JEFFORDS WILL DROP OUT OF 2006 RACE

That is an opinion, not a fact. Something is wrong with Jim Jeffords health. That is an opinion, not a fact. Listen in to his appearance on Vermont Public Radio’s Switchboard program with Bob Kinzel last Tuesday, March 22, 2005. Go to http://www.vpr.net/vt_news/switchboard.shtml. Check him out for yourself and make your own call. (Shortcut - Listen here: http://www.vpr.net/switchboard/switchboard_032205.wax)

Last week at the governor’s press conference, the press was abuzz with the nasty national fund raising appeal from Vermont GOP Chair Jim Barnett. The letter went after “turncoat” Jim Jeffords. Senator Diane Snelling labeled it “trash.”

THE ELEPHANT IN THE CORNER

What the press should have been discussing was Jeffords’s health, not Barnett's lack of “taste.” Reportedly, they speak of it in hushed tones, in protective words, admonishing “don’t bring it up.”

Maybe he went off his medication, but we do not think so. Your editor has known Jeffords for five decades. He has campaigned with him. He has campaigned for him. He has had him over to his home.

Never the most articulate, Jeffords has nonetheless changed. His speech patterns, music, rhythm, lexicology, and context are very different and do not contain his or anyone’s normal or natural linguistic ability. It is not just the quotes below which bother, it is a sense of someone being lost, a child who is searching for the one who is watching over him. In Jeffords’s case, his staff.

LOOK WHO’S TALKING

One experienced political person told DPR, “Just listening to Switchboard. Boy! He could not answer a single question. His response to everything was, ‘I wasn't aware of that. Now that you've called it to my attention, I'll have my staff look at it.’"

Another said that he was in a meeting with friends and associates of Jeffords and when Jim came into the room, he said, “Gee I do not know any of you.”

A third wrote, “Even accounting for the fact that he is not a good speaker, at best his answers were sophomoric, at worse reflecting that he is no longer with it. Almost every answer was punted to his staff. Appalling that he could not remember how he had voted on the Pentagon budget bill. Answers were off the wall, inappropriate and showed him to be uninformed. Very sad.”

MAY PEACE BE WITH YOU

Normally, DPR might take a shot at Jeffords, ridicule him, or challenge him. Not this time, this is sad; on switchboard he was a shadow of his former self. Even Bob Kinzel appeared shocked by and then sympathetic to Jeffords’s condition.

We believe he will take his campaign chest and retire. Elected prior to 1992, any retiring congress person can convert their campaign funds to personal funds, and Jeffords will.

EVERYONE FOR SENATE 2006

Who will run? Bernie Sanders for sure. Perhaps Ambassador Dubie or even Chairman Waldo. Then there is Peter Welch, John Tracy, or the Speaker herself, Gaye Symington. There has been a logjam at the top for so long with Jeffords, Leahy and Sanders damming the stream of wannabees. Geez, throw in Doug Racine, Peter Clavelle, Peter Shumlin, Ed Flanagan, and Jan Backus. Why not Governor Douglas himself? Or Mr. Almost Richard Tarrant? What a donnybrook. Hurray for the political junkie.

JEFFORDS ON VPR’S SWITCHBOARD, MARCH 22

In response to Kinzel’s welcome, “Hopeful we will have a good dissertation.”

In response to a question about raising the age for receiving social security benefits, “Skeptical that seems to imply that we are much healthier than we are.”

In response to a war in Iran, “They’ll probably start another war in Iran. I feel very strongly that they are looking ahead. Try to get their son elected president.”

In response to his switch, “Education in the country is way behind with respect to the rest of the world, especially in our schools.”

In response to the Border Patrol roadblock south of White River and their catching over six hundred illegals, “Why and what good is going to come from it. I don’t understand what that (catching six hundred) means.”

In response to a comment that the Budget Enforcement Act prohibits using Social Security funds for general purposes, “Now that you have brought that up, I will take great notice of it.”

In response to a question on personal accounts as part of Social Security, “You raise a very interesting question. I’ll have my staff take a look at that, thank you so much for your participation.”

In response to a comment on a failed personal retirement account plan in Chile, “The information I was unaware of. The information is interesting and must be looked at.”

In response to a question about saving the country and the world from economic collapse, “Thank you, very interesting suggestion. We’ll follow up by looking into these matters.”

In response to a question as to why neither he nor anyone else voted against the Defense Budget, “I voted against it as far as I remember.” Kinzel interrupts to say that it passed 98-0. Can’t believe I voted for, may have, thought I voted against it.”

In response to why he is running, “I would do more (for Vermont) than someone in their first year.”

Listen yourself. It is remarkable that his staff or wife can imagine his running for over a year and a half and then serving six years if he wins. Better to allow his retirement with full honors and respect than to make a spectacle of himself.

THE HEALTH CARE JUNGLE

With his book The Jungle exposing unsafe practices of the meat packing industry, Upton Sinclair became a political force. He ran for governor of California in 1926 as a socialist, and again in 1934 as a Democrat. In spite of an intense opposition, he did well, but not enough to win as a progressive candidate siphoned off the margin of victory.

In his campaigns, he laid out an extensive progressive agenda including social security, unemployment compensation, trade rules, child labor laws, securities laws and so forth. All of his proposals have become law except for universal health care. The Vermont legislature is now trying to complete Sinclair’s agenda.

CAMPAIGN PROMISE

Recently we had a campaign here in Vermont. Though health care was an issue, no one proposed a socialized health care service. Aspirant Peter Clavelle came the closest with his thoughts of reforming health care. But his campaign dissembled when Candy Page of the Free Press asked how he was going to pay for it and in fact will there not be a huge tax increase. That moment became a Douglas Campaign ad.

As Douglas put it at his weekly press conference this week, “We had an election last year and health care was a big issue. The people of Vermont made a choice, and I think it is very clear what that choice was. They do not want a large, taxpayer-funded plan that will increase the burden of taxation on business and the people of our state.” Douglas trumped Clavelle by 55 percent.

WHAT I WANT TO DO THIS SUMMER

The health care proposal is however just a “to do” list, beginning with hearings on their plan for the rest of the year. The socialized medical plan calls for including everyone by July, 2007, hospital care by October, 2007 and the complete package by July, 2009. Vermont would then join all the other industrial nations in providing a government run health care system.

BUMPS IN THE ROAD

Jim Douglas who said, “It is moving in exactly the wrong direction,” is not the only bump in the road. Unlike the other industrial nations, Vermont is neither a nation nor an industrial nation. Its tax base is already overburdened, actually stretched beyond the limit. So who pays?

It will not be the union members. Both the teachers and state employees said that they already have theirs, do not touch theirs, do not replace theirs, and do not expect either of them to help fund the scheme. The two largest groups of the Democrat hegemony who have already fled town in the boat called “My Ship.”

To quote the VTNEA newsletter, we “recognize that Vermont educators have struggled and sacrificed to obtain and, particularly, retain high quality health care coverage for themselves and their families. We will do nothing to jeopardize that.” And we thought that it was the Vermont taxpayers who had “sacrificed” their financial security to do the “right thing” and support the community’s children.

Joel Cook of the VTNEA went further on WCAX, “We can not support jeopardizing access to high quality health care for our members. It's that straight forward.” The rest of us unwashed can our course suffer, unprotected as we are, unrepresented in the halls of power by lobbyists, unions, special interests, and NGO’s. Hail however to the chief, Governor Douglas.

If your editor hears one more time from the teachers or their union that it is “about the children”, he will projectile vomit with such power that every computer screen at VTNEA will be splattered. It has never been about the children; it has always been about the teachers.

WHO DO WE APPRECIATE?

At the Democrat Caucus Senate pro tem Peter Welch gushed, “This has been a very significant week. The House proposal is a serious, honest, direct effort to deal with the problem of health care. The House was forthright but there is lots to do. The Senate did the same thing with the Corrections Bill.

“I am very disappointed in the Administration responding to the House’s effort with campaign rhetoric. I am extremely proud of our honest efforts in the House and the Senate and hope that the Administration will step up and join us in the honest forthright effort.”

OUT OF THE CLOSET

The truth is out, no surprise here. The Democrats are now really doing their thing. The government is the answer to everything. One might think that this being so, the Democrats would worry every night about jobs. No jobs, no tax base, no money for the liberal agenda. Not so.

They run as moderates, nice folks. One frustrated Democrat let us in on their secret. “Don’t run on issues,” a Democrat Party consultant told the candidate for the House. “Run on your personality, connections to the community and you will win. Run on issues and you will lose. People do not support us on the issues we hold dear.”

Now that jig is up. They are wide eyed, round the bend liberals, all of them, having a love-in for their own boldness in declaring their love of government programs, hatred of Republicans a la Dean, and their disenfranchisement of the voter whom they intentionally misled.

THE GREEN-LESS MOUNTAIN STATE

How many times have you heard jobs, economic opportunity, or investment mentioned in the press, the legislature, or even at a Jim Douglas press conference? Zero. There is a disconnect between the golden goose whose down is totally plucked and programs. We read of a radio program dedicated to discussing Chinese investment in Vermont. Now there is a howler! Fat chance. Hard enough to talk Vermonters into investing in Vermont let alone savvy international investors. Who needs Vermont? Government might ask this from time to time.

Representative John Tracy, Chair of the House Heath Care Committee said an astounding thing the other day, “We are in a political environment; we can not escape that.” Hello. Did you think that you were elected to an ivory tower? The Administration questioned how this socialized medicine is going to work and who is going to pay for it. Political environment Tracy suggests.

BI-PARTISAN IS ACCEPTING THEIR PROPOSALS

The Speaker from Tuxedo went around the state “panning” Governor Douglas health care reform plans. His plans had specifics, budget numbers, and costs which included adding thousands to coverage, incentivizing small business, and inducing more private market insurers to return to Vermont again create a competitive market. The AP reported, “She says that Douglas’s package won’t fix long term problems with Vermont’s health insurance system.”

Tracy then complains, “We hope they work with us.” But of course they will not work with him, consider his plans, study them in committee, and put them up for a vote. They learned this week that Douglas has veto power, will use it, and the House Republicans will stand with him. The lady from Tuxedo is not the only game in town.

AROUND THE REAL WORLD

A couple of things to consider. There is no wall around Vermont despite calls for it from time to time. How will Vermont retain all the doctors they need in a socialized system? Today, doctors and nurses from around the world come to the United States for opportunity and the rewards our medical system provides. Most likely they will not come to Vermont’s socialized medical system. The doctors who are here will soon see that moving to another state will double their income. Adios docs.

How will Vermont keep out non-citizens who fall ill and need care which they cannot afford in their own state? Well let’s pack up and move to Vermont. It is already happening. The ill, the poor, and the unemployed are no fools. They know which states offer the best benefits and off they go. No piggy bank is safe.

Good luck to them. Sure, if they can reduce all the administrative costs of the reimbursement and bookkeeping departments, increase access, maintain quality, all for lots less money, great. Having lived in Germany, France, and the United Kingdom there is a peace knowing that all medical costs are covered. Being an employer, health insurance is a no win hassle. However, it will not be easy.

HE SHALL SIGN IT, IF NOT, HE SHALL RETURN IT

So wrote the founding fathers and mothers in our Constitution. And he did. He returned a bill changing the governing of state pension funds. We wondered when the political process would begin. The early part of the session was busy with new folks settling in and the administration reorganizing. Then nothing, no action, no movement; a stalemate.

It felt similar to the Phony War following the invasion of Poland in 1939. Then suddenly the sitzkreig turned into the blitzkrieg with the German army pouring into France in 1940 pinning the British in Dunkirk. Only the Great Evacuation, a flotilla of everything but the family bathtub ferrying soldiers home, saved the British armed forces.

SPAULDING FOR GOVERNOR

Suddenly the liberal cards flew out of their long protected nests. Treasurer Jeb Spaulding, testing his political muscle and revealing his ambition to replace Douglas, got behind the idea of pension activism. He, in cahoots with the state worker’s union and the teacher’s union, wanted to use the pension plans to slam President Bush’s plans to reform social security and begin “socially responsible” investing.

Statistically, “socially responsible” investing has lower returns than regular investing. Based on Spaulding's estimates in the Rutland Herald (link below), a 0.1 percent decrease in pension fund performance would cost the state $2.5 million annually.

Spaulding said, “It is entirely possible that this small pension fund could have an influence on the national debate over Social Security.”

LET’S PLAY TAKE AWAY

The plan was to create a super board from the existing three pension boards, the Teacher’s Board, the State Employees Board, and the Municipal Board. But only the teachers could vote for members from their board depriving the other four non-teacher members of their votes. Same with the State Employees Board. After all, the teachers said it was their money; they should be able to invest it as they like.

Well, not really. It is your money. The pension fund is a defined benefits plan, one in which you have guaranteed the payments. If the teachers invested the money in nice touchy feely investments which went south, you would be on the hook to pony up the shortfall. Douglas thought both forbidding board members from voting, pension activism, and “socially responsible” investing were not in the best interests of you. Hence the veto.

The only editorialist who seems to get it is Emerson Lynn of the Saint Albans Messenger. The Rutland Herald also acknowledged the underlying issue (Go to http://www.rutlandherald.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=2005503240309). The Free Press did an exceptionally poor job of explaining the issue. Their editorial staff as usual felt its way to a conclusion instead of thinking its way to one.

BATTLE OF THE VETO

The battle raged for weeks. The Senate quickly overrode the veto by everybody to nobody, only three lonely Republicans standing with their governor. The House found its spine and stood together but for one, carrying the day and protecting your pocketbook. The Democrat Party mailed into the districts of Republicans it was hoping to influence. It turned into a fool’s errand; the fool and his money were soon separated. The insult stiffened the fence sitters.

VTNEA Pooh-Bah Angelo Dorta blanketed Vermont’s newspapers with a letter, “the governor has already lost, both his credibility and taxpayer money. He can obfuscate, but he can’t hide.” Douglas never hid; he protected our money, and increased his credibility. Dorta, union hack, lost his.

The vote originally scheduled for last Tuesday was moved to Friday. Representative Donna Sweaney, D-Windsor told her caucus that the postponement was at the Republican’s request as some of their members were away. Republican Rick Hube told DPR, “Baloney, the delay to Friday was because the Democrats did not have the votes and were hoping that their mailing would make a difference.” It did.

AMANDA BRIGHAM, DID YOU PICTURE THIS?

This was a headline from the Stowe Reporter following their first ever rejection of a school budget and a realization that Stowe was providing 2.6 percent of the state’s budget, $44,380,000.

Education Week rated the equitableness of each states’s school funding scheme. It ranked Vermont dead last. If this is so, why has the Court not reconvened on Brigham and ordered the state to correct the problem? After all, that was the order of Brigham.

THE TAX GRAB

Brigham was not about Amanda but about liberal greed. The liberals who ruled in Montpelier in the 90’s had the income tax, the sales tax, and all the other major tax revenues. All that was missing was the property tax. How could they get their hands on it?

Thus Brigham was born. When the Court issued its ruling, Robert Ginsberg, attorney for Amanda, reportedly rushed into the Democrat Caucus meeting waving the ruling in the air and shouting, “We have control of the property tax.” Act 60 is a scourge and it comes in dead last in doing its job. It belongs on the trash heap.

FRANKENSTIEN FARMING

You can all sleep well at night knowing that our Senate has passed the GMO liability bill. Newspapers do not even define GMO anymore, genetically modified organisms. We all know that it is a scourge. Steve Kerr, Secretary of Agriculture said, “I had seven meetings this summer and fall to explore the question of whether GMO’s are harmful.

“Not once did any of the critics produce a scintilla of evidence to back up their statements.” Nevertheless Democrat Senator John Campbell said, “The purpose is to protect Vermont farmers.” We have heard from many farmers who would like to be protected from government but not from any who asked to be protected from GMO’s.

THE LITTLE ENGINE THAT COULDN’T

Roundabouts move traffic in countries around the world. Not much here though. The Agency of Transportation told East Montpelier Selectman Edith Miller that the Agency does not build them because they do not build them. That’s right, because they have no experience with them they “do not consider them” as an answer to traffic woes. Guess we would still be in our crib if we had that attitude.

I’VE BEEN WORKING ON THE RAILROAD

Jobs, jobs, jobs. Just never mentioned in Montpelier. Last week, a company in Winooski announced they were decamping for Mexico throwing over a hundred into the streets. These were good jobs at good wages to quote a former governor of Massachusetts.

Franklin Food, a cheese plant in Enosburg with 80 employees, is looking at opportunities just across the lake in Clinton County, NY. Plant manager John Ovitt told the Saint Albans Messenger, “We need to be on a level playing field and sometimes Vermont is not the best place. We are looking for a situation where we can be more competitive. Clinton County offers modern utilities, streamlined transportation systems, and updated facilities. Just across the lake are some zones of economic development that are favorable.”

With the highest electrical rates in continental United States, decaying highway system, sky-high taxes, workman’s compensation and health insurance, and daily permit hell, why is anyone here? Secretary Kerr added, “We do not produce a single product in this state that is not grown elsewhere and that frankly is not grown for less money.” But no talk about jobs, investment or improving the business climate.

COMPASSION VERSUS FAIRNESS

Laura Winterbottom is dead, having been brutally raped and murdered just north of Church Street in Burlington. An innocent young woman another victim of victim’s rights. Her alleged rapist and murderer, Gerald Montgomery was no beginner.

According to Sam Hemingway in the Free Press, his local rap sheet fills pages: guilty to assault on a woman in January, 1996, guilty of lascivious conduct in August, 1996 after being charged with sexual assault of a seventeen year old girl, guilty in 1997 of abuse of a woman, and in 1998 an ex-girl friend obtained a relief from abuse order. Who knows what happened before he happened along to Burlington?

When passing Megan’s law in Vermont, folks wanted to make sure victims were protected. Montgomery was, his name was not listed. Winterbottom was not protected. We have often heard, especially from former Governor Howard Dean, about how governments must be compassionate. Having no heart or soul, a government by definition cannot be compassionate. It can be fair. It was not fair to Miss Winterbottom.

POLITICAL COFFEE CHOICES

Just in case you do not want your cup of joe to support the Democrats, check this out. Starbucks gave 100 percent of its political contributions to Democrats while Dunkin’ Donuts gave 12 percent to Democrats and 88 percent to Republicans. When you belly up to the bar, Guinness gave 62 percent to Democrats while Budweiser gave 56 percent to Republicans. And when you plan you next picnic, Costco gave 99 percent to Democrats while Wal-Mart gave 78 percent to Republicans.

MEMORY LANE

Just when the Clinton Administration begins to fade from memory, along comes Clinton’s National Security Advisor Sandy Berger pleading guilty to stuffing classified documents from the National Archives into his pants to help the Kerry Campaign. So desperate are the Democrats for power. Power for them is like oxygen; without it they just can’t breathe.

THE PAPER OF WRECKAGE

The New York Times has done it once again. The blog http://www.powerlineblog.com reprinted an early proof, “screen grab”, of a critical story about the legacy on the death of Pope John Paul II. In the body of the proof was a note, “need quote from supporter” to offset what was a completely negative piece.

NEED MORE LAWS

“When things go wrong, you can’t help noticing how reflexively our reporters lapse into their preferred portrayal of Canadians as victims. The four RCMP officers murdered by James Roszko were merely the latest example: ‘Tragedy Latest Setback for Struggling Town’ Calgary Herald; ‘Investigators Scour Farm for Clues to Tragedy’ Regina Leader-Post; ‘Worst Force Tragedy since Riel Rebellion’ The Daily Miner). A ‘tragedy’ would have been their car going off a bridge en route to the Roszko place.

“When one guy--known to everyone in the neighborhood as the ne plus ultra of ‘angry white loners’--manages to kill four Mounties, that’s not a ‘tragedy’ but an operational fiasco.

”Some Canadians were angry. They called the talk shows demanding new laws--laws to decriminalize drugs, laws to recriminalize drugs, laws to set up an even bigger and better multibillion dollar gun registry, laws for this, laws for that. Hey, why not?

“The unlovely Mr. Roszko had already broken scores of laws; if only we’d given him a few dozen more to disregard. Assault with a weapon? Unlawful confinement? Sex attacks on underage boys? Property crimes against state officials? Been there, done that, over and over.” --Mark Steyn, Western Standard, April 4, 2005

GOT THEM RIGHT WHERE THEY WANT THEM

»» Richard W. Mallary, Brookfield: Regarding "The roller coaster of Stowe's Act 60 trauma continues." A gold town, Stowe through its Education Fund avoided the perils of Act 60. Their sole representative, Dick Marron-R, wrote Act 68 as chair of the Ways and Means Committee in the last legislature removing the "shark pool" yet it did not fully mitigate the demand on property rich towns to fund property poor towns.

This year, the Stowe Reporter opined that the citizens should approve the school budget despite an increase in property taxes of forty-three percent. They did so in part because regardless of their level of spending, property taxes would not go down. In the same issue, frequent Act 60 critic David Jaqua in an op-ed column asked the voters to turn down the budget if only to send a message."

Perhaps this is a demonstration that Act 68 does actually work. The amount paid in school taxes in Stowe by all businesses, farmers, and non-residents will not be affected in any way by this vote. They will pay the same rate per dollar of property value for education as all similar properties in other towns around the state. The amount per student that the Stowe residents vote to spend will affect only the tax rate on their primary residences. If they find that is too high, they can vote to spend less. It is no longer possible for voting residents to transfer the burden of high per student spending to the non-residential property in their town.

This seems quite reasonable to me.

TALK NOT ACTION

"The other day I found myself driving in Vermont behind a vehicle which bore the slogan FREE TIBET. ‘But what exactly are they doing to free Tibet?' my wife asked. 'He is advertising his moral virtue, not calling for action. If Rumsfeld were to say, ‘Free Tibet, what a swell idea! The Third Infantry Division will go in on Thursday,’ the bumper-sticker crowd would be aghast." --Mark Steyn, The Federalist, March 14, 2005

http://www.ivanyi-consultants.com/articles/rightside.html

PEAS IN A POD

"What is more democratic: 180 people taking a vote and passing a bill or one person, one governor, vetoing a bill?" --Senator Jim Condos, D-Chittenden and VTNEA water boy, Burlington Free Press, 3/25/05

"Which is more democratic? A bill to establish a committee of all interested parties, supported by almost all 180 democratically elected legislators, or a governor's veto of a bill?" --Angelo Dorta, actually VTNEA, Burlington Free Press, 3/26/05

SAINT PATRICK FOR POPE

At a recent conference at the University of Vermont, former Governor Madeline Kunin offered that Nobel Prize winner Jody Williams is an example of what a determined woman can accomplish. She was interrupted by Senator Patrick Leahy who went on and on about how his office had been instrumental in Ms. Williams winning her award.

Kunin was heard to remark, "Now I know why they call him Saint Patrick."

Do you enjoy the Dwinell Political Report? Think of a voluntary subscription. For $25, you can receive the newsletter for a year and help offset the costs of production. Make checks payable to JDLS Publishing, LLC and mail to 610 Mason Road, Randolph, VT 05060.

The Dwinell Political Report is published weekly by JDLS Publishing, LLC.
Portions of the Dwinell Political Report may be reprinted with attribution.

Contact the Editor with news & comments at: dwinell@comcast.net or 802.728.4793

The mission of the Dwinell Political Report is to give readers another view of the news that is refreshing, provocative and sometimes irreverent.