THOSE WERE THE DAYS 

We miss him. Seems to be out of character for us, but not really, and not that hard to write. Dean was a wacko, but an interesting and easily quotable wacko. A reporter’s delight.

Gone are the days of what is on the governor’s mind was on his lips. Gone are the days when the governor was often wrong, but never in doubt. Gone are the absurd lies, the days of the governor’s proclaiming that "budgets are not balanced on the backs of taxpayers." Gone are the gross distortions, the days of the governor’s misrepresenting "why have four rest areas ten miles apart." Gone are the superlatives, the days of the governor’s speaking of his lieutenant governor, anyone who criticizes the Freeman Foundation must have taken leave of his senses. 

NEW GAME IN TOWN 

Governor-to-be Jim Douglas is not at all like Howard Dean. Well not exactly, neither one starts his press conferences on time, but then the media recognizing this is not ready at the appointed hour.

Dean almost always began his press conferences with a dog and pony show, some state agency head proclaiming that their agency had just produced the best educated kids, or a lower out-of-wedlock birthrate, or a group of citizens who had come together to produce a plan for growth, hope, and opportunity. We rarely even opened our notebook. Sort of cute but not news for the most part. Then came Howard enjoying "his skewering" as he put it. Nimble, quick, clear except when he did not want to be.

Douglas had no dog and pony show. He stood for fifteen minutes, speaking not just in sentences and complete thoughts, but in paragraphs, and then new chapters. He hardly took a breath. Professional, competent, knowledgeable. Never wrong, sometimes in doubt.

There are terms used to quickly define the value of what you are about to say. WAG means a wild-assed guess. SWAG is a statistical wild-assed guess. Dean was the master of the WAG. Douglas does not even approach a SWAG. He knows or he doesn't. He has an opinion or he doesn't.

He did not put his foot in his mouth. No superlatives here. No distortions. No facts made up. But then not so much fun, not a bunch of easy quotes to choose from. He presented his calendar past and future, his thoughts on the issues of the day, a new appointment, fulfilling campaign promises. He did not have to check with his staff fourteen times as Dean might. A great performance.

IT AIN’T THE WHITE HOUSE

The press conference began at 1:04 and at 1:26 his newly minted press secretary, Jason Gibbs, wearing his credentials around his neck as if he were on the West Wing, strode forth, hesitated, then edged into the limelight to say, "One more question."

To say he was ignored would be an understatement. Anson Tebbets asked a question, then Bob Kinzel asked two, then Anson another, then Candace Page. Douglas had to say, "Folks, I have a conference call with Wall Street at 1:30. Sorry."

THE BEAST GROWLS

"This doesn't work...thirty minutes is not enough...we need to say this several times." Steve Longchamp, longtime WCAX cameraman and sometime inquisitor, added, "As Tim Lewis would say, 'you are not done until we are done.'"

The Douglas team did not manage the beast, manipulate the beast, or even feed the beast. But they did stay on message. We are here, we know what we are doing, and we have clear information well thought out. We have not taken the usual two-week post election cruise because it is important for all to see and believe that we will be the next governor and administration. We want no doubt about that.

And in this they have succeeded.

NEWS?

Yes, there was some; you read it in the papers. Mike Smith is the new Administration Secretary, Douglas wants more troopers, he wants the Circ, there is too much demand on Human Resources programs and Corrections and not enough money to go around, this equals a tough budget year.

The media wants to know only about the cause de jour, Fletcher Allen. Yes, it is a mess, yes, the buck stops with the board, BISCHA needs to be reviewed, yes, he will appoint his own team of agency heads, and be careful about over reacting to create bad precedent for other similar institutions. 

SAY IT AIN’T SO, JIM 

According to the Washington Times, his Declaration of Independence is dead. Can I have my old job back? asks Jim Jeffords.

"According to a senior Senate leadership source, the election results were barely in before Mr. Jeffords's office put out feelers to his former party's leaders. The message? That the Vermonter would be happy to caucus with the GOP — so long as he retained his committee chairmanship."

His office did deny the story, but what would you expect? It is not that the 2002 election was a fluke. The GOP won the senate at the polls in 1994, 1996, 1998, 2000, and again in 2002.

Editorial here: http://www.washtimes.com/op-ed/20021120-845596.htm 

H-Y-P-O-C-R-I-T-E 

What a joy. If you are a young woman, a minor, you cannot enter Planned Parenthood's poster contest celebrating Roe v Wade 30th birthday without your parent’s permission. Forty-four other states require some form of parental notification for an abortion on a minor. Vermont does not. Can't enter a poster contest without your parent’s consent but you can have an abortion. 

FREED BY A NOSE 

Seasoned observers think now that it is the Speaker’s race to lose. Some folks who pay attention and count believe that he has eighty votes locked up. Freed says that he does not.

What is happening? Here is a telling story. Newly elected Senate Pro Tem Shumlin approached a seasoned veteran, "What do I do now?" he asked. "You won, rule," the veteran responded. "But I promised five different folks the Chair of Appropriations."

Who will spin the best story? Who will make the biggest promises? The Democrats are better spinners, the Republicans are more straightforward. Place your bets. 

WHERE HAS ALL THE LOVE GONE? 

The most liberal town in Vermont. The richest town in Vermont. They supported Act 60, loved it. Fairness, equality, opportunity, one for all and all for one.

That was then. They were somehow a receiving town. Now Norwich is a sending town. The Valley News reports that they are desperately searching for ways to cook their books, to move expenses from the school account to the town account. Shameless. 

PERMIT HADES 

Your neighbors, don't you just love them? Henry Lague owns the Lague Inn and Suzanna’s Restaurant two lights off Exit 7 on Interstate 89. Applebee’s is taking over an existing but not now operating restaurant one light off Exit 7. Not surprisingly, LaGue is appealing Applebee’s permit to operate. Lovely. Vermont at its best. 

TWICE FAMOUS 

In the same month, Annette Smith, homebody turned national environmental star in two years, made the November 4th edition of Time for her anti-Omya stand AND Peter Miller's new book, Vermont Farm Women. 

WE’RE NOT NUMBER ONE 

In health, New Hampshire is number one, Vermont number six overall, according to United Health Foundation. Their twelfth annual report studied many factors in determining overall rankings. Here is how Vermont did.

Violent Crime - 1
Motor Vehicle Deaths - 4
Premature Death - 6
High School Graduates - 7
Infectious Disease - 9
Infant Mortality - 10
Lack of Health Insurance - 11
Children in Poverty - 15
Heart Disease - 19
Prevalence of Smoking - 20
Prenatal care - 24
Support of Public Health - 24
Cancer Deaths - 29

VINYL IS FINAL 

Yes in Wilmington but no in Fairlee. Owners of a century-old building in Wilmington took the town planning commission to court over their denial of using vinyl siding to spruce up their deteriorating building. The commission believed that vinyl "detracted from the building’s historic look."

The court sounding like a vinyl siding salesperson found that "the benefits of vinyl siding and its durability outweigh the relatively minor differences in visual effect."

A warehouse addition in Fairlee also received the denial treatment by the planning commission. Though the retail store is vinyl, their warehouse is clapboard. The new addition must be clapboard, about fifty percent more expensive at installation with a shorter life than vinyl. 

IBM UPDATE 

News from the front continues to not be promising for Vermont’s largest private employer. This from Business Week, go to: http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/02_45/b3807002.htm

DPR’s summary: the 200mm (IBM’s Essex plant’s focus) factories are on the track to oblivion. This business will consolidate in a smaller number of very large shops, mostly in Asia. The business is becoming increasingly capital intensive, employing fewer people, most of whom do not need to be highly skilled.  

KUDOS TO THE TIMES ARGUS 

"The Times Argus ran a wonderfully chilling series on the heroin problem in central Vermont. It was so personal and tragic that we were reminded of Janet Cooke, the Washington Post Pulitzer Prize writer, who created an 8-year-old heroin addict as a composite youth to enhance her story. There were people we knew, suffering openly with a terrible problem. In order to address any problem, you need to shine a light on it and the Times Argus did that beautifully." --Dwinell Political Report, September 27, 2002, Volume 3, Number 38.

Little did we know that the Times Argus would treat Scott Fletcher the same as the Washington Post treated Janet Cooke. The facts were similar but not the same.

Janet Cooke created her heroin subject, a "composite" she said of boys she knew. But there turned out to be no "Jimmy." He was her creation. After the Pulitzer Prize came, an investigation unearthed the truth, Cooke confessed, returned her Pulitzer, and resigned from the Post.

The Times Argus investigated and could not prove that Fletcher’s young drug dealing, drug using, prostitute existed. They did not prove that she did not exist. Fletcher never wavered, confessed, or resigned. They fired him anyway.

This seems a bit harsh. Maybe there were other issues management had with Fletcher and this was the last straw. We do not know. But we do know that his career may have been ruined.

It is not surprising that the young woman was nowhere to be found. She was breaking the law using drugs. She was breaking the law dealing drugs. She was breaking the law soliciting. She was breaking the law prostituting. She was not hanging around with her identification hanging around her neck like the usual summer and fall tourists who ply State Street in our capitol. She was not from here.

She was not waiting for management to come well after the fact to find her. If they had their doubts, they might have expressed them before the story went out. Maybe she was still in town then.

Fletcher had his notes which are usually enough to clear a professional journalist. Not so in this case. Maybe it was Pulitzer pride. Maybe the neighborhood sensibilities. But something is amiss.

Heroin is a clear and present danger, about which many folks would prefer not to know. According to the Free Press, a while ago medical professionals treated the odd heroin addicted pregnant woman. Now they are treating twenty. Can you imagine? Many expectant mothers give up coffee, cigarettes, or alcohol during pregnancy. Doing drugs during pregnancy? A new definition of child abuse.

Fletcher raised issues, in your hometown, on your safe streets, with your children or children you knew. Did he embellish? Did he create? Did he use a composite? The Times Argus alleged falsehoods; they did not prove falsehoods. A confession was not forthcoming, in fact just the opposite, a strong denial. Fletcher had evidence, his journalist’s notes.

Not enough said the Times Argus. 

TRUTH IN ADVERTISING 

The Sunday Rutland Herald/Times Argus Parade headlined television weatherman Al Roker, "he's slimmed down thanks to smart eating and Roker tells James Brady how he did it."

His doctor did it by stapling his stomach, not smart eating. 

ODE TO A SHOT MESSENGER 

»» Robert Skinner, South Hero: With no proof of guilt of genuine fabrication by journalist Fletcher on the Heroine Addicted teen hooker, Times Argus fires him ! What an enlightened free press! It's a throwback to Gestapo-like tactics but rather than burn the books just banish the author. What a dictatorial and cruel crew of press managers who turn on their own.

They summarily shred a social minded journalist concerned and worried about the fate of hundreds, if not thousands, of Vermont youth hooked on heroin. Mr. Fletcher does the outstanding and honorable act by opening our eyes wider to the carnage of Vermont youth while Howard Dean closed his eyes tight in denial and tried as hard as he could to conceal the awful truth of the rise of heroine addiction among Vermont youth.

Other more progressive and caring Democratic leaders like Senator Leddy and Senator Sears struggled against Howard Dean to unveil the truth and take proactive measures to heal the addiction ills ravaging our youth. These senators covet the awful truth whether politically self threatening and/or damaging. There are some on both sides of the isle who put principle and the people's pain way above politics.

Fletcher fiction or fact in some instances, including this one, "the means justifies the end." Journalist Fletcher ought to be given an award - not the scorn of those in power who become judge, jury and executioner. 

RECENT HISTORY OF THE COLLEGE REPUBLICAN MOVEMENT 

»» Joe Sinagra, State Chairman College Republican Federation of Vermont (1995-1998): I enjoy reading your weekly newsletter and I found this past weeks very interesting. As one of the founders of the current College Republican Federation of Vermont, I want to get involved in the College Republican conversation. In 1994, a small group of students from UVM, Lyndon State College and the College of St. Joseph's got together and formed a state federation. At that time, UVM had a small club with around 20 members.

Over the next five years the College Republican Federation of Vermont grew to have clubs at eight colleges and over 400 members statewide. The CRFV was very involved in campaigns in 1996 and 1998. In Feburary of 1998, the CRFV held a state convention at UVM. We had 100 students from around Vermont attend the convention and we elected a new state chairman. During that state convention, Jim Douglas and Speaker Walter Freed spoke.

In 1997, I ran successfully for National Second Vice-Chairman of the College Republican National Committee. I was the first Vermonter ever elected to an executive board position for the National College Republicans. I agree with Nathan Rice, College Republicans were very useful to candidates for statewide and local office from around Vermont. Lyndon State, Johnson State, Castleton State and the College of St. Joseph's still have a College Republicans chapter and those students help elect Republicans. 

KINGDOM MATTERS 

»» Senator Vincent Illuzzi, Derby: Jim Douglas carried the Northeast Kingdom (Essex, Orleans and Caledonia Counties) by more than 5,000 votes over Racine. He won by just over 5,000 votes. Message: Don't treat the Northeast Kingdom like the back door of Vermont where you put out the trash. 

LOOK IN THE MIRROR 

»» Ellie Corrow, Williamstown: Wake up Vermont! Republicans are exuberant at the prospect of no more Dean/Racine. We shouldn't cheer too much. While I too am thrilled, I'm deeply discouraged by the terrible losses we suffered in the House and the Senate. It seems to me we have spent a lot of time blaming Democrats for our losses (they didn't play fair, our message wasn't moderate enough to get them to vote for us, or they gerrymandered the districts and we lost to reapportionment). I am the daughter and campaign manager of State Senator Bill Corrow. Many feel his loss was a direct result of reapportionment. WRONG!!!

Voter turnout was atrocious. Over 1400 fewer people came out to vote in Orange County this year than two years ago. Presumably (since the Dems have fantastic get-out-the-vote campaigns) these stay at homers were our votes. My father should have won by a landslide, instead he gets to go home simply because people were too lazy, too busy, or whatever to make their feelings known. This is completely unacceptable. Perhaps we should stop blaming Democrats for simply being better at the game than we are. We need to stop trying to garner votes from their base (which only results in Jeffords-esque Republicans), we need to get our people to simply vote. That's all. Vermont isn't a liberal state. The liberals are just screaming louder than anyone. It's time we made our voices heard instead of hoping the liberals will see the light and come our way. They won't, it doesn't work that way. It's up to us to turn the tide in Vermont. We have two years to stop blaming and start doing. 

VALLEY SNOOZE 

»» Andrew Johnson: I just wanted to echo your sentiments regarding the Valley Snooze (as my dad always calls it) and Martin Frank. Growing up in the Upper Valley, it is sad to see how far it has rolled to the left. The Valley News has never been a great paper, but Martin Frank and his group are basically driving it into the ground. There are more ads than actual news, and what little local "news" they print, is generally slanted by Martin Frank's obviously liberal and misguided agenda. He would not know objective news reporting if someone held it up in front of his face.

That editorial cartoon in the Valley News you mentioned, upset me greatly (as my son is a Cub Scout) and is a blatant LIE - that is not what the Scouts are about. But it fits the liberal method of attack - if you don't like what a person or group stands for, then attack and lie, attack and lie, attack and lie - until the people start to believe it as true. How sad the Martin Franks of the world are. 

THE LITTLE PAC THAT COULD 

»» Rand Larson, Richmond: The tiny sleeping hamlet of Richmond, which Racine calls home and where Democrats outnumber the good guys 3-1, was able to create a television spot known as "Dem Eggs" and air it on prime time television. Yes the Richmond GOP Committee produced and paid for this poignant commercial to run! See it at www.VermontGOP.org we kept Racine within 272 votes of Douglas, we won the house seat with Spike Robinson by 4 votes and our conservative Pete Parent won the selectboard open seat with 100 more votes than Racine got in the governor's race. Grass roots efforts do work, we built a coalition with Blue Dog Democrats and we won! This victory isn't due to any one person but rather to a small group of committed people who wanted to make a difference, because we really believed we could! Maybe a few other towns around the state need to believe in the theory of "we think we can, we think we can, WE KNOW WE CAN"! Just ask Spike if every vote makes a difference! 

BYE, BYE BERNIE 

»» Ed Stokes, Randolph Center: You wrote in todays DPR "Can anyone dethrone Congressman Sanders?" The answer is an emphatic YES, but we have to move from amateurish, half-hearted efforts to a consistent, properly planned approach. Trying to beat Bernie by limiting ourselves to the short period preceding the election is a total waste of time and money. Bernie's faults must be brought to the public's attention throughout the next two years, starting today.

Step number one is to create a non-profit, non-political, "Bernie Truth Squad". This should be done immediately. The truth squad must, on a weekly basis, identify and expose the big lies on which Bernie's support rests. It is not necessary that an alternative political view be espoused.

This should be done in the form of well written, properly researched articles which should be published as paid quarter page advertisements in the state's local weekly papers by concerned citizens. Every aspect of Bernie's ideological baloney, his votes, his statements, his claims, and, if necessary his personal behavior, should be exposed for all to see.

Anyone want to join in such an effort? 

TAX CONSEQUENCES 

»» Ralph Colin, Dorset: In the third paragraph of "Katie Bars the Door" you imply, I think, that when the Nature Conservancy and the Land Trust acquire property, it is removed from the tax rolls. As a board member of the Vermont chapter of the Nature Conservancy, I can state categorically that this is not the case. The Nature Conservancy pays property taxes on property it owns. I'm not sure if the same is true about the Vermont Land Trust, but I think it may be. 

THEY LIKE US 

»» Andrew Johnson: Thank you so much for your weekly newsletter....Keep up the good (and truthful) work! 

HOW TO COVER A ONE-BILLION DOLLAR INDUSTRY
by Libby Sternberg 

Imagine this scenario: a one-billion-dollar industry, dependent on taxpayers' funding, moves to Vermont. Its CEO and board regularly issue press releases about how well the company is doing. Would responsible reporters use those press releases verbatim as news?

Of course not. That situation exists in Vermont. Public education costs a billion dollars, one of the largest expenditures the state makes. It cries out for a watchdog, or at the very least a professional and inquisitive press corps which is willing to spend some time educating themselves about the education industry.

Often, stories appear in Vermont that are mere regurgitations of what the Vermont Department of Education gives to reporters. This results in stories that are sometimes misleading and occasionally embarrassing and hardly ever complete. For example, earlier this fall television news reported on a speech presented by Commissioner of Education Raymond McNulty in which McNulty talked about student test scores. The lead for the story was that scores were up, as if this were the newsworthy item.

Those scores had been released (and covered) a year ago. Clearly, the reporter was merely taking down what the Commissioner said instead of questioning. In fact, when those scores were released a year ago, a print report that went out over the wire was virtually a verbatim copy of the Department of Education's own press release, which provided flattering but misleading spin on how Vermont children are faring compared to students nationwide.

Similarly, when SAT scores were released by the department recently, Vermont media once again accepted without question the Department of Education's story that our SAT scores are above the national average. A small amount of digging would have found that our SAT scores do not compare favorably at all to similar students nationwide (white students). In fact, our SATs are about 40 points below the average scores of white students across the country. Since Vermont is predominantly white, it makes sense to compare those averages.

Education is a difficult beat because of the many voices engaged in the education debate, and it takes time to figure out all the labels, organizations, methods, and research. Resources are available to help reporters with this task. Elsewhere news services are willing to make the commitment to covering this important topic. In my native state of Maryland, for example, education is the sole beat of two reporters at the Baltimore Sun - one to cover the K-12 field, and the other to cover colleges and universities. As a college public relations professional 15 years ago, I often felt the sting of the reporter's probing questions, but it served everyone well in the long-run to have a vigorous and inquisitive press covering such a huge part of the state's life.

During the recent campaign, reporters wrote story after story about what would happen if neither gubernatorial candidate received more than 50 percent of the vote. That issue has now been decided. Maybe some of that journalistic doggedness can now focus on education in Vermont. 

SPARE ME 

"The sense of blinding defeat is reminiscent of the morning after the 1994 midterm elections...No spin is possible. Don't even try. Those pundits who suggest that this enormous victory could be bad for Republicans because now they'll have no one else to blame--oh, please!" -- Anna Quindlen, Newsweek 

SHAME ON YOU AMERICAN-HATING LIBERALS 

"...America is hated because it is what every country wants to be - rich, free, strong, open, optimistic. Not ground down by the past, or religion, or some caste system. America is the best friend this country ever had and we should start remembering that.

"Or do you really think the USA is the root of all evil? Tell it to the loved ones of the men and women who leaped to their death from the burning towers. Tell it to the nursing mothers whose husbands died on one of the hijacked planes, or were ripped apart in a collapsing skyscraper. And tell it to the hundreds of young widows whose husbands worked for the New York Fire Department. To our shame, George Bush gets a worse press than Saddam Hussein..." --Tony Parsons, Daily Mirror http://www.mirror.co.uk/printable_version.cfm?objectid=12188969&siteid=50143 

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