THE SLIPPING AFFORDABILITY AGENDA

Governor Jim Douglas said, "Just like a family or a business, we need to restrain our spending, live within our means, not spend more than inflation and population growth... Our schools have a spending problem, hiring twenty-two percent more employees when we have 10,000 fewer students. I proposed a cap on school spending as I proposed for the state... I proposed that the waterfall monies, any extra monies that come along be set aside, maybe even returned, but not spent... The property tax last year went up an average of seven percent, but over thirty percent for some towns. People cannot afford it... In Georgia for example, folks talk about a $400 annual property tax bill; my son in Arizona pays only a fraction of what we pay on a house which is worth fifty percent more than ours."

SOUNDS OF SILENCE

Then there was silence. In the trade of the century, Senator Shumlin and Speaker Symington persuaded Governor Douglas that they understood the Governor's affordability concerns and were hard at work to solve them. If only the Governor would go off message, basically shut up and let them do their thing, that all would be well.

Douglas agreed and gave the Democrats the floor for three to four months, allowing them to promote their agenda shamelessly and without criticism. The Vermont Democrats are leading the world in efforts to combat global warming and they are the first legislature in the universe to condemn President Bush's surge. They are conserving land, promoting gay marriage, and maybe soon they will debate impeaching the president. Such good guys. Not what we are paying them to do, but their philosophy rules.

To pour salt in the wound, the media wing of the Democrat Party led by Sue Allen, former Dean press secretary and now editor of the Times Argus, is filling the silence with articles concluding that the property tax and education costs as a percent of income are actually lower now than it used to be, and concluding that unless you are poor, there is plenty of affordable housing. And consequently Mr. Douglas' claim of a lack of affordability is just so much hot air.

Douglas was left with bitching at the press, blaming Howard Dean for all ills, criticizing Windsor State's Attorney Sands incorrectly, and then eating humble pie and apologizing saying, gee, I don't know what got into me, I don't talk like that. Maybe having been had by the likes of Peter Shumlin has driven him mad, or at least just made him mad.

AMONG THE NON-BELIEVERS

Tax Commissioner Tom Pelham is also frustrated. He told DPR, "Some legislators say that people really do like to pay taxes. For others, it is philosophical. For example, we have tried to cap prebates. Perhaps the worst example was the owner of a million dollar plus home who received from the State of Vermont a rebate of $28,000 on the property taxes.

"We proposed a cap. I sat in the Senate Finance Committee room and listened to the debate. There is a senator who was here when Act 60 was passed and he believes that Act 60 was founded on the philosophical basis of paying property taxes based on your income. Even if you manipulate your income to claim both prebates and rebates in a low income year as some do, it still does not justify a cap to change the underlying philosophy. The senator kept talking philosophy until all the other members just could not take it anymore, and no cap was passed out of committee."

TILT A'WHIRL

Did you know that you are paying to be spun? Usually you have pay for such a ride at the World's Fair. But thanks to your government, which pleads poverty, you have former reporter John Zucconi at the Transportation Agency, former reporter David Mace as communication director for the Department of Housing and Community Affairs, and now Darren Allen, former bureau chief of the Vermont Press Bureau, at the Natural Resources Agency. And many, many more.

Spin, spin, spin away they will with the "news," persuading us that government is good after years of glancing critically at the same government, defying early environmentalist/hippie Henry David Thoreau who wrote that the government which governs least governs best.

GOVERNMENT CREATES JOBS

Take David Mace for example. He is quoted in the Herald of Randolph saying that the government funded incubator project in Randolph has been busy creating jobs, nineteen in fact, but short of the projected thirty-eight. A bit of homework which Mace might have done suggests that the incubator created only one job, that of the manager of the project. Mace said that eight jobs were created at SciTest but those jobs existed before the incubator project started and SciTest had been a long term tenant in the building. He said that seven jobs were created by Locust Creek Graphics but Locust Creek merely moved from a different location and has since gone out of business. And so forth.

THE UN-EMERGENCY BOARD

Every six months by statute the two state economists present to Vermont's Emergency Board their collective prediction of what the state's revenues will be over the next year. The board consists of the governor, the chairs of the House ways and means and appropriations committees and the Senate finance and appropriations committees.

This year's meeting was interesting as usual but it appeared that it was not so interesting to the Emergency Board, which behaved as if they had a plane to catch. Virtually no questions were asked, no curiosity shown. Yet some of the data were very revealing.

Though the economists concluded that their previous forecast remains on target, they spoke of a sense that down the road all is not well. Inflation remains a risk, a recession is predicted. In the first few years of the century Vermont economically outperformed the nation, including having the second lowest unemployment rate. This is no longer the case. Now we have the fifteenth lowest unemployment and we are well below the national average in employment growth.

ARE WE ALL IN THIS TOGETHER?

Most startling is the breakdown of Vermont's sense of community, particularly by income. For both 2004 and 2005, most everyone making less than $60,000 lost ground; they make less. Most everybody making $60,000 and more gained ground, lots of ground. One for all and all for one is history. The egalitarian philosophy is philosophy only; the data on the ground indicate just the opposite.

In adjusted gross income, those making over a million a year saw their incomes rise forty-eight percent, those making $300-400,000 saw their incomes grow by twenty-four percent. While those with incomes between $40-50,000 saw their incomes shrink by two percent, those with incomes between $10-15,000 incredibly saw their incomes shrink by four percent. To see this growth and shrinkage of income, the total divergence, on a graph, for two years in a row, is truly shocking.

VOTING WITH THEIR FEET

Equally shocking is the shrinking of the 25-45 year old group. The Next Generation Commission has been working to keep the 18-24 year olds here even though the size of that age group is growing. The shrinking of the 25-45 age group is terminally scary. They are the taxpayers, the creators, the entrepreneurs, the most recently educated, and the graduate school folks. To see that demographic shrink suggests a brain drain, a capital formation drain, an energy drain, and a creative drain that should worry every policy maker.

They all say that these are lean times for state revenues. But these are the best of times, and the data from the economists and the data from the demographers suggest that the worst of times are just around the corner. But questions? No thank you.

Governor Douglas appears very apprehensive about these alarm bells, beginning with last year's state of the state speech. This year he rings the bell harder but does not have a plan bold enough to address the crisis.

Recall the debate a few years back over the writing of the state song? They need not have bothered. They could have just used, "row, row, row your boat, gently down the stream", or lake, or interstate, but out of the state.

FORCED LIQUIDATION

Governor Douglas can work to keep the 18-24 year olds, and try to reverse the tide on the 25-45 year olds. He proposed in his inaugural address a green valley of economic opportunity and an e-commerce state with equal access to high-speed or wireless communication by 2010.

He, just like any other developer, understands that the permit process now in effect is a millstone around the neck of the state or any other developer who needs to move quickly to respond to the market; to global competitive needs. He therefore asked for a streamlined permit process for housing, cell towers, and wireless. Unlikely, everybody who wants to move the ball forward would like a streamlined permit process. But it goes against their philosophy.

For many who are here, their picture of Vermont is peace, quiet and serenity. Even my taxi driver in Las Vegas, a New York City refugee, wants to retire to Vermont, "where it is quiet and peaceful." For some, trucks disturb peace and quiet, for others trucks are the sound of commerce, of production, of jobs.

But the peace and quiet folks are winning. They are older perhaps, part of the fastest growing old folks group in the country. They may support the Vermont Land Trust's buying development rights. But each development right bought, is a potential home lost, a business lost, an opportunity lost.

They may support the Conservation Law Foundation which will work to slow, hobble, or stop development keeping the fields open, the traffic down, life as it is. A creative, energetic person begins to feel like Gulliver, held down by hundreds of little ropes.

In looking around, many will conclude, "I do not belong here," and pack up and move, or decide not to re-locate here. Today more of the 25-45 years olds are moving out of the state than moving in. They are voting with their feet.

GOING, GOING, GONE

We have many older readers who made money in Vermont but at some point did not feel that they belonged here, who believed that they were overtaxed, who were hassled by the permit process, who were hobbled by new neighbors who, instead of traditionally helping a neighbor with a lift up, would use the process to slow him/her down or to merely to become a government informant. People come to understand that they were being ruled by people that they did not know, did not respect, and did not relate to.

These folks write to tell us of how they found a band of Merry Men in their new locations, people with common interests, common backgrounds, and common education. They found people whom they could relate to, they could communicate with, and they could enjoy. A critical mass in Vermont is slipping away, the 25-45 year olds and the older, successful investor/benefactor crowd, pushed by the same forces. It does not look pretty.

SPUTTERING ENGINE

Some of this is to be expected. But for Vermont in the longer run, it means that many pistons of the engine are being and have been removed, and unless new pistons are found, the engine will run less well in the future.

Hearing from other readers who are still here, their notes read like the line from the song The House of the Rising Sun, "Well, I got one foot on the platform, the other foot on the train."

The unemployment rate may be low, but we bet that many folks who lost a job left the state and therefore do not show up in the unemployment data. We bet that many people who stayed may be employed but for less pay, as documented by the state economist's data. We bet that there are many people in the $10-15,000 category who have dropped out of the formal economy, who are not employed, are not collecting unemployment, who may have moved back home, or who are working in the underground economy.

Our street level economist's view is that all is not well in the kingdom. We fear that this view is not shared by those in power who have the opportunity to act.

LEGISLATIVE POLITICS 2007

They are off and muddling. Take for example Madame Speaker. All praise her, for her smarts, for her discipline, and for enforcing discipline upon her fold. She reportedly pushed, cajoled, and shoved many liberals aside, onto lesser committees, further away from the press, without power, in order to keep the flock focused on the middle of the road. Of course in Vermont the middle of the road is about the ditch in normal places.

THE MASTER OF DECEPTION

Senator Pro Tem Peter Shumlin, D-Windham, is showing remarkable patience. Many were surprised that he was elected as pro tem. Senator John Campbell, D-Windsor and now majority leader, seemed to have it wrapped up.

But according to insiders, Shumlin persuaded Senator Ginny Lyons, D-Chittenden to stay with him in return for the global warming focus. And Shumlin put together the final vote by promises to Senator Bobby Starr, D-Franklin, Lamoille, Orleans, and Essex, effecting the transfer of his affections. That Shumlin reportedly couldn't/didn't keep his promise to Starr has left a gaping open sore. They don't get mad, they get even in politics.

We were shocked to see that Shumlin no longer had a youthful, leggy distaff supporting him in the pro tem office, but a young lad, Nate Lavory. After Shumlin's difficulties surrounding his departure from that very office a few years back, we thought that maybe Shumlin had grown. Nate however informed us that he is only a temp and within two weeks, the real assistant jumped out of the cake, Katie Manaras.

WALKING PROUDLY IN OUR WINTER COATS

These words were song in Hair, the musical. In the late 60's and early 70's there were conferences on the new ice age and novels on folks trying to walk south for warmth, burning abandoned furniture to survive along the way. Warnings everywhere: we are going to freeze. According to a recent Jeff Jacoby column, "The rapid advance of some glaciers," wrote Lowell Ponte in 'The Cooling,' his 1976 bestseller, 'has threatened human settlements in Alaska, Iceland, Canada, China, and the Soviet Union.'"

Thirty years later we hear just the opposite. Even former Vermont columnist Darren Allen wrote, "My ten year old asked several times during the film Inconvenient Truth if there was anything we could do, with a nervousness and urgency one would expect from watching a horror movie." Watching a tsunami, an earthquake or a volcano might move one to urgency.

People who should know better talk in stark terms, acting like the blind men and the elephant tale. It is warm here in January and there is global warming, "They were playing golf." This past month however reminds us that the earth is going to do what it damn well pleases.

Folks in Oklahoma, Arkansas, and Kansas were dying in scores because of the harsh winter. It snowed in Laguna Beach and West Los Angeles, the California citrus crop was destroyed after six nights of below freezing weather, snowmen were being made in Phoenix, and the rain in Spain falling mostly on the plain was snow, and Katmandu had its first snow since World War II. Siberia remained cold; this report from Ojmjakon: -72 °F / -58 °C 42% 30.71 in / 1040 hPa Snow Calm 11:00 AM MAGT. And atop Mount Mansfield, an all time low maximum temperature was set, -14 degrees. Maybe Shumlin should get out more often. Maybe he should hold senate hearing on global warming on the State House lawn.

At least Shumlin is not alone. At the recent Davos World Economic Forum, there were seventeen sessions on climate change and just one of global political risk.

VEGETARIANS OF THE WORLD UNITE

Surely man could have a smaller footprint. As we detailed in the last issue, the single largest culprit of global warming is the cow. In addition to the bovine flatulence problem, according to Heather Moore writing in the Economist, "Researchers from the University of Chicago have found that the average American meat eater generates nearly 1.5 tons more carbon dioxide per person per year."

The Democrats campaigned on reforming the property tax and not on reducing global warming. So of course in their first hundred hours, they talked global warming, tax reform all but invisible. They could lower their global warming footprint by ending the dairy industry, becoming vegetarians, producing affordable housing near the workplace, redoing and insulating the country's oldest housing stock, and going home and thereby eliminating all that hot air. None of these things are likely to happen. Ah, that road to hell is paved with good intentions. That is where you can really feel global heat!!

I AM NOT A COMMIE

So Bernie said, suddenly famous, being interviewed by the foreign press. Do not think of me as a friend of the Soviet Union despite my support for Mr. Ortega, Mr. Chavez, and most any other socialist over the past forty years says Bernie. Think of me as a Scandinavian democratic socialist.

Okay, sounds like a reasonable man; let's check out Scandinavian democratic socialism. Fortunately, the Economist has recently done a survey as did the people of Sweden. They held an election and threw the Democratic Socialists out of office.

SWEDEN UNHAPPY WITH SOCIALISTS

This from the Economist: "Public debt and falling competitiveness have renewed doubts about the sustainability of the European 'social model' which is also starting to creak under the weight of an aging population (sound familiar?)...For most of the past fifty years, Sweden has been in relative decline... Sweden has created no net private sector jobs since 1950... the regulatory and tax climate is chilly to newer and smaller companies...

"Many voters had stuck with the Social Democrats because thirty percent worked for them and another thirty received transfer payments... most Swedes are weary of listening to foreign claims about the perfection of their society... history shows that Sweden's economy flourished when it was conservative and low tax, and that it went off the rails when higher taxes and more regulation was imposed." (Anyone listening?)

THE FAMILY

It seems long ago and far away that Vermonters talked about protecting the family. This might have been an agenda item for the Next Generation Commission, but alas, it was not. The Next Generation Commission realizes though that the next generation will be smaller than the last generation. But why?

Vermont has the lowest birthrate in the country and the fastest aging population. This is not cool if you wish your species to continue, if you hope that the government has a tax base to do merely the necessary let alone every plan the leftist advocates present, and if you hope that there is energy, creativity, joy and happiness abounding.

THE FAMILY UNDER ASSAULT

Since the glorious 50's, there has been a step by step movement away from the family. Today according to the New York Times more women live alone than those who are coupled. We understand that their methodology included counting women in the 15-19 age group who noted that they were not married or living with their significant other, validating the famous saw that liars always figure and figures always lie.

In the 60's came the pill, a great thing for so many. In the days of yore, many people married in part so that they could enjoy regular sexual relations. The pill revolutionized sex. Marriage was not needed, nor a family. Sport sex threatened to become an Olympic event.

In the 70's Roe v Wade permitted abortion on demand, literally ending the lives of many a taxpayer, inventor, and entrepreneur. This was a great thing for many, but the family took it on the chin. Then came abortion for minors without even asking or notifying parents, the father, or the family.

In the 80's no fault divorce was all the rage, giving freedom and benefits to many, but leaving the family more and more in tatters. And of course who can forget the Civil Unions battle. Judge Linda Levitt rejected the Baker case, writing that the state had an "interest in furthering the link between procreation and child rearing." How prophetic.

Each of these "assaults" of course was not intended to hurt the family but to, and properly so, provide birth control, help women, dissolve unhappy homes, and acknowledge gays among us. But there you have it. In Europe and in the enlightened northeast, populations are declining and the tax base is eroding. Sadly, the proposals of the Next Generation Commission or the Governor to lower student loan rates and tuitions or offer indentured scholarship programs will not help what society as put asunder.

CHINA'S NEW BABY RULES

China in its own way has recognized that the new American family is not acceptable there. Effective May 1, 2007, the Chinese government has changed its adoption rules to make them more aligned with the concept of the traditional family.

No longer may singles adopt for example. You must have been married at least two years, or five years if you have previously divorced. In addition folks who are taking medication for depression, are obese, are high school dropouts, or have HIV may not adopt Chinese children.

WHOSE SIDE ARE YOU ON?

In a recent Peggy Noonan column in the Wall Street Journal, there was the following throwaway line, "New York City is full of people who have met Hillary and Guilani, know them, and had dealings with them. The other night I bumped into a veteran journalist who talked about Iran. The journalist said, 'I wrote Hillary and gave her good advice but she didn't write back!'"

Above we wrote regarding the Tilt-a-Whirl of Vermont journalists going to work for Jim Douglas to spin us. As Dick Drysdale told DPR, "It speaks to the low wages in the industry." But it also speaks to whose side you are on and what your principles are. Can you imagine Jack Germond, David Brinkley, or Tom Brokaw going to work for George Bush or slipping political advice to him?

Sure, many media folks have made the crossover to government and vice versa. It seems to be a more recent phenomenon where the media in their own minds have become part of the story, venturing far a field from the who, what, where, and when of the old days, and want to spend all their time on why, and how they could do a better job than the current office holder. Maybe it is just a narcissistic era for journalism and political power. Maybe it has always been that way. Regardless, citizens lose.

WHO IS THE BIGGEST?

Vermont Business recently published their 20th annual survey of Vermont's employers, their employment, and revenue amid congratulations all around. They also include the fastest growing companies over the last five years, ten years, and so forth.

We wish that they would also include the state's largest employer, the State of Vermont. If they included public school employment, it would dwarf the State of Vermont. Most all of these employees also have gold plated health benefits and retirement packages. It would be interesting to track the growth of these employers over the last twenty years.

TERROR IN THE GREEN MOUNTAINS
by Karen Kerin

The evolution of evil is often not obvious until the evil touches one directly. Yet it is obvious that something very evil is now apparent and terrifying in the way it devalues human beings. We had fair warning of impending problems with training, policy and procedure when a victim of a mental disorder was shot in a church while armed only with a knife. Then we had a bizarre shooting in a police station with a person voluntarily being finger printed and allegedly pulling a knife on the officer. And then there was Joseph Fortunati.

Joseph Fortunati was camped on private property a couple of hundred yards from a logging road (Copper Mine Road was misidentified as a class IV road on that portion of the road). Joseph had apparently neglected to take his medications for a diagnosed mental illness. A non-violent altercation occurred between Joseph and some EPA staff on Monday. On Friday, apparently the state police had been called after another group of EPA staff had accosted Joseph. The EPA staff sought to discover facts regarding the status of the road and the ownership of where Joseph was camped at the Town Clerk’s office, where Susan Fortunati works (Joseph’s step-mother). She recognized that the vehicle the EPA reported seeing on Copper Mine Road was Joseph’s. This resulted in a dialogue between Susan Fortunati and the police who arrived before the EPA staff left the Town Clerk’s office.

Susan offered that Robert Fortunati, Joseph's father, would talk to Joseph. The police demanded that they be informed of the progress within two to three hours. Susan advised Robert of the situation and Robert then went to the police barracks to offer that he and two of his sons would try to move Joseph onto some Fortunati land nearby in the morning (Saturday), to which the police agreed but insisted that they be kept informed.

Saturday Robert and the family did try to talk to Joseph resulting in Joseph pulling a gun on his father. Robert reported to the police what had transpired and advised them that the situation needed to be handled very gently as Joseph had mental issues. Robert was given the impression that the police would work with the family to devise a plan together. That did not happen.

The Vermont State police became impatient and responded to Joseph’s camp site at 7 PM with a SWAT team and proceeded in a twelve minute confrontation to pelt Joseph with shotgun fired beanbag rounds and commands to surrender. After twelve minutes of abusive treatment amounting to assault and battery, in his confused mind he went to his car to get a gun to defend himself. Once the gun was in hand, a trooper yelled, “Gun”. That immediately caused two SWAT members to fire, killing Joseph. It is noteworthy that neither Joseph’s Clara Martin Center counselor nor the Bradford constable, each of whom had a good relationship with Joseph, were asked by the police to talk to Joseph despite the Fortunati’s suggestion.

See http://www.atg.state.vt.us/display.php?pubsec=4&curdoc=1214

The Orange County State’s Attorney and the Vermont Attorney General investigated. They concluded that the SWAT team believed they were in danger of death or serious bodily injury. After being accosted with such harsh behavior, a rational man might well react to defend himself from black clad people with painted faces.

Indeed, the facts, as disclosed by the Attorney General’s report, appear to indicate that it was not until after twelve minutes of provocation that Joseph went to his car to get a gun. But there is no emphasis about the provocation by the SWAT team in the Attorney General’s report. The question is why was this report not balanced to show that there was severe provocation and that during the first twelve minutes of the confrontation Joseph was not armed and could easily have been taken into custody?

We must recognize that SWAT was on the scene on direct orders of someone in the management chain of command and they were following the training, policy and procedure that the command structure provided.

The Dwinell Political Report interviewed the Attorney General on the subject. Attorney General Sorrell defended his actions. "I am the chief law enforcement officer of the State of Vermont. But my role as such is limited to 'counsel and assist.' In my investigations, I was limited to finding whether there was a violation of the criminal laws, if a murder charge was warranted or manslaughter. The action of the law enforcement, while tragic, did not come close to a charge of murder or manslaughter."

The Attorney General is not a constitutional office, but rather one created by statute. Title 3 § 152 defines his authority. The attorney general may represent the state in all civil and criminal matters as at common law and as allowed by statute. The attorney general shall also have the same authority throughout the state as a state’s attorney. That is considerably more authority than a role limited to “counsel and assist”. Worse, it does not relieve him of the duty to report faithfully. He could hardly fail to conclude that there is a problem when police kill mentally disturbed citizens after provoking them with the threat of death or serious bodily harm from the officers.

Again in the Dwinell Political Report the Attorney General is quoted. "I did feel a sense of responsibility that there seemed to be a flaw in the training of law enforcement that allowed these situations to all end tragically. I was able to persuade both Governor Douglas and the legislature to support a $50,000 request for specific training relating to these tragedies."

I think that Sorrell regards protecting the state from civil actions as more important than his duty to the people who pay his salary. He did show great disdain for human life and a coarse disregard for the duty of the Attorney General.

We must ask the question, is this something that should result in disciplinary action against Sorrell? Can Vermont afford to go down the path of state terrorism? I do not want the terror that is becoming pervasive in so many other countries to become commonplace in Vermont. I do not want state sponsored terrorism that this whitewashing allows. Joseph Fortunati should not have been killed by SWAT. Who is next?

NO DPR! FYI

»» Daniel Foty: Just FYI, I got to my in-box this morning and saw no DPR - figured that maybe it didn't make it to the distributor before the Christmas shutdown. I just found it in my spam box.

The "FYI" is that anyone with a sover.net address probably had the same thing happen, and if someone doesn't check their spam (or just has anything routed to the spam box automatically deleted) would not even know it went by....

Editor's note: Be sure to "whitelist" MailGuy@DwinellPoliticalReport.com so this won't happen to you! Also, if you forward the DPR, be sure to remove the "unsubscribe" link at the bottom lest someone else click on it...

ANOTHER LAWYER STORY

»» Karen Kerin, South Royalton: Allow me to address your last report in which Attorney General Sorrell ducked your questions.

1. Why didn't he tell you about the quill and how he gloats to fellow members of the bar about it? At the National AG's meetings he is not shy about making it a point, being a member of that select group that most AG's never get to join.

2. You quoted him saying, "The moot courts were much harder than the real thing." If that is really true and he had such sage advisors, why did he look like a smacked potato in court and why did he lose on the merits? The answer is of course, his argument was flatly wrong and he got found out. Had he argued it as a state's rights matter, he might well have won.

Clearly he does not know much about constitutional law as the United States Supreme Court sees it. His citing state employees is a bad joke that the court would naturally look on with disfavor when he was unable to provide even one instance of him prosecuting influence buying by political contributors.

3. I was really rolling on the floor when Sorrell made the ridiculous claim about the changes of personnel on the court. Was that not prima facie evidence of playing to justices rather than arguing the law? It is probably specious of him to suggest that O'Connor would have seen it his way because for sure the former chief justice would not have and either Alito or Roberts did not vote because he was involved in an earlier decision on the same issue.

4. I am also dumbfounded that Sorrell thinks that states rights would trump free speech. The former is a mere relationship of the federal to the state and the latter is a fundamental right of the people in the Bill of Rights. Hence, arguing the case as a freedom of speech issue was a dead loser that Sorrell should have seen coming and not even taken the case to SCOTUS.

CAMPAIGN FINANCE & SORRELL II

»» Sharon Toborg, Treasurer of Vermont Right to Life & its Political Committees: Those who promoted Vermont's campaign finance law did so with the express knowledge, intention and hope that it would end up before the US Supreme Court and (in their fantasy world where Vermont is on the cutting edge of brilliant policy ideas) revolutionize elections throughout our country. They were more than happy to gamble with the taxpayer's dollar, and they lost big-time. The Attorney General could have opted not to appeal, which might have helped minimize the colossal wasting of tax dollars - but then he would have missed out on his fifteen minutes of fame. While Sorrell was allowed to toot his own horn by our Vermont media, the national media could clearly tell his arguments were ludicrous. They reported, based on what they heard in the courtroom, that expenditure limits would surely be struck and the contribution limits were likely to fall, too.

And I can't help but note that the same William Sorrell that argued that states have the right to regulate political speech despite the express free speech guarantees of the First Amendment, filed a Friend-of-the-Court brief arguing that the state of Nebraska does not have the right to prohibit the gruesome partial-birth abortion procedure because in the shadow of the penumbra of some amendment to the constitution somewhere lies an absolute unfettered right to abortion. So much for his belief in the concept of States' rights.

JUST SLIP OUT THE BACK, JACK

»» Ye olde Vermonter, Franklin County: Bravo! Your recent editorial on the Next Generation Commission is superb.

My neighbors' kids are now in the upper years of high school. The oldest is a freshman at UVM. All will go to college. None, I predict, will live in Vermont afterwards, even the UVM kid. In fact, when the kids are gone, it's likely that their parents will move away; and if socialistic health care passes in this state, then I'm gone too.

Potential loss to the state: Five smart, fine young adults, two mothers both heavily involved in the community, and three highly skilled workers in fields that bring money into the state.

Why? Once out in the real world the kids are going to feel like they've escaped from an Amish prison. "You mean cell phones really are supposed to work all the time? I thought that was just on TV!" Imagine driving to a nearby WalMart and being told that what you want is out-of-stock but the WalMart 15 minutes away still has some. This is the real world (in the U.S.). Vermont is a scary aberration.

My neighbors and I own many acres of wooded hillside. Unfortunately only in Vermont is land effectively un-developable, due to zoning and environmental considerations, while at the same time considered (by the State Department of Taxes) very desirable, therefore valuable, and therefore highly taxed. My neighbors and I are paying a lot of money to preserve scenic vistas for leaf peepers and habitat for the State's herd of deer. I wish I had time to enjoy it so much, but I have a job I have to go to.

I swear, I think the only reasons my out-of-state friends come to visit is to see what a zero signal looks like on their cell phones and to marvel at the latest edition of my property tax bill which is typically ten times theirs on a percentage basis. Perhaps the Vermont Department of Tourism and Marketing should advertise these facts as tourist attractions.

The legislature forgets that, unlike the old Soviet Union, it doesn't have the power to prohibit emigration. The harder Vermont closes its fist, the more Freemen will slip through its fingers.

Living in (and loving) Vermont is like being in an abusive relationship. Every day we give more and more and every day the State takes more and more and gives nothing back. Well **** it. If I can't help myself from loving Vermont I can at least save myself and do it from a distance.

DEMOGRAPHIC/ECONOMIC COMMENT

»» Martin Harris, Addison: In theory, it would be possible for the government of a small state to predicate its economic plan primarily on passive income, when the voters have made it fairly clear that they oppose any actions which might encourage capital formation and business activity which would contribute to active income. I’ve written a number of articles on Vermont’s emerging Trust-funder Economy.

There’s no reason why a steady in-flow of such passive income couldn't pay the taxes and employ the gardeners of a leisure class which devotes its time and effort to political causes like tire burns, global warming, world peace, and Tibetan freedom.

Whether Vermont’s gentry-left governing elites, left and so-called right, are smart enough to pull this off is another question. I doubt it.

FORD'S PARDON

»» Andy Shaw: As I listened to and read all about Gerald Ford's pardon, I wondered what impact it had on Pat Leahy's race vs. Dick Mallary. I wonder if any Vermont political scientists ever studied that topic?

PARDON US?

»» 109 Main Street, Montpelier: From the official recount results of the auditor's race on file with the Washington Superior Court: Martha Abbott, 23,490; Randy Brock, 111,668; Jerry Levy, 3,914; Thomas Salmon, 111,770; total 250,842. Yes, in fact, it is more than 250,000. So either you are: a) stupid, b) mean spirited, c) lazy, d) bitter, e) all of the above?

Editor's note: We will take stupid, actually totally daft. Sleepless nights followed such an unforgivable and embarrassing gaff. Abject apologies to the Burlington Free Press.

RANDY BROCK IN 2008

»» Senator Wendy Wilton, Rutland: I think many Vermonters (who were paying attention) understood the great job that Brock did as State Auditor -—in fact they didn't think he had a race in large measure, and so it was difficult to gain momentum in his race this time around—people thought he was "in". But the Democratic tsunami took its toll on him and others. But the pendulum will swing back and I hope he runs again in 2008. I think you were wrong to malign him for not being in VT -—he was on the job more than several others in statewide office or even in the legislature for that matter --such as Matt Dunne and others with greater ambitions.

BROCK TAKE TWO

»» Jill McDermott: James James James ...sometimes I do wonder where your information comes from! As the Brock Campaign Team......I must defend Randy ....he put thousands of miles on his car, shook lots of hands, ate lots of chicken pies and never went to Florida. Randy lost because of the Democratic tsunami coupled with the Salmon name. Shame on you!!!

BROCK TAKE THREE

»» John McClaughry, Kirby: In the auditors race, Brock and Salmon got 111,000 each, plus Aboott got 23,000, and levy 3500(from memory) Total: 250,000

I really don't think Randy lost because of inattention to the voters - if he had been out twice as much he wouldn't have done much better (of course he wouldn't have had to do much better to win...)

THEY LIKE US

»» John Goodrich, Lyndonville: Here is a voluntary contribution to keep you going...please do so. We need your insight and analysis more than ever.

»» Trow Elliman, Boynton Beach, FL: Loved the line about "...ruling class of elderly flower children..." Keep up the good work. Vermont needs you.

»» Ralph Colin, Dorset: Your December 22 report is one of your best efforts. As an experienced carpenter might do, you hit each nail right squarely on the head and drove it home in two strikes. Well done.

»» Ian Robetson, Wolcott: Nice report, glad to see you back in the saddle.

»» Wally Farr, Bradford, Hanover, Fairlee: Lake Morey appreciates your efforts!!

FROM INCHES TO YARDS OF VERMONT STATUES

"Wouldn't it be grand if authoritarian know-it-alls kept their opinions to themselves rather than writing them down as legislation and forcing the rest of us to conform to their concept of utopia? How about a new law prohibiting new laws for a year? Or for two years? Or forever? Just imagine that, if you can." --Mark Landsbaum, Orange County Register

DOES THIS SOUND FAMILIAR?

"Why, then, did Neanderthals die out? The answer, according to Professor Sheldon Harmon of the University of Wisconsin, was that the Neanderthals carried a gene that led them to resist change. 'Neanderthals were the first environmentalists. They created a lifestyle in harmony with nature. They limited game hunting, and they controlled tool use. But this same ethos also made them intensely conservative and resistant to change.'" --Mark Steyn, Maclean's, January 1, 2007

EVEN CASTRO GETS IT

"The imprecision, the inexact data, consciously or unconsciously masked, can no longer continue." --Raul Castro complaining about the inefficiencies in the Cuba's economy, Time Magazine, January 2007

STEP ONE TO OBLIVION

"A government big enough to give you everything you want is not big enough to get you to give any of it back." --Mark Steyn

STEP TWO TO OBLIVION

"A government big enough to give you everything you want is big enough to take away everything you have." --Gerald Ford.

ANXIETY FREE

"Drinks before dinner? The more the better. Smoke? You bet. Cigarettes actually made you healthier by soothing jangled nerves and sharpening jaded minds...

"Happily, we were indestructible. We did not need seat belts, air bags, smoke detectors, or bottled water. We did not need helmets when we road our bikes. We did not worry about what we ate because nearly all foods were good for us. Sugar gave us energy. Red meat made us strong. Ice cream gave us healthy bones." --Bill Bryson, The Life and Times of the Thunderbolt Kid

OLD EUROPE, NEW EUROPE

"I am told that some have even spoken in terms of 'old' Europe versus 'new.' The distinction that I would draw is between those who do all they can to fulfill collective commitments and those who do not. NATO is not a social club, it is a military alliance." --Robert Gates, Munich Security Conference.

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