Tag Archives: Milton Independent

The Milton Selectboard Needs a Refresher Course in Civics

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Strange doings up in Milton, where a longtime volunteer member of various town committees has gotten the boot from all his official duties for purely political reasons.

As reported by VTDigger’s Charlotte Oliver, Henry Bonges has served his town “for forty-some years.” And then he made the mistake of publicly criticizing members of the town Selectboard, three of whom happen to be Republican state representatives. (A fourth, Rep. Chris Taylor, just resigned from the board when he was hired as town manager.) In response, the Select Board has refused to reappoint him to his volunteer posts.

(The story has yet to be reported by the local Milton Independent, which appears to be highly risk-avoidant in its coverage of local politics. The paper has yet to be featured in my weekly “News You Should View” roundup because its content is generally bland and uninteresting. It’s a sorry state of affairs, when the town has had more than its share of political firestorms of late. The Independent is shirking its duty.)

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In Milton, Bigotry Wins a Round

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Checking out candidates’ statements on community access TV is usually a formality. You expect to see people reading bland generalities from a script. You don’t expect to see something you’ve never seen before. But that’s just what happened the other day when I watched Lake Champlain Community Access TV’s offering of statements from candidates for the Milton Town School District Board.

And there, second in the rundown, was Ember Nova Quinn, who identifies as queer and uses “they/them” pronouns, pouring their heart out in despair over being made to feel unwelcome — unsafe, even — in their own community, and announcing their withdrawal from public life.

Wow. Just wow.

This is one person’s point of view and shouldn’t be taken as gospel. But it does reflect a very real and very deep divide in Milton politics. Each side accuses the other of bullying, threats, even vandalism. It’s gotten intense in the runup to Town Meeting Day elections, which effectively feature competing “slates” of conservative and liberal candidates.

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So that’s what it took

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As Vermont Republicans desperately flee the sinking, and stinking, Good Ship Trump, it’s not at all surprising that the most ungainly lifeboat leap was executed by Senate nominee Scott MIlne. In ending his months of indecision on whether to endorse Trump, Milne tried to blame it all on — you guessed it — Pat Leahy.

“I was hoping to make it to a debate with Pat Leahy before talking specifically about the presidential contest, and the differences between Leahy and me regarding our treatment of candidates. But, Pat Leahy’s debate dodging, coupled with the embarrassing and completely inappropriate things that have been confirmed about Donald Trump, force me to speak,” said Milne.

… “I will not vote for Donald Trump, and I would respect his decision to step aside,” Milne concluded.

So he’d vote for extreme conservative anti-choice Mike Pence if given the opportunity?

I have no idea what he means by “the differences between Leahy and me regarding our treatment of candidates.” Would he bring up Bill Clinton’s scandals? Or maybe Chappaquiddick?

Whatever, the idea that Milne was holding off on a Trump decision turns out to be complete horseshit. Because we can pinpoint exactly when Milne made his decision. It was during a 20-minute period on Saturday afternoon.

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