It's started to spread across the country, especially in beer aficionado circles, but here's a news story that first started attracting chuckles here in Vermont. From the Burlington Free Press:

The Vermont Department of Liquor Control cited a Burlington woman who they say sold the popular Vermont beer Heady Topper online.

Stephanie Hoffman, 28, of Burlington, was cited to appear at Franklin County Superior Court on Dec. 30, accused of Violation of Title, for selling malt or vinous beverages or spirits without a title allowing her to do so.

 It's pretty irresistable, right? Hipsters willing to overpay for overhopped beer, headlines for Vermont's current fave local product, juxtaposed with a little private enterprise and a government agency too concerned with prosecuting minor, if not imaginary, victimless crimes. If you're looking for a little harmless diversion on your way to some serious news, this one has it all.

Only the thing is, get used to it.

Nowadays the tide on marijuana prohibition has turned, and just about every sensible person agrees that legalization is inevitable, with the only question being “How soon?”. The problem is that as a recent article in the New Yorker makes clear, legalization of marijuana is way more complicated than clearing the path for you to keep buying from your old college roommate (let's call him Dave), only without worrying about getting caught.

 No. Remember how part of the argument for legalized marijuana has always been that it's such a lucrative agricultural product that we might as well be collecting taxes on it? Maybe enough to wipe out the deficit?

Well, to be sure the taxes are being collected we have to do way more than tell the cops to stop arresting dealers, we also have to establish a whole regulated, taxed market, which is pretty complicated. They're trying to do it right now in Washington, but new questions pop up at every turn. For example, if you want people to buy their pot in the regulated market, and not keep buying it from Dave you have to give them reasons to make the switch.

As Mark Kleiman, a public policy expert, says in the New Yorker article:

   “One of the ideas that has actuated the cannabis-legalization movement is that law enforcement really has bigger fish to fry,” he said. “We’d rather have cops chasing burglars than pot sellers. And that’s a reasonable viewpoint.” He paused. “But the implication of . . . a legal commercial market is not that you need less enforcement.” The city councillors looked anxious. “That’ll be true in the long run,” Kleiman allowed. “In the long run, there shouldn’t be much of an illegal business. . . . In the short run, though, the answer is just the opposite.”

 We want people to pay the taxes, which means they're going to have to stop going to their old friend Dave and start going downtown, maybe right next door to where they buy their Heady Topper. Otherwise, no taxes, no controls on safety and purity of product, chaos.

That doesn't sound terribly bad to me, and maybe not to you. After all, if marijuana is going to be a legal product, why should I care any more if the people selling it have licenses than I care about any other legal product, like flashlights or umbrellas in New York City within thirty seconds of when it starts raining?

Well, we want to collect the tax, right? And why would someone buy in a licensed retailer, where you know you're going to pay the tax on top of the price, when they can call Dave, get a bag, and pay less?

Which is where our Heady Topper entrepreneur comes in. Beer is a legal product, and just about every adult is allowed to buy it, but that doesn't mean everyone who is lucky enough to get their hands on a case of the old Topper is allowed to sell it legally.

You should read the New Yorker article. You'll see that, at a minimum, it raises questions you probably never thought about. 

The first grassroots divestiture initiative of my adult life was directed toward ending Apartheid.  Anyone who was alive and aware in the seventies and eighties remembers how the South African economy was impacted by that initiative.

It took a long time to get the U.S. government on board, but the movement grew steadily from the sixties forward, as more and more negative attention was turned on the practice of Apartheid, until overwhelming popular support for divestiture forced Congress to officially embrace the policy in 1986.   In this way, Americans were able to join others across the world in voting with their collective pocketbook to end an abhorrent and unjust system.

In revisiting the fight to end Apartheid as Nelson Mandela is remembered, it is useful to also note how effective an instrument of change divestiture proved to be.

350.org is asking us to use that same strategy to undermine the enormous power of dirty fuel companies to prolong their dying (and deadly) industry.  They ask us to please sign the petition urging our legislature to divest Vermont’s pension fund from fossil fuel investments.

The argument is not just about what is the right thing to do for the planet; it is about what is the economically well advised thing to do for the value of those pension funds.

Vermont State Treasurer Beth Pearce has recognized the risk inherent to investment in fossil fuels, and joined a group of other large fund managers to pose questions to the industry about the  

distinct possibility that they are not going to be able to develop all of their remaining oil, gas and coal reserves.

Despite all the big noise about how the U.S. is ramping-up fuel production in order to become “energy independent,” the fossil fuel industry knows full-well that the practical end is near.

Yes, there’s plenty of fossil filth still sequestered in the earth; but it is becoming apparent to all but the most determinedly blind, that the planet is changing even more rapidly than climate scientists predicted it would; and the negative consequences are already unacceptable.

Those impacts translate not only into human misery, but also into dollars and cents; and the balance sheet is looking none too good for long-term exploitation of coal, oil and gas.

Is that really a smart place to invest state workers’ retirement nest egg?

You can bet the smart money knows what’s coming, but they’ll play it large for as long as they can, so as to ring out as much profit as possible before the curtain falls.  

The public has not responded with particular urgency to the alarming message we hear every day, that climate change is advancing more and more rapidly; that we are already past the tipping point, and that our future seems certain to be racked with appalling climate events and disappearing shorelines.  

Maybe a shift in message like this will help the metaphorical penny drop.

Congress won’t act to establish meaningful legislation aimed at replacing fossil fuel in the nations energy arsenal; Obama hasn’t acted in any meaningful way.

But we can sign the petition. We can insist that state pension funds be invested in ways that do not leave those assets vulnerable to the kind of fiscal calamity that is lurking just beyond the horizon, linked arm-in-arm with the global climate calamity that nearly all scientists agree is heading our way.

Fossil fuel use can be defeated before it’s too late, just as Apartheid was.  As much as was riding on that victory, the stakes here are exponentially greater and more urgent.

Y’know, I wasn’t going to write about the sad final act of the doomed Len Britton for Senate campaign — Britton’s defeat at the hands of ex-campaign manager Jeff Bartley in a civil suit.

(Bartley sued Britton’s campaign for unpaid salary of more than $30,000. This week, a judge issued a ruling in Bartley’s favor. Which, see below, is probably worth nothing more than the paper it’s printed on.)

I mean, the whole thing is just so empty of meaning. A terrible operative fighting with a terrible candidate over the dregs of a doomed campaign. But I changed my mind when I read this, courtesy of VTDigger’s Alicia Freese:

A rising figure within the Vermont Republican Party has emerged victorious in a mud-slinging court battle against Len Britton, the 2010 Republican challenger to Sen. Patrick Leahy.

Cough. Choke.

Ahem.

“A rising figure”?

Jeff Friggin’ Bartley?????

Good God. I know VTGOP standards are low, but if Jeff Bartley is a “rising figure,” the Titanic is a masterpiece of naval engineering.

Let’s go over Bartman’s resume once again, for the benefit of those just joining us.  

His dismal career in Vermont politics began when he was still too young to buy a Gucci beer, or even a Shummy Special (Budweiser at the Legion Hall). The 20-year-old Bartley was hired by the Rich Tarrant-for-Senate campaign, where his duties apparently included a bit of ratf*cking: Bartley set up a phony political blog called VermontSenateRace.com, designed to poop out pro-Tarrant propaganda. This effort backfired on the Tarrant campaign when Peter Freyne revealed Bartley as the site admin.

In 2010, Len Britton hired Bartley as his campaign manager. We all know how that turned out.

In 2012, Bartley was political director for the Vermont House Republican Caucus. You know, the group that somehow managed to lose seats even though it had previously fallen to super-minority status.

After that, he managed to hook on as Chittenden County GOP Chair*. Which, I think, makes him Kurt Wright’s turd-polisher. And this fall, Bartley launched a short-lived bid for the state party chairmanship, but he couldn’t even beat out John “MacGoo” MacGovern as the favored candidate of the hard-right dead-enders.

*An unpaid position. Bartley has a day job as a “marketing analyst” at MyWebGrocer, the Tarrant Family Vanity Project. How nice of the Tarrants to reward a good and faithful servant. Whether he knows beans about marketing or not, is a whole nother thing.

This unbroken record of failure makes Jeff Bartley “a rising figure within the Vermont Republican Party.”

Well, given the dire straits of the VTGOP and their constant jonesing for someone — anyone — under the age of 50, maybe Bartley qualifies as “a rising figure.” But that says a hell of a lot more about the VTGOP than it does about Jeff Bartley.

And now, a fitting coda to this wretched affair:

One possible hitch in Bartley’s quest for reimbursement, however, is that the defendant in the case wasn’t actually Britton – it was the limited liability corporation (LLC) he formed for the campaign, which buffers members, in some cases, from being put on the hook for court fees.

Len Britton for Vermont LLC, has less than $1,000 to its name, according to the October 2013 quarterly filing with the Federal Elections Commission.

Ouch. Len Britton, failed candidate slash deadbeat, gets the last laugh?  

Every day, there’s more and more good news about Obamacare and Shummycare. On the national front, Consumer Reports — which, in late October, warned consumers to stay away from healthcare.gov — has now pronounced the website “terrific.”

[CR health care expert Nancy] Metcalf praised

…the new window-shopping function, in which users can peruse health plans without registering with the site. The requirement to make an account before viewing options was considered one of the main causes for the site’s initial traffic bottleneck. “It’s terrific, I’ve tried it, it was working yesterday through the busiest times,” Metcalf said.

And while Obamacare is consistently raising the bar, Vermont is going even higher. Yes, even with small businesses having to register online and send a check in the mail, what a pain, by the most important metrics Vermont is the biggest success story in health care reform.

CNN has posted a state-by-state map of enrollment figures; it has Vermont at just under 8,000 actually enrolled through Vermont Health Connect. If that sounds a bit meh, consider it on a per-capita basis.

Vermont has 12.8 enrollees per 100,000 people. Kentucky, the most widely praised success story, has enrolled a mere 2.49 per 100,000. Geez Louise, when does Shummycare get some national media love?

Even without the per-capita adjustment, Vermont is near the top. There are only four states with higher enrollment figures: California, New York, Washington and Kentucky.

Want more good news?

After the jump: More good news. Also: Phil Scott, emerging firebrand.

A policy expert of my acquaintance did some number-crunching based on numbers from the Kaiser Family Foundation, and came up with a truly impressive figure. Vermont went into this with a relatively small uninsured population, thanks to Catamount Care and Dr. Dynasaur; we’ve already put a substantial dent in that. I’ve been told that Vermont Health Connect has already enrolled approximately 16.5% of Vermont’s uninsured population.

The next closest state, by this reckoning, is Connecticut — with 2.4%. Yeah, Vermont is lapping the field.  

Now, will Phil Scott please shut the hell up with his “let’s put everything off for a year” nonsense?

Two further thoughts about Lt. Gov. Everybody’s Buddy, our Avatar of Moderation:

— How stupid does Scott think Governor Shumlin is? Postpone HCR for a year — conveniently just after the 2014 election? Hand the Republicans a gold-plated issue to run on? Let them yammer about the “failed rollout” and its dubious prospects for an entire campaign? That’d be the dumbest move since, oh, Neville Chamberlain.

— Who’s transforming who? When David Sunderland became VTGOP chair, the narrative was that Scott’s “moderate” faction had taken control of the party and would make it more inclusive. But on health care — the biggest issue in current politics — Scott is pushing the exact same talking point as Darcie “Hack” Johnston, firebrand of Republican conservatism.

I suppose Scott is simply taking more seriously his responsibility as putative party leader, but this isn’t exactly a positive indicator for the alleged “new direction” of the VTGOP.  

Look at this picture. It's easy for us to get misty-eyed, and remember the man of peace, but look at him. This is a tough guy. Twenty-seven years in prison, and when twice offered his release he refused because it was based on the condition of renouncing violence as a political weapon.  

Like George Washington, he could have been president for life, but unlike every other African leader who overthrew a colonial power he established stability and stepped down after one term.  

We knew this day was coming. He was ninety-five and in poor health. Each new report made me feel that people were trying to hold onto him, make him struggle beyond any human endurance, simply because nobody wanted to bear the loss.

 My first political activity in Vermont, back about thirty years ago, was working on divestment of state funds from companies doing business in South Africa. While Mandela did more than any of us could do, American activists were proud to play a small part in maintaining pressure on the apartheid regime, even when Ronald Reagan was supporting it.

The mourning will be universal, and rightly so.

Well, it had to happen sometime. My own personal nominee for Best Capitol Beat Reporter, Peter Hirschfeld, is leaving the Mitchell Family Journalistic Enterprise for the greener pastures of Vermont Public Radio. He’ll start at VPR in January, ending four-plus years of stellar State House coverage for the Vermont Press Bureau. And leaving VPB once again with a single staffer, the brand-new (to Montpelier) Neal Goswami.

(And leaving me wondering whether to continue my Times Argus subscription.)

Hirschfeld’s coverage is distinguished, in my mind, by its combination of high quality and impressive quantity. He also has a knack for finding the key quote that illuminates a story while retaining journalistic objectivity. His writings have had a painfully small audience, hidden as they’ve been behind the Mitchell Family Paywall.

That will change with his move to VPR, where he’ll enjoy a much larger audience. (Plus, I’m sure, a generous pay hike and much improved benefits package*.) What remains to be seen is whether he can operate in the very strict time constraints of radio. A standard newscast “voicer” is less than a page of double-spaced copy, and even a four-minute feature contains a meager word count by print standards. A lot of depth will be lost, and he’ll be challenged to present the kind of nuanced reportage he’s been able to do in print.

*He gets full marks, however, for resisting the even plusher rewards of selling his soul for a PR job.

Especially since, quite frankly, I’m often underwhelmed by the news offerings of VPR. Much of its reporting is formulaic, and is often an audio regurgitation of what was in yesterday’s newspapers. Considering the relatively vast resources and budget at its command, VPR falls short on originality, quality and quantity.

(Well, the audio quality is uniformly excellent. The content is, as often as not, dull. Sorry.)  

Newly minted VPR News Director John Dillon sounds a hopeful note in that regard:

…Dillon said the move is part of an overall expansion of the station’s news coverage.

“We’re delighted to have Peter Hirschfeld on our news team. His experience with political coverage and legislative issues will give us an even stronger statewide news presence,” Dillon said.

I hope so. I also hope that VPR can beef up its reporting staff and break out of the current public radio tendency to load up on behind-the-scenes and management types. There are an awful lot of “producers” and executives on the VPR staff list. I suppose the former are useful in maintaining audio quality, which is gotten to be an obsession in public radio circles. They also, I suspect, contribute to VPR’s homogeneity; each piece goes through multiple hands before it gets on the air, and that usually results in blandification. Geez Louise, when I was a public radio newsman, I’d do all the reporting, production, and editing myself. I reported and produced entire series and documentaries on my own. Seemed to work fine. And I was often allowed to do things that were different, creative, even offbeat. There’s a lot less of that nowadays.

But I digress. Hirschfeld’s hire is good news for public radio listeners, even as it’s bad news for me as a reader of my local paper. I hope VPB can staff up quickly, and I hope the hiring of Hirschfeld is the beginning of a new and better day for VPR. It’s a good sign, to be sure.  

Must be huntin’ season, ‘cuz Paul “The Huntsman” Heintz just bagged hisself a biggun. This week’s “Fair Game” column is must reading for anyone who wants to understand the Vermont political landscape of today.

The subject is Governor Shumlin’s all-out (and completely superfluous) fundraising drive in advance of his re-election bid next year. Yes, the same Governor Shumlin whose campaign already has several hundred thousand dollars in the bank. And yes, the same Governor Shumlin who will face a depleted Republican Party who might just be desperate enough to let Randy Brock run again.

Take it away, Mr. Heintz:

On the night of last month’s mid-term elections – precisely a year before he himself faces the voters – Shumlin held an exclusive fundraiser with Vermont business leaders and a slew of prominent Republicans.

The host: “Commercial real estate developer Bobby Miller.” The entry fee: at least $1000 per. The guest list included:

…Green Mountain Power President and CEO Mary Powell, Jay Peak co-owner Bill Stenger, Walmart developer Jeff Davis, Barre real estate developer Thom Lauzon, and former GMP and NG Advantage exec Neale Lunderville.

All of these folks, as Heintz documents at length, have done a whole lot of business with the state of Vermont under Shumlin, creating a veritable cornucopia of potential conflicts of interest. But of course, as Shumlin would say, we’re all Vermonters here and Vermonters are pure as the driven snow and way above trading relationships for dollars. And, as many others would say, this kind of thing perfectly illustrates the need for ethics reform.

And explains Shumlin’s opposition to ethics reform.

But that’s not the biggest thing about this, in my mind. The biggest thing — well, two things — surprise and fear. Fear and surprise.

Sorry, wrong skit. The two biggest things:  

— It explains the near-bankruptcy of the Vermont Republican Party. I have previously asked the question, so where are the deep-pocketed donors who floated Jim Douglas’ boat? They bankrolled Brian Dubie’s bid for gubie in 2010, but seemingly abandoned the VTGOP thereafter. Well, now we don’t have to pore through reams of unsearchable campaign-finance pdf’s to find out where they went: into Governor Shumlin’s corner.

(Indeed, it wouldn’t surprise me if Heintz was the beneficiary of a tactical leak from the Shumlin team. This is certainly embarrassing, not to mention disheartening, to the VTGOP.)

I don’t see a conspiracy here. I don’t think Shumlin has sold out the people for a pile of dough he doesn’t really need, and I don’t believe state government is for sale. But he has, in purely political terms, brilliantly corralled the VTGOP. The rich and powerful who fueled the Republicans for so many years are either sitting out the VTGOP mess, or they’re actively supporting Shumlin.

Why don’t I see corruption? Well, because Shumlin is a centrist on most issues, health care reform aside. He’d advocate pretty much the same policies and make the same deals even if the likes of Miller, Davis, and Stenger weren’t cutting him the big checks.

— The other biggest thing: It explains Shumlin’s steadfast opposition to tax increases. Take it away, Mayor Lauzon:

“Certainly with Republicans, one of our issues is we don’t want to see broad-based taxes increased. The governor’s probably led that charge as well as any other governor has.”

Yep, he certainly has. And again, I don’t think this is a financial quid pro quo; I think Shumlin’s tax stance would be the same even if Lauzon wasn’t giving $2,000 to his campaign. But it illustrates what I see as a deal of convenience between Vermont’s top Democrat and the folks who used to underwrite the Republican Party: Shumlin governs from the center and blocks the liberal faction of the Democratic caucus, and they support Shumlin and starve the VTGOP.

My biggest regret about this? In a time of unprecedented strength for the Vermont Democratic Party, its top elected officials are committed to a centrist course. It’s not just Shumlin; it’s also House Speaker Shap Smith and Senate Penitent Pro Tem John Campbell, stout centrists themselves. We have a historic opportunity to take Vermont in a solidly liberal direction, but its Democratic leaders won’t have any of it. Except, again, for health care reform.

(Of course, if you asked Shumlin about this, he might well say the Democrats wouldn’t be in this position if the liberals were running the show. And I can’t say he’s wrong about that. This was a Republican state until about 20 years ago, and the last two Democratic Governors were devout centrists.)

If you find this upsetting, I suggest voting for some Progressives next year. Especially if they run a candidate for Governor; 2014 should be an ideal time for a protest vote.

Anyway, kudos to Heintz for bringing this all in the open. Peter Freyne would be proud.  

Welp, gonna make some people unhappy here.

I know that many in the GMD community (including my valued colleague Sue Prent) are appalled by yesterday’s Air Force decision to site F-35s at BTV.

I’m sorry, but I’m just not that upset. I agree with our Congressional delegation and our Governor: there are pluses and minuses to the decision, and the minuses can be managed through diligent oversight and cooperation among all involved parties. Two subsidiary thoughts:

— The best argument I’ve heard against the F-35 is that it’s a waste of money. Unnecessary, and mechanically problematic. But that’s an argument for a whole different arena. We can’t stop construction of the F-35 by opposing its presence at our airport.

— The real problem isn’t the F-35 or F-16. It’s the location of the airport. It’s too close to developed areas and housing. In the absence of a radical solution — like, oh, moving the whole shebang to South Hero or maybe Charlotte — the airport’s operation is inevitably going to require diligent oversight and cooperation. Maybe the pending arrival of the F-35 will lead to a better system for handling the inherent conflict between airport and neighborhood.

There was another item in yesterday’s news that was more upsetting than the F-35 decision:

Vermont’s bumble bees are in serious peril, according to a new study by the Vermont Center for Ecostudies. Three of the 15 bumble bee species found in Vermont are thought to be extinct and at least one other species is in decline. Bumble bees pollinate crops such as apples, blueberries and tomatoes, making them critical to Vermont’s agricultural economy.

… Native bumble bees are more important than honeybees for crop pollination. Leif Richardson, an entomologist at Dartmouth College, said in a VCE news release that “Wild bees perform the majority of all pollination on Vermont farms, whether or not the managed honeybee is present.”

This truly scares me, much more than the arrival of a new fighter plane. Aside from the real threat to agriculture, it’s another signpost on the road to a very different, less hospitable, planet Earth. And state of Vermont.  

We spend a lot of time fighting change, especially the big identifiable items like F-35s or natural gas pipelines, but we don’t seem to focus on the much more fundamental, but less visible, threats to the Vermont way of life.

And no, I’m not all that worked up about the gas pipeline either. The real issue isn’t whether Vermont remains untainted by the presence of Evil Fracked Gas; it’s whether we can find alternatives to hydrofracking and tar sands extraction and (Lord help us) exploitation of polar resources made accessible by climate change. The best way to do that is by developing viable and, dare I say it, profitable, renewable energy industries.

I’m a huge fan of Governor Shumlin’s plan to transition Vermont to single-payer health care. I really, really hope it works, so Vermont can be a model for the rest of the nation. Similarly, I want Vermont to become a leader and a model in creating a green economy, through energy efficiency and development of low-carbon or carbon-free energy sources. Including, yes, ridgeline wind and utility-scale solar farms and hydropower. And biofuels, if they make economic and environmental sense.

Back to the bees. There are many causes for their decline, almost all having to do with human impact. Invasive pathogens brought here from Europe with imported bees; changes in land use patterns; and, worst of all, pesticides commonly available at lawn and garden stores. Yeah, we’re killing the bees for the sake of greener grass.

There are fixes to the bumble bee crisis. But I suspect that this alarming story will soon slip away*, even as copious amounts of time, energy, and attention continue to be spent on the F-35. And the pipeline. And opposition to wind and solar development.

*Kudos to VTDigger and VPR for actually covering it. As far as I can tell, our print media judged it unworthy of attention.  

I know that concern about bumble bees and F-35s is not mutually exclusive. But our time and energy is finite, and far too much of it is being spent on things that, in the grand scheme of things, simply don’t matter that much.

We need to rethink our priorities and focus our energies on the most crucial issues we face. The F-35 just isn’t one of those.  

I am genuinely dismayed by the news that the Air Force has decided to base the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter Force at Burlington Airport!

I can’t imagine why they would make this decision, given the nearness of dense population and the expressed hostility of much of the surrounding community.  It isn’t as if there was no place more suitable vying for the honor of hosting the planes!

Having succeeded in a political end-game to disempower opponents of the plan, the “mighty” apparently closed rank on this one, and would not hear “no” for an answer.

Stunning.

Well…I sincerely hope they are 100% correct in their assurances that the aircraft poses no threat to health and safety in the Burlington area; but only time will tell.

Given the tremendous cost-overruns in developing the planes, and belt-tightening at the Pentagon that has gone so far as to suggest eliminating all commissaries, perhaps the good people of South Burlington and Winooski will get a last minute reprieve, since the planes aren’t set to deploy for another couple of years.  

One can only hope.  

Oboy, oboy! Let there be dancing in the streets! The Green Mountain State now has its own putrid little outlet for James O’Keefe-style “new journalism” devoted to exposing the excesses of the public sector!

It’s called Vermont Watchdog, and its arrival was trumpeted almost two weeks ago by Robert Maynard of True North Reports. (Sorry, I don’t check TNR very often because it so rarely posts new material. Example: the aforementioned post, dated November 22, is still at the top of the TNR homepage. Sad.)

So what is Vermont Watchdog? It’s one of a bunch of cookie-cutter state “journalism” projects funded and controlled by the Franklin Center for Government & Public Integrity, a 501c3 nonprofit that’s definitely in the Koch Brothers/Americans for Prosperity/ALEC collection of popup institutions that push hard-right ideology. And, thanks to the regulations governing 501c3’s, don’t reveal their funding sources.

To give you an idea of The Franklin Center’s journalistic bona fides, it frequently employs the notorious James O’Keefe as a speaker and trainer of would-be far-right muckrakers. Yep, it’s hoping to raise up a whole generation of O’Keefes, God help us all.

VW’s reporter, and sole staffer, is a nice young man named Jon Street. I know he’s young, ‘cuz he just graduated last year, and I know he’s nice ‘cuz he attended an oppressively Christian college, and all those folks are just shittin’ niceness. Since getting his sheepskin, he’s been a busy little bee, according to his Franklin Center bio:

Jon has worked in a variety of media environments, from covering Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C. to handling digital marketing for a Fortune 500 company. His previous works have been featured on The Drudge Report, Fox Nation, and discussed on air by Fox News’ Bill O’Reilly.

Mmmmmyep, I think I know what kind of “journalism” we can expect from Young Mr. Street.  

Oh, and about that college education: he’s a proud graduate of Missouri Baptist University, a strongly Evangelical institution. How strongly? Here are some comments by students and parents posted at College Prowler, a website for information and reviews about colleges and universities:

Since my school is a Baptist School,there isn’t any parties nor dances on campus as there would be with non-religious schools. However, they do have religious events and other things of that sort on campus for people who enjoy things like that.

… Very little things can students get away with, no walking with someone of the opposite sex at night! No hand holding

… Alcohol is not allowed…period. This is not your typical University. When you sign on to attend, you sign an agreement to the rules you will be held to uphold. I don’t live on campus, but my daughter was offered a scholarship there and we learned of many ‘rules’ that you had to strictly adhere to, and one of theme was that all main campus students WILL attend chapel every Thursday, it’s not optional.

… The religious environment is really pushed on non-religious students and at times it is uncomfortable.

It remains to be seen what kind of impact Young Mr. Street will have on the humanistic wasteland that is Montpelier, because he hasn’t yet written a damn thing for Vermont Watchdog. Maybe he’s house-hunting. Or maybe his MoBap-trained purity has already been corrupted by the countercultural blandishments of My Fair City.

So far, all the items posted on Vermont Watchdog — all four of ’em — were written by one Yael Ossowski, another Young Conservative Snot who apparently lives in Vienna, Austria. To judge from reading his Vermont Watchdog posts, he’s clearly scanning the wires for news items about Big Government and rewriting them with his brand of spin. That’s a long ways away from the brand of reporting promised by the Franklin Center:

Our established investigative journalists and capitol news reporters across the country are doing what legacy journalism outlets prove unable to do: share information, dive deep into investigations, and provide the fourth estate that has begun to fade in recent decades. …Watchdog.org promotes a vibrant, well-informed electorate and a more transparent government.

Yeah, when pigs fly.