In an excellent piece from Hallenbeck at the Freeps yesterday, Senator Anthony Pollina, a nominal Democrat who maintains his status as Progressive Party leader had words for Governor Shumlin as he enters his first re-election year:

“We’re still balancing the budget on the backs of average families,” Pollina said, noting Shumlin oversaw $37 million in budget cuts to human services, raised fees on health care providers and opposed efforts by Pollina and others to raise taxes on wealthy Vermonters instead.

“I think he looks like Jim Douglas,” Pollina said, referring to Shumlin’s Republican predecessor.

This is the second time Anthony Pollina has made such noises, but Shumlin may not be listening given the content elsewhere in the piece:

A little more than a year ago, Frank Cioffi hosted a news conference in his St. Albans barn where he and several other Democrats announced their support for Republican gubernatorial candidate Brian Dubie.

[…] Halfway into Shumlin’s two-year term as governor, Cioffi has changed his tune.

“I think he’s doing really well,” Cioffi, president of the Greater Burlington Industrial Corp., said of Shumlin. Cioffi said he’ll be backing Shumlin in the 2012 election.

Shumlin – who has clearly made a calculated position to push hard on a couple marquee progressive priorities and tack rightward on tax and fiscal policy, as well as some social services issues – has to be looking at that story and saying “mission accomplished.”

In any event, it means a major shift for the sidebar oddsmaker…

I’m not jumping up and down to celebrate New Year’s Eve this time around. In fact, I’ll be lucky if I make it to watch the ball drop on teevee at midnight.

It’s not that I’m not happy about the coming of 2012. Quite the contrary. Partly it’s just that I’m old and boring now. I’m trying to grow some facial hair to make myself less boring, but that’s not going so well. Mainly I just look like I need to wash my face.

But the main reason I’m not in happy-happy-noisemaker mode is that I’m tired. 2011 absolutely kicked my ass.

And it’s not just me. Really, get Julie, kestrel or Maggie talking about their years. Seems like most people I know had a tough year. Weird how so often good and bad years seem to be so shared.

But health, injuries, up-and-down employment, couple of casualties – all that stuff was there, but it kinda sucked beyond the personal, too. There was Irene and Fukushima. There’s another winter that’s way too warm and wet, suggesting climate change is on the fastest possible track anybody could’ve imagined. The Iraq War is sorta-kinda-mostly over, and that’s a great thing – but in other policy spheres, the Tea Party has managed to grind government to an absolute standstill.

But 2012 is an election year, and election years are different. The sense of flux that surrounds elections seems to trickle down into the rest of society. Cynicism ticks up, sure – but also the sense that anything is possible (and I suppose those two things are the flip sides of each other). Things happen on election years.

So with all the oomph I can muster, I sez “bring it on, 2012!”

I mean, seriously – it can’t be any worse, right?

Well, there is that end-of-the-world thing.

The Iraq War formally ended yesterday today (whoops… was thinking this was Friday. Confused).

Of course it’s probably not that simple (it never is), but it is a moment and an announcement that needs commemorating.

At the peak, there were 177,000 US troops in Iraq based out of 505 military bases. According to reports, there are 4,000 left, and they will coming home soon.



(An image of soldiers at a ceremony for the end of the Iraq War, by way of gothamist.com)

Update: Progs decide not to decide, plan to reconvene caucus in January.

Just a quick update on the final caucus results: Miro Weinberger had 655, to State Senator Tim Ashe’s 530.

All is positive-smiley-unity-y by all accounts. Eyes turn to the Progressive caucus (also today, set to begin at 6pm) to see how the loss of Dem-Prog fusion candidate Ashe plays (apparently, Ashe has indicated he will support Weinberger for the position regardless of what the Prog caucus does, which realistically limits their options).

Blurt is providing live coverage. Check it out.

This gets funnier the more you watch it (even if it was done by a Ron Paul supporter).

Former State Auditor and current Franklin County Senator is expected to announce his campaign to challenge Democratic Peter Shumlin for the state’s top job today. A press release only indicated a big announcement of some kind, but Terri Hallenbeck at vtbuzz and WCAX both note that his website (now offline) last night indicated:

“I am a candidate for Governor of the State of Vermont.  I take that candidacy very seriously.  It is the culmination of my two terms as a Vermont State Senator and service as Vermont’s 28th State Auditor.”

The website also suggested he would run as a centrist and will likely therefore (predictably and boring-ly) attempt to paint Shumlin as an out-of-touch liberal (although it sounds as though he’s not interested in getting personal). There will be no (serious) GOP primary, as their coordination of statewide candidates has been tight and methodical.

Police in Vermont have arrested a journalist for doing his job. More than that, he was covering the arrest of several Vermonters.

From VPR (emphasis added):

Opponents of a controversial wind project under construction on Lowell Mountain were arrested yesterday for blocking a road.

…Six of the arrested were protestors but one was a journalist, Chris Braithwaite, publisher of the Barton Chronicle, who was there covering the story.

Regardless of the merits of the issue, the arrest of a journalist covering the arrest of people engaging in civil disobedience is abhorrent, and should be anathema to everyone concerned with maintaining a free society.

Here’s what Braithwaite said during a VPR interview (link).

“I know the Chief Deputy, Phil Brooks pretty well… I told him that I would cover the protesting and cover the arrest and then go down the mountain…Phil came over and said I had to get off the property, I said again that I was really just trying to do my job and would cover the arrest and would leave. He didn’t accept that and I was arrested.

I felt that as the only reporter on the scene that if there was going to be this confrontation between protesting citizens and their government, somebody ought to be there to see ewxcatly how that took place.

and to to obey police orders and just go back down the mountain at that critical moment wouldn’t be good journalism. That’s why I stayed.”

Braithwaite says he was arrested “nicely,” but was charged with Unlawful Trespass and plans to plead Not Guilty.

Damn straight. It’s enough of a crisis that we’re seeing journalist arrests at “occupy” rallies. If the police in this instance have any sense, they’ll drop this quickly, or it’s likely to go national (we’ll be sure of that) and give them a big black eye – as it should.

(H/T to user VCE for bringing this to our attention)

In case you hadn’t noticed, jvwalt has joined the illustrious ranks of GMD front pager. Since a few of us (myself included) are doing less posting these days, it seemed time for some fresh blood, and jvwalt is high-quality blood indeed.

Not only has he been posting good stuff here for some time, he also comes with a mighty media pedigree, including experience in the newspaper world, quite a bit on radio (including at New Hampshire Public Radio), and even has himself a book out there on the shelves – which just goes to show that the new media is not just for those with short attention spans like yours truly.

So: Welcome to GMD’s front page, jvwalt – hope you survive the experience. (geek reference, see pic).

Columnist and reporter Shay Totten will reportedly be leaving is position at Seven Days, and has accepted a position at his previous employer, Chelsea Green Publishing, in a new Burlington office.

Like his predecessor Peter Freyne, Totten has held a unique position in the Vermont media, playing the role of both straight-up journalist and columnist in the same paper. Fellow reporter Andy Bromage, a relatively recent addition to the 7 Days staff, has filled in for Totten on his “Fair Game” column on several occasions, making him the safe bet for a full-time replacement on that widely read regular feature.

Good luck, Shay. Have fun.

By way of TPM, here’s a recent survey that says it all. From the first paragraph, emphasis added:

The conclusion:Sunday morning news shows do the most to help people learn about current events, while some outlets, especially Fox News, lead people to be even less informed than those who they don’t watch any news at all.