Tag Archives: Phil Scott

Scott to Burlington: Eh

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Gov. Phil Scott’s Thursday press conference was meant to deflect attention from his administration’s painfully slow approach to emissions reductions. The governor opted for his favorite diversionary tactic: Finding a straw man to punch. But the bigger takeaway from the event is his steadfast refusal to consider new policies — or even a drive up I-89 — in response to Vermont’s opioids crisis.

Let’s tackle climate first. Scott and Natural Resources Secretary Julie Moore (she of the excessively deliberate “progress” toward meeting our legally mandated 2025 emissions targets) asserted that an emissions-focused policy was wrongheaded. Instead, they said, there needs to be a balance between cutting greenhouse gases and making Vermont more resilient in the face of future climate disasters.

Scott backhanded “those who didn’t want us to focus on resiliency work” in the Legislature and claimed that “there’s been some pushback” on resiliency in the Vermont Climate Council.

I’d like some names, please.

There might be different opinions on the balance, but there is no one in the Legislature “who didn’t want us to focus on resiliency work.” As for the Climate Council, it was created by the Global Warming Solutions Act to further its statutory emissions targets. Resiliency isn’t the Council’s job. It’s like accusing FEMA of failing to enact permitting reform.

Enough of that. Now back to Burlington.

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A Meh Candidate for a Meh Campaign

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Well, okay then. VTDigger has confirmed what was originally reported eleven days ago by Guy Page of the Vermont Daily Chronicle: Miro Weinberger, the outgoing mayor of Burlington, is thinking about a run for an unspecified (but almost certainly gubernatorial) statewide office.

Digger might have had the decency to credit Page for being first, but the standards for crediting rival news outlets around here are, shall we say, highly elastic. The first and last rule seems to be, “Avoid giving credit at all times if at all possible.”

Anyway, so what about a Miro run for governor? You won’t be surprised, given my view of his tenure as mayor, that I’m not doing any cartwheels, metaphorical or otherwise.

But sure, what the hell, why not? Assuming Gov. Phil Scott seeks a fifth term, and why wouldn’t he, then the Democratic nomination will be about as valuable as an expired pet food coupon. Might as well be Miro as anybody else. Any Democrat with serious statewide aspirations is going to sit this one out, just as they did in 2018, 2020, and 2022. But in Miro’s political condition, taking that coupon to the checkout could be a gamble worth taking. He’s got nothing else going on.

I will offer a word of warning, though.

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Adventures in Serial Journalism, Dirt Cheap Job Search Edition

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This post is about three very different attempts to cover the same story. But before we pick over the bones, let’s address the meat of the matter. For whatever reason, the Scott administration is not only rushing its search for a new education secretary, it’s spent a shockingly small amount of money on the task.

Seven Days’ Alison Novak got the goods, revealing that the administration has spent a measly $495 on a search now scheduled to close, um, tomorrow. By comparison, she noted, school districts routinely invest 20 times that much on a basic search for a superintendent, and often spend far more.

The only flaw in Novak’s story was the headline, written in the form of a question: Is Vermont Doing Enough to Find the Right Leader for Its Education Agency? Remarkably timid header for a story that clearly identifies the answer as “Fuck, no!”

I mean, they posted the opening on professional job sites and that’s about it. Maybe they also taped a photocopied listing to the agency’s front door (complete with little “Contact Us” tabs at the bottom), but whatever, it’s simply pathetic.

Okay, there’s the substance. Now let’s take a somewhat speculative walk down the Memory Lane of journalism.

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Shocker: The Scott Administration Is In No Hurry on Climate Action

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There was a brief exchange during the September 25 meeting of the Vermont Climate Council that went unnoticed at the time. But it seemed a clear signal that the Scott administration isn’t all that concerned about meeting the emission reduction targets for the year 2025 as established in state law by the Global Warming Solutions Act.

“Established in state law” as in “legally mandated.” But hey, what’s the rush?

The upshot, since it’ll take me a while to get there: The administration is, at best, slow-waking the process even though time is running painfully short to achieve our 2025 targets. If you check your calendar, I think you’ll find that 2025 is coming our way right quick.

Of course, Gov. Phil Scott and Natural Resources Secretary Julie Moore have previously opined that the 2025 and 2030 targets are no big deal, so maybe this shouldn’t be a surprise. But still, we’re talking about an eyes-wide-open flouting of state law. And that’s kind of a big deal.

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Time for the Governor to Get Serious About Climate Change

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The Vermont Climate Council is meeting on Monday. That’s the entity tasked under the Global Warming Solutions Act to make a plan to meet the Act’s mandatory emissions reduction targets. And from what I hear, Council members who represent environmental interests will be arriving with pointed questions for the Scott administration.

The issue: Is the administration ready to lead the rulemaking process necessary for attaining our target for the year 2025, which [checks calendar] is only about 15 months away? By law, the rules are supposed to be in place by next July 1. That might seem like a lot of time, but rulemaking is by nature a deliberate process, so we’d best be getting on with it.

You’d think our Year of Climate Disruption would inject a dose of urgency to the process. A mild winter, smoky skies from Canadian wildfires, the floods of July 10, and a very wet summer have brought the reality of climate change to our doorstep. One could imagine a Vermont governor seizing the moment to pivot from flood relief to a focus on aggressive climate policies.

But Phil Scott has shown no signs of being that kind of governor.

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“Stay to Stay,” Not So Much

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So the person pictured above, Jacq Posley, recently caused a bit of a stir (but honestly, not enough of a stir) with a blistering farewell-to-Vermont letter entitled “My Last Plea As a Black Vermonter,” in which she laid out, in painful detail, all the racism she’s encountered in her five years living in Vermont. Which she found to be no less racist than, uh, Mississippi.

Five years since I left my life in Mississippi thinking NO PLACE could be more racist (tuh). Five years of serving on multiple civic boards that claim they want equity, but build walls in the face of progression. Five years of being called racial slurs with no one to protect me from it and no one to check their white supremacist friends. Five years of confederate flags, don’t tread on me flags, and strategically placed Donald Dump paraphernalia. Five years of watching MANY of my friends and their very young Black children suffer from the same mental anguish I have experienced while existing as a Black person in Vermont. September 16, 2023 should be a time for celebration. Instead, it is a time for reflection as I leave the state to pursue equity work in a place that actually wants it.

She’s right, of course, and we’ll get to that. But first, a note of bitter irony. Posley was one of those attracted to Vermont by Gov. Phil Scott’s much-touted “Stay to Stay” program in which vacationers were connected with potential employers and other resources. The governor is great at this sort of thing: Catchy ideas that ultimately have little to no real impact, but provide some feel-good headlines. See also: the late unlamented remote worker grant program. (“Stay to Stay” now seems to be a shell of its former self. It still has a website, but the content is simply a list of links to available resources. No sign of the special weekends that used to attract such positive press.)

In fact, Posley is the focus of a brief promotional video for “Stay to Stay,” still viewable on YouTube. “No matter which side of the spectrum you land on, you’re welcome in Vermont,” she said in the video. “You’re allowed to be who you are.”

Yeah, that didn’t age well.

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Congratulations to Team Scott for Scoring a Cheap Political Point Against the Democrats

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Legislative leadership has a somewhat (but only somewhat) overblown reputation for shooting themselves in the foot. They have often made Gov. Phil Scott’s job easier by giving him pain-free victories or allowing his minions to run rings around them.

The latest installment of this depressing melodrama features the complaint from House Speaker Jill Krowinski and Senate President Pro Tem Phil Baruth about the “Vermont Strong II: Electric Boogaloo” license plates first suggested [checks notes] almost two months ago by Gov. Phil Scott.

Now, I’m no fan of the plate. It’s an obvious play on Vermonters’ partially earned self-regard, and there’s something ironic about flogging vehicle license plates to help recover from a climate change-related disaster.

Also, Baruth and Krowinski have a strong argument that the governor overstepped his constitutional authority by advancing the program without Legislative approval. Team Scott argues that he is simply extending a program authorized by the Legislature in 2012, after Tropical Storm Irene.

That seems pretty thin to me, but politically speaking it doesn’t matter. There is no way that this doesn’t end up being a strong net positive for Scott. Assuming he runs for re-election, this thing would be potent fodder for the TV ads he probably won’t have to bother airing: “Legislative leaders are so petty and obstructionist, they didn’t even want me to raise disaster recovery money with a positive, feel-good message.”

Team Scott fully realizes this. And when you look at the sequence of events, it’s pretty clear that his people leaked this story and that Baruth and Krowinski didn’t intend for this to become public.

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The Feds Place a Capstone on Dan French’s Tenure

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Well hey, here’s something. The U.S. Department of Education’s Civil Rights Office is investigating the Vermont Agency of Education for violating the rights of students by limiting school districts’ authority to enact public health measures during the Covid-19 epidemic and, in the Office’s words, “discriminating against students with disabilities” who were at heightened risk of serious illness.

Yes, that would be the Agency of Education then helmed by the mask-averse Dan French, labeled in this space as the Inspector Clouseau of the Scott administration. I’d suggest that the feds could have assembled quite the dossier simply by reading this blog, but doubtless their investigation has been more thorough than that. And to judge by the reaction of French’s successor Heather Bouchey, I’m guessing the feds have got the goods. In her reply to the feds’ probe, as reported by VTDigger, she didn’t claim there was no discrimination. She simply said the agency had no intention of discriminating.

“The AOE devoted significant effort throughout its COVID-19 pandemic response to ensure the equal educational access of students with disabilities including students with disabilities who are at an elevated risk of severe illness from COVID-19 exposure. If the AOE erred in its responses, guidance or otherwise, it is eager to address the error and make corrections for the benefit of students.”

That word “if” is the giveaway. Bouchey didn’t defend her agency’s performance; she tried to frame any offense as inadvertent, not intentional. And she laid out a glidepath to future surrender by saying the agency was “eager to address” any errors “and make corrections.” And don’t overlook her emphasis on “equal educational access” rather than, say, the health and safety of students. Gotta keep those disabled kids in class so they get “equal access,” you know.

But in case you needed any more evidence that the agency, under French, went too far in pressuring school districts to moderate their public health measures, let’s take a little walk down Memory Lane.

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…Little Note Nor Long Remember

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We could have done something. But we didn’t.

More pointedly, Gov. Phil Scott could have done something. He is our leader, after all. But he didn’t.

Sometime during the first half of August, we recorded the 1,000th death attributed to the Covid-19 virus.

The moment passed quietly, without notice, buried in a routine statistical report. And that’s a damn shame.

Would it have been so hard for the governor to hold a brief, solemn event? Top administration officials, political leaders, and a sampling of those who have lost loved ones? Everyone holding a white flag? A few words, a moment of silence? A National Guard bugler playing Taps? Flags at half staff for a day? Is that too much to ask?

I guess it is.

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For $250,000 You Get to Slap Your Brand on a Gubernatorial Press Conference. For Another $100,000 You Get to Interrupt the Governor.

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The Scott administration staged a nice little feel-good event yesterday. Gov. Phil Scott’s latest flood recovery press conference was held at, of all places, the 802 Subaru dealership in Berlin. Why? Because its billionaire owner, Ernie Boch, Jr., was presenting the governor with a donation to flood relief programs in the form of a great big cardboard novelty check for $250,000.

Boch and the administration got what they wanted. He got to open the presser with a boast about Subaru. The governor got a warm and fuzzy moment amidst the ongoing drudgery of flood recovery. But cynical ol’ me, it brought to mind a probably apocryphal anecdote that’s been variously assigned to Winston Churchill, Mark Twain, Groucho Marx, and W.C. Fields, among others, but seems to have been first told in 1937 by newspaper columnist O.O. McIntyre:

“They are telling this of Lord Beaverbrook and a visiting Yankee actress. In a game of hypothetical questions, Beaverbrook asked the lady: ‘Would you live with a stranger if he paid you one million pounds?’ She said she would. ‘And if be paid you five pounds?’ The irate lady fumed: ‘Five pounds. What do you think I am?’ Beaverbrook replied: ‘We’ve already established that. Now we are trying to determine the degree.”

Well, our governor’s degree is a quarter million dollars. And for another 100 G’s, he’s willing to be interrupted in the middle of his prepared remarks and stand there like a goof while the sponsor hogs the microphone.

The money went to good causes, so I guess we can just ignore the unseemly optics. That’s how the media coverage played it, anyway.

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