KATIE HASN'T BARRED THE DOOR 

Another business will leave the state, not for China but for Virginia. Chesapeake Hardwoods of Hancock will up and leave next year. The wood products industry, which is Vermont's second largest employing over 10,000, takes another hit. Though the plant is for sale, industry experts doubt that a sale is probable. The Hancock plant has been in operation for almost 100 years and is the only major employer in the Hancock/Granville area. Though ever-popular Small Dog Electronics is up the road in Waitsfield and is your basic Goddard grad touchy-feely business, they will probably not have the heart to provide jobs for the ninety or so Vermonters about to lose theirs.

There is never just one reason. Lots of details go into a decision to close or move a business. One item may be the straw which broke Chesapeake's back, the inventory and personal property tax. What was once a requirement became a local option years ago. Most towns dropped the tax. Hancock did not. Perhaps it could not.

More and more forests and farm land is being acquired by well meaning folks who want to stop the dreaded sprawl. For the most part, each time the federal, state, or local government acquires property, the tax rolls decline. The same is true when the Nature Conservancy or the Vermont Land Trust acquires property. In Hancock, the federal government is the largest landowner, shrinking the tax base to the valley floor.

When Chesapeake went to the town to ask that they repeal the inventory tax last winter, they were denied. Equipment and inventory are mobile, and next year there will be no inventory of Chesapeake's to tax in Hancock.

Small Dog Electronics is a successful small business earning the business of the year award last month. But they only employ 22. So where do these 90 souls go for work? Probably cleaning toilets in hotel rooms let by folks from another class from another state who came to visit. Where is the dignity in this?

General Electric of Rutland, employer of 1,200 locals, is asking for a property tax break. Go with Bernie's "greedy big corporations" line and they might just say, "and we won't let the door hit us on the way out." If you don't, will others? 

FOLLOW THE MONEY 

Sometimes you cannot. Take Susan Bartlett for example. She made lots out of Cathy Voyer’s revenue and expenses. That is because Cathy followed the law and filed her reports. Did Susan? No. She filed only one and that on November 7th, two days after the election. That you must file within twenty-four hours does not apply to you when you are going to be the next senate pro tem. Her one filing was for $975 of mail, a check sent to Bridge Communications. She won with so little. 

KEEP THE HAMMER DOWN 

The last ten days the mass media reports flew into the secretary of state’s office. Leading the pack and not letting up for a minute, was Jim Douglas with $230,475 for all those full-page newspaper ads, $75,749 of direct mail, radio, and television. Though they appeared to have a substantial GOTV program, it was not found. Perhaps it came from the national party.

Racine was next at about half of Douglas, $125,773. He spent on his bogus "editorial" endorsements, television, radio, mail, and phone banks.

In the lieutenant governors race, Shumlin led the way with $29,248; Dubie followed with $17,113 and then Pollina with $13,324. Shumlin and others used Maxcom of Davis, California for phone calls, probably to answering machines only.

The Democrat Party added $25,000 for GOTV calls for Racine and Shumlin, $32,500 for mail to help Racine and Shumlin, and another $3,230 in mail for Shumlin. The Republican Party filed no reports and probably spent no money on mass media to help their candidates.

In the constitutional office sweep by the Democrats, they outspent the Republicans in every race. Auditor Ready spent $14,700 in the last ten days, challenger Bruce Hyde $4,716. Spaulding’s over $100,000 primary spending carried over though he spent additionally in the last ten days. So did his opponent John LaBarge only to be swamped in the vote. Deb Markowitz spent $20,000 with a Philadelphia company Sherr, Johnson, and Klose. Bertrand did not report any spending.

The Vermont Democrat House PAC spent $20,000 on mail to help a targeted group of about thirty Democrat candidates and against about eight Republicans. The Republican PAC filed no reports and probably spent nothing to help their candidates. The Democrats gained nine seats.

The Vermont Democrat Senate Victory PAC and their Chittenden County Senate PAC spent $45,891 on mail to help targeted races in Chittenden, Franklin, Washington, and Orange Counties. Again poor Susan Bartlett was ignored. Right. The Republican Senate PAC did not file and probably spent nothing to help their candidates. The Democrats gained four seats.

Money poured into the Murphy senate race in Bennington County, just over $10,746. Her opponent Mark Shepard spent $3,234. Tom Bahre worked hard in his defeat, adding $13,954 in the last period. Not that Clare Ayer was asleep. She spent tons and had more tons spent for her by the Vermont Fund for Families, the Socially Responsible Business PAC, and the Vermont Conservation PAC. The Republican-leaning PAC, Vermonters for Jobs organized by Fred Peet, spent $5,250 on phone calls, and Vermont Right to Life spent $5,164 on direct mail. Amazingly, Jimmy Johnston of Montpelier spent over $10,000 in his Montpelier house race, received Jim Jeffords’s only Vermont endorsement and still lost by a two-to-one margin. 

KING BERNIE 

Can anyone dethrone Congressman Sanders? As Governor Edwards of Louisiana said, "I will continue to be your governor unless I am caught with a live boy or a dead woman." So with Bernie, he can't be beat. Bill Meub, an attractive candidate even by the Rutland Herald's standards, ran a spirited campaign. He had money, message, strategy, and energy. However, he did worse than Mark Candon did in 1998 who had only energy. Mark finished with 32.9 percent of the vote, Meub with 32.1 percent. 

NUMBER 49 AGAIN 

Vermont once again finds itself crowding the bottom of the barrel. The Better Government Association of Chicago recently released their Integrity Index. Go to http://www.bettergov.org/IntegrityIndex_10.22.02.pdf

When you do, it will jar you with déjà vu, there is Ed Flanagan’s bulldog filling a quarter of their home page. Nonetheless read on.

Their core principals on building their index were to keep in mind transparency, accountability and limits. They ranked each state on the following: freedom of information laws, whistle-blower laws, campaign finance, gifts, trips and honoraria laws, and conflict of interest disclosure.

Vermont scored near the top in freedom of information and campaign finance. However, they received a zero for whistle blower protection and only a 1 out of a 100 for conflict of interest disclosure. For gifts, trips and honoraria Vermont earned twenty-five points. Out of a possible 500 points, Vermont scored 155.

An argument might be made that all small states will have natural conflicts of interest as there are so few people that many serve. But Rhode Island is in second place. Anyone who must receive a permit, looks at the group making the judgment. Often the applicant sees some folks who appear to have a conflict. Now, it seems to be up to the applicant to raise the issue, not the person judging who disclose her/his conflict. 

FRANKLY SPEAKING 

Some folks seem to be having a hard time getting with the program. One at the top of that list would be the Valley News’s editorial page editor Martin Frank. He may not be out of step with his immediate constituency of the liberal Upper Valley, but reality is reality.

In spite of his best efforts, the folks of New Hampshire elected two Republican congresspeople, a Republican senator and a Republican governor. The folks of Vermont seem to have elected a Republican governor and lieutenant governor.

In Frank's editorial backhandedly endorsing Con Hogan for governor, he deemed Jim Douglas a "featherweight." In a live version of Revenge of the Nerds, the featherweight did in not just Racine, but Frank too.

Dick Drysdale took Frank to task in his weekly editorial, writing, "One misguided editorialist dismissed Douglas as a 'featherweight.' ...Don’t underestimate Jim Douglas. Douglas shocked Con Hogan when ...within days he had engineered a written pledge of support from nearly every single Republican legislator... Douglas proved (him) wrong and won a victory that was truly stunning." 

I LET HIM GET UNDER MY SKIN 

This week Frank saw fit to shoot the messenger. He read our last issue and did not particularly care for our comment that Jim Jeffords is not the most liked senator. We were not alone, you could check out the Washington Post, the New York Times, or any other major newspaper. The facts were hard to miss, except in West Lebanon.

In an ad hominem attack Tuesday (for complete editorial go to: http://www.vnews.com/11122002/755837.htm ...our response is posted below), he wrote of and quoted the Dwinell Political Report in his editorial "Vermont Villainy". He concluded, "if this election allows them to purge that poison from their system and get on with their political lives, we'll all be better off."

Not quite finished with his rants, Thursday he placed a cartoon on the Valley News’s editorial page which depicted a conversation between a Boy Scout and his mom. The Boy Scout was explaining his badges. "This one’s for hating gays, this one’s for hating atheists, this one' for hating..." You get the picture. Whose system needs poison purging? 

REPLY 

You reprinted part of the Dwinell Political Report in your column yesterday. That was fine. Then you assigned to us motives and proceeded to criticize them. A fine trick.

We at the Dwinell Political Report are experienced political observers with over forty years in Vermont and Washington. We observed and wrote, as did many others, that Senator Jim Jeffords’s switch of parties has left him with few friends in the new Republican Senate or the White House. Do you disagree with this conclusion?

You then compared Representative Albert Krawczyk’s intention to caucus in Montpelier with the Republicans as analogous. It is not as you no doubt know. Representative Krawczyk ran as both a Republican and as a Democrat. Having won, he had to choose. Further, his choice is not a coup of one and will not defenestrate existing committee chairs and their staffs.

You write the you hope that "this election allows (us) to purge poison from our system." There is no poison in our system. Is there in yours?

Noted Israeli philosopher Hannah Arendt wrote that a key to Hitler’s Holocaust was successfully assigning motives and feelings to Jews and then criticizing them. This foulness is what you have done to us. We hope that you apologize. 

WAS THE GRAND OLD PARTY SAVED FROM CERTAIN DEATH? 

It is not just Frank. There is howling, wailing, and hang ringing going around the state. Last week reporters pummeled Governor Dean with rapid fire, tagging him with Racine and Shumlin’s failure to ascend to their rightful places at the right hand of the Father. This despite Dean's announcement four days before the election and weeks before the real data appeared that tax revenues were now above projections. This despite Dean's announcement three days before the election that he had reached an agreement with hunters on the West Mountain Managment Area so that they would have access to all state land.

Instead of whining, they should all be pleased that our three party system has been saved. Had Douglas and Dubie lost, the Democrats would hold the governor, lieutenant governor, attorney general, secretary of state, treasurer, and auditor of accounts. The Republicans zero. Many would cheer, but would this be good for Vermont and Vermonters?

The Progressives would have a congressman and the mayor of our largest city, the Democrats a United States senator or two, and the Republicans zero. The Republicans are embarrassingly behind in the Senate, and the House is the Democrats to lose according to Governor Dean. Is this good? Don’t we all cry for diversity?

Thanks to Jim Douglas and Brian Dubie we will not now have to ask those questions. In 2004 will it be Shumlin back once again with Senator Peter Welch who came within a whisker of beating Richard Snelling in 1990, losing by 12,219 votes. Or does only Welch recall his former greatness? Perhaps ambition will infect all those Democrat officers and a few from the legislature to create a Demolition Derby the World’s Fair would be proud of. We were told that Sanders’s polling suggests that he could beat Jeffords. Will Leahy try for six more years, perhaps assigned to a back bench? And of course we have our favorite son running for president. And you thought that it was all over. Politics, never. 

CAN'T WE ALL JUST GET ALONG? 

THE COMPLAINT

Nathan Rice, University of Vermont: "I was part of the Jim Douglas for Governor staff, as well as a student at UVM. I am writing this in regards to several articles in your newsletter regarding the "resurgence" of the UVM College Republicans. Anyone involved in Republican politics would be thrilled that UVM now has an established group of younger Republicans. What "outsiders" don't understand is the mentality that the group of CR's operates under. As part of the Field Team for the Douglas campaign, we tried to recruit as much help as possible, so it made sense for us to try and get the UVM group involved. Time after time after time we were blown off and treated with extreme hostility, anger and downright rudeness. The attitude of the members is despicable and for that reason I have completely distanced myself entirely.

"I am a native Vermonter and I plan to stay involved in Vermont politics and I simply refuse to call myself a College Republican because I want no association with the group. College Republican's are hard to come by in this state, however, Middlebury College has the foundation for a small group. This group helped out late in the campaign doing lit drops in nearly all of Addison County. If you are looking to spread the College Republican enthusiasm, I would greatly encourage you to find out more information about the Middlebury CR's who have been very helpful and show a great deal of potential for a "real" College Republican group, compared to the UVM group.

"I know of a handful of prominent people who refuse to have any contact with the group. I just wanted to let you know of the real story at UVM because what has been published regarding the group is not correct. Several people have encouraged me to write this email to set the record straight and they felt I was the person to do this as an actual "insider" at UVM, as well as being involved extensively in the Republican Party."

THE REBUTTAL

Jon G. Kantor, President and Sanjeev P. Yadav, Vice President, UVM CR's: "Our record speaks for itself. Yes, our primary mission is not going out and stumping for Douglas and Dubie, but we did in fact have people working on the campaigns all the time. For us to succeed as a club on this campus, our first priority is to gain the respect and support of this institution. Only then can we be assured of longevity and a sustained presence at this University and in the state.

"We have succeeded in this endeavor to a great degree and we believe that this prioritization has enabled us to have a club that is publicly praised by the UVM administration, alumni, and trustees alike. This group of College Republicans will be around hopefully for a very long time because we have built a strong foundation on this campus. Elections come every two years and cannot be the "main responsibility" of the CR's as Nathan Rice would have it.

"Anyone who has an understanding of the dynamics of this campus and the history of the CR's over the past 20 years on this campus, knows all too well the failures of successive College Republican groups to exist beyond election seasons and be a significant presence on the campus. We are mindful of that history. In 2004, when much is at stake for us as a party, hopefully, the CR's will not be worried about attracting members or surviving, but about continuing to provide the "other side of the story" to our students and making sure that the Republicans have our support and our hard work behind them come election time.

"We were invited to the Cheney event by the his advance and security team against the wishes of Neale Lunderville and the state party. The Cheney Team specifically told us that they were informed that there was no significant CR presence at UVM and were shocked and overwhelmed to find otherwise. They were so impressed by our efforts and organization that we received requests for help at other regional events concerning the President and Vice President.

"We have sought nothing from the state party and received nothing. As the elected leaders of the CR's it is not our job to direct what our club and its members do: instead, it is our job to challenge them to seek what they are passionate about. Our club would not succeed if we made our sole efforts around election campaigns. You must understand that we attend a University with a 60% out-of-state population and the make-up of our club is probably even greater than that. We have conducted ourselves in a manner that has gained the respect of our campus community, the local media, and important community members.

"We have made no effort to sling allegations at those in various state campaigns or Nathan, yet our job was made that much more difficult by the club's sense that Nathan was giving them orders that he had no legitimate right to. It was very difficult to motivate people to help out when they felt insulted. In addition, on a number of occasions, Nathan and others misled members of the media and others by demeaning our value and presence on campus.

"I think enough people, "who matter" as Nathan puts it, have taken notice. We have no ill will towards anyone, anyone in the state party, or any of the campaigns, and we wholeheartedly support their efforts and will continue to do so in the best manner that we can. It is unfortunate that Nathan has decided to do what he has done. We regret this development, but we hope to continue to have a positive and fruitful relationship with Vermont Republicans." 

IF NOT NOW, WHEN? 

In an amazing twist of spin, Chairman Hootie Johnson quantified when women will be allowed into the Augusta National Country club by saying, "A woman may be a member of this club one day, but that is out in the future." 

ELEVEN DAYS IN SEPTEMBER 

Thanks to our sponsorship of You can Quote Me and our lively banter we suppose, visits to our web site have been increasing every month from February (when we started collecting stats under our new name) through September, 2002. Usage grew from eighty-two hours of time spent at the web site in February to two-hundred and seventy-four hours or over eleven days in September.

The jump in use from August to September was sixty-eight percent. Last year in September there were only ninety-three hours spent wandering our site. Thank you all for your visits. 

THE PEOPLE'S PRESS 

The Columbia Journalism Review, CJR, in part watches over the national media as we do our beloved local media. In their November/December 2002 edition, they gave a "laurel", a special kudos, to our own Brattleboro Reformer. It seems that Entergy, the new owner of Vermont Yankee, marched into the Reformer led by "director of public affairs, Brain Cosgrove, formerly head of the Republican Party in Vermont," and demanded that the nuclear industry reporter Eesha "Williams be taken off the beat."

The Reformer held firm. Publisher David Emmons said, "While I hold conservative views, this is not my paper. It is the people's paper." 

SAY IT AIN'T SO 

Headline in the Burlington Free Press warns, "Future of 'Sex' remains uncertain." 

SMALL GOVERNMENT IS BEAUTIFUL 

»» Sheldon Katz, South Burlington: Most Vermonters don't know (because the Vermont media did not cover it) that they narrowly dodged a bullet when Massachusetts voters came within 4.7 percent of approving a Libertarian-party promoted ballot initiative to eliminate the state’s income tax. An independent economic analysis projected that the Small Government Act ("SGA"), as the initiative was known, would have created 300,000 to 500,000 jobs. Several thousand would have come at Vermont’s expense.

Vermonters should thank the Boston media, which refused to cover the SGA, and the Massachusetts political establishment, which opposed the SGA with funding from businesses feeding at the state government trough. Without their efforts, the SGA would have succeeded and Vermont’s current job hemorrhage would have worsened.

Don’t be fooled by political leaders who take credit for creating jobs (but never responsibility for destroying them). Government cannot create jobs. All it can do is stay out of the way with low taxes and regulation. 

ELECTION REACTIONS 

»» Charlie Burnham, Stowe: I really like the New York Post's comparison of Howard Dean and The Reverend Al Sharpton as 100 to 1 long-shots for the Presidency. Thanks for bringing it to our attention. It helps to have a realistic perspective on such matters. Perhaps now we can let Dean fade into the memory of the likes of other past Democratic Governors such as Salmon and Hoff.

You spent a lot of time on the pre-election palaver and we appreciate it. One can't help but wonder what surprises Senator Susan Bartlett has for all the folks in Vermont this session. I get a knot in my stomach thinking about it. I hope Representative Cathy Voyer will continue with her looking out for us in Lamoille County. She will be missed. 

»» Joseph W. Mathews, Manchester: Today's "New York Times" paints a pretty glum picture of what federal funding we may expect in Vermont for projects of any kind during the next Congress. No doubt the Bernie, Pat and Jim apologists will start whining shortly. We are, at best, a minute state with little influence. With the antics of the dysfunctional troika noted above, little influence has turned to none.

I did a "make-up" breakfast meeting with the Rotary Club of Santa Barbara, California the week prior to the election. As a guest, I had to talk about our club and locale. First question was from a fellow who was amazed that we keep sending Bernie back to the House as he is unable to do anything for the state at large. Next question was about Act 60 and how anyone would think it would improve education. We have a "reputation" 3,000 miles away!

California is known far and wide as a pretty "off the wall" state, however when a group in hardly conservative Santa Barbara County is more than slightly amused that we've gone off the deep end, it's really time to look at ourselves objectively.

This could all be taken as "fun" with a visitor, but I wonder how many other out-of-state folks who may be looking to expand a business, make an investment or even visit, are going elsewhere because of our perceived "nut case" attitudes, laws and procedures. As this publication rightly points out with great frequency, we're in deep trouble. Will we ever wake up? One wonders. 

»» Dave Jardine, Tunnel Hill, GA: You are right on about Jeffords being universally disliked, but I believe no more so than Leahy. What a pair! Leahy is now included in derogatory examples of extreme and obnoxious leftists in the same way Ted Kennedy and Hillary Clinton always have been. I think most people just realize that Jeezum Jim is not exactly a rocket scientist. Definitely bad for Vermont but great to have around for the Republicans to use as examples why they need to take back the Senate. It sure is tough trying to explain what has happened to Vermont down here, so I have given up.

Nice to see Jim Douglas as Governor, but what an thankless job he is going to have after the nearly two decades of Kunin and Dean. I am afraid Vermont will never pull itself out of the terrible mess it is in until the Senate is turned back over to Vermonters. Anything Douglas and possibly the House propose to do to reform Act 60, 250, etc. are D.O.A. when they hit the left-wing extremists in the Senate. Finally, I don't think you should blame Trent Lott for losing the Senate - although I agree with you that Bill Frist is great - after all, no one could have prevented the Jeffords switch. Frist will be President of the United States in 2008. Keep up the great work. 

»» Pete Chagnon, Burlington: Two years ago Ruth Dwyer, commenting on her defeat, remarked that her values were evidently not those of Vermont anymore. Last Tuesday, the values that made Vermont were put to rest for good, it seems. The Yankee spirit that brought us out the flood of 1927 has been replaced by a whining gimme mentality. So what if James Douglas has become Governor? He is basically a RINO while Brian Dubie is a neophyte who had the good fortune to have Pollina in the race along with Shumlin. The tax and spend machine is alive and well and will be going into session in January. The only bright spot is that those porkers in Washington we refer to as the Vermont Delegation are political has-beens now.

»» Dick and Margaret Waite, Braintree: [Re the House: "A swing back to Democratic rule. How could that be?"] You answered it in the Gunslinger piece. The voters who helped the Republicans gain 83 House seats stayed home because the Democrats (and the Republicans) told them their issue was dead. No Republican support for the still alive movements such as TIP and Favor the Family, plenty of Democrat support for the opposition. If the Republicans (the few brave ones) can get a marriage definition Resolution passed, they might win back some of their former supporters. They might even find a few Democrats who know right from wrong and understand human reproduction principles even though Dr. Dean and his chosen replacement "just don't get it". 

»» Robert Maynard, Williston: With Dean retiring, the Progressives organizing in 100 towns and running candidates throughout the state, the economy imploding and statistical information available to attribute it to the policies of Democratic rule, coupled with a GOP tsunami elsewhere across the nation, one would have expected a GOP rout from top to bottom. As it stands, the Democratic spin is just beginning that it is they who have a mandate. They swept the legislative races and would of won the top two races as well if it was not for the presence of third party/independent candidates. This is a situation that they could very well rectify in 2004.

The GOP needs to mount an issue oriented campaign aimed at economic renewal, one that points out the need to change course from the state's current policy direction. In addition, they need to... give voters a reason to be fired up in 2004...and generate the degree of intensity at the grassroots level which brought local victories in 1998 and 2000. 

»» Walter Brown, Marshfield: Now that our Congressional delegation is wandering lost on "the road less traveled" my hopes for billions of pork barrels are dashed. I thought a modest bridge across the lake wouldn't be asking too much. We could have named it the "Jumpin' Rodham and Pat Span" or maybe "got milk"? 

TWENTY LASHES 

»» Frederick Bever, Augusta, ME: As someone wrote, the rich are different. -F. Scott Fitzgerald.

[Re. the rumor that Tracy Schmaler was to become Racine’s new press secretary] This is scurrilous stuff. I haven't talked with Tracy about any of it, but how can you use a hypothetical argument to attack her when, quite apparently, you didn't even ask her about it? In my experience, Tracy Schmaler lives to hold politicians accountable, no matter their party. 

PINOCCHIO 

»» Steve Ciardelli, Burlington: What did you think of my non partisan, non political Pinocchio signs? Some people thought at first it was against politicians in general, but after the profile signs were put up, I think both Anthony and Brian benefited. Of course they had a short life span, but then I didn't have to pick any up. I had Democratic workers do it free. 

STATE SEAL JITTERS 

»» Bob Hardy, Vergennes: If Governor-elect Douglas does nothing else but change the "gotcha" attitude in Montpelier it will have been a worthwhile administration. We the people of Vermont, the servants of bureaucracy in Montpelier have a knee jerk reaction to receipt of any letter bearing the state seal on its envelope. Receipt of one of these letters is approaching fear and tremblings of the magnitude as receipt of an envelope bearing the IRS logo.

A gotcha letter usually comprises a formal letter with accompanying forms that only a Philadelphia attorney could fill out. The gotcha form letter usually requests information on a permit or regulation, which most likely has already been filed at some earlier date. The resurrection of personal files and records encompassing several years may be necessary to comply with the form letter request. This effort usually requires commitment of the better part of a day to fulfill the (re)request for information.

We the servants of Bureaucracy hope that the "gotcha" mentality will change. We would hope that as we exist in Vermont at the pleasure of the bureaucracy in Montpelier, that this attitude will change at least to a meeting in the middle, say Richmond or Hinesburg! 

THEY LIKE US 

»» Shane Sweet, Manchester: I enjoy reading your report and appreciate its perspective....Keep up the good work.

»» Tom Brownell, Woodstock: Like it. Look forward to it each week.

»» Pete Snyder, West Glover: As they say - The check is in the mail... Keep writing.  

DEMOCRATS WHO VOTED REPUBLICAN 

"On paper, I look like a Democrat. I'm pro-choice on abortion. I detest guns. I'm also an enrolled Democrat, and don't intend to switch parties anytime soon... So clueless were the Dems, they also failed to notice many of us stand firmly behind the party of our president in the war against terror - a struggle whose outcome could decide no less than the survival of our culture.

"...These days, it's the Democrats who scare me stiff. I fear that, given the chance, the party would pull this country backward, to places I don't care to revisit. Personally, I like tax cuts. And the death penalty. Welfare reform has, in my view, been a resounding success, helping infantilized adults grow up and, likely, helping to reduce crime and child abuse.

"Meanwhile, nothing the Dems have shown me proves they have a single, sound idea for improving education. Bring on the vouchers!"

- New York Post columnist Andrea Peyser, 11/7/02 

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