Monthly Archives: January 2016

Gosh, maybe Vermont isn’t such a bad place after all

We hear a lot of bad news about Vermont, especially from Republicans. They seem to be hoping Vermont will fail, based on their constant bad-mouthing. (Interesting that a plank of Phil Scott’s economic platform is more resources on marketing the state as a place to do business. If Vermont sucked as bad as the VTGOP thinks, any such marketing would be, ahem, lying.)

And then once in a while we get a ray of sunshine piercing through their doom and gloom. Today comes Politico Magazine’s third annual ranking of the 50 states (plus D.C.) in “State of the Union” terms. i.e. which states are in the best (and worst) shape overall.

And where do they rank Vermont?

Third.

Third best in the country.

It should be pointed out here that Politico isn’t exactly leftist. It is, in fact, a bastion of conventional thinking. And this ranking was based on a wide variety of factors: health, education, financial security, unemployment, crime, overall well-being, prosperity. Fourteen categories in all.

Nice little state we’ve got here, eh?

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Today’s Free Press front page is just perfect

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The Burlington Free Press’ descent into whoredom continues apace. Today’s front page encapsulates every worrying trend in the devolution of a once-adequate newspaper — sorry, “media property.”

The front page, for those not close enough to a library or convenience store to give it an eyeball, features Don Sinex, owner of the Burlington Town Center Mall. Sinex is seeking city approval for a complete makeover of the mall, including two 14-story towers that would be the tallest human-made buildings in the city. Sinex is certainly newsworthy; it’s the layout, and all the surrounding circumstances, that illustrate the shortcomings of the Queen City’s Newsroom Of The Future.

For starters, there’s the fact that the Free Press has been giving this story constant, breathless coverage for quite a while now — interrupted only by its ardent pursuit of Trump-related clickbait. I understand that this is a major story regarding the development of downtown Burlington, and I don’t mind quantity coverage with some balance to it. This, however, is giving over the paper’s most valuable real estate to Sinex.

And if you don’t think this was a pro-Sinex puff piece, just look at the headline:

Last Best Plan for Burlington Mall

If that isn’t an editorial, I don’t know what is. The paper could have said “Developer Touts Last Best Plan” or something like that, but no. This Is “The Last Best Plan.”

Subtle.

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The million-dollar greeting card

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Okay, here’s my promised post about the Vermont Enterprise Incentive Fund.

It’s garbage. It stinks. It’s an insult to everyone, liberal or conservative, who believes in good government.

It needs to die. Or at the very least, it needs a complete overhaul. Strong words, but I can back ’em up.

The Enterprise Fund, for those just joining us, is a program of state grants for businesses moving to, or making significant investments in, Vermont. It is meant to be used in “unforeseen or extraordinary circumstances.” Those are Governor Peter Shumlin’s own words, quoted from his own press release.

The Fund was most recently deployed last Friday with a $1 million grant to GlobalFoundries, in support of a $72 million investment in its Essex Junction facility. In a number of ways, this grant seems at odds with the Fund’s stated purpose. Let’s start with this: GlobalFoundries announced the investment in October. By November, it had already invested $55 million of the money.

So, absent a time machine, how could an investment made in October be contingent on a state grant approved three months later?

Even if you ignore that anomaly, if the investment is already well underway, how in the world can you classify it as “unforeseen or extraordinary”?

Well, you can’t. In the words of State Auditor Doug Hoffer, this grant was “basically a thank-you note.”

A million-dollar thank-you note. Next time, maybe just go to Capitol Stationers. They have a very nice selection.

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State of the State: Tough sledding

Phil Scott is right about an “affordability crisis.” He is dead wrong about the causes.

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Our Lieutenant Governor is basing his gubernatorial campaign on “the affordability crisis,” the very real phenomenon that has more and more Vermonters pinching every penny and losing ground in areas like saving for retirement and college tuition. Of course, being a Republican, he defines “the affordability crisis” as a matter of burdensome taxation and enterprise-crushing government.

Those may be contributing factors, but they’re not much more than cherries on our affordability sundae. The real, fundamental problem is wage stagnation for the middle and working classes. They’re getting the big squeeze from a financial system that’s benefiting the wealthy at everyone else’s expense. Tax pressures on working Americans are a relatively small factor in the affordability crisis.

And Phil Scott’s agenda will do little to address the fundamental challenges we face. Some of his ideas would actually make things worse.

Evidence galore for the real affordability crisis can be found in Public Assets Institute’s recent report, “State of Working Vermont 2015.” The topline:

… the gross state product as grown since 2010, with a slight dip in 2013. But the rewards of Vermont’s recovery concentrated at the top of the income scale, while everyone else lost ground. In the decade since 2004 median household income fell from $58,328 inflation-adjusted dollars to $54,166.

If the benefits of economic expansion had been shared equally, PAI reports, “median household income would have been nearly $62,000 in 2014 — $7,680 higher than it was.” Under that scenario, we wouldn’t have a middle-class “affordability crisis.”

And it would be impossible for Phil Scott or anyone else to cut taxes enough to make up for that.

Coming up: Charts!

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The spreading VPO media empire

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Got a new gig. Pays just as well as this one, but it should be fun.

Every Monday morning at about 7:35, I’ll be talking politics and government on WKVT Radio, 100.3 FM and 1490 AM in Brattleboro. WKVT has a local morning show from 6-9 weekdays hosted by Chris Lenois. It’s always fun to talk politics; I’m also hoping this will give me a bit of a window on the concerns of southeastern Vermont, a place I seldom get to visit.

And this Monday only, for central Vermont listeners, I’ll be a guest on WDEV’s “Open Mike” with Mike Smith sometime during the 9:00 hour. (Will update when I know more.) You may recall that I’ve been critical of Mike in the past, and particularly slammed WDEV for replacing a real journalist, Mark Johnson, with a longtime Republican functionary. Well, they hired him, it’s their business, and I’ve said my piece.

Despite my occasional unkind words, Mike occasionally has me on to talk politics, which is the kind of politeness across the trenches that you often find in Vermont.

Anyway, happy to do it. Tune in if you can.

Is there a fight brewing over the Enterprise Fund?

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Earlier today, VTDigger broke the news that the state Emergency Board (four top lawmakers plus the Governor) had met on very (VERY) short notice to approve two state grants from the Enterprise Fund: $1 million to GlobalFoundries and $200,000 to BHS Composites. And I commented that this is the kind of thing that makes some see the Governor as a slippery dealmaker.

Well, here’s something you didn’t know. TheVPO has learned, as they say, that 50 state lawmakers wrote a letter to the Emergency Board asking it to postpone action on the grants.

The plea fell mostly on deaf ears, as the Board approved the grant on a 3-1 vote.

One of the letter’s signatories was Rep. Chris Pearson (P-Burlington). Via email, he explained the reasoning:

It was my hope that we could consider using the money to help fill the [FY 2017] budget gap or, more urgently, the [FY 2016] budget adjustment challenge.

The letter was written before the EB’s agenda had been publicly warned — which happened only yesterday afternoon. Pearson adds:

Now that it’s clear the money was for Global Foundries it’s puzzling how a company that was given $1.4 billion to take over the plant could find $1 million much of a game changer.

You and me both, but more on that in a moment. First, the political ramifications of this letter.

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Drug-inspired racism: it’s not just a cartoon

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Oh, here comes Maine Governor Paul LePage, the gloriously unfiltered hambone, with his typically offensive comedy stylings. This time, he’s explaining the causes of Maine’s drug epidemic:

“These are guys with the name D-Money, Smoothie, Shifty… these types of guys… they come from Connecticut and New York, they come up here, they sell their heroin, they go back home. Incidentally, half the time they impregnate a young, white girl before they leave, which is a real sad thing because then we have another issue we have to deal with down the road.”

Hahaha, what a clown. Can’t believe the voters of Maine have chosen that schmuck as their chief executive — not once, but twice!

Good thing we don’t have any of that ignorant nonsense in Vermont, right?

Right?

Well, actually, it reminded me of something I read a few months ago in Seven Days.

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This is the kind of thing that makes people mistrust the Governor

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Yesterday, State of the State Address: Governor Shumlin introduces a variety of people whose stories illustrate the impact of his policies. They include two executives from GlobalFoundries and two from BHS Composites. The latter was a surprise entry; Shumlin sprang the news that BHS had decided to open a facility in the Northeast Kingdom, creating an estimated 70 jobs.

Today, the state’s Emergency Board met on very short notice to approve state grants to both companies: $1 million for GF and $200,000 for BHS. VTDigger has the deets:

The Emergency Board, which includes the four chairs of the Legislature’s money committees and Gov. Peter Shumlin as the chair, voted at a largely hush-hush meeting that started at 8:30 a.m.

The Shumlin administration did not formally announce the morning meeting until Thursday afternoon, following his State of the State address.

The information in the meeting’s agenda packet, which was printed on Dec. 29, was considered confidential.

Hm. The agenda packet was printed eleven days ago, and the meeting wasn’t warned until yesterday afternoon — less than 24 hours beforehand.

Okay, so the administration sat on the news so the Governor could make a splash. Great. But if Shumlin ever wonders why he has a reputation as a slippery dealmaker, well, here it is.

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Phil Scott’s Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day

The Vermont Political Observer.

a.k.a. theVPO: Analysis and observation of Vermont politics from a liberal viewpoint

Monthly Archives: January 2016

Gosh, maybe Vermont isn’t such a bad place after all

Today’s Free Press front page is just perfect

The million-dollar greeting card

State of the State: Tough sledding

The spreading VPO media empire

Is there a fight brewing over the Enterprise Fund?

Drug-inspired racism: it’s not just a cartoon

This is the kind of thing that makes people mistrust the Governor

Phil Scott’s Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day