All-Emoticon edition. Because it’s a holiday, so who has time for authentic feelings?

VTDigger, for a couple of recent articles that illustrated its crucial role in Vermont journalism. In recent days, we’ve enjoyed reading Jon Margolis’ series on the political turmoil in Saint Johnsbury, which features Jim Rust, an energetic Tea Party type, taking the reins away from the entrenched Old Guard. And apparently running wild, turning St. J’s government into an expensive joke on the taxpayers. (Not that the Old Guard were all that great, if Margolis is to be believed.) The whole series is worth reading, but we’ll cut to the money shot:

So the St. Johnsbury follies continue, with select board members squabbling in public, no town manager for almost nine months (and none likely to be chosen for at least another two or three, Rust said), two lawsuits against the town, and a shrunken and inexperienced staff of town workers trying to operate a $9 million a year enterprise, the audits of which are not up to date.

Second on Digger’s hit parade was an article posted just before its holiday recess, which indicates widespread, ongoing dissatisfaction with Governor Shumlin’s mental health care overhaul among the caregivers on the front lines. This dissatisfaction is not confined to the present, interim, patchwork “system”; it also includes Shumlin’s long-term plan for psychiatric facilities spread around the state.  

Which I’ve been pointing out for a solid year now, but it’s nice to see the story finally get some coverage in the “real” political media.

VTDigger, for its unfortunate choice of holiday filler: Bethany Knight’s rather schizoid 11-part exploration of poverty and anti-poverty programs in the Northeast Kingdom. It began, as discussed previously in this space, with a right-wing rant in journalistic clothing. In it, Knight (or her surrogates) bemoaned the loss of the Kingdom’s Good Ole Days, where neighbors took care of neighbors (yeah, right) and we didn’t need no damn gummint stickin’ its nose in and sappin’ the natural self-reliance of the Kingdom’s sturdy if chronically impoverished populace.

Then came parts 2 and 3, which showcased how the government had helped Kingdom residents battle poverty. Sounded like an advertisement for the very programs she had pummeled in part 1.

After the jump: a dyspeptic pharmacist, a master baker, a really bad newspaper, a really, really bad political “strategist” and more!

After that, it was back to more gummint-bashin’ in parts 4 and 5.  And as was the case in part 1, the criticism was almost entirely anecdotal. Very little in the way of hard facts, just a lot of this:

St. Johnsbury pharmacist Jack Ruggles views poor customers with a great “astigmatism’.”

…He knows welfare recipients’ grant and food benefits are loaded onto EBT cards at the beginning of every month. “It’s like Christmas!,” he said. “They get beer, cash, junk food. The carts are full. Then halfway through the month, there’s no money for their kid’s prescription co-pay.”

This is the same “Jack Ruggles” who enlivened part 1 with his astigmatic memories of the Good Ole Days when the poor were free to starve on their own terms. According to the state Board of Pharmacy, Ruggles plies his trade at the Rite-Aid on Railroad Street in Saint Johnsbury. If you’re in the neighborhood, stop in and thank him for his contribution to our public discourse. And maybe ask his boss if snooping in customers’ shopping carts is really part of Jack’s job description.

Anyway, Knight swung back to the positive in parts 7 and 8, so I’m expecting more welfare-bashing in part 9. But no matter how absurdly broad the pendulum swings, there are a couple of constants in Knight’s work: the relatively straight installments are full of expert quotes and statistical information, while the anti-welfare installments are virtually fact-free and loaded with uninformed opinionation.

I understand the reluctance of VTDigger to go dark for a long holiday break — gotta keep up those pageview counts, after all — but I’d hope there were better holiday-filler options than this series.

Morgan Daybell, for fighting the good fight as Executive Director of the Vermont Progressive Party. He’s stepping down after five years, to take a job closer to his home in Montgomery. He’s been swimming against the tide throughout his tenure, as the increasing dominance of the Dems (and the ongoing faceplant of the Republicans) have eroded the Progs’ power — as a spoiler, if nothing else. He’s also seen his party lose its former base in the Burlington mayoralty, thanks in part to the incompetence of the Bob Kiss regime.

He was effectively a one-man shop in terms of paid staff. (Which might seem sad, except that was one more than the VTGOP had in 2012.) And he did his best to rebuild the Progs by fielding good candidates for the Legislature. Although I’m primarily a Democratic voter, I’m glad the Progs are around. As long as they can remain a credible third party, they’ll help keep the Dems honest if nothing else. So, thanks to Daybell for his service, and best wishes for whatever comes next.

The newspaper known in the Northeast Kingdom as the Cal-Rec which, to judge from a recent editorial, is apparently short for Calcified Rectum.

Yep, the St. Johnsbury Caledonian-Record is up to its old tricks. This time, in honor of John Kerry’s nomination for Secretary of State, the Rectum dragged the moth-eaten Swift Boat routine out of cold storage. It accused Kerry of trying to dodge hazardous duty in Vietnam, faking his citations for gallantry, and wounding himself to get sent back home. And a whole bunch of other nonsense. (I won’t provide a link because the Rectum’s content is paywalled. Not to mention hazardous for your mental health.)

All this at a time when even the Republicans are in favor of Kerry’s nomination. I’d say the Rectum ought to be ashamed of itself, but it long ago traveled beyond the outer bounds of self-awareness.

The Rectum’s latest excretion is all the more shameless, given the track record of prominent Republicans and conservatives regarding military service. With the exception of John McCain, just about every single one of them did everything they could (including lying and cheating) to get out of any military commitment. The dishonor roll, as maintained by the New Hampshire Gazette, includes Rush Limbaugh (medical deferment due to a rectal cyst), Wayne LaPierre (student deferment), Dick Cheney (“other priorities” than serving his country),  Pat Robertson (got out of combat duty thanks to his U.S. Senator father’s influence), and John Frickin’ Wayne (stayed in Hollywood playing soldier ion movie sets throughout World War II). You can spend many happy hours perusing the Gazette’s exhaustive list.

 Chris Calvin, departing owner of The Bakers Studio in White River Junction. The bakery/cafe, which (among many other things) has been making excellent bagels for many years, has closed up shop because, well, Calvin has had his fill of working six days a week, 16 hours a day. His workday started just after midnight, and kept him on his feet almost continuously until late afternoon. (His idea of a rest was driving his bagel delivery truck.) Try that on for size.

Calvin will continue baking on a wholesale basis, which will make his responsibilities much more manageable. But the closing of his shop is a blow to his many regular customers in downtown White River.

I had the privilege of getting to know Chris when I wrote a magazine article about his career which turned into a chapter in my book, (PLUGOLA ALERT) Roads Less Traveled: Visionary New England Lives. The chapter (entitled “The Hardest-Working Man in White River”) was a chronicle of his life told during a single overnight shift at the bakery. It was a wonderful and exhausting experience — and all I was doing was following him around while he did all the work. Great guy, great baker. I wish him well.

The Brattleboro Reformer, for publishing the mother of all typographic errors. Its post-blizzard headline — emblazoned across the top of Page One — said “LET IS SNOW, LET IS SNOW, LET IS SNOW.” The goof attracted attention on a national level from the likes of the Huffington Post, Gawker, and Jim Romenesko’s media blog.

And even as we pile on the Reformer, we do acknowledge Executive Editor Tom D’Errico’s blogpost in which he admits “There is no excuse” for the error. Well, he also made some excuses (low staffing over the holidays, very heavy workloads, an accelerated production schedule due to the coming storm), but he did take responsibility and apologized to his readers.

Tayt Brooks, Internatlonal Man of Mystery, for being the most uncompelling Man of Mystery in the world. For those just joining us, the Tayter is the politically impotent Treasurer/Sole Staffer of Vermonters First, the SuperPAC that managed to spend almost a million bucks of Lenore Broughton’s inheritance without accomplishing anything whatsoever. VF invested heavily in Wendy Wilton’s bid for Treasurer; she lost badly to incumbent (but first-time candidate) Beth Pearce; it also put a lot of money into backing select Republicans for the Legislature, only to see the VTGOP lose ground in the House and Senate.

If Lenore Broughton had a lick of common sense, the Tayter would be out on his ear. I do have to give him credit for flummoxing the old girl. But he deserves a Poke for continuing to act like God’s gift to Vermont politics. When VTDigger sought comment from him on December 18 regarding VF’s latest campaign finance report, he was (yet again) unavailable for comment. Multiple times over.

Which he has been, routinely, to all media outlets since that embarrassing little “My Dinner With Randy” imbroglio last September. You remember, when Paul Heintz caught the Tayter in a blatant lie over his contact with gubernatorial hopeless* Randy Brock?

*Well, he sure wasn’t a “hopeful.”

Yeah, since then the Tayter has steered clear of any messy entanglements with any and all reporters, for fear of committing more blunders. Which is fine as long as VF has no impact whatsoever. But if it really hopes to actually influence elections, then he has an obligation (moral, not legal) to be answerable in public. Especially since his sugar mama, Lenore Broughton, won’t even let herself be photographed, much less interviewed.

So a big fat year-end Poke to Tayt Brooks, the useless, toothless, feckless, arrogant little opera buffa character of Vermont politics.