If you’ve ever wondered what Republican reps from Franklin County do with their time in the Statehouse, your puzzling days are over!  Judging soley from a resolution that recently came to my attention, it would seem that they pretty much concentrate on the work of getting themselves re-elected.

Now before I go any further with this, I am obliged to remind you that I am an active member of the Northwest Citizens for Responsible Growth.  We’re the grassroots group that has, for almost eighteen years, diligently maintained opposition to the proposed location of what would be the state’s largest Walmart on a tract of agricultural land, near the border of St. Albans Town.



Appearing in the Tuesday, January 18 Journal of the House,  J.R.H. 7, the “Joint resolution in support of the construction of a Walmart store in St. Albans Town,”  must be a high priority for sponsoring representatives Dickinson (St. Albans Town), Branagan (Georgia), McAllister (Highgate), Pearce (Richford), Perley (Enosburg), Savage (Swanton)…and my own local rep and new next-door neighbor, Dustin Degree.  With all the serious budgetary, healthcare, education, energy and infrastructure issues that the Legislature faces this term, the best use this bunch could find for their elected office was to advocate on behalf of an out-of-state retailer in a vainglorious attempt to…to do what exactly?

The issue of whether the store will or will not be permitted is currently under consideration by the Supreme Court of Vermont.  No other official entity has any say in the matter at this point, so their resolution is utterly meaningless…just a red herring they can wave at their Walmart-deprived constituents come re-election time.  “End the wait for Walmart” is a favorite Republican campaign theme in these parts.  In a letter-to-the-editor a couple of years ago, Lynn Dickinson even went so far as to imply that electing her could somehow clear the way for Walmart!  I remember responding that she should familiarize herself with the way the legal system works in this state.

To our Republican reps I have this piece of advice:   If you have so much free time on your hands, when next the county is embroiled in a controversial permit debate that goes on for years, you might show up at one or two of the hearings before you start drafting resolutions on topics you know nothing about, as is evidenced by the text of your resolution, which shows a fundamental ignorance of the factual evidence and of how the project lines-up with the ten criteria of Act 250.

C’mon Franklin County Republicans, is this the best use you can make of your time in office?