Just a quick update for anyone who might be interested (this is a blog, after all – you’re supposed to talk about yourself on a blog). I filed my signatures to get on the Montpelier ballot today. Very exciting. Also, I hear a rumor that I may have opposition, so I’m gearing up for a full-on campaign after all!!!

Blogging on GMD about my own campaign is something I never expected to do. Maybe it’s an appropriate way to say goodbye as I count down my last weeks as a front pager.

Yesterday, I wrote a post about the mysterious affair in Waterbury Village: police officer Andy Hubacz was in line to lose his job because Washington County State’s Attorney Tom Kelly refused to handle any of his cases. My complaint was about the complete lack of information made public by local officials.

Well, Burlington Free Press to the rescue. The Freep obtained much of the documentation regarding the case. So now we know that Hubacz applied for a job with the St. Albans police and was given a lie-detector test. And during the test, he admitted to a series of legal and ethical violations. Some of them were penny-ante, some were more substantial, and some are still unknown — the material given to the Freep had “several lengthy passages removed.”  Kelly based his decision on the results of the polygraph.

Which seems reasonable to me. One thumb up to the Burlington Free Press for getting the goods on the case.

The other thumb goes to Patrick Flood, Vermont’s Mental Health Commissioner.

On Tuesday, there was a legislative hearing on Governor Shumlin’s plan to replace the Vermont State Hospital with a beefed-up community-based system plus a few small inpatient facilities. At the hearing, numerous mental-health professionals testified in support of better community-based services but also in support of a larger central inpatient facility.

This post isn’t about the merits of that argument. I’m simply noting a comment by Commissioner Flood after the hearing, as reported by Vermont Digger:  

Mental Health Commissioner Patrick Flood, who sat in on the hearing, has said he finds the testimony in support of community services “very affirming” about the state’s direction. But he insisted despite the criticism Tuesday that the state’s proposal for acute-care replacement beds is “on the right path” and at this point said there was no plan to change it.

Well, Christ on a cracker. Thank you, Commissioner, for highlighting the parts of the testimony that support your plan while completely dismissing the rest of it. Why not just give the finger to all those who took the time to go to Montpelier and testify?

Now, I can’t say whether Patrick Flood is a weasel or not. Insufficient evidence. But that was a profoundly weasely thing to say. One thumb down.  

Once again President Obama emphasized the central role of community colleges in his education plans.

We have noted that before on these pages, as well as noting that his support for community colleges is a major campaign promise kept, but it’s worth noting again.

From last night’s State of the Union address:

Jackie Bray is a single mom from North Carolina who was laid off from her job as a mechanic. Then Siemens opened a gas turbine factory in Charlotte, and formed a partnership with Central Piedmont Community College. The company helped the college design courses in laser and robotics training. It paid Jackie’s tuition, then hired her to help operate their plant.

I want every American looking for work to have the same opportunity as Jackie did. Join me in a national commitment to train two million Americans with skills that will lead directly to a job. My Administration has already lined up more companies that want to help. Model partnerships between businesses like Siemens and community colleges in places like Charlotte, Orlando, and Louisville are up and running.  Now you need to give more community colleges the resources they need to become community career centers – places that teach people skills that local businesses are looking for right now, from data management to high-tech manufacturing.

Community colleges can be the core of the next great American recovery. They’re in communities (!) where people live, they are affordable, they provide flexibility for working and other nontraditional students, and they can adapt to meet the vocational and general educational needs of their students.

President Obama has it exactly right when he talks about the importance of community colleges to the new American century.

The current govenment could reduce the staff by 1/2 and still get as much work!!! The high dollar employees would have to work!!

VHCB employees are not to lobby, but are provided information and encouraged to do so, and are supported in that…matter of fact I know someone who let the office use their name to type a letter to the paper, and it was edited on the computers and emailed.

These GREAT programs can be moved…move the Lead Program to the Health dept, do away with conservation for now and help the flood victims….Americorp move to Dept of Housing, along with low income housing…and Farm Viability to Dept of Ag….then watch the savings!!!!

Check out the salaries and benefits, then look at computer records, email, internet access…go see how many are there on time? call a few employees past and present!

It is all public information…ask for internet records, financial records and emails.

Ask, where does my tax money go???

Little contretemps before the Waterbury village trustees Tuesday night, as reported by the Burlington Free Press:

Police Chief Joby Feccia testified before Waterbury village trustees Tuesday night that he recommended the firing of officer Adam Hubacz because the Washington County state’s attorney refused to prosecute Hubacz’s cases.

State’s Attorney Tom Kelly “wasn’t accepting his cases,” Feccia said. Hubacz is “kind of like a watchdog without teeth. There’s no way to enforce the law.”

Every way I look at this, my rational, left-brain response can be stated colloquially as WTF??? A police officer who has so alienated the State’s Attorney that he might as well not try to catch criminals? It gets worse when you read through the details…

Kelly informed the WPD of this in late September, a good four months ago. Hubacz was put on unpaid administrative on October 1. On January 9, he was shifted to paid leave. Why did he start drawing paychecks again? “The reason was not immediately clear,” sez the Freep.

Also not immediately clear — well, absolutely opaque, really — is why Kelly refuses to have anything to do with Hubacz’ police work. Kelly failed to return “multiple messages” from the Freep, seeking comment.

This isn’t some big-city PD with hundreds of blueshirts on hand. Since Hubacz went on leave, Waterbury Village has had two full-time police officers including Chief Feccia. That’s two. T-W-O. A 50% reduction in staffing. I have to think that either law enforcement in Waterbury Village has taken a serious hit, or there was some substantial featherbedding going on before September.

(To clarify, Waterbury Village is a subset of Waterbury Town, including about 40% of the Town’s population and less than two square miles of land. The Village comprises most of downtown Waterbury. Some governance is shared, and some is split between town and village.)

So now Waterbury’s (town and village) manager recommends Hubacz be fired. Solely because of Kelly’s decision. Which has gone unexplained in public.

After the jump: legal gymnastics and unanswered questions.

At Tuesday’s meeting, Hubacz’ lawyer Dan Seff pulled off a masterful display of oratorical loop-de-loop. First, he filed a motion to dismiss the case because it relies entirely on Kelly’s decision, with no finding of actual wrongdoing by the officer. Village attorney Steve Cameron replied that Kelly’s reasons had been stated in a December 5 letter to Chief Feccia, and added that village trustees are “entitled to assume that there are serious reasons” for Kelly’s refusal to deal with Hubacz’ cases. (So, the trustees don’t know either.)

Then Seff objected, asserting that “Cameron had promised not to discuss the Dec. 5 letter at the hearing.” Cameron noted that he did not disclose the contents of the letter, simply its existence. So… Seff argued that the case against Hubacz hasn’t been specified… and then he objected to any specification whatsoever. This is one example of why I could never be a lawyer.

The meeting ended with a 20-minute closed session, after which the trustees announced they would issue a ruling later.

Now, I’ve written before about the widespread tendency in Vermont to sweep unpleasant things under the rug. It’s one of Vermont’s least attractive attributes. And this is a good example of why I feel that way. The skids appear to be greased for a quiet resolution: Hubacz will lose his job, probably with some kind of severance package (just a guess), and nothing further will be revealed. Privacy issues, y’know. We don’t discuss personnel matters in public.

Well, horse feathers. If I lived in Waterbury Village, I’d have some serious questions. How exactly did Hubacz lose the trust of the state’s attorney? Beating suspects, mishandling evidence, arresting the wrong people? How long has he been doing it? How long did Kelly complain about it before he finally put his foot down? How many prosecutions were compromised because of Hubacz? Why didn’t village officials do anything before the situation got so dire?

So many questions. So many brooms. Such a big, lumpy rug.  

Here is Governor Shumlin’s complete reaction to the President’s State of the Union address, as sent out in a press release:

“I am proud to stand by a President who fights for the middle class. In tonight’s State of the Union address, President Obama made it clear that jobs are his top priority and he is committed to strengthening an economy where everyone plays by the same rules and everyone gets a fair shot. President Obama has worked hard to put Americans back to work and we are already seeing signs of growth, with 3.2 million private sector jobs added over the past 22 months. We have work left to do, but I am confident that President Obama understands what we know here in Vermont, that if we focus on education, lead through innovation and work together, we can accomplish great things.”

That’s all well and good, but it completely ignores the part of the State of the Union that is receiving all the attention. You know, the part where the President said this (by way of TPM):

“When Americans talk about folks like me paying my fair share of taxes, it’s not because they envy the rich, It’s because they understand that when I get tax breaks I don’t need and the country can’t afford, it either adds to the deficit, or somebody else has to make up the difference – like a senior on a fixed income; or a student trying to get through school; or a family trying to make ends meet.”

[…] “If you make more than $1 million a year, you should not pay less than 30 percent in taxes.”

Given that many of the super-wealthy paying far less that 30% (such as Mitt Romney), Obama is now calling for them to pay more.

Yeah, that Obama. The economic moderate-to-right one. And he’s using a clear-spoken, straightforward statement of Democratic values to make his case.

Contrast this with Shumlin’s State of the State:

we require our wealthiest citizens to pay their fair share of income tax. But, we cannot correct the tax failures of Washington from the State House in Montpelier, and we must be always mindful that every day, we compete with our neighboring states for jobs. Therefore, I remain determined not to increase broad-based taxes on Vermonters as we begin to see signs of modest economic growth.

Yeah, it’s no mystery as to why the Governor is trying to change the subject. His determination not to even discuss raising taxes on wealthy Vermonters before cutting many social services is rapidly becoming a peculiar Democratic anachronism.

Suddenly, he’s left standing with no one but the likes of Ben Nelson at his side, as even his moderate President has abandoned such nonsense.

State Auditor Tom Salmon Jr. makes me wince. Not the kind of wince you do when you hear the sound of nails dragged on a chalkboard, the kind of wince from being really, really embarrassed.

Salmon continues to demonstrate very little understanding of the nature of the Auditor’s office. Nor does he seem to understand his own responsibilities, or even his own audits. Couple with that a… challenging… relationship with the english language, and… well, like I said. It’s cringe-inducing.

But over at vtdigger, Salmon’s opponent from last year – Doug Hoffer – is not simply (once again) challenging Salmon’s statements, he’s raising an issue of professional and ethical conduct.

Hoffer notes that Auditor Salmon was approached by Entergy executives – not simply when policies surrounding Vermont Yankee were being discussed in the legislature, but while Salmon’s office was auditing the VY decommissioning fund. Since that time, Salmon has wasted no opportunity to step way outside his official duties and throw himself into the debate, using language every bit as strong in Entergy’s favor as any official corporate spokesperson.

Hoffer comments in his response below the press release:

We will never know what transpired in those conversations between Tom Salmon and Entergy officials, but it’s not unreasonable to ask if Mr. Salmon was biased or personally impaired in the matter. Government Auditing Standards make it clear that “auditors…must be free from personal impairments” to carry out their duties objectively.

Some of Salmon’s outspoken advocacy, of course, tends into the ridiculous, as in the above-linked vtdigger piece which includes the supremely goofy “Vermont is not some kind of renewable energy utopia.” (wha…?) followed after a few rambling sentences by “Address Yankee swiftly without a lot of nonsense.” (presumably, there was no irony intended).

(NOTE: Stating that Hoffer has a better understanding of economics in general, and the state’s numbers in particular is kind of like saying that The Muppet Movie is maybe a little more appropriate for children than Deep Throat.)

Fortunately for all of us, word is circulating that Hoffer will likely challenge Salmon to an electoral rematch, so stay tuned for that and cross your fingers.

Uber-blogger and Essex Junction resident Steve Benen has a new gig. From his latest post at “Political Animal”

I’m going to be a producer for “The Rachel Maddow Show” and an MSNBC contributor. Don’t worry, I’ll still be blogging; I’ll just be writing at a new online home.

[…] I always said I wouldn’t leave this job unless something truly special came along, and fortunately for me, something did. The chance to work for Rachel and MSNBC is a dream gig that I couldn’t be more excited about.

Congratulations Steve! You’ll have a blast.

Steve and Eve are not planning on moving (according to Eve’s Facebook page). That’s gonna be a hell of a commute.

If you’re a regular reader around here you know that I’m fond of Dan Savage’s definition of Santorum, but the news reports today demonstrate that Bob Kerrey was right.

At an appearance in Florida one of Santorum’s supporters spoke out, saying  “He is an avowed Muslim and my question is, why isn’t something being done to get him out of our government?”

Sound familiar? It should, because four years ago a John McCain supporter made a similar charge with regard to then-Senator Obama. Watch the video and then come back. It’s short.

Okay, back?

See what McCain did? Even though he was fighting for every vote, he corrected this misguided woman, even saying that Obama was a decent man who just disagreed on policy.

He set quite a standard for your boy, Santorum, eh? So what did Santorum do?

“It’s not my responsibility as a candidate to correct everybody who makes a statement that I disagree with,” Santorum said. “There are lots of people who get up and say stuff in a town hall meeting and say things that I don’t agree with, but I don’t think it’s my obligation, nor should it be your feeling that it’s my obligation to correct somebody who says something that I don’t agree with.”

Maybe politics are like sports. They claim that sports build character, but maybe politics, like sports, reveal character.

And maybe that’s why Bob Kerrey observed “Santorum, that’s Latin for asshole.”

No argument here.

 Inattentional blindness, a term for when a person fails to notice and react to stimulus that is in plain sight came to my mind while reading a rundown of last week’s SOPA/PIPA drama.  

The demise of the dual Senate and House internet piracy bills is the latest in an ongoing almost traditional battle by two sides competing to influence policy. Thrown into this struggle of money power and influence is the capacity of the internet to quickly inform and gather opposition.

Supporters of the bills and notably some powerful congressional players appear to have been thoroughly blindsided by this capacity. A Reuters reports says:

Some Hollywood executives acknowledge their own flat-footedness in trying to marshal public opinion as opposition mounted. While technology companies brandished the power of the Internet, Hollywood relied on old-media weapons such as television commercials and a billboard in New York's Times Square. It proved to be too little, too late.

One entertainment-company lawyer complained that opposing arguments were often inaccurate but spread like wildfire anyway on the Internet, leaving supporters scrambling to correct the information without the benefit of a strong online network.

"We do some of that (online) stuff, but it has to go through a committee of 14 people," he said. "The other side doesn't have conference calls. They just put stuff out there."

Where have the Hollywood entertainment industrial complex lobbyists been hiding?

An amazing remark when you consider the Arab spring events and more recently the ongoing Occupy movements (or simply the last ten plus years of media upheaval) amply demonstrated the applied power of internet. Even the regular TeeVee news and radio broadcasters reported this for all to see -not sure if it was posted on any billboards.

“Imagine if you will” says the voice over “a world where television commercials and the Times Square billboards can’t turn the tide!”