obviously Douglas deserves the most credit for bad management and bad policy and working to skirt the intent of the law. I am certainly willing to put that out there. I just do not believe in pulling punches when working people get stiffed. Sorry about that.