The following is an email I received from someone in Vermont memorializing the life of William Sloane Coffin, who passed away yesterday. I found it so moving, I asked for, and received from the author permission to reprint it here.

I heard this afternoon that Bill Coffin had died. Since Bill changed and perhaps saved my life, I feel a need to add to the public discourse on his life.

But first, my personal sympathy to Ned, Vi, and Randy Coffin whose loss is private for this wonderful man.

On May 1, 1970, Bill helped organize a rally in New Haven, CT in support of several Black Panthers who had been jailed unjustly. Several of us “radicals” from North Carolina drove up for the rally. Included among the speakers was Jim Fouratt of the Gay Liberation Front.

Click on the link to continue…

Like many of us isolated gay people at that time, my life had been rough. It was really hard 40 years ago in rural North Carolina to even realize that there were other people who did not fit the heterosexual model. I gradually learned that I was not unique in all the world, but what I did learn did not make me comfortable at all with what I felt in myself.

Like many young gays then (and really still now), suicide was something that I thought about a lot. I kept fighting to try to figure things out, and like many young gays, did a transference thing that saw me fighting for the rights of others, the black, the poor, the Vietnamese.

And then, standing at that rally, I heard that not only was I not alone. Indeed, I was worthy of liberation! Being “homosexual” was not something sordid that I should hide, being gay was good, but we needed to fight along with our brothers and sisters in the world to free ourselves.

It was an stunning epiphany, a moment that I will never ever forget.

And it was brought to me by Bill Coffin, Huey Newton, and many of the other people who were so enlightened in those dark days as to give Jim his time on the podium.

On the way back to Chapel Hill, I “came out” to my fellow radicals, who had no choice but to accept me under the post-rally circumstance. I came out to all the local feminists and about half of them came out publicly in a real “debutante” moment there among the southern pines.

Within a couple of weeks, I was in New York seeking out Jim and the Gay Liberation Front. And within another week, I was marching in the first ever Gay Pride March up 6th Avenue.

From that life-changing, life-saving moment, all my future life would develop. And if I have had a small part in making a better world for GLBTQ people, that is part of the heritage I owe to Bill Coffin and many others who broke new ground in those days.

When I then learned that Bill Coffin was a neighbor here in Vermont and began to work closely with his brother Ned, it became possible for me to thank him personally. His reaction was such that I am sure I was the millionth person to thank him for a life-changing moment!

Bill has been important to all of us in our communities. I remember especially the night he spoke to the Sierra Club Board of Directors gathered under the stars on Garden Hill at The Mountain School. He talked of God in such personal and liberated terms that I said to myself that Bill’s God is one in which I could have believe.

And now I hope that Bill has found a heaven with that God.

Thank you Bill!

-Bob Bland

With the emergence of Tom Salmon Jr. of Rockingham to take on Randy Brock for the State Auditor’s position, Democrats are giving notice that the days of letting state offices go unchallenged are long over. Despite Vermonters’ unparalleled record of re-electing incumbents, you’ve gotta like the Dems odds here, assuming Salmon turns out to be a half-decent campaigner.

On the other side of the aisle, however, Republicans, in a steady and coordinated way, have been working to make a case against Secretary of State Deb Markowitz, who has all but become an institution since her election.

Click on the link for the details…

Starting back in October, Randy Brock fired the GOP thesis salvo under the auspices of the State of Vermont. The point of attack was the development of the Statewide Voter Checklist mandated by the “Help America Vote Act” (HAVA) passed in the aftermath of the Florida election disaster of 2000. To combat fraud, one of the reforms was the mandated implementation of a single, centrally administrated Voter File into which all the local Town Clerks would update and maintain their town’s voter rolls. For Vermont, this is quite a sweeping change, as there was a complete lack of uniformity and a total grab bag of technological infrastructure and savvy across Vermont’s municipal offices.

Brock let the GOP cannons fly:

Vermont’s new statewide voter checklist lacks written plans, system documentation and performance standards, and has other problems, state Auditor Randy Brock said in a report made public Thursday. 

“A system so critical to the functioning of our voter registration process warrants the use of a disciplined and robust systems development process, without which the state runs the risk that the system will not work as intended or in a secure manner,” Brock said.

Markowitz was quick to defend herself with the common-sense assertion that, well, the statewide checklist wasn’t done yet. Sen Jim Condos (D-Chittenden), seeing the writing on the wall, was one of the Dems who spoke in her defense, before the report was even released, saying:

“To audit a checklist that isn’t complete yet boggles my mind,” said Sen. James Condos, D-Chittenden, chairman of the Senate Government Operations Committee. “The auditor campaigned on the need for a nonpolitical auditor. This appears to be a fishing expedition and one might be lead to the question of whether this has politics behind it.”

Still, the issue is not necessarily so easy to dismiss. The right-wing Cool Blue Blog opined:

Requirements are meant to specify not only how the system works under normal, fault free conditions, but most importantly how it will work under failure conditions. And for a system like this, Security requirements will be absolutely critical.

I mean who hasn’t heard of ISO 9000 and ISO 9001? It has, for better or for worse, become an international standard for Quality. And what do they require?

Have a written process and follow it.

…and truth to tell, he’s generally correct. Building an Enterprise-level application isn’t like building a sundeck, it’s more like building a house. It’s a far more modular endeavor. In a house, for example, it’s appropriate to review the design before completion, as well as examine the individual working parts before during and after the overall project is set for habitation. Plumbing, heat, electricity, roofing — these are all independent components that should be reviewed as discrete components, as well as within the broader context.

So, do the Republicans have a technical point?

Maybe.

Do they have a political point?

Nah.

Seriously, this thing will have no legs. One of the reasons we heard so much about the seemingly unrelated issue of Same-Day Voter Registration, and whether or not it should become law during the last Town Meeting Day, was that the combination would have put the maximum strain possible on the new system during what was essentially its maiden voyage. And make no mistake, there is genuine reason to pay close attention to the functionality of this system. It was built using in-house staff. If it was built on the in-house technology used for other such SOS systems, it’s not inconceivable that the thing could buckle under the stress of 250 concurrent live instances. And don’t think this is far from the GOP’s collective mind. Political operative and current Secretary of Civil and Military Affairs Neale Lunderville was a SQL Server guru in his pre-Vermont-political life.

So maybe there’s a problem and maybe not, but as things stand — we’ll never know until after everyone has voted in November.

Presumably if the GOP had thrown the dice and gotten their system crash, they likely would have run on more than an incompetence argument. HAVA provided Vermont with several million dollars, a good chuck of which was set-aside for the statewide checklist. Given that the li’l Green Mountain State has but a paltry 400k-plus-change registered voters, a comprehensive database would hardly be a challenge. Technically speaking, you could probably pay thirty bucks for server space with a password-protected MySQL database that could easily handle the data and traffic from any one of a hundred web hosting outfits (although such a stategy wouldnt meet HAVA’s strict security requirements).

This means that they would have tried to turn it into a scandal about a waste of taxpayers money, and would have built a high-profile media campaign around it to knock Markowitz down the same way they took out Liz Ready. Critical to this would have been publicizing the frustration and anger of the notoriously prickly Town Clerks.

So given that Deb dodged the bullet, where is this strategy now?

In the doghouse, basically.

First of all, without a smoking server, the whole issue is an abstraction at best. Sure there are isolated reports of troubles with the database, but it doesn’t sound like anything of any tangible or political consequence at this point. And trying to extrapolate such an abstraction into a financial issue that will resonate with voters will be next to impossible.

Second of all, the Town Clerks love Markowitz. Despite their pronounced distaste for the Same-Day Voting issue, they rightfully credit Deb with transforming the traditionally combative relationship between the SOS and municipal offices into a true partnership. They are not likely to turn on her.

So at the end of the day, the GOP will spend a lot of time and energy for a big ol’ goose egg. Who they’ll spend that energy on behalf of is an open question. Former GOP Caucus Leader Connie Houston is a name I’ve heard floated about (and hey, ya gotta wonder if ex-dba Lunderville isn’t dying for a shot at her like his buddy Bertrand had…no, no, I haven’t heard anything in that department, but this is a blog dammit, I get to impusively and randomly speculate if I want to…)

To listen to the press coverage, the best of which can be heard here at VPR, the impeachment movement in Vermont ended with the State Committeee meeting. Supporter Euan Bear, while clearly stating why a Jefferson Manual approach was far more desirable than the alternative that was agreed on, still waxed defeatist.

“It’s the only crowbar we have and otherwise we’re just a party, partisan group stamping our feet and yelling at the president. So I’m disappointed. I think we didn’t do anything that was unexpected. If we had sent it to the Legislature and asked them for action – that was the thing that would have caught attention and would have shown us really standing up”

Even Jeff Taylor, the author of the Rutland Resolution, seemed satisfied with the result and resigned that it was over, given that the legislature looks like it will wrap by the end of the first week of May.

Still, the final wording of the resolution allowed a bit of rhetorical daylight for disheartened impeachment proponents. In a final amendment after the Jefferson Manual pieces had been expunged, wording requiring the final resolution be sent to the Clerks of The Vermont Legislature for non-specific “appropriate” action was tacked on.

[BTW — if anyone has the final resolution text, I’m sure folks would appreciate seeing it posted.]

And there’s the matter of the petition process, which has been moving forward independently of both the Town Meeting resolutions and the Democratic Committee debates, based on Chapter I, Article 20 of the Vermont Constitution which allows (without specifics) for the direct petition of the Vermont Legislature by citizens. Between the online version located here, and the smattering of traditional, hardcopy versions, the signatory count is well more than 600, and organizers definitely want those signatories to be honored in some fashion — even if it’s only symbolic.

How would a direct overture to the Legislature on the heels of the State Committee meeting be received?

Not with great enthusiasm, to be sure. Make no mistake: despite some very positive feelings, unanimous sentiments and rousing cheers at the conclusion of the meeting, there were those who felt none too warm and fuzzy as a result of the whole affair. Rep David Deen was outright patronizing, suggesting that all the silly rabble who supported the original measure were out of their depth and should leave such serious matters to the professionals. There was one committeeperson whom I’ve always gotten along quite well with (someone I specifically had recommended bringing into the Party decision making structure back when I was a staffer) who was moved to go out of her way to make her disapproval of the whole thing known with a sneering, nasty verbal jab at me on my way in.

Whoa!

On the other hand, there’s the fact that an impeachment resolution has already been bouncing around the Statehouse since January — one penned by Progressive Representative David Zuckerman.

So supporters are faced with two questions to answer very quickly:

1. How do they best honor the signatures on the various petitions?

2. Do they try to approach Zuckerman to retrofit his impeachment motion into a “Rutland Resolution” style piece and risk it degenerating into another futile Prog-Dem pissing match?

…for that matter, does Representative Zuckerman feel strongly enough about impeachment to actively avoid it becoming the basis for another Prog-Dem pissing match, either by sitting on it entirely, or by reaching out for Democratic co-sponsorship?

So — is the issue of Presidential impeachment in the Vermont Legislature dead?

Who knows…?

Somehow, it seemed too obvious. So obvious that I just assumed I was missing something. I didn’t ask anybody about it, didn’t post a curious blog entry. Nothing.

Out of a field of several solid candidates being floated, the legislature selected Brig. Gen. Michael Dubie to succeed Martha Rainville as the Vermont National Guard CO.

So, there are some obvious head scratchers, right? Rainville has established this position (and in a distasteful way) as a potential springboard for statewide office. And this Dubie is the brother of the other Dubie — you know, the highest profile social conservative in Vermont; Republican Lt. Governor Brian Dubie, who can now take statewide elections quite handily.

So it seems obvious, yes? That the Democratic Legislature could be creating and empowering the next dangerous political challenge to Democrats a few years down the road? Am I nuts here? It seemed so obviously dangerous that I assumed legislators must have had real reason to believe that he would not go political on them — that he would focus on the job bestowed upon him and leave the policy arena to the policy makers. That he had no partisan ambitions.

Note to self: never make assumptions…

From the Burlington Free Press:

Brig. Gen. Michael Dubie said the resolution that calls for a study of how overseas deployments affect the troops and the National Guard’s readiness to respond to emergencies in Vermont would be acceptable if the hearings it called for were confined to the narrow wording of the proposal.

“I know that in any public process you run the risk of having discussion on this resolution … by people who would turn it into an anti-war or a referendum on the war or even a referendum on, say, the present administration,” Dubie told the House Appropriations Committee. “I am very worried that if that is the case, that it would sent a very negative message to our soldiers and our airmen that are currently deployed and also their families.”

Dubie also said that the six public hearings called for across the state were too many.

“I’ve said oftentimes in the past it’s not what is done, but the message that is sent,” Dubie said.

Do I need to break this down? The argument goes:

1. Dont discuss the bill, because it could lead to a broader discussion on the Iraq War.

2. A discussion of the Iraq War would lead to people making public comments opposing it.

3. To oppose this war undermines our troops.

(and then sprinkle in a healthy dose of telling the Legislature how to do its job, in re public hearings, which he apparently isn’t fond of)

In case you hadn’t noticed (perhaps you’ve been in a coma for three years…it happens), there is no more political statement one can make in this day and age than number 3 above. It’s the classic “shut up and slap on your Bush bumper sticker” garbage people who oppose this fiasco been hearing for years. It’s patently ridiculous on its face, a longtime administration talking point, Fox News standard copy, and has become such a wild-eyed, rabid line of rhetoric, even Republicans have finally started distancing themselves from it.

So he’s political already, and in the most annoying, even petty, way possible.

If there are any legislators reading this, I’d love to hear why you didn’t think this would happen. Short of some insight, all I can say is; thanks loads. At least when he decides it’s his turn in a few years, he can recycle his brother’s giant roadsigns and call himself the environmental candidate…

Missed the Vermont Dems State Committee meeting? Want to know the gist of the discussions? Look no further. The following clip coincidentally encapsulates it perfectly (the impeachment portion, obviously — it starts about halfway through the clip after some Hillary discussion — hey, it is Fox, after all). John Gibson of Fox News has been promoting popular myleftwing.com blogger (and poster of GMD’s first user diary (such as it was)!) Maryscott O’Connor, presumably because he knows she’s a no-holds-barred firebrand and he figures she’ll “pop” on air and embarass liberals (many more timid lefty bloggers feel the same way). Once again, however, she provides an absolute slamdunk for the left. Click on the picture for a link to the spot. It’s a refreshing case of speaking truth with clarity and confidence to corporate power — and demonstrating what liberal unity is shaping up to look like in the process (and this was on Fox News, the enemy camp…where they only bring on lefties in order to try and humiliate them!).

I am told theres a hotspot at the site of the State Committee meeting today, called to discuss the grassroots movement to make a clear, strong statement on impeachment. There may or may not be. If there is, I will live blog from the meeting on this site, so please stay tuned a refresh a lot (Soapblox will love me for saying that, no doubt).

If you don’t hear from me…well, there ya go. I’ll fill folks in after the fact.

According to Freyne, Rockingham Selectman and CPA Tom Salmon Jr. (yeah, junior of the former guv) is considering a run for Auditor. Nice to have new folks involved, but its amusing that the Dems had to go fishing so far away from the deep Dem bench to run (sorry for the mixed metaphor). Everyone sees Randy Brock as supremely qualified and shied away. Why the Dems don’t understand that at the end of the day, this is a partisan political office so it doesn’t matter that much if you’re not an “auditor” per se, is weird. It’s like they’ve already forgotten the last two auditors (trust me, Ready didn’t lose to Brock because she wasn’t a CPA…)

Windham County residents can’t be sleeping well. The ratcheting up of power output from Vermont Yankee towards the 120% goal is continuing. This facility has a history of seeming to be held together by duct tape and administrated by corporate monkeys. And folks are none too happy that the Dem majority in Montpelier is enabling this scary scenario. Stay tuned. Invest in lead.

…speaking of Windham County, I hear unconfirmed rumors that Peter Shumlin is planning a return to the VT Senate. Pete evokes strong feelings every whichaway from people, but I’ve always liked him. I notice he signed the impeachment petition as well…a big plus in my book.

Congratulations to the Carpetbagger Report for placing in the Best Blog category of the Koufax Awards!

Rob Williams at Vermont Commons doesn’t support the impeachment movement because it doesn’t include an allowance for the dismantling of this American “Empire clinging desperately to global hegemony.” Neither do the laws on the books outlawing armed robbery, but presumably those are still okay.

Republicans are heaving Bennington Senator Mark Shepard overboard in their desire to throw as much support as possible, as quickly as possible to Martha Rainville in the US House Race (who has shown no compunction about talking out of both sides of her mouth in regards to who she’ll take money from). You gotta almost feel bad for Shepard. When the Republicans could take lessons from Dems (who didn’t pick favorites in their own Lt Governor primary) on party unity, you know they’re in for trouble.

Philip Baruth has joined the choir wondering what’s up with Vermonters First and founder Adam Quinn. The rumors abound. Did Douglas run him out (ha!)? Is the site under investigation by the Secretary of State for directing campaign contributions to candidates (sorry, that’s legal)? Has Adam found gainful employment? I’ve heard all these things, but what’s as interesting to me is why equally-prolific front pager Nat Kinney left. Nat — I know you’re a GMD reader. Care to comment? Inquiring minds and all…

Hard to say what happened. Maybe she was bitten by a radioactive spider. Caught in a freak accident and bathed with gamma radiation or cosmic rays. Whatever the case, this latter half of the legislative session has brought us a Gaye Symington who is kicking butt and taking names. The caucus is tighter, morale is higher, and the Democrats are aggressively keeping control of the debate on their Legislative priorities. It wasn’t that long ago that I lamented the lack of disciplined and aggressive message work coming from the Democratic Legislative leadership. Little did I know at the time that a huge change was underway.

Insiders credit the change to Symington’s hiring of political consultant Bill Lofy, the superstar former Communications Director for the late Senator Paul Wellstone’s staff, and author of Politics the Wellstone Way : How to Elect Progressive Candidates and Win on Issues, and Paul Wellstone : The Life of a Passionate Progressive :

What Lofy does, he said, is help Symington and other House members define what they’ve done in terms the public can understand. “I spend a lot of time writing talking points,” he said. “This is really about how do we talk about what we’re doing in the legislative session.”

Last week, he helped Symington practice for a television panel on health care.

Did you read that? Practice! That’s what it said! No longer confident that pureness of heart and intellect are enough to sway Vermonters, Symington is prepping for political battles and coming out prepared.

And the changes aren’t just in Symington’s performance. She’s been on tour promoting the Health Plan. My jaw about fell off when I heard a radio ad for the House Health Plan. The ads are a result of a broad-based issue coalition put together by the leadership, and they’re going a long way towards controlling the debate.

And the Republicans can’t stand that they’re being outmaneuvered. One example:

They have bristled at the amount of work done by lawmakers over the summer, when the full General Assembly is not in session, and finally decided to ask the Legislative Council for documentation on how much was spent and who collected the money.

When they got it, though, they discovered that the information had also been shared with Symington and other Democratic leaders. Republicans complained that they should have been able to request information in private and could share it only if they wished.

“We think we have strict confidentiality and we’re entitled to that,” said Rep. Connie Houston, R-Ferrisburgh, a former Republican leader.

…[Symington]: “I assumed I  got it because I’ve been asking, I’ve been impatient about it,” she said.

Republicans were looking for a “gotcha”, and they didn’t get it. Symington was way ahead of them. And to top it off, the Rs are left whining about it, trying to justify their grousing by complaining they aren’t being treated well — which is laughable when you remember life for the Dems under Speaker Freed:

New assignments brought drastic change to the House, were only one of 14 chairmen from 2004 remain. Republicans were given two seats of power, a change from recent times when former GOP Speaker Walter Freed of Dorset did not let a single Democrat run a committee.

So it’s time to shift our expectations. Dems are stepping up to the political-message plate in a way we haven’t seen. Sure it took them a while, but who cares? This time, they aren’t going to lose control of the health discussion five minutes after the gavel falls on the session.

The one thing political observers are missing is the issue of credit. Lofy is great, sure — but there have been great consultants around these parts before (although none with Lofy’s gravitas and profile). The difference now is that Symington has found one she trusts (who isn’t just telling her what she wants to hear or trying to blame every Dem woe on everybody else), and she’s deferring to him — giving him the trust and the room to work his craft.

And that means, at the end of the day, credit is mainly due to Symington herself.

Inside sources say that, in an extraordinary last-minute compromise during the waning weeks of Vermont’s Legislative session, Party leaders have joined together on both Parties’ biggest priorities; a bill expanding affordable Health Care coverage, and the long-stalled Civil Commitment bill. In fact, in a stunning turnaround, Civil Commitment (allowing for offenders to be kept under house arrest, or similar restriction for an indefinite period after their term has been served) will apply not only to sexual-based, but to all incarcerated felons.

The combined Health Care and Civil Commitment bill would create the Catamount Health Commitment Plan, and it actually combines the elements of both partisan priorities.

After their release, participating felons will be held under “house arrest” indefinitely at a series of group homes, which will also serve as free public clinics. Lawmakers are thrilled about the potential for savings to the system on paperwork — which will now be performed by the former felons, with the savings passed on to taxpayers.

And it won’t just be paperwork the felons will be performing. Appropriately skilled former inmates will participate in the medical practice as well. For example, a former drug offender may be qualified under the new evaluation to be trained as a pharmacist.

The program was the quiet brainchild of political consutant April Sciocco, who is particularly excited about the rehabilitative element to the bill:

“Offenders will be paying back society in a real, tangible way, and making Vermont better for everyone while improving themselves. The bill allows us to evaluate our “civil practitioner” participants with an eye towards an offender’s potential, not just their current skillset. While doing surveys of the prison population, I encountered an inmate due for parole for the murder of two people with a kitchen knife who is excited about the prospect of starting a new career as a surgeon! It’s quite inspiring!”

Asked how long the “civil practitioners” may be kept in service, Sciorro replied “that depends on how long people keep getting sick.”

Philip Baruth at VDB explains how Martha Rainville’s inexperienced campaign staff is it’s own worst enemy, with a timeline of how she let the far more experienced Welch campaign turn a yawner non-issue into a full blown campaign contribution scandal. Read the piece and then head to the online petition at the VT Dems site and keep the squeeze on.

Freyne at Seven Days (always required reading) reports that President Bush, after rejecting the recommendation of Sen Leahy and Gov. Douglas regarding the vacant US Attorney post in Vermont, is now set to install a cheerleader for the god-awful USA Patriot Act. What a shocker.

Vermont Commons not only wants an independent Vermont republic, it seems they’d also like to lock the borders and keep the pesky foreigners out. J. Arthur Loose combines the usual, simplistic reasoning that says we have to choose between promoting a fair, equitable society and accepting that foreigners are covered under the concept of “inalienable human rights” with a disturbing metaphor that suggests a very low regard for Mexicans in general. Somehow, the 2nd Vermont Republic is sounding less like a country I want any part of.

Where’s Adam? Since the fallout over his brouhaha with the Governor, blogger aq at Vermonters First has been AWOL. Hopefully he’s just on break. Mr. Quinn has done a lot to make the VT blogosphere a lively place. Come on back soon, aq…

The Blier Watch vs. conservative theocrat Kevin Blier saga gets covered by 802 Online’s Cathy Resmer in Seven Days (with input from entertainingly-designated “straight man,” yours truly). In the piece, to soften his image, Blier claims he would never use the epithet “fag” which he calls “the F word.” GMD readers will recall that he has no qualms about letting others use it on his website, however, as an article entitled Fag Commentary: Rebuke Them Sharply was printed there. Unfortunately, the original has dropped off Google’s cache, and only the “cleansed” version remains. Hopefully the BW folks saved a copy.

…and a few days ago, Green MT Daily passed the 100 registered users mark! What a month! Traffic is up, and we’re linked all over (including a front page link at MyDD.com!) For myself, I’ve managed to draw indignation from Dems and Progs alike. Don’t worry folks — I get very seasonal-affective-disordered. Now that the sun’s shining, I’ll get nicer…