(Nate’s back with a bang, and interestingly enough, he’s tackling something that the GMD front pagers have been talking about looking into ourselves in recent weeks. There are a lot of questions worth asking, here, especially given the recent scandals in similar organizations and the rather bizarre accusations in circulation on the web. Nate’s professional, no-nonsense approach is spot-on. – promoted by odum)

UPDATE:  I've posted the budget line items under the category of Other and general administrative expenses online.  The only way I could figure out how upload a PDF file is through Google Docs.  If you don't have a gmail account, all you have to do is set up a free account and log in to make the links below work.  The resolution is good enough to print out.

VSAC documents

…..Cover Letter

…..VSAC Salaries (not including insurances, bonuses, retirement & perks)

Other general and administrative expenses, 

…..Page 1

…..Page 2

…..Page 3

…..Page 4 

Auditor of Accounts:

I would like to request a formal, comprehensive audit of the Vermont Student Assistance Corporation. Based on information provided by VSAC, I have found an accounting discrepancy which suggests VSAC under-reported “Other general and administrative expenses” by more than $2.4 million in FY '08 and more than $2.6 million in FY '07.

Page 13 on the FY '08 Annual Report accounts for $10,233,000 in “Other general and administrative expenses, while information provided directly from VSAC provides a total of $12,653,553. The same annual report accounts for $8,788,000 in “Other general and administrative expenses” while data provided by VSAC offers a total of $11,428,035 for the same line item. Over the ten year period of annual reports available on VSAC's web page, “Other general and administrative expenses” has grown at stunning rates from year to year. Several expenses appear significantly excessive. These include:

Governor Douglas' use of rhetorical device in speech is so consistent it's possible to predict what he will say.  After six years of nearly daily presence in the press, even an untrained ear can recognize the governor's most common catch-phrases and the specific words he often uses to begin a a response to a question or or issue. 

On Tuesday,  the Vermont Business Magazine reported a favorable outlook on the economy in Chittenden County.  The report is titled, Burlington Job Market Expected to be Among Strongest in Nation.

If the Governor's Office responds to this good news, it's not difficult to imagine an approximation of what he might say.  Below the fold, I offer the following:   

• a three sentence example of Douglas praise such as we might expect in response to the VBM report;

• the rhetorical device framing Douglas' speech; and

• why it's important to learn the definition of “anaphora.”

A recent Manpower Employment Outlook Survey (issued quarterly) reports:

“From January to March, 25% of the companies interviewed plan to hire more employees, while 7% expect to reduce their payrolls,” according to Manpower spokesperson Amanda Niklaus. “Another 62% expect to maintain their current staff levels and 6% are not certain of their hiring plans.” 

That's really great news for Vermont, considering the huge negative impact of the financial crisis across the nation.  Even small growth in early 2009 is an indicator that Vermont may have some insulation from the overall economy, just as we had last year during the housing meltdown.  Assuming the local press or the Governor's office picks up the news, my first prediction is that he will comment on it in one way or another.  Here's an approximation of what he is likely to say:

I'm proud of the fact that Vermont businesses and our overall economy remain in good shape relative to the rest of the country as we continue our long tradition of hard work and innovation in the private sector.  I applaud the companies that are bringing new jobs to Chittenden County at a time when we need it most, and I see this as part of my administration's economic initiatives such as our designation of the Green Triangle between Burlington, Middlebury and Montpelier.  I think all Vermonters should be reassured by this news as a good indicator that we will be relatively sheltered from the financial crisis as we make progress toward new opportunities for businesses that will help bring revenue to next year's general fund.

No matter what he says, the catch-phrases highlighted below will inevitably be tossed into the mix in one arrangement or another.  Over the last six years the repitition of these phrases seem to have become ingrained in the muscle-memory of our governor's tounge.  In fact, the use of these phrases and the constant repitition over the last six years are an intentional use of a rhetorical device, such as the kind one might learn in a Dale Carnegie two-day seminar on Public Speaking Mastery.

The rhetorical device Douglas applies consistently in his speech and written press releases is called “anaphora,” defined as follows:

Anaphora:  the repitition of the same  words at the beginning of successive sentences.

You've heard them before:   

I applaud…

I'm proud of…

I think Vermonters… 

Douglas has consistently used these three phrases in combination with a sprinkling of others (below) that I can't recall him going through a single speech or interview without using at least one of the above.  If he uses only one of these catch-phrases, it's most likely because he's not talking at any considerable length.

You don't need to know the word “anaphora” to notice Douglas' use of this verbal device over the last six years.  In fact, you can Google the catch-phrases to see the plethora of results.  If you click through the first 5-10 pages of search results you'll get a sense of the scope of how often our governor applies even one of several key catch-phrases.

Here are three Google search examples.

• “Jim Douglas” “I applaud”
• Vermont Douglas” “I'm proud”
• Vermont Douglas “work hard” 

…and this is just a Google search.  Years from now a Masters level English major may write his/her post-graduate thesis on Douglas' superfluous use of anaphora by sifting through the State's archives of public records.  It would be a very long thesis.    

Who needs to know? 

• Reporters probably already know, but sometimes a reminder is helpful.  Vermont's professional reporters are pretty savvy, but they have deadlines to meet and are often pressed for an opportunity to ask follow up questions.

• Democrats in Legislature and future candidates.  It might be helpful to follow the master.  Sign up for the Dale Carnegie session and fight rhetoric with rhetoric.

• The rest of us.  Just so we see it when it's coming.  If we're luckyenough to predict Douglas' next response we can take the wind out of his sails.

Why is this important?

There are three reasons why Jim Douglas' use of anaphora have proven highly effective over time.  Each reason alone is significant.  When we look at all three reasons together, it's easy to see how Jim Douglas keeps winning elections, despite the fact few if any accomplishments are of his own making.  Here's why.

1.  First and most obvious, Douglas uses rhetorical device because it works.  30 seconds after you hear him say something like the first sentence in my quote prediction above, “I'm proud of blah, blah, blah…,” all you can remember is the first few words.  The sentence is long and generalized.  When speaking, Douglas' emphasizes the introductory catch-phrase, then shifts into a hypnotic monotone voice.  By the time he's finished his first sentence, all you can remeber is, “Jim Douglas is proud of Vermont businesses.”  By the time he's done with the paragraph, it's time to move to the Q&A or photo-op.  The device works because achievement becomes secondary to Douglas' identiy.  This leads into reason #2….

2.  The use of anaphora gives Douglas credit for whatever acheivement he's praising.  The most common catch-phrase anaphora's begin with the word, “I.”  This creates a strong association between himself and thesuccess he's delivering.  “I'm proud of Vermont's farming tradition…” or, “I applaud the hard work of Vermonters….”  The rhetorical device simultaneously offers gratitude and connects Douglas' identity with the success story.  It allows him to co-opt the story as if he's responsible making it happen.  Additionally, he's sending a message that Jim Douglas is a likeable guy because he appreciates who we are and what we do.  This leads in to #3….

3.  The use of anaphora allows Douglas to evade the issue.  First, since he emphasizes the first few words in his response, then simply fills in the remainder with a generalized abstraction about the issue in a monotone voice, it's easy to become lulled into thinking he answered the question when in fact he's offered little information in all of the fluff.  While he appears to be seriously engaged in the dialogue, he's actually just rephrasing the question within the framework of the anaphora rhetorical device.  At the same time, Douglas consumes 3-5 minutes responding to a single question.  By the time he's finished, it's time to move to the next question.  If Douglas is sitting through a half-hour interview, the reportr will be lucky to ask 3 follow up questions, just given the lack of time.  

Jim Douglas' formula is boiled down to this:  

Use anaphora #1, associate with the good news, then fill in the rest of the comment with catch-phrases and vague references to the specific issue.  Follow with anaphora #2 and repeat.  Continue as necessary.

Conversely, if the news is bad or if he's on the attack:

Use anaphora #1, disassociate with the bad news or, most often, Legislature, then fill in the rest with catch-phrases, slogans, and vague references to imminent doom.  Follow with anaphora #2 and repeat.  Etc.

Here are some catch-phrases to watch for.  Douglas sprinkles them in with the anaphora lead-in.

“Hard work…” or “Work hard…”  

 “The progress we've made…” or “the steps we have taken…”

 “Our long tradition…” or “Vermont's long tradition…”

“Safe and affordable…” or “Safe and reliable…” or “Safe and…”

Ok, if you've made it this far you deserve a chuckle.  Here's Jim Douglas using the same rhetorical device with a huge, unintended twist of comic irony:

“I applaud the spirit of any young Vermonter who sprints back and forth from a warm shanty to bait a hook,” Gov. Douglas said.

Three months before we discovered that Governor Jim Douglas can't bait his own hook, he was out applauding others who could.  

Mabye he should have said, “Wow!  I wish I could do that!”

I’ve been thinking a lot lately about Tom Brokaw’s book “The Greatest Generation,” that classic about our parents and their incredible sacrifices during World War II. What I’ve been thinking about actually is this: What book will our kids write about us? “The Greediest Generation?” “The Complacent Generation?” Or maybe: “The Subprime Generation: How My Parents Bailed Themselves Out for Their Excesses by Charging It All on My Visa Card.”

(Promoted not because I agree with the content, but because I agree that it’s an important issue. Jack – promoted by Jack McCullough)

It's easy to pile ill will on the Free Press and the corporate MSM, but in my opinion, Jack's “Great Timing, Freeps! as well as Shay Totten's, “Do You Want to Know A Secret?“ are inaccurate and off base. The bad news is that this issue is being watched nationally as we speak and this kind of misinformation shouldn't be passed along as a quick rip-and-read. 

My reasons why below the fold:

Many of us who read the news every day love to hate Gannett-owned Burlington Free Press.  It's easy to do.  It's a real-life example of corporate media controlling local and regional news.  In that frame of mind, however, it's easy to forget that the people who work there are real people, most of whom come to the profession because they love writing, just like we do.  They get paid, but not that well.  And most of all, they have a job to do and rules to follow.

More importantly, what's happening at the Freeps is just the tip of the iceberg in what we can expect to see in America's print newspaper industry.  Before the mortgage crisis, the crumbling of Wall Street and bailout of corporate America, the print newspaper business has been skating on thin ice with the rise of free online news.  Traditional newspapers had no choice but to offer free websites.  Family-owned New York Times tried to charge for op-eds a few years back and had to give up. Online news has created a dramatic downward spiral across the newspaper industry for the last 10 years.  If Congress is considering a bailout for Big Auto, it might be worthwhile to suggest a bailout for print news industry.  The 4th Estate serves the public interest and it, too, is too big to fail. 

There is no honor in finding fault or pleasure in cutbacks in the Burlington office.  We're talking about people feeling the harsh impact of reality facing the newspaper business everywhere.  These are people who help give GMDers and the news reading community information to feed on. Some of them are people who read GMD as part of the news feedback cycle or scoop-finding process.  We have a daily relationship with print newspapers and the businesses behind the news.  

Furthermore, cutbacks at the Free Press are not a Gannett-isolated issue. Vermont-owned dailies are running on thin ice, too.  If you know anything about print media and the negative economic impact newspapers have suffered from free online news — including a paper's own website — then it's pretty easy to guess that things are tough industry wide. It's not in the news, but the future of newspapers may require a whole new model if we want to see good reporting to continue. Morale is low across the nation for print journalists, and in fact, very few can be confident in their own job security whether they talk about it or not. My guess is that like most people, our Vermont journalist community prefers to not think about it at all.

Here are the reasons why “Do You Want to Know a Secret?” and “Great Timing Freeps!” are inaccurate and off base.  No hard feelings about it on my end, but what's been said needs to be corrected.

1.  Deleted.  I made an error here, as per my comment below.

2. “Do You Want to Know a Secret?”also offered information that doesn't bear relevance to the speculation that the Freeps would be spared from cutbacks and “Great Timing Freeps!” quoted the same information, passing on an inaccurate suggestion.  Here's the quote:

In fact, excluding Gannett papers in Guam and tiny Tulare, California, the Free Press ranks in the top five within the company’s Community Newspaper Division in terms of profit margin.

Here’s the skinny: According to the financials posted by Hopkins, the Free Press in the first three quarters of 2007 had ad revenue of $21.3 million and a profit margin of more than 36 percent. That translates into roughly $7.7 million in profit through the third quarter, and excludes the holiday ad spending frenzy reserved for the fourth quarter.

The fact that Burlington Freeps ranks in the top five of Gannett's most profitable Community Newspaper Division doesn't spare the office from layoffs. The profit margin from a small circulation daily doesn't go far to offset huge corporate losses.  There's no Point A to Point B line connecting Burlington's profits to Gannett's downsizing strategy, and no basis for suggesting Freeps may be spared from cutbacks.

3. Both “Great Timing Freeps!” and “Do You Want to Know a Secret?” suggest that Brad Robertson said something he clearly did not.

Robertson told “Fair Game” that he’s not ready to announce “anything that relates to layoffs” at his shop.

“Do You Want to Know a Secret” strongly implied that Robertson's response was suggesting that layoffs shouldn't be expected. This made for the central theme of “Great Timing Freeps!” suggesting that on Wednesday Robertson says, “No layoffs,” but on Thursday we hear, “Free Press lays off 9.” But Robertson didn't make any promises in Totten's Wednesday column.  He's quoted as saying he wasn't ready to announce anything on the subject. He couldn't if he wanted to; layoffs are an internal personnel issue that should be communicated internally prior to making public announcements. Wouldn't you want your organization to work through the process before going public with an official statement if your job might be on the line? Doing otherwise would be unethical and incredibly poor management.

4. The interpretation of corporate financial statements was wrong.

“Do You Want to Know a Secret?” was off base by suggesting that Free Press publisher, Brad Robertson, was trying to censor news when asking him to not disclose inaccurate information. Frankly, I think Robertson was extending a professional courtesy by suggesting Shay steer clear of a blog-posted corporate report. This kind of reporting can go either way:  would it be ethical for the Free Press to publish 7 Days internal financial statements?  I think Pamela and Paula would be calling Robertson pronto while finding and firing the person who leaked their private information.

Regradless, Robertson was correct in the first half of this quote:

Robertson says that, even if the 2007 financials are “authentic,” they do not reflect the Free Press’ local expenses, i.e., “capital/depreciation, loans/debt, taxes, donations, stock dividends, and the list goes on and on. “He is taking a report intended to do one thing and thinking it is telling him something else,” Robertson continued.”

We are one large company with many local outlets with costs expensed locally, regionally, and at corporate. I know of no report that gets him the answer he is saying is the reflection of the local property.”

Robertson was less than genuine when he said he, “knows of no report” that reflects the financials of the local office.  Such reports should be easily at his grasp.  But he's correct in pointing out that a Gannett 2007 financial statement posted in a blog report is not a good source of information to determine the financial status of the local property.  If you think you can find the real scoop, check out the post at Gannet Blog.  It's just a list of 

Shay Totten is one of a handful of Vermont's good investigative reporters and I send praise to him here on GMD and via email on a pretty regular basis.  However, it's reasonable and fair to say that business and finance are Shay's weak areas. We all have weak areas and it's what makes us human.  This is an example of how some of us, despite our best intentions, miss the mark from time to time.  Gannett's financial statements can't be used to determine the finanical status of it's owned properites individually.  

We all do the best we can with the information and time available to us. But the ramifications of what's happening at the Free Press are pretty huge and speculative reporting doesn't benefit anyone, anytime.  Vermont's journalism community is dwindling quickly, and some of the reasons are beyond the control of anyone, including decision makers at Gannett. Even those of us at GMD are suffering a loss today, as we do every day a newspaper takes a hard economic hit.

Today I am not angry about the loss of 9 positions in Burlington. I find this news genuinely sad. We don't feel the loss felt inside the Free Press by those whose positions have been cut, or who have to say goodbye to friends who won't be reporting back tomorrow, or who are wondering when their time will come. When you pick up the Free Press in print form today, imagine for a moment what it might be like if the paper is no longer there.  Same goes for the Times Argus and Rutland Herald. If the print paper isn't there, you can bet the website will be gone, too.

Full disclosure:  this is a gratuitious plug for both Pamela Polston at 7Days and Shoreham Uncovered in its effort to raise money for the local library.

Plus, it's too damn fun!

In another diary, JV referred to my,”superior Net skills,” and I'm a bit humbled by the phrase since I have quite a bit to learn myself.  For example, I don't know how to post a picture or video in the comments section yet I'd like to learn.  The trial and error process I've been using is pretty time consuming.

Maybe some of the most knowledgable folks can begin a “how to” series  so we can all get up to speed on the technical stuff.   What do you say, Front Pagers?  Can you enlighten the masses?  Maybe it can be divided into separate “how to” diaries.  How to post video; how to post pictures; how to post either in the comment section; how to embed a link in the comment section; how to make a short video using a digi camera; how to post a webcam diary; how to post an audio file or podcast; what plugins are required on FireFox, IE, or Google Chrome; etc, etc.

In the meanwhile, I'll share what I know below the fold.  Also, I'd like to offer a humble idea about communication.

How To Post Images and Video 

1.  The image or video needs to be available online.  If you have it sent to you via email, or if it's in your hard drive, you need to be able to upload it to a web page.  Here are two ways to do so:

     a.  Set up a free YouTube account to share videos.  www.YouTube.com

and;

     b.  Set up a free account with an online photo sharing program, such as Flickr.  http://www.flickr.com

2.  From there you can copy and paste the “embed code.”  

3.  When your writing/editing your diary, you need to click on the “Formatting” drop down list.  (It's just below the “Rules” paragraph and just above the “Title” fill in line.)

4.  Choose “No Format.”  

5.  Paste the “embed code” where you want it to appear.

6.  Before you continue writing, click on “Preview” to see if the code actually works.  

7.  If it works, super!  

8.  If the code is screwy, there will be a message in red saying something like, “Expecting [code acronym].”  This is when I try to make a decision whether I can decipher what the error message is telling me, or just ditch the effort.  

As an English major a long time ago (and I'm pretty darn sure BP was an English major as well), I realized one day with humility that, indeed, a picture is really worth a thousand words.  If you have the ability to post a video or picture, then you can save yourself a lot of writing and increase the likelihood that people are going to read what you have to say.

That's about the limit of my knowledge.  It was a process of learning through the school of hard knocks over two years of GMD activity.  

Front pagers?  What do you think about a “how to” session while things are a little more quiet prior to the beginning of the new biennium?

Communication

Maybe another diary on respect and asking about the tone of a message before we assume anything.  We're all human and can fall into a pissing match from time to time, and we saw this happen over the last couple of weeks, including a screed against a fellow GMDer I recently put out for the public view.  As Liane mentioned in one comment, tone can be easy to misinterpret.  Maybe we can practice asking about what planet someone else is coming from before we assume we're victim to a personal attack, just to make sure.  Although sometimes it's pretty obvious.  Also, maybe pointing out that everyone should feel that it's ok to extend a “mea culpa” or public apology when it's probably appropriate.  

I hope this last paragraph isn't interpreted as blog snobism.  I've displayed my lesser qualities here, too.  When it happens, it seems that we should consider the folks who read GMD but don't choose to comment or become members.  For them, I'm sure our lesser moments are about as pleasant to see as family bickering.  We have an audience and a level of discussion that rises above any other in Vermont politics online, and we need to take care of those folks, too.

Political cartoonist, Tim Newcomb, has been

Tim Newcomb's first collection of Vermont editorial cartoons was just released, and there's gonna be a party! Come on out Tuesday, December 9 at The Black Door! Cash bar and appetizers, but most of all, a great celebration of "Nuke" and his 25 years of Vermont political cartoons! Party-goers get $3.95 off the cover price, making "A Gaggle of Governors" a great holiday gift for only $15. Party poopers pay $18.95 retail. (Ok, if you can't make it, you're not a party pooper.)

From Green Mountain Daily

Some teaser cartoons just below the fold…

From Green Mountain Daily

From Green Mountain Daily

From Green Mountain Daily

Congratulations to JDRyan for his Lieberman diary generating a HUGE spike in visitor traffic yesterday.  One link from the Kos himself and look at what the 30 day graph tells us.  Damn.  And I thought breaking the 1000 mark was pretty impressive.  

Nice work, JD! 

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(Head go “boom.” – promoted by JulieWaters)

Here's a cut and paste article from Vermont Business Magazine.  I'm sure lots of us will be rolling our eyes on this one.  Vermont Energy Partnership exists to support Yankee, so it should be no surprise to see how their “independent assessment” turned out.  Note how Dr. Howard Axelrod referred to only single sources of power vs. a mix of power sources as a replacement for Yankee.  How realistic is that?  

However obvious VEP's angle may be, it's important to know how far out a case they are going to make this session.  They won't get all of what they want, so it appears they are trying to pull as hard as they can in order to win most of they want in an appearance of “compromise.”  

The “independent assessment” is just below the fold.