Jim Douglas: water carrier

Frankly, I like an elected official who does what he says during the campaign. Many don't! (4.00 / 2)

Speaking from experience there, Jim?
Where are those jobs?

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by: bmike @ Thu Mar 10, 2011 at 16:30:56 PM UTC

This of course was the same Jim Douglas (4.00 / 1)

...who opined that Sarah Palin would make a dandy vice president of the United States:

"For the first time in many years we have someone on the ticket that's just like us, someone who has dealt with the challenges of raising a family, dealt with so many issues that confront small town America...someone who has provided leadership in rural parts of America." (more of his painful and grotesquely ill-informed praise of Caribou Barbie can be found here)

Really, Douglas' opinion on anything of significance can be dismissed as flawed and opportunistic. He doesn't appear to ever have put the interests of the people of Vermont ahead of the interests of a) himself, b) his party, and c) the morally corrupt, who prop up the GOP as a vehicle for their deceit and greed.  

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by: thingwarbler @ Thu Mar 10, 2011 at 16:52:32 PM UTC

"Just like us..."? (0.00 / 0)

He must have been using the imperial "we" rather as the Queen might.

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by: Sue Prent @ Thu Mar 10, 2011 at 17:09:23 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

No, I think... (4.00 / 1)

...the "us' meant people who are stupid and dullards and assholes.  The people we let run the show.  There really ought to be an SAT type test these fuckers have to pass before getting on any ballot.  Of course, we'd have to grade on a curve--a very steep one.

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by: PeteySweety @ Thu Mar 10, 2011 at 17:25:23 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

The Misinformation Machine That Won't Go Away (4.00 / 2)

Douglas also cites a "survey" in his VPR piece that he says shows that VT state employees earn, on average, 50 percent more than their private-sector counterparts. This is a complete load of cherry-picked bullshit, but, as he loves to do, Douglas presents it as fact.

I hope VPR will require Douglas to show definitive proof of his 50 percent claim (in a true apples-to-apples comparison). If he can't prove it (which I'm quite sure he can't), VPR should remove Douglas' inaccurate column from its website.  

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by: VSEADoug @ Thu Mar 10, 2011 at 19:12:44 PM UTC

Word (0.00 / 0)

They should.  But I'm not holding my breath.

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by: Tim Wolfe @ Thu Mar 10, 2011 at 20:13:19 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

That said (4.00 / 1)

I sent them a polite but strongly worded upbraiding for offering him a platform to spread misinformation.  Other VPR listeners, chime in too!

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by: Tim Wolfe @ Thu Mar 10, 2011 at 20:38:39 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

Problem (0.00 / 0)

This line of reasoning must be confronted everywhere we hear it: The problem is not- in any way, shape or form- that public sector workers are getting paid too much, that teachers or fire fighters or whoever are getting paid too much (and therefore should get paid less)- the problem is that the private sector is getting paid, way, way too little; and is only getting paid so little so that the very richest people can make more.  400 people in this country are richer than 150 million!!!!???  That's not a problem of too little money- it's a problem of how we distribute it.  Yet attacks on unions and the wages of workers (public or private) serve only to further distribute the money in the wrong direction.  This point needs to be driven home to anyone who argues, at all, about "how much" those public sector workers get: they get mere crumbs compared to the pay of a mere handful of people in this country.

"GMD's once proud libertarian-socialist"

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by: wdh3 @ Fri Mar 11, 2011 at 06:35:10 AM UTC

[ Parent ]

I have been told (4.00 / 2)

the title for this diary should be How can we miss you if you won't go away
 

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by: BP @ Thu Mar 10, 2011 at 19:55:07 PM UTC

Don't worry (4.00 / 1)

You'll probably get another chance to use that one.

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by: Tim Wolfe @ Thu Mar 10, 2011 at 20:12:53 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

Please retweet (0.00 / 0)

I retweeted VPR's tweets this way

RT @vprnet: #VPR Commentary Douglas: Watching #Wisconsin http://dlvr.it/Jq2v0 - wrong, #walker did not make his plans known b4 election

RT @vprnet: #VPR Commentary Douglas: Watching #Wisconsin http://dlvr.it/Jq2v0 - why no comments section to respond to half-truths?

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by: jrgvt @ Fri Mar 11, 2011 at 00:04:34 AM UTC

Jim the leader?? (0.00 / 0)

JimX, mentioned in his little ditty that state employees and teachers had done a little to help, but would need to do more....   JIM I challenge you... lead by example...  Take on more of your healthcare costs.... you are hitting the citizens up for 80% of your plan cost arent you???  well, how about you make it 50/50????  

Show us how sacrifice is done JIM, and maybe you would like to kick back some of those retirement benefits???

Suck it up Jim,  life is hard for retirees, eh???

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by: hoopmeister @ Fri Mar 11, 2011 at 03:57:37 AM UTC

In reply to my email to VPR (4.00 / 1)

Here's what I got:

Former Governor Douglas responds:

In the attached report from the State Department of Human Resources, Table 45 on p. 62 lists the average compensation for classified executive branch state employees as $72,694. This includes benefits, but does not include the elected officials, department heads, judges and many state attorneys, so I assume the average of all state employees is even higher.

This is from the Dept of Labor website...it's for '09, while the state employee data are '10, but I'm sure the #s are close. It shows an average wage of $40,940.

This is salary only & includes all public employees, so the average private sector worker is below this level. I can't find any benefit data for the population at large, but state employee benefits are 28.5% of pay. I'd be very surprised if that's true in the private sector. Some large employers probably are that generous, but most businesses in Vermont are small. If we assume they're 18.5%, that brings the total average compensation for everyone to $50,233. The state employee average of $72,694 is 44.7% higher than the overall average, so if this were adjusted to reflect private sector jobs only, I think my assertion is fair.

It's a little imprecise, but I assume this is the thought process we employed last year.

I can send anyone interested the "attached report" and the Labor stats he uses as well, but of course the fundamental problem is that he's still not comparing similar levels of education, and so on.  

Maybe those numbers don't exist.  Maybe we need more data.  But if so, we shouldn't be pretending that reality fits our ideology; this is a prime example of how to lie with statistics.

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by: Tim Wolfe @ Fri Mar 11, 2011 at 13:11:11 PM UTC

So Jim (0.00 / 0)

you promised good paying jobs, and by this report you admit that the private sector in Vermont sucks, compared to public sector employees.

To improve the private sector we can do a couple of things:

Help create good paying jobs with outstanding benefits (health care?) and raise the private sector to a comfortable and livable place similar to their neighbors that may work for the state.

or

Push down those pesky public sector employees to levels of the gutted private sector so their neighbors in the private sector won't get all angry about their lack of benefits and higher wages, and loss of real income over the last 20-30 years.

I just don't understand the fetish of having to amputate an arm and a leg to save Vermont. If the government can create and sustain good paying jobs for services that Vermonters are clearly willing to pay for in order to have a relatively high quality of life (as it affects all Vermonters through services, quality of life, environmental protections, etc. etc. including those exorbiantly paid public employees) - what is the problem?

Its government for the people Jim.  

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by: bmike @ Fri Mar 11, 2011 at 14:36:25 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

And (0.00 / 0)

I didn't see you giving up your meal allowance,  nor renting in Montpelier so tax payers could you save all that $$ driving you a your security details back and forth.  

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by: bmike @ Fri Mar 11, 2011 at 15:06:18 PM UTC

[ Parent ]