On April 22, Senator Randy Brock (R-Hopeless) dipped a cautious toe into the world of social media by launching a Twitter feed — @BrockforGov. I became one of his Followers. One of his, ahem, 39 followers. Yep, the likely Republican nominee for Governor is gaining followers at the blistering pace of three per day. At that rate, he’ll catch up with @GovPeterShumlin in about four years — assuming that the Gov stops attracting new Followers of his own.  

Of course, Brock isn’t helping matters by the slow pace of his Tweets: a total of ten, and none at all since last Sunday’s Maple Festival in St. Albans, where he unveiled his $21 million “Republican bear.” C’mon, Randy — no Twitter commentary on this week’s hot and heavy Legislative action? Missed opportunity, son.

Now let’s pay a brief visit to Brock’s Facebook page. Hmm, that’s curious: his “About” message appears to be a relic of his 2010 run for Senate:

Thank you to the thousands who voted for me. Thank you to our many dedicated volunteers and contributors. It’s no secret that the next two years hold many challenges for Vermont. I pledge to do my part to help us meet these challenges and to transf

“To transf” what, exactly, is a mystery. And another online embarrassment for a campaign that seems to pay no attention whatsoever to its Web presence.

Otherwise, there’s a smattering of messages to and from the good Senator, but nothing much. (The page is worth a visit to read the two angry messages from conservative Catholics who were upset with Brock’s cancellation of a planned fundraiser at the infamous Wildflower Inn.) As for the candidate himself, his latest Facebook posting is a pre-St. Albans hint about that damn bear. Nothing since.

And now, let’s revisit his campaign website.

Which is sadly, astonishingly, unchanged since our last visit. It’s still a very basic template, a modest retooling of his 2010 Senate campaign website. There’s not even a link to his highly-touted “bears in the woods” video ad. The “News” page still features the December 7* announcement of his candidacy, and a series of newspaper endorsements dating from his unsuccessful bid for a second term as State Auditor. (You remember, the election he lost to “Democrat” Tom Salmon.)

*Well, no matter how things go from here, at least the Brock candidacy will never be the worst disaster to ever happen on that date.

And the “Issues” page still — STILL! — includes the following grammatical abortion:

We need to continue to encourage the development of new, green initiatives maintain our position on the leading edge of innovation for new, green initiatives for cost-effective alternative energy sources.

Come ON, Senator. That’s just sad. But I’m going to keep bringing it up until you (or your “expert” team of campaign consultants) get around to fixing that sentence.

To summarize: the Randy Brock campaign’s online presence is a downright embarrassment, something you’d expect from a low-budget fringe candidate, not from the putative leader of a major party’s ticket.  

(Not the title of the latest Robert Ludlum potboiler)

If you follow Vermont politics, you’ve probably been keeping up with House Minority Leader Don Turner’s last-minute maneuver. Earlier, he’d promised to suspend House rules as long as his caucus got at least 24 hours to review legislation; but this week, he issued a lengthy list of new demands for his assent. Then came House Majority Leader Lucy Leriche calling Turner a “terrorist,” quickly followed by Captain Renault-style expressions of shock and outrage from Republicans, and numerous apologies from Leriche.

That has become the story, unfortunately; it’s diverted attention away from Turner’s maneuver, which is a far more significant political development. But that’s what a single intemperate remark can do, and the Dems are paying full price for Leriche’s outburst.

As of this writing, Speaker Shap Smith was still trying to reach common ground with Turner, so this whole thing may be moot by the time you read this. But I wanted to take note of the contretemps and the ill will that lies behind it.

There’s a whole lot of anger among Vermont Republicans, folks. They are seething with frustration. (Turner said his maneuver was a matter of “the leverage I have.” It’s about the only time in this biennium that he’s had any leverage at all.)  

You can see it in the increasingly heated rhetoric of “nonpartisan” Bruce Lisman, who brands the Legislature a failure on every major issue, calls the Dems “strident” and “unfocused,” accuses them of causing “economic damage” and of “abdicating” their leadership. And, of course, he slams Governor Shumlin for “rocketing” toward health care reform. (He also slams Shumlin for taking too long to put together the system’s cost structure. Which is a neat trick: Shumlin is too fast and too slow at the same time. But never mind.)

Then there’s VTGOP chair Jack Lindley calling Shumlin and the Dems “arrogant” and threatening a lawsuit over a very mild and relatively nonpartisan redistricting plan*; and Republican money man Ralph Colin (speaking on Common Sense Radio) accusing Shap Smith of bullying the Legislature. And lest we forget, there was Darcie Johnston’s notorious (and quickly deleted) Facebook “joke.”

*He accuses Dems of “sabotaging the process.” Has he taken a look at the unconstitutional mess the New Hampshire Republicans made of their redistricting? Now, there’s a real case of sabotage.

It’s understandable, really. In the conservative flood tide of 2010, the VTGOP lost the governorship, failed to make a dent in the Dems’ Legislative majorities, and didn’t come close to breaking the liberal grip on our Congressional delegation. They did manage to not screw up Phil Scott’s bid for Lieutenant Governor.  But if that’s all they could do under the best possible circumstances, what hope do they have for the future?  

And in some fundamental way, they are dumbfounded at their plight, and at the failure of Vermont voters to see things the way they do. These days, conservatives live politically insulated lives: they read the Wall Street Journal, they listen to Rush, they watch Fox News. This provides a steady diet of unchallenged conservative talking points, and of unalloyed outrage over Democratic perfidy. Over time, this tends to distort their world view. It’s incomprehensible to them that other people might see things differently, and might even voluntarily choose to elect — gasp! — Democrats. Or even — horror! — Progressives. (That’s why the voter-fraud fallacy has such currency with conservatives: if Democrats win an election, they simply must have cheated. It’s the only possible explanation.)  

This Republican anger is likely to result in an ugly 2012 campaign by Vermont standards — especially if Randy Brock’s bid for Governor continues to flatline. This won’t help the VTGOP win anything, but it could significantly coarsen our political discourse going forward. And the Turner Ultimatum may be the beginning of a less polite, more dramatically partisan atmosphere in the Legislature.

( – promoted by Jack McCullough)

Why the “Report Card”?

Many people rely on the mainstream media (TV and Newspapers) to know what’s going on in their communities and in politics. Having worked for years on workers’ rights and economic justice issues, we’ve gotten used to shaking our heads at the lack of coverage and/or the negative spin that the media outlets put on our events. After all, these media outlets are themselves, employers, often flush with their own workers’ rights issues. They make their money selling ads to the big corporations.

This year’s coverage of the historic May Day rally gives us an opportunity to analyze how the media covered the event, to hold our state’s media outlets accountable, and applaud those who got it right. Media coverage was all over the place as to the purpose of the rally, but were fairly consistent in under-reporting the size of the rally. A few outlets estimated around 2,000, most left it at hundreds and the Vermont Press Bureau went as low as to say “more than 300.” Several volunteers counted almost 2,000 at the peak of the day. With people were coming and going throughout the day, at any given point the crowd was at least 1,500. The Ben & Jerry’s scoopers who arrived an hour after the march said they served 600 people on a cold, wet day. The media also tended to quote only “big name” personalities, not everyday Vermonters who have joined Put People First to make their voices and demands heard.

Ultimately, we are the ones who are going to tell our own stories, so we started our own People’s Media Project. You can check out the May Day podcast to compare it with the reports below.

Among the criteria we employed in grading were:

   Their reporting on the numbers,

   How they described the purpose of the event,

   Whose voices they lifted up/ quoted, and

   The nature of the photo and video they included from the rally (how well did it convey the energy, purpose, and people at the event).

Please email us if you have read, seen, or heard additional media coverage of May 1st: avery@workerscenter.org

Associated Press – Grade A



Article: “Vt. lawmakers confer on key bills; end in sight”

Photographer: Tony Talbot, Reporter: Dave Gram

Weblink: http://www.boston.com/news/loc…

Photo carried in nationally in May Day stories: http://www.nola.com/politics/i…

Vermont Papers that Ran AP Article: Brattleboro Reformer (http://www.reformer.com/latestnews/ci_20521515/hundreds-turn-out-may-day…),

Grade Rationale: Tony Talbot gets an A+ for capturing the energy of the day with a number of strong photos that were used in a wide array of media outlets as the feature photo on national stories reporting on May Day rallies throughout the country. Dave Gram’s story had a great quote from VWC member Melissa Bourque and even mentioned the awesome salsa band:

“This May 1st is the culmination of a collective sense of unrest,” Melissa Bourque, a member of the Vermont Workers’ Center from St. Johnsbury. The Workers’ Center was one of more than 30 labor, environmental and other groups that joined to organize the rally on a chilly May Day, one of dozens of similar events around the country. “People are realizing that the system isn’t fair,” Bourque said, referring to disenchantment with government and business. “People are being awakened to that, and that we can join forces to do something about it.”

Highlight: This Talbot photo at the Statehouse could be the best of the day: http://www.vpr.net/uploads/pho…

Burlington Free Press – Grade C

Article: Vermont lawmakers joust over labor legislation



Weblink: http://www.burlingtonfreepress…

Reporter: Nancy Remsen

Grade Rationale: The article was a focused on the early education bill and only mentioned the broader significance of the rally and what it was about briefly in the opening. It’s a decent article, but the Free Press failed to really cover the rally.

Highlight: They did include a AP photo and photo collage on website which was good.

FOX44/ ABC22 – Grade: A-

Reporter: Louisa Moller

Weblink: http://www.fox44now.com/story/…

Grade Rationale: Two great interviews with VWC leaders (Linda Limoges and Sandy Gaffney), great framing (“time for change is now,” making the link between personal stories and systemic problems). The only “knock” is that they described the numbers as “hundreds” instead of the 2,000 that actually turned out.

Highlight:

“Rising health care prices and surging student debt, these are just some of the issues brought up at today’s rally, and the people I spoke to said these are issues they’ve had for a while, but the time for change is now.”

Labor Notes – Grade A

Article: Vermont Poised to Issue Driver’s Licenses to Farm Workers

Reporter: Michael Feiner

Weblink: http://labornotes.org/print/bl…

Grade Rationale: This article focuses on Migrant Justice’s struggle “Drive for Justice” and puts it into the context of its movement building work with VWC and Put People First campaign.

Highlight:

“In barely over a month, Vermont’s Governor Peter Shumlin went from refusing to support licenses to endorsing the legislation, in the process rejecting the federal government’s call to enforce its failed and short sighted immigration policies. “As Shumlin said in an interview with Vermont Public Radio, ‘It’s not fair to ask them to be isolated, living in fear on the farms, when we would like to have them as part of our communities. So I think a basic right should be that they can get to the store, get to the doctor and get around while they’re here.'”

Seven Days – Grade B

Article: “Noisy and United on a Raw May Day in Montpelier”



Reporter: Kevin Kelley, contributions from Paul Heintz (photos by both)

Weblink: http://7d.blogs.com/blurt/2012…

Grade Rationale: Overall good, but consistent with other outlets in under-reporting the numbers as in the “hundreds.” They also led by focusing on the two “big names:” Bill McKibben and Bernie Sanders, before providing any quotes from emerging grassroots Put People First leaders. They did convey the tone of the event well: “The spirit of the event felt more like the tulips and apple blossoms on the Statehouse lawn than like the sullen sky above the golden dome.” The goals of the event were also accurately reported: “The ambitious aim of the May Day action was to unite these varied voices into a single chorus calling for progressive change in Vermont, the United States and the world.” Unfortunately, the reporter then goes on to discredit some of the new and emerging leaders by saying, “Many of the faces at the protest were as familiar – and as worn – as the rhetoric of many of the speakers.” Another “whoops!”: in describing Bernie Hernandez’s speech, the reporter inaccurately identifies the photo of Bhutanese parents and grandparents as Bernie’s farmworker “compatriots.”

Highlight: “

Bernie Hernandez, a farm worker from Mexico, was ringed by a dozen of his compatriots (pictured), mostly women, as he told the crowd, ‘I am one of the invisibles who’s becoming visible and being heard.’ Hernandez’ speech, delivered in Spanish and translated into English, drew laughs and applause with the line, ‘Without us, there are no creemees!'”

Toward Freedom – Grade A

Article: Photo Essay: Thousands Rally in Vermont Capitol for International Workers’ Day

Weblink: http://www.towardfreedom.com/labor/2810-thsounds-rally-in-vermont-capita… Reporter: Ben Dangl

Grade Rationale: Great photos that told a powerful story and that were up that afternoon.

Highlight: This is the only outlet that included a “group photo.”



Vermont Press Bureau (Times Argus/Rutland Herald) – Grade D

Article: May Day rally draws hundreds

Weblink: http://www.rutlandherald.com/a… (subscriber only)

Reporter: Jenna Pizzi

Grade Rationale: In addition to the absurd turnout estimate (see above), there were a number of inaccuracies and the reporter failed to actually quote any of the rally speakers other than Sen. Bernie Sanders. It falsely reported that he had a tent for his campaign (although we did hear there were campaign organizers circulating in the crowd). The reporter also got it wrong saying that the previous three rallies organized by the VWC were focused on our Put People First initiative. They were Healthcare Is a Human Right rallies, but this year we did broaden the message to Put People First.

Highlight: Decent photo of the front of the march arriving at the Statehouse.

Vermont Public Radio – Grade A-

Weblink: http://www.vpr.net/news_detail… http://www.vpr.net/episode/535… (Melissa Bourque is interviewed starting ay 36:26)



Reporter: Jane Lindholm (news summary by Patti Daniels)

Grade Rationale: Great interview with Melissa Bourque on Vermont Public Radio’s signature program Vermont Edition, and then subsequent write up by Patti Daniels with quotes from the interviews.

Highlight:

Melissa’s quote: “The Workers Center and all of these other different groups that are here today are giving an outlet for people to come together and stand together and say, we’re not okay with this and we’re actually not just ‘not okay’ with it, we’re going to do something about it.”

VT Digger – Grade: C+



Article: Hundreds rally in Montpelier for May Day labor event

Reporter: Taylor Dobbs Weblink: http://vtdigger.org/2012/05/02…



Grade Rationale: By focusing on the two “big-name” speakers Sen. Bernie Sanders and author Bill McKibben the article missed the spirit of the day, the fact that there were so many powerful leaders of a growing people movement. A reader’s comment was on the mark about this line

“Speakers called for increased government assistance with education, child care, health care and land preservation for Native American tribes – all “basic human rights,” according to the speakers.” Reader Judith Levine wrote: “Providing education, health care, etc. is not “government assistance.” These are the FUNCTIONS of government – to provide, with taxpayer money – the services necessary to life. “

Highlight: Good photo.

WCAX – Channel 3 – CBS – Grade B



Reporter: Alexei Rubenstein (producer)

Weblink: http://www.wcax.com/story/18005367/put-people-first-rally-in-montpelier

Grade Rationale: The only knock on this report was that it was really short, but they did a great job of accurately saying who was there, why we were there, and even recognized that the lousy weather affected turnout.

Highlight:

“We need healthy communities, healthy workplaces, healthy planet we can live on. We need to fight for environmental justice, fight to end racism, fight for workers’ rights, fight for women’s rights, fight for disability justice, fight for immigrant justice, fight for democracy– that what we’re here for today,” said Shela Linton of the Vermont Workers’ Center. Organizers urged Vermont lawmakers to take action on several issues, including early educators’ right to organize, action on climate change and driver’s licenses for migrant workers. The event was billed as the largest weekday rally Montpelier has ever seen, but gray skies and drizzle may have accounted for a lower turnout.

WPTZ – Channel 5 – NBC – Grade B

Reporter: Stewart Ledbetter

Weblink: http://www.wptz.com/news/vermo…

Grade Rationale: The coverage of the rally was good, reported turnout at “perhaps, a thousand,” included a good clip of VWC member Shela Linton speaking on health care, but made a someone confusing transition from the rally to issues being debated inside the statehouse that weren’t really being talked about outside. Good footage of the rally, but interviews were only with lawmaker and one director of a nonprofit in the statehouse. The listing out of other issues at the end framed finished with a short description of the early educators amendment(s), and a description of these ongoing debates as “snags” to hopes of adjournment by the weekend.

Highlight:

Shela’s quote: “We do not only want universal health care, we are demanding it!” Also, they provide one of the more accurate counts of the size of the rally: “perhaps a thousand.”

Observers might wonder if Vermont Republican gubernatorial hopeful Randy Brock may re-think more public appearances with his taller, more forceful co-star.

Granted it’s no Dukakis in a tank moment but it isn’t an image likely to get voters up on their hind legs.

“It’s a walking, moving, waving, candy-dispensing bear,” Brock said. “And it’s a Republican bear."

Maybe that explains the new, edgier, bear-themed ad. Well it's minor, really, just one small booboo in a larger campaign.

This morning’s Free Press provided an unusually rich harvest of stupid decisions to ponder.

Stupid was the person who thought it would be a nice surprise to send a musical card inside a Fed-X envelope to a friend at the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services building in St. Albans.  Arriving on the day after the first anniversary of Bin Laden’s demise, it gave government employees a day off and the St. Albans police a chance to break out the full toy box in what was no doubt a very expensive day of show-and-tell.

Stupid was the guy who clocked 170-mph on a motorcycle, headed south on I-87.  The cops eventually caught him and he is being held in the pokey on $20,000 bail.  The Freeps said

“it could not be immediately determined if he had a lawyer.”

Better get one, Son.

Stupid was the Ohio deputy who apparently couldn’t get enough of Abu Ghraib-type funnin’ around and ordered five inmates at the jailhouse to dance for their privileges,

“inviting his colleagues to watch.”

Since he apparently used a prohibited cell-phone to play musical accompaniment, we must assume that he belongs to the short-attention-span variety of media watchers and never learned what the ultimate consequences were for the Abu Ghraib Eleven who also incorporated a cell-phone in their routine.

Unsurprisingly, the sheriff thought it was time for him to have a career change.  Maybe there’ll be an opening on “Dancing with the Stars.”

And extremely stupid, were Miro Weinberger and Ian Carleton for thinking they could justify a hefty salary boost for Mr. Carleton thusly:

Carleton asserted Monday night that a higher municipal salary would be appropriate due to the significant pay cut he’d endure by leaving his current job (he’s a principal at the Burlington-based law firm Sheehey Furlong and Behm).

Carleton also said his graduation from Yale Law School should figure into a higher salary.

Where to begin with the optics of this stupid blunder?   Nepotism, elitism, fiscal irresponsibility…

We don’t like it when the “other” guys do it.   Our guys ought to know better.

Update: Within hours of the national Freedom to Marry’s press release, Jake Perkinson was out in the media with denials that he had signed on to the call for a national Democratic Party plank supporting marriage equality, as noted in NanuqFC’s comment. So, no plank if it relies on the VDP Chair to actually take a public stand for a position he has said before he personally supports. Much gnashing of teeth behind the scenes at the VDP with regard to Freedom to Marry and an unnamed reporter, according to inside sources. Meanwhile, Perkinson looks like a square breakfast food served with butter and syrup. ~ GMD

Jake Perkinson, chair of the Vermont Democratic Party, is among eleven state Democratic Party chairs pushing the Democratic National Committee to adopt a same-sex marriage plank to the national platform.

According to Talking Points Memo, in addition to Jake the other party chairs who have signed on are John Burton (California), Jay Jacobs (New York), John Walsh (Massachusetts), Ken Martin (Minnesota), Meredith Wood Smith (Oregon), Boyd Richie (Texas), Mike Tate (Wisconsin), Dwight Pelz (Washington), John Wisniewski (New Jersey) and Joan Wagnon (Kansas).

While some of these states, like Vermont, New York, and California, are obvious choices, some of the others are a big deal. Who would have expected such a position from either Texas or Kansas, for instance?

The letter urging adoption of this plank is signed by party leaders, such as our own Howard Dean, and elected officials from all across the country. Could this be the year that marriage equality makes it into the national platform?

Caught this story first on Andrew Towle’s gay blog Towleroad.

It was announced (with a link to this story) that 11 state Democratic Party chairs had signed on to support the call for a marriage equality plank in the national Democratic Party platform. Among the 11 was Vermont’s Jake Perkinson.

I emailed the VDP chair with a brief word of thanks for taking the stand. He wrote back about how he “fully supports this issue,” but he never actually signed on, and Freedom to Marry (the national group) took a very preliminary conversation and ran with it without confirmation, permission, or acknowledgment.

I told him he could just take the credit for the stand (thinking, if he’s really on board, what harm?), and give Freedom to Marry a short reading of the riot act, if he thought it was worth his time.

But no. He couldn’t do that.

He’s backpedalling as fast as possible, with New York’s state Dem chairman spinning right along side.

Perkinson, meanwhile, said that while he supports gay marriage and thinks the question of a plank is one worth discussing, that he never signed off on being in the release and felt like his comments with the group were “hijacked.”

“I had had a conversation with the Freedom to Marry people and had said that I was personally supportive of their efforts, but the press release that went out was not anything that was run by me,” he said. “It certainly was a little bit overreaching to put my name on something that I hadn’t even reviewed at that point. The whole thing just seems premature…the conversation was, do you support gay marriage? And yes, obviously I do. I said, what’s the next step? They said that’s all we need for now, and we’ll get back to you….that was two weeks ago.”

Yeah, Freedom to Marry likely jumped the gun, didn’t cross its t’s or dot its i’s. The process was probably cracked.

But gosh, Jake, I had such hopes that you would take the cannoli (and an honest-to goodness stand) and leave the gun, er, the grumbling aside. I would not blame lesbian and gay Vermonters for questioning the sincerity of your commitment to national equality now.

It’ll be interesting to see how you dance around this one at tonight’s dinner honoring out gay Democratic activist and former state chairman David Curtis.

There’s a story in this week’s Seven Days about State Treasurer Beth Pearce. Pretty good story, actually. But the headline is just annoying as hell.

Treasurer Beth Pearce Fell Into the Job — Can She Win an Election to Keep It?

Don’t blame reporter Paul Heintz, because reporters don’t write the headlines. Someone further up the chain does that. And in this case, s/he did a tooth-grindingly tone-deaf job of it. Beth Pearce did not in any sense “fall into the job,” and to imply that she did is condescending and offensive.

In actual fact, as you would know if you read the article, Beth Pearce may be the most qualified person in the entire state of Vermont to hold the job of Treasurer. She’s been Deputy Treasurer of two states, Vermont and Massachusetts. She’s spent most of her career as a financial professional in local and state government.

Admittedly, she did become Treasurer by being appointed to replace Jeb Spaulding when he became Governor Shumlin’s Secretary of Administration. But to say that she “fell into the job” makes it sound like she was a bartender when she got the call. It’s an insult to her experience and her qualifications for the position.

Now, if you want to say that a top state official “fell into the job,” there’s someone practically right next door who qualifies…  

…good old Bill Sorrell, the long-serving Attorney General of Vermont. As the story goes, Sorrell’s mother Esther was Howard Dean’s political mentor. Dean and Bill Sorrell got to be good friends. In 1992, Dean appointed Sorrell as his Secretary of Administration. And in 1997, he tried to slide his buddy onto the Vermont Supreme Court.

Problem. Sorrell was an attorney, but he had no judicial experience whatsoever. When Dean pushed Sorrell for the high court, the state’s judicial nominating board didn’t bite; it returned a list of nominees for Dean to choose from, and it didn’t include Sorrell.

This went back and forth for a while: Dean pushing Sorrell, the board refusing to nominate an unqualified person.

Finally, to get around the roadblock, Dean chose the incumbent Attorney General, Jeff Amestoy, to the Supreme Court. No problemo; his nomination was approved.

And now there was a handy vacancy in the AG’s office. To which Howard Dean appointed good old Bill Sorrell.

Now, there’s a guy who really “fell into the job.” Not Beth Pearce.  

It looks like Entergy has another high-profile state fight coming to a head about now.  

‘Seems even Massachusetts State Senator Robert Hedlund of Weymouth, a Republican, is joining nuclear opponents in an effort to derail relicensing of another Fukushima era relic like Vermont Yankee;  the Pilgrim Nuclear Generating Station in Weymouth.  

Besides the inherent design flaws of the Mark 1 reactor, and it’s advanced age, State officials are concerned about an overcrowded spent fuel pool, which, though designed to hold just 880 of the highly radioactive spent fuel rods, will soon reach 3,859 units with no likelihood of transfer to dry cask storage.

Like VY, the 40-year old plant has experienced troublesome issues due to equipment failure and human error.  

Unlike Yankee, Pilgrim is now facing a strike by union workers over cost-cutting efforts that they say undermine the safe operation of the plant.

“I’ve heard clearly from my members that they would rather strike than accept Entergy’s ongoing efforts to cost shift medical coverage and change their working conditions,” UWUA President Daniel Hurley said. “This vote is absolutely critical to the safety of our communities and the well-being of our members.”

The good folks who work at Pilgrim have apparently given some thought to the safety of the three million people who live within 50 miles of the plant.  That fifty-mile radius represents the evacuation zone that U.S. officials said should have been observed at Fukushima.

Opponents to relicensing recognize that it would be quite impossible to evacuate that population, which includes  Boston, should the worst come to pass.  My son currently lives in Boston.  Trying to navigate in, around, and out of the city on the best of days is challenging.

In the immediate aftermath of the Fukushima disaster, relicensing the Mark 1 reactor at Vermont Yankee was an act of irresponsibility on the part of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.  

Considering how much larger is the scale of the affected population, that level of irresponsibility is many times greater when it comes to blithely relicensing Pilgrim.

In early April, Massachusetts AG Martha Coakley appealed the NRC’s decision to continue relicensing proceedings for Pilgrim without pausing to reconfigure for the lessons learned from Fukushima. That appeal was unsuccessful.

The NRC’s official reason for denying AG Coakley’s appeal?

In denying Coakley’s request, the NRC explained, “we have already considered and rejected the notion that our Fukushima lessons-learned review needs to be completed prior to a decision on any pending license renewal application.” The attorney general’s appeal alleges that the NRC’s decision violates the National Environmental Policy Act as well as the Atomic Energy Act and the NRC’s own regulations.

Now, NRC Executive Director of Operations, Bill Borchardt is advocating himself for the NRC to okay the license extention.

It looks unstoppable at this point, but opponents have not abandoned hope.

A state-wide coalition of 14 different groups wants Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick to ask the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) to reject the NRC staff’s April 23rd request to approve relicensing of the Pilgrim Nuclear Power Station in Plymouth. The NRC staff recommended that NRC Commissioners approve the relicensing at their next meeting May 8, despite several outstanding challenges to the licensing process.

Beset by labor unrest, equipment failure, design flaws, human error and unresolvable radioactive waste issues, how likely is it that either Vermont or Massachusetts would get anything but grief from continued operation of Entergy’s unlucky step-children.  Public Service Board: can you hear me now?

(This bears watching.   – promoted by kestrel9000)

I’ll reserve comment for below the fold.

There is something beautifully poetic about this new ad out from the Brock campaign and Vermont GOP that they apparently want to raise money to put on television. This beautiful rendition of the 1984 Reagan re-election ad was clearly intended to tug on the hearts of Vermonters who handed Republicans their last victory here at the presidential level – and in doing so, they manage to demonstrate just how little the Republican party has evolved in the past 28 years. No wonder Lisman is emptying his pockets to put a conservative message on television and radio – it’s pretty clear that the Vermont GOP has no idea how to do it on their own.