Aggressive tactics for the Final Approach.

On Saturday Team Dubie headed out to areas of the state they are likely to win. While rallying the base it seems they have cast aside any subtle efforts at persuading un-decided voters and are now going for the hard sell. Dubie’s green shirts are vowing to visit 100,000 homes with a mildly aggressive final message.

Dubie said, “We have a simple message. ‘Knock, Knock. Are you for Brian Dubie?’”

 

Activity during the final week of October’s campaign has seen a libel suit filed against Dubie for Governor among other RGA campaign related legal battles that have heated things up even further.  Dubie has received a raft of criticism from friends and foes about the damage nasty campaign tactics have had on his “nice guy” reputation. In rebuttal his staunch ally Barre Mayor Tom Lauzon had some supportive comments yesterday. Appearing at a rally on a cold and rainy day clad only in a jacket, he was asked if he was cold. The Barre mayor claimed to be warm and toasty

“…I’m basking in the glow of the Brian Dubie campaign,”  

Is there a light under that Dubie bushel after all?

Continuing his glowing praise and maybe in a muddled attempt to address questions about the Lt Governor’s character as presented by his campaign tactics Lauzon made this claim:

“Character is defined by what you do when the camera isn’t on you.”

Kind of an odd observation from the mayor that once, during a meeting (off camera) threw a city councilman’s cell phone across a room hard enough to shatter it.

So we will have to take his word for this one, it’s a judgment call based on character.  

Brian Dubie’s no holds-barred-what-ever-it-takes campaign has drawn plenty of criticism and hand wringing. According to reports Republican office holders in Vermont have urged him privately to cool it claiming it is doing him more harm than good. Taking no heed of that advice he has several times declared he stands by his ads accuracy.    

While wondering about Dubie’s character I searched back and found an AOPA magazine puff piece from early in 2010 at the start of his campaign. Naturally AOPA (Aircraft Owners and Pilots) magazine highlighted his being a pilot. They reference that Dubie sees a direct parallel between the qualities of being a pilot and the skills needed to be a politician and assuming leadership role in government. Vermonters have heard this leadership linkage ad nauseam for eight years. What exactly are these skills he feels he needs to run for office?  

From the AOPA magazine piece is one incident Dubie strangely mentions an example from pilot training of parallel lines that may exist between the qualities of a pilot and useful leadership skills. If a student pilot “busts three rides,” they are washed out.

Some might also see the parallels between his story, his campaign and his remaining reputation. It’s actually surprising he brought this story up at all, but he must be quite proud of his accomplishment.      

One way to bust a ride was to get airsick.  Dubie climbed into a T-37 for his first military training flight on a hot summer day. After flying the pattern for a while with his instructor, he began to feel the effects of the heat. On the last pattern, the instructor turned to him and asked him how he felt. Increasingly queasy, he set the switch to “cold mic.”  

“At that moment, I blew chow,” Dubie said, telling the story in his Montpelier office. “I filled my cheek.” But he didn’t acknowledge to the instructor that he was sick.    

“I swallowed hard and said, ‘I’m feeling great.’ … I didn’t bust that ride. I didn’t bust any ride,” he said. "

News today that Corry Bliss and Katie Duffy of team Dubie gave two different accounts of a $1,800.00 in-kind contribution given to the campaign. The Republican lawyer Brady Toensing, who performed the in-kind service, provides a third explanation. Toensing maintains he is working independently this year though in 2006 he filed public record requests as counsel for Friends of Dubie.    

According to an AP article by David Gram (who has done some digging in this campaign):

The financial report indicates Toensing's law firm provided $1,800 worth of research to Dubie's campaign a day before Toensing filed his Oct. 5 public records request with the Department of Public Safety.

Claiming to represent no one but himself, Toensing made a public records request Oct. 5 that resulted in the naming of a state trooper who attempted to “fix” gubernatorial candidate Peter Shumlin’s June speeding ticket. The trooper exonerated Shumlin stating,

"My actions were neither initiated nor requested by Peter Shumlin, who paid the ticket in full."

Different stories from Team Dubie.

Campaign manager Corry Bliss said the contribution was for legal and other research provided in October. Bliss stated the research was done on Brian to see “what was out there”.

Spokesperson Katie Duffy said the $1,800 in kind contribution was for legislative research.  

Brady Toensing said the contribution referred to “ legal research that was performed in August."  

Toensing’s legal work for Republican candidates is nothing new.  

In 2004 he put his legal skills to work performing public record research for Randy Brock’s GOP campaign for Auditor of Accounts.  The following election cycle, he performed legal research for Brian Dubie.

While Toensing claims to be working “independently,” and he may well be, the fact is that his legal research always seems to find its way into the In-Box of GOP candidates in tight races.    

VPR reports Vermont Yankee has another leak in addition to the latest tritium issue. A high pressure emergency coolant system is leaking small puffs of steam, mild levels of radioactive steam. If it’s not exactly the same as many other times, it’s at least a very familiar chain of events.  

"We're talking about relatively mild levels of radioactivity coming out of here. This is a system connected to the reactor obviously but any radioactive liquid flowing out of here would be at low levels."

   

There was a notable delay in reporting the news to the public as often is the case. Probably unimportant but remember PSD Commissioner David O’Brien recently wondered publicly “How many days until the election?”

The leak (called minor by the NRC) was discovered almost a month ago, September 24th and reported to the NRC.    

"Our maintenance department put a maintenance patch on this drain line to make temporary repairs and we have permanent repairs that will be made sometime in the future. But the high pressure injection coolant system is operable. We have no issues whatsoever with the operation of the system and we're considering this routine maintenance that our maintenance department would perform at a nuclear plant on a day to day basis."

 

Tuesday VPR reported poll results showing that statewide 44 percent of those surveyed said they want the plant to close, 39 percent supported re-licensing and 17 percent undecided with an error of plus or minus 4 percentage points.  

 Six months ago Governor Douglas, without scissors but nonetheless with great media fanfare opened a shiny new computerized clearing house for government assistance that included the 3SquaresVT food assistance program (formerly food stamps).  

Mission accomplished! Almost before the paint was dry Vermont Chief Technology Officer Tom Evslin, self-described government handyman (who left the administration in September) declared the Benefit Service Center a possible template for state government reorganization saying:

“We can move quickly to replicate it in other parts of state government”

Can more be done with less? The goal was a new streamlined system for the 180,000 Vermonters who rely on these programs. Consolidation was key as the center was formed. Economic Services Department cut back on staffing, 30 positions were cut. The state was to rely on community action councils to take up the slack for “customers”.  

Fast forward: Community advocates from the Hunger Council call the situation a “crisis”  

The online application form wasn’t available until Oct. 4. Wait times for the 1-800 number average 5 minutes, but in some cases can take as long as 20 minutes, according to Steve Dale, commissioner of the Department of Children and Families.

Vermonters have had to make repeated calls to the center in order to file an application or find out whether their information has been processed. (The new “paperless” system doesn’t have a notification system letting applicants know where their virtual paperwork is in the process.)

Dale said in an interview with Vtdigger.com that 40 percent of Vermonters who have applied had seen a delay in food stamps eligibility determination of more than 30 days. He said the total number of applicants affected by the glitches in the new system numbered in the “hundreds.”

The Central Vermont Council on Aging released a statement saying the Douglas/Dubie administration’s “lack of planning and foresight has negatively affected both our staff and our clients.”

Governor Douglas is currently touring Asia on a 14 day trip drumming up EB-5 investments for Vermont businesses.

As chair of the Governor’s Commission on Healthy Aging Lt.Gov.Brian Dubie (now acting governor?) hasn’t had any comment on the current difficulties the elderly are now having with access to benefits.

Is Dubie now listening?  This summer after a well publicized statewide listening tour focused on healthy aging issues he declared:“I have made it a priority to make our state a place where all older Vermonters can enjoy a good quality of life.”  

Has Brian got something going on? Nixon had Zeigretti and the Rat F@%kers, GeorgeH W “Poppy” Bush had Lee Atwater but what has Brian Dubie got going?

We cling to the idea that Vermont campaigns are different but could Dubie’s green shirted supporters or, although unlikely, his campaign manager Cory Bliss have taken a page from those days or maybe the more recent exploits of conservative Republican activist James O’Keefe?  

Saturday the Bennington Banner reports a man dressed in an orange prison jumpsuit sporting a fake swastika tattoo claiming to be named “Horton” (an obvious reference to Lee Atwater’s infamous Willie Horton ad) showed up a Shumlin rally. The man carried a sign saying “Convicts for Shumlin”. The Dubie campaign for several weeks has been fear mongering and making questionable at best and perhaps false arguments against Shumlin’s  proposed plans for the corrections department .  

The man in the prison outfit, who identified himself as "John Horton," claimed to be an ex-con who had served time for possessing "a small amount" of marijuana. However, he also was in attendance at a campaign event several weeks ago for GOP gubernatorial nominee Lt. Gov. Brian Dubie at the Bennington County GOP headquarters on South Street.

“Horton,” who appears to be Kurtis Stevens in a profile on the social network Website Facebook, claimed he was a supporter of Shumlin’s because Shumlin, the Senate president pro tem, would release inmates early.

Peter Shumlin spoke briefly with “Horton” at Democratic headquarters after speaking to supporters at the rally.

Dubie campaign officials denied any knowledge of any of this disturbing performance.

Interestingly though there is a connection to the Bennington GOP in another stunt at this event.  

A second man parked a large camper outfitted with Dubie signs directly in front of the Bennington County Democratic headquarters for several minutes shortly before Shumlin's event. He also has been present at previous Dubie events in Bennington.  

The camper is owned by Kirby Wright, who also owns the building housing the Bennington County GOP headquarters.

With the election in dead heat and candidate Dubie quite touchy over his sympathy for Entergy’s Vermont Yankee, it appears PSD Commissioner O’Brien has his back. It’s how many days until the election?  

After down playing the latest tritium discovery at Vermont Yankee earlier this week (claiming it didn’t indicate anything “one way or another” and implying interest in safety concerns about the leak were political “it’s how many days until the election?”) the  administration’s guardian of the public good David O’Brien is now choosing mostly to ignore commenting on a NRC report that says:

flaws in construction and housekeeping standards at the time the plant was built in the 1970s and a failure to check on the condition of buried pipes in the years that followed led to the tritium contamination in late 2009 and early 2010.Burlington Free Press

 

No longer suffering from his earlier dismissal of the political, he is jumping into the election going after gubernatorial candidate Peter Shumlin for a remark made saying a recent NRC report confirmed that the design of the plant was not state of the art at the time it was built and the legislature had done the correct thing voting 26-4 to retire the aging plant.    

O’Brien (a Douglas political appointee and former banker/businessman) maintains Shumlin’s statement was

“irresponsible”and “He [Shumlin] is not qualified on this topic, and he doesn't know what is and what state of the art isn’t."

 PSD Commissioner further claims that the leaks are being “dealt with properly” and Shumlin is only “stirring fears”.  

A quick glance today at the Vt.Gov webpage shows a glowing Fall foliage report for potential tourists. This timely seasonal announcement is actually followed with no intended humor by a status report and associated health statements regarding the newest tritium discoveries at Vermont Yankee. The Free Press has a run down of Dubie’s views on Vermont Yankee and the latest comments from the Douglas administration that show but a general shrug of concern (at best).  

Dubie has criticized the Senate vote against Vermont Yankee, arguing the plant’s future should be decided by the Public Service Board, which he says has expertise legislators lack.

A spokesman for Jim Douglas says:

“that detection of tritium in the former drinking well ‘is significant’.”

But he suggests little or no action.  

Meanwhile Public Service Commissioner O’Brien obligingly showcases his own special finesse by expressing his concern or rather complete lack off it over the new discovery of tritium at Vermont Yankee unexpectedly in a water well.

Public Service Commissioner David O’Brien, appointed by Douglas, downplayed the significance. “I don’t think we should take this as an indication of things going one way or another,” O’Brien said. “It’s how many days from Election Day?”

An uncharitable person might get the impression this man didn’t give sh*t one way or the other.  

Current Vermont Gov. Jim Douglas came to the aid of gubernatorial candidate Lt. Gov. Brian Dubie this past weekend on a two-day tour across Vermont. It consisted of eight rallies in seven counties. Together they promoted Dubie’s vision as outlined by his 26 page ,ten-point plan for growing jobs and building Vermont’s economy.  

Take a look now behind the scenes at the Dubie/Douglas Pure Leadership RV Tour inside Governor Jim Douglas’ imagined thought bubble.  

"I believe strongly in Brian's candidacy," Douglas said of Dubie. "I believe he's the best person to lead our state for the next few years."

Right.I believe strongly he wins only if a miracle happens and that’s the only reason I let them haul me out here on this Pure Leadership RV Tour. What’s with all this creepy ‘pure’ stuff anyway? Suppose that language must bring in the fringe money. That Texas money guy Brian had dinner with, Crow was his name, the one with all the statues of dictators he  must like that. Why did the Dubster get hooked-up with this out of state campaign crew? They don’t know Vermont from Texas or Virginia anyway.  

Next few years’ .Oh what the hell if Brian tanks young Gibbs will be all set to glide in after his grooming tour as Vt. Secretary of State.  

Note to self: remember to tell Jason to watch that late night driving. Can’t afford to lose anyone, our line-up is pretty thin now.  

Douglas noted. "What we need is balance in Montpelier," Douglas said.

Man that’s Brian, pure Brian all right, a great big counterweight, door stop, or anchor. That’s balance.    

Douglas said, citing Shumlin's proposals for government-run health care and universal preschool. "I think we know what happens when politicians make promises."

Heh, yeah, promises I’ve been there, Jim=Jobs, E-State up and running by 2010, man, the empty promises I pulled off in office.  

Asked whether Dubie ever lobbied him on issues, Douglas couldn't provide an example, but he said, "Brian is not at all reluctant to tell me how he feels about things in a respectful and cordial way.”

Provide an example! Ah, the remaining Vermont press. They want an example! I should give it to them. Lord, I don’t think I had a serious conversation with Brian in eight years. He always drones on about how he’s an airline pilot and then I zone out and almost doze off.

How long is this RV tour for? Eight stops! Ugh the stuff I do for this party…going to owe me big-time after this.

Unimagined quotes from Burlington Free Press