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We’ve been hearing the following refrain for some time now. If we move ahead to a single payer health care system or entertain the notion of a government run health insurance choice, we have to make sure the playing field is level so the private insurance companies can compete. In other words … we have to give up any concept of price controls and reduced premiums so the fat cats running the non-governmental insurance ripoffs can maintain their over the top lavish lifestyles.

But [director of government and public relations for Blue Cross/Blue Shield of Vermont] Tofferi did say that the company is not opposed to the state offering its own health insurance program for open enrollment so long as it competes on the same level playing ground as their products.

“If there was a true competitive environment, that’s fine,” Tofferi said. “But our concern would be that the program would have competitive advantages that we don’t, such as paying lower rates to providers.”

(Rep. Paul Poirier is single-minded on single-payer, Barre/Montpelier Times Argus, 11/18/09)

It’s time folks act on the firm acknowledgment (even acknowledged by the insurance companies themselves) that a government run health insurance system is less expensive and more desirable than today’s bloated and confusing patchwork of health insurance plans.

I can’t do this story justice nearly as well as Colbert can:

I really didn’t want to write about the Burlington scandal surrounding the Kiss administration and Burlington Telecom. This is twice now I promised I was so done with it, but each time, there has been something crop up that was simply impossible to ignore.

This time, its again about the coverage – specifically the coverage emanating from Seven Days’ Shay Totten and Ken Picard, two of the more reliable reporters in the state. I’ve never been sympathetic to the criticism that Seven Days as a whole is more sympathetic to one political party or another. In fact, I’ve seen on many occasions them clearly taking pains to avoid such an appearance.

But ever since the complete turnaround in Totten’s coverage a week or two back, Seven Days coverage of this issue has been dancing dangerously close to the land of outright journalistic malpractice – as in, making statements that are demonstrably untrue, and not correcting them when their inaccuracy is brought to light.

And I don’t have the first clue what’s behind it.

Consider this headline from Blurt, dated November 13th and penned by Ken Picard:

BREAKING: City secures refinancing for Burlington Telecom

Nice and clear, right? Only problem is, its not accurate.  

As Margolis says (as part of a different criticism of the coverage):

…the refinancing by Piper Jaffray, a Minneapolis-based underwriting company, has been announced, but not completed.

So, no financing has been “secure(d)” at all. And commenters have pointed this out. Yet the statement remains.

Now this is where it gets weirder. Shay Totten picks it back up and reports in the first paragraph of today’s Blurt post:

the Burlington City Council early Tuesday morning scuttled a $61.65 million refinancing proposal for Burlington Telecom.

Okay, first of all, if this statement is true, it stands as simple, logical evidence of Picard’s headline’s inaccuracy. If the financing was “secure,” how could it now stand “scuttled?” It was either secured, or it wasn’t. And yet, the Picard headline remains.

But the real fact is that the Totten statement, like the Picard headline, is – again – apparently inaccurate. According to Haik Bedrosian who also reported on the meeting (quoting from it extensively), nothing has been “scuttled,” the deal has simply not been approved… yet. From a Burlington Pol post entitled “Council Delays Financing” (emphasis added):

The council passed part one, but then postponed funding it with part two pending more info.

A case of he-says-he-says? Maybe, but there’s more. This is from Independent City Councilor Karen Paul via an email she sent to Mayor Kiss and Jonothan Leopold and cc’d to city councilors earlier this afternoon:

I sincerely hope that the administration will take to heart the words of the council at last night’s meeting regarding access to financial, business plan, pro forma and marketing strategy documentation and information on Burlington Telecom.  A lot was said about fiduciary responsibility last night and, as confirmed by the City Attorney, we have not only a fiduciary responsibility to Burlington Telecom, we also have that same responsibility to the city and our taxpayers.

I appreciate that you did as the resolution we passed a few weeks ago asked.  You did come back to the council on November 16 with a financing option.  In that resolution, there was nothing about the council voting to proceed with that financing on the same night.  While I understand your timeline and need to secure the financing before a payment to CitiCapital comes due in mid February, I hope that you can similarly understand the need for councilors to feel comfortable and fully informed on this rather complicated financing arrangement.  I don’t mean to suggest that it’s exotic or unusual.  As you said last night, it is not the normal run of the mill debt financing and there are going to be questions that need answering.

I would strongly suggest that you supply each councilor with the documentation necessary for us to ask informed questions.  That means giving us the material in advance.  I completely understand that this information is sensitive but we must have the information in advance so we can review it and do our due diligence.    I personally need to see a financial statement and balance sheet for Burlington Telecom (and not a maze of city financials but the actual statements for Burlington Telecom) to assess the overall health of the entity.

Lastly, I would suggest that a representative from the underwriting group at Piper be at our December 7 meeting in person if at all possible to work with us and work through the questions so we understand this financing well enough to feel confident in voting in the affirmative to authorize you to continue with Piper in this COP financing for BT.

We need to work together on this and we need to be able to do our work in a responsible way.  Please do not delay in getting us this information, if possible, this week so we have adequate time to review it.

What is 7 Days doing here? One could easily make the argument that the Council’s delay threatens to “scuttle” the financing (that was supposedly already “secured”). If I were a Burlington resident, I’d be very concerned about this deal getting bogged down so far into the tarpit that is Burlington politics that it does, in fact, dry up and blow away – but its plainly obvious that it has not been “scuttled” by the City Council or anyone else (at least not yet).

And the fact is that their own inaccuracies read as contradictory, yet they still persist. Heaven knows what we’re going to see in tomorrow’s print edition, but anyone looking for accuracy in reporting on this particular issue might well be advised to look elsewhere, which is screwy. I, for one, find myself depending on 7 Days reporting.

The postscript? Picard recently claimed (again in Blurt) that this story was first broken by Totten, when those I’ve talked to believe that the Freeps’ John Briggs was the one that first reported on it (and yes, that’s Briggs’ recollection as well, as I dropped him an email looking for clarification)

Anybody have any theories as to what they’ve been smoking up 7 Days’ way lately?

( – promoted by odum)

(You might want to read this first … or not.)

( – promoted by odum)

Chris Graff  who was once an AP reporter and currently serves as  corporate spokesman has a column in Vermont Business Magazine today with ten reasons Brian  Dubie could win his race to become Vermont governor .

Reason number eight is a jaw dropping suggestion that the State of Vermont’s Adjutant General should use his connections to help elect his brother governor of Vermont.

#8. The Dubie network: Each of the Democratic candidates has a map to victory, building on networks that have been years in the making. Deb Markowitz, for example, is counting on backing from the local officials she has worked with as secretary of state. Dubie has developed his own network as lieutenant governor, but he also has the potential of benefiting from the connections of his brother Mike, the state’s adjutant general.

http://www.vermontbiz.com/arti…

ACORN Charges Congress Violated Constitution’s Ban on ‘Bills of Attainder’ That Single Out Individuals or Groups for Punishment Without Trial or Judicial Review When Lawmakers Passed GOP-Sponsored ‘Defund ACORN Act’ — Lawsuit is Latest in Community Group’s Aggressive Counterattack Against its Conservative Critics

(Posted 5:00 a.m. EST Monday, Novembre 16, 2009)

Congress voted in September to withhold all federal funding for the community advocacy group ACORN in the wake of a scandal in which two conservative activists posing as a pimp and underage prostitute secretly videotaped ACORN employees in its Baltimore office that one of the activists admitted was for political reasons.

ACORN promptly sued the activists and the conservative Web site that posted their videotapes for violating a Maryland state law that requires two-party consent for electronic surveillance.

Now ACORN is striking back at Congress with a lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of its move to defund the organization, on the grounds that by singling out ACORN, the lawmakers violated a constitutional ban on “Bills of Attainder.”

To read the full story, CLICK HERE.

The Vermont Republican Party members must have had some collective grinding of teeth going on at their get-together this Saturday at the Elks Club in Montpelier. Only last week one major newspaper article was mostly about the buzz with the Republicans; much less attention was given to the Democratic and Progressive party meetings. One of the two Republicans running for Chairman was looking forward to hearing from Lt. Gov. Brian Dubie and said of the Governor’s co-pilot “He’s the one that could beat any Democratic candidate like a drum.” Maybe the talk at the gathering ran off the road from this hopeful scenario; pushed aside by other news.

Tom Salmon grabbed quite a chunk of attention this weekend, as some personal events in the life of the new Republican may overlap with his public standing. Some longtime Vermont Republicans may cringe as they are forced to offer comment on this event.

Despite the arrest, Salmon spoke as scheduled … kind of an awkward sentence to have associated with the new guy’s big appearance at a Republican shindig.

In the movie Maltese Falcon Sam Spade humiliates Wilmer, the villain Guttmann’s gunsel by taking his guns away. Spade sneers “Come on. This’ll put you in solid with your boss.” as he leads Wilmer in to see Guttmann.

As I read the quotes in the Times Argus from the Elks Club get together I kept thinking how that line fit what Salmon’s arrest late Friday did for him and how it … put him in solid with his new bosses.

While expressing pride at

“having picked up a state office without the benefit of an election,”

Governor Douglas must have just loved this awkward vow of support he made to the brand new Republican:

“It’s disappointing. Everyone has to follow the laws and take responsibility, and Tom made a mistake and I know he’ll accept responsibility for it,” Douglas said. “But it doesn’t detract from his outstanding record of public service.”

Departing Chairman Roper chimed in with perhaps an unfortunate choice of words given the DUI, adding this:

“He’s a stand-up guy, and I’m sure he’s willing to take full responsibility for it,” Roper said. “We’ll see where it goes from there.”

http://www.timesargus.com/arti…

Seems so …

Salmon said he does not have an alcohol problem.

“I have too much discipline from my military background for this to be a pervasive situation,” he said.

(‘I made a mistake’: Salmon apologizes after DUI arrest, Barre/Montpelier Times Argus, 11/15/09)

This really pricks my ears up. First because it’s obvious Mr. Salmon wasn’t able to exercise that discipline enough to count drinks and watch time … or even used his freakin’ blinker; and secondly because any non-practicing drunk (and this includes me) will tell you alcoholism couldn’t give a rat’s ass about “discipline”.

Okay … ’nuff said about that …

“We picked up a state office without the benefit of an election and we’re proud of that, too,” Douglas said.

(ibid)

Hey now, Big Jim, isn’t it great when you can be rewarded for doing nothing? Remind you of your gubernatorial term or what?

• Light at the end of the tunnel for BT? Picard sez:
  

  Burlington Mayor Bob Kiss announced late this afternoon that the city received a financing proposal this week for Burlington Telecom (BT) to satisfy its current debt of $33 million, as well as the $17.4 million borrowed but never repaid from the city’s pooled cash account. This “letter of engagement,” from the Minneapolis-based financial firm Piper Jaffray & Co., is currently under discussion by the Board of Finance…The terms of the financing deal still need to be finalized over the coming month. The mayor anticipates that a final deal will be in place by February 1, 2010.

  Will this turn the public scandal furor against City Hall down a bit, or is it too late for that? Kiss is clearly putting a lot of eggs into this basket. Hopefully the deal will come through.

• Don’t expect the Kiss administration’s problems to go away if they can’t find some way to muzzle Leopold. This from Haik’s website has to be read to be believed. I think we’ve all seen that its apparently too much to ask that the guy show some humility, but is it really too much to ask that he refrain from being an arrogant butt? Geez.
• Speaking of humility: From the Picard piece: “Kiss told a room full of reporters late Friday. ‘It also confirms that the use of pooled cash has not been, and is not, an increased risk to the taxpayers of Burlington.'” Huh? Somebody needs to explain basic reasoning to the Mayor I think. Going over the Niagara Falls in a barrel and walking away unscathed would not constitute a confirmation that getting downriver by that method does not constitute an increased risk to travelers. Regardless of the merits of the arguments, that’s a ridiculous statement. Once again, this administration is determined to be its own worst enemy to an almost supernatural degree. There’s a social psychology thesis in all this somewhere, I’m sure.
• Me first! An aside, Seven Days takes credit for “first report(ing)” the Burlington Telecom finance issues in late September, but as I recall it was the Freeps’ John Briggs. Anyone remember? Of course the Free Press rolls up its online articles behind them for some weird reason, so its hard to tell.
• But enough of BT… I can’t stand it any more… let’s talk Gubernatorial Primary! You know what the best thing I’ve heard all year is? Deb Markowitz on the Mark Johnson Show last week. It’s clear when the old Campaign Manager Jason Powell went, he took that gawd-awful run-to-the-center and run above the Primary strategy with him. New hotshot Campaign Manager Paul Tencher – a veteran of Emily’s List targeted races, as Markowitz’s will officially become any time now – has her on message as a Primary candidate. That means more specific policy statements, and more explicitly speaking to progressives. Halleluia!

  Is it pandering? Who knows? And at this point who cares? I mean, come on. If we can’t expect them to at least pander to us, how can we expect them to respond when we hold their feet to the fire to come through? Woo-hoo!

• Susan Bartlett is polling? That’s what she said on VPR last week. Weird. It’d be weird for anybody to spend thousands of dollars on polling at this point, but especially if you (presumably) aren’t exactly rolling in campaign cash.

  And it must have some odd questions, as I hear over email that at least one person called thought they were receiving some sort of anti-Bartlett push poll.

• Calling Doug Racine… On the month with two more high profile entries into the Primary, rumors of another (Pollina), and the first meeting of the 5 declared or all-but-declared candidates, Doug Racine has been on vacation. Missing one party or public event in which the candidates were invited to be showcased would be one thing – they’ve all missed 1 or another of them, after all. But by my count, this weekend’s Democratic Party Autumn Harvest fundraiser in Barre will mark the fourth such event in a row that Racine has missed due to a vacation. C’mon, dude. Everybody knew November was gonna be a big month. Wrong time to be AWOL.