Monthly Archives: September 2026

Remember the Great Anti-Police Protests in St. Johnsbury? Yeah, Me Neither.

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Ah yes, the golden days of the early ’20s, when hordes of left-wingers took over the streets of St. Johnsbury and the town’s progressive leadership responded by cutting the police department’s budget.

Oh wait, you say that didn’t happen?

Well, then explain this.

The briefly (and marginally) successful “defund the police” movement in Burlington is being blamed — several years later — for the Queen City’s struggle to fight crime, substance use, vandalism, and fears about public safety. And yet, according to VTDigger’s Kingdom correspondent K. Fiegenbaum, the town of St. Johnsbury is suffering from exactly the same suite of problems.

As are most or all of Vermont’s other cities and towns, from Rutland to Bennington to Brattleboro to St. Albans to Montpelier and beyond.

It’s almost as if the root causes lay beyond a certain city’s brief dalliance with trimming police budgets. It’s almost as if the problems are systemic, statewide, beyond the capacity of any local or county official to control. Even when, as in St. J, St. A, and Rutland, those officials are predominantly Republican and not at all “woke.”

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The Barons Seem Uninterested in Saving John Rodgers’ Bacon

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The second most notable results from the September 1 campaign finance disclosures were about the race for lieutenant governor, and they once again show that incumbent Republican John Rodgers is in some trouble. Maybe a lot of trouble.

Two years ago, his campaign was buoyed by a wave of four-figure checks from the folks I call the Barons of Burlington: the moguls, developers, landlords, and others capable of making large donations to favored candidates. From July 1 onward, Rodgers’ 2024 campaign finance reports were riddled with familiar names: Pomerleaus, Pizzagallis, Tarrants, Bruce Lisman, Ray Pecor, Doug Nedde, etc., all kicking in sizable donations. The flood of cash may or may not have been the deciding factor in Rodgers’ win over incumbent David Zuckerman, but it sure as hell didn’t hurt.

This year, however, something has changed. The Barons are almost entirely absent from Rodgers’ filings. He did receive $1,000 from Ernie Pomerleau in August, but otherwise his September 1 report was barren of Barons. As a result, Rodgers lags far behind Democratic nominee Molly Gray in total fundraising and cash on hand. (Gray has received $2,250 from former Rodgers backer Brian Boardman plus $2,000 from ski resort tycoon Win Smith, so the balance of Barons tips slightly in her direction.)

Gray’s lead in spendable cash is kind of stunning, since she had to weather a costly primary battle while Rodgers faced no Republican opposition. The bottom line: Gray has raised $412,000 for the campaign to date compared with Rodgers’ $143,000. Gray has spent $339,000, and reported cash on hand totaling $73,000. Rodgers has somehow managed to spend $118,000 despite the lack of a primary challenge, and has only $26,000 in the bank.

Standard caveat: Money isn’t the only factor in a campaign, and Rodgers does have the incumbent’s advantage. But pre-primary polls by the University of New Hampshire Survey Center showed weakness in Rodgers’ position. The disparities in fundraising prowess and cash position are more evidence that Rodgers is on the back foot. And the reticence of the Barons suggests they might just see him as a lost cause.

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A Potentially Seismic Development in the Vermont News Business (Postscript Added)

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We may have just seen the first in a series of moves that could transform journalism in Vermont — for better or worse, but more likely the former.

The five-newspaper Vermont Community News Group, a locally-owned for-profit enterprise, is being acquired by the National Trust for Local News. The Colorado-based nonprofit is young (achieved tax-exempt status in 2022) but growing rapidly (2024 revenue $53 million). Its mission: to protect and sustain local news operations. In its own words:

The National Trust for Local News is protecting these vital civic assets and transforming them into a resilient, uniquely scalable non-profit news organization. Our goal is to harness local newspapers to build a more equitable and vibrant future for local news, nationwide.

I don’t know anything about the National Trust, but it seems to be legit. Its leadership includes an impressive array of people with experience in journalism, nonprofit enterprise, and (somewhat worryingly) the corporate world. (McKinsey? Ew.) It forswears donations from those with political agendas, and promises a hands-off relationship with its outlets’ editorial policies and journalistic standards.

Here’s why this could be a seismic event for Vermont journalism. When the National Trust enters a new state, it takes no half measures. It has operations in three states (Colorado, Georgia, Maine) and owns a total of 65 outlets so CNG’s five weeklies seem like a beginning, not an end. Based on track record, I assume the National Trust has made a thorough study of our news ecosystem and has decided it’s a promising market. I wouldn’t be surprised if it snaps up a bunch of local news outlets and maybe some bigger ones. (Some of our daily papers? VTDigger? Seven Days?) It could soon be a dominant force in Vermont journalism.

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Vermont Democrats Offer Amanda Janoo a Hearty Backslap and… That’s About All

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The latest round of campaign finance reports is in, and it looks like Democratic gubernatorial candidate Amanda Janoo is suffering the same fate as the other challengers to Gov. Phil Scott. She’s getting the cold shoulder from her party’s top officials and elected leaders.

Janoo raised $112,000 in August, bringing her campaign total to $415,000. Even if she still had all that money in the bank, it wouldn’t be enough to seriously contend with the governor. But she spent most of it in a costly primary against Aly Richards, so she enters September with a measly $59,000 in cash on hand.

Scott, who has barely even tried to mount a campaign, has five times as much in his kitty. And we’re practically in the home stretch; a bit more than two months remain before Election Day.

I ran into fellow Vermont Political Observer Kevin Ellis in the food coop earlier this week. He asked me what Janoo needed to do to win. “Everything,” I said. For starters, I said she needed a strong September 1 finance report: a minimum of $200,000, and preferably something north of $500,000. I didn’t honestly expect her to crack a half mill, but she certainly needed to do better than one-fifth of that.

Caveat: Money isn’t everything. Grassroots enthusiasm helps. But you can’t run an effective statewide campaign without at least some cash. You’ve gotta get on TV in a substantial way, to try to eat into Scott’s huge advantage in familiarity. Janoo doesn’t have nearly enough, and her shortfall sends a loud signal to the monied class: Don’t waste your money.

Janoo did very well with small-to-medium donors, racking up page after page of gifts in the range of $50 to $500. She got very few large donations. Conspicuous by their absence from her donor list: Democratic Party bigwigs and elected officials. That’s a dirty goddamn shame, and a stain on the party’s soul. If it has one.

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