Tag Archives: Vermont Public

Seems Fair to Conclude that the Legislature’s Sexual Harassment Policy Is a Dismal Failure

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“This has been an open secret for eight years.”

That’s the kicker quote in Lola Duffort’s excellent story for Vermont Public, cataloguing the various ways that former state representative Bob Hooper was a serial creep toward women since at least 2018, including his entire seven-year career in the Vermont House. As I read it, the same thought kept barging to the front of my mind: How in the Hell did it go on for so long?

This is, after all, a chamber whose leadership promises “zero tolerance for sexual harassment, discrimination, or any hostile behavior.” This is a chamber that ranks near the top in terms of female representation. The Speaker of the House has been a woman (Mitzi Johnson, Jill Krowinski) since 2017. In the current biennium, House Democratic caucus leadership consists of seven women and no men.

And yet Bob Hooper’s creeptastic ways were allowed to continue year after year.

I’ve written before, time after time, that the primary goals of the Legislature’s internal policing mechanisms are not punishing the guilty or ensuring a safe work environment, but rather avoiding embarrassment and protecting offenders as much as possible.

It ain’t right, and leadership ought to be ashamed of itself for repeatedly enabling Hooper’s inappropriate, touchy-feely ways.

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Lift Rug, Briskly Sweep, Hope Nobody Notices the Lumps

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It’s been a hell of a day under the Golden Dome. The House had a full agenda, with plenty of bills trying to beat crossover deadline. And there were a bunch of resolutions honoring, among other things, Athletic Trainers’ Month, the Month of the Military Child, McNeil & Reedy’s 70th year as a clothing retailer, the Vermont athletes who competed in the 2025 National Senior Games, and East Haven Selectboard member Kirwin Flanders, plus the designation of October 5 as Italian-American Day in Vermont, presumably a sop to those who still bemoan the loss of Columbus Day.

Anyway. It was going to be a big day… and then all hell broke loose.

First came a letter from Speaker Jill Krowinski to House members announcing that Rep. Bob Hooper of Burlington had relinquished his seat on the House Government Operations & MIlitary Affairs Committee because of an unspecified violation of the House Sexual Harassment Prevention Policy. Krowinski further said that Hooper would not be given any other committee assignment in the current biennium, which is as close as a House member can get to Siberian exile.

Then we got a press release signed by almost everyone in the House Democratic caucus* urging Hooper to resign from his seat in the House after “a thorough and diligent investigation… substantiated a claim of sexual harassment against another member.”

*There were 84 signatories out of 87 Democratic House members, including Krowinski**. By my count, the three who didn’t sign were Hooper himself, Mollie Burke, and Saudia LaMont. Burke, for what it’s worth, chairs the House Sexual Harassment Prevention Panel. You know, the folks responsible for that “diligent and thorough investigation.”

*Intentionally or not, the House Dems made it hard to find out who didn’t sign. The 84 members were listed in alphabetical order BY FIRST NAME, which meant I spent a lot of time identifying the three non-signers.

Finally, Vermont Public reported late Friday afternoon that Hooper plans to resign from the House, but not until Monday “so that he could consult with his lawyer and let his constituents know first.”

And thus ended, within a few short hours, a seven-year-long legislative career.

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The Elephant in the Room

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Dearie me. I seem to have triggered a bit of a firestorm in Vermont political circles with last week’s piece about Hank Poitras, the foul-mouthed videographer, podcaster, and (shamefully) chair of the Windham County Republican Committee. (I’d referred to him as chair of the Brattleboro party committee, per The Brattleboro Reformer, but apparently he’s a bigger fish than that.) Poitras is pictured here in one of his own videos, thrusting middle fingers skyward and shouting “Fuck all you liberal motherfuckers!” just like a good Phil Scott Republican. (I think that’s how the governor kicks off his weekly press conferences, but I could be mistaken.)

My post, which featured some of Poitras’ more loathsome on-the-record comments, caused consternation in VTGOP circles and prompted Vermont Public’s Peter Hirschfeld and Lola Duffort (wow, team effort) to produce a very good piece about The Artist Who Styles Himself As “Planet Hank.”

Poitras was scheduled to share a stage with VTGOP chair Paul Dame and Barre Republican Rep. Michael Boutin last Friday evening. After media inquiries, Boutin sought to remove Poitras from the program and then withdraw from the event before changing his mind following “prayer and counsel,” according to Boutin’s Facebook page, where you can watch his brief address to the smallish crowd.

It also seems to have scared Dame away from a personal appearance. He begged off at a very late stage, citing “unexpected family obligations,” and sent along a video message instead. Probably had to walk the dog or summat.

I have to tell you, this is one of the proudest moments of my decade-plus as a Vermont Political Observer.

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Them Bennington Boys Are At It Again

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Well, the confirmation vote on Michael Drescher came out as I expected — with barely enough support from Democrats to drag his nomination across the finish line. Congrats, Vermont! One of Trump’s willing instruments now has a lifetime appointment on your state Supreme Court.

The vote was 15-15, with two Democrats joining all 13 Republicans in support and Lt. Gov. John Rodgers breaking the tie in Drescher’s favor. It could have been different if David Zuckerman still wielded the gavel, but you know what they say about spilled milk.

It also would have been different if Bennington County didn’t have such a rich tradition of electing centrist Democrats with renegade tendencies. Because the two votes that enabled Drescher’s elevation came from Bennington’s two senators, Seth Bongartz and Rob Plunkett. Ahh, reminds me of the bad old days when the scent of Campho-Phenique hung heavy over the Senate’s chambers and the county was represented by Bob Hartwell and Dick Sears.

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If Phil Scott Gives a Damn About Affordability, His Health Care “Plan” Doesn’t Show It

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Gov. Phil Scott has chosen to address Vermont’s health care affordability crisis in seemingly the only way he knows how: By proposing a modest deregulation of the marketplace.

The situation as we know it: Health insurance costs are skyrocketing and have been for years. Like many other challenges we face, it’s gotten worse during Scott’s time in office. It’s hitting everybody in the pocketbook. It’s driving the increase in property taxes and putting the squeeze on government operations. Our hospital system is close to collapse. Well, except for the University of Vermont Medical Center, which has become the designated whipping boy for rising costs.

And now we’re facing a dramatic rise in uninsured Vermonters thanks to the Republican Congress’ termination of federal subsidies. Per VTDigger’s Olivia Gieger, more than 2,500 Vermonters have already dropped their insurance plans — a decline of nearly eight percent. In the first two weeks of no federal subsidies!

And a Department of Vermont Health Access official has said that even more people will decide to go bareback as they face the harsh reality of through-the-roof premiums.

This is terrible news for our struggling hospitals, which will almost certainly have to absorb higher costs for charity care as uninsured Vermonters avoid seeing the doctor until they resort to the most expensive kind of care there is — emergency room visits.

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I Tried to Tell You About Sam Douglass (and There’s a Lot More Like Him)

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Gov. Phil Scott couldn’t act fast enough to distance himself from newly-disgraced state Sen. Samuel Douglass. Within hours of a Politico report that identified Douglass as an active participant in a racist, misogynist, anti-Semitic Young Republican group chat that reads like a bunch of adolescent boys trying to out-gross each other, Scott had called for Douglass’ resignation — along with Democratic and Republican legislative leaders.

That’s nice, but Douglass’ politics have been obvious for years. His extreme views were out there for anyone to find, long before our “moderate” governor lent his support to Douglass’ 2024 campaign, long before Scott’s buddies in the Burlington-area business community dumped tens of thousands of dollars into Douglass’ campaign treasury.

Scott must have known what kind of person he was endorsing. Unless he pulled a Sergeant Schultz because he needed Douglass-style Republicans to win elections and eat into Democratic majorities.

I know this because, as far back as 2022, I wrote about Douglass’ extreme views. My post wasn’t based on any deep investigative dives; it was the product of simple searches of social media and YouTube. It was all out there for anyone to find. Too bad no one in political authority or our news media bothered to look. Until Politico gift-wrapped the story and dumped it in our collective laps. Now, suddenly, everyone is paying attention.

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News You Should View, That’s What College Papers Are For Edition

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Over the summer, I kinda got out of the habit of checking in with the three campus newspapers in our catchment because they don’t regularly publish anything when the students are away. But hey, it’s fall, and one college paper has stepped up to the plate to give full coverage to a big story that’s landed on its doorstep. Also in this space: Another potential deportation that makes no sense, another town facing a water shortage, a telling indicator of the soft market for office space, and one story that deserve dishonorable mention. If you’re here for the snark, skip down near the end.

Trump administration trying to bribe Dartmouth. Our authoritarian-minded chief executive has taken a new tack in his war on academia. He’s offering financial incentives to select institutions that adopt his ideological agenda. Which would be the death knell of academic freedom, but hey, if you want an omelet you gotta break some eggheads.

One of the nine bribery targets is Dartmouth College, which has already flown its Trump-friendly colors in a few unsettling ways. And there’s The Dartmouth, its student newspaper, with broad coverage of how the Ivy League’s party school might respond.

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A Great Story Underscores the Diminished State of Our News Ecosystem

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Last week’s VTDigger/Vermont Public joint report about the state of Vermont’s $789 million housing splurge and its disappointing impact was a true journalistic tour de force. It was a deep dive into an important story. It involved a ton of work, and it provided real insight into Vermont’s housing crisis. Kudos to both organizations and to co-authors Carly Berlin (Digger/VP shared housing reporter) and Erin Petenko (Digger data reporter extraordinaire).

Two thumbs up, ten out of ten, five stars on Yelp, no notes.

But there is a dark side to this, and it has to do with the ever-diminishing state of journalism in Vermont.

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Our Housing Crisis May Be Unsolvable

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I’ve been thinking about the need for a plausible, recognizable Democrat to step forward as a candidate for governor with a campaign focused on a big policy idea. This is because so many Dems seem to be playing into Gov. Phil Scott’s hands instead of carving out a recognizable alternative, and because the Vermont Democratic Party has been weakened for years by the lack of a strong, unifying voice at the top of the ticket.

Also because the only Democrat to actually win the governorship in the last quarter-century was Peter Shumlin, who staked his fortunes on single-payer health care and won a hard-fought 2010 primary and three straight statewide elections. He’s the only Democrat to be elected governor since Howard Dean in the year 2000. Some of you weren’t even born then.

So I was casting around for a big policy proposal that could turbocharge a gubernatorial campaign, and I remembered a post of mine from February 2024 which floated the idea of a $250 million housing bond. That’s right, take our solid bond rating and gamble it on the sensible proposition that building more housing would pay off in economic growth and higher tax revenues. You know, like a TIF writ large. It’d be an idea tailor-made for Treasurer Mike Pieciak, who has the expertise to craft such a plan while preventing the wise heads at S&P from catching a bad case of the fantods. And who needs to give voters a reason other than “Everybody likes Mike” to vote for him.

But now, in light of two recent news stories, I worry that a massive housing bond would amount to nothing more than pissing into the wind, that there simply may not be a way out of our housing crisis. At least not without structural economic changes on a scale much larger than our B.L.S.

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Well, of Course It Was “a Change of Posture”

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Gov. Phil Scott made a move this week that promises to pay off big time in purely political terms. If it actually accomplishes anything in the real world, that’ll be a bonus.

After insisting for weeks that his administration wasn’t making any plans to help the city of Burlington with its intertwined problems of homelessness, substance use, public safety, and perceptions of the city’s health, Scott announced at his Wednesday press conference that his administration is holding meetings with various Queen City stakeholders with an eye toward unveiling just such a plan “over the next couple of weeks.”

Vermont Public’s Peter Hirschfeld asked if this wasn’t “a change in posture” for Scott and his team. The governor replied that “maybe the perception” of his posture had changed, but the posture itself remained the same.

Which is obvious bullshit, but did you really expect him to openly acknowledge “a change in posture”? Of course not.

I mean, look. A few weeks ago he was brushing aside a reporter’s description of Burlington as “the economic engine of the state” and couldn’t recall the last time he walked down Church Street. Last fall, when his administration brought its dog-and-pony Capital for a Day to Chittenden County, the governor attended some events in the suburbs but skipped the ones in Burlington. And now he’s holding a series of summits with city luminaries? Yeah, that’s a change in posture and a pretty dramatic one.

Setting aside that bit of casual mendacity, it’s a really smart move. And it positions him to pull off a masterstroke that will cement his reputation as a practical centrist. Especially to the Burlington area’s donor class. You know, the Barons.

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