( – promoted by Sue Prent)

We had good news last week. The Federal Communications Commission voted 3-2 to reclassify broadband as a utility and ban slow lanes on the Internet. The vote to reclassify was the only way to truly protect the free and open Internet now and in the future.

Interestingly, the FCC votes fell along party line: three Democrats in favor, two Republicans against.  The vote was also a testament to the power of grassroots organizing as thousands of petitions and calls went to the White House. Democrats did the work to protect people’s rights to a free Internet and defeated big corporations money and Telecom lobbyists spending millions of dollars over the last ten years.  It came as no surprise that Republicans backed big corporations over ordinary people… again.

This should be a reminder that “we the people” can make a difference locally, statewide and nationally and, also, that it really doers matter who you vote for.  

( – promoted by Sue Prent)

I just listened to the Thursday Feb 24th interviews with Republican chair David Sunderland and House Minority Leader Don Turner of Milton on Vermont Public radio’s Vermont Edition.

I was particularly shocked to hear that Sunderland is still questioning the reality of climate change. I suggest that he read the 2014 report from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change where over 12,000 scientists from 70 countries contributed to the report and agree that climate change is happening. The debate is over and policy makers all over the globe are in the process of managing future risks and building resilience. Why would Republican leaders deny this information?

In November, I attended the UVM Legislative Summit on Climate Change. The goal of summit was for UVM faculty to share their expertise with decision-makers to help them create informed policy for the state. Legislators, made up of largely Democrats and Progressives, listened to a keynote address titled “Policy, Governance & Human Behavior: Responding to the Climate Change Crisis” by CDAE professor and Gund fellow Asim Zia. Vice president for research Richard Galbraith kicked off the day with a roundup presentation on faculty research at UVM focused on climate change mitigation and adaptation. President Tom Sullivan and Provost David Rosowsky also made remarks.

Legislators and guests also attended workshops designed to educate policy makers in strategies to mitigate future damage from climate change.  Facts supports that climate change has already affected Vermont and has cost the state in money and resources and changed the life of its people forever. Think: Tropical Storm Irene. Think: the problems inherent with the warming of our lakes and streams.

I am encouraged that Vermont Democrats and Progressives legislators are embracing our climate change challenges and doing the work necessary to set protect and support our precious state for future generations.

So the legislature is off for Town Meeting Week. I saw Mayor Liz Gamache and Rep. Corey Parent at the polls at Saint Albans City Hall this morning. One committee that probably isn’t taking a break is the new GOP not-so-secret special committee combing through the budget.

House Minority Leader Rep. Don Turner (R-Milton) mentioned it matter-of-factly last week on Vermont Edition.

We have a committee working with our appropriations people, that started before the session began, and have started to scrub and comb through all areas of state government. We’ve initially focused on the high cost areas.

The VPO already covered how spectacularly ineffective this committee has been to date here. So, I’ll move on to talk about what’s on my mind: What does this new committee mean about the GOP’s faith in its own Appropriations committee members? Also, how does it relate to the rumored absence of members from their afternoon committee meetings (reported to me in hushed tones by several of my old statehouse friends)?

If you’re new in the Vermont House, especially a member of the minority party, then your only hope of being respected and effective is by showing your skills in committee. I’m not sure how less politically-inclined tax payers feel about having our legislators doing partisan work while their committees are meeting, but it ticks me off.

People who don’t respect the process in Montpelier do so at their own peril. If seasoned members of the Appropriations committee can’t find some juicy cuts to make to the budget then I seriously doubt that freshmen ditching their committees to comb through the budget will. If this new GOP committee really wants to serve their constituents they should work on some legislation and leverage the power of their committee assignments and respect their colleagues of all party affiliations on the Appropriations committee to do their jobs.  

( – promoted by Sue Prent)

As a Senior Union Rep for AOT workers in VSEA, I have the opportunity to visit Garages every week.  I also know how hard our plow drivers work to keep our roads open during the winter.  It is almost unimaginable that Governor Shumlin wants to balance his budget on the backs of these and other State workers as opposed to the wealthy that can afford it.

What follows is an open letter written by Ed Olsen, a VSEA member and plow driver based out of the Mendon Garage.

2/24/15

An Open Letter To Vermont Governor Peter Shumlin;

To Mr. Governor Shumlin,

    I am a hard working Vermont State employee for the Agency of Transportation (District 3). I plow the roads.  As you may recall, we in AOT have endured many challenges in the recent past ….Including Tropical Storm Irene (2011), Pay Cuts and Pay Freezes (2008-9), Changes to our Health Insurance with Higher deductibles and less coverages (2014). And despite all these hardships and challenges, we still get up, as needed, at 3am (sometimes working 7 days a week) to make sure our roads are safe so Vermonters (including yourself) can go to work, so tourists can come here and spend their money, and so everyone’s kids can get to school.

   Even so, I see and read the things you and the Legislature are proposing and I very much disapprove. You ask for pay cuts and threaten to lay-off 450 working class people if we do not suffer further by opening a Contract which we negotiated with you in good faith.  You refuse to balance the budget by raising taxes on the wealthy (who are your campaign donors?) and instead want to take money out of my pocket to cover your failures.   In a word, you want me and other plow drivers to open our contracts give back the 2.5% pay raise we all agreed to. On the other hand, have you demanded that the ski resorts open their leases with the State so they can share a small portion of their massive profits in order to maintain the services that they enjoy (like plowed roads for starters)? Have you considered a smarter use of our gas tax revenues, or an excessive wealth tax?  I would venture to guess that you have not.

I personally make just over $17 an hour, while the average wage of a plow driver is $38,000 a year.   And yet you have made it clear that you will not tax the wealthy (like yourself) who can afford it to cover the budget gap which you created. But I do not expect you to necessarily understand the hardships you are asking us to suffer, as I am told you are personally worth ten million dollars. Maybe you don’t understand that taking $36 a paycheck out of my wages (which on average you are proposing for all plow drivers) is the difference between making or missing a mortgage payment, a utility bill, or buying a pair of shoes for the kids.  Maybe you cannot understand.  Maybe you also don’t understand how hard we work for the modest pay we receive. Or maybe you don’t understand how dangerous our job actually is.

    So with that said I invite you Mr. Peter Shumlin (and all State Legislators for that matter) to shadow my job as an AOT snow plow truck driver through just one storm. (I further invite you to live on $17 and change an hour.) Now you may have to get up early (many hours before the sun comes up), and you may have to work longer than you are accustomed to, and by the end I expect that your hands may hurt (as I assume you do not have any calluses), but I think when you consider taking food off a families plate, you should know what went into putting that food on the table to begin with.

    The truth is, if me and my fellow AOT drivers did not do our job for even one day (during a storm) the entire State would shut down. And all those high paid CEOs, bankers, and lawyers that you refuse to raise taxes on would not be able to make it to their boardrooms and corner offices.  In fact you (or rather your State employed driver) would not be able to get to your 5th floor office in Montpelier in order to attend to your $150,000 a year job. Point being, Vermont works because we work.  And we do this because we are proud to serve the public and because we also need to support of families. I suggest you stop seeking to put more burdens on the backs of Vermont’s working men and women.  

    In conclusion I will say this… My job is no-less important than your job. The difference is I have done and will continue to do mine.  But from where I sit, your job was to balance the budget, raise adequate revenue from those that can afford it, and you failed (and continue to fail) at this.  But before you try and put your hand in my pocket to fix your mistakes, at least be man enough to know what it is like to sit in the driver’s seat at 4am when it is 20 below, it’s snowing, visibility is 20 feet, and you are making a quarter of the wage that is paid to the office of Governor.  On that note, I look forward to hearing from you, and I look forward to having you along next snow storm. Otherwise, I look forward to remembering who stood with and against working class Vermonters when I enter the booth during our next General Election.

Sincerely

Ed Olsen,

AOT Employee in the Mendon Garage,

& Member of the Vermont State Employees’ Association  

Proctor, Vermont

To see the letter on VSEA’s facebook page please click on the below link:

https://www.facebook.com/Vermo…

( – promoted by Sue Prent)

It’s your right as a Citizen of Vermont – get out to your School Budget and Town Meetings tonight and tomorrow.  It’s your way of keeping track of how your school is doing, what your town is spending money on, and who will be the next members of your School Board, your Select Board, and your Dog Catcher.

It’s your time to see old friends who’ve holed up for the winter.  See whose pipes have burst, who’s on crutches from slipping on the ice, and who pulled that 13 lb pike through the ice in early January. It’s time to hear about the solar farm down the road, and the new snow ditches along straight stretches of the road in an effort to keep drifts from closing the same stretches over and over again.

It’s time to kick the tires on the new town grader, to scoff at the financing terms secured by the Select Board, to hear of the passing of an old friend in the next town over that you missed while on vacation.  If you’re lucky, you’ll have some of the brownies or pie made by the Fortnightly Club, or purchase a few cookies in support of the 8th graders school trip to New York City.

It’s time to get away from the keyboard, shake a few hands, grab a few shoulders, and remember that you’re a Vermonter, and an integral part of what makes this state so special.  So exercise your right – VOTE.

Now begins the “gotcha” phase of Vermont’s relationship with Entergy.

Once upon a time, the energy giant was making nice with our green mountain state in order to win the fair hand of Vermont Yankee (LLC), which Entergy still expected to be a cash cow for years to come.

Entergy lawyers pinky-swore and spit on their hands, promising that we could trust them.

So it came to pass that Vermont went to bed with Prince Charming, but awoke with Frankenstein.

The honeymoon was already over when we learned about the tritium leaks and the pipes that “were not there.”

In light of mounting new evidence that neither Entergy nor the aging facility were reliable, the state asked them nicely to cease operations.  

They responded by dragging Vermont through costly litigation. This was apparently only in order to prove that they could , because shortly thereafter, the company chose to abandon VY due to their own economic considerations.

Meanwhile the vagaries of Wall Street and uncertain times for energy pricing had conspired to severely limit growth of the decommissioning “dowry,” for which both parties once held such high hopes.

And that is when things began to take a turn into “War of the Roses” territory.

Again, just because they could do so, rather than rehabilitating the property for other use in a timely manner, Entergy opted to push decommissioning up to sixty-years down the road, under a program known as SAFSTOR, which Vermonters might sardonically refer to as ‘SAPSTOR,’ as in “what saps we were for believing these guys.”  

The gloves are off and its bare-knuckle blackmail time.

On February 11, just days after a strontium-90 leak had been discovered on the grounds of the idle reactor, portending even greater cost to clean-up the site, Entergy VP Mike Twomey was asked by the legislature what would happen if the decommissioning investment fund couldn’t finally cover the cost of decommissioning within the prescribed sixty years.

His reply had a decidely pugnacious ring to it:

Twomey first said he doubted such an outcome, but added, “There would probably be quite a bit of litigation about that…”

Digging the hole even deeper, he added:

“We are not going to pin down today the answer to a hypothetical question when we don’t even know what the facts are on something that might happen 60 years from now”

and suggested that the company might even seek to recover some of the decommissioning cost from VY’s previous owners, Vermont Yankee Nuclear Power Corporation, aka: the ratepayers of Vermont.

Though Twomey later repeated that he thought it would never come to that, his remark had already earned him the sobriquet, “So Sue Me Twomey” from industry safety advocate, Arnie Gundersen.  

Breaking up really is hard to do.

Entergy is not contesting custody of its runaway “daughters,” Tritium and Stronium-90.  If we find them later, they’ll be all ours.

As always, I must disclose that I work in a non-technical capacity for the good folks at Fairewinds Energy Education, but the opinions I express on GMD are my own alone and do not necessarily reflect the views of Fairewinds.

Moretown Folks,

    It has been my great honor and privilege to serve as your elected First Constable for three terms.  However, this year I have decided to step aside, and not put my name forth for re-election.  I have made this decision in order to create more time to spend the next year focusing on my family (which now includes two young children), and my professional work as Senior Union Representative with the Vermont State Employees’ Association (specifically representing the 1000 Agency of Transportation workers throughout Vermont).

    I was first elected Constable in 2007 (endorsed by the Progressive Party), then served two terms on the Select Board (2009-2011-Endorsed by the Progressive and Liberty Union Parties), and then again as Constable.  Prior to this (2006) I served our community one year as your delegate to the Regional Planning Commission.  During all these times it was my absolute pleasure to work on behalf of this community which I love.  It is therefore with some reluctance that I contemplate a Town Meeting Day for the first time in nine years where I will not be putting my name forward in the hopes of serving the People of Moretown.  Even so, with a growing family, and given my responsibilities in serving Vermont’s hard working road crews (through the VSEA), it is the right decision at this time.  

    During my years as Constable I recall the most challenging time (not surprisingly) as during the immediate aftermath of Hurricane Irene.  In the days following this disaster myself, Mike Demingware (the Second Constable), Raymond Munn  (Fayston Constable), along with a number of volunteers from the Moretown Fire Department organized 24 hour patrols of the village, and manned roadblocks on the few remaining access ways leading into town.  We also made a concerted effort to distribute boxes of National Guard issued food rations to isolated homesteads. Our goal on the patrols (especially concerning the ones at night) were to ensure the security of temporarily abandoned village homes and people’s personal belongings (much of which were drying out on peoples mud caked front yards).  The point of the roadblocks were to exclude non-essential traffic into the Village (in order not to kick up more dust and/or create traffic related safety concerns for local volunteers). On these fronts I venture to say we were successful despite next to no sleep (for days on end). Eventually, through my (and the Select Board’s) direct discussions with the Governor, we were able to secure State Police night patrols which allowed myself and others to get some much needed sleep.  And I, like the hundreds of folks that worked sun up to sun down getting the Village and peoples’ homes back in some kind of order, never charged the community even a penny for all the hours put in. But of course Irene was the exception…

     More typically, perhaps in 2007, I remember getting a call from a neighbor on Jones Brook Road about a domesticated duck that had taken up residence under his house.  On this occasion myself and a friend (Xavier Massot) spent an afternoon running around this house trying to capture the fugitive duck.  In time, it was Xavier who had the genius idea of tossing his old army coat over the duck, at which point we apprehended the escapee.  The next hour was spent trying to deduce who the duck belonged to (and it turned out it came down from another neighbor’s house on Herring Brook Road).  Soon the case was closed, and I was able to have a beer and reflect on a day well spent!

    In short, it has truly been an honor and a pleasure to serve on behalf of Moretown.  Understand that even as I decline to run for local office on this particular Town Meeting Day, I remain dedicated to public service, and advancing the interests of Moretown’s (and Vermont’s) working families.  In the coming days, weeks, and months I will be dedicating my political activities to turning back Governor Shumlin’s intentions to place what amounts to a special targeted tax on State workers (ie his desire to roll back modest agreed upon wage increases in an effort to fill a budget gap that his Administration created) and his intent to gut the public services that low income Vermonters are compelled to rely on (in order to maintain a modicum of dignity in their living standards).  So while I more fully turn my attention to these difficult tasks, I offer support and well wishes to whoever wins the seat of Moretown’s First Constable (be it by a write-in election victory or by appointment).

    In conclusion, I look forward to seeing each and every one of you, my friends and neighbors, this Tuesday, at Town Meeting Day.  Solidarity!

Dave Van Deusen, March 1st, 2015

Moretown First Constable (until Tuesday)

Lynch Hill Road,

Moretown, Vermont

vtdavidvandeusen@gmail.com

(802)522-5812    

It's school budget and school board election time, and once again there is a split in Montpelier between people who support maintaining the activities of our excellent schools and those who have been arguing for austerity the last few years.

The leading candidate for the austerity forces is Tina Muncy, a former teacher and principal, who has the support of Vibrant and Affordable Montpelier, the new conservative party in Montpelier. (VAM to its members, the Chai Party to its adversaries.) During last year's budget fight Muncy was one of the loudest voices against the school budget not only the first time around, and one of the few who also opposed the budget on the revote after cuts and restructuring that attracted the support of even some of the VAM leaders.

This year's election has stirred some controversy when City Council member Thierry Guerlain, one of the founders and leaders of VAM, signalled to voters that they should bullet vote for Muncy, a tactic that rubs some people the wrong way. This has led Montpelier resident Jed Guertin to post this letter to the editor of the Times Argus, which I am posting with his permission:

 One eliminated

We’re lucky in Montpelier to have five candidates for two school board seats. I’m writing this letter to simply present two observations, not to tell you for whom you should vote.

1. Everyone has a right to vote or not vote, but I was dismayed to see a city councilor suggest that citizens even consider pocketing a vote to see only one specific candidate get elected. 

2. While attending school board and program finance committee meetings this fall and winter, I had a chance to observe Tina Muncy’s approach to school budgeting. The finance committee’s charge was to “make recommendations … that show potential to reduce or at least control costs and show promise to improve or at least maintain the quality of educational outcomes as measured by the board’s ends policies.” 

It’s one thing to show ways to cut costs; the hard part is to take the time to analyze and then measure the impact of those potential cuts on students. Tina appeared strongly in favor of cutting the budget (the first part of the committee’s charge) but seemed uninterested in addressing the need to analyze the impact of those cuts on students, the second part of the committee’s charge. 

For that reason, Tina Muncy will not be getting my vote. But thankfully that still leaves me with four excellent candidates.

 I'm very concerned about investing power over our school budgets on someone who has so publicly opposed adequate funding for this most vital community activity. Whether the austerity forces will get their way this time around remains to be seen.

WELCOME TO YUPPIEWORLD

(SMOKE-FREE, PANHANDLER-FREE!!!)

Yes, friends, it’s finally here!  Thanks to Montpelier Alive and a special grant approved by Gov. Shumlin, Montpelier is pleased to host the long awaited Theme Park that has been in the works since 1986, the year when the fruits of the Great Yuppie Migration from New Jersey, New York, and Connecticut began to ripen  and change Vermont’s drab and backward environment and sociology.  When we saw literally hundreds and hundreds of the ‘new enlightened’ Vermonters take control of Zoning Boards, Planning Commissions, School Boards, Select Boards, and City Councils, and then begin their work in the State Legislature, and in non-profit groups, and in federally funded agencies for the poor, the elderly, the disabled, the migrant workers, the homeless, and, yes, don’t forget, the Farmers.  Due to the changing complexion of our state that these ‘new’ Vermonters brought about, they have been networking for years to make Vermont the very first state in the nation to celebrate YuppieNess in all its forms.  And now we have a very special place where Yuppies from Vermont and all over the nation can come to fest in the wonders of an enriched lifestyle–YuppieWorld!!!

YuppieWorld has electric bumper cars and the Windmill Whip for the kiddies!  Expensive wine, cheese, and Ben & Jerry’s new fat-free, taste-free Yuppie Yogurt!!  Expert speakers and displays on Meditation, Weight Loss, Buddhism, Global Warming, Power & Control, Single Payer Auto-Health Care Coverage For Your SUVs, Real Estate (with emphases on your neighbor’s property and the farmer’s down the road), Fashion, Micro-brews and Micro-management, Investments, and information on how and where you can get the latest Yuppie Vaccinations and sign-up for Yuppie Vaccinations Of The Future!!  And dozens of mini-venues where you can buy and buy and buy!–Yuppie Clothes, Yuppie Self-Help Books, Yuppie Plants, and even Yuppie Pets!!!

No smoking and no panhandling will be permitted at YuppieWorld.  A Security Team armed with tazers and ‘lowlife alarms’ (similar to car alarms) will see to it that no ‘unseemly’ people gain entrance to YuppieWorld.  

And NO POLITICS at YuppieWorld!  The emphasis will be on YOU and how IMPORTANT a person YOU ARE!!  Vermont’s new non-profit group, Health, Safety, Security, Appearances & Acquirement, run by Peter Sterling (his own creation, God love him!), will have a table allowing you to ‘feel good’ by making generous donations to ‘sustain and diversify’ YuppieNess here and across the nation.

YuppieWorld is located on the former site of the Pioneer Apartments.  We tore them down!  And had the riff-raff there hit the road to Hardwick.  Hey, no more P-Word, right?!  And, better still, admission to YuppieWorld is $40!  No chance of working class losers shelling that much out.

To kick-off YuppieWorld’s Grand Opening, Peter Sterling will give a talk on the ins and outs of creating your own government funded non-profit groups whose missions will be to lobby for new taxes on every single product used by the poor, the elderly, the disabled, and the working class, and then use that tax money to fund YOUR Single Payer Health Care, YOUR Co-op memberships, YOUR downtown parking tickets, YOUR health club fees, and YOUR STRESS!!  That way, according to Sterling, all revenues from YuppieWorld can be used to further YuppieNess in Vermont and across the nation.  And make YuppieNess Renewable!!!  Ain’t that Cool and Slick?  A big Okey-Dokey to Peter!!  Also, at YuppieWorld’s Grand Opening, Governor Shumlin will be on hand to give you tips on how to make real estate killings almost right in your own backyard!!!

Also on hand at the Grand Opening of YuppieWorld will be Special Notable Yuppies from all over the state–the most ‘quality’ parts of the state, like Stowe and Burlington.  A list of special ‘celebrity‘ Vermont Yuppies to appear at YuppieWorld is now being prepared by the staff of Seven Days, and, if many are ‘too busy’ because they’re ‘too important’ to make the Grand Opening, they will, no doubt, be able to make appearances later on, after they check their calendars for days when they have no lunch meetings scheduled.

This Is Going To Be SO AWESOME!!!

So Be There For The Grand Opening Of YuppieWorld!  Network, Buy Things!!  And PARTY!!!

(This ad has been paid for by Article 19 on the upcoming Montpelier Town Meeting Ballot.)

Peter Buknatski

Montpelier, Vt.

Well ,the Chairman of the Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works, Senator James Inhofe(R) took the time today to prove global warming is a hoax-by brandishing a snowball on the senate floor. 

James Inhofe, the US senator who famously claimed that global warming was   “the greatest hoax ever perpetrated on the American people”, attempted to underscore his climate denial on the Senate floor Thursday by brandishing a snowball.

“I ask the chair: do you know what this is? It’s a snowball,” said Inhofe, hefting the icy globe in his right hand, before tossing it at a Senate page.    

The snowball stunt was part of a rambling speech to America’s most august deliberative body in which, amongst other points, Inhofe took aim at evidence by scientists that 2014 was the warmest year on record due to climate change. (According to detailed research Nasa and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, two of the top bodies of government scientists, it was.)

There is an old comedy routine from Firesign Theater in which one character attempts to prove he time traveled to ancient Greece by revealing that he has returned with a grape.  

I doubt that Senator Inhofe was thinking about that routine today when he used a snowball found in Washington DC to dramatize his view that global climate change is a hoax, but he utilized the same flawless logic.

Senator Inhofe is no doubt, bound for grapeness