Belated posting with my apologies. Vaguely Disturbing Cartoon Edition.

Governor Peter Shumlin, for grabbing Vermont politics and government by the scruff in a New Year’s blitz of announcements and initiatives. And just to top it all off, the guy schedules an outdoor event for early January and comes up with a warm, sunny day. What, did he appoint The Man Upstairs as his new Secretary of Meteorological Arrangements?

He began his 2013 offensive by addressing one of 2012’s biggest scandals (the Jim Deeghan case). He called for a new law that would let government claw back a public sector employee’s pension benefits if they were gained through fraudulent activity. Then came a series of personnel shuffles plus a hint of major education reform initiatives to be announced this week.

After that came new transparency measures, allowing everyone to get more information about state government online, not to mention a proposal for greater public access to records of criminal cases and investigations.

Monday brought some well-conceived measures to reduce recidivism, and Tuesday was the dedication of the new mental health care facility to be built in Berlin, plus the news that its funding is pretty much taken care of through a combination of FEMA funds, insurance payments, and money already set aside in last year’s budget.  

The Gov has certainly hit the ground running. What’s especially noteworthy is that most of these efforts are not the stuff of sexy headlines — they’re a matter of honestly trying to make government work better and more efficiently. Good stuff.

With one exception…

Governor Peter Shumlin, for persistently ducking and evading any sort of a stand on gun control. And for not making a whole lot of sense when he did say something.

There is some merit in his advocacy of a 50-state solution, but it’s hard to accept that there is no role whatsoever for states or governors, especially those who pride themselves on their leadership. Couldn’t we at least tighten our incredibly lax gun laws to match those of nearby states? Do we really need, for instance, to allow 16-year-olds to buy guns and carry concealed weapons?

Beyond that, there is absolutely no merit in Shumlin’s call for some kind of measure to keep dangerous weapons away from the mentally ill. The American Psychiatric Association says that “The vast majority of violence in our society is not perpetrated by persons with serious mental disorders.” Just look at the recent Bennington case of a respected schoolteacher who suddenly started posting threatening messages online, and was seen loading his Bushmaster into the trunk of his car on a Sunday evening. If he intended harm to students or staff, no amount of mental health screening would have prevented him from (a) owning a weapon of war — he’d bought it a few years earlier — or (b) snapping without any prior warning or diagnosis.

And although Shumlin has said he would support “sensible” gun legislation on a national level, one has to question exactly how he would define “sensible.” The only restriction he’s called for is the unattainable “keep guns away from crazy people.” Hell, he’s refused to say whether the Bushmaster qualifies as a weapon of war. And given his high ratings by the NRA, I’m left to wonder if he shares that organization’s definition of “sensible.”

After the jump: Fresh air in the Senate, another obnoxious agri-giant, the Vermont Democratic Party, and more.

State Senator Phil Baruth, Senate President Pro Tem John Campbell, and (we hope) the people of Vermont, for what appears to be some real change for the better in the Senate. In the 2012 session, Campbell repeatedly slammed the less senior Senators (including Baruth) while running an often-dysfunctional chamber. When he had to run for re-election as Pro Tem, he promised better organization and communication.

The ascension of Baruth to the position of Majority Leader is a concrete sign that Campbell will let some fresh air into the musty chamber. Our best to Phil on his new post, even though we fear his new responsibilities will make it even harder for him to keep up his renowned blog, Vermont Daily Briefing (last updated November 2). But if we must, we will happily trade an incisive, well-written political blog for a more open and productive Senate.  

Vermont’s toothless laws against operating unlicensed hunting preserves. Last week, two Fairlee residents were accused of operating a private hunting ground. They charged customers as much as $6,000 for the chance to bag a moose, boar, buffalo, or other animal.

Steven Hill, 51, and Chiaki Ito, 21, both of Fairlee, were accused Friday of seven counts of operating an unlicensed captive hunting facility. They face up to $1,000 in fines for each count and could lose hunting, fishing and trapping licenses for up to three years.

And there’s the rub: these guys were raking in the dough for illegal hunting, and the maximum penalty is $7,000 in fines. That’s not much of a deterrent. The state no longer issues new permits for hunting facilities because they can harbor dangerous diseases. If Vermont has a real interest in limiting private hunting grounds, it needs to stiffen the penalties for offenders.

The Vermont Democratic Party, not rebuilding but reloading. After a dominant performance in 2012, the VDP has made a couple of behind-the-scenes hires aimed at cementing its hegemony. The party is hiring Ryan Emerson as communications director and field director, and Nick Charyk as  political director. Both men came to prominence in last year’s campaign. Emerson brought TJ Donovan within a $200,000 SuperPAC injection of upsetting Attorney General Bill Sorrell and then spearheaded Treasurer Beth Pearce’s lopsided win over Lenore Broughton’s checkbook — er, I mean Wendy Wilton.  Charyk was director of the Vermont Democratic House Campaign, which overcame Lenore Broughton’s checkbook and added to the Democratic majority in the House.

The hires provide steady employment for a pair of up-and-coming political minds and add to the Democrats’ organizational power, at a time when the Vermont Republicans still don’t have any paid staff and are counting on Reagan-era retread “Angry Jack” Lindley to create a youth movement in the VTGOP. Lookin’ good for 2014, folks.

Processed food giant ConAgra Foods, for stealing Bo Muller-Moore’s “Eat More Kale” slogan. A new ad for its Healthy Choice frozen yogurt features a woman who claims to be a recovering kale-aholic. Early in the commercial, she is shown wearing a fake “Eat More Kale” T-shirt — with a different design than Bo’s, but definitely the same slogan. (The cherry on top of this shit sundae:  the amply-proportioned woman is shown jumping and shaking in slow-motion so we can all be mesmerized by her bouncing bosom.)

It’s bad enough that one giant purveyor of industrial food, Chick-Fil-A, is trying to stop Bo from using his slogan. Now we’ve got another one attacking from the other side.

I can only hope, for the sake of cosmic justice, that ConAgra will be sued by Chick-Fil-A for trademark infringement.  

The Roman Catholic Diocese of Burlington, for once again having to settle lawsuits over its failure to prevent child sexual abuse by priests. The latest development is just one small step in a long, painful journey toward truth and reconciliation — a journey that the Church has actively resisted in every possible way. There are many noxious elements to this sad story, but I’ll tick off a few that really tick me off:

— The Church put the interests of itself and its priests above all else, sweeping allegations under the rug, refusing to share information with law enforcement, and constantly shuttling accused priests from church to church and diocese to diocese.

— Even while evading its responsibility, it has continued to claim absolute moral authority. We’ve been told that sexual abuse in the priesthood is rarer than in other professions. Well, it should be rarer. It should be NONEXISTENT, no? And the fact that it’s relatively rare doesn’t excuse the Church’s decades (probably centuries) of negligence. At the same time, they’re denying the Eucharist to pro-choice politicians, urging their parishioners to vote Republican, and making vast and arrogant claims of religious privilege.

— Its internal structure has made a mockery of the civil justice system. For doctrinal purposes the Church is a single entity directed by the Vatican; but financially, each diocese is a separate entity. That means the pasty old men in the pointy hats never have to fear selling off their treasures, even though they clearly allowed a corrupt system to continue. Whatever the Burlington Diocese is paying out — and they won’t tell you how much that is — we know one thing for sure: not a penny is coming from Rome.