Tag Archives: Diane Lanpher

Pointed Questions and Jazz Hands

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The Legislature’s Joint Fiscal Committee tried something different today. It didn’t really go that well.

The committee called a hearing that was kinda meant to embarrass the Scott administration over its utterly inadequate response to our crises of homelessness and affordable. Well, it was cast as part of the JFC’s responsibility to track the progress being made (or not) under Act 81, the Legislature’s last-minute extension of the General Assistance housing program approved in June 2023. But the intent was to put administration officials under a bright light and watch them squirm.

Problem was, said officials (including Miranda Gray of the Department of Children and Families and Agency of Human Services Deputy Secretary Todd Daloz, pictured above) came prepared with reams and reams of jargon. They filibustered the hearing. It wasn’t 100% successful, but it limited the committee’s capacity to ask questions. It also had the truly unfortunate effect of almost completely sidelining input from providers of shelter and services to the unhoused. On the agenda, the administration was allotted 45 minutes of the 90-minute hearing and three provider witnesses got a combined 30 minutes. In actual fact, the administration occupied an hour and fifteen minutes, while provider testimony was crammed into the final 10 minutes of the affair.

There were still some embarrassing moments for the administration and some good information from the providers. The hearing wasn’t a bust, but it was far less effective than it could have been.

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You Will Please Ask No Questions About the EB-5 Disaster and, By the Way, Here’s the Bill

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It was an “oh, by the way” moment for the ages. And an outrage against good government.

On Wednesday, Attorney General Charity Clark told a House committee that we, the taxpayers of Vermont, are on the hook for a $16.5 million settlement of the EB-5 scandal.

You know, the settlement that allowed key players to avoid the embarrassment and potential legal liability of testifying under oath? Yeah, that one.

Once in a while, an issue or development just hits me so hard that I find myself lying in bed wide awake, staring at the ceiling and grinding my teeth until I have no choice but to get up and write something. And here we are. Let’s recap the high points, shall we?

  • Through a combination of incompetence and hubris, state officials allowed themselves to be flim-flammed.
  • Other state officials then covered up the truth about the affair by claiming they had to keep key documents secret pending court cases.
  • On the eve of trial, the state settled a lawsuit by EB-5 investors just days before former state officials (up to and including former governor Peter Shumlin) were set to testify under oath.
  • If all those documents were ever released once the legal peril was removed, it somehow escaped my attention.
  • The state’s insurance company, AIG, took one look at this mess and denied coverage.
  • The state rolled over and accepted a token payment from AIG.
  • The Scott administration and Attorney General Charity Clark then waited as long as possible to reveal the AIG denial — only doing so when they had to go ask the Legislature for the needed funds.

Are you grinding your teeth yet?

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Stealth Conservatives: Who’s the Stealthiest One of All?

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Ohh, there he is again, Smilin’ Phil just having a grand old time with another stealth conservative. Starting to be a pattern.

Except in this case, not only did the governor pose for a photo, he met with the candidate “to discuss campaign strategies.”

The gentleman on the right, photographically and ideologically, is Rob North, Republican candidate for House in the Addison-3 district currently represented by Democrats Matt Birong and DIane Lanpher.

North is thought to be the VTGOP’s best hope of avoiding a complete shutout in Addison County, and you can tell he listened to the governor because his campaign is swaddled in a thick protective coating of performative moderation. Also, for some reason, North has virtually no online footprint. He’s got a completely anodyne campaign Facebook page, but no personal social media accounts at all.

Unfortunately, there are cracks in the façade. He went and opened his yap at a candidates’ forum and showed himself to be an opponent of climate action, a free-market absolutist, and possessor of some rather… unique… views on water pollution. Also, North sent Birong and Lanpher a couple of rabidly anti-abortion emails last winter, before he became a candidate. Also also, North is an active member of a far-right evangelical denomination that bars women from church leadership, prohibits divorce, and believes the Earth is 6,000 years old.

But first, his campaign website. You know how Republicans like to run on “restoring balance” to the Statehouse? Well, North’s website is “balancedvermont.com”. He’s all about the balance. In an odd way it makes sense; he’s far right enough to cancel out a couple dozen Democrats.

This is where we’re at. Phil Scott would rather have a misogynistic Young Earth climate denier in the House than deal with a Democratic supermajority.

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When is a law not a law? The sponsor responds

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A couple days ago I wrote about the saga of Act 86, which requires constant monitoring of Lake Champlain for blue-green algae blooms, but actually accomplishes nothing in the real world.

Well, I’ve talked with one of those responsible for the law, and here’s what I learned.

First, Act 86 was not a stand-alone pice of legislation, which you wouldn’t know from reading VPR’s report on it.

“The bill itself has two parts,” explains Rep. Diane Lanpher (D-Vergennes). “The first addresses CSO’s [combined sewer overflows], and the second, cyanobacteria [blue-green algae].”

Lanpher was chief sponsor of H.674, the CSO bill; Rep. Kathleen Keenan (D-St. Albans) was chief sponsor of Act 86, the algae piece. Both measures addressed public notification of water quality problems, so they decided to combine the measures into a single bill.

While Act 86 has had little practical effect, H.674 has been highly impactful, turning an unforgiving spotlight on troublesome municipal wastewater systems.

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