Live from New York, it’s… tonight!

Here’s the live festivities for ya. See everybody next year!

The Shumlin transition team has announced that Biomass Energy Resource Center Executive Director Chris Recchia will be the new administration’s Deputy Secretary of the Agency of Natural Resources, and Chittenden County forester Michael Snyder will serve as the next Commissioner of Forest, Parks and Recreation.

According to the press release, Recchia served “as Deputy Commissioner and then Commissioner of the Department of Environmental Conservation from 1997 to 2003. In addition, Recchia was director of the Ozone Transport Commission in Washington D.C., where he headed up 12 states and the District of Columbia on coordination of air pollution programs.”

And although it hasn’t been formally announced yet, news is already in open circulation at ANR that my former co-worker at the Vermont Natural Resources Council Water, Jon Groveman, will be the next lead counsel for the agency as well. I can say from first hand experience that there is no sharper mind for natural resources law and advocacy in Vermont than Jon, and the news that he’s being brought onboard pegs the competence, professionalism, and effectiveness meters for the new Markowitz-helmed ANR.

With a hat tip to Randolph06 in the comments, the following announcement comes via Governor Elect Peter Shumlin’s Facebook page:

Today I appointed Michael O’Neil as Director of Vermont Emergency Management – currently Chief Engineer and Emergency Management Director for the city of Burlington’s Fire Department. Mike’s experience heading up emergency services in Burlington has prepared him for any emergency that could adversely impact the lives of Vermonters.

Announcement-by-social-media? Media history? Nah… probably I just missed another press release. Grumble.

Long time Windham-4 Representative (and former Speaker of the House) Michael Obuchowski will be the Commissioner of the Department of Buildings and General Services in the new administration. From the transition team press release:

The department employs more than 350 people and oversees construction, renovation, maintenance and other services — including security — related to state buildings and grounds. The department also manages the state’s vehicle fleet and coordinates worker compensation claims.

“I can’t imagine a better fit for this job,” said Gov.Elect Shumlin. “Michael’s extensive legislative background and direct experience with state buildings and grounds will enable him to hit the ground running in this position.”

Obuchowski is a great guy and has done a lot for the state of Vermont. While it’s hard to imagine a House Democratic caucus without him, it’s great to see him recognized with an appointment (although I was hoping the rumors about a potential appointment to Treasurer would bear out). It ain’t sexy, but it’s a nuts-and-bolts position, and Obie does nuts-and-bolts very well

The big east coast blizzard was a bust in Montpelier. We got maybe 3 or 4 inches. I take it everybody else got more.

Check out this from Belmar, NJ:

December 2010 Blizzard Timelapse from Michael Black on Vimeo.

I’m going to do something a little different for a holiday open thread.

Christmas, of course, has a complicated history, and a sometimes-complicated role in our society. For many it is a religious holiday, for many others in is a cultural/secular holiday, and for still others it lies somewhere in between. It’s history is also a bit convoluted, as the celebration of Jesus’s birth was timed in such a way to easily absorb seasonal pagan celebrations and rituals.

But Christianity still walks side-by-side with Christmas. I myself am not a religious person, and regular readers don’t have to be told that this is hardly a religious blog. Still, for whatever reason this year, I’m feeling moved to commemorate the day with a sacred text.

Christ’s Sermon on the Mount is, in many ways, the very heart and soul of the Christian religions. Sure there’re things in there that make me wince, a couple others that might make me wince or might make me want to cheer, depending on how I choose to read them – but also a whole truckload of really, really good things that seem every bit as meaningful today – if not moreso – as they were at the time.

So after the flip, join me for the words of the big J himself. If you’re a Christian sort, you can read it religiously. If not, you can join me in a secular appreciation…

<< Matthew 5 >>

New American Standard Bible

The Sermon on the Mount; The Beatitudes

     1When Jesus saw the crowds, He went up on the mountain; and after He sat down, His disciples came to Him. 2He opened His mouth and began to teach them, saying,

     3″Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

     4″Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted.

     5″Blessed are the gentle, for they shall inherit the earth.

     6″Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied.

     7″Blessed are the merciful, for they shall receive mercy.

     8″Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.

     9″Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God.

     10″Blessed are those who have been persecuted for the sake of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

     11″Blessed are you when people insult you and persecute you, and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of Me. 12″Rejoice and be glad, for your reward in heaven is great; for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you.

Disciples and the World

     13″You are the salt of the earth; but if the salt has become tasteless, how can it be made salty again? It is no longer good for anything, except to be thrown out and trampled under foot by men.

     14″You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden; 15nor does anyone light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on the lampstand, and it gives light to all who are in the house. 16″Let your light shine before men in such a way that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father who is in heaven.

     17″Do not think that I came to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I did not come to abolish but to fulfill. 18″For truly I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not the smallest letter or stroke shall pass from the Law until all is accomplished. 19″Whoever then annuls one of the least of these commandments, and teaches others to do the same, shall be called least in the kingdom of heaven; but whoever keeps and teaches them, he shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven.

     20″For I say to you that unless your righteousness surpasses that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will not enter the kingdom of heaven.

Personal Relationships

     21″You have heard that the ancients were told, ‘YOU SHALL NOT COMMIT MURDER’ and ‘Whoever commits murder shall be liable to the court.’ 22″But I say to you that everyone who is angry with his brother shall be guilty before the court; and whoever says to his brother, ‘You good-for-nothing,’ shall be guilty before the supreme court; and whoever says, ‘You fool,’ shall be guilty enough to go into the fiery hell. 23″Therefore if you are presenting your offering at the altar, and there remember that your brother has something against you, 24leave your offering there before the altar and go; first be reconciled to your brother, and then come and present your offering. 25″Make friends quickly with your opponent at law while you are with him on the way, so that your opponent may not hand you over to the judge, and the judge to the officer, and you be thrown into prison. 26″Truly I say to you, you will not come out of there until you have paid up the last cent.

     27″You have heard that it was said, ‘YOU SHALL NOT COMMIT ADULTERY’; 28but I say to you that everyone who looks at a woman with lust for her has already committed adultery with her in his heart. 29″If your right eye makes you stumble, tear it out and throw it from you; for it is better for you to lose one of the parts of your body, than for your whole body to be thrown into hell. 30″If your right hand makes you stumble, cut it off and throw it from you; for it is better for you to lose one of the parts of your body, than for your whole body to go into hell.

     31″It was said, ‘WHOEVER SENDS HIS WIFE AWAY, LET HIM GIVE HER A CERTIFICATE OF DIVORCE’; 32but I say to you that everyone who divorces his wife, except for the reason of unchastity, makes her commit adultery; and whoever marries a divorced woman commits adultery.

     33″Again, you have heard that the ancients were told, ‘YOU SHALL NOT MAKE FALSE VOWS, BUT SHALL FULFILL YOUR VOWS TO THE LORD.’ 34″But I say to you, make no oath at all, either by heaven, for it is the throne of God, 35or by the earth, for it is the footstool of His feet, or by Jerusalem, for it is THE CITY OF THE GREAT KING. 36″Nor shall you make an oath by your head, for you cannot make one hair white or black. 37″But let your statement be, ‘Yes, yes’ or ‘No, no’; anything beyond these is of evil.

     38″You have heard that it was said, ‘AN EYE FOR AN EYE, AND A TOOTH FOR A TOOTH.’ 39″But I say to you, do not resist an evil person; but whoever slaps you on your right cheek, turn the other to him also. 40″If anyone wants to sue you and take your shirt, let him have your coat also. 41″Whoever forces you to go one mile, go with him two. 42″Give to him who asks of you, and do not turn away from him who wants to borrow from you.

     43″You have heard that it was said, ‘YOU SHALL LOVE YOUR NEIGHBOR and hate your enemy.’ 44″But I say to you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, 45so that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven; for He causes His sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous. 46″For if you love those who love you, what reward do you have? Do not even the tax collectors do the same? 47″If you greet only your brothers, what more are you doing than others? Do not even the Gentiles do the same? 48″Therefore you are to be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect.

The Washington Dems seemed committed to doing as little as they could possibly get away with – and yes, that includes health care. Given that it was the central policy plank to Obama’s campaign, even President Who-me-close-Guantanamo? couldn’t walk away completely. So instead, he threw up his hands on real structural reform, instead passing a far-reaching regulatory regime (the bulk of which wouldn’t take effect for years) with a mandate that citizens purchase product from the insurance companies, in order to keep them onboard – in other words, he did the least he could possibly get away with and call “reform” (and it remains unclear whether the amended system is either sustainable or constitutional).

And when it wasn’t the President trying to make as few waves as possible, it was Congress, which joined the President in secondary policy fixes they could try and brag on, but punting on the marquee items that drove the 2008 elections, such as the Bush tax cuts.

Well, that didn’t work – and now, with nothing to lose, the lame duck Congress has kicked in, and the President is behind them. When running for re-election as the non-Republicans rather than the Democrats turned out to be a miserable failure, they apparently decided it wouldn’t hurt to take their last opportunity to contrast themselves against the impending chaos that will be sworn in next month.

And yes, although the tax bill was a clusterfuck in many ways, it was at least something. More praiseworthy, though, is the series of unqualified successes that have followed – successes which Congress and the President have varying degrees of credit to take (although the President, in the simplistic media narratives, will get full credit for all of them), but which they both deserve at least some credit for.

• Don’t Ask Don’t Tell repeal: To my mind, the House and the Senate own this victory. Sure, a Republican wouldn’t have signed it into law, and Obama deserves thanks for doing so. This doesn’t change the fact that the President has had many opportunities to make a difference on this wrongheaded policy but has either squandered those opportunities, or actively worked against them. This was a ball he punted entirely to the Legislature, and in the 11th hour, the Legislature decided that do-nothing made for a poor legacy, and opted to make history instead. For my money, this victory is 90% the Democratic caucuses’, with 10% reserved for the Prez (and that feels gracious to Mr. Obama, frankly).
• The START treaty: Flip that number around, and you’ve got close to the credit-award for this important nuclear arms reduction regime. This was an Obama administration crown jewel, and it was only through the firm engagement by the President and his staff that it’s ratification became a top priority for the dying spurt of energy of this Senate. Still, reminding obstinate Republicans of their patriotic responsibilities took work from Senate Democrats as well, so we’ll allot the credit for this crucial victory as 80-20 in favor of President Obama.
• 9/11 Responders Bill: It’s pretty freaking twisted that this long-stalled bill to provide health care and assistance to ground zero emergency responders with related ongoing issues was held captive by the GOP. The House did it’s job, and the Senate held firm until it passed – but the truth is, that probably wouldn’t have happened without the peculiar spectacle of (some, not all) Fox News talking heads chastising the Republican caucus for derailing it. As such, credit for this one goes to the congressional Dems and Fox anchor Shep Smith, 75% to 25%. And no, you’ll never see that happen again.

Didn’t that feel good? Now hold on tight. The insanity begins in a couple weeks…

Once upon a time there was a little, cranky hard-right infomercial radio program on WDEV, hosted by Laurie Morrow, and called True North Radio. Then, in 2006, Morrow “left” (?) the program and was replaced by proto-tea-partier Paul Beaudry when the program received a mini-makeover, becoming a bit more lively. It was shortly thereafter, in 2007, that fellow proto-tea-partier Rob Roper became the head of the Vermont Republican Party.

Roper became a frequent voice on Beaudry’s North, which was a veritable full monty of hard-right dog-whistles, from routine climate change denialism and relentless pro-Vermont Yankee segments, to an on-again, off-again crusade against the insidious Hinesburg Representative Bill Lippert and his agenda of un-American homosexual indoctrination (which he promoted by simply being gay, apparently).

The little’s show’s profile grew and grew. Then, in 2009-2010, the Tea Party phenom hit the nation! Statehouse protests! Baudry with a bullhorn calling out Bernie Sanders at public appearances! By 2010, it was all building to a head, as “moderate” (ha) Jim Douglas was retiring, and the heir apparent was social conservative Brian Dubie who hired a hard-right, slash-and-burn southern GOP operative to run his campaign. Beaudry himself jumped into the fray, coming from nowhere over the past few years to win the Republican primary for US Representative, practically chomping at the bit to take on librul Peter Welch!!! Meanwhile, Roper steps in to fill the vacated hosting spot.

And then came November…

Dubie lost to anti-Vermont Yankee poster boy Peter Shumlin. Beaudry was stomped by Welch. And oh yeah, Lippert is still there, too.

Come December – the very next month – True North Radio announces it’s funding hasn’t come through, and the program will be packing it in.

It’s hard not to look at the timeline (in particular the evaporation of funds the month after the Election) without wondering if the whole point of the program after the Morrow-exit wasn’t simply about building a head of steam to take it all in Election 2010. Mission un-accomplished indeed.

None of which is to say that there aren’t necessarily meaningful implications to True North’s demise and planned resurrection as an online-only site (no, seriously – I really think there are). I’ll get to those in tomorrow’s piece, though.

We face the same budget challenges as we did under Jim Douglas, the same tricky choices, the same bad options – but we’re entering into an era where we’ll be approaching the solutions in a different way. As Governor, Jim Douglas was notoriously hostile towards any fair or equitable approach towards school funding. Why? Because he saw the budget crunch as an opportunity to score points in his ongoing war with the Vermont NEA. Local communities, school and students were simply acceptable budgetary casualties.

With this in mind, here’s the latest from Governor-Elect Shumlin:

Governor-elect Peter Shumlin today said that local school boards and communities are best left to make their own budget decisions and he will not ask the Legislature to enforce the voluntary education spending cuts recommended under Challenges for Change.  At the same time, he said that local school districts will still receive $23.2 million less from the state this year. While much of that should be made up with the nearly $19 million in federal education stimulus money that the state received earlier this fall, the $19 million is a one-time allocation of funds and school districts should continue to develop fiscally sound budgets so as not to result in increased property taxes.

[…] “We always knew that this would be a difficult year for school budgets,” said Shumlin. “Our local boards and educational leaders have worked diligently to provide the quality education we expect from our schools and local voters expect. I trust our local school boards and voters to develop fiscally sound budgets that reflect the values we hold dear as Vermonters.”

Same challenges. Same tableau of bad options. But instead of lectures, attacks, ideological resistance to using federal financial support for its intended purpose of mitigating the impacts of the tanking economy, and duels-at-20-paces, we hear an appreciation of the impacts locally, an appreciation for local control, a sense of partnership, and (gulp)… was that the dreaded empathy?!? All of which is made even more meaningful by the fact that this budget-cutting order was a Challenges for Change edict – the same Challenges for Change that Shumlin himself bears much responsibility for as former Senate leader. This is also a sign in itself – that this administration may well understand the need for adaptation in a way the previous one never gave one whit about.

I have to say that the choice of Beth Pearce to be the new Treasurer surprised me. I have to say that because I’d never heard of her before the announcement. That’s a pretty pure surprise.

A few takeaways from the press conference. First, Pearce comes off as very likable, affable, and well-spoken. One gets the sense she isn’t completely at home in front of the press yet, but it won’t be long at all before she is. She also made it quite clear that, in her words, she is in this for “the long haul,” meaning a run for election in 2012, even if it was clearly not the place to answer the question directly.

Pearce was asked by reporters about being a part of closing the gender gap in government, a subject first broached by the media in the context of Shumlin administration appointments at this site last week. Pearce replied that the gap would be closed with “hard work and achievement,” which is only something right wingers with the biggest chips on their shoulders should not be able to appreciate (although the rest of us understand that it takes a bit more than bootstrapping to overcome institutionalized discrimination).

The other point of interest came when the three at the podium – Pearce, Administration Secretary-in-waiting Spaulding and Governor Elect Shumlin were asked about the ongoing matter of the state’s pension funds and the ongoing financial crisis. Pearce referenced the, as she said, “win-win” deal Spaulding had made with the NEA on teacher’s pensions (which averted a high profile showdown with the Legislature and Governor Douglas, the latter of whom was clearly salivating for such a showdown) and waxed optimistic about finding similar accommodation with the VSEA and the Troopers union.

It was at this point that the easy-going, comfortable and nimble way with reporters Shumlin clearly has come to possess contrasted with the less-polished stylings of outgoing Treasurer Spaulding. Spaulding was well-spoken, but always seemed mildly annoyed with the reporters asking questions. This generated the only, shall we say, non-light-hearted moment of the press conference, when a questioner followed up, wondering if the new Treasurer could expect particular resistance from VSEA on amending pension arrangements, given that they were likely to feel that they already went through all this just a couple years back.

Spaulding took the mic to respond, and virtually the first words out of his mouth were “that was then, this is now.”

Ouch. The emergence of bad cop rhetoric in the room was unexpected and stood in contrast with the other remarks. That may have been the extent of the tense vibe, but unfortunately, it was very much what sound bites are made of.

And in fact, Spaulding is going to have to tread very carefully here. Critics will undoubtedly raise eyebrows questioning the independence of the Treasurer’s office in light of Spaulding’s move a mere one floor upstairs in the Pavilion, his Deputy’s promotion to the top spot (a Deputy who repeatedly referred to the outgoing Treasurer as her “mentor”), and the concurrent announcement that Spaulding’s Deputy would be Michael Clasen, the current Director of Retirement Operations in the Treasurer’s office. One can expect to hear questions as to whether this independent Constitutional office won’t be being run from the Governor’s office a mere flight of stairs away.

But, of course, there’s no command-and-control relationship where everyone’s on the same page. Given that Treasurer Spaulding’s team will essentially remain whole, just spread out between two offices, suggests there will be consensus on matters that cross both office’s agendas. Nobody’s driving anybody else if all look at the issues the same way and come to the same conclusions. Without question, under this schema, the two offices will interact seamlessly and efficiently as never before.

Whether or not that’s a good thing may well depend on whether or not you have a state pension coming under the gun, and how those discussions flesh out.