JEFFORDS' MACHINE

As if on cue, letters to the editor are tumbling into local papers thanking Jim Jeffords for being a great national resource deserving our respect and support. A recent letter began, "I want to thank Kate for her letter supporting Jeffords. I think her point of view should be repeated." Why would a newspaper repeat itself?

BEARING WITNESS

So many people have written and talked to us about personal encounters with Senator Jeffords. All assume that his behavior is caused by Alzheimer's disease. Some of the reports leave one's head shaking wondering how Vermont's press corps could not report to Vermont's citizens his deteriorating condition. Some say that it is out of respect to Jeffords. Yet what about respect for the citizen. Most do not follow politics as closely as our readers. There is a need to know, and a need to be fair.

WELCH THROWS HIS HAT INTO THE RING

That is not a fact, it is an opinion. The dam is breaking. The dam holding up a generation of Democrats is about to burst. Greedy leaky Leahy is serving for a generation and a half, thirty-six years.

Jeffords has served over a generation, thirty-two years when his term ends. Bernie and his family have been supping from the public trough in Washington for sixteen years. Dean was governor for an unprecedented eleven years plus.

THE RATIONALE

Your intrepid reporter has been attending the Democrat Senate Caucus. It has been a relaxed open forum. Dirty laundry was not exposed, but all issues had a rigorous explanation and questioning. Senate pro tem Peter Welch just two weeks ago gave a heartfelt endorsement of the House plan for a government take over of the health care system, saying that it is great that we are now out of the closet, doing the things we believe in for the people we care about.

KATIE BAR THE DOOR

At this week's caucus a new Peter Welch appeared, one no longer proud to be a liberal, to be out there urging more government. Somehow Peter got religion and recalled that Vermonters appreciate governing from the middle, not the left wing. Here are some examples of the new Welch.

When his colleague Senator Condos, D-Chittenden, talked about the Snelling Center report on legislative compensation, Senator McDonald, D-Orange, urged legislator raises to be the same as state employees, Senate majority leader John Campbell, D-Windsor, interrupted, "No, no, think about it and let's talk among ourselves."

When Senator Kittel, D-Franklin, began talking about legislator health care, Welch arriving late, interrupted, "Not now and here." When Senator Lyons, D-Chittenden, brought up proposed legislation to limit the size of big box stores, Welch interrupted again, "The tempo I hope is going to change around here." With that, the caucus ended after only twenty-five minutes instead of the usual hour.

QUE SERA, SERA

Welch has always been ambitious. He ran for governor in 1990 coming close to halting Richard Snelling's comeback, losing by 12,300 votes. Being the John Edwards of Vermont, advertising on television constantly to help all who have been injured, he has high name recognition. His ties to Vermont were loosened last year when his wife, UVM Dean Joan Smith, passed away.

Did the Jeffords's story and the forthcoming opportunity ignite his statewide ambition once again? We do not know, he did not confide in us. Yet clearly, the timing of hushing any public liberal chatter tells the story.

DOUGLAS THROWS HIS HAT INTO THE RING

No, not that ring. Knowing that his re-election committee is hard at work raising money at $400 a clip, we asked him if he was running again during his weekly press conference. "While this is not the place to make an announcement, more likely than not I will run in 2006 for re-election.

DUBIE TAKES HIS HAT OUT OF THE RING

Insiders tell DPR that Lieutenant Governor Brian Dubie will not be resigning to fill an appointed position. At the VTGOP dinner last week, Brian was in great political form.

GOVERNOR CONDOS

Senator Jim Condos, D-Chittenden, is worried that he and VTNEA's Angelo Dorta will not continue to have their way on all things education. Governor Douglas keeps appointing like minded folks to the Board of Education.

As it is, education is hard for any Governor to direct. Though he appoints all secretaries and most commissioners, the State Board of Education appoints the Commissioner of the Education. The governor's most direct influence comes from his appointments to the board. Even at that, that state does not allow a board of one party.

Condos has introduced a bill to have the legislature appoint four additional members. Condos has a large hurdle, Vermont's Constitution. We recommend it to him; the emphasis is ours:

§ 5. Departments to be distinct
The Legislative, Executive, and Judiciary departments, shall be separate and distinct, so that neither exercise the powers properly belonging to the others.

§ 6. Legislative powers
The Senate and the House of Representatives shall be styled, The General Assembly of the State of Vermont. Each shall have and exercise the like powers in all ACTS OF LEGISLATION;

§ 14. Powers of House
The Representatives so chosen...shall be styled the House of Representatives: they SHALL HAVE POWER TO CHOOSE THEIR SPEAKER, THEIR CLERK AND OTHER NECESSARY OFFICERS...

§ 19. Powers of Senate
The Senate shall have the like powers to decide on the election and qualifications of, and to expel any of, its members, make its own rules, and APPOINT ITS OWN officers...

§ 20. Governor; executive power
The Governor, and in the Governor's absence, the Lieutenant-Governor, shall have POWER TO COMMISSION ALL OFFICERS, and ALSO TO APPOINT OFFICERS...and shall supply every vacancy in any office, occasioned by death or otherwise, until the office can be filled in the manner directed by law or this Constitution.

THE SPIRIT OF THE MAYFLOWER

The taxpayers of Plymouth wanted to send a message to Montpelier. They voted down their school budget 96 to 31 following a proposed increase in taxes from $1.07 to $2.54, a cool one year increase of 137 percent. Thank you Democrats. Let's assure the voters of Plymouth that nobody is listening.

According to the Vermont Standard, Representative Alice Nitka, D-Mount Holly, Ludlow, and Plymouth, tried to calm the crowd by saying that the legislature was considering a new law which would fund a consultant to help them solve their problems. Okay, to help cut spending, you of course spend more. We are sure that they were pacified.

RUN MIDDLE, GOVERN LEFT

It beggars belief that voters cannot connect the dots between their self-interest and their votes. The Democrats break the bank every time. They are not honest. They are giving the GOP a gift on a silver tray; the question is, will the Republicans accept it and know what to do with it?

They have passed out of committee on a straight party vote the government takeover of health care. Their mistake is that they did not vet this idea with the public during the recent campaign. That is cheating. If they had been honest, they would have said, "If you elect me, I will work with my colleagues to have a single payer government run health care system." The voters might be more forgiving. We hope that they are duly punished next election.

SPIN MACHINE

One skill the Democrats have is spin. What is "universal health care?" Why, it is when we take care of everybody. It is never socialized medicine or government takeover of the private sector health care system, it is universal health care.

Euthanasia is never euthanasia or killing the elderly. It is always death with dignity. Being alive, it is hard to tell a personal death story. Witnessing death, death with dignity is not government allowed killing but passing on in your own home surrounded by your stuff and those you love in your time. There are many drugs to deal with pain. There is a season for all things including dying. There should not be a season for government sanctioned killing the old folks.

THEY'RE BACK

The same people who screwed up health care with community rating in the early nineties are back to finish the job and to provide us care we do not want and cannot afford. The consulting architect of this plan is one of the very same fellows, Paul Cillo, who brought us the Equal Educational Opportunity Act, a.k.a. Act 60. Amazing.

Stupid from the beginning, how will they make doctors and nurses stay? How do they keep out the sick? Who is a Vermonter? The Courts have said you cannot have a waiting period for citizenship. They move, register to vote or get a drivers license and they are Vermonters. Currently, ten percent of the people use seventy-three percent of the health care. If we attract another ten percent seeking free health care, their combined usage is now 146 percent plus the 27 percent for the rest of us. Whoops.

What about Mary Hitchcock in Hanover? They do not have to accept what Montpelier says. Forty percent of their patients come from Vermont. Bye, bye or pull out your checkbook. Many Vermont hospitals have affiliated with Hitchcock. Hard cheese.

ECONOMICS 2005

The prevailing economic wisdom in Vermont, which we have heard a thousand times, is that we need to be closed loop: buy from our neighbors, drink Vermont beer, eat Vermont foodstuffs, and throw Anachini all over our bedrooms. We will then be healthy, wealthy, and wise. Wish it were so. Follow Mark Steyn's Twenty First Century logic:

"Traditional economic theory holds that goods can be traded but services are produced and consumed locally. But technology is turning a lot of services into goods: every evening in small hospitals across America, radiologists email CAT scans to Australia or India (if you're an Canadian National Health Service patient on a three-year waiting list and you are wondering what a CAT scan is, ask a friend in Bombay). When they come into work the following morning, the analysis of the scans is waiting for them. Last century's disadvantage -- the vast geographical distance -- is this century's big plus. It means, as the old song used to go, when it's moonlight on the Hudson, its CAT-scan-reading time on the Ganges."

THE GUTENBERG PRESS

Have you ever watched the legislature and seen those ponderous texts on their desks or stacked on the floor like so much cord wood? The legislative staff prints out hundreds of copies of hundreds of bills, most never read. Think of all those forests laid bare by the process.

Did any of you see in the Valley News or the Free Press the color photo of the Connecticut legislature in action over Civil Unions? Notice that every legislative desk had a laptop computer? Just think, that when Vermont creeps into the 21st Century and provides laptops for its legislature, they can turn off the printing press. If a legislator wants to quickly review part of the bill, just a keyword and up it pops. Or if a debate is ensuing over particular wording, with a stroke, up it pops. Someday...

FIGURES ALWAYS LIE, LIARS ALWAYS FIGURE

Remember back when Howard Dean was just a Vermont problem? One of the things that he was most proud of was affecting the lives of young people, Doctor Dynasaur and all. It was not just that, we had the fewest poor children, unwed mothers, single mothers, and so forth. Dean was always prone to hyperbole; his data was close to the truth; we were seventh in decline in teen birthrates and second in children in poverty.

We also have the fewest children per capita; so of course we had the second fewest children in poverty. Dean claimed that it was because of good government policy. It turns out it was because of the state's low birth rate.

WE'RE RICH

Governor Douglas held a special press conference to tout Vermont's leap in per capita income. Read the small print. Per capita income is up because we do not have the number of younger, low wage folks most states have. No kids and therefore we are doing better. Horse hockey. Sure there are McMansions popping up in Vermont; to quote a reader, "money can make you rich."

In Vermont having a bit of lucre means forking it over to the state. Vermont ranks 2nd highest in state taxes as a percent of personal income; the tax rate on the wealthiest is the 2nd highest in the nation. Vermonters beggar themselves paying the state. Vermont has a surplus, do you?

LOST TREASURER'S OFFICE

According to reports, Treasurer Jeb Spaulding is so focused on being Vermont's next governor that the treasurer's office is in chaos. Having just lost the battle to turn pension plans into activist tools, Jeb is paying no attention to the day to day management, empowering his deputy to run things, right into the ground. Having taken over the nation's best Abandoned Property unit from the Jim Douglas/Marty Searight team, one statehouse insider told us with disgust, "He increased personnel and decreased the amount of returned property". That would seem to be a hard trick but you cannot never underestimate a good Democrat.

WOMEN'S UNEMPLOYMENT ACT

Angelo Condos's bill for state funded, controlled, and run early education is sneaking its way through the legislature. It is promised to lower property taxes by allowing a big gulp from the Education Fund. In that most day cares will be driven out of business by this nifty bone thrown to VTNEA, and most day cares are operated by women, the silence about this legislation from the Governor's Commission on Women is startling.

Data do not support current early childhood education, Head Start. By fourth grade testers can not differentiate the Head Start students from those who just stumbled into first grade.

IT'S ABOUT THE CHILDREN

On April 28th according to the Free Press, the teachers of Alburg will strike unless they get more, lots more. They currently earn an average of $40,300 and of course they receive great medical and pension benefits for a 185 day work year.

Most Vermonters work 243 days a year. (365-104 weekends, - 8 major paid holidays, -10 days vacation = 243.) Vermonters work 31 percent more for their pay. Assuming a teacher work year of 243 days, their pay would equal $55,232. How many people in Alburg make $55,232 plus benefits plus job security, good working conditions, and annual increases?

WE KNOW GREED WHEN WE SEE IT

The school board offered its twenty-one teachers annual pay raises for four years effective July 2003 averaging 4.34 percent. Chief negotiator Tracy Giroux said, "If they want to give us a fair and equitable settlement, we won't have to strike."

Hello? They already know that the CPI for 2003 and 2004 were well below 4.34 percent, so they are making money there. You are working in a poor community. They make more in Burlington you say. Unlike the parents who are paying you, you have school choice, so hustle your ungrateful butts down to Burlington and get a job. And get a house if you find one. Might be just a bit more pricey than in Alburg.

LET IT BEGIN HERE

The school board chair is Alton Bruso, Alburg, 05440, telephone 802-796-3239. If you have the time and experience, offer to teach should they go on strike.

DOOLEY SPEAKS

For all you who claim Judge Dooley is a judicial activist, we have news for you; it ain't so. Speaking to a crowd at UVM, Dooley said that some folks say so just because Baker was, 1) About sex and sex makes people nervous, and that not much was written in constitutions about sex in the 18th century, 2) About the 14th amendment, equal protection, and 3) they just do not like it.

When asked about Brigham, where the court declared unequal school funding to be unconstitutional and Education Week ranks Vermont as dead last in equity, Dooley said that he believed that another Brigham type case was headed the court's way.

DUMBO WALDO

It is hard to attract business to Vermont when Vermont's most famous ambassador has turned into a nut case. As one seasoned reporter told DPR, "Dean has always talked like that." True, but we knew him and discounted all that crap. The United States and the world may not so well understand Dean.

He says that he is going to "use" people, dead people. Disgusting. According to the Los Angeles Times, Wacko Waldo said, "We are going to use Terri Schiavo in 2006 and 2008. The issue is, are we going to live in a theocracy or be allowed to consult our own high powers?"

SPEAK CREOLE?

Even Haiti, the hemisphere's poorest country, is speeding by Vermont. According to an article in EE Times, 4/12/05, "Haiti Telecommunications International S.A. (HaiTel), a wireless voice and Internet service provider in Haiti, is upgrading its wireless network into the country's first 3G network." Well we would too, but those towers, and the brain cancer, and well, we would be better off just talking to each other face to face.

UNITED STATES IS ASLEEP AT THE SWITCH TOO

According to New York Times's columnist Tom Friedman, USA is just not keeping up with Technology. "Thomas Bleha, writing in the May-June issue of Foreign Affairs, said, 'From 2001 to 2003, the United States dropped from 4th to 13th place in global rankings of broadband Internet usage. Most U.S. homes can access only 'basic' broadband, among the slowest, most expensive and least reliable in the developed world, and the United States has fallen even further behind in mobile-phone-based Internet access...'

"In 2001, Japan was well behind the United States in the broadband race... By May 2003, a higher percentage of homes in Japan had broadband. Today, nearly all Japanese have access to 'high-speed' broadband, with an average connection time 16 times faster than in the United States, for only about $22 a month. Internet access through mobile phones is an area in which Japan is even further ahead of the United States.

"South Korea, which has the world's greatest percentage of broadband users, and urban China, which last year surpassed the U.S. in the number of broadband users, are keeping pace with Japan, not us. By investing heavily in these new technologies, these nations will be the first to reap their benefits, from increased productivity to stronger platforms for technological innovation; new kinds of jobs, services and content; and rising standards of living."

BUSTING BERNIE'S BOMBAST

Bernie and others rant and rave about manufacturing jobs lost to China. In China they complain about the loss of manufacturing jobs too. According to Mark Steyn writing in The Spectator:

"Between 1995 and 2002, China had a net loss of 15 million manufacturing jobs, but it made no difference to the booming economy because of the rapidly expanding high-value service sector. The anti-globalists' stereotype of vast Third World populations working in Western-owned sweatshops is already out of date."

BERNIE, THE KING OF NEPOTISM

DPR reported in our 2/8/02 edition that Bernie's daughter-in-law, Representative Carnia Driscoll, collected thousands in wages plus hundreds in restaurant expenses according to the Bernie's campaign reports (see "Charity Begins at Home"). An office neighbor of Carnia's recently told us that she is never there. (See also "Credible Carina Calls")

Of course charity begins at home, but this is obscene. And hypocritical. His wife Jane who is President of Burlington College was also being paid by the campaign. Bernie is a millionaire, all from the public trough. What a disgrace.

INDIGO JEFFORDS' VPR INTERVIEW ATTRACTS NATIONAL ATTENTION

The Wall Street Journal's Political Diary this week took notice of Senator Jeffords' performance on Vermont Public Radio. In an item called "Vermont + Public Radio + Jim Jeffords = Wackiness" they wrote:

"Democrats have enough trouble keeping their fervent left-wing allies such as the MoveOn.org crowd within the bounds of responsible discourse. Now they have to worry about party converts. Senator Jim Jeffords, the Vermont independent who caucuses with Democrats, believes the Bush administration will start a war with Iran in order to help make Jeb Bush the latest member of the Bush family to occupy the White House....

"Mr. Jeffords... 'I think it was all done to get oil. And the loss of life that we had, and the cost of it, was to me just a re-election move, and they're going to try to live off it. Probably start another war, wouldn't be surprised, next year. Probably in Iran.... I feel very strongly that they are looking ahead, and that there will be an opportunity to go into Iran and try to get their son elected president. I don't know, but you do it each time they (are) going to have a new president. I'm very, very... Oh, well, I better be quiet.' ...

"Mr. Jeffords will be up for re-election next year, and normally you'd expect such comments to attract the notice of high-profile challengers. But Vermont has become such a liberal state that it could pass for indigo, one of the deepest shades of blue."

SENATOR JEFFORDS

»» Monty Butterfield: I have for quite some time noted that Jim Jeffords seems "out of it". When the Senator is home, he likes to visit Airport Driving Range in North Clarendon to hit a bucket of golf balls. When I was working at my would-have-been father-in-law's driving range in North Clarendon, we were able year after year to see the rapid deterioration of Senator Jeffords' health.

»» Airell Jenks, Hartland: 'Twixt us folks, I saw Jeffords at a book signing (of his own book) on C-Span, I think, where he embarrassed himself and all Vermonters beyond belief -- I couldn't believe that he was a graduate of Yale and Harvard Law School, or that he actually functioned as a US Senator.

His wife came to his rescue in answering questions time and time again. It seemed he was completely befuddled much of the time. His wife actually had to correct him, e.g., "What he meant to say..." That he is ill would explain his performance, but he should not be allowed in the corridors without an escort. I hope he quits before he embarrasses us further.

Of course, I have never thought he should be allowed out alone previously either, but that's another matter.... Those who argue that his betrayal of his supporters and his party was "courageous" have seriously misplaced values.

BARTLETT'S MORE RECENT CHALLENGER

»» John LaBarge, Grand Isle : I hardly call Cathy Voyer, who ran against Sen. Susan Bartlett a "Dead Ol' white guy!"

Editor's note: That was not in the last century...

RIGHTEOUS INDIGNATION

»» Laura Brueckner, Waterbury Center: Health care free for all. Least you forget ALL who promised FREE health care were defeated! What don't you get? No media will go to Canada and LOOK at FREE health care. While in Montreal recently the local news reported the emergency room would not be able to handle emergencies! Where hell do you go when in need of immediate medical care while on vacation in Montreal? FAHC? Anyone ever go to airport in Burlington and witness the Canadians returning to Canada after health care services in Vermont?

CAN YOU HEAR ME NOW?

»» Bob Hardy, Vergennes: On wireless: It has been brought to this reader's attention that some skulduggery in Montpelier is trying to add a "wireless tax" for all cell phone calls in Vermont. That ought to really speed up the transition of Vermont to the 21st century!

THE PUPPY STATE

»» Mary Daly, Fairlee: Last year the legislature added a tax to dog owners, an additional $2 to register your dog. The money goes to a fund that will pay for spaying/neutering dogs whose owners cannot afford the fees - Doggicaid. This year they are adding a tax to the auto inspection fee, I believe another $2 to build a fund to pay for maintaining bridges - Bridgicaid. Then the grand plan to provide free health care to Vermonters and anyone else who intends to live here - What is a middle class tax payer to do - Medicaid!

THE NANNY STATE

»» Representative Gregory Clark, R-Addison, Ferrisburgh, Panton, Vergennes, Waltham: You missed a great anti-democratic vote in the Vermont House last week. We voted BIG to ban smoking in bars and private clubs. Suddenly, it seems there is no need for local folks to raise the issue and bring it to their governing body. It seems we can't make even a bad decision anymore. The Legislature will step in and make all decisions for us. It's outrageous and I fear the liberal agenda of the elitists in the Legislature will soon take away all our rights and responsibilities. I asked on the House floor during the debate if the plan was to tackle gravity next. A bit extreme, but I think gravity might be considered a health risk in some circles! This is not the state I grew up in, and I don't believe its been made better over the years.

NEWCOMER'S EYES OPENED

»» Russell Spreeman, La Porte, IN, Colchester 1985 to 1997: In 1985 I moved from Illinois to Vermont to work for the vending machine operation at the IBM plant in Essex Junction. As a native Midwestern conservative I wanted to know what sort of place Vermont was before I agreed to move there. My local library's books were a number of years old and told of a non-progressive Vermont that no longer existed. What I read sounded good though so I went.

Before long I saw what I'd gotten into and Vermont continued to get more and more 'progressive', anti-conservative, anti-Republican, anti-US. After about twelve years I had had enough. I sold my home in Colchester and relocated to Indiana, where I felt as if I'd returned to America.

Imagine my sympathy and empathy with Travis Spencer of South Burlington who wrote to the Free Press the other day. Only a month ago, Travis moved his family from Maine to Vermont for the scenery and outdoor activities. His letter included these comments:

"I am amazed at the attitudes I have found in this state... I had no idea of the restrictive attitudes in this state. Just in the month I have been here there has been opposition to smoking in bars, genetically engineered seeds and Big Box stores.... Why doesn't the Vermont Legislature stay out of people's lives and let the free market work. Do we have so little faith in people making their own choices that we have to regulate them? It is one thing to want to be a "green" state and care about people's well-being but it is very thin line between what the Legislature is doing and socialism.... I hope that the government doesn't continue down the current path and limit my choices of what I can do in this state."

If he thinks this is some aberration and the next elections will bring common sense to government, he's in for a big letdown. Vermont is going to continue down its current path until there's not a dollar left to tax and spend, and not a dollar to beg from Washington to fund its programs.

THEY LIKE US

»» Mary Hahn Beerworth: I got your report today - great job!

OUR LEGISLATURE, CHILDREN OF THE SEVENTIES

"Permanence is the illusion of every age, and the trade-union colossi who traipsed in and out of 10 Downing Street throughout the 1970's were too dazzled by their own unlikely eminence to consider what the world might look like the day after tomorrow." -- Mark Steyn, The Spectator, 4/16/05

THE REPUBLICAN STALWART

"Twenty years ago when two female employees who loved their jobs said that they may have to leave, Red asked why? They could not afford to work here I told him, day care cost too much. So he began a policy of paying half of the child care cost for all employees." -- Marselis Parsons, eulogy of Stuart Martin, 4/6/05

WHEN DEMOCRATS HAD A CLUE...

"Lower rates of taxation will stimulate economic activity and so raise the levels of personal and corporate income as to yield within a few years an increased -- not a reduced -- flow of revenues to the federal government... The present tax codes ... inhibit the mobility and formation of capital, add complexities and inequities which undermine the morale of the taxpayer, and make tax avoidance rather than market factors a prime consideration in too many economic decisions." -- John F. Kennedy, Jan 23, 1963

More of John F. Kennedy On Taxes: http://federer04.com/cgi-data/news/files/8.shtml

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.