BUDGET WOES: WHAT WILL BECOME OF TRANSPORTATION FUND 

Year after year, the Transportation fund has been raided for General Fund purposes. But this year, with the state facing falling revenues, will it be the target of even more dipping?

"The general public, I believe, wants transportation revenues spent on transportation projects," said Rep. Janice Peaslee, (R-Essex/Caledonia) vice chair of the House Transportation Committee, in a recent interview.

To that end, the House committee was successful last year in reducing the amount taken from the Transportation Fund and used for General Fund purposes.

"Up until this last year," said Peaslee, "the percentage (going from the Transportation to General Fund) was 23 percent of the previous year's transportation appropriation. We reduced that by 2 percent down to 21 percent."

Peaslee says that between 1991 and 2001, $381 million was diverted from the Transportation Fund to General Fund spending. Meanwhile, according to news reports, transportation projects are left unfinished.

Although Peaslee recognizes the fact that weaning the General Fund from Transportation Fund money needs to be slow, she hopes that the committee will resist temptations to raid Transportation money for other purposes during difficult financial times. 

DEAN AND ACT 250: HE LOVES IT / HE HATES IT?

Buried in a November 4 Rutland Herald/Times Argus story about Okemo owners Tim and Diane Mueller was this little tidbit: Governor Howard Dean referred to Act 250, Vermont's sacred cow land use law, as "terrible."

Dean's comments came at a November 2 Vermont Chamber of Commerce dinner in Woodstock where Diane Mueller was feted as "Citizen of the Year." The Muellers' contributions to the state and their community were catalogued, and their difficulties with expansion plans for Okemo Ski Resort came up. According to reporter Susan Smallheer, Dean recounted how Diane Mueller sent him a 14-paragraph critique of Act 250, to which he responded with an email about "the terrible permit system." "In Vermont, it's just terrible," Smallheer quotes him as saying at the event. [Read Smallheer's article here]

While the November 2 story and Dean's remarks about Act 250 did not garner much attention, a more recent story did. Opponents to the Okemo expansion are trying to get copies of the governor's emails to Diane Mueller. The opponents' efforts were detailed in a Monday, November 12 story, again by Smallheer, that made front page news in the Rutland Herald and was subsequently picked up by other papers, including the Burlington Free Press.

In the Monday article, Smallheer again told the story of Dean's remarks about Act 250 at the November 2 event (where he apparently thought no reporters were present).

Now Dean is trying to set the record straight. A cryptic letter from the governor appeared in Wednesday's Free Press. In it, the governor said he did not attack Act 250. "As most Vermonters know," he wrote, "I am a firm supporter of Act 250 and have consistently fought efforts to overturn the environmental legislation." He went on to explain that his remarks were meant as a joke at the expense of New Hampshire's regulatory climate where the Muellers have also had expansion difficulties. 

FREE PRESS HEADLINE GIVES ELECTION TO GORE

With the advent of war, the 2000 presidential election morass seems like a distant memory. But Monday, that memory was revived when major newspapers across the country ran stories on the results of a comprehensive review conducted by numerous media organizations of uncounted Florida ballots. The conclusion? The U.S. Supreme Court did not hand the election to Bush on a silver platter. "George W. Bush would have won," as the New York Times article put it.

However, Burlington residents who rely on their major newspaper for information awoke to this headline: "More Voted for Gore." The faulty headline ran over a Los Angeles Times article whose original headline had been "Bush Still Had Votes to Win in a Recount."

The Free Press' new Executive Editor, Mike Townsend, was unhappy as soon as he saw the headline. "The only thing I can tell you is I knew it was wrong," he says. "And we corrected it."

The paper ran the correction in its regular corrections section on page two of the next day's newspaper.

Townsend believes, however, that the article itself was confusing and that's why the copy editors who write the headlines made the mistake.

"It was a confusing story. It had a lot of 'if's' in it," he said. "There are three different scenarios set up in the beginning of that story and I think they (the headline writers) went with the wrong scenario." 

NO INVESTIGATION OF CATERPILLAR THEFT?

In August 2000, the parents of the Edmunds School in Burlington gathered to celebrate the opening of the playground, a renovation paid for by close to $50,000 in privately raised funds. Later that month the Burlington Free Press reported that the big purple head of the playground caterpillar climbing equipment had been stolen. The playground committee lamented that someone would do such a thing. In May of this year, the Burlington Free Press reported that the big purple caterpillar head had been found in a dumpster behind a UVM dorm. The head was then happily reunited with the rest of his body at the Edmunds playground. And they lived happily ever after.

But DSR was curious. Did they ever apprehend the thief? What sort of person would break apart and then steal part of a schoolchild's playground? UVM's motto, gracing the new arch on the bike path, is Studiis et Rebus Honestis, taken from Horace 1.ii.36 meaning something like Integrity in Theoretical and Practical Pursuits. This seemed not like an act of integrity as well as a fairly easy crime to solve. Call a few people in the dorm where the bug head was found to find out who had the head in their room.

DSR called UVM's campus police. "We don't get involved in thing of that sort," we were told. DSR called the Burlington Police and after no return calls, visited them just last week. They didn't see fit to investigate either.

The Burlington Free Press often has stories about what bad neighbors the UVM students are. They are too loud, they leave their junk on the streets, they park their cars on lawns and across sidewalks, and they vomit and urinate on citizens' lawns as they climb the hill from the Church Street saloons. Now here comes a perfect "crime" to investigate and one seemingly easy to solve. Let's see, at what dorm was the dumpster, what were the names of the students who lived in that dorm, let's call a few. Who had the children's playground caterpillar head in their room? Now, let's make an example of a person who is not only a thief, but one who vandalized the children's playground, toyed with the toy, and when no longer amused, did not return it or reattach it, but alas, off with the head to the dumpster.

No integrity in practical pursuits was shown by the student, the UVM police, or the Burlington police. Send money to UVM's new $250,000,000 capital campaign. It will make you feel good. 

LEAHY ISOLATED?

Sen. Patrick J. Leahy has had "a rough transition from Senator Mellow to Mr. Chairman," Michael Crowley writes in the New Republic, referring to the Vermont Democrat's leadership of the Judiciary Committee.

"Leahy has found himself under near-constant assault from Republicans who say he plays vindictive games with their judicial nominees. The attorney general has suggested that he endangered the public by trying to stall and water down anti-terrorism legislation. Even fellow Democrats claim he has been imperious, hypersensitive, and a pain to work with. Indeed, Leahy is fast becoming one of the most resented members of the Senate. And this isolation - from his Democratic colleagues as well as his Republican antagonists - is starting to undermine the political causes about which he cares so much," Crowley said.

According to the Washington Times, Republican senators complain that Leahy has made the judicial nomination process personal. The Times tells the story of how Leahy told Idaho Republican Larry Craig that one of his home-state judges would have to wait until next year for a hearing. The reason? Craig had criticized Leahy in the media.

By the way, when a constituent complained to Leahy recently that judicial nominations were moving too slowly, Leahy's office sent the following response:

"Thank you for contacting me regarding judicial nominations.

Judicial nominations should not be made to advance any political or ideological goal, to do otherwise would undermine the integrity and independence of our judicial branch of government.

Consideration of the fitness of a nominee for a lifetime judicial position should be focused on the nominee's adherence to the law, including constitutional principles articulated by the Supreme Court. As Chairman of the Judiciary Committee, it is my obligation to help the Senate determine whether a nominee understands and is suited for the responsibilities of the important office to which he or she has been nominated.

Throughout the process of the many nominations ahead, I will consider each nominee carefully to help ensure that current vacancies in the federal judiciary are promptly filled with well qualified judges.

Thank you again for contacting me. Please keep in touch."

For the latest on judicial nominations: http://www.judicialselection.org/ 

From the "huh?" department: In his Sunday column, VERMONT PRESS BUREAU Chief JACK HOFFMAN mused over Rep. Bernie Sanders's (I-VT) decision to run for Congress again and not for governor. Speaking of the possibilities in a gubernatorial contest, Hoffman wrote: "Con Hogan, if he somehow managed to win the GOP primary, probably would do better than Douglas in the general election." Let's say it all together now: "HUH?" Is Hoffman using the psychic hotline for his source? Otherwise, we see no evidence of such a scenario. In fact, according to a VPR Research 2000 poll conducted in September, Hogan would draw 15 percent of the vote in a general election while Douglas polled at 22 percent. Douglas has also run for statewide office several times (and won some of those elections). It's hard not to assume that Hoffman's comment springs more from a knee-jerk reaction against any likely GOP primary winner than from solid analysis. 

DECRIMINALIZING DRUGS

»» Jack VanArsdale: I was reading through your web site and stumbled on a piece you wrote about UVM's 4-20 day( November 09, 2001 Vol. 2, No. 44). While the grammar in your article is pretty deplorable, and you referred to an obviously female columnist as a male, what really galled me was that you linked a group fighting for the decriminalization of marijuana to heroin deaths in a community. If you were to look up the facts about marijuana decriminalization, you would find that the idea of marijuana as a "gateway drug" is laughed at by the medical community. Also, when Holland decriminalized marijuana, abuse of hard drugs such as heroin actually decreased. If you are truly concerned about the heroin problem in Burlington, maybe you should join the SSDP on 4-20 day. 

PROTESTING THE WRONG PEOPLE

»» Bob Alexander, Londonderry: Re your UVM reports -- While never doubting their right to state their opinions, I wonder what possible arguments can be made for "peaceful" resolutions to the terrorist activities. International courts (right, how do you get the terrorists there). Diplomatic process, (right, how do you get the terrorists to give themselves up). Critically, however, is the fact that 6,000 innocents have already been murdered in the U.S., war has been officially declared, and additional terrorist steps are being taken to kill more of our citizens. Perhaps if folks feel that strongly about peaceful solutions, they can travel to these countries harboring terrorists, and convince them to give up. As it stands now, the "protesters" are protesting to the wrong people 

CALL IN THE MILITIA

»» Karen Kerin, S. Royalton: In the great tradition of the American spirit of volunteerism, it amazes me that Congress is not taking advantage of the readily available militia to protect the skies. There are huge numbers of handgun owners who could be made special deputy air marshals. There would be no cost to the taxpayers, aside from proper screening. People in that category who fly often could represent the most effective and least costly alternative. What terrorist would risk hijacking an airplane when anyone from the college student to the little old lady to the more apparent likely sky marshals could be ready to take them down? Lets get back to basics. 

OUR MISTAKE

»» Ethan Ready, Montpelier: I would like to clarify the facts about a recent entry in your November 2nd newsletter. 

1) My mother, State Auditor Elizabeth Ready, dedicates all of her time to her job and is not raising funds in Washington DC or anywhere else.
2) I live here in Vermont, not in Washington DC.
3) I work for the Vermont Democratic House Campaign and am not actively raising money for my mother.

Editor's Note: The DSR apologizes for this error.

UVM'S PROBLEM

»» Carl Ettlinger, Underhill: To put the current UVM debate into proper perspective I suggest you revisit Mr. Gropper's letter from your 03-09-01 report (in which he suggests that UVM should transform itself into a "center of academic excellence fostering new technology"). I fear for too long the motto at UVM has been "let no head rise above the rest." 

We're all familiar with the dogmas about environmental catastrophe so often heard in academia and the media. An exceptionally well researched book on environmental problems has just been published, "The Skeptical Environmentalist: Measuring the Real State of the World" (Cambridge University Press), which will be of interest to all those concerned about the accuracy of the science behind such claims of catastrophe. The author, Bjorn Lomborg, a self-described leftist and a former member of Greenpeace, is an academic with expertise in international statistics.

Dr. Lomborg began his analysis by leading some of his statistics students in an attempt to debunk claims made by University of Maryland's professor Julian Simon. Dr. Simon, a conservative economist, claimed that environmental and human conditions are generally improving and the improvement is directly linked to the consequences of capitalism.

"Honestly, we expected that most of Simon's talk was simple, American right-wing propaganda. And yes, not everything he said was correct, but -contrary to our expectations - it turned out that a surprisingly large amount of his points stood up to scrutiny and conflicted with what we believed ourselves to know. The air in the world is becoming less, not more polluted. People in developing countries are starving less not more, and so on."

Dr. Lomborg does not claim that all is well. He simply claims that the state of the environment is generally far less bad than it is portrayed and that environmental degradations occur at a much slower and often a decreasing rate compared to what we are led to believe. For example, Greenpeace claims in their official biodiversity report that we are likely to lose 50 percent of all species over the next 75 years. Lomborg shows that the true figure is much lower, 0.7 percent. In many instances Lomborg is able to trace the basis of commonly accepted and greatly exaggerated statistics to single small-scale studies of atypical conditions, e.g., one widely circulated and accepted figure of average European soil erosion, 17 tons/hectare, turned out to be based on one study of a plot of land that was both tiny and sloping.

Dr. Lomborg refers to the commonly presented view of environmental calamity as "the Litany". In its twenty-five chapters, the book disputes the litany in discussions which cover a very wide range of topics. The chapters include analyses of human population increase, global warming, the food supply, biodiversity, water pollution and acid rain. The book, while not the last word, is certain to occupy a central place in the debates on these issues. 

DEAN'S PROBLEM…
by James Dwinell 

Last week DSR wrote of Dean's Presidential aspirations. We suggested that his big problem was, frankly, his mouth, both sides of it. While the local press seems to either immediately forgive him, bury his mistakes, or allow his lame excuses to dismiss the matter, the national press will not be so forgiving.

Little did we know that Dean would so soon give us a perfect example of all of the above. It seems that Governor Dean said, at a Chamber of Commerce Award occasion, that "Act 250 is terrible." This occurred on November 2. A reporter was present. The remark was buried in what otherwise could be described as a "human interest" story about two notable members of the Vermont community receiving recognition for their contributions.

Now Imagine if Jim Douglas had said this. Would it have been a story? It's hard to imagine otherwise.

Now along comes one Peter Berg, a not-in-my-backyard-or-near-my-backyard development stopper. He hears of that remark and another made at the same occasion, and that Dean had been personally corresponding with Diane Mueller of Okemo via email. Berg now wants copies of those correspondences to learn if Dean was trying to influence the process behind the scenes.

And so finally, because of Berg's actions, the story of Dean's remarks is given prominence, making the front page of the Rutland Herald.

DSR doesn't believe that Act 250 is terrible. But the very same Howard Dean has made its process so by his appointments to the various boards, commissions and agencies which interact with Act 250 applications. And when the Republicans in the House, along with the Blue Dogs in 2000, and again in 2001, tried to add a couple of reforms to Act 250, where was Dean? No where. Auditor Ready, then Senator Ready, chair of the Natural Resources Committee, wouldn't even consider the bill which passed the House. This year, its fate was not much better.

Dean was willing to spend political capital for Civil Unions. But he was not willing to spend political capital to begin to reform the excesses of Act 250. And then he goes and says, Act 250 is "terrible." Yes, thanks to his lack of leadership, it has become a nightmare. 

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