I Wouldn’t Trust ANY of These People to Reform the Public Education System

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On Monday, Tax Commissioner Bill Shouldice issued his annual December 1 letter estimating property tax rates for the coming fiscal year. It was completely predictable bad news: Shouldice projects a roughly 12% increase in property tax bills, a figure largely attributable to Our Political Betters’ decision to kick the tax can down the road this year by using one-time money to cut a double-digit increase down to one measly percentage point. They knew, at the time, that (in the words of T Bone Burnett among many others) There Would Be Hell To Pay.

Almost as predictable as the 12% increase is the practically unanimous response from Our Betters: They plan to double down on Act 73, which (a) would have no effect whatsoever on next year’s taxes and (b) promises future cost savings that are unproven at best and chimerical at worst.

Gov. Phil Scott: ““The choice before lawmakers in 2026 is clear: show courage by working together to keep moving forward with [Act 73,] our bipartisan transformation plan.”

Senate President Pro Tem Phil Baruth: “Last session, the Governor and the Legislature worked together to pass a framework for transforming our education financing system. It was not easy; too many opposed any approach but the status quo… The truth is that Act 73’s success depends on even harder work being accomplished this session. I am committed to continuing this mission – in collaboration with the Governor, the House and my colleagues in the Senate…”

Oh, WHAT a brave man, heaping scorn on those who didn’t fall in line as “oppos[ing] any approach but the status quo,” when, in fact, NOBODY wanted to continue the status quo. They just happened to not like Act 73.

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Just Another Sad Example of Scott Administration Fecklessness

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This isn’t a big deal. It’s not nearly as consequential as the Scott administration’s fumbling (and/or deliberately sabotagey) response to widespread homelessness or its stubborn stay-the-course policy on substance use or its failure to produce a coherent policy on public education or its coddling of subpar administrators. But it’s yet another entry in the big fat ledger of incompetence that the administration is assembling.

I’m talking about Auditor Doug Hoffer’s latest audit (downloadable here), which reviews how the Department of Health’s Food and Lodging Program has been addressing complaints about unsafe or unclean conditions at our state’s hospitality businesses. “Examples include,” his cover letter helpfully enumerates, “complaints alleging bedbug infestations… serving expired food, and handling ready-to-eat food with bare hands.” Hoffer found that the Program often failed to respond promptly to complaints or make sure that offending businesses obeyed improvement orders.

Reminder that the tourism industry is a cornerstone of our economy and public image. It ain’t great if a tourist family comes down with food poisoning or checks into a charming B&B only to find that the beds are full of crawly, bitey things. The Food and Lodging Program is there to safeguard public health and to undergird the state’s tourism industry. Complaints and inspections might be a buzzkill, but they are necessary to ensure that visitors have a positive experience while they’re here.

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Nothing to See Here, Just Your Garden Variety Ruling Class Mutual Back-Scratching

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So, the Scott administration finally did the long-rumored thing. It signed a five-year, $2.3 million lease for commercial office space in Waterbury. Office space that’s only necessary because of Scott’s back-to-commute order that would overload the state-owned buildings in town.

Now, that $2.3 million is only part of the price tag for this deal. It costs real money to prepare office space for full-time occupancy. Will we ever get a full accounting of the cost? I wouldn’t bet on it.

The immediate beneficiaries of this deal are some good friends and political supporters of, ahem, Gov. Phil Scott. VTDigger’s Shaun Robinson got a lot of this story, but not all of it.

As Robinson reported, the lease involves 22,000 square feet of office space in the Pilgrim Park complex, the former headquarters of Green Mountain Coffee. It’s now owned by Malone Superior, LLC, a real estate firm co-owned by Wayne Lamberton, Patrick Malone, and Randy Lague. As Robinson reported, Malone Superior is located at the same address as Malone Properties, also owned by Patrick Malone. And as Robinson reported, Malone Properties donated “about $12,000” to Phil Scott’s gubernatorial campaigns in 2016, 2018 and 2020.

But there’s more, quite a bit more, that Robinson missed.

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‘Tis the Season for Strained Racing Analogies

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Looks like a real contest is developing in the Chittenden Central state Senate district, where three seats will be up for grabs in 2026. The three sitting solons, who seem likely to run for re-election, may find as many as four other names on the Democratic primary ballot next August.

In other words, Donkey Race!

Chittenden-Central is, geographically speaking, the smallest Senate district by a longshot. On a map it resembles Nepal after encontering an old-fashioned laundry mangle. It includes much of northern and central Burlington, the city of Winooski, a bit of Colchester, the city of Essex Junction, and part of the town of Essex. Politically speaking, it may be the most liberal Senate district in the state. The incumbents are Senate President Pro Tem Phil Baruth, listed on the ballot as a D/P, Democratic Sen. Martine Laroque Gulick, and P/D Sen. Tanya Vyhovsky.

So who’s running? Glad you asked.

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They Didn’t Fail, Governor. You Did.

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After the School District Redistricting Task Force* recommended a voluntary plan instead of new district maps, Gov. Phil Scott responded with guns a-blazin’. And as is often the case when you go guns a-blazin’, there was a bit of an accuracy problem.

*Seriously, who named this thing?

Then again, one couldn’t really expect him to identify the real culprit: the governor himself.

For those just joining us, Scott said that the Task Force “didn’t fulfill its obligation” under Act 73. “They were supposed to put forward three maps for consideration, and they failed,” he said on Thursday. (Not true, actually; more later.) And he blasted Task Force members for being “OK with the ever-increasing property taxes, cost of education, and they don’t want to see change.”

I understand his dismay but he’s being a bit harsh on a group of Vermonters who know more about public education than he ever will, and who gave of their time, sweat and tears to try to meet an unreasonable deadline. He could have at least thanked them for their service. Even if he didn’t mean it.

Especially since the real author of this failure isn’t anyone on the Task Force. It’s the governor himself.

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This Is How a Bunch of Distinguished Vermonters Tells the Governor and Legislature to Go Fuck Themselves

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Well, the panel tasked with drawing new school district maps for the entire state has essentially turned down the assignment and tossed the whole mess back into the laps of Our Political Betters.

Instead of completing the assignment contained in Act 73, which was to draw up to three different maps for the Legislature to choose from or ignore), the School District Redistricting Task Force* instead proposed a plan to incentivize voluntary mergers among school districts.

*That name will never not be funny.

WCAX-TV called it “a departure” from the process mandated in Act 73. VTDigger, equally polite, said the Task Force proposal “in a way, flouts Act 73’s directive.”

“In a way,” my ass. This was a flat rejection of the Act 73 mandate and a slap in the face of the governor and Legislature.

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News You Should View: Support Your Local Newsroom Edition

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Before we get to the best of Vermont media, a reminder that many organizations have begun their end-of-year fundraising campaigns. In these uncertain times there are numerous causes clamoring for a share of your generosity. But please make room in your list for the news outlets you depend on, by subscribing or making a donation. They keep you informed about critical issues. They provide information you couldn’t get anywhere else. They connect us to our communities and to each other. Vermont is blessed to have a lot of local and statewide news operations, and all of them could use your help. Thank you for attending my Ted talk.

Two sides of the immigrant story. From The News & Citizen, two very different pieces, both by Aaron Calvin. First, he covers a “chaotic and violent” action by Customs and Border Parol — this time at a Jeffersonville gas station, where seven people were detained. And as usual, federal officials provided virtually no information about who the detainees were, what they had allegedly done, or where they were taken. Your tax dollars at work.

Second, Calvin writes about Tony and Joie Lehouillier, owners of Foote Brook Farm in Johnson, who have depended on Jamaican migrant workers for years. Those workers helped the farm recover from the July 2023 floods; the Lehouilliers paid it back this month after Hurricane Melissa wreaked havoc on the workers’ communities in Jamaica. They raised enough money to send each of their four employees home with $1,600, and will continue to send food and relief supplies as they are able. Gee, maybe migrant workers aren’t a nameless, faceless threat after all.

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There Is Nothing Like a Dame

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Congratulations, I guess? to Paul Dame for his re-election as Vermont Republican Party chair. He overcame a challenge by state Sen. Russ Ingalls in a 50-47 vote at the party’s convention on Saturday.

The margin does not speak of a rousing endorsement for a two-term incumbent. Quite the opposite, in fact. Dame has been in office since 2021, and almost half of the VTGOP’s ruling class wanted him gone? That’s not a positive indicator for Dame’s third term or for the party itself.

Completely absent from the convention, and from the Dame v. Ingalls campaign as a whole, was Gov. Phil Scott. It was a return to his pre-2024 abstention from the Republican political scene, which doesn’t bode well for the party or Dame as we enter a 2026 campaign season likely to be dominated by anti-Trump backlash.

Did the party make the right call? No idea. Ingalls was correct in pointing out that Dame has failed to improve the VTGOP’s dire financial situation, but would the senator have done any better? We’ll never know.

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It’d Be More Fun If the Party Conventions Looked Like This

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Hey, time for an update on the races for state party chairs! Feel the excitement!

The Vermont Democratic and Republican parties are electing chairs this month. Both races are contested, but that’s where the similarities end. The Democrats are conducting a polite, restrained kind of election, while the Republicans seem to be borrowing heavily from Lord of the Flies.

We’ll do the Republicans first because (a) it’s a lot more entertaining and (b) their election comes first. The VTGOP’s convention is this Saturday the 8th, while the Democrats convene the following Saturday.

Since last I wrote about these contests, incumbent VTGOP Chair Paul Dame has been on one. He’s been campaigning at a furious pace and, ignoring Ronald Reagan’s 11th Commandment, chastising those who dare support the other candidate, state Sen. Russ Ingalls, who hasn’t been shy about firing back.

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Hey Look, Peter Welch Is a “Moderate,” Says So Right There

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The calculus may have changed given the Democratic sweep of Tuesday’s elections, but according to a story published Monday by The Hill, a group of “at least eight moderate Senate Democrats” has been meeting to discuss surrendering to Trump, oops, sorry, my mistake, “finding a deal to end the monthlong government shutdown.”

And one of the eight is our very own Sen. Peter Welch.

Feeling proud? I know you are. I can hardly wait for the Vermont Democratic Party convention on November 15, where I’m sure Welch will deliver a stem-winder of a speech about resisting Trump’s authoritarianism. He’s good at those.

Who knows, if enough Vermont Democrats learn of his complicity in this surrender attempt, maybe some will greet Welch with boos instead of cheers. A man can dream.

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