One of the absolute high points of my legal career was the defense of the Winooski 44. In 1984, peace activists occupied the offices of Senator Robert Stafford in Winooski to protest U.S. policy in El Salvador and Nicaragua. They were arrested and charged with unlawful trespass, and in November of that year 26 of those protestors were tried before a jury of their peers. I was fortunate to be one of the eight Vermont lawyers who represented the defendants.

The defense was necessity: the doctrine that a technical violation of the law can be justified if it was undertaken to prevent a greater harm, which in this case was the Reagan administration's support for death squads in El Salvador and contra mercenaries in Nicaragua to oppress the people. In addition to the moral authority of the defendants, witnesses for the defense included former Attorney General Ramsey Clark and Howard Zinn.

When I met Dr. Zinn he was very gracious and willing to be of assistance. His testimony was eloquent, and fleshed out the themes of his academic career and the deeply American values of political protest:

Well, social movements all through American history, including the current one dealing with problems in Central America, all use a variety of tactics. Their basic intention is to arouse public opinion. The idea is to try to get the public, which they usually believe has not been told the whole truth by the press or the government, aroused about an issue. They want to get information to the public. They want to appeal to the people who have not been paying attention to this issue. And so they use a variety of tactics which  have been classic in American tradition, tactics of demonstration, tactics of petition, tactics of civil disobedience.

By civil disobedience I mean the technical violation of law in order to try to bring to public attention some very powerful issue, some very fundamental principle. This is an approach which goes back to the American Revolutionary period, to the movements of that time when, as most everybody knows who has learned something about the American Revolution, the colonists in New England used a variety of tactics which were technically outside the law, but which the colonists believed fit in with what they called a higher law. When they went onto the property of stamp tax collectors and destroyed the stamps, when they violated property lines in various ways in order to bring the attention of people to the abuses of the British King and Parliament, they were appealing to fundamental principles of government which they then expressed in the Declaration of Independence.

The Declaration of Independence was really the summing up of what is the relationship between people and government. The basic idea of the Declaration was that goverment derived its power from people. People set up governments. People set them up for certain purposes, and the purposes were to do something for people to guarantee life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.

Democracy is not just voting. Democracy is not just writing letters to congressmen. Democracy in America has always meant people getting together, meeting, petitioning, demonstrating, going out in the street; yes, sitting in, trespassing, doing various acts of nonvioolent, technical disobedience to arouse large numbers of people.

The way civil disobedience works is that it affects the public. It affects the majority of the people. It does more than affect one senator. It affects many senators. It affects many congressmen. It affects the President. It affects the military leaders of the country because what a government needs most of all when it carries out its foreign policy is legitimacy.

 As I say, representing the Vermonters standing up for the people of El Salvador and Nicaragua in the face of a hostile government, and hearing the Vermont jury pronounce them not guilty, was one of the highlights of my legal career, and working with Howard Zinn to present his testimony was a great pleasure. While right-wingers attacked him for his views, Dr. Zinn expressed some of the most fundamental values of American democracy, and I was proud to know him, however briefly.

Howard Zinn died on January 27 at the age of 87. He will be missed by all of us who value justice and freedom.

Domestic terrorist guilty of Murder One in cold-blooded murder of medical doctor.

After a rocky few months, things are looking much better for the reelection prospects of Montpelier mayor Mary Hooper.

If you've been paying attention, you know what's been going on. Back in October it was revealed that Scott Construction, a city contractor, had defrauded the city of about $400,000. Specifically, when a series of administrative errors created an overpayment to Scott, not only did Scott fail to report or refund the money, as any honest person would do, Scott continued to bill the city for additional work on the same contract, without mentioning the $400,000 overpayment.

At the time it came to light people, even here, were saying that Hooper must go.  There was even a blog by that name. Not everybody cared about the argument from Hooper and Bill Fraser, the city manager, that their decision not to publicly disclose the overpayment problem was the soundest strategy to keep Scott in business, at least until the city got the money back from him. Which, of course, wasn't going to happen, especially when the company went belly up.

People were pretty hot, and there was a lot of criticism of the Council, but especially of the Mayor and City Manager. It got so bad that people were writing Mary Hooper's political obituary, saying that there was no possible way she could hold onto either her mayoralty or her House seat.

 Recent events indicate that reports of her political demise may have been exaggerated.

First,  the City got the money back. All of it. Anyone would assume that a city would carry insurance for this kind of thing, and Montpelier does, and the insurance carrier finally came through with the money.

Next, potential candidacies seem to be pretty scarce. Sure, there's Gary Schy, a local landlord who considers himself a bit of a gadfly, but even he admits that he's not a viable candidate:

He said he is willing to step aside if a viable candidate comes forward to challenge Hooper.

Like possibly former Council member and Representative Jon Anderson, even though Mary has soundly thrashed Jon on the two occasions they have run against each other, once for mayor and once in the Democratic primary for House. Last week, however, Anderson took his hat out of the ring, or said that he wasn't throwing it in the ring.

According to the Times Argus Anderson said Monday that he has been urged to take on the race, but felt the time wasn't right to make such a demanding commitment. Could he have beaten Mary Hooper in a head to head race? It seems unlikely, but now we won't get to find out.

There are still a few days to file nominating petitions, and it doesn't take a lot to get them in, but nobody is surfacing as a “viable” candidate to this point.

A couple of other things.

First, a distinguished citizens' panel studying the Scott Construction affair essentially cleared the Mayor, Council, and Manager of any wrongdoing in the handling of the problem.

Other than Scott Construction, there are no villains here,” read one report, an 11-page document completed by the Montpelier Citizens Financial Review Committee, which examined the non-financial issues linked to the Scott case, including whether the City Council inappropriately met in executive session to discuss the situation.

“I think that really sums it up. There's no question they made some mistakes and some errors of judgment. But the documents and the discussions with them made it clear the things they did they thought were in the best interest of the community,” said resident Nick Marro, the chief author of the report. “Hindsight is always 20-20.”

Second, Montpelier's city leadership got a huge boost last week when the results of a competitive grant were announced. Out of a total award of $20 million nationwide, Montpelier's proposal for a downtown district biomass heating system was awarded $8 million. That's right, 40% of the total for the country  and way more than any other recipient. The project has been in the works for fourteen years, and the award is a tribute to the hard work and vision of the City Council, the Mayor, and Community Development Director Gwen Hallsmith.How do you turn out the leadership after a big accomplishment like this?

Finally, one smaller thing. Remember that blog, Resign Now Hooper? The blog dedicated to the proposition that Mary Hoope must resign now?

Well, it's gone. Nothing there. Whoever set it up apparently got tired of it pretty quickly

So where's the anti-Hooper sentiment in the city now? From all that appears so far, it's nothing more thana few hotheads on the comments section of the Times Argus.

And if that's the case, I like Mary Hooper's chances for reelection.

UPDATE: Ellie Light surfaced in yesterday's Plain Dealer, but still no answer on who she actually is or where she lives.

This week's issue of The Bridge, Montpelier's local newspaper, has an example of a nationwide phenomenon.

Specifically, it's a letter from Ellie Light of Montpelier pleading for patience for Obama to achieve his objectives.

The trouble with this?

It's the same letter, with the same signature, as has appeared in newspapers all over the country, all giving an address corresponding to the locality where the newspaper is published.

I learned this in a tweet from Romenesko yesterday, linking to the Plain Dealer.

Maybe this is a sign that The Bridge has hit the big time.

Or maybe Ellie Light really does live here. After all, everybody has to be somewhere.

Things must be looking pretty bad for Vermont Yankee right now. When they lose the economic royalists, what do they have left?

Vermont Tiger:

Yankee May Have Pulled Its Own Plug

by Jack Harding

Vermont Yankee may have blown it.  The “miscommunication” about the nuclear waste, if true, provides the enemies of nuclear power all the ammo they need to swing the debate their way. More importantly, it has sent Yankee supporters, who have relied upon Entergy’s honesty and integrity, running for cover.

Emerson Lynn:

Yankee Needs To Change To Recoup Credibility

 Politics by Emerson Lynn

In the swamp-speak of Pogo, Vermont Yankee has met the enemy, and he is them.

Credibility is the grist that drives the legislative wheels forward; they grind to a halt if it’s absent. Right now, it’s gone.

 And even the economic royalist in chief:

O'Brien said Douglas called Entergy Corp. CEO Rick Smith on Thursday to express his displeasure. “Right now, we're not very trustful of the operation of the plant,” O'Brien said. “Does this mean the plant can't be relied on? I don't think they're necessarily linked.”

Now can we really believe that any of these guys actually have a problem with what Vermont Yankee is doing?

Of course not. It's all for show, and they pretty much have to say this stuff about how shocked, shocked they are that VY hasn't been entirely forthright.

It's just this small point: VY can't lose the Douglases and O'Briens of the world, no matter what they do. What VY needs, though, is to get the support of a majority of the legislature. I'm starting to question how they do that. If you're in the Legislature, don't you have to wonder what else VY has been lying about? Or if you're a voter? And in that case, if it won't cost a representative or senator anything to vote against VY's license extension, isn't it game over for them?

From today's Burlington Free Press:

Robert C. Krebs of South Hero will fill Trombley's seat. Oliver K. Olsen will replace Hube in the House. Both will take the oath of office and their seats in the House chamber Tuesday.

Krebs wasn't one of the three candidates recommended by the local Democratic Party, noted House Democratic Leader Floyd Nease, D-Johnson.

“We're disappointed that the governor chose the local party's choice in three of four cases,” Nease said. Douglas recently made appointments to three other legislative seats. “The one Democrat he was replacing, he didn't respect the wishes of the local party.”

Long-time readers will remember the saga of Jon Anderson. Back in 2007 there was a House vacancy in Montpelier when Francis Brooks stepped down to be Sergeant at Arms. The Montpelier Democratic Committee proposed three active Democrats to replace him but Douglas, rejecting the Town Committee's nominations, appointed Montpelier attorney Jon Anderson, who came in fifth out of five choices in Town Committee voting. In short order Anderson took office and in the space of about a week, voted with Douglas and against the entire Democratic caucus on an important veto override vote. Montpelier Democrats were virtually unanimous in criticizing this vote, although Anderson steadfastly claimed that there were no political considerations or payoff involved in his vote.

Fast-forward to 2008. Montpelier Mayor Mary Hooper announces her House candidacy and Anderson comes in a weak third in the Democratic primary. Anderson's total time in office: just shy of two years, a time when he was almost totally ineffective because of his choice to alienate the entire Democratic caucus.

Now the newest Democratic House member is about to take office in what is going to be a very difficult legislative session. I don't know Robert Krebs, I've never met him, and I really know nothing about his politics. Floyd Nease is saying that he's a good guy, which is definitely worth something.

Still, especially given what things are going to be like in Montpelier this year, I predict that people will be paying close attention to his votes this year.

As people are thinking about Haiti, and what limited help we can provide, I wanted to post some information about organizations that can put your donations to work right away.

 At this point, I would recommend the larger independent NGOs such as the two below.
1.    •Partners in Health – PIH has already set up two field hospitals in Port-au-Prince. According to WCAX, a delegation of doctors from Dartmouth is heading down there on Saturday.
2.    •Doctors Without Borders, a very well known and respected doctor's organization with people already on the ground in Haiti.

3. Another organization I just learned of, but provides vital connections to the outside world, is Telecoms Sans Frontieres. They are already on the ground in Haiti.

Other good groups like The Lambi Fund – a Washington-based, well run, Haitian founded NGO,  or Fonkoze – a micro-lending, Haitian-American bank that has been extremely helpful in Haiti in both development and response to emergencies, are also very good, but might not have the infrastructure in place right away for a significant emergency response.
 

First it was Div, now we learn that Brian Joyce has resigned from the local beat at WCAX. It wasn't always the courts, but that's where I generally saw him, either on the tube or in person.

Brian has always had an inquisitive mind, and he put the time in to understand the stories. When you work in the courts, and the cases you're working on can be complicated, you appreciate that.

 Good luck, Brian.

It's an election year, and this year is particularly ripe for the red noses, fright wigs, and floppy shoes.

That's right, the Second Vermont Republic is running a slate of candidates.

If you've been following the issue for years, as we have, you are familiar with how chummy the SVR people are with the League of the South and other neo-confederate racist groups.

What? You say this is nothing more than another desperate try for the SVR to grasp at relevance? Of course, if you said that you'd be right, but don't tell them–it would be like telling a little kid there's no tooth fairy.

GMD has learned that Chris Winters, an attorney who has been the director of teh Office of Professional Regulation, and who had been planning a run for Secretary of State, has taken his name out of contention.

In a note posted on his web page, Winters made the following statement:

Dear Friends,

I am writing to share some recent news about my campaign for Secretary of State.  I have made the difficult decision not to run this year.  My wife Sarah and I are expecting a child in July and are thrilled to become parents again.  My family will always come first and it is clear that this is not the time for me to be engaged in an election.

Based on what is known at this point, this move would appear to leave the Democratic field for this race to declared candidate Charlie Merriman and rumored candidate Jim Condos. Of course, it's still early.

Follow the link for the rest of the Winters statement, and, of course, keep coming back here for the latest news on the 2010 election.