UPDATE: The Vermont chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union, via its director Allen Gilbert, has taken note of the poll, its unfortunate implications for our justice system and the need to hold police officers legally accountable for their actions. Full disclosure: I am a member of the ACLU-VT and am serving the first year of a term on its board. The following diary represents my personal views and not necessarily those of the ACLU-VT.

The situation is a sad commentary on how badly Vermont police deal with people having a mental illness or crisis.

Isaac Sage was confronted by police who were called to address a trespassing complaint at a gym in Winooski. He struggled with officers, apparently hit Cpl. Jason Nokes in the face, was Tased twice without effect, and shot in the leg by Nokes.

Chittenden County State’s Attorney TJ Donovan convened a grand jury to examine the evidence (certainly more than Attorney Bill “Cops Are Never Wrong” Sorrell has ever done in a questionable shooting involving law enforcement officers). That jury has returned an indictment with two misdemeanors and a felony charge against Cpl. Noyes, who remains on “medical leave.”

The charges against Cpl. Nokes  include aggravated assault with a deadly weapon, reckless endangerment, and providing false information to the Vermont State Police.

Charges against Isaac Sage, including the misdemeanors of resisting arrest,  and unlawful trespass and two felony counts of assault on police officers, were dropped when he was found to be “insane.” At least Sage is alive to receive treatment for his mental illness, unlike Macadam Mason.

Some questions remain unanswered, such as why the Taser was ineffective (defective? not charged? not applied correctly to achieve maximum shock value?).

Whether or not Nokes is eventually convicted in a court of law, it is a refreshing change in attitude for the county’s top law enforcement member to understand this:

“This case is important because it is a case about public trust,” Donovan told the Burlington Free Press outside the grand jury room at Chittenden Superior Court on Main Street. “It is a case where the standard has to be consistent, that a police officer has to be held to the same standard as an ordinary citizen.”

Meanwhile, the Burlington Free Press is running a poll on its online front page as to whether you think the grand jury’s decision was correct. As of 2:30 p.m., the answers were running two-to-one against the grand jury, with another quarter of respondents saying they didn’t know enough to decide.

Interesting that the Free Press should decide to put a legal question to a vote – I mean, the proceedings of the grand jury are, after all, secret.

Should you care to go vote to support or oppose the grand jury’s decision, click here. You need not be a subscriber to participate.

Tonight was the fifth (and final) time over the past half-dozen years that I was rejected as a volunteer for the St. Albans City Planning Commission.  

I’ve gotten used to the drill by now.  All of the candidates are called into the City Council meeting to be interviewed before a vote is taken to fill however many seats are vacant.  This time there were two seats and four candidates.

I always know that the other candidates will get soft-balled with easy questions, but when my turn comes up I will be pummeled with questions around whether or not I have an “agenda” in volunteering.

As if the real estate agent with developers in the family is unlikely to have an agenda; or the Main St. restaurant owner who is transforming his physical premises couldn’t have an agenda.

But no, those questions are reserved for me because no one has an agenda more dangerous to the public good than someone who consistently advocates for sustainable planning policies.

It’s always been irritating; but this time took the cake.

Why was I the only candidate who was asked for my position on eminent domain?

I answered that I thought it was never a good idea and should only be resorted to in the most extreme circumstances of essential public need, because there is nearly always a way to negotiate your way around an impasse.

In other words, I was honest.  It’s unlikely the other candidates would think differently, but we’ll never know because THEY WERE NEVER ASKED.

One council member even asked me if I would make decisions based on my opinions!  That’s right; this guy actually thinks there is no place for opinions in the decision making process.  Maybe he favors a ouija board or the I Ching?

No one seemed to  even be interested in whether or not the other candidates had “opinions.”

After the interviews were concluded, when it was time to take a vote, one of the Council members actually said that I probably had more knowledge than everyone in the room, BUT…

Then there was a lot of rationalizing about how Sue would always be there; always show up for meetings, no matter what; always lend her perspective from the sidelines, etc…  

They lavished high praise on me for my school spirit, scholastic achievement and perfect attendance…or the municipal equivalent there of.  Then they said again that I would ALWAYS BE THERE!

In short, they didn’t need to give me a place at the table because I would always be lurking on the perimeter, willing to accept the crumb of opportunity extended for “public comment.”

So, they voted to seat the two least objectionable candidates, rejecting another; and never even put my name to a vote.  Neither new planner has any experience whatsoever with planning issues or even a familiarity with the system.

The City planner told me before the vote that, if I wasn’t chosen, there would always be another time, another way to serve.

‘Heard that one before, too.  Four times.

But that’s it for me.  I understand now how little value the Council members place on my participation.

For years I’ve read editorials imploring people to volunteer to serve on City boards and commissions.  Often it seemed they were beating the bushes to find people to volunteer.  

Some of the “volunteers” I’ve sat with for interviews didn’t even seem to know what the job entails.  Even tonight, one of the candidates wasn’t absolutely certain he had the time to serve.

But he’s in and I’m out…once again.

I can’t say I’m heartbroken.  Indignant, for sure; but heartbroken?  Certainly not!

If the City Council doesn’t realize that my time is valuable, I certainly do.  I told them that they could strike me permanently off of their lists because I am through with interviews for voluntary positions for which I will never be deemed suitable.

That will make many people happy, I am sure; and it will leave me with a whole lot more liberty to say and write exactly what I think.

Win-win.

(I don’t like what I’m not seeing these past two Spring/Summers.  No ducks in the river in downtown Montpelier, and no monarch or other colorful butterflies around.  Call this an Ode To Al Gore, who might have begun serious work on Global Warming back in 2001, when it would have mattered.  It would certainly be a different world now.  I heard from an ‘expert’ in 1999 at a forum on Global Warming that we only had about a dozen years before Global Warming became irreversible.  That’s a 2011 deadline.  As Harry Dean Stanton would put it: Shit.)

Ducks and butterflies

have disappeared

yet no one notices.

All gone now and this is just

the beginning.

Peter Buknatski

Montpelier, Vt.

I don’t feel pity for Darcie “Hack” Johnston, health care reform denialist, conservative flack-for-hire, and former First Mate on Randy Brock’s Titanicampaign. She is too well paid for pity. But there is an air of existential sadness about her continual struggle to push a big heavy rock up a very steep hill. Her pet causes are terminally unpopular, and all her efforts are having precisely zero effect.

So she has to take her victories where she can find them. Example: last week she jumped on board the Darrell Issa bandwagon, and called for a special legislative session to dismantle Vermont’s health care exchange.

Now, in terms of her stated goal, her missive had all the effect of a BB bouncing off Superman’s chest. But it got her a little publicity!

That’s a win, isn’t it?

Well, it is, in the small, ineffectual, hidebound world of the Hack.

Look: an article in the Freeploid! And better still, look here: she was listed as a “Winner” in Seven Days’ weekly “Winners and Losers” column!

Yay!

After the jump: Alone again, naturally.

Of course, the Shumlin Administration confidently asserts that the Issa complaint is baseless. House Speaker Shap Smith called the Hack’s allegation “pure politics,” and said a special session “is very unlikely.” Consulting my Shap/English Dictionary, I translate that as “when monkeys fly out of my butt.”

And even House Minority Leader Don Turner isn’t interested in a special session because (a) he knows he lacks the votes to affect a reopened debate on health care, and (b) he wants to look ahead to implementation of the exchange, telling the Freeploid “I just want to make sure Vermonters have affordable insurance come January.”

Of course, being an actual officeholder, he has less time for rhetorical flourishes than does the Hack; meaningless gestures are her stock-in-trade.  

So yeah, if you measure victory in terms of column inches, I guess Seven Days is right to call Johnston a “winner.” But in terms of influencing the actual course of health care reform, the Hack remains what she has always been: a tried-and-true loser.

A well-remunerated loser, certainly; but a loser nonetheless.  

It’s hard to know what to say about the massive explosion and oil fire that occurred this weekend on the Quebec/Maine Border when a Canada Rail train hauling crude oil jumped the track triggering massive explosions and fire.  

The little town of Lac-Megantic in the Eastern Townships lost dozens of buildings in the fire, and a toll in human casualties has yet to be determined.  

What caused  the derailment remains shrouded in mystery.  It is interesting though, that the train had been parked some distance from the town prior to the accident, and there was no one on board.

Nevertheless, it can be predicted that, rather than acknowledge that exploiting our relentless appetite for oil is the ultimate cause of this and all the other refinery and oil spill disasters, the fossil fuel industry will undoubtedly try to capitalize upon this tragedy in order to make its case for pipeline transport.

But that’s a load of fertilizer.  Enabling the pipeline would just mean further enabling the destructive potential of fossil fuels.

As in the case of nuclear energy, the justification for continued use of these dirty fuels is that they are “cheap;” but as this accident  dramatically demonstrates, collateral costs are enormous.  

Those collateral costs do not normally include accidents, of course; but they are substantial, including healthcare costs related to asthma, cardio-pulmonary stress and other diseases aggravated by air pollution.

They include the impacts on plant and animal life, which not only represent environmental losses but also have real economic significance.

And when a spill or a fire does occur, the scale of its impact is enormous.  

Imagine if that train had been carrying solar panels or wind tower components instead of crude oil.

So bear that in mind when this incident becomes the argument du jour for allowing pipelines carrying vast new reserves of the filthiest oil products to snake through every corner of America.

I missed Bruce Lisman’s Campaign for Vermont public forum in St. Albans, when it was hosted last week at the State Police Barracks (!)

After viewing the Channel 16 recording of the event, I had some doubts that there was any there there.  It appeared pitifully under-attended, and generally pretty rudderless; so I was inclined to give it a complete pass on GMD; but a conversation or two persuaded me to take a second look at the recording and share a few observations.

Observation #1:  Bruce Lisman is as underwhelming in person as he is in print.

Observation #2:  I think this pretension that he has no bias is less the product of a calculating mind than it is of his not getting out much.  

He gives the impression of someone who genuinely doesn’t know a lot about things like farming and the environment; both being pretty significant to any policy conversation in Vermont.

Observation #3:  Except for one, his selected “panelists” had trouble staying on message.

That included dairy farmer Bill Rowell, who predictably thought that things would be just fine if people would quit yapping about the streams, smaller herds and going organic and just send a whole lot more money down the pipeline so that his cohort could farm as big as possible and as profitably as possible.  I believe at one point he even said that if he did “$5 million dollars” (worth of business) in a given year, he should be able to keep as much of the profit as possible (ie. pay less taxes.)  Okay…

This probably was fine with Mr. Lisman, but then Mr. Rowell strayed a little into populist messaging, complaining about the problems in getting the Farm Bill passed with all those “nutrition programs” falling under the political axe.  He said that was unfairly targeting children, the elderly and the poor…not to mention the farmers.

So?  Taxes…bad!  Nutrition programs fuelled by tax dollars…good.   Anybody see the messaging problem here?

And Mr. Rowell went unchallenged when he suggested that reducing the number of cows being pastured in Vermont would actually be bad for the environment because there wouldn’t be enough manure to spread around!  That’s right, he sees organic dairying as a threat to the valuable resource of manure production!

I later learned informally that Mr. Lisman has been under the impression that manure pits are good for the environment.  I think he’s been hanging out with the wrong crowd, and it may very well be that a change in the company he keeps would do wonders to rehabilitate his credibility.

Then there was the CEO of the Northwestern Medical Center, Jill Berry Bowen, who briskly rolled-out everything the NWMC was doing to ensure superior care for their patients.  Though Lisman nudged her to voice concern about  “uncertainties” with the new healthcare law, like the possible exodus of doctors due to compensation issues or even hospital closings; she sunnily replied that efficiencies were under consideration and that she was confident that  NWMC  would be around to give superior care for a very long time, even with the Green Mountain Care Board calling the shots.

The only one who was on-message was Annette Hannah of Swanton, who owns a small insurance company with a niche in Workers Comp.  She was all about business and delivered just the right amount of angst and talking points to make the Chicken Little argument against the “uncertainties” posed by the healthcare bill.  Yeah, that healthcare reform stuff will sure shake-up the Workers Comp business model!  

In fact, she was so much on message in contrast to the others that she came across more as a shill.

As the 90 minute forum ambled to its close with only a couple of audience questions, which were more like personal statements,  Mr. Lisman made a brief attempt to tie everything to “the need for greater transparency” (whatever that means to him), suggesting that this would fix everything because then we would know what was working and what was not.  Duh-uh!

Piece of advice to Mr. Lisman?  Get out more; that echo chamber you entered directly from Wall Street is doing you no good.  If you want to appear non-partisan, you need to go a little outside the Chamber of Commerce for your panelists.  

And for godssake, stop referring to Democratic lawmakers as “Democrat politicians.”

So, the inevitable has come to pass. The chief dirt-digger of Congressional Republicans, Darrell “Wrong Way” Issa, has turned his prosecutorial spotlight on Vermont’s health care reform process. VTDigger’s Andrew Stein dutifully writes up this nothingburger of a story:

Vermont… policy requires residents buying health insurance individually or through small businesses with 50 or fewer employees to purchase coverage on the state-run market. Friday, the House [Committee on Oversight and Government Reform] sent a letter to Mark Larson, commissioner of the Department of Vermont Health Access, indicating that such mandates are illegal.

The aforementioned committee has become a clown-carload of baseless conspiracy theories under the leadership of Issa, he California Republican and former car-alarm huckster. To me, this is strong evidence for the probity of Vermont’s process, since Issa has a lengthy record of seeking scandal where none exists. In his zealous pursuit of imaginary misdeeds, he has embodied the most notable traits of two fictional French policemen: the humanity of Javert and the instincts of Clouseau.

But Vermont Republicans, shivering in the chill of their long political winter, can’t help but be drawn to the warmth of his feckless grandstanding. Darcie “Hack” Johnston, the grande dame of health care reform denialism and the “brains” behind Randy Brock’s gubernatorial campaign, called for a purely voluntary health care exchange.

And Shawn Shouldice, Vermont director of the National Federation of Independent Business (and press liaison for Bruce Lisman’s supposedly nonpartisan Campaign for Vermont), pounced on Issa’s accusation like a starving hyena on a scrap of roadkill:

“The [Affordable Care Act] very clearly prohibits compulsory participation in the exchange,” Shouldice said in a statement. “We’ve never understood how the Vermont health care exchange can compel small businesses and individuals to participate in the exchange, and we’re encouraged that finally someone in Washington is asking the same question.”

Unfortunately for Shouldice, the Hack, and Issa, there’s this paragraph in the ACA that says:

“Nothing in this title shall be construed to terminate, abridge or limit the operation of any requirement under state law with respect to any policy or plan that is offered outside of the Exchange to offer benefits.”

After the jump: a notable abstainer from this partisan jackassery.

That unambiguous statement ought to put this whole issue to rest, but given Issa’s predilections, I’m sure he’ll keep ranting about it. But Vermont Republicans ought to be a little less desperate in their choice of allies. After all, they are trying to broaden their appeal, aren’t they? Jumping on one of Issa’s flaming bandwagons isn’t going to help.

One prominent Republican who seems to be aware of this: Betsy Bishop, former Douglas Administration multitool and head of the Vermont Chamber of Commerce. She was actually quoted in the Issa committee’s letter of inquiry…

But Bishop said she neither knew about her quote being used nor was it used in full context.

… Bishop says she doesn’t attach much weight to the letter, and the chamber would work with – not against the Shumlin administration – to implement the exchange as it has been crafted into state law.

Smart lady. Since her first duty is to represent the interests of her organization, she’s foresworn the short-term thrill of the cheap political attack in favor of burnishing her relationship with the state officials with the power to impact her constituents.  

There was an interesting series of edits and counter-edits on Governor Shumlin’s Wikipedia page in late June. The vast majority of the page is straightforward; the editorial battle concerned the infamous Jeremy Dodge land deal. Here’s what the WikiPage says about it — as of right now, early afternoon, July 2:

In 2013 the Governor was widely castigated for a real estate transaction in which he took unfair advantage of a poor, retarded neighbor. The neighbor was the owner of a house on 16 acres of land adjacent to the Governor’s property. The neighbor’s property was assessed at $233,000. The neighbor owed $18,000 in back taxes and was told that he would lose the property in a tax sale. The Governor reportedly bought the property from the neighbor for $58,000. The neighbor is trying to void the transaction.

I pause briefly to note the inartful, offensive use of “retarded.” Not to mention inaccurate; Jeremy Dodge is a troubled soul, but “retarded”? Don’t think so.

This passage (or some version thereof) triggered a flurry of activity on Shumlin’s WikiPage. Its author, identified as “Genedolan,” originally posted the passage on June 20. It was the first time “Genedolan” had ever edited a Wikipedia page. (If anyone knows who that is, feel free to say so in the Comments.) That post also included a second paragraph that ended with:

The transaction was legal but was clearly unethical bullying by the most powerful individual in the state.

Three days later, that part of Genedolan’s post was removed by a user at IP address 76.200.213.197, located in Wallingford, Connecticut. Ol’ number 76 had never before edited a Wikipedia entry, as far as I can tell.  

25 minutes after that, Genedolan struck back, adding a less pejorative close:

Shumlin offered him $58,000 and the neighbor took the offer. Later he regretted the decision, especially because he made the transaction without benefit of a lawyer.

The following day (June 24), a user named “Moe Epsilon” deleted those last two sentences. “Moe” is a frequent Wikipedia editor whose real name is David Stevenson. He apparently removed the passage using a Wikipedia software tool for detecting “vandalism.”

Since then, Genedolan’s little gem has gone unchanged. Which surprises me a little; I’d think someone on the Shumlin team would be periodically monitoring his WikiPage and removing politically harmful material.

More surprising to me: all these back-and-forth edits, and somehow “retarded” survived them all. Strange.

ERNEST HEMINGWAY (July 21, 1899–JULY 2, 1961)

“It is all gone now.  The old days.  The old ways we had of dealing with a bully whether in a bar or in a boardroom.

The FBI opened a file on me during WWII.  Hoover was watching everybody.  He was some bully.  A bully you couldn’t get at.  But it made him impotent too.  It made him pathetic to be left all alone with his files and his secrets and no one knowing about it.

I’m looking at these stories now about Snowden and Obama and the NSA and the goddamn phone companies.  Brother.  How was it you people let things get so far gone?  No cojones we used to say.

If I were with you now I would sit with you in a bar and tell you how it ought to be.  I’d tell you about Spain.  About the green hills of Africa.  About liberating Paris from the Nazis.  About Cuba.  And all the bullies and spooks we dealt with.  And all the women we loved and who loved us back for the kind of men we were and what we did.  And how the women did it too.  Sometimes better than any of us men.

About how the light could be so bright and just right for seeing the things you needed to do something about.

Now you waste a lot of time worrying how correct you should be and whose ass to kiss.  And whether you can get away with not acting or even thinking about what is right and what is not.

And you’ve let the whole planet go to hell because of that.  Soon there won’t be any lions or bears or any kinds of creatures to hold in awe for their simple beauty and their courage and their dignity.  And nothing for your kids to look up to except the bully.

It’s a wonder you all don’t put a shotgun in your mouths and just get it over with.

And when somebody comes along with words that are strong and true you don’t want to hear them.  A way you’ll never be.  Just like the bullies and spooks want you to be.  All for the fatal nothing that has become what was once your spirit and is now your damnation.

So I’ll leave you with it then.  I wouldn’t want to make you uncomfortable poking at what you’ve become and what you’ve let come to pass.  It wouldn’t matter anyway.  There would have to be more in it for you the way you live now than just an old man telling stories about how it was and how it might have been.  Wouldn’t there?

Still I can see a faint light somewhere in front of you.  The one you keep turning away from.  It would be pretty to think you might someday look right into it without fear but with the courage and dignity to make it your own.

Maybe you’ll even do it tomorrow like you keep saying you will.  But you have to truly do it.  Just do it.  Just like that.  Like we did back when the light was much brighter and we could take on the bully full out.  And then laugh about it and love ourselves for it.  And lift a toast to ourselves for the sheer hell of doing it and getting it done.”

(Brother.  That was some post Petey.  Just like that.  My regards to Wendy Davis down in Texas on this day.  Cojones.)

Peter Buknatski

Montpelier, Vt.