Vermont’s Chief Recovery Officer has some of what I am certain Governor Douglas would find to be horribly radical ideas. Even if they are from a real conservative.

 

So legalizing drugs is a stimulus package (pun intended) that comes at a negative cost to the taxpayer, punishes the bad guys by ruining their business, creates new business opportunities for good guys and lets us treat drug problems as we do alcohol and other addictions. The only problem is that it’s political dynamite and will cause a huge anti-Obama surge from the right (but not from real conservatives like me).

http://blog.tomevslin.com/2009…

Follow the stimulus money .The White House called it the accountability summit Thursday. State leaders charged with spending the stimulus were told they are on the “front lines”. Officials from all fifty states but Idaho (?) attended to be coached on how to make the stimulus work .Cabinet secretaries and administration officials were available for questioning. Accountability and transparency were buzz words at the meeting a major part of transparency is easy availability of information.”Recovery” web pages and easy access to state information regarding stimulus money spending and contracting is key.

Stimulus spending has started here in Vermont at the Richmond Bridge. The choice of the very low bidding out of state company makes clear the need for openness. Vt. Secretary of Transportation defended the Maine contractor choice in the paper  the other day  as questions were raised about the company being from out of state and  about the huge difference in bid costs .Nothing apparently is amiss but information access online could be better because accountability is the goal.

A tracker tracker of sorts,here is a link http://www.obamaperspective.co…

to a site by a fellow who is tracking all   fifty state’s “recovery” websites. He is tracking how states are handling transparency issues. Posted are links to and   brief notes on all states “recovery” homepages.

The quality of Vermont’s site (as it now appears) compared to others according to this site gets what  would translate as a “meh”.

…..Vermont’s stimulus site includes only the most general information about the recovery plan, such as links to the text of the bill, and to the federal stimulus site, http://recovery.vermont.gov/

More information will follow, a press release says.

The tracking website says “we’re considering adding a scoring system. The Missouri site is noted as best …and for accountability and décor Missouri nails a 9.8!  . The Missouri Accountability portal provides comprehensive documentation of grants, contracts, budgets and state employee salaries. All line item expenditures are accounted for, even for minimal expenses. Missouri’s  recovery site lists stimulus funds received by the state, with fields for the date of deposit, the funds’ intended purpose, the amount and how the dollars have been spent. http://mapyourtaxes.mo.gov/MAP…

Missouri is the “Show me State” after all

http://www.propublica.org/spec…

The Senate Government Operations Committee on Wednesday March 18 at 9AM room 4,

Change in Primary Date.

 http://www.leg.state.vt.us/sch…

Democrats crowd race for governor cried the headlines last month,in stark contrast to last year’s never ending wait for candidates to up their courage and enter the fray .This year we seem to have an abundance courageous Democratic candidates ready to take on Governor Douglas(should he run ).Maybe an earlier primary date could help energize the party and give some organizational breathing room before November rolls around .

 Vermont like many states is unveiling shiny new websites to provide information regarding their state’s use of funds from the Federal American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. Well Louisiana, maybe not?

Here is a link http://recovery.vermont.gov/ to Vermont’s shiny new site which contains perhaps an excusable amount of self promotion by Republican Governor Douglas.  For a man whose party leaders have come close to expressing the desire for Obama’s policies to fail he seems to have achieved a good   comfort level with this program.

………….Welcome to the Vermont Federal Recovery and Reinvestment Website: Thank you for visiting our site. Here you will find information regarding the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act as it relates to our state. You can learn about Governor Douglas’ plans for using these resources to strengthen Vermont’s transportation and technological infrastructure; to invest in renewable energy and efficiency programs; and to grow our economy and put Vermonters back to work.

But Two Heads? The Governor has interestingly found the need to appointed two people to head this office in less than a month. In the beginning of February   Governor Douglas named as head   Jim Bush, the current Assistant Director of Program Development at the Agency of Transportation. ……However just the other day  it was announced  that The Office of Economic Stimulus and Recovery will be headed by Tom Evslin, who will report to Administration Secretary Neal Lunderville. March 2, 2009.One head must be bigger than the other.

http://recovery.vermont.gov/

Recently the Burlington   Free Press editor’s Twitterings Blog took exception to Vermont Congressman Welch’s manner of announcing his attendance at a  White House event.  Twitterings   calls it the “new era chest thumping” and follows up with a suggestion that congressional franking privileges be taken away.

Welcome to the new era of chest thumping

If it’s worth a thump, let out a squeal of political joy to the rabble. Perhaps it’s time to end franking privilege. This just in from the Welch press release machine *see offending press release below

Diss the announcement but at least love the achievement! The event Peter Welch has taken the time to announce was the White House signing of a bill overhauling contracting procedures. During the ceremony President Obama will noted the congressman’s work on this issue .The new regulation forbids awarding no bid contracts that ran into so many millions in recent years .This new rule is expected to save taxpayer dollars .What is the problem being informed that our congressman is followed through on an effort he started a while back and getting recognized for his work? I hardly think announcing this heralds a new era of chest thumping or an abuse of the franking privilege. After reading of the new law and the savings it may lead to and the waste it may stop one can only wonder in awe at why the Free Press wouldn’t want to cheer this rather than denigrate the announcement without noting the achievement.

Welch, a member of the House Government Oversight Committee, said he got interested in the topic during hearings on contracts for services in Iraq, including allegations that companies such as Halliburton

Obama’s new contracting rule forbids the awarding of no bid contracts and will enhance oversight of how successful the work is carried out, Welch said. This regulation will extend to the nearly $900 billion economic stimulus plan passed into law last month.

Obama thanked Welch for his work on this issue during the press conference Wednesday.

..Defense bloat has stunned auditors. A report last year from the Government Accountability Office found that 95 ongoing major defense programs exceeded their budgets, providing an accumulated excess cost of $295 billion to taxpayers…………….

According to the government’s Federal Procurement Database, which tracks federal contracts, the Defense Department reported over $394 billion worth of business with private contractors in fiscal 2008 alone.

*Offending press release

Congressman Peter Welch United States House of Representatives

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE   Welch to join Obama at announcement of government contracting procedure overhaul

               WASHINGTON, DC – Rep. Peter Welch will join President Obama this morning for the announcement of an overhaul in government contracting procedures – a move expected to save taxpayers $40 billion.

Welch, who successfully closed the Contractor Fraud Loophole in the last Congress, will be on hand for the 10 a.m. signing of a presidential memorandum in the Old Executive Building.

Obama is expected to direct his administration to draft new rules that would make it more difficult for contractors to rip off taxpayers. The rules would reduce the frequency of no-bid contracts and would make it easier for small businesses and independent contractors to bid on federal contracts.  

Governor Douglas has been paraded and is parading himself on a National stage. As co-chair of the RNG Conference he has been seen with his fellow Republican governors and heavy hitting Democratic governors like Ed Rendell .He sat like Zelig in balcony at Obama’s invitation to hear the presidential budget address .Yet even with all this flagrant photo-op bipartisanship he seems unwilling or unable to speak out aggressively against the growing isolation of the Republican Party. Governor Jon Huntsman of Utah is making noises about the damage that the dead-enders will do to the Republican Party as the country’s voters leave them behind .Huntsman claims a good re-think is in order. “The party needs to be more intellectually rigorous, and to compete for the votes of the young, the elites and minorities,” he said in an interview with Politico. A Utah governor’s ability to do this may be a little bit of the ‘only Nixon could go to china thing ‘.

Douglas would have no trouble being heard should he decide to speak ,the microphone and headlines would be his .It would be a courageous thing for one of the last standing  Republicans in New England to take a stand and bring his party back from the conservative brink as Gov. Huntsman is attempting in Utah. For someone that may have national ambitions a clear effort at reality therapy for the party wouldn’t be a bad way to start .It could be just a question of timing ,he can stay low and continue to glide through without getting his head bitten off by the right wing .However anybody who is observing his approach to this current budget situation here in Vermont would realize is that Douglas is not a moderate keeping his head down ,but a conservative keeping his mouth shut .National observers seeing him for the first time may not realize that Douglas,in the words of a Vermont paper ( belatedly observed after the election) is “the kind of radical conservative that voters rejected at the ballot box in November.”

RNC chairman Steele and  Rush Limbaugh got into a pushing contest yesterday over who is the true voice of the Republican party .Steele promptly backed down and begged to be forgiven .Chairman Steele’s mettle leaves something to be desired and commenting on the Rush /Steele flap Gov.Bobby Jindal says “Well, I didn’t follow the day’s events. I’m glad he[Steele] apologized.”.The head of the RNC and Gov.Jindal who was chosen to rebut President Obama’s budget speech are both in alignment with Rush. Maybe its time governor Douglas is given a chance to get above the radar on this .Limbaugh has expressed in no uncertain terms that he wants Obama to fail .White house spokesman Robert Gibbs suggests reporters ask Republican Congressmen if they support  Rush .A fair question for Douglas…Do you support  Limbaugh’s views ?  It is his party .

(Thanks for writing this up. – promoted by JulieWaters)

The senate has a narrow definition of conflict of interest.Threading the needle .

The scale and the finesse are perhaps different but here are the same basic ethical moves of Blagojevich dressed up in a conservative New England suit.

The reason Senator Judd Gregg’s bi-partisan ardor suddenly wilted may not have been formed in the conservative conscience he claimed to have suddenly remembered  possessing . After removing his name from consideration to the cabinet post and trying to explain his change of heart on the stimulus bill Gregg said in an interview that the stimulus should focus more on how we control real estate values A subject he appears to be familiar with .”I have said I think we need to put more targeted effort on the real estate side, where we balance and basically look at how we control the price of real estate, so people have more confidence in the value of their home.”

In New Hampshire the former Pease Air force base closure brought some opportunities to Judd Gregg and appears to have done well for his brother .His brother Cyrus is a partner in a company called Two International Group  that has built a dozen buildings at the former base since it closed and was re-purposed .Brother Cyrus is said to be a major player at the base

Reports say that he(Sen.Gregg) collected from investments at the former base $240,017 to $651,801 at the same time arranging for federal aid to the former base of $66million.

Gregg’s investments in the partnerships date back at least to 1999, when he had $15,001 to $50,000 invested in 222 International Drive LP, according to his Senate reports….By 2007, Gregg had a total of $465,000 to $1.05 million invested in four businesses: 222 International Drive LP, Say Pease LLC, Say Pease II/IV LLC and Say Pease VII LRC, according to his most recent Senate report.

“I’ve throughout my entire lifetime been involved in my family’s businesses and that’s just the way our family works,” he said. “We support each other and our activities.”

By putting government money into the former base, Gregg helped it become a desirable place for employers to locate, making developments there more valuable.

Said Senator Gregg ..“I am absolutely sure that in every way I’ve complied with the ethics rules of the Senate both literally and in their spirit relative to any investment that I’ve made anywhere,” Say Pease ,indeed

http://firstread.msnbc.msn.com…

http://www.google.com/hostedne…

An interesting but unrelated transaction that took place before the attempted appointment to commerce

Two International also develops properties elsewhere in Portsmouth, recently selling a $1 million-plus condominium at its One Harbor Place development to J. Bonnie Newman, Judd Gregg’s former chief of staff. Gregg agreed to become commerce secretary if the Democratic New Hampshire governor named her to succeed him.

(Given news last night at how “disappointed” the Gov. is over not being allowed to cut medicare benefits as a condition of accepting the stimulus money, this is brief but important.   – promoted by NanuqFC)

News today of an informative conference to be held,is mentioned at the end of a Free Press article about keeping an eye on and spending the federal stimulus money .It is interesting to note that Governor Douglas,who managed to get the Mass.Mutual Ins.Co.notice about free life insurance up on the State Press release website has not yet gotten this conference listed on the state website .Priorities ,or maybe he is just getting settled back in Vermont after being displayed in Washington .He is back,right ?

Sen. Patrick Leahy and Gov. Jim Douglas announced a free conference for Vermonters to learn more about the stimulus money that’s available to families, organizations and businesses.

The conference will be held from 1-5 p.m. March 6 at Champlain College in Burlington and will include seven workshop sessions focusing on how apply for the money. Participants are asked to register in advance by calling (800) 642-3193.

(Great catch.  Thanks for posting this. – promoted by JulieWaters)

No doubt still energized after headlining last Fall’s gala Walmart rally Governor Douglas last week was the first governor to openly endorse (at his weekly press conference no less) Mass Mutual Insurance company’s philanthropic 10 yr. life insurance program offered in all 50 states .A press release was also available on the governor’s state run website describing the effort.The company and the governor stress the purely altruistic motives for this program and stresses that no marketing or promotion is being done to sell policies .

The governor’s spokesman also stress no connection between this and Mass Mutual Life  Insurance PAC’s two $1,000.00 donations to  Gov.Jim Douglas re-election campaign .

Jane Kolodinksy, chairwoman of the community development and applied economics department at the University of Vermont, is impressed with the strategy. She said it’s a “perfect marketing communications plan.”“Is it bad? No. It’s done all the time. … It’s actually brilliant marketing. Does it hurt anybody? I don’t think so. Will it help some people in the end? It will help a very small minority of people,” Kolodinksy said.

Steven Wark dismissed the criticism and claimed not to have known about the pending endorsement until after contact had been made between Mass mutual and the Gov.’s office .

Vermont families who meet the criteria are eligible for a free, 10-year term-life insurance policy through the program. The insurance would not distribute a lump-sum check, but would establish a trust fund that could be used for a wide range of educational needs for the children. The funds cannot be used for other types of expenses, however. The signup date for Burlington is Saturday.

John Pastore of Pastore Financial Group LLC is hoping the LifeBridge program could result in $15 million to $20 million of coverage written for Vermonters, or 400 policies. Aside from the program’s overall limit of 20,000 policies nationwide, there is no cap on how many policies can be written in Vermont, as long as the applicants meet the requirements, Pastore said. Roughly 9,500 policies have been written throughout the U.S.

“Through LifeBridge, Mass Mutual has identified a way to tie their philanthropic focus — education — with their primary product — life insurance,” Douglas said

http://www.vermont.gov/portal/…

http://www.burlingtonfreepress…

Someone stole my public airwaves .We were given an old TV years ago.No cable,no dish.

When outfitted with rabbit ears and adorned with the ideal amount of tin foil it got two and one half stations,depending on the weather (sunspots?).

And then there was one.

Last night I battled with a digital converter box and successfully reduced our number of stations down to one ,but by god its a great picture !

Why is New Hampshire Public TeeVee the only station we now receive here in Vermont ?