If you’ve ever worked on a campaign you know the stress of running on a budget, and wondering from week to week whether you’ll have the money to do your next piece of literature, or order your yard signs, or place that important ad the week before Election Day.
The big guys are no different, it’s just a matter of scale. Fortunately, though, their resources are also different. For instance, when Richie Tarrant needed a slug of cash he had to go, hat in hand, to his biggest backer. One can only imagine the sweaty palms, the pounding heart, the stammer, the dry mouth as he threw himself on the one man he has turned to time and time again when things lookd tough. Would he come through again, or would this be the limit? Only one man would know the answer, and that man was . . .

Richard Tarrant.

I know, I know — it’s been a whole week since any Vermont impeachment news. And after Philip Baruth sang our praises for our coverage! After daily hits from places like michaelmoore.com and google searches aplenty, all looking for impeachment news! Well, at GMD we aim to please…

…and there are several bits of information to report, mostly from the rumor mill. I prefer to wait until things have clarified, but what’s a blog without a little gossiping?

First of all, contrary to reports of a massacre, grassroots efforts to call for the impeachment of the worst President in history as loudly as possible continue. And though Democrats in the Legislature have opted not to take the matter up collectively, the grassroots push is finding other avenues…. (click link for who’s doing what in Vermont, Maine, Washington, etc.)

Key points:

* Mighty Burlington may be the next Vermont municipality to tackle a Newfane-style resolution. There’s rumbling…

* There seem to be mixed emotions on the matter among the Democratic caucus post-State Committee meeting. Rep. Dick Marek, who supported the Newfane town resolution but spoke out against the Section 603 resolution (with an argument debunked below) is now circulating a letter calling on the Vermont Congressional delegation to push for “investigation”, and it has 56 legislative signatures! It seems many of the Dems are comfortable calling for action individually but not collectively — and they remain deathly uncomfortable with the word “impeachment” outside of a town meeting. Could be a lot of reasons for this — some of them reasonable, some of them not-so-much. Marek is a good guy, though, so GMD will give him the benefit of the doubt. Still wish he didn’t feel the need to suggest that a 603 resolution would be somehow “unconstitutional” though. Obviously folks a bit closer to the source of that founding document didn’t think so (the procedure is from the Jefferson Manual after all — a manual compiled of procedures based on early precedent not idle fantasies — impeachment proponents hardly made it up).

* On April 30th, the Progressive Party State Committee meets, and I’ve heard from three seperate sources that they will be looking at passing a “Rutland Resolution” with the Section 603 language intact. There’s continued suggestion that Rep Zuckerman may retrofit his existing impeachment motion to include such language. At the end of the day, though, consensus is clearly that any action on April 30th would meet everybody’s definition of “too late” to act upon, so the motion wouldn’t have any immediate impact — beyond that of another body of Vermont citizens calling for the Congress to throw the bum out (which is certainly a good thing).

* Vermont continues to inspire! As this post from an earlier diary passes on from Maine:

-OGUNQUIT — If a group of Ogunquit residents have their way, the warrant for the June 13 town election will include an article that asks voters to request senators Susan Collins and Olympia Snowe to call for the Senate to censure President George Bush. The residents are circulating a petition to collect the signatures needed to put the measure on the ballot.

“Part of what prompted this was an article in the paper about some towns in Vermont that passed [resolutions] to impeach,” said Paul McGowan, one of the leaders of the petition drive. “What struck me about this was, what a great way to have a voice. It brought some focus to people’s concern and worry about the direction of the country. It’s about a way that a small town could have a voice and raise questions about the actions of the President.”

Jack Leary, another member of the group, said it was time for local action. “Nothing’s happening from the top down,” Leary said. “So, we thought we’d go from the bottom up.”

Cool, huh?

* Supporters of the original Rutland Resolution intend to honor signatures on the online petition for Vermont Legislative action under Section 603 by keeping up the push for a critical mass of signatures, both online and in traditional hardcopy. Supporters are aiming for 5000 signatories and expect that number to be enough to trigger review under the Vermont Constitution — but instead of scrambling to get something in before the Legislative Session ends, they’re targeting the first week of the next Legislature. Should be plenty of time to collect names, and the “too late in the session” excuse will be a little harder to repeat.

* Regarding the Town Impeachment efforts, rumor is that supporters and representatives from the towns may gather in Washington to present the motions directly to their respective Representatives on or about May 1st — which means that by deflecting the issue away from the State Legislature, the spotlight will now shine even more brightly on Bernie Sanders himself. Which is a bit ironic because…

* …Vermont’s delegation to Washington clearly doesn’t like this impeachment business. Bernie has been all over the map, starting with calling it impractical after the Newfane resolution, turning around and signing onto the impeachment bill currently circulating in the US House, and then going back to talking about what a loopy idea it is. In addition, before the Dem State Committee meeting on the 8th (and again at the meeting itself), Democratic National Committeeman and Leahy staffer Chuck Ross made an 11th hour attempt to convince supporters on the State Committee to abandon the key Jefferson Manual language.

The final arguments from the Washington direction seem to boil down to two things, both of which were echoed by State legislators. One: that Section 603 of the Jefferson Manual does not require a State legislature initiated impeachment motion to be taken up by the US House (uh-oh, I hear another impeachment advocacy argument coming on…duck!). Of course, more than a cursory glance at supporters’ arguments will show that they never made that definitive claim. That, again, the whole idea was that principle demanded they make as loud a noise as possible, and the Jefferson Manual simply provided for an extraordinarily loud megaphone. Whether the motion actually got to the House floor or not was, frankly, secondary.

Two: That such a motion would somehow rob Bush of his fundamental right to “due process.”

Let’s set aside for a moment that this suggests impeachment is a judicial procedure rather than an administrative one. It is not a court of law, but a rather pointed job review, after all.

Still, if one still insists on making a judicial analogy, then let’s make it completely. In such an analogy, the US Senate is clearly the “court of law.” The US House, as the body that draws up the “indictment” plays the role of the “investigative officers” and the “district attorney.” What does that leave for a State Legislature under Section 603?

Simply the role of an aggrieved complainant filing a police report. The police hardly turn away a citizen filing a police report because the subject of the report hasn’t yet been offered their due process. Obviously that comes later — it is in fact initiated by the complaint.

So — thin reasoning. Unnecessarily so. Especially when the real reason for resistance from candidates running for local, state or federal office is fairly straightforward and easy to understand and appreciate:

1. Elections are strategic endeavors.

4. So they don’t like it.

Simple. Straightforward. Reasonable. Understandable.

And an explanation that would’ve gone over a bit better, and not resulted in several people scratching their heads a few days later after they had time to think about the excuses they were given.

So we continue to agree to disagree, with impeachment proponents still feeling ethically compelled to speak as loudly as possible, and through as many avenues as are available to them. Maybe they’ll get a little farther next session, maybe not.

That’s Democracy for ya.

Quick links to discussions of the Vermont Impeachment Movement

2.19.2006 …Catamount Tavern: Let it Begin Here

3.03.2006 Vermont, Impeachment and the Democratic Party

3.04.2006 VT Dems to Push For State Leg. Initiated Impeachment

3.07.2006 Bernie: Impeachment Talk “impractical”

3.08.2006 Catamount Tavern: First Round’s…

3.15.2006 Impeachment?

3.16.2006 The Impeachment/Censure Synergy

3.16.2006 Catamount Tavern: Neighsayers drink with the Horses

3.24.2006 VT Impeachment Train: Juggernaut or…

3.25.2006 Brattleboro Town Meeting…

3.28.2006 Add Washington to the List

3.28.2006 Impeachment PS: Online Petition and Progressives

3.28.2006 Standing Against Bush Good for VT’s Economy

3.29.2006 Do It Yourself Impeachment…

4.04.2006 Articles of Impeachment

4.07.2006 A Taylor in Two Cities

4.08.2006 Will Somebody Please Impeach This Guy?

4.09.2006 …a Two Minute Clip (Maryscott O’Connor)

4.10.2006 VT Impeachment: Not Quite Dead Yet?

4.13.2006 What Happened and Where To?

4.20.2006 What’s That? You’d like another… Update?

4.21.2006 Illinois Dems Accept… Vermont Counterparts Declined

4.22.2006 VT Legislators Speak Up

4.23.2006 VT CATAMOUNT TAVERN: Random Musings…

4.24.2006 California Legislators Join Illinois…

4.24.2006 VT Legislators to Introduce ‘603’ Impeachment Resolution…

4.26.2006 VT Legislators’ Impeachment Letter

5.1.2006 …Resolutions Presented in Washington – Statement from Dan DeWalt

Posts by Jack McCullough, Ed Garcia, mataliandy, odum, brattlerouser, brown

(An exceptionally well written and clearly stated state-of-the-world post from vtpeace with an appeal to participate in an upcoming demonstration in NYC. Good reading. – promoted by odum)

Republicans currently outnumber Democrats 231-201 in the (US) House and have a 55-44 advantage in the (US) Senate.  They will continue to take away our rights and deficit-spend as long as they hold the majority in both Houses.

Vermonters have the opportunity to add one Democrat to each chamber in November.  We can’t change the national numbers but we HAVE to protect ourselves.  Apologists like Douglas, Dubie and Rainville must be faced with the knowledge that we know how many ways Republican policies have hurt Vermonters and that they are out of the mainstream of Vermonters’ thinking. We face darker days ahead without massive changes in both our state and national governments.

Jim Douglas was perceived as fairly moderate until he ran for Governor, and was sucked into the vortex of evil by out of state campaign donors and the Republican power-brokers to become mini-me to his hero Bush.  His roles as Secretary of State and State Treasurer didn’t have much impact on national issues, but he did learn how to deflect the tough questions with his ‘oh, shucks’ persona firmly in place.

He advocates ‘fees’ instead of ‘tax increases’ .. sucks up to the Right to Lifers, controlling state employees’ right to testify to the legislature, sealing formerly public records .. mini-me!  Another puppet on Bush’s knee.

Rainville fell (too) easily from a campaign statement that  ‘some of the Republicans in control of the House seem to have lost their way,’  then quickly proceeded to accept the money and help from those same people.  BEWARE!  She’s saying what you want to hear, but if elected will follow the Republican agenda without question. ‘Moldable’ ethics .. Money talks. Picture a Trojan horse.

Republicans are big on secrecy (unless it’s in their best interest to selectively leak) .. and privacy (unless it’s someone else’s) … Justice William Brennan gave a lesson on the American Revolution. “A main precipitating cause of our revolution,” he said, “was the general search warrant that British customs officers wrote—without going to any court—to break into the American colonists’ homes and offices, looking for contraband.” 

Vermonters are seeing our privacy diminished again, but on a scale undreamed of by Sam Adams, Thomas Jefferson, and the other patriots in the Committees of Correspondence.  Our (reasonable) expectation of privacy that was part of our rule of law is vanishing.  We (the new Committees of Correspondence) blog to alert our fellow citizens to the scams and the Orwell-speak used by the Republicans to soothe us so we don’t question or dig a little deeper into what they’ve done or what their agenda really is.  Google the ‘Project for A New American Century’ for the military roadmap.  Note how all the authors were given power by Bush when he was selected by the Supreme Court in 2000. Note how their agenda has progressed in the past 5 years, and see where they want to go in the future.

“There was, of course, no way of knowing whether you were being watched at any given moment. How often, or on what system the Thought Police plugged in on any individual wire was guesswork. . But at any rate they would plug in your wire whenever they wanted to. You had to live—did live, from habit that became instinct—in the assumption that every sound you made was overheard, and except in darkness, every movement scrutinized”. George Orwell

The Patriot Act allows the FBI to collect, — and share. — (without a judicial warrant) all kinds of personal information about you, from your doctors, your schools, your internet provider, your telephone company, your tax returns, your library book borrowing and bookstore purchases, to opening your personal mail; and then threatens to jail you (or your providers who were asked for that information) if you tell anyone about it, even your attorney.  Big Brother Bush has the ability and the chutzpah to see and listen to everything that goes on in your life.  You can’t stop it if you don’t speak out and change the regime to one that serves your own best interest.

‘These are the times that try (wo)mens’ souls’ .. we need to publicly put our bodies on the line to stop the dissolution of democracy and the next pre-emptive war with Iran. We can’t sit back and wait and then complain about it. 

Bus tickets are still available for the April 29th peace and justice demonstration in NYC.  Call Andy at 447-0829 or e-mail capnandy@adelphia.net  ($30 and leaving from Bennington at 7 a.m. that day),

or send a check for $50 made out to:  Central Vermont Peace and Justice, PO Box 845, Rutland VT 05701-0845 and include the following information:

The name(s) of the rider(s), The address(es) of the rider(s) — The email(s) of the rider(s)
  — The phone number(s) of the rider(s)and preferred pick-up location: Rutland or Middlebury

Peace,
Barbara

I’ll admit it, and Jack or mataliandy or Ed may disagree, but as a working class sort, this Vermont gas tax proposal makes me crazy. As I watch the price go back up over $3.00 a gallon, I try to imagine the Dem caucus conversations where they decided this was a good idea, here in the most rural state in the nation, and I just don’t see it.

But just as my own team has me pulling my hair out, along comes dependable Jim Barnett to pull the heat right onto himself.

Republicans, seeking to capitalize on Democrats’ support of a gasoline tax increase, launched an automated telephone campaign late last week against supporters of the proposal.

Robocalls! Robocalls! Ohhhh people just looooove those.

I may not understand what the Dem caucus is thinking, but I find Barnett even more mysterious. Sometimes it seems he’s sitting around dreaming up ways to make himself and the GOP look tackier while patting himself on the back. Weird… he’s like Vermont’s political Simon Bar Sinister

There was a time when I considered using robocalls in such a manner in my county when I was the Dem County Chair. Then I sobered up. Think I’m being unfair?

As of the end of the day, Democratic Party officials had received no phone calls and just one e-mail, which executive director Jon Copans said was supportive

Now how many annoyed phone calls do you think GOP HQ has received? Betcha it’s more than zero…

(GMD continues to look like Vermont’s own Daily Kos — the newest similarity is the appearence of a high-profile candidate reaching out to the blogging community. Our welcome to Sen. Dunne, and to any other candidates who might like to try their hand engaging with such an unpredictable crowd! – promoted by odum)

The Rutland Herald published my op/ed on Thursday, April 13:

Free Speech for State Employees:
Gag Orders are not the Vermont Way
By Senator Matt Dunne
April 11, 2006

During my years as a legislator, I have always counted on the willingness of Vermonters to share opinions and ideas with me. At town meeting, on the phone, in person, and now over email, my constituents always help me make better decisions with their input.

The free flow of information and opinion is one of the best things about our state government, something that gives Vermonters particular pride. They know how rare it is in this modern world to have government remain so close to the people.

Over the last few weeks, however, I’ve heard disturbing reports that suggest this flow of ideas and information might be in jeopardy. For the first time in Vermont, many state employees must now formally get permission from their supervisor before talking to their elected officials. Read more…

Oh lord where to begin…as some may have noticed I usually like to have these up on Thursday…now how about some discussion on these for a change…?

* In this diary from way back in the Burlington mayor’s race, I took the Progs to task rather severely for digging up Dem candidate Hinda Miller’s ex-business partner in order to smear Miller personally. While I still don’t think it’s an honorable line of attack, it does seem that – contrary to what was reported at PoliticsVT – Lisa Lindahl stepped forward on her own in response to an email (a copy of which was sent my way) sent out from the Miller campaign to rally support before the Dem caucus. Consider my culpa mea’d.

* Speaking of Progs, it seems there was dissention in the ranks. S.88, a bill relating to the membership of the Labor Relations Board that was supported by organized labor was just killed in committee by a Progressive. Holland Rep. Winston Dowland (who is becoming quite the handful for the Progs) voted with the Republicans and against labor, despite the reportedly very vocal displeasure expressed by fellow Progressive Rep. Sarah Edwards of Brattleboro outside the committee room. Ouch. Welcome to major party life, guys.

* Holy crap! Peter Welch raised $262,175 this last reporting period and has $612,776 on hand! That’s a lot of bumper stickers! Martha Rainville raised $218,972, and $130,000 of that came from Washington insider GOP Pacs such as Tom DeLay’s Retain Our Majority PAC. Martha Martha Martha…

* Speaking of the US Congress race, if you haven’t read Philip Baruth’s interview of GOP dark horse candidate Mark Shepard, get over there NOW. It’s something else. Shepard, an unabashed conservative, speaks openly about being not just dumped by his own Party, but piled on and humiliated more with each passing day. He also discusses how his far-right views are based on simple “logic.” We’re gonna have fun with that one in a later post…

* Hey — the Liberty Union Party got major party status back when I wasn’t looking. Primary time! (Thanks to Burlington Lib for pointing that out)

* Check out this diary from GMD user vtpeace from today and tell me that the latest thing from the Tarrant for Senate camp is not just weird, creepy and wrong. Barbara, if you or anybody else can provide details or links on this, it’d be greatly appreciated.

* …and finally, it’s not local, but –seriously — maybe we should be asking if there are any retired Generals that don’t want Rumsfeld to resign (oh yeah, besides this one)

(This is truly gross, or as UVM Political Science Professor Garrison Nelson said, it “smacks of bribery.” – promoted by odum)

Looks like Richie Rich is setting himself up to be Vermont’s ‘Education’ Senator .. hey, it worked for Dubya (thousands of children left behind) .. Katie, you didn’t argue against this? …

Multi-millionaire Tarrant can afford to hire junior and senior high school students to go door to door with his literature, but is it 10 week employment, or is it a bribe?  Potentially 15,000 students may be asked to submit a 500 word essay saying ‘Why Richard Tarrant Should Be Elected to the United States Senate in order to be considered for($3,000 each and a free laptop computer). That’s a tough job; it’s a no-brainer to submit one that considers why he shouldn’t be!

I wonder if the school boards should put this on their next agenda if they don’t have a policy already in place.

Bernie’s unpaid volunteers are really shaking their heads over this one.

This is another example of someone funding a campaign with his own money — he is answerable to no one — and a good example of why he should not be elected.  This may work where he lives in his Florida gated communities, but I think it will come back to bite him in Vermont.

We can’t be bought!

Barbara

So just what happened on Saturday? It truly was a very impressive meeting, filled with respectful and impassioned statements by people from all over the state. The public statements were overwhelmingly in support of the Rutland Resolution – with the “Rule 603” wording intact. The committee was divided, with the majority focused on the need to win the upcoming elections, and concerned about the potential impact of the Rutland Resolution being plunked into the laps of the legislature this late in the season.

So, was it a Victory? A Defeat? Were the “Rule 603” afficionadoes “had”?

Let’s start with the last question: being “had” would have required going into the meeting blind to the fact that there were folks actively hoping to reduce the result to a statement of support for the existing Feingold censure – if that much. No, we were too aware of the resistance to be “had.”

That leads us to the victory/defeat balance.  No one walked out of the meeting with what they really wanted.  Impeachment was not quashed, and the Rule 603 lever was not added to the Congressional toolkit.

So, I’d say it was a draw, but a very promising draw. It is a draw that means the grassroots, including both long-term party regulars and newly minted activists, were able to swing the party from “no” to “yes” in 6 short weeks. The “yes” wasn’t quite the “yes” we wanted, but it was a sea change in the party’s official viewpoint. And that is a good thing.

In the mean time, others are meeting, and voting. Some in the Democratic party, some in other parties. Some in VT, and some in other parts of the country.

When a thunderstorm forms, the big mass of cloud is built up from smaller bits that collect over the course of the day. As the heat builds, the cloud heightens, the winds strengthen, and then the refreshing rain washes away the heat of the day, often leaving the world awash in the golden glow of late afternoon sunshine. If you listen closely, you can hear the distant rumbling of democracy. Our little bit of energy has been added to the brewing storm.  The rain will come, and we will have been a part of making it happen.

It’s still early in the day, and the rain is a ways off, yet.

We are called to continue this journey. Called by those who fought for the freedoms granted by the Constitution, by the innocents who have died and are dying in an unprovoked war, by the children whose future has been mortgaged for folly, by the victims of torture being done in our names. And sometimes, the call comes from things that are less obvious and more personal – such as the flyer that used to say that there had been no FBI requests for information at the Bradford Public Library.

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