WCAX reports the gubernatorial candidate’s negative ads are over. Their guest, longtime  analyst Chris Graff calmly lectured Vermonters:

“You try to run them early enough so that you can knock down the opposition, but not too close to the election so that you have time to build your candidacy back up."  

One of the signs they put forward as evidence is Brian Dubie’s simple declaration that he will now focus on his campaign and he proudly notes he has complied [sic] a jobs plan(26 pages,10 points!)  

"I am gonna focus on my campaign. My campaign is focused on my jobs plan that I've complied; 26 pages, a 10-point jobs plan," Dubie said.

Maybe negativity in candidate run ads will subside, but VtDigger warns: Expect the bitterness to intensify. One thing WCAX and Graff neglect to mention are elephants looming in the room that may pick up the slack in negativity. Several of them on Dubie’s side that may pick up the slack are, Haley Barbour’s Republican Governor’s Association (RGA), Green Mountain Prosperity and Crossroads Media. Crossroads Media LLC which has been commissioned to buy ads on Dubie’s behalf works “hand in glove” with  Karl Rove’s American Crossroads funding clearing house according to VtDigger.  

Last week the RGA placed a $201,490 bet on Dubie. Green Mountain Prosperity PAC made seven separate media buys on Sept. 28 and Oct. 1, according to filings from the Vermont Secretary of State.

As WCAX news declares the end of negativity should Vermont’s trusted news source walk down their hall to their advertising department and inquire about how many of Karl Rove and Haley Barbour’s ads are contracted to run on their station?    

Vermont rarely has statewide ballot referenda because they need to be legislatively initiated, but in Washington State this year there are more than a few up for approval. Voters in Washington are almost overwhelmed by nine complex statewide ballot measures, a bond measure for school upgrades, and an effort for their first income tax since the 1930’s. Layered onto this complicated ballot voting situation is this season’s heightened nationwide level of distrust of newspapers, media and government in general. Confusion may rain in Washington come November.  

Searching for a solution that would bring in the public and involve them in the process, the University of Washington and the City Club civic group, a Seattle non-profit, searched for a solution and developed an online model

“which aims to spark a civil and objective discussion among Washington voters by letting them work together to write their own voters guide”.

Adapting something along the lines they describe might prove useful here in Vermont given the small media market and struggling local papers. Complex policy information might be examined and debated in a tightly structured public format online. An accessible, organized exploration of the implications of the Challenges for Change process during this last legislative session might have been helpful. The effort and expense would likely be a deterrent, but it might lead to more constructive public involvement than questionable reader’s surveys and online polls have.  

The Living Voters Guide (www.livingvotersguide.org) is a twist on the traditional voter's guide, with statements for and against. The tool takes the format of a pro-and-con list. In less than two minutes, users can choose an issue, slide a scale to indicate where they stand, and list pros and cons to support their stance, either by writing their own or picking from points added by others. Each pro or con is limited to just 140 characters, the length of a text message or Twitter update (though a longer, 500-character explanation is optional).  

Users must agree to ground rules that include using civil language, representing individual views rather than those of an organization, and registering for only one account.  

All this is meant to cut down on the grandstanding, trolling, flaming and other rude behavior that has become the norm on newspaper comment boards or discussion sites, as well as on gaming the system to strategically boost one point of view.

Autumn brings us an RV revival performance by Brian Dubie in his recurring occasional part-time role as Governor Jim Douglas’s co-pilot.

Believe it or not it’s being billed as the Pure Leadership RV Tour. Dubie, who some thought had been attempting to put distance between himself and Governor Douglas (they broke over wind power), is now taking a back seat to him once again as they ride the bus and tour the state.

Spreading it

As they travel Vermont’s decaying bridges and crumbling roads the two Pure Leaders invite the faithful out to join in what the campaign literature calls…

spreading Brian's message of controlling state spending, lowering taxes, cutting red tape, and expanding Vermont's economy to protect and grow jobs.

 Did this take place almost under the radar? Even without Jon Stewart it sounds as if sanity was the goal just the same this weekend as an estimated 175,000 demonstrators gathered in Washington for the One Nation rally.

Composed of labor union members, teachers, gay activists and other liberal groups the event seemed to get little news play here in Vermont ,but I was somewhat out of my normal news feeding routine this weekend so that may not be the case.

The four hour program – made up of speeches, poetry, musical performances and readings of historical speeches – was broken into three segments, highlighting jobs, public education/ civil rights, and justice.

The account describes what might be an almost timeless scene that took place when peace activists with banners walking from one area to another encountered some DC tourists.  

When the peace activists walked from the festival ground to the One Nation site – disrupted by confused looking tourists on Segway tours of the National Mall – some were met with resistance.

“Fucking hippies,” said a passerby sporting a popped collar, pointing to a group of longhaired peaceniks carrying signs demanding job creation.

“I bet they never had a job anyway."

At the Mall, however, the diverse array of activists coalesced into a united front.

Like that last bit.  

Dubie’s spotty attendance record was an issue in past elections,along with his reluctance to debate. As he geared up this past year for his run for the big office you might think he would have made a better effort to show up and set this issue aside.Tune up his image.

However an AP article today explores his recent legislative attendance record: Vermont senators wondered in 2010: Where's Dubie? and shows otherwise.

The first duty listed for Lt.Gov. under the Vermont constitution is presiding over the Senate .The record show him absent for the first fall of the gavel one third of the days the Senate met this year.  

Dubie actually missed the opening gavel on 25 of the 60 days the Senate met, according to the daily Senate Journals for the 2010 session. But five of those instances overlapped with times Gov. Jim Douglas was out of state, according to Douglas travel records obtained by the AP on a public records request. The state Constitution bars a lieutenant governor from presiding over the Senate when acting as governor.  

Dubie also said he had a deployment as a colonel in the Air Force Reserve earlier this year. His campaign later acknowledged that the deployment came during the Legislature's Town Meeting break, and didn't interfere with his Senate service.

Opinions naturally differ about how much Dubie’s absences actually made. However as senate president pro tempore Peter Shumlin had to do fill in for him at the podium during these periods and could not participate in debates.

This is telling about his priorities ,though he says he’s proud of his one third absence record and says, Senate work is something

“I take pretty seriously.”

Serious by degree? It appears he must take his job as airline pilot and reserve officer seriously and his Lt.Gov position only pretty seriously in terms of being there.  

It didn’t go un noticed among legislators of both parties  

… legislative aides and one of Dubie's fellow Republicans, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he did not want to be seen criticizing the nominee of his party. “It was definitely a topic of conversation,” the Republican senator said.

What’s a supposedly nice guy like Brian Dubie doing in a campaign like this? If not skirting the truth he is certainly dressing it up in falsehoods.

He is running around saying IBM told him they will leave Vermont due to higher power rates. However in the Free Press IBM spokesman Jeff Couture clearly denies that.

“I don’t think we’ve said anything about moving jobs specifically around the electricity goals,” Couture said. “There was nothing specific, or an ultimatum.”

Dubie’s recent radio ad  says that Peter Shumlin will “fire three hundred correctional officers … and release close to 800 nonviolent criminals from prison.” This latest fear-based effort comes a day after the Vermont Troopers Association endorsed Shumlin over Dubie.

Why wasn’t our man Dubie sounding the claxon of fear in 2009 when this was proposed:

“We need to continue to identify and implement new strategies that will protect our families and the safety of our communities by focusing on reintegrating property and drug offenders into the community and preserving prison beds for the most serious offenders,”

It is from a Douglas/Dubie administration plan which you might think the Lt. Gov would have passing familiarity with.

Will credibility be an issue if Dubie and his win-at-all-cost campaign team  keep blowing this horn?

He is running on empty if all he has to run on is fear.  

Our Lt. Governor made a funny at a recent debate in St.Albans but he might want to take the time and think before going for the easy laughs next time. He may have felt the need to show his humor because in the VPR debate he mentioned a misconception people may have about him is that he is too serious. At the time Peter Shumlin helpfully suggested something to the effect that most people that knew Brian well realized he wasn’t too serious a person.  

So from the St Albans debate we learn that apparently a governor with potential to get things done makes Brain Dubie nervous.

"He says he can get things done. I agree," Dubie said of Shumlin. "That makes me nervous and that's why I'm running for governor."

Considering what he has to show for his eight years as Lt.Gov.with his thin record of accomplishments, the skill to get things done is a topic Dubie should be nervous about.

I heard  him speak in person for the first time recently. I listened carefully for 45 minutes or more to a rapid jumble of disassociated facts and personal anecdotes and came away  uncertain if he even  knows he is applying for a full time job.  

Will Rogers said “I have always noticed that people will never laugh at anything that is not based on truth”.

Well now it is a funny thing, truth be told, based on Dubie’s past record we should never worry about him getting much of anything done.  

  Why does our lame duck Governor have to fly all the way to Asia apparently just to make it clear there will be no special treatment for foreign investors? What possible reason would Jim Douglas, who is about to leave office and face uncertain employment himself need  for drumming up investors for big Vermont businesses?  

Gov. James Douglas will again go to Asia in search of investors willing to trade capital for green cards next month….  

The state involvement does not imply to the companies that Vermont will ease regulatory or other burdens for the investors, Douglas said. In fact, according to the governor, he makes it explicitly clear that is not the case when he talks with investors.  

“I do not think the investors are confused,” he said.    

Vermont’s approach is unique in that the state, rather than an independent organization, runs the EB-5 regional center. That means the state itself fulfills a role normally done by a chamber of commerce or other economic development organization. Douglas’ role is to meet with and talk to potential investors about the advantages of putting their money into Vermont companies, the governor said.

That’s right, Douglas is off again for his second trip to Asia where he will be looking for EB-5 investors. The State pays the trip costs for Douglas his security detail and Vt. EB-5’s program director James Candido.

It should be noted business leaders take care of their own …eh costs.

EB-5 is the Federal make-an–investment-get-a-visa program run by Vermont. A mere $500,000 invested in an approved project which creates jobs over two years, yields immediate green card for the investor’s family and ,will after a period of time yield the investor  permanent US citizenship.  

After what they describe as a successful test period the Vermont State Police want Tasers, two hundred and sixty of them at a “range” of about one thousand dollars a piece,which would come from the state.  

Vermont State Police Captain Robert Evans said “It has been a successful testing and evaluation period, and we’re now looking at purchasing Tasers for all of our uniformed troopers at the rank of lieutenant and below,”

The study commission talks about a successful test period but the Times Argus forgets and fails to mention a $40,000 dollar pay-out in 2009 made quietly the day after Thanksgiving as a result of State Police Taser misuse incident from 2006.

Recently some towns and cites have had Taser related incidents.  

Evans noted there will be a significant amount of training and education for both the public and police officers if the Tasers are funded.

I hope they provide specific details and define what significant training and education the public needs.

But for now always remain compliant,obey all commands speedily and make certain to avoid being Tasered in the chest, face or neck: we note that the Taser Company issued a training bulletin warning that 50,000 volt Tasering could cause an “adverse cardiac event” when the target person is shot in the chest. Avoiding the chest, face and neck is now strongly advised. Suggested shot placements currently include back, abdomen and thighs.

Jason Gibbs is allegedly running for Secretary of State but when the bulk of his ideas in a recent press release involve correcting what he sees as problems with the legislative openness it makes for a transparent swipe at his opponent.  

To read his proposals for transparency as Secretary of State one would be forgiven for getting the impression that office dictates only rules for the legislature.

Maybe an old habit of hitting the legislature just dies hard for the Douglas protégé and former executive branch communication spokes-flack. Gibbs, an administration insider is perhaps as much or even more the heir apparent to Douglas than gubernatorial candidate Dubie.  

Also mentioned in the Labor Day press statement is a favorite principle of innovation of his, to reduce(government) reliance on taxpayers .

“…the best way to achieve these results is to make government more efficient, more productive, and a more valuable partner in the creation of economic

activity.”

But no matter how many out of the box ideas explored it still costs money to run the Secretary of States’ office.  He often highlights his brief time at Forests and Parks where he had the ability to lease and sell State Forest resources to mitigate costs. What resources are available to be leased or sold by the Secretary of State?

The federal Mineral Management Service that oversees and inspects oil rigs relied on royalties and fees from the industry it regulated and was a valuable partner in creation of economic activity. We can see how well that worked.  

Worthy of note also are six really gee-wiz-outside-the-box ideas that must have originated in the mind of the guy that was so overzealous at promoting Vermont State Parks he got kicked off Facebook for abusing the email list rules.  

Gibbs said the Secretary of State can also explore opportunities that will enhance civic participation by:  

• Publishing voting information and dates on all tax bills and correspondence sent to Vermonters.

• Partnering* with cell phone carriers to send text messages to Vermont cell phone subscribers**.

• Utilizing the Vermont Lottery to scroll voting messages at retail locations as well as print the voting dates on lottery tickets.

• Printing voting information on hunting and fishing licenses.

• Asking regulated utilities to include voting information on billing inserts.

• Deploying the Agency of Transportation solar-powered “variable message boards” along roadways to display voting information leading up to elections.  

*Partnering as in paying a fee to them?

**Given the cell phone coverage here in Vermont under Douglas’ years old e-state initiative this idea might reach only a half dozen people.