When last we saw Mike Donoghue, Dragoon of the First Amendment, he was hovering, vulture-like, outside a court hearing for Christina Schumacher, the woman who’s been in Fletcher Allen’s psychiatric unit since late December — shortly after her estranged husband murdered their teenage son and then killed himself.

Donoghue was outside the hearing because he’d been kicked out — on the insistence of Schumacher’s attorney, Duncan McNeil. And if anyone still believes that Donoghue is the good guy in this tale, please explain why her attorney wanted no part of Donoghue in that courtroom. McNeil, after all, is from Vermont Legal Aid, an institution known for its dogged defense of the rights of the mentally ill and disabled. If Schumacher’s hospitalization is unnecessary, why wouldn’t McNeil welcome Donoghue’s presence? Why does he refuse to speak to the reporter?

Maybe because he knows it’s not in his client’s best interest.

For that matter, why isn’t anyone associated with her — a caregiver, a friend, a relative — siding with Donoghue and publicly calling for Chrstina’s release from the hospital? She has a pretty large extended family. Are they all part of the conspiracy, too?

But there is a story to be told about the Schumacher case: one that wouldn’t violate her privacy and would actually serve a socially constructive purpose. Donoghue knows what the story is, because he’s reported it in the past. He has chosen to drop it in favor of his current crusade. The story?

Christina Schumacher was a longtime victim of domestic abuse. She’d been beaten down (literally and figuratively) to the point where she was incapable of taking the initiative against him in the legal arena. The authorities knew about it, and they did nothing to help or protect her. And it’s quite possible that personal relationships and connections played a part in their failure.

Please understand, this formulation is not based on any inside information. It’s based on (1) the public record, (2) my (educated layperson’s) knowledge of the dynamics of domestic abuse, and (3) logical inference and deduction. Take it for what it’s worth.

There is abundant evidence that Sonny Schumacher was an abusive husband as well as a murderer:

WCAX News obtained multiple police reports filed by Christina Schumacher outlining a pattern of fear. In July, an Essex police officer served Sonny with a temporary relief from abuse order. That same month, Christina’s brother came to the police department, concerned Sonny had violated the order. In August, Christina called the police to report a suspicious van outside her home, telling police her husband had made threats to her safety if she ever “crossed him.” And in October, police were called to Christina’s home to stand guard as Sonny removed personal items from the home. Officers said Christina seemed “nervous.”

Essex police withheld two additional police reports Christina Schumacher made, saying they directly relate to the ongoing murder-suicide investigation.

And this, also from WCAX:

…court papers reveal allegations that Schumacher abused her and their kids, physically attacking Gunnar and flipping furniture on multiple occasions.

That’s quite a bit of evidence, unless you’re one of those people who thinks that women make up abuse allegations for the heck of it.

To the contrary, the vast majority of abuse incidents are not reported. And in the case of someone living in fear of her husband, it’s almost certain that this is the tip of the iceberg. My logical inference: Christina had been abused for a long time.

And yet, in spite of an extensive trail of official reports, Essex Police Chief Brad LaRose told WCAX:  

“There was no complaint of domestic violence ever made to the police department.”  

There might possibly be some technical truth in that, depending on how you parse the precise definition of “domestic violence,” but Chief LaRose had to know that all was not well in the Schumacher household.

And then, the day before the bodies of Sonny and Ludwig Schumacher were discovered, this happened:

Christina Schumacher, 48, called Essex police at 9:33 p.m. Dec. 17 to express concern about her son, Gunnar, 14, the records show.

She said she feared her estranged husband, Ludwig “Sonny” Schumacher, might try to take the teenager out of the country, Essex Detective Lt. George Murtie wrote in a court affidavit…

What did the police do about her report? Apparently nothing, except to write it up. There is no sign that officers were dispatched. The bodies were found the next day, after a “friend” of Sonny’s called police about “a possible homicide/suicide.” From the evidence released so far, the crimes were probably committed on the 17th. If police had followed up on Christina’s call, they might have prevented the tragedy.

It certainly looks like the authorities downplayed, or ignored, Christina’s complaints. This happens distressingly often in abuse cases, and is one big reason why women so seldom report incidents. But in Sonny Schumacher’s case, I suspect that personal and professional connections also played a part. His background, per WCAX:

Sonny Schumacher was a former lieutenant colonel with the Vermont Air National Guard, a career that started in 1989. He was an F-16 pilot who rose through the ranks to become the director of operations for military support. He left the guard in 2011.

A longtime member of the National Guard, a prominent officer. How many friends did he have in official places? There’s a whole lot of cross-traffic between the Guard and law enforcement. Schumacher lived in Essex and the Guard’s headquarters is just outside Essex in Colchester. How many members of the Essex police department serve (or have served) in the Guard? Did LaRose? Did he know Sonny Schumacher? Did Detective Murtie?

And if it wasn’t an actual case of cronyism, was it a case of professional courtesy? Were police less inclined to believe Christina or take any action because her husband was a longtime National Guard officer?

For that matter, what did the Guard know and when did they know it? If, as is reasonable to assume, the abuse had been going on for a long time, did Schumacher’s superiors hear about it? What did they do?

One more sign that Schumacher was a well-connected guy: he managed then-Lt. Gov. Brian Dubie’s re-election campaign in 2004.  

And to bring this back to journalism, did Mike Donoghue drop this angle and pursue the hospitalization story because the Burlington Free Press didn’t want to expose a big hairy mess that might bring dishonor to the Guard and to law enforcement?

That’s pure speculation on my part. What I do know is that Donoghue would be performing a real public service by going after the Guard and the police, rather than taking advantage of a vulnerable woman who’s already suffered through years of abuse and the loss of her son.

I don’t expect Donoghue to reverse course; he’s too stubborn and narcissistic and myopic to see the damage he is doing. (Aside from everything else, he’s putting one more brick in the wall that discourages women from reporting abuse.) But there’s plenty of room for another enterprising reporter to pursue this story. A lot of attention has been paid to cases like Wayne Brunette’s and Macadam Mason’s and Woody Woodward’s; it’s time to look closely at law enforcement’s handling of the Christina Schumacher case.

And perhaps it’s time, once again, to see if the law can do anything more to protect victims of domestic abuse.  

Glad tidings on VTDigger’s front page:

More than 200 Vermont inmates in a Kentucky prison have been on lockdown since Jan. 15 after a series of assaults and fights broke out, a Department of Corrections official told lawmakers Tuesday afternoon.

… “I’m concerned. Hopefully we can get to the bottom of this and find out who the culprits are and find out, if anything, how they’re operating,” Byrne said.

“Byrne” is Richard Byrne, out-of-state unit supervisor for the Vermont Department of Corrections. Which makes him the guy directly responsible for the inmates we’ve shipped to for-profit prisons in other states. And he doesn’t know what’s going on.

So he’s “concerned.”

And “hopes” he can get to the bottom of this.

It’s times like this that brought the phrase “WHAT THE F*CK” into our lexicon.

I mean, we the people of Vermont send people to prison. Shouldn’t we bear at least a little bit of responsibility for their wellbeing? Er, no: shouldn’t we have complete responsibility for their wellbeing? The lockdown happened on January 15 after a series of violent incidents; Byrne was still clueless as of January 20. Some oversight.

Byrne told lawmakers that Vermont’s contractor, Corrections Corporation of America, “is handling the situation.” Well, that’s reassuring.  

CCA is a key player in the lock-’em-up industry, which tries to cash in on America’s rampant tough-on-crime sentiment. And helps fuel that sentiment with hefty campaign contributions to tough-talking politicians, mainly Republicans. According to the National Institute on Money in State Politics, CCA ponied up $2.2 million in political donations between 2003 and 2012. Other prison operators have been equally generous. In recent years, the industry has tried to cash in on anti-immigrant fervor by promoting harsh policies toward the undocumented.

(CCA has spent a relatively measly $38,000 in Vermont; the biggest beneficiaries are Jim Douglas at $2900 (three election cycles), Peter Shumlin at $1,000 (one cycle), and Senate Judicary Committee chair Dick Sears at $1,700 (four cycles). That’s a good example of the political savvy behind CCA’s high-priced advocacy: they couldn’t pick a better target than a well-connected veteran Senator from the ruling party who chairs the Senate committee directly concerned with law and justice.)

A few more tidbits from the Digger piece (by talented newbie Laura Krantz):

Only Vermonters are housed in the 816-bed prison after Kentucky did not renew its contract with CCA in July.

So. Kentucky, the progressive hotbed that gave us Rand Paul has cut its ties with CCA. More on that from the Nashville City Paper:

Kentucky has run into issues with CCA facilities in the past. Gov. Steve Beshear ordered all female inmates transferred from Otter Creek in 2010 after a sex scandal involving guards and allegations of sexual abuse of inmates at the facility.

… Hawaii also removed 168 female inmates in 2009, sending them to a prison in Arizona. Multiple lawsuits were filed over the sex accusations. Most were dismissed.

Inmates at Lee Adjustment Center rioted in 2004 after allegations of inmate abuse and mistreatment increased and visits from friends and family were cut back.

And, CCA is being sued by a group of shift supervisors Marion Adjustment Center who allege the company forced them to work extra hours and denied them overtime.

This is the corporation that, five days after a lockdown, is trying to “locate the source of the recent violence.” What kind of prison are they running, anyway? VTDigger’s Krantz:

“This is a tough period of time down there because we are seeing some things that we have not seen in the past,” Byrne said.

… During his hour of testimony Tuesday afternoon, Byrne made it clear that prisoners in Kentucky are less supervised than inmates in Vermont prisons.

Yeah, so CCA can offer rock-bottom prices, satisfy its shareholders, and fund a self-serving political action effort.

And even on the pure basis of the bottom line, without regard to the human cost, CCA is a questionable enterprise. Kentucky’s decision to pull out was partly based on past CCA transgressions, but state officials also calculated that they could actually save money by relying on public facilities. So maybe this whole industry is built more on political connections and free-market bullshit than on actual performance.

Y’know, I’ve always had doubts about the wisdom of for-profit prisons, and even more doubts about the idea of shipping inmates hundreds of miles away. If we want them to reform, wouldn’t it maybe help a little bit if they were within visiting distance of EVERYBODY THEY KNOW?

A little light at the end of this cold, dark tunnel:

Rep. Suzi Wizowaty, D-Burlington, clerk of the House Judiciary Committee, sat in on Byrne’s testimony Tuesday. Wizowaty for several years has filed an unsuccessful bill to stop sending prisoners out of state.

The public typically only finds out about a lockdown if word gets out from an inmate, Wizowaty said. She said she receives letters at least once a week from prisoners. Some report having seen a fight in a yard with no guard in sight, she said.

“There is a very low level of supervision,” she said.

Yeah, probably a whole lot lower since Kentucky pulled out, leaving CCA with a couple hundred inmates in a facility designed for 800.

(Correction: There are a total of 460 Vermont inmates at the Kentucky facility. 205 are housed in the locked-down unit; the others are elsewhere, and are not in lockdown.)  

I say we face up to our responsibilities. If we want to send people to prison, we ought to have direct responsibility for them, not depend on the bona fides of a for-profit corporation with a spotty track record. Vermont prisoners should stay in Vermont. For their own sake, for the sake of our consciences, and so we can do our part to put this parasitic industry out of our misery.  

We like to think of Vermont as a “green” state; but, when it comes to just getting around, we have failed, so far, to be very proactive.

Our public transportation alternatives for moving around the state are abysmal; so much so that a few years ago, I recall reading that we have the highest carbon footprint per capita of any state in the nation.

Now, that negative impact threatens to grow even greater, as a steadily increasing volume of tar-sands-derived gasoline fills our tanks and chokes the landscape around us.

Quoting from a Natural Resources Defense Council report,  the Vermont Natural Resource Council tells us:

The NRDC report found that under current plans, tar sands-derived gasoline supplies in 11 Northeast and Mid-Atlantic states, including Vermont, would soar from less than one percent of the total in 2012 to 11.5 percent of the total by 2020, due to increased imports from Canadian refineries, fresh supplies of refined tar sands fuels from Gulf Coast refineries, and quantities from East Coast refineries that would obtain tar sands crude via rail and barge.

According to Danielle Droitsch, NRDC Canada Project Director,

“Dirty gasoline supplies in the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic are set to rise significantly, unless states take steps to keep out high-carbon fuel,” said Danielle Droitsch, NRDC Canada Project Director.  “By 2015 the volume of tar sands-derived fuel in the Northeast could grow sixfold, compared to 2012. This shows how important it is to move as quickly as possible to clean energy of all types.”

The VNRC reminds us that Vermont has made a commitment to reducing green-house gas emissions by 50-percent, as of 2028; and by 75-percent, as of 2050.  That’s a commendable goal, but much of the value of those reductions will be lost if the emissions we do produce come from significantly dirtier fuel sources, like the Canadian tar sands.

Says Jim Murphy of the National Wildlife Federation’s Vermont office:

“Tar sands expansion – which requires leveling the land and stripmining the fuel – is threatening to turn much of North America’s most productive bird nursery into a Mordor-like wasteland,” he said. “We need to keep this dirtiest of fuels in the ground, not in our tanks.”

Cheap gas isn’t cheap at all, when you consider what lies not very far ahead if we accept the growing exploitation of tar sands fuels.

We, the consumers must make it clear to our representatives that we do not want to fuel our present-day transportation needs at the expense of the planet’s future.

Ask our legislature to take a stand against tar sands oil, and tell President Obama that Vermont doesn’t support the Keystone XL pipeline.

Last night Greensboro Bend and Stannard were shut off by the state police. My wife was at the circus by Walker Ford at about 5 PM when she was passed by the VSP’s military-surplus armored car which headed up Rt 14 in a hurry.  Helicopters flew overhead.  Residents coming home from work were escorted by VSP to their homes, specifically so the VSP could verify they were going where they told the police they were going.

CAX was the ONLY news outlet that even mentioned this in a news brief saying something was going on but the VSP weren’t talking and that a camera crew was on their way.

But after the 11PM broadcast that article went into the Memory Hole and this morning a short article appeared saying that the VSP was looking for the half-brother of a guy from CT that almost killed a cop.

OK, that’s fine. But such a huge and heavy police presence in the middle of nowhere in Vermont is highly unusual.  It is sad to me that Vermont’s journalists play down such monumental police activity, thus ‘normalizing’ it. The VSP weren’t talking and the only news media that responded weren’t about to ask any questions.

I seem to be writing an awful lot about the Burlington Free Press lately, but they’ve deserved it. They keep doin’ stupid shit, I’ma keep writin’ about ’em.

The Freeploid’s Mike Donoghue has a reputation as a transparency crusader, a hard-chargin’ newsman who refuses to take “No” for an answer when confronting official recalcitrance.

There’s some truth to that. But he’s also an absolutist, willing to publish anything regardless of whether it furthers the public interest or brings unnecessary harm to anyone. The most recent example, which he disgracefully revisits today, is his spotlight expose of a very troubled woman’s life. But first, let’s go back to November, when our alleged First Amendment bulldog wrote a nothingburger of a story on timesheet fraud by state workers. The article was larded with details from a single case: a state worker who was suspected of one instance of timesheet fraud. The worker’s identity was revealed in the story, even though he hadn’t been formally charged.

And, as it turned out, authorities decided not to bring any charges. Too late; Donoghue had already plastered his name and the (apparently unfounded) allegations against him all over the newspaper. Classy.

Having brought pointless harm to one life, Donoghue is now doing his best to sabotage Christina Schumacher’s.

His first story, published January 12, chronicled Schumacher’s accusation that she has been hospitalized against her will at Fletcher Allen Health Care. Hospital staff could not respond, because they are legally bound to protect her privacy. As they should be. The result is a completely unbalanced story which accepts Schumacher’s version at face value and employs it as a cudgel against FAHC and other institutions involved in her case.

The second story, published in today’s Freeploid, is worse than the first — starting with its placement on the front page, along with a huge picture of Ms. Schumacher. Just in case anyone in the greater Burlington area didn’t already know what the psychiatrically troubled woman who just lost her son to a grisly murder-suicide looks like. Y’know, so when you see her at the grocery store you can say hi. Or just point and stare, whatever works for you.  

Donoghue’s sadly thin pretext for returning to the story is stated in the inflammatory headline:

Slain teen’s mother held against her will, then billed for treatment

A couple of problems with that. First, it accepts Schumacher’s version of events. FAHC cannot even confirm that she is a patient, let alone whether or not she’s being billed.

Second, how big is the bill? Donoghue never says. The hospital cannot say. But according to the article, the vast majority of psychiatric inpatients’s care is covered by private insurance, the state Department of Mental Health, Medicaid, and/or Medicare. And according to an FAHC official, “For those without insurance, Fletcher Allen absorbs the cost.”

My conclusion? She’s probably being billed for some relatively small co-pays. No way she’ll pay full freight for several weeks of hospitalization. Which is what the headline would lead you to believe.

The article perpetuates the “against her will” allegation that is hers alone. Again, the hospital cannot give its side of the story. Now, as Donoghue might know if he, say, spent any time reading newspapers over the last two and a half years, Vermont has a critical shortage of inpatient psychiatric beds. Patients are spending days in emergency rooms waiting for beds. Many are not getting the treatment they need.

So at a time like this, why in the blue Hell would FAHC hospitalize someone who didn’t need it? Even if they were evil bastards intent on goosing their occupancy rate, they don’t need to do so in the psych ward. Indeed, psychiatric staff are under constant pressure to limit admissions and expedite discharges because there are always more people waiting for available beds.

I don’t know anything about Schumacher’s case. But all the evidence points to one conclusion: if she’s been in the hospital for five weeks, it’s because she has needed intensive care and no doctor will countenance releasing her into the community.

Mike Donoghue gets a lot of credit for practicing his First Amendment rights  But the First Amendment does not establish an obligation to publish whatever comes across a reporter’s desk; it simply protects the right to publish.

With rights come responsibilities. Mike Donoghue has lost sight of that fact.  

UPDATE: THE VOTES ARE IN

Just learned from Tracey Harrington on Facebook that the County Committee is sending three names to the Governor: Michael Sirotkin, Deb Ingram, and Dawn Ellis. Ellis, a media consultant who may have been overlooked by some, was one of Vermont’s delegates to the 2012 Democratic National Convention.

You remember that exciting six-person race to fill the late Sally Fox’s seat in the state Senate?

Well, a seventh hat is now in the ring, and the other six are being hastily pulled out.

The new person, who is almost certainly Your Next Senator from Chittenden County, is Michael Sirotkin, who’d been married to Fox for 36 years. As reported by Seven Days’ Paul “The Huntsman” Heintz:

Sirotkin is no stranger to the Statehouse. The South Burlington attorney has worked as a lobbyist for more than three decades and is a partner in one of Montpelier’s most influential lobby shops, Sirotkin & Necrason.

While the contest to replace Fox includes a number of heavy hitters, Sirotkin’s late entrance will undoubtedly alter its dynamics. No favorite has yet emerged, and no candidate can make the case more persuasively than Sirotkin that he or she would carry on Fox’s legacy in the Senate.

Three of the original six candidates have already withdrawn: Jake Perkinson, Crea Lintilhac, and Kesha Ram. Perkinson and Ram have both urged Chittenden County Democrats to unanimously back Sirotkin. The County Dems meet tonight (Wednesday 1/22) to nominate up to three candidates; Governor Shumlin would choose the new Senator, who would fill out the remaining year on Fox’s term.  

in case you missed it (icymi), fyi:

16th Annual Homelessness Marathon Consciousness-Raising Radio Broadcast Live from Brattleboro, VT:

Wednesday, February 19th

Press Release (via Homelessness Marathon):

http://news.homelessnessmarath…

The 2014 Homelessness Marathon –

Wednesday February 19, 2014

The 16th Homelessness Marathon will originate from Brattleboro, VT on the night of Wednesday, February 19th. With this broadcast, we will be returning to our original nighttime format, airing a six hour broadcast from 7 p.m. to 1 a.m., EST.

CURRENT PRESS RELEASE 2014

For immediate release:

Contact: Jeremy Alderson

LIVE FROM BRATTLEBORO, VERMONT –

THE 16TH ANNUAL HOMELESSNESS MARATHON

The Homelessness Marathon will once again bring the voices of homeless people into America’s homes. “I wish we could get their bodies inside too,” comments Jeremy Weir Alderson, the broadcast’s founder, “but we’re doing the best thing we can, by showing America why this problem should be, can be and must be solved.”

The broadcast, which has previously originated from Detroit, Kansas City, and Katrina-ravaged Mississippi, among other places, features live discussions with homeless people. It is a rare opportunity to see life through their eyes. The broadcast even takes calls, so people in their homes can talk with homeless people on the streets.

The 16th Annual Homelessness Marathon will start at 7 p.m., EST. Wednesday, February 19, 2014 and will run for six hours until 1:00 a.m. Its audio signal will be available for free to all radio stations over the Public Radio Satellite System, the Pacifica Ku-band and Pacifica’s Audioport. Live video of the broadcast will be carried by Free Speech Television (FSTV), starting at 8:00 p.m., EST on Feb. 19th. FSTV has channel 9415 on the Dish Network and channel 348 on DirecTV as well as a webcast.

About the Homelessness Marathon:

http://news.homelessnessmarath…

A brief history of the Homelessness Marathon

I founded The Homelessness Marathon in 1998 as an offshoot of, “The Nobody Show,” which I then broadcast weekly on WEOS, an NPR and Pacifica affiliate in Geneva, NY. That first year, I was thinking of it purely as a matter of conscience. I was born and raised in New York City. There was no problem with homelessness there when I was growing up, and I was heartsick to see what was happening. So I basically just wanted to get on the air and say, “This isn’t right, and I want no part of it.”

Of course, I did whatever I could to make it a good broadcast. I tried to bolster my argument with the opinions of experts and the voices of homeless people. And I got the idea to broadcast from outdoors in the dead of winter, because I thought it might be a way to dramatize the plight of people with nowhere to go in the cold. But it never occurred to me that this was something I’d ever do again. So I liken this to falling in love with a poor girl and then discovering that she’s rich. I was really surprised by the reaction I got.

People brought me coffee throughout the night, without my even having asked for it. And when I got off the air, people dug into their pockets for crumpled up bills to help defray my expenses. I really don’t think this was because the broadcast, itself, was so good (believe me, we’ve gotten a lot better since). But it was obvious that the concept had seized people’s imaginations, and how often does that happen?

So I decided to put the Marathon up on the NPR satellite, and we’ve just grown every year since. More and more volunteers have come on board, and more and more radio stations too. The 7th Marathon (in 2004) was carried on 80 stations with another 30 in Canada carrying a parallel Canadian Homelessness Marathon.

As the Marathon has grown, its philosophy has evolved. When I started, I thought I had to scold people and tell them why they ought to care, but now I know that Americans really do care, and that no matter how grave the failings of our society may be, homeless people aren’t on the streets because that’s where we, as a people, want them to be. So I’ve backed off a lot. I now mostly look at the Marathon as giving people the reasons for what they already know in their hearts.

Jeremy Weir Alderson

aka “Nobody”

Director, Homelessness Marathon

For more information, visit the Homelessness Marathon Website:

http://news.homelessnessmarath…

I’d say I never underestimate the power of Vermont’s largest daily newspaper to disappoint us… except that every time I lower my expectations, the Freeploid goes even lower. Two examples Ripped From The Headlines:

1. They’re not nearly done celebrating their new, scenic, smaller and cheaper headquarters. A couple days ago I chronicled the total wankfest that was the Sunday Freeploid, with eight solid pages devoted to intense self-pleasuring. In response, GMD commenter “minotaur” contributed the following:

As someone who uses Twitter as their primary news feed, the last 24 hours was basically me scrolling past spam. The local reporters I follow to find out what’s going on in VT (especially when I’m traveling out of state) decided (I assume based on editor/publisher directive) to stop reporting actual news, and instead tweet views of Lake Champlain from their new offices.

Brilliant. The ‘Loid didn’t do enough to rub it into our faces in the Sunday paper with seven color photographs of their new office’s viewscape; they had their staff spend their Monday Tweeting more pictures. Good God almighty.

2. Today’s prime example of civic journalism on the Freeploid’s homepage: the reader poll. Perhaps the thin atmosphere in their new seventh-story digs is getting to their brains, because if you judge by the poll question, somebody up there thinks it’s 1963:

Now, if that isn’t hate-trolling at its finest, I don’t know what is. Given the typical caliber of newspaper comment sections, the last thing the Freeploid needs is to Awaken The Trolls. BurlingtonFreePress.com is already well-infested, thank you very much.  

And its online readership — or at least the portion thereof that wastes its time answering online polls — doesn’t disappoint. As of this writing, 58% believe that King Day should not be a public holiday.

Good old progressive Vermont.

Well, to be fair, some of those 58% are probably less concerned with pissing on Dr. King’s grave than with shitting on public-sector workers. The question is phrased in a way that lends itself to the popular pastime of government-worker-bashing. Note, for instance, that the question curiously omits banks from its list of MLK Day Moochers.

But the very act of running this as a poll… what exactly is the point? What could this poll question possibly do to advance civic discourse?

I know, I know: the Freeploid doesn’t give a damn about any of that. It’s all about the clicky-clicks.

Honestly, maybe now the Masters of the Seventh Floor could dispense with the wankfest and turn their attention to producing a quality product that reflects a dedication to the public good.

For a change.  

Well, not really. But it’s safe to call it for Our Eternal General, after Chittenden County State’s Attorney TJ Donovah announced he will not challenge Bill Sorrell in this year’s Democratic primary. Donovan nearly knocked off Sorrell in the 2012 primary; only a late infusion of out-of-state money for Sorrell prevented Donovan from notching an upset for the ages.

But he won’t try it again this year, perhaps because he’s lost the element of surprise. Unlike in 2012, Sorrell is actually going out of his way to fundraise this time around. It’s safe to say he’d be harder to beat, now that he’s got his eyes open. (He’s already raised over $20,000 and will hold a fundraiser in Florida this week at the annual convention of the Democratic AG’s Association, which bankrolled his last-ditch push in 2012.)

Before we go on with the speculative analysis, let me pause to consider journalistic ethics. This story was broken by Paul “The Huntsman” Heintz; he got the word from Donovan on Monday and posted it at 8:00 am Tuesday. Since then, the Associated Press and Vermont Press Bureau have picked it up, and the Freeploid has posted the AP story. Both the AP and VPB quote Donovan as revealing his decision “Tuesday,” i.e. today.

I’m sure the standard journalistic explanation is “Well, we contacted Donovan ourselves and got the story from him.” That’s technically true, but still, Heintz deserves credit for the scoop, and he didn’t get it. (His story also has a whole lot more detail than the other two.) Personal foul, unsportsmanlike conduct on the AP and VPB, 15-yard penalty and loss of down.

Now, back to the Donovan/Sorrell saga. Maybe it’s just my overactive blogger’s imagination at work, fueled by a possible CO buildup in our Mom’s Basement headquarters, but all the signs point to a nice friendly backroom deal: Sorrell gets a victory lap in 2014 and retires in two years. Donovan bides his time and gets the nomination in 2016. All neat and tidy; put a bow on it and set it under the tree.  

Aside from all this highly convenient collegiality, which sets the stage for a stress-free Democratic primary season for all concerned, I’d also point to Sen. Dick Sears’ introduction of a bill to make the AG’s position a gubernatorial appointment starting in 2016. If that wasn’t a warning shot across Sorrell’s bow, delivered by “the powerful chair of the Judiciary Committee” and “a close friend of Gov. Peter Shumlin,” I don’t know what is.

Not that anyone will admit to it:

Both men denied they’d struck a deal to avoid another match-up.

“No, whatever he’s going to do, he’s going to do,” Donovan said when asked whether Sorrell had pledged to retire after serving one more term.

And Sorrell dismissed any talk of 2016, saying it would be “presumptuous” to assume his re-election in 2014. Heintz does not indicate whether Sorrell kept a straight face.

In withdrawing from the race, Donovan delivered a pretty clear slap to Sorrell, which I take as a sign that a future challenge is not out of the question:

As to whether he’ll endorse Sorrell’s reelection bid, Donovan said “I have no idea,” adding, “I will say I think Bill’s been a lot more active in the last couple of years, and that’s a good thing for Vermont.”

In other words, “Sorrell was sleeping his way through the job and I woke him up.” And “I’ll do it again if I have to.”

Nah, I’m sure this is all a product of my imagination. We’re all friends here, aren’t we? And we all love our Eternal General, don’t we?

Note: Credit where credit’s due. “Eternal General” was crafted by the late great Hugh McDiarmid, longtime political columnist for the Detroit Free Press, and the closest thing Michigan has ever had to a Peter Freyne. McDiarmid used the term to describe Frank Kelley, who served 37 years as Michigan’s elected AG. (He was both the youngest and the oldest person to hold the office.) Hmm, by that standard, Sorrell’s a rookie.  

(originally posted to Vermont Watch, here)

Received the following information from a legislative council staff member this morning in response to an inquiry of mine from earlier this month that included questions concerning legislative pay and the like for members of the Vermont Legislature:

Member’s salary for 2014 will be $660.06 per week, last year it was $647.12. In addition, pursuant to 32 V.S.A. § 1052(b), all members are entitled to an allowance for meals and, if they rent a room, for lodging. In addition, members who drive to the State House are entitled to reimbursement for mileage. The amounts are established by the federal government’s General Service Administration. For 2014 they will be:

• Meals: $61.00 per day
• Lodging: $107.00 per night
• Mileage: 56.00 cents per mile

During the interim members may receive $118 per day for their salary, and actual expenses.

The Speaker of the House and President Pro Tempore of the Senate, receive $730.66 per week during the session, and a Biweekly Salary of $434.47 annually.