Monthly Archives: June 2024

The Carroll-Morrissey Emotional Intelligence Test (Updated)

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It’s been interesting… rather inadvertently revelatory… to witness the fallout from one of the oddest political scandals in Vermont history — Rep. Mary Morrissey getting caught wet-handed*, repeatedly dumping water into a tote bag belonging to fellow Bennington Rep. Jim Carroll.

*Rimshot

On the official front, all parties are continuing their lengthy effort to sweep as much of this mess under the nearest rug as thoroughly as possible. On the media front, the coverage has been a mixed bag. On the personal front, both Carroll and Morrissey are flailing in the aftermath. And pretty much everyone is clearly uncomfortable with the situation.

It makes sense, really. This thing is, as Rep. Angela Arsenault told Seven Days’ Kevin McCallum “both juvenile and unconscionable.” To Carroll, already suffering through a difficult session thanks to his February DUI citation in a Statehouse parking lot, it must have caused significant emotional trauma. Arsenault:

“This is the type of thing that is designed to make someone feel like they are going nuts, to make someone question themselves, which to me is straight up cruel.”

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The Free Press Isn’t Even a Newspaper Anymore

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I moved to Vermont just in time to catch the tail end of the Burlington Free Press‘ long reign as the state’s leading newspaper. It was a full-sized daily with a deep and wide-ranging pool of journalists including three experienced reporters covering state politics and policy, which made the Freeps an indispensable resource for anyone interested in such things.

That institution is long gone, and things have just gotten worse and worse, sadder and sadder. The latest nail in the Free Press’ coffin is its coverage of the Burlington Police Department’s “roll-playing scenario” in which a bunch of high school students were terrified by someone pretending to be a masked gunman.

Or should I say the paper’s disgraceful non-coverage. Because so far, the Free Press’ only mention of the incident, which has been the talk of the town ever since, was a story written by a USA TODAY reporter phoning it in from some other part of the country.

That’s it. The Burlington Free Press is dead.

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Beware of Redpilled Zealots in Democratic Clothing

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I have to admit, I missed it at first glace. I was scanning the Secretary of State’s list of candidates for the Legislature, and my eyes just glossed right over a familiar name. To be fair, I was focused on Republican candidates and this guy has qualified for the August Democratic primary in the Windham-1 district.

Fair warning: He is not a Democrat. Not anywhere close.

This is Jason Herron, previously noted in this space as a stealth conservative — at the time, he was a candidate for Guilford Selectboard touting himself as a humble maple farmer who merely wanted more transparency in local government.

In reality, he is (as you see in the screenshot above) the Vermont state director for Convention of States Action, a far-right fantasy camp that wants to selectively rewrite the U.S. Constitution. The object of its desire: a Constitutional convention “restricted to proposing amendments that will impose fiscal restraints on the federal government, limit its power and jurisdiction, and impose term limits on its officials and members of Congress.”

Yeah, none of that pesky reproductive rights stuff or clarifying the Second Amendment or eliminating the Electoral College or clarifying the separation of church and state. Only approved topics will be allowed in this arena of free speech.

In an appearance on a COSA YouTube video, Herron said a Constitutional convention held on COSA terms is “the only way we’re going to save our country without shedding blood.”

Good to know he’s keeping a level head about all this.

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This Is Too Stupid to Merit the Term “Scandal,” But It Cannot Go Unpunished

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Pictured above is state Rep. Mary Morrissey, a longtime (but not at all influential) member of the House who has suddenly been thrust into the spotlight for the most bizarre of reasons.

Per Kevin McCallum of Seven Days, the Bennington Republican has repeatedly dumped cups of water into a tote bag owned by Rep. Jim Carroll, a Bennington Democrat. Well, she allegedly did so, but Carroll has the goods. After finding his stuff thoroughly soaked on several occasions, he set up a small camera across the hall from his bag. And, as McCallum reports, he’s got video that “clearly shows Morrissey leave her Statehouse committee room, walk over to a bag outside Carroll’s committee room and dump a cup of water into it.” And he caught it on camera more than once.

Also, House leadership has already taken at least one action that indicates Morrissey is, in fact, guilty.

No matter what your attitude toward casual profanity might be, the phrase “What the fuck?” cannot help but escape your lips. This is so petty, so pointlessly mean-spirited, that it boggles the mind. Morrissey has served in the Legislature since 1997. Her Legislative bio lists an incredible number of community honors and appointments in Bennington. She is a devout Catholic.

By her biography, you’d think she’d be the last person on Earth to do something like this. But it’s right there on tape.

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It Was Supposed to Be an Emergency Drill for Students, But Now It’s the Adults Who Are Ducking and Covering

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Far be it for me to imply that the Burlington Police Department doesn’t know what the hell it’s doing, but in this case they clearly didn’t.

The BPD is in hot water, possibly to be joined in the pot by the Burlington Public Schools and Mayor Emma Mulvaney-Stanak, whose recent reappointment of Police Chief Jon Murad, over the objections of her fellow Progressives, now seems like maybe not such a great idea.

On Wednesday, a group of 20 Burlington High School students were on a field trip to One North Avenue when screams rang out and two women ran into the room, pursued by a masked gunman. Who opened fire.

It was a drill staged by the BPD with the apparent goal of scaring the shit out of the kids and maybe giving them PTSD. “I’m shaking and crying because I’m like, Oh my god, I’m gonna get shot,” one student told Seven Days. “It felt so real.”

In an utterly inadequate press release blandly (misleadingly) entitled “BHS Scenario Response,” the BPD called this a “roll- playing scenario” (sic) that “was not directed at any students or faculty.”

Pardon me, but what the actual fuck? The masked gunman was in the room with the school group and gunshots rang out. How in hell were they supposed to know that it “was not directed” at them?

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Even By Phil Scott Standards, This Is a Stupid Veto

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Gov. Phil Scott’s dozens upon dozens of vetoes fall into three rough categories:

  • Principled, which involve an honest philosophical difference between Republican executive and Democratic/Progressive Legislature.
  • Easily avoidable, in which Scott proffers an objection that could have been easily cleared up with a little effort during the session.
  • Transparently phony, in which Scott gins up some excuse for a veto because if he came right out and disagreed with a bill’s premise it might damage his “moderate” image.

Today’s veto of H.645 is a combo platter of number 2 and number 3, a particularly toxic blend. The bill would ensure equitable access to restorative justice programs. In other words, kind of a squishy criminal justice reform that wouldn’t appeal to someone who wants to be tough on crime. For instance, Phil Scott.

But instead of addressing the issue directly and risk tarnishing his centrist cred, he claimed that he had to veto the bill because it lacked the necessary funding to put it into practice. (His veto message is very brief and includes no hint of any other rationale.)

Implementation of the measure would be handled by the Attorney General’s Office, and unfortunately for Scott’s chosen rationale, AG Charity Clark quickly replied that her office could handle it with no problem, at least for the next fiscal year, with its existing resources.

Yeah, kind of embarrassing.

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Well, This Is Embarrassing.

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The above is a screenshot from the Vermont Republican Party’s Rules.

Oopsie.

Unfortunate to have put that down on paper and formally adopted it, when the VTGOP is on the verge of nominating a presidential candidate recently found guilty of 34 felonies.

This might trigger an emergency state committee meeting to rewrite the rules or erase this particular one, but the party does have a couple work-arounds available, both of which would involve the sort of embarrassment that parties customarily do their level best to avoid. Of course, the Republican Party of the Trump era is a completely different beast, apparently immune (through repeated exposure) to political embarrassment.

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Whatever Happened to the Great Phil Scott Recruitment Drive of 2024?

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When the leader of your party describes your candidate recruitment effort as “disappointing,” it’s a sign that things have gone off the rails. So said VTGOP Chair Paul Dame to Seven Days’ Kevin McCallum, and then added “It’s one of the smallest recruitment classes that we’ve had in the last 10 years.”

Can confirm. I spent a few hours poring over the Secretary of State’s list of candidates who have filed for major party primaries. There may be a few late adds; the deadline was last Thursday, and as of Monday morning the Elections Office was still checking petitions. But what we’ve got so far, by my count, is a total of 69 Republican candidates for House. Which sounds a little bit respectable considering they’ve only got 37 seats right now.

Except for this: At least 30 of those candidates have no shot at winning. There are a few Republican primaries where someone’s gotta lose, a few repeat candidates who have been uncompetitive in the past, and a lot of Republican candidates in deep-blue districts. In other words, the VTGOP has no better than the longest of longshot chances at eliminating the Democratic/Progressive supermajority in the House. They’d have to run the table in competitive districts and hold all their current seats.

On the Senate side the Republicans have 25 candidates, but I count 14 who are not competitive. The R’s do have a shot at ending the Senate supermajority thanks to some key Democratic departures, but that’s all it is: a shot.

So what happened to Gov. Phil Scott’s “pledge” (McCallum’s word) to recruit moderate Republican candidates? Either it was a failure, or it never happened at all.

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It’s Complicated.

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My first reaction to the passing of Sen. Dick Sears? I was sad. Honestly. He was a genuinely nice guy who always tried to do what he saw as best for Vermont.

That said… I think the Senate will, on balance, be a better place without him.

See, it’s complicated.

Dick Sears was one of the last remaining Old Lions of the Senate. Like his fellow members of the pride, he was a raging institutionalist who loved the Senate exactly as it was. I see the Senate quite differently: far too self-absorbed and far less functional than it ought to be, too closed to new ideas and too scornful of the Legislature’s junior chamber.

But of all the past and present Old Lions, Sears was the most valuable. He brought a lot to the table. As longtime chair of the Senate Judiciary Committee, he knew the law as well as anyone. Due in part to his own humble upbringing, he often thought of the law in terms of those caught in its crosshairs, and that’s a rare quality in anyone who held a position of authority as long as he did. On the other hand, he thwarted many a reform measure if he thought it went too far, and was especially loath to enact any new gun bills.

And his voice was curiously silent when it came to the, shall we say, questionable practices of the police in his own backyard.

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