There’s a lot to say about the Governor’s budget ideas. Between his recent budget address and his previous State of the State, here’s the quick wrap:

• Same old, same old.
• No tax hikes ever – except for the tax hikes I’m going to foist on the middle class by going after income sensitivity on property tax and dumping our burdens onto local towns. But don’t say that I’m dumping any taxes onto local towns, cause then I’ll tell you that I’m not.
• And middle class tax hikes aren’t tax hikes, because its really getting rid of an “entitlement.” Yep, that’s what he called in the State of the State. Here’s a Republican telling middle class voters that their paychecks are an entitlement. Weird, yes. But don’t expect any objections from the Republican faithful. He’s their guy.
• No more spending, unless its, say, another $15 million for businesses without any transparency or accountability. Hey, they’re entitled.
• Business needs more money. Sick people and anyone needing social services should just suck it up.

All of this should be discussed in detail. And we will (I hope). But I want to, for the moment, highlight one line from the most recent address:

To protect the most vulnerable now and in the future, we must make sustainable reductions to break free from the dangerous cycle of managing deficits year on end.

Bullshit. This is Republican malarkey, feebly camouflaged in lefty feelgood rhetoric. And the press refuses to call him on it. As a result, it’s gradually becoming the accepted wisdom. It doesn’t even take any great thinking to call this idea out. Simply one question: Why?

Make no mistake, this is the same line of attack the national GOP uses against Social Security. Projections decades out show it’s gonna have problems, so therefore we have to gut it. That’s illogical, anti-intellectual crap. We have a legislature. They work with the executive on a budget. They meet every year. They have a budget every year. If the numbers don’t add up, they make them add up. That’s how it works.

Think ahead? Sure. Of course. But just because we may have to make a cut next year is no reason to make it this year. No budget can be guaranteed to be extended, as is, in perpetuity. That’s precisely why a new budget is made every year. This dimwitted business of ohhh, next year looks bad – so we better throw poor, unemployed, and sick people overboard right now would be just plain dumb, if not for the fact that the press and many Democrats let him get away with it. How dumb can it be if it works?

And what does it work for? It works as an excuse to dismantle the programs that protect the most vulnerable. It works to destroy the state’s responsibility to protect those basic human rights that the right refuses to recognize as basic human rights.

The legislature should work to make the best possible government this year. When there are problems next year they can work with all those problems next year – not just the anticipated problems, but the unanticipated ones. As well as any unanticipated good news.

Because that’s how our system is supposed to work, regardless of whether or not it serves the right’s ideological goals.

Jon Stewart rips the Coakley campaign a new one, before absolutely blasting Washington Dems on the health care mess.

Absolutely devastating. Absolutely spot-on.

What’s the buzz for the week? Who’s up, who’s down, and who’s AWOL in the race for Governor? This busybody blogger’s opinion is below the fold (and you can take a look back at week 1 by clicking here).

Peter Shumlin. Shumlin remains blazing hot, courtesy of Entergy Vermont Yankee. The recent shocker (ha) that Entergy has been lying to the state about its operations, and that its lie could potentially cover up groundwater contamination has the added effect of nuclear powering Shumlin’s campaign profile. This is his issue more than any other, and voters are getting a chance to see him be a leader the way Douglas – and by media extension Dubie – refuse to be. The issue also has the effect of pulling some of the oxygen out of the room for the other candidates. The timing was amazing as well, as it all but neutralizes support from some segments of the labor community for VY’s relicensing. As it stood, it was likely that Dems could count on other arms of labor (such as the local AFL-CIO) to more or less be a counterforce to the IBEW support for Yankee, but this scandal blasted its way to the front of the headlines without help from anyone.

Of course, there’s little sign of any kind of campaign operation taking advantage of this attention, so Shumlin’s repeat hot status in mojoland could easily burnout quickly if a campaign infrastructure doesn’t start showing signs of life soon. Good press isn’t worth much without a campaign to sustain it, after all. Still, if Entergy keeps this up, they could well get Shumlin elected.

Now if he would just stop grousing about having to run in a primary. Pllpppt. Get over it.

Doug Racine. Racine shows us how quickly the mojo can rise, jumping 3 spots from last week’s “cold” rating. The Chittenden Senator had a leading role at a legislative health care forum that got headlines, giving him further association with the issue. He also announced a major campaign event that, by its technologically interactive nature, will draw further attention (and he wisely promoted it here at GMD). In fact, if not for the fact that he picked the worst possible time to be AWOL last fall, getting him into a bit of a hole, he’d probably be warm or hot right now. A couple more weeks like this, and he’ll have made up for the lost momentum.

The danger for Racine? He’s held his health care committee position for long enough that primary voters are going to want to see some evidence that he means what he says on the issue and isn’t just engaging in election year posturing. Although he’s tried to inoculate himself from this dynamic by making a point of saying he isn’t necessarily promising immediate policy action, that’s not gonna fly with a lot of people. This is one cake he won’t be able to have and eat too, so he’s going to need to find a way to deliver something this session (and Senate President Pro Tem Shumlin probably isn’t going to be very accommodating in that regard).

Matt Dunne. Hard to tell what’s going on with Matt Dunne, but there is clearly organizing happening that goes beyond the internet as evidenced by reports of supporters showing up at the Windsor County candidate forum last week with Dunne for guv shirts. That sort of thing takes more than a cafepress site.

So Dunne has been working heavily on the internet organizing – including being the only candidate to take full advantage of GMD, as well as use it interactively. He’s got proxies sending emails on his behalf. There seems to be a lot of “there” there, but its hard to tell at this stage with an outside-Montpelier kinda campaign without campaign offices, press releases and finance reports. Given that there’s clear activity and growing buzz, but its not buzz that’s penetrating the insider bubble yet, we’ll give the Google candidate a “lukewarm” to reflect some upward momentum from last week without overstating it. If his push for a high profile presence during MLK day activities works out, he may well bump up another notch for next week.

Deb Markowitz. Markowitz is still cranking out the fundraising emails and demonstrating a campaign heartbeat – but nothing more. We’ll assume that there are things in the works, and that this isn’t just a “rose garden strategy” without a rose garden. On the other hand, she’s advised by some of the same folks who advised Peter Welch to keep as low a profile as possible for as long as possible during his campaign against Martha Rainville, and the only reason that paid off was that the Rainville campaign was one of the most spectacularly incompetent campaigns in Vermont history. In this case, just drifting beyond the fray raising money when the other candidates are getting their hands dirty in the issues will start working against her eventually, if it hasn’t already.

In any event, there was a bit of a news hiccup with those campaign emails. Sending out an email fundraising gimmick pegged to an incorrect value for Vermont’s size was a sloppy mistake, as it broadcast “out of state campaign team” to anyone even paying peripheral attention (and Vermonters get touchy about that). Still, the campaign jiu-jitsued a bit, turning the mockery they received from the national Republicans on the issue into a Republicans must fear us email message.

Nicely played, so we’ll split the difference and leave them at “luke warm” for an active campaign fundraising pulse – but not much else.

Susan Bartlett. Nothing of note to change Bartlett one way or the other from last week, so there’s not a lot of reason to move her. She is engaging with us here online at the GMD community in a way that opponents Shumlin and Markowitz aren’t, so that means something around these parts. Also, people continue to be impressed with her at campaign forums.

So what the heck, let’s bump her up from “chilly” to “neutral.” It’s MLK day.

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Brian Dubie. Dubie’s campaign dynamics shift a bit, as Totten reports that Skip Vallee will not be challenging him for the GOP nomination. That’s a plus. On the other hand, Vermont Yankee’s significant troubles bode ill for him as a VY supporter, despite his attempts to inoculate himself (which won’t amount to much if he just follows Douglas’s lead). Then there’s the other issue that’s lurking around the Statehouse with the potential to dog him – abortion.

But then, he did hire a campaign manager (with what money, one wonders). That’s a big plus. On the other hand, there is some national GOP baggage that comes with the new hire from Virginia.

But losing a potential challenger and gaining a staff both equate for a net plus… just not a very big one, given the minuses. We’ll creep Dubie up a notch and give him a “neutral.”

So I must be feeling all peace and love-ish for the holiday. Nobody’s in the cold zone this week. Don’t count on that happening very often.

Some links, if anybody’s curious, to some other stuff out there I wrote or said that’ll be sure to piss folks off (hey, I aim to please).

From HuffPo, a follow-up of sorts to an earlier Guardian piece I penned a ways back, this one titled For the Angry Center, Reality Bites. And if that title itself pisses you off, click at your own risk.

And last night, in response to this diary at Huffington Post from Senator Sanders, I put up this one which is probably a better statement of how I feel about all this health care reform and progressive demoralization stuff than my previous ones.

Finally, I talked about similar stuff, as well as giving Cenk Uygur a bit of a primer on the Dean/Bernie, Moderate/Left dynamic in Vermont in recent history, on Sirius radio’s The Young Turks program. The interview can be found (along with that same stupid picture I use for everything) by following this link.

I need a new picture.

Today is the day the E Board is scheduled to meet and discuss the Douglas administration’s “emergency” demand that business tax incentives through the VT Economic Progress Council (VEPC) and the VT Economic Growth Incentive program (VEGI) be raised 150% – that’s 15 million dollars – to 25 million total. This is the same Governor of course who wants to slash critical programs because he says we can’t afford them. Kudos once again to Doug Hoffer who brought this to our attention: “The E Board consists of five people: the governor and the four chairpersons of the money committees (Heath, Obuchowski, Bartlett, and Cummings).  The proposal is bad on substance AND process.”

It’s all rather mysterious. It’s being rushed through, with the Governor and his people jumping up and down saying the taxpayer dollars must be shoveled out toot sweet with no real accountability in play. There is no real transparency at all. Word is that it involves companies that just applied for the funds last Friday, and that there is a start up company involved that is supposedly promising 500 jobs. That’s all anyone seems to know, and even that seems to be unconfirmable.

So the legislature legislative branch is being bullied into a multimillion dollar big business blind trust fund in a time of economic downturn with virtually no accountability or transparency, and no real idea where the money is going. Sounds rather TARP-ish, doesn’t it? Add to that the scuttlebutt that the Governor may ultimately want the VEPC/VEGI fund limit to be uncapped entirely. Sounds a little like Fannie/Freddie, eh?

The whole system has already been, let’s say “questionably skewed,” beyond simply the transparency and accountability issue. For example, when VEGI gives out grants, it bases them on the broad metric of “industry background growth” rather than  basing it on the actual applicant business. Most other states base their grant on what the company itself is doing, rather than the industry as a whole. Using broad industry driven metrics instead of company-specific ones can end up with a business grant being much larger than it otherwise would’ve been.

Part of the probblem with the lack of transparency is that it can allow people to get funny ideas. You know, a lame duck governor, on his way out. A Governor whos faced questions about showing favoritism to campaign contributors, and who isn’t too concerned about the appearence of inmappropriate ties to favored busunisses (see diary immediately below). Why, some might assume there is a last minute attempt to bully millions of taxpayer dollars from the legislative branch out to some buddies in the business world. After all, he’s going to be looking for work this time next year.

But only a cynical person would think that.

This week kicks off a new (more or less) weekly feature. Our gubernatorial election mojometers will be a jumping off point for discussing the activities and momentum of the candidates for governor now that we’re getting into a more heavily political season. Subjective, yeah obviously – but tell me I’m full of crap if that’s what you think (as if I have to tell anyone to do that).

So the meters are just a week-to-week snapshot and will move around a lot. This first one is a bit inclusive of recent weeks – months, even – but is still focused on the now. And by all means, email me with your thoughts and impressions as the days go on. The meters are a bit small, but if you squint, you’ll see that they run from red hot, to warm, to luke warm, neutral, chilly, cold and ice cold.

Peter Shumlin. This is a good week in primary land for the Senate Leader. First of all the session has begun and where his Senatorial rivals for the nomination are in danger of being swallowed up by it to their campaign detriment Shumlin – by virtue of his office – will have an increased spotlight (and will not be likely to squander it the way Peter Welch did the year he defeated Martha Rainville). At the VASA Annual Meeting Shumlin further distinguished himself from the field before primary voters (none of whom were in that room, of course) by sticking to his guns before a hostile crowd while Racine and Bartlett wobbled (and Markowitz and Dunne just stayed away). Shumlin goes into the new week running hot before his primary audience.

Deb Markowitz. Markowitz is still doing well with the fundraising and with the session beginning, her number one rival at the moment (Racine) could well find himself constrained from campaigning, giving her an opportunity to gain ground. On the other hand she’s been a bit quiet of late after underwhelming some at last year’s candidate forums and leaning a bit too heavily on the foregone conclusion of her Emily’s List endorsement (and she was a no show at the VASA event which could add to concerns among primary voters about her chumminess with the right). Lukewarm only, then, rather than hot.

Matt Dunne. For weeks, Dunne has reportedly been affectionately harassed by Democrats over his decision to run for Governor in a crowded field rather than Lieutenant Governor, but in light of some high profile earned media setting a unique, Google-driven narrative for his campaign, I’m hearing less of the head-scratching and more second looks from skeptics as he continues his largely internet-driven organizing. Dunne goes into neutral territory with upward mobility that could drive him into warmer climates at any moment (so long as he can get the staffing infrastructure to maintain it).

Susan Bartlett. Senator Bartlett got some mojo going despite some odd early campaign decisions (Polling? In the Fall? With so little money on hand? Seriously?) with strong showings at campaign forums that made folks stand up and take notice. Unfortunately the last few days haven’t been the best for her in the primary arena. The wobbly VASA performance wont play well in the base-driven primary election and as Chair of Appropriations, the new legislative session threatens to bottle up her campaign more than her fellow Senators, making this week’s “chilly” status largely due to forces beyond her control. The Bartlett campaign is going to have to be creative over the coming months.

Doug Racine. Rough time for the Racine campaign. Not only is he going to have to struggle to be noticed during the session (he’s not in too bad a position to generate some buzz if he plays his cards right, but consider it a competitive disadvantage), but the session will claim his campaign point person – Representative Mark Larson of Burlington. And, yes, there was the wobbling at that VASA meeting but the bigger concern for Racine is the return of the most poisonous narrative to his primary prospects. This past fall, many were first taking notice of the candidates at various forums. Racine, however, spent much of this time on vacation. And while he did get an opportunity to show off some fine surrogates on his behalf, the vacation simply went on too long, and there has been little heard from him since his return. As a result, I’ve heard from more than one person the concerns about Racine’s “fire in the belly” for the campaign based on bad memories of his 2002 run. This was a narrative that had been largely quieted through his truly impressive fundraising and media run in the first half of 2009, but the fact that he has allowed it to begin to resurface – combined with the other points against him (that are beyond his control) this week – put the good Senator into cold territory for the first week of the mojometers.

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Brian Dubie. The Dubester has a couple big pluses going into the week. First it seems clear that Governor Douglas is going to be using his soapblox to help increase Dubie’s profile. The Lite Guv has also been working aggressively behind the scenes with a parade of Facebook promotions YouTubes and emails. This is a good medium for Dubie as its one-way and the message can be tightly controlled. All told Dubie should be running in the warm zone…but… the concerned mumblings among much of the old Republican guard from the top to the bottom of the state continue unabated. The GOP insiders continue to be very very concerned about Dubie’s ability to win at this level of battle. It’s a concern that has already fueled public musings of potential primary challenger Skip Vallee and Republican-as-Independent Michael Bernhardt – and behind the scenes gossip now includes the name of Tom Evslin in the mix. It almost doesn’t matter if that rumor is reality-based, as its just as worrisome for Dubie if its just a mass case of wishful GOP-insider thinking.  If I had to bet money I’d still guess (as I’ve been saying for a while) that Dubie is going to be primaried. The question is who. All told, the persistent – and seemingly growing – disquiet among his ranks makes for chilly times.

Rep. Rachel Weston (D-Burlington) on pending bills regarding “fetal personhood” in the Vermont legislature, and the implications for abortion rights… could this become an election issue with pro-life Lieutenant Governor Dubie in the run for Governor?

Maybe we should make it one.

Update: Worth a reminder that, for Christians, the Bible is fairly direct on the incident Weston refers to:

“And if men struggle with each other and strike a woman with child so that she has a miscarriage, yet there is no [further] injury, he shall surely be fined as the woman’s husband may demand of him; and he shall pay as the judges decide. But if there is any [further] injury, then you shall appoint as a penalty life for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot, burn for burn, wound for wound, bruise for bruise” – Exodus 21:22-25

In other words, causing a miscarriage is a crime, but it is not the crime of murder. Not by a long shot. If you want to entertain yourself, google this phrase and see how the conservative Christian set try and contort themselves into pretzels to try to force it to fit into their preexisting, supposedly “biblical” viewpoint.

So I walk by the Statehouse every day and usually give it a wide berth. Yesterday I decided to stop in and poke around.

Unfortunately, my batteries were pretty much dead, but here’s about three minutes of silliness, sights, sounds – and an almost announcement for a statewide candidacy!

From TPM

Referring explicitly to one of Obama’s campaign pledges, a reporter asked {House Speaker] Pelosi whether C-SPAN cameras would be allowed to film the House-Senate [health care] negotiations.

“There are a number of things he was for on the campaign trail,” she said, without addressing the question.

A press release from the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW) Local 300:

Montpelier, Vt. – (Dec. 30, 2009) – A coalition of construction unions will hold a press conference to announce their support for Vermont Yankee, a nuclear power facility whose license is up for renewal in 2012.  The event is open to the public, lawmakers and members of the media and will take place in the State House’s Cedar Creek Room Jan. 4 at 1 p.m.

The Vermont Building and Construction Trades Council is a partnership of 15 labor unions that represent several thousand workers – many of whom work at Vermont Yankee as both year-round employees and subcontractors.  Jeff Potvin, business manager of UA Plumbers and Pipefitters Local 693, serves as president of the Council.

“Our members have logged thousands of hours at the facility since it opened,” said Potvin. “Clearly, the subcontracting opportunities available at Vermont Yankee are immense.  They all pay above-average wages, health care and retirements benefits, and are vital to the regional economy.  The economic benefits are a big reason why the state’s construction unions support re-licensing Vermont Yankee.”

[…]”Closing Vermont Yankee would effectively squash hundreds of union jobs that pay wages far exceeding the norm for our area,” said IBEW Local 300 President George Clain.  “Eliminating these careers, along with the almost certain rise of statewide electricity rates if Vermont Yankee exits our energy portfolio, is not in the best interests of working Vermonters.  Nor is it responsible to chase off an employer that annually pumps millions in payroll, state and local taxes, as well as $100 million in economic activity into the coffers.”

[…]”Given our turbulent economy, Vermont is in need of quality jobs and access to reasonably priced, low-carbon, domestically-produced energy.  Vermont Yankee provides both,” said Clain.  “Renewable power sources and efficiency should definitely be in the mix and will create jobs, but cannot reasonably be expected to replace Vermont Yankee in the near term.  Now is not the time to gamble with so many livelihoods.”