Vermont’s Democrats apparently know where they’re going and why, if today’s no-drama, no-shenanigans nominating convention is an indicator.

After a predictable speech by the venerable Senator Leahy, and the assumption of duties as convention chair by Jake Perkinson, the first order of business was a motion, submitted by yours truly:

National Marriage Equality Resolution

WHEREAS: Gender equality is one of the most significant moral and legal issues of the 21st Century; and,

WHEREAS: The Vermont Democratic Party has unequivocally endorsed and supported equality in all aspects of American life;

NOW THEREFORE: Be it resolved by the Vermont Democratic Party, in convention this 26th day of May 2012

FIRST: That the platform of the Vermont Democratic Party and the platform of the National Democratic Party should endorse unqualified support for marriage equality under civil law for same-gender couples; and,

SECOND: That all delegates selected to represent the Vermont Democratic Party within Vermont’s borders or beyond, in state or national conventions or meetings, are directed to fully support as a matter of policy the inclusion in the National Democratic Party’s Platform a plank committing the Party to the complete and immediate implementation of gender equality and equal treatment for same-gender couples under state and federal law.

It passed by acclamation. Which is as it should be for Democrats and Vermonters.

It commits the slate of two dozen national convention delegates from Vermont elected today, and another handful of 15 so-called “At-Large and PLEO delegates,” or what used to be called “super-delegates” (and 2 alternates), to support a national marriage equality plank in the platform. PLEO stands for “Political Leaders and Elected Officials.”

Passage without comment or amendment was not necessarily a no-brainer, given Jake’s abrupt about-face on this issue on May 4, followed by an announcement of his personal gratification a week later when the President decided he’d “evolved” enough.

It went well.* Even if it’s a symbolic gesture because likely no Vermont delegates will be on the Platform Committee, it’s good that the VDP is now on record supporting a national marriage equality plank.

*Addendum: To be fair, one reason the motion was accepted and passed without objection (“went well”) was that Chair Jake Perkinson facilitated its passage. By report from a couple of sources, he announced in a VDP staff meeting the week before the convention that he supported the resolution and wanted it to pass. He was cooperative and consulted with me on the best time to bring the motion and whether passing by acclamation was an acceptable process and outcome (um, yeah).

There’s been some discussion of what our top statewide office-holders get paid and whether or not they should continue to tighten their belts while the economy struggles.  It’s a legitimate conversation because these are folks who make a fairly decent,  if not necessarily extravagant, wage.

I’m going to go way out on a limb and say that I think state legislators should be paid more rather than less, especially in these challenging times.  I’m not talking big-bucks here, just the equivalent of what minimum wage would yield for fifty-two weeks of uninterrupted employment.  At $8.46 per hour X 40 hours X 52 weeks, that comes to $17,596.80.  Raise mileage reimbursements somewhat, and eliminate meal and room allowances; but pay them that minimum amount…and link the expectation of pay to compulsory attendance and compliance with rules, as would be the case for any private sector job.

Current compensation is such that few people can really afford to consider running for a seat unless they either have personal wealth to fall back on, a spouse with a nice income, or high hopes of turning their political influence into opportunity or cash at some time in the not-so-distant future.  That is the unvarnished reality.

How many job situations will tolerate a four month mid-winter absence every year?  And how many families can make ends meet without two incomes?

I’m not saying there is any realistic expectation that Vermont will ever find a way to make service in the legislature a job with a real income.  I’m just saying that we must be cognizant of the limitations this situation places on competent people’s ability to serve.

The reason this resonates particularly with me right now is because, in Franklin County, both of our sitting senators are stepping down this year.  With two open seats, the pickings are rather slim.

Like many others, I have been wracking my brain to come up with possible candidates.  The Republican contenders are predictably abysmal, but that won’t preclude them from winning if Democrats and/or Progressives can’t provide a viable slate of senatorial contestants of their own.  So far the only two who have come forward for the Dems are a very senior former senator, who perhaps should be allowed to remain in retirement; and a twenty-one-year-old who has never even run for local office.

It is not my intention to denigrate the only two willing Democratic candidates; but it would seem that we are not really optimizing our possibilities.

There are probably many intelligent, capable citizens in Franklin County who could bring fresh perspectives and new skill-sets to our citizen legislature.  Some are disqualified by virtue of government employment; but for many, the rigors of campaigning, coupled with loss of income from a year-round job, are simply more than their families can absorb.  So, we find ourselves having to choose not from amongst the best and brightest, but rather from those with the unusual set of circumstances or ambitions that make a run for office a viable option.

With the economy in trouble those constraints on service only become more pronounced.

And that is a real shame.

 Looks like Entergy Vermont Yankee will have an atomic companion to grow old(er) with. Friday before the long holiday weekend it was announced that Entergy’s Pilgrim Nuclear Power station would be granted a 20 year operating license extension by the NRC. This comes over the objections of the Governor of Massachusetts, Attorney General Martha Coakley and a dissenting vote form outgoing NRC Chairman Gregory Jazcko.

AG Coakley had cited what she said were unaddressed safety concerns raised by the accident at the Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear plant following the earthquake and tsunami in Japan last year. She noted Pilgrim's method of storing spent fuel rods was the same method used by Fukishma.

Chairman Jazcko had recommended a delay while various issues regarding Pilgrim’s operation were still under review. Among the concerns are plant security, possible damage to certain fish species and over the past year Pilgrim was shut down three times for safety issues and placed on additional NRC oversight.

However the NRC can always keep em runin’ for Entergy

The NRC said if the license renewal were to be put aside on appeal, Pilgrim's previous license would be reinstated and the plant could continue to operate pending the final outcome of any appeal.

It’s quite simple- heads they win, tails we lose.  

(With apologies &/or gratitude to Dan Hicks and His Hot Licks.)

Did anybody ask for this?

Former Burlington Mayor Bob Kiss hopes to move to a new political arena – the state senate.

Mere months after the ignominious end of his mayoralty, Bob Kiss apparently believes it’s time to get back on the horse. He either has a big set of cojones or a bad case of cluelessness. Or possibly both.

He said he sees his political experience – six years in the Vermont House and then six as Burlington’s mayor – as an asset to his candidacy.

He’s one of a select few who would see the last six years as a political asset. To be fair, I don’t know Bob Kiss, and as a Montpelier resident, I follow Burlington politics at a distance. But my sense is that he’s a nice guy who made a lot of mistakes as mayor, had little to no support at the end, and left office because the writing was on the wall. His misadventures were — and are — a significant handicap for the Progressive Party, and helped sink the city’s IRV system. Doesn’t sound like an asset to me.

On top of all that political baggage, Kiss would also face stiff competition for Chittenden County’s six Senate seats. Five incumbents are in the race; Burlington City Councilor Ed Adrian is in the running, and former State Rep. David Zuckerman is mulling a bid.

But for Bob Kiss, it’s full speed ahead.

“People have had a chance to review and consider the work I have already done,” he said.

Yes, I’d say that’s true. But I don’t think it helps.  

(For those not here to enjoy the fest.)

beckoning green

mirrored in the water

with skipping stones

that ripple frost’s final end

butterflies and birds

settle in the budding field

your sleepy head content

to nod that all is well

for the three day weekend

of Spring has come

once again like a stranger

to all gloom and doom

yet far away a band plays

the recollection tunes

of forgotten days

forgotten lives

why you ask can sorrow

cast itself now shading

the view of even better days

with death’s cold shadow?

because it is here now

where it all began

where tiny beasts dutifully

dig their little graves

where parades and tributes

turn holidays into blood

the shrieks of little children

becoming battlefields’ distant calls

where you have lifted up

your nodding head in knowing

this weekend’s sunny scene

was paid for over and over

and over again

Peter Buknatski

Montpelier, Vt.

I seem to remember that Governor Jim Douglas, while still in office jokingly, threatened to write an autobiography. Well it seems he has followed through on it. A teaser article for the autobiography which will be published before the end of this year can be found in the Addison County Independent. The theme of the book is reported to be “How can a Republican succeed in Vermont?”  He might consider rushing an advance copy to fellow Republican, gubernatorial candidate Randy Brock to use as an instruction manual.  

The book will focus on the 61 year old Douglas’ 40 years in Vermont politics and provide his thoughts on familiar Vermont political luminaries Jim Jeffords, Howard Dean and Bernie Sanders and a smattering of national figures including George W. Bush and President Obama.  

Those who might have pigeonholed Douglas during his political tenure as a demure, perfunctory chief executive might be in for a jolt when his book is released later this year.

“I offer some candid, but not libelous, thoughts on some people,” Douglas said.

“My thoughts on some nationally known people may be surprising to people.”

And while he declined to share specifics at this point, he did say his impressions and criticisms will involve politicians on both sides of the aisle.

Few Vermonters familiar with the former Governor would think he might author a modern Washington style tell all, but does the  tagline “candid, but not libelous”  really promise a jolt let alone much of a buzz ?

Douglas’ worn-out themes, disappointment.  

 Disappointments and some well worn themes that Douglas found reliable  over the years are also mentioned. These would be his failure to stem  the supposed exodus of Vermont’s young, partisan bickering and his 2009  veto of marriage equality legislation which was overridden by the  legislature .About that disappointment Douglas says he does not have  second thoughts.

“There was no right that gay couples had under the civil union law that  was enhanced under the marriage law,” Douglas said. “It was really a  matter of nomenclature and a distinction I felt was worth preserving.”

I wondered, as others may, if this book might hint at the future for the  relatively young 61 year old Douglas. Perhaps he is considering a run  for a US Senate seat or something, but he reportedly has no interest in  rekindling his political career.

“I really don’t anticipate running for  office again.”

Just as well because the Jim Douglas in this article, and  probably the one in the book seem to have no intention of evolving. How did this Republican succeed in Vermont?

The story came out Monday on Vermont Public Radio:

The Vermont Yankee nuclear plant is not needed for the stability of the New England electric grid, according to grid operator ISO New England.

Just last year, ISO had said Vermont Yankee was needed to ensure the stability of the region’s power grid.

Now ISO says transmission upgrades and new generation means that Yankee is no longer needed to maintain grid reliability.

Which, as the Conservation Law Foundation’s Sandra Levine noted, undercuts the main argument for continued VY operation.

“The lights will stay on, the electricity will keep flowing, and we will continue to have more than adequate power supply without Vermont Yankee,” she said.

Since Monday, the story has kind of slowly piddled out in the Vermont news media.  

This would seem like a fairly dramatic development in the Yankee saga. But aside from the VPR report, it’s gotten short shrift in the state’s media. The Associated Press issued a very brief article, obviously cribbed from the VPR account. The Burlington Free Press’ only coverage, as far as I can tell, is that very brief AP account.

The Brattleboro Reformer buried the ISO pronouncement in an article about last night’s public meeting with representatives of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.

(The Reformer says that ISO made the announcement on Wednesday. Which is curious, since VPR reported it two days earlier  

This might be a media conspiracy to downplay the story, but I don’t think so. As a veteran of the biz, I suspect that the real reason is simple competitiveness. News sources hate to follow up on stories broken elsewhere. They have to credit the original source, and they have to spend time and effort basically catching up with someone else. The result — worthwhile stories getting underplayed — is a disservice to us all, but it’s just the way self-interested organizations and human beings tend to work.  

A priceless story posted by the Freeps’ Terri Hallenbeck on vt.Buzz today. It’s about Governor Shumlin’s star turn at the Vermont Chamber of Commerce’s Business Expo.

Shumlin talked up Vermont’s rebounding economy, implicitly giving himself credit. “There’s a vibrancy about Vermont’s business climate right now… Today, we have lots of good things happening.”

Standing next to him was Chamber President Betsy Bishop, a former top aide to Jim Douglas. And Shumlin happily referred to an earlier talk by Mike Smith, formerly of the Douglas Administration and now at FairPoint; Smith had also highlighted the rebounding economy.

When asked about this, Bishop argued that Vermont’s turnaround began under Douglas and has merely continued under Shumlin.

Shumlin got to give a speech because, well, he’s the Governor and all. His challenger, not so much:  

Out in the halls of the business expo, Shumlin’s election opponent, Republican Randy Brock, was networking. One of his goals in the 2012 election will be to persuade voters that Shumlin is out-and-out bad for business.

…Brock will have a tougher argument to make if the economy really does keep turning around and if every every time he turns around, former Douglas aides are standing by Shumlin.

Heh, heh. Yeah.  

Anyone who knows me is aware that my number one gripe about process concerns conflicts of interest. They proliferate unchecked at all levels of officialdom, largely because there are insufficient definitions and next to no penalties for violators.

I therefore attach great signifcance to the efforts by Sen. Bernie Sanders and his Democratic co-sponsors (California Senator Barbara Boxer and Mark Begich of Alaska) to pass a law prohibiting industry executives from being directors of any of the twelve Federal Reserve banks.

A Government Accountability Office audit – conducted pursuant to a Sanders provision in the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform law – found that allowing members of the banking industry to both elect and serve on the Federal Reserve’s board of directors creates “an appearance of a conflict of interest” and poses “reputational risks” to the Federal Reserve System.

This might seem obvious to anyone who would think twice about hiring a real estate agent to inspect a house they were considering buying through that agent; but apparently the concept is difficult for many holders of public office to fully embrace.

“It is a blatant conflict of interest for Jamie Dimon, the CEO and chairman of JPMorgan Chase, to serve on the New York Fed’s board of directors,” Sanders said. “If this is not a clear example of the fox guarding the henhouse, I don’t know what is.”

Let’s see this same push to eliminate conflicts of interest all over the place.

So I’ve been consistently and harshly critical of the Randy Brock campaign. The lackluster start, the invisibility throughout the legislative session*, the missed opportunities, the minimal online presence, and the prefab Spampaign that launched a few days ago.

*Yes, I know it’s a Vermont tradition to begin campaigns after the Legislature adjourns, but (1) it’s an antiquated notion, (2) it’s more honored in the breach than the observance, (3) there are ways around it even if you want to publicly honor it, and (4) Remember Gaye Symington. If you’re going against a powerful incumbent, don’t wait until May.

Okay, wise guy, you may well say. If Randy Brock’s campaign has been a laughable series of missteps, then what would you do?

Here’s my strategy: Go all out, go all in. Hold nothing back, release the Kraken if you’ve got one. Bound For Glory Or Bound For Hell. This strategy requires a candidate willing to take chances and defy conventional wisdom. It also requires a candidate with a personality. Oh well, let’s spin this out anyway…  

— Fire the damn out-of-state consultants. They’re wasting your money on slick but inauthentic material.

— Stop the generic attacks on Shumlin, and identify targeted attacks that have a chance to stick.

— Drop the Titanicare weaksauce. Call it Shummycare. (With apologies to the Estate of Peter Freyne.) Put it all at Shumlin’s feet, and make it personal.  Heck, keep calling him Shummy, he might get mad and make some mistakes.

— Don’t call him “the most liberal Governor in history”; that doesn’t resonate. Go for Shumlin’s real negatives: his narcissism, his unilateral style, his bombast, his occasional screwing-over of his allies, his obvious ambitions for higher office, his cozy relationships with big corporations. (That’s where the $21 million CVPS deal can fit into a larger narrative.)  And yes, you can be a Republican and attack a Democrat for corporate ties; it’s called conservative Populism, and whether or not it makes sense as a political philosophy, it can resonate with many voters.

— Stop with the over-exaggerated “Brink of disaster” stuff. Nobody believes it, except the real hardliners. Effective attacks have to be at least somewhat plausible.

— Talk to independents, moderates, and even liberals. Find out what they want in a Governor, and find ways to tie that to your strengths. And identify issues that might help you pull away potential Shumlin voters, even if they aren’t “core Republican” issues.

— From those conversations, give people some positive reasons to vote for you. Specifically you, not just some generic Republican parroting the usual Republican talking points.

(The preceding two ought to have been done months ago, sometime last year. But it’s not too late.)

— Schedule as many joint appearances as you can with Phil Scott, the only VT Republican with proven broad appeal and credibility.  

— Be creative about campaign appearances. But whatever you do, don’t do it halfway; authentically enjoy whatever you’re doing, whether you’re good at it or not. The only thing you can’t be is stiff and inauthentic. If you can’t milk a cow without looking like Calvin Coolidge, then don’t milk a damn cow. Go to places where you’re comfortable enough to come across as real. (Maybe that means going to Dealer.com and talking high-tech.)

— Stop defending Vermont Yankee. There’s a sizable majority who either don’t like nuclear power or don’t trust Entergy. Mindlessly defending VY is a vote-loser, and it overshadows the rest of your energy pitch (such as it is). Here’s a viable, and Republican, alternative: “I want Vermont Yankee to be part of our energy mix if it can be operated responsibly and if the decommissioning fund is replenished.”

— Do your own radio ads. Start with your own ideas (assuming that you do have some) and work with a radio pro (there’s lots of ’em looking to make a few extra bucks) to write good scripts and help you read them effectively.

— Same with the TV ads. Get a local videographer, or even a good amateur, and let them be a little rough-edged.  

— Dump the “bears in the woods” spot and, if you think it’ll help bring Shumlin down a peg, do a fresh commercial emphasizing the ridiculousness of the whole bird-feeder escapade, and Shumlin’s cluelessness for repeatedly bragging about that really stupid thing he did.

— Take some chances. Speak off the cuff. Engage reporters whenever they show up. Talk to voters as much as possible. Have someone documenting it with a camcorder, and post the good stuff online. Create a YouTube channel that’s actually entertaining. Yes, it’s possible.  

— Fully engage yourself in social media. Train yourself to Tweet and post to Facebook whenever anything happens, relevant or not. (Twitpics from the road are better than stock campaign shots.) Mention interesting people you meet, things you saw, what you had for lunch. If you can’t do this, get yourself a college-age intern who can keep you on the stick or even turn your comments into effective posts. And make it real, not just the obviously phony “I look forward to seeing you at the parade” stuff.

— Keep the bear mascot, but turn it into a full-fledged cartoon. Decouple it from the CVPS issue and either make it more generic (Shummy Bear?) or give it a wardrobe of issue-specific T-shirts. Don’t use it at Brock events; send it to Shumlin appearances. Tell the costume-wearer to stay within the law, but otherwise do whatever it takes to distract attention.  

— Given your age, this is almost certainly your last shot at statewide office. Dive into this thing, give it all you’ve got, and don’t be afraid to be edgy and different.

I’m not saying that Randy Brock would win if he did all this. But he’d certainly attract a lot of attention. And he’d at least have a chance, which he doesn’t with his current Spampaign. He might even set up his party for future success if he charts a new course and exploits some weaknesses in Shumlin’s armor.

I also don’t think there’s a snowball’s chance in hell that Randy Brock will actually do any of this. As I said above, it requires a candidate with a personality.