Inoculate, v.t.  To introduce immunologically active material (as an antibody or antigen) into especially in order to treat or prevent a disease.

Vince Illuzzi, itinerant candidate, has been given a gift. The bestower of the gift is one Jon Margolis, veteran journalist and now political analyst for VTDigger. In a post dated June 28, Margolis considers Illuzzi’s ethically troubled past and whether it should be a factor in his candidacy for state Auditor of Accounts.

For those just joining us, Illuzzi has been a state senator for 32 years and is also state’s attorney for Essex County. But back in the 1990s, his license to practice law was suspended for almost five years and very nearly revoked permanently, over a series of legal and ethical violations. From the GMD archive, a couple of recommended reads: a former GMDer examines Illuzzi’s record in 2007 at a time when some were talking up a possible independent candidacy for Governor; and a well-connected commenter JFXM writes about Illuzzi’s failings (scroll down to Mahoney’s comment, last in the sequence).

After the jump: An absurd comparison, and a journalist’s benediction.  

I’m quoted in the article because I was the first one to bring up Illuzzi’s past during this election cycle, back when he was considering a run for Attorney General. I thought it completely absurd that someone with such a checkered history as a lawyer should be considered for the top legal position in the state, and wrote multiple diaries on the subject — and on the seeming reluctance of the Vermont media to explore it, or even mention it at all.

In his VTDigger piece, Margolis gives an abbreviated account of Illuzzi’s legal troubles, which is reasonably presented as far as it goes. (An abbreviated version naturally doesn’t wield the heft of a full accounting, and makes it easier for a reader to minimize the importance of his wrongdoing.) But Margolis goes off the rails, IMHO, when he turns to the question of whether Illuzzi’s misdeeds should be part of the debate this year. He posits the notion of a “political statute of limitations,” and basically fires a warning shot across the Democratic bow:

If Democrats – overtly or covertly – do try to bring up Illuzzi’s past, the tactic could backfire as voters decide bygones are bygones.

Then comes the real howler.

People do change. Even politicians. To take just one example – but one that might interest active Democrats – Robert F. Kennedy at 35 was brash, sometimes small-minded, and occasionally vindictive when he managed his brother’s campaign for president in 1960. A few years later, tempered by tragedy and experience, he had not lost all those traits, but they were buffered by increasing tolerance, generosity and openness to new ideas.

Vince Illuzzi, to paraphrase the late Sen. Lloyd Bentsen’s wisecrack of the 1988 campaign, is no Bobby Kennedy. He has faced no comparable tragedy. But he, too, seems to have matured.

Yikes. Nice of Margolis to concede that Illuzzi is no Bobby Kennedy. But why bring up RFK at all? You could make an equally valid comparison to another iconic figure from that era — Richard M. Nixon. In his 30s he was an amoral politician with a paranoid streak, known for Red-baiting his opponents and shedding crocodile tears in his famous Checkers speech. When he ran for president in 1968, we heard over and over again about the New Nixon. But eventually, it turned out to be the same old Tricky Dick — vengeful, amoral, paranoid, self-destructive.

Yes, Mr. Margolis, people do change. But far more often, they don’t. Especially in the absence of life-changing trauma, like the assassination of a brother and an agonizing internal conflict over the Vietnam War.

Also, in addition to Illuzzi’s ethical lapses, there are stories all around the Statehouse of his bouts of anger and vengefulness. This, from Margolis’ 2001 Globe piece:

“People are afraid to cross him because he has this reputation that he’ll stop at nothing to get revenge,” says one former official, and even Senator Elizabeth Ready, a Democxrat who is one of Illuzzi’s closest friends, says, “He doesn’t forget the people who have hurt him.”

Is that the kind of person we want in the influential but vaguely-defined office of Auditor? If he’s truly changed and matured, perhaps. If he hasn’t, like Nixon, then he could raise some holy (but unwarranted) Hell in the Auditor’s chair.

Margolis closes his VTDigger piece with some tender sentiments:

“Everybody grows and matures and learns from their mistakes,” Illuzzi said. He hopes voters think he has matured enough to ignore the less admirable parts of his past. It’s too much for him to hope that nobody mentions them.

Awwww. Let’s all hope that the nasty Democrats don’t hurt Vince’s fee-fees by dredging up the distant past. If, in fact, 14 years qualifies as “distant.”

My position: as I said, Illuzzi’s entanglements with legal ethics are less germane to the Auditor’s office than to the AG’s. But they are at least somewhat germane. A thorough consideration of his candidacy must, of necessity, include a full review of his wrongdoings and the questions about his temperament. If, after that review, the people of Vermont decide he should be their Auditor, then fine. But the past shouldn’t be swept under the rug — even if Vince Illuzzi would wish it so.

Especially if Vince Illuzzi would wish it so.  

Chittenden County State’s Attorney (and candidate for Attorney General) TJ Donovan kinda stepped in it last week. As was first reported by the Vermont Press Bureau (short version available free here, full story paywalled here), Donovan asserted in a VPR interview that “One in seven babies born at Rutland Regional Medical Center are born opiate-addicted.” It wasn’t the first time he’d used that talking point in promoting his anti-drug agenda.

Problem is, his number is completely wrong. Not even close. The actual figure is less than one percent.

So how did Donovan muff it so badly? The Freeploid’s Terri Hallenbeck does a good job of trying to reconstruct the whole thing — sadly, her article is behind Gannett’s new paywall. If you’re not a subscriber, stop by your local library and give it a read. We’ll give you a non-copyright-infringing preview here.

Seems Donovan heard it in a report last fall by WCAX-TV, which asserted that one in seven mothers giving birth at RRMC are opiate-addicted. Which is different than one in seven babies; Donovan now admits he made that incorrect mental leap on his own.

But WCAX got it wrong, too. At the time of its initial report, a state Health Department official checked the figure and determined that the true figure was less than one percent. Somehow this didn’t percolate through the WCAX newsroom, because it again reported the incorrect one-in-seven-mothers figure in February.

(The WCAX report was based on a remark by an RRMC doctor who was referring to mothers with any addiction issue, in the past or present — and including alcohol. But if most of the mothers are — or were — addicted to plain old alcohol, that doesn’t help promote a War on Drugs, does it?)

After the jump: playing telephone, and playing politics with the truth.

Hallenbeck dubbed the whole thing “a game of telephone.” Which has an added dimension in the age of the Internet, where false reports are passed through the online echo chamber and the original mistakes are archived, little time bombs of misinformation waiting to be discovered.

In this case, discovered by an ambitious politician looking to illustrate the severity of a pet issue. Donovan, to his credit, has acknowledged his error and promised that statistics will be checked more thoroughly from now on.

To his discredit, he fell back on the “Nonetheless…” style of political unreasoning: the one-in-seven figure may be vastly exaggerated, but nonetheless, the issue is just as important. Governor Shumlin did the same thing in April (as the VPB points out) during the Legislature’s debate over giving police warrantless access to the Health Department’s prescription drug database.

The Governor was depicting the legislation as a sorely needed weapon in the battle against a raging epidemic of prescription drug abuse. But then the Associated Press unhelpfully noted that his own Health Department’s statistics showed that prescription drug abuse “is declining or remaining steady.” Shumlin’s response was classic: “It is an epidemic.” Because he says so.

Donovan gets better marks than Shumlin, who ignored the facts when they were presented to him. But both make the same fundamental, self-serving mistake: insisting that, whatever the facts are, their issue is crucial and must be addressed swiftly and forcefully.

To be sure, drug addiction (and specifically its effect on pregnant moms and newborns) is an issue that needs attention. But, as Hunt Blair, deputy commissioner of the division of health reform, put it: 



Clearly even a single baby born in this unfortunate circumstance is one too many, but this kind of exaggeration does not help the cause of public information or public health.

It can, however, add a little juice to a favorite campaign theme.

I also have to wonder if Donovan’s agenda was shaped by his mistaken belief. One would think so; if 14% of Rutland’s newborns were drug addicts, drastic measures would be justified. If the real figure is less than 1%, then there’s a lot less urgency to the issue. Donovan, in admitting his mistake, said “It’s been corrected. We’re moving on.”

“Moving on” with a platform based on a vastly overinflated statistic? Is your approach to the issue really the same, whether the actual figure is 1% or 14%? Hard to believe.

One more purely political note: Rutland’s real-life statistic is actually lower than the state’s as a whole. Do you think Donovan cost himself a few votes down Rutland way, with his baseless characterization of the city as a breeding ground for crack babies?  

It’s been a while since Fukushima last made front-page news, but that is only because there have been no positive developments in that arena; and the negatives continue to plague industry spin-doctors.

Fukushima remains a menacing cypher, even though there have been press reports that there will be an attempt to remove spent fuel rods from Unit 4 before the end of the year.  

With multiple reactors in various states of cooldown and collapse, the focus has blurred somewhat.  News of collateral radiation impacts is constantly being “managed” by the industry and  NRC, who are determined not to sour Americans on nuclear.

Fukushima has just become too big and complex a mess for the relatively short attention span of American media.  Most people over here are okay with that.  They’ve heard enough and simply choose to believe the least disturbing prognosis; the one with the least  potential to impact their own lives.

But that is no reflection of the true exigency of unfolding events around Fukushima; and the people of Japan remain vigilantly engaged over the future of nuclear energy use in the island nation.

The urgency of the situation at Unit 4 (see Fairewinds video below) is due in part to the degraded structure of the building which has resulted in loss of containment; and to the fact that #4 holds  the largest quantity and the “hotest” (most recently used) spent fuel.  

Add to that the location of the spent fuel, which is above the reactor, where it is most vulnerable, and the complicating factor that Tepco has never been able to resolve the problem of maintaining the level of cooling water in the pool;  and you have what amounts to a ticking time-bomb.  A single seismic event  could potentially result in a fuel fire that would jettison highly radioactive material all over much of Japan and beyond.

Fukushima Daiichi: The Truth and the Future from Fairewinds Energy Education on Vimeo.

In Fairewinds newest video, “Fukushima Daiichi: The Truth and the Future,” Maggie & Arnie Gundersen explain that all of the above-ground testing from the 1940’s to the 1970’s didn’t release as much radioactive cesium into the atmosphere as will be released should the spent fuel in Unit 4 catch fire and explode nuclear material into the atmosphere. If this should happen, depending upon the prevailing winds, the city of Tokyo might have to be evacuated.

The concentration of population and limited escape routes make such an evacuation almost unthinkable.  Beyond Tokyo, all of Japan and even the rest of the world would experience significant radioactive distributions that would most certainly represent a high risk to all living things.

Fairewinds has been invited to show this video at the Tokyo Peace Film Festival on June 30, 2012.  It urges the Japanese people not to buckle to industry urging to restart Japan’s nuclear program.

Pointing out that the cost of the Fukushima accident to the people of Japan will run to half-a-trillion dollars, Fairewinds’ Arne Gundersen says that nuclear no more represents an affordable energy future for the country than it does an environmentally safe one.  Instead, Japan could use this opportunity to begin down the path to becoming a world leader in the technology of smaller clean energy distribution systems located all over the country.

Gundersen says it is time to abandon the twentieth century mindset that could only see a single way to deal with the country’s energy needs, by concentrating all energy distribution from a few huge nuclear facilities located on the vulnerable perimeters of the islands.  It was the very scale of the Fukushima operation, with multiple reactors on a single site, that compounded the crisis for that region of Japan.

Who says I’m not doing my job?

I’m working on crime every day.

Murders, missing people and the drug mobs?

I’m going to solve it all this way:

The people who abuse the elderly,

the disabled, the immigrant workers and the gays;

these are people who drink too much Pepsi;

all that sugar is CRIMINAL I say.

Missing women and couples and children?

And unsolved murders and taser deaths?

It’s all related to sugary drinks.

Serial killers drink Pepsi I bet.

I’m your fighting Attorney General.

My staff has been working for years*

on the relation of major crime to soft drinks;

it’s all that sugar that does it I fear.

Now, I’ll ask my opponent, TJ Donovan:

“Are you soft on all those soft drinks?

Cause you’re on a kick now about marihuana,

And Pot leads to soft drinks, the hard stuff, I think.”

And so it is not the place of my office

to advocate for decriminalizing Pot;

cause people get stoned and drink and eat sweets,

and then kill and abuse the elderly and children a lot.

I’m your fighting Attorney General.

I busted the tobacco cartels.

And I’m going back after Vermont Yankee,

And if I loose again, well…what the Hell.

Cause I’ll be making it safe for Vermonters

who don’t want sugar to take over the streets;

and murderers and drug gangs from Mass better beware,

we’ll taser you criminals on sweets.

Peter Buknatski

(SORRELL MUST GO!)

Montpelier, Vt.

*Sorrell’s office confirmed that these records exist but, because they are public records that may aid criminal elements in their knowledge of how close the Vermont Attorney General’s office is to issuing warrants and making arrests in its WAR ON SWEETS, these records are NOT for public or media access.  “Get over this access to public records shit,”  Sorrell’s spokesperson told me.  “What?  Are you high on Coke?  A Cola?”

 (cross posted at DailyKos)

I am often asked and answer honestly that no, I am not a musician, an artist, a math or puzzle geek, or a writer.  Julie and I shared a love of birds and nature, a fierce passion for lefty politics and causes, a quirky sense of humor, a love of healthy, local, and delicious vegetarian cooking, complete dedication to our various animal family members, and a deep commitment to one another. I have never written a diary here and this may be the one and only.  I wrote this for her and for all our friends with MG and other rare diseases.  

(thank you Kestrel, for encouraging me to share this here and for helping with the picture)

Myasthenia Gravis Awareness Month, day 30

I woke up this morning knowing that I wanted to end this month by sharing some of our story, Julie’s story, with you all. I have discovered two things – first, that I really want to write it all out, and second, that it will take longer for me to do what I want/need to do. For today let me share this summary

Julie started experiencing symptoms in May 2011. She was diagnosed in late June. we were relieved it was not a brain tumor, relieved that it was something that could be managed and that wouldn’t interfere with her life too much. It would be several months before we realized just how wrong that assessment was.

Between 9/2011 and 4/2012 she was hospitalized 9 times and spent around 80 days in the hospital. She had 4 surgical procedures, 3 IVIG treatments (5 days each), 19 plasma exchanges (more in one stretch than anyone we know), got a feeding tube to eat, could not speak clearly for months, was placed on immune suppressant drugs, experienced regular episodes of aspiration for 4 months, and ultimately had heart failure. The weekend she died her heart stopped three times and her lungs stopped working. We never saw it coming. If that’s not clear enough, no one ever told us what to watch for in this situation.

She was unable to bird, to play guitar, to exercise, eat or drink, or go to the job she loved. We fought doctors on a regular basis. Doctors who prescribed the wrong drugs, doctors who didn’t know anything about MG, doctors who had tunnel vision and saw only the symptoms they expected to see but not the other problems she was having, doctors who thought they should never be questioned by mere patients.

We spent all of our savings. I stopped working to provide the hourly support and care she needed to be home. We spent Christmas, New Year’s Day, Valentine’s Day, and Easter in the hospital.

She learned to compose music using Garage Band and released another CD. She wrote about her experiences. She continued teaching her online course. She took a few amazing photographs. She cheered me on every day and helped me help her. not a day went by without her telling me that she loved me and making sure I knew how appreciated I was. If it was about attitude and desire she would have beaten this thing.

Julie was a brilliant, talented, creative, generous, funny, quirky, and very loving person. I feel so lucky and honored to have shared part of her life. MG took away her energy, her mobility, her independence and ultimately her life, but it never took those other things away. She loved life and wanted to live more than anyone I’ve ever known. Her joy and humor still surround me every day.

(cross-posted to Vermont Watch, here)

As you might have already heard of or read about (including, here), this past Wednesday (June 27, 2012), mental health and civil rights advocates held a press conference in the Cedar Creek Room at the Vermont State House in Montpelier to call for a moratorium on the use of Tasers by law enforcement across the state until certain statewide, state-approved, standardized policies as well as more extensive training are put in place that has grown apparent are currently found to be seriously lacking.

View the archived video of the press conference (via YouTube, via vtdigger), here.

Read the statement, which goes into great detail about why the moratorium is being call for and is sorely needed (via Google Docs), here.

For his part, when asked by reporters about it that very afternoon during a press conference he was holding, Governor Peter Shumlin outright rejected the need for a moratorium and staunchly defended the use of Tasers by law enforcement.

View the archived video of Governor Shumlin’s comments, relating to Tasers as well as the advocates call for a moratorium on the use of them, provided in response to questions posed by reporters during that particular news conference (via YouTube), here.

After having sat in on the afternoon press conference and listening to Governor Shumlin’s stance concerning these matters as well as his reasons for the same, it came to mind to consider setting up and creating an online petition much along the lines of what the advocates’ statement is calling to be set in place.

Have since created the petition and it is available (via SignOn), here.

If you agree with the online petition, please consider signing onto it.

In addition, feel free to share the petition with others whom you believe might be inclined to sign onto it as well, most particularly anyone living or working within Vermont.

If, however, you are inclined to do more than signing the petition and sharing word about it with others, consider also contacting Governor Shumlin directly on the subject (if you do however, please be brief and to the point as well as, most importantly, polite and civil as possible), here.

It could also prove helpful to consider contacting your local state legislators as well as writing and submitting a letter to the editor to both your local weekly or daily newspaper as well as, if it is not the same publication, one or more of the statewide dailies.

The Vermont Advocacy Resource Toolkit, which I set up a while back for such purposes, might be useful in doing so.

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Caroline Bright is one of two Democratic candidates for the Vermont Senate from Franklin County.  The recent St. Mike’s graduate has dreamt of serving in the Legislature since she was a girl.  Now, with former Democratic senator Don Collins and three Repubs, she finds herself in the thick of a hotly contested race for the two available seats.  

I thought I’d take the opportunity to get to know this poised and goal-oriented young woman, as she is likely to figure significantly in the political future of Franklin County.   So I asked her to sit down with me over a cup of coffee at Cosmic Bakery in St. Albans.  

I had read her bio and general Democratic profile on the campaign website, but I wanted to know more about her views on topics that are important to the folks around here.

It was a pleasant surprise to find that Caroline has depth beyond her tender years, and the self-confidence that would enable her to make an impression in the statehouse on behalf of her constituents.  She comes to the table well-grounded in the complex world of politics and public policy, having majored in Political Science and minored in those twin disciplines that underly most modern conflict, History and Religious Studies.  

One of the driving motives that brought her into this campaign is the need she sees to balance the legislature with more female voices.  Women’s perspective, she believes, is essential and decidedly different when it comes to many issues that tend to impact their lives more substantially than their male counterparts.  The lack of equal representation is one flaw that she sees in our citizen legislature, which she otherwise praises for its accessibility and relevance.

Throughout the early weeks of the campaign, Caroline has repeatedly emphasized her particular interest in the future of diversified agriculture and educational opportunity, both of which she feels represent essential cornerstones in the ability of Franklin County to prosper.  In addition, she sees expanded technology opportunities as vital to the creation and retention of quality jobs for Franklin County residents.

I ran a bunch of topics past her and here’s what she had to say:

Education; The young candidate feels uniquely positioned to speak to the challenges facing young people in obtaining the education necessary to make their way in life.

She believes that quality education, including access to institutions of higher learning (college, tech and trade schools) should be a priority for the state and for the country; but that  we should be looking for efficiencies to improve delivery of education to the broadest possible population at a manageable cost.  

She is very much in favor of advancing distance-learning opportunities for rural communities, so that gifted high-school students can have access to  A.P. courses and other forms of enrichment learning that are not currently supportable on a local basis.

If we don’t have an educated population, and that includes skilled technical education, there is no economic future for the state or the country.  

Caroline brings an interesting and valid perspective to this conversation, as someone who grew up in a rural community she finds herself supporting school choice, not for the nation as a whole, but for the unique challenges of this rural state.

She sees increased distance learning opportunities as a possible way to achieve some of the benefits of school choice without the drawbacks.

She says we have to find a way to bring down the cost of higher education for Vermonters.

Diversified agriculture:  Caroline sees a lot of potential in diversified crops and animal farming.  She mentioned particularly the opportunities in goat-farming, artisan cheeses, and forestry.  She knows the value of a vibrant working landscape.  Her grandfather was a county ag agent and she knows well the importance of maple and dairying as traditional Franklin County industries.  It is important that we

     

Develop safely, sustainably and reasonably.

Vermont GMO labelling:  She says that consumers have the right to know what is in the food they buy to feed their families.

On  water issues: She believes that everyone has a role to play in protecting the lake from further degradation; that everyone in Franklin County is a “stakeholder;” and that every party must have a seat at the table in order to have a successful outcome.  She knows the struggle farmers are facing to control phosphorus and is encouraged that more are becoming actively engaged in that effort.

On the loss of young people from the state:  Caroline says that a decline in youthful populations is being experienced across the country, so Vermont is not unique in facing that challenge.   She believes we need to continue to create new opportunites in technical industries and to attract quality jobs  to the area.  

However, she also sees opportunities and new markets in the shifting demographics.  Northwestern Medical Center represents one of those local growth industries that has recognized and begun to reach the aging client base with services related to preventative care, education and outreach.  

Again, she says the appropriate response to a changing market is to be nimble and diversify.

She feels that one of the key factors in attracting a young workforce is to demonstrate how valued their voices are by electing some younger representatives, like herself, to the State House.

About “Trickledown” economics:  She observes that it may be an appealing idea but has been demonstrated to be lacking in effectiveness.  She says that while she is not a tax expert, the beauty of serving in a citizen-based legislature is that it brings on board individuals with diverse skill sets and she looks forward to learning a great deal from her colleagues in the senate.  

In her view, it is most important to keep an open mind and listen to different arguments; and she she sees that working more effectively in Vermont than on the national stage.

She believes that people choose to live in Vermont for a lot of reasons, not just economics.  She is in favor of offering tax incentives when the state wishes to keep employers in Vermont, but does not like the “scare tactic” of suggesting that businesses will shut down operation in the state unless they are given unfair advantages.

One of the interesting things she said was that she has been thinking about the other senate candidates from Franklin County, as she has met and gotten acquainted with them.  Because there are two open seats, she is thinking about each one and how she might work best in a team with each one so as to bring about the best representation for Franklin County.  I am reasonably sure that she is the only candidate who has taken that perspective, but it couldn’t hurt any of them to do so.

We touched on a lot of other things, but my overarching impression is that Caroline will be a force to reckon with in Franklin County politics and beyond.  One of the things that carried Peter Shumlin to the governor’s seat was his energetic, confident personality and ability to overlay an argument with compelling passion.  Caroline is at the very start of her career, but I see signs of the same drive and nascent political confidence developing in her.

This may be her first rodeo, but it certainly won’t be her last.

TitanicCare! According to Brock’s response to the Supreme Court upholding the ACA (Obamacare):

Today’s Supreme Court decision only postpones the day of reckoning for Governor Shumlin’s TitanicCare health care law.  Federal dollars can now temporarily plug the huge holes the Governor’s plan will generate in Vermont’s budget.  Let’s be frank about this: TitanicCare is doomed to sink and take all of us with it.  It’s just going to sink a teeny bit slower with this subsidy and nobody, not even Governor Shumlin, believes the subsidy will last forever.

The Titanic analogy would be spot on if we applied it to the current health care payment system. My version goes like this, the ship hit an Iceberg and there are a lot of rich and relatively well off middle class folks in life boats. A lot of them took pity on the really poor and gave them MedicAid and the elderly are in the somewhat nicer MediCare boats. Unfortunately all of us healthy folks who make some money but not enough to buy our own full coverage are treading water praying we don’t drown or fall asleep before the rescue boats arrive. Meanwhile Randy Brock and his people are comfy in their lifeboats, using their radios to tell everyone “Hey, it’s going to be too expensive to make sure EVERYBODY gets a seat in a boat, then we’ll all drown!” He’s tossing me a life preserver labeled “high deductible plan” and I, like Jack, have my wife and my kid up on the thing (precariously, but safe for now) while I freeze in the water…  

( – promoted by Sue Prent)

People Pedal Independence From Entergy During July 1st Rally & Action

On July 1 the people of the tri-state community will show their resolve and a commitment to a clean energy future.  This is a commitment to rid ourselves of a corporation that holds itself above the laws of the state of Vermont.   “We will gain our independence from this untrustworthy corporation.  Citizens will return again and again until Entergy shuts down and safely decommissions Vermont Yankee,” said Deb Katz, Executive Director of the Citizens Awareness Network.

People from across Vermont, Massachusetts and New Hampshire will declare independence from the Entergy Corporation (ENR) during a July 1st rally and non-violent act of civil disobedience.  Organizers plan a 10:00 AM rally with short speeches and performance taking place at the Brattleboro Common, Brattleboro, VT.  This will be followed by a bicycle procession to Vernon, VT and nonviolent direct action at the gates of the Vermont Yankee nuclear reactor. Those unable to bike from Brattleboro will be taken by bus to Vernon. Participants risking arrest will be trained in nonviolence and part of an affinity group.

“Citizens are declaring their independence from Entergy and its systemically mismanaged reactor.  The state of Vermont has already replaced the power that Vermont Yankee provided,” said  Debra Stoleroff of the Vermont Yankee Decommissioning Alliance  “We must aggressively move away from polluting forms of energy use and towards efficiency, conservation and renewable solutions.   We must hold this corporation accountable for its leaks, lies, arrogance and waste.”

As the Entergy vs. the State of Vermont case winds its way through the courts and the Public Service Board opens a new hearing on whether Entergy can receive a CPG from the state, Vermont Yankee continues to operate at reduced power due to reliability and deferred maintenance issues.  “While Entergy wields its temporary power in court, citizens will continue to demonstrate our actual power on the streets. We are not going away until Entergy closes up and cleans up,” said Bob Bady of the Safe & Green Campaign.

We intend to provide Entergy with a going away present at the gates of Vermont Yankee. This will include an elaborate presentation of a 14′ x 8′ Trojan Cow weighing 600 lbs, designed by Vermont sculptor Ria Blaas.

“As a declaration of our independence from Entergy Corp, a ‘gift’ will be given to signify our moving on.  Entergy Vermont Yankee is no longer relevant,” said Katz.

Organized by the SAGE Alliance. For details and updates, go to www.sagealliance.net or www.facebook/shutdownvermontyankee

 

With gratitude to Camper Van Beethoven:

Where, where the hell is Bill?

Where, where the hell is Bill?

I thought it was time to check in on Vermont’s self-designated Prophet of Prosperity, Bruce Lisman. He of the “nonpartisan” Campaign for Vermont, the advocacy group that’s spent at least a quarter-million of Bruce’s Bear Stearns Bucks slamming the Democratic agenda and promoting conservative talking points. When last we checked in on Bruce, he was littering the airwaves with advertising and spreading his gospel through opinion pieces in various media outlets.

(What he wasn’t doing much of, at all, was engaging in dialogue — the supposed raison d’être of CFV. As Doug Hoffer recently pointed out on this site, virtually all of Lisman’s communication is one-way and pre-produced. He may be promoting dialogue, but he’s been conducting a months-long, self-funded monologue.)

Anyway, I visited the CFV website, and was rather surprised to see that Bruce hasn’t been doing much of anything lately. The CFV site is almost as sleepy as Vermont Tiger, in fact.

After the jump: The absence of Bruce, and possible explanations.

There is one new listing under “LATEST NEWS.” It’s for a June 26 talk by Lisman at the Brattleboro Chamber of Commerce. (CFV doesn’t offer any audio, and I would looove to hear a recording of that speech. Lisman’s speeches reveal much more of his true agenda than his sanitized radio ads. Anyone out there sneak into the BCoC with a recorder?)

Otherwise, meh. There’s only one other June listing in “LATEST NEWS,” and it’s just a note that one of CFV’s partners, Richard Pembroke, Sr., had published an opinion piece in the Manchester Journal and on, ahem, True North Reports, that nonpartisan beacon of truth.

Before that, the “latest news” is from May 11, for goodness’ sake. And that’s just a note about an opinion piece by another CFV partner. Sad.

Click on “RESOURCES,” and you see nothing much. Pembroke’s opinion piece is the only entry more recent than May 10. Under “Press Releases,” the most recent is May 1 — CFV’s lament over the legislature’s failure to act on Lisman’s agenda. No “news” at all in two months of campaign season?

The CFV website doesn’t list any radio ads newer than April. And I have to say, it’s been a while since I heard one of its ads on WDEV. (From Thanksgiving through most of this spring, CFV was buying a dozen ads per day on WDEV, and spending just as heavily elsewhere.)

And under “Interviews,” nothing since Lisman’s epic March 14 appearance on VPR. Yup, really engaging in that dialogue he treasures so much.

So we must ask the musical question: with the exception of his popup in Brattleboro, Where the Hell is Bruce? After several months of ubiquity, why has CFV gotten so sleepy? I can think of a few possible explanations:

Short Attention Span Bruce. CFV was a shiny new toy, but after a while he got bored with the whole tedious “trying to influence the political process” thing. Maybe he bought Bob Stiller’s yacht.

Thin-skinned Bruce. He’s taken a fair bit of heat, much of it from Your Friendly Neighborhood GMD. Probably a tough thing for a longtime Wall Street baron: he returns to the land of his humble upbringing to bestow his wisdom to the unwashed, only to become the target of our spitwads and paper planes. Where’s the gratitude? The bowing before the throne, the kissing of the ring?

Please-Go-Away Bruce. Perhaps the returns on his winter/spring barrage were disappointingly small. How many people actually joined CFV, or responded to his tsunami of advertising? CFV might have made the same discovery as Americans Elect: that a bottomless wallet doesn’t help you sell a pig-in-a-poke.

Bruce 2.0. Having established CFV through a high-profile media campaign, maybe Bruce has switched to a quieter grass-roots effort to organize a true political movement.

….Naaaaah.

Snake in the Grass Bruce. He might have decided that spending over $200,000 before April 1 was a waste of money, since hardly anybody was paying attention to politics back then. (We were, of course, but we’re sick little puppies with no social life.) It could be that he decided to pull back for a while, and launch a second offensive this fall.

My money’s on Snake, but it’s too soon to tell. We’ll get some evidence on July 25, when lobbying groups have to turn in their spending reports. After that, if Bruce and CFV start popping up around Labor Day, then we’ll know he’s been saving his ammunition. If not, then perhaps Bruce will soon be nothing but a fond memory of yet another rich man trying (and failing) to co-opt Vemront’s political process.