Author Archives: John S. Walters

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About John S. Walters

Writer, editor, sometime radio personality, author of "Roads Less Traveled: Visionary New England Lives."

EB-5: the tar baby of Vermont politics

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I was wondering when a candidate would dip his hand into the EB-5 cookie jar. It’s easy pickin’s if you want to criticize Democratic leadership of state government. And here we go, Phil Scott’s dug in for some sweet treats.

After positing his support for EB-5 “with proper oversight,” he laid into the Shumlin administration on a specific point:

I was disappointed to learn… that the Shumlin Administration enabled the owners of the EB-5 projects in the Northeast Kingdom… to continue to solicit investors for months after the SEC had suspended that permission for Jay Peak. … By the Administration’s own admission, it was a ‘calculated risk.’  Yet, they’ve not yet explained why they took this risk or why they allowed the problem to continue to grow.

Now, here’s the problem.

The Shumlin administration made that decision in the spring of 2015. (More on that in a moment.) In June of that year, VTDigger’s Anne Galloway broke the news that federal authorities were investigating Jay Peak.

For months after that, Lieutenant Governor Phil Scott expressed his wholehearted support for Jay Peak. Indeed, in November he criticized the administration for inserting itself into the process, thus delaying payments to contractors.

Despite the issues at Q Burke, Scott says he still supports Vermont’s EB-5 program. He added that he sympathizes with [Jay Peak contractor] PeakCM, as he owns his own construction company.

So, hypocrite. But wait, there’s more.

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Progressive Party: sovereign entity or barnacle?

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Here’s an interesting factoid. Voters in the August 9 primary will have their choice of three ballots — Democratic, Republican, and Progressive.

The latter will be available statewide in printed form. And in most of our precincts, the entire Progressive ballot will contain precisely one name: Boots Wardinski, Capital City Farmers Market stalwart and Progressive candidate for lieutenant governor. He’s run for Lite-Guv twice before, both times on the Liberty Union ticket, with minimal result.

We are all paying (by one account, $80,000*) to put Boots Wardinski’s name on ballots that will be largely ignored by voters. Most Progressives won’t take a Progressive ballot because so many Progs are running in Democratic primaries. Like, for instance, real live actual Progressive David Zuckerman, running as a Dem for lieutenant governor — in a tough race against Democrats Shap Smith and Kesha Ram. How many Progs are going to pass up a chance to influence that race just to cast a vote for Boots Wardinski?

*According to the Secretary of State’s office, the total cost of this year’s primary ballots is roughly $160,000. One-third of that would be $53,333.33. So there’s your Boots Tax.)

Beyond the unfortunate use of public funds for all those straight-to-the-shredder Wardinski ballots, this raises an existential issue about the Progressive Party.

Is it gradually ceding its sovereignty, and turning into nothing more than a barnacle on the Democrats’ underside?

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Scott Milne be Scott Milne

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2014 The gubernatorial campaign of Scott Milne had one distinguishing feature: Scott Milne did what Scott Milne wanted to do and said what he wanted to say. In an odd sort of way, it reminds me of one Donald J. Trump.

Appear grossly unprepared in public forums? Check.

Give long, meandering, stream-of-consciousness answers to questions? Check.

No attempt at all to hew to Republican orthodoxy? Check.

No attempt to open or maintain communication with the VTGOP? Check.

No effort to raise money or build a campaign infrastructure? Check.

His inner circle basically consisting of family members? Check.

Propensity to grind personal axes on the campaign trail? Check.

Donald Trump without the energy and Brut-drenched charisma, you might say. Better hair, tho.

He’s pursuing the same contrarian course in his present challenge to eternal incumbent Sen. Patrick Leahy.

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Matt Dunne needs to decide who he is

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In the first two TV ads from the Matt Dunne campaign, the name “Bernie Sanders” appeared more often and more prominently than the candidate’s own. Indeed, the first ad began with the words “What Bernie Sanders started” and the second opened with “Bernie Sanders.”

So, mini-Bernie? Perhaps, although his policy positions are a mix of Bernie-style progressivism and Shumlin-style pragmatism.

Today, his third ad dropped, and this time he’s a woman.

Well, not really. But he’s the next best thing: a fully liberated and feminist man, thanks to a family tree full of determined, accomplished women. The lines are all delivered by women; Dunne appears only in the closing shot without saying a word, standing next to the primary narrator — who turns out to be his wife, Sarah Stewart Taylor.

Message, I guess: You don’t need to vote for The Woman in the race, because Matt Dunne is an honorary woman.

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Son of Racism Is Bustin’ Out All Over

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You think the deadly combo platter of two seemingly needless police killings of black men plus the Dallas killing of police officers by a black man has kinda lanced a boil on America’s psyche? Because everywhere there’s talk of racism — and the denial of same by white folks who are way too defensive about the whole thing.

Last week, I wrote about a bunch of racially-tinged incidents tainting the pure and blessed landscape of Vermont, and now we’ve got some more to share.

Coming up, signs that the authorities in Bennington Still Don’t Get It, even in the face of a potentially expensive lawsuit… and further evidence of cowardice in Vermont’s second city.

But first, the Burlington Free Press reports that some locals have their knickers in a knot because Ferrisburgh’s Rokeby Museum had the audacity to put up some “Black Lives Matter” placards.

The Rokeby is a small museum dedicated, in part, to Vermont’s role in the Underground Railroad. The Robinson family, who lived on the property, were Quaker abolitionists who sheltered runaway slaves. The signs were hung in May to honor “the legacy of the Robinsons as social justice activists.”

In the aftermath of the Dallas shootings, it’s gotten a little tense down Rokeby way.

A young man who came in to ask about the signs, became angry, thinking they supported violence against police and white people — himself included.

One person called and another posted a Facebook message on the museum’s page demanding the signs be taken down… By the end of the day on Friday there were at least five response that left staff feeling vulnerable.

(Note: yes, it’s incorrectly spelled “response” in the Free Press story. No proofreaders need apply.)

Funny, isn’t it, how a single incident of black-on-white violence can shatter the automatic assumption of safety that’s part of White Privilege in America?

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Phil Scott’s snowbird treasurer

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Yesterday I brought you the curious conundrum of Peter Galbraith’s campaign treasurer: Roger Allbee, lifelong Republican and a member of Jim Douglas’ cabinet. Well, today we’ve got another interesting entry in the category.

For each of his candidacies for lieutenant governor and his current bid for governor, Phil Scott has had the same campaign treasurer: Glen Wright, CPA and former executive at giant accounting firm KPMG.

(Yes, the same KPMG that in 2005 admitted criminal wrongdoing in establishing fraudulent tax shelters to help rich clients dodge taxes.)

(Yes, the same KPMG that ran a tax-avoidance scheme in Canada for “high net worth” clients.)

(Yes, the same KPMG that was caught up in a 2013 insider trading scandal in which a senior partner used information gleaned from the firm’s audits of corporate clients to make a bundle on the stock market.)

(Yes, the same KPMG that served as external auditor for the scandal-plagued FIFA, and somehow missed all the signs of massive financial wrongdoing.)

Yes, the same KPMG that saw four senior partners arrested in Northern Ireland last fall on tax evasion charges.)

(And just for kicks, sex scandal.)

I digress, but boy, was it fun.

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Some world-class political cowardice down Rutland way

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It wasn’t the most treacherous act in the history of politics. It wasn’t Brutus knifing Caesar in the back. It wasn’t Vidkun Quisling selling out Norway to the Nazis. But a majority of Rutland City aldermen gained a high place on that inglorious list with their non-decision on the proposed settlement of Syrian refugees in their fair city.

What did they do? Well, they weaseled their way around the issue from every available direction.

First, they voted narrowly not to hold a nonbinding referendum on the plan.

Then, they sent a letter to the state — a nonbinding letter with no legal force — refusing to support the settlement.

… we do not feel we are currently in a position to be able to provide a letter of support for the proposal to establish a new reception and placement program in Rutland.

Please note: they didn’t state their opposition. They withheld their support.

Good God in heaven, what a pack of schmoes.
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Strange bedfellows

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Just saw Peter Galbraith’s first TV ad. The most interesting thing in it was the last line:

“Roger Allbee, Treasurer.”

Hmm. Roger Allbee. Lifelong Republican. Agriculture Secretary in the Jim Douglas administration. In 2014, he became a Democratic candidate for State Senate in WIndham County — without actually becoming, you know, a Democrat.

He was effectively running to fill the vacancy opened by Peter Galbraith’s decision not to seek re-election. He enjoyed Galbraith’s endorsement.

He also committed a world-class gaffe at a candidates’ forum:

Whoever is elected represents all the people, whether they’re Democrat, Republican, they’re colored, they have alternative preferences, we represent everyone in the county. Everyone. We represent every citizen.

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About the poll

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So finally we have a new poll of the gubernatorial primary races. The first, I believe, since the VPR Poll way back in February. The usual caveats apply: a single poll doesn’t prove a damn thing, etc. Still, there are at least a couple of points to be gleaned,

The poll was commissioned by Energy Independent Vermont, a “group of groups” promoting a low-carbon, high-renewable energy future. There were numerous questions about climate change and renewables policy, and the results were nothing new: broad consensus that climate change is real and (at least partly) human-caused; broad support for Vermont’s renewable energy policy and our goal of 90% renewable energy by 2050; and even substantial support for a carbon tax — when the question is carefully worded.

Those results are heartening to supporters of renewable energy, and are similar to numbers in past surveys. For us political junkies, though, the more interesting numbers are in the race for governor.

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A slanted report from a usually reliable source

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Not sure what happened in the editorial process at VTDigger, but on Wednesday morning it published a terribly one-sided piece on the F-35 issue.

Those opposed to F-35s at Burlington Airport probably liked the article, and will probably attack me for the following critique. But really, no matter what your political persuasion, this is a clear and obvious example of slanted journalism at its worst.

By comparison, Mark Davis of Seven Days wrote a story that was fair and respectful to both sides and provided readers a clear understanding of the status of the issue.

The two stories provided very different versions of a court hearing in a legal challenge to the F-35 siting decision. At the end of the hearing, the judge said he would consider some extremely limited factors in the case, which was bad news for the plaintiffs.

The Digger article was written by Adam Federman. His name does not appear on the Digger staff listing; nor was he identified at the end of the piece, which is customary for a non-staff contributor.

Federman’s piece is a dutiful chronicle of one side of the issue — the anti-F35 side. The story is framed around their objections, and (unfairly to readers who want to stay informed) exaggerates the antis’ chances of success.

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