Burlington Every Single Day

A Queen City institution. Everyday. Since way, way before the Internet, before cell phones, before Church Street became a bricked pedestrian mall, there were books in Burlap...everyday, seven days a week. And a healthy selection of out-of-town newspapers, too. [In fact, the only spot we found The New York Times yesterday.]

When yours truly dropped roots in the Queen City in 1979, Elizabeth Orr and her former husband owned and operated the Everyday Book Shop on Burlington, Vermont's car-jammed Church Street. 

They’d originally opened it on College Street “next to where Stone Soup is now,” she told us. The couple split up when the book shop was on the Church Street Marketplace in the spot now occupied by Yankee Candle. A few years later she moved the business back to College Street,  directly across from The Burlington Free Press.

Burlington’s Queen Elizabeth was born and raised in a tiny village in the British Midlands in Stoke-on-Trent.  She emigrated to Canada in her twenties. Met the man she married and then emigrated again to the United States and Vermont in the late 1960s, something many English-speaking Canadians did at that time of Québécois upheaval.

She’s been on her own for many years and last month turned 80. The ol’ legs are starting to go, she told us yesterday - from the knees down. For the past year, Elizabeth’s been taking a taxi to work from her Spear Street home. Before that, she walked, yes, walked to and from work everyday.

A healthy walk up and over the hill, eh?

No computer screen at Everyday Books. The adding machine works just fine, thank you very much, indeed.

“I use an adding machine the way I was taught to in school,” she said.

No Internet, either. And, ready for this, no TV in her world either. Ever!

“I haven’t got time,” she told us. “Why add problems?”

Good point.

Elizabeth does have a radio at home, but she’s working at the book shop all day and into the evening. For almost four decades, in her inimitable quiet, polite, but firm British way, Elizabeth Orr has arguably been the most reliable and hardest working person in Burlington, Vermont.  And her book shop is a testament to what “one-of-a-kind” truly is.

Also told us yesterday that she’d stopped going to church about 5 or 6 years ago. They’d changed their hours for services, she explained.

“I work everyday,” she said. But Burlington’s Queen Elizabeth assured us, “I say my prayers. It keeps me in touch with myself and what I believe in.”

Amen.

Now, excuse me, while I go write a political column.

Ready to Rumble

The ever calm and collected Tom Little of Shelburne was in the hot seat on Channel 3's You Can Quote Me on Sunday morning.

Little, former GOP chair of the House Judiciary Committee that wrote the landmark civil unions statute in 2000, is filling a very big seat as chairman of the new gay-marriage study commission appointed by the Democratic Leadership of the Legislature.

Statehouse Reporter Kristin Carlson noted, "The most recent Channel 3 poll on this was about a year and a half ago and it said 44 percent of Vermonters were in favor of same-sex marriage. 48 percent were not in favor of same-sex marriage...Do you really feel like this is a priority that Vermonters want lawmakers to be focusing on?"

LITTLE: Boy. I wish we could answer that question, Kristin. There are a lot of opinions about what should be focused on, as we saw with the global-warming festival that we had this spring, and even into July.

I think, looking back over 15-20 years. that the issues that Vermonters as a whole, as an electorate, care about are having a safe state; having a reasonable tax policy; having a clean state environmentally; and good schools. And this is not one of those kinds of issues for Vermonters. It’s of a different order. But I think Vermonters also have a 200 year tradition of being fair, tolerant, and being devoted to human rights and civil liberties and this is part of that agenda.

I think it’s something that the Legislature has a duty to take up when they feel it’s right. I know that sometimes with a tough issue, it involves controversy and social turmoil. Advocates try to bring it up every year, or every other year, until they get it done. And I think, my experience has been that’s not the best way of handling an issue like that. You can’t put it off indefinitely, but you want to make sure you strike when everything’s in place. It takes a lot of energy and political courage to do it, but it can be done, as we saw with civil unions.

CARLSON: Why weren’t there folks on [this commission] who are known opponents to same-sex marriage, perhaps someone from the Catholic Diocese, the Bishop?

LITTLE: My only participation in the selection of people was to have some names bounced off of me. And I know that the Speaker and the President Pro Tem were looking for geographic balance, male-female balance, differences in political  affiliation, Republicans and Democrats, ah, we have a college president. We have someone who runs a quarry. We have a retired state police officer, an Episcopal priest, former legislators, a former governor [Phil Hoff].

My guess is that everybody on the commission is open-minded or inclined in favor of taking this next step , but there’ll be a lot of differences of opinion as to how and when that should happen. And my charge to the commission members is going to be to keep in mind this is not an advocacy commission, this is a listening commission.

Little was asked by veteran news director and anchorman Marselis Parsons if he thinks the next round of public debate on gay marriage will be as "emotional" as the last?

LITTLE: I think that the emotional content will be largely the same, but with fewer spikes in it. I mean, I think it’ll be the same emotional, psychological, religious, spiritual issues involved, but not as much shouting. Not as much noise.

[pause]

I could be wrong about that.

PARSONS: I guess we will wait to see.

Little said he hopes to hold the first public hearing of the "Commission on Family Recognition and Protection" sometime in September. Within a week, he said, he expects the Vermont Legislature's web page to have a link.

Ready for the rumble?

Leahy Facing the Nation

That tall, bald guy from Vermont, the one who chairs the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee, along with his Republican co-chair, were the lead-off guests on Face the Nation on CBS this morning.

As you know Attorney General Alberto Gonzales, a longtime George W. Bush political operative, was back before the Judiciary Committee last week.

No smiles or joking around today. Serious faces, very serious faces, only.

Neither Sen. Patrick Leahy of Vermont, nor Sen. Arlen Specter of Pennsylvania, nor Host Bob Schieffer, beat around the bush. As Schieffer put it, "This week Democrats called for a special prosecutor to determine if the Attorney General of the United States, the highest law-enforcement officer in the government, has been lying to your committee in Congress."

LEAHY: A lot of us, Republicans and Democrats, were incredulous at some of the answers. I told him frankly, I don’t trust him. But in fairness, I’ve given him the testimony, he has a week to correct it if he wants. I suggest he consult with a lawyer as he does it.

If he doesn’t correct it, then I think that there are so many errors in there, then the pressure will be very. very heavily whether it’s a special prosecutor, a special counsel , efforts within the Congress.

The irony is, though, the Department of Justice [DOJ], which is supposed to be very impartial, is being shredded by his activities. And if you lose confidence in law enforcement, it hurts everybody all the way down to the cop on the beat.

Frankly, at this point, the President ought to take a long look at this and ask - does he want to go down in history with this attorney general as part of his historical record?

Schieffer: Let me just ask you, if he doesn’t change his testimony, then will you go along with the four Democratic senators who say there should be a special prosecutor?

LEAHY: I think if he doesn’t change it, what I want to do is spend some time with {GOP Vice-Chairman] Sen. Arlen Specter. This is a matter I’d like to approach in a bipartisan fashion. I think that we would also be asking whoever’s left there at the Department of Justice who doesn’t have to r'accuse themselves, to take this, go through it and give us some recommendations back.

Schieffer: [To Specter in Philly] What do you think should be the next step here, Senator?

SPECTER: Well, I think we ought to give the Attorney General a chance to correct the record. There’s no doubt, as I have said repeatedly for months now, that the DOJ would be much-better without him...

The DOJ is second only to the Department of Defense in protecting the American people...and that department is dysfunctional and it’s been dysfunctional for a long time.

LEAHY: I think it’s important because law enforcement is supposed to be impartial and it’s supposed to follow the law. Here we have an administration that feels they’re above the law, that the law applies to everybody except them. And we have a DOJ that goes along with that.

I was a prosecutor. Arlen Specter was a prosecutor. A number of us in there, both Republicans and Democrats, are really upset with this because we know how law enforcement is supposed to work. This is going to have a devastating effect on law enforcement throughout the country if it’s not cleared up.

Schieffer:  What should the President do?

LEAHY: Well, many of us have said he should fire the Attorney General, but I think it’s more than that. I think he has to state: "We in the Administration have made some bad mistakes in saying we’re above the law."

Nobody’s above the law.

Tell that to Scooter Libby, eh?

Gay Marriage Support

How’s everybody doing out there?

Sum-sum-summertime. Yours truly was enjoying big bad Burlington this Saturday. And the town, er, the city was jumping. From African refugees to French Canadian tourists to the usual suspects including politicians. And we finally ran into someone feeling upbeat about the Democrats who run the Statehouse appointing a “gay marriage” study commission.

And that someone is freshman State Rep. Rachel Weston (D-Burlington), pictured on the left with boyfriend Nels in the middle and sister Erica Weston, a pre-med student visiting from Cambridge, Mass. on the right. Rep. Weston provides a fresh, upbeat perspective on the issue. Her district includes downtown and a chunk of the Old North End.

Weston was born in Hampden, Massachusetts in 1981, almost four months after Bernie Sanders was sworn in as Mayor of Burlington. She picked up her BA in anthropology in 2003 at U. Mass. Amherst and a Masters in Public Administration at UVM in 2006.

Bumped into her at the Farmers' Market in City Hall Park. Asked if she had gotten a heads-up from the Democratic leadership about Wednesday’s announcement of a Shumlin/Symington-appointed "Blue-Ribbon Commission" to hold public hearings on gay marriage, the lawmaker said she had not. Still, Rep. Weston is clearly an enthusiastic supporter of gay-marriage legislation.

“I think it’s great,” said the freshman in the House. “I think a majority of Vermonters support this,” she said. The Burlington rep called changing/dropping the state’s civil-union statute and granting full marriage rights to same-sex couples “doing the right thing.”

Under the current, landmark Vermont civil unions law adopted in 2000, said Rep. Weston, same-sex couples who have civil unions "do not have full marriage rights.”

Really?

CHAPTER 23. CIVIL UNIONS

§ 1204. Benefits, protections and responsibilities of parties to a civil union

(a) Parties to a civil union shall have all the same benefits, protections and responsibilities under law, whether they derive from statute, administrative or court rule, policy, common law or any other source of civil law, as are granted to spouses in a marriage.

(b) A party to a civil union shall be included in any definition or use of the terms "spouse," "family," "immediate family," "dependent," "next of kin," and other terms that denote the spousal relationship, as those terms are used throughout the law.

(c) Parties to a civil union shall be responsible for the support of one another to the same degree and in the same manner as prescribed under law for married persons.

(d) The law of domestic relations, including annulment, separation and divorce, child custody and support, and property division and maintenance shall apply to parties to a civil union.

Interesting, eh?

Check out the entire statute here.

Big Week for Vt Dems!

On Wednesday the distinguished Democratic leaders of the Vermont Legislature announced they are putting the "gay marriage" issue back on the state's political front-burner.

The first state in the union to extend marriage rights to same-sex couples through "civil unions" back in 2000 is heading for Round 2.

Republicans appear delighted the Democrat leaders want to fan those old flames and fire up their troops.

Conservative, scripture-quoting, anti-gay activists sound ecstatic!

And many Democrats outside the Statehouse "leadership" appear positively bewildered.

Instead of focusing on attaining a genuine "veto-proof" majority under the Golden Dome, or, god forbid, winning back the governor's office, House Speaker Gaye Symington [who is not gay], and Senate Prez Peter Shumlin [who recently declared his diminished sense of political ambition], certainly appear on track to prevent such.

They're in charge, folks, and they decide the majority party's priorities, right?

And word Friday via press release that Vermont Democratic Party Executive Director Jill Krowinski [photographed outside the Statehouse a couple months ago] is off for a two-week August study trip to the Philippines!

Jill Krowinski Selected to Participate in International Exchange to the Philippines

Political Study Program to Focus on Citizen Diplomacy

Washington, D.C., July 27, 2007 – Jill Krowinski has been selected by the American Council of Young Political Leaders (ACYPL), a bi-partisan, not-for-profit international exchange organization, as a delegate to the Philippines for a two week political exchange program beginning on August 3, 2007.  She will join nine other young political leaders from across the United States to study the Filipino political system, engage in dialogue on international issues, and forge professional relationships...

Krowinski will join other delegates, each between the age of 25 and 40, in Washington, D.C. for briefings by the U.S. Department of State and the Filipino Embassy before flying to Manila. The program will provide the delegates opportunities to travel within the country, and interact with key local and national leaders, business communities, and civic groups.

“I am honored to have been selected to participate in this ACYPL exchange to the Philippines,” Krowinski said. “This will be an excellent opportunity for me to learn about the current political and social dynamics there and help the Filipino people better understand the United States.”

This from the executive director of the party that could not hold together on its big global-warming bill, nor get enough members to come home from vacation to override Republican Gov. Jim Douglas' veto of their campaign-finance reform bill.

Reporter Terri Hallenbeck mentions Krowinski's Philippine trip on the Freeps blog we link to [column right]. And she mentions ACYPL has previously sent young Vermonters named Jim Douglas and Peter Welch on the "study" trip as well.

But in addition to those distinguished politicos, Krowinski has also been preceded by others of distinction not mentioned on the Freeps blog like Republican Sens. Mitch McConnell and Kay Bailey Hutchinson as well as - ready for this - Attorney General Alberto Gonzalez!

Should be quite a learning experience.

Careful, careful, Jill.

Dean Bringing Democrats to Burlap

Now, I know y'all recognize this guy, eh?

The little Burlington doctor with the doctor wife?

Despite his Republican Park Avenue breeding, Howard Dean joined the Democratic Party when he settled in Vermont in the late 1970s.

Had quite a run from county chairman to state rep to Lite-Gov then Governor for more than decade.

The only office he sought that he did not get was President of the United States.

Not bad.

Of course, Ho-Ho is the current popular chairman of the Democratic National Committee.

There's an Associated Press story out of Washington, DC, about Dr. Dean making the rounds today:

As head of DNC, Dean faces major problems in 2008
By Beth Fouhy Associated Press

WASHINGTON — It won't be a summer of love for Howard Dean, with peace and understanding in short supply.

The Democratic National Committee chairman faces several formidable challenges. Some states are determined to move up the dates of their presidential primaries despite the potential for upending the nomination process, and the party's convention in Denver in 2008 is already dealing with nettlesome labor and financial woes....

The article taps old, reliable Dean critics from the former Clinton Administration like James Carville to make the hits.

But it also acknowledges the reality of Howard Dean's enormous popularity with the Democratic Party's grassroots in the 50 states outside the beltway.

However, what the Associated Press did not mention, but "Freyne Land" has learned from reliable sources, is that Chairman Howard Dean is bringing the DNC's Executive Committee to "The People's Republic of Burlington" for a weekend pow-wow on August 10-11.

What fun!

Chairman Leahy Subpoenas Rove

Who is this guy having lunch with yours truly at Sweetwaters today?

And what possible connection might he have to Patrick Leahy vs. Karl Rove?

Or UVM hoops?

Stay tuned....

And Sunday morning TV news junkies take note - St. Patrick will be a guest on Face the Nation at 10:30 on CBS.

**UPDATE**

OK, OK. I'll tell you. Still don't recognize him, eh?

I bet Johnny C. does.

Ed Pagano played four-years of hoops at UVM [1981-84] on scholarship.  Born in Maryland, raised in Massachusetts, Ed Pagano made the most of his Vermont sojourn, cashing in, so to speak, on the contacts he made off the hard-court. Mr. Ed has been chief-of-staff for U.S. Sen. Patrick J. Leahy for the past two years, previously worked for St. Pat on the Judiciary Committee.

Ed was back in Burlap today for a long family weekend with wife Jenny Backus [Democratic consultant and regular commentator on Hardball], and infant son John "Jack" Wallace Pagano.

Bet you know his mother-in-law, former Democratic state senator and U.S. Senate candidate [1994 & 2000] Jan Backus. Ol' Jan's celebrating her 60th birthday this weekend. Jeezum Crow, I remember when "60" sound real old.

Happy birthday.

Yours truly got the word from Big Ed on sun-splashed Church Street about St. Patrick and Republican Judiciary Committee Vice-Chairman  Arlen Specter issuing subpoenas to the man behind the Bush-Cheney throne - Karl Rove - as we met for a bite downtown.  As we ate, St. Patrick was delivering his Senate floor speech announcing the Rove subpoena - available for viewing on Sen. Leahy's website (on Real Player).

Here's a taste from that floor speech:

For over four months, I have exhausted every avenue seeking the voluntary cooperation of Karl Rove and J. Scott Jennings, but to no avail.  They and the White House have stonewalled every request.  Indeed, the White House is choosing to withhold documents and is instructing witnesses who are former officials to refuse to answer questions and provide relevant information and documents. 

We have now reached a point where the accumulated evidence shows that political considerations factored into the unprecedented firing of at least nine United States Attorneys last year.  Testimony and documents show that the list was compiled based on input from the highest political ranks in the White House, including Mr. Rove and Mr. Jennings.  The evidence shows that senior officials were apparently focused on the political impact of federal prosecutions and whether federal prosecutors were doing enough to bring partisan voter fraud and corruption cases.  It is obvious that the reasons given for these firings were contrived as part of a cover up and that the stonewalling by the White House is part and parcel of that same effort.

Meanwhile the noose tightens on Attorney General Alberto Gonzales, his sworn committee testimony now contradicted by former Justice Department officials, and today by the director of the FBI.

If this were a movie, it'd be an entertaining one - everyone in the audience would know the president, the vice president and the attorney general were bold liars who stole an election and started a phony war while making their friends and backers very, very rich!

And everyone would know that they'd be in hand-cuffs and leg-irons by movie's end.

But it's not a movie.

Is it?

Gov. Douglas' Response

Vermont Gov. Jim Douglas was one happy three-term Republican incumbent at his Wednesday press conference.

The opposition party, the alleged majority party, appears in disarray.

Everyone I've told about the new Symington-Shumlin Commission that will hold public hearings and "study" gay marriage - Republican, Progressive and Democrat - has looked at me like I was pulling their leg.

I wasn't.

Asked for his reaction to the Democrats' surprise highlighting of gay marriage at his Montpeculiar 1 pm presser, the governor of DNC Chairman Howard Dean's home state [yes, the same Ho-Ho who signed the historic civil unions bill in secret back in 2000, behind closed doors] said:

My position on that has been quite consistent. We went through a very difficult experience seven years ago when the Legislature enacted the civil unions law. I think during that time most Vermonters have come to accept it. I don’t think it would be in the state’s best interests to reopen those wounds, to have that controversial debate, because we’ve extended full privileges, full legal rights and benefits to same sex couples.

I really think it’s important for the Legislature to work with me to focus on what is most important to everybody in Vermont, and that’s the cost of living here, making sure that all Vermonters can pay the property tax bills that have just arrived in mailboxes during the past few weeks.

I want to make sure that Vermonters can afford to buy gasoline, get to work and to school and do the errands that are so important to their families, to get a decent job, to get good health care coverage.

Those are the real priorities for the people of our state and I hope the Democratic legislators will work with me to achieve them.

PRESS: Is your only opposition it would be divisive to open this up? What if it turns out most Vermonters are in favor of this?

DOUGLAS:  I don’t want to speculate on what recommendations might come. I gather, based on the schedule outlined by the Democrats, they don’t plan for the current biennial legislative session to take it up, so I think it’s something that will be talked about well into the future.

PRESS: But do you have concerns beyond it being divisive?

DOUGLAS: Same-sex couples have the same benefits and rights and privileges of marriage now. In 2000 the Legislature fashioned a compromise that was difficult to achieve, but one that most Vermonters have now come to accept. It was a very difficult experience. Those of you who were in Montpelier at the time recall that and I think we really need to devote our energies to the cost of living in Vermont, to improving economic opportunity and hope for the future of our people.

PRESS: So are you saying we don’t need another law on this issue?

DOUGLAS: I don’t believe we do.

He didn't beat around the bush, did he?

No Joke

After losing out to Republican Gov. Jim Douglas on two of their bedrock, core issues - global warming and campaign finance reform - Democratic Legislative Leaders Sen. Peter Shumlin of Putney and Gaye Symington of Jericho [at left] chose Burlington City Hall as the back-drop to announce their appointment of a "Blue-Ribbon" Commission to study - ready for this - gay marriage!

A hot burning issue in Vermont, eh?

Not making this up, folks. But jaws have dropped among other Dems and Progs when I told them.

In fact. Speaker Gaye and Sen. Shummy didn't even have the decency to let Burlington Progressive Mayor Bob Kiss - who as a legislator back in 2000 supported civil unions and gay marriage, too - know they were using his Progressive Castle as the setting for their big media event.

But they did show their bipartisan spirit by appointing the former GOP Chairman of the House Judiciary Committee that wrote the civil unions bill as the chair of their "Blue-Ribbon" Commission - Tom Little of Shelburne.

Wow!

Hot burning issue in Vermont, eh?

Or are they just trying to change the subject and appeal to their base after the embarrassing Statehouse loses to Gov. Jimmy D. - who has a 1 o'clock presser at which he should have some interesting remarks about the Democrats' focus and priorities, eh?

Summer at last!

Definitely summer. The smallest largest city of any state in the Union is echoing with the lilt of French - spoken by visitors from north of the border [amazing how "American" they look, eh?]. And they have new tricks!

Caught these boys from Montreal with their hand-held, battery-operated  "fart" toys. The devices emit four or five different farting noises that, I confess, sounded amazingly real. They said they brought the devices with them from up north. Their parents thought it was all a hoot.

Lt. Emmett Helrich of Les Gendarmes de Burlington did, too, as he pretended to arrest them.  Or was it solicit a bribe? That's cold cash in his hand, isn't it?

Anyone know if the fart toys are some kind of new French-Canadian cultural thing?

And while the tourists are flocking to Burlap, Burlingtonians are hitting the road and the sky for their own vacation destinations.

Bumped into former Democratic State Rep. Mary Sullivan at Fresh Market on Pine Street yesterday just after 11 am.  Mary's communications director at Burlington Electric. Still very active in Democrat Party circles. Picking up some grub for lunch, was she?

Would you believe she was taking it with as a supplement for the airline food she was about to enjoy?

Mary was heading for the airport to catch a flight to Philly where she'd then catch a flight to Dublin, Ireland, along with husband Don Meals and daughter Kaela. They're renting a car for two weeks and doing a lap of the Emerald Isle!

She's been before, but first time for them.

Plenty of political "news" ahead this Wednesday, too.

Top Democrat legislators - Shummy & Speaker Gaye - are scheduled to announce formation of a "sexy" new study commission this morning in Burlington AND Gov. Scissorhands has a 1 pm Fifth Floor presser on his schedule.

See you later, alligators.

Douglas Unchallenged

"I want every state to succeed. But it doesn't need to be economic success versus conservation. They're compatible."

Words of wisdom from a certain governor at this weekend's summer pow-wow of the National Governors Association, eh?

And the governor quoted in the Detroit paper was the governor of Vermont, Republican Jim Douglas [left].

One question I asked Gov. Douglas in our little one-on-one after last Thursday's South Burlington ribbon-cutting, before he left for the Michigan get-together, was how he'd handle - should he get them - questions about his recent success in Vermont in opposing global warming reform. In particular, having his bold and rather angry veto of the global warming/climate change bill upheld because Democrats could not muster a two-thirds vote in the July 11 special session?

GOV. DOUGLAS: "It must be [before] one of the NGA committees."

FREYNE: It is before one of the committees

DOUGLAS: "I'm not on that committee."

FREYNE: That's what I'm checking.

DOUGLAS: "I don't know if it'll come up in the plenary session. We adopt policies by consensus. Unless there's a statement that has broad support on a bipartisan basis, then it's not likely to come before the NGA."

FREYNE: What if some smart-alec reporter out there asks? How did global-warming legislation lose in tree-hugger Vermont?  What's going on in Vermont?

DOUGLAS: "l'll say there what I say here, which is we have a strong committment to environmental stewardship. We're well known for that. It's a reputation that's literally worldwide, one of which I'm very proud, and I'm going to continue to do what I can to reduce emissions on the regional basis, on an international basis, and on a local basis as well.

"But we also are the state that has the highest state and local per-capita tax burden in the country and that is not acceptable in terms of growing our economy and creating more and better-paying jobs.

"So we have to find a way to continue our environmental stewardship that doesn't raise taxes."

He's good, isn't he?

Meanwhile over at the opposition party, the supposed majority party under Montpeculiar's Golden Dome - Les Democrats - State Democratic Party Chair Ian Carleton [left] of Burington has taken exception to our mention the other day that he had been seriously considering a run for governor in 2008 [Carleton's political party, as you know, is having difficulty finding a candidate]:

"Sources say he gave some serious thought to taking on incumbent Republican Gov. Jim Douglas in 2008, but has decided against it."

Replied Attorney Carleton, graduate of Yale Law School and former Burlington city council president, via email:

"I have not given serious thought to taking on Douglas in 2008, and so by definition I have also never decided against it.  That is not a coy way of keeping the door open to the possibility of a run, but rather to say that both halves of the rumor are untrue.  Simply stated, I have far too much going on in my life right now between family, work, and the Democratic Party to give such an endeavor the time and attention it deserves.

"If I am going to run for office again some day -- and if the timing were right I would certainly consider doing so -- I will do it only if it is the right timing for my wife and children, and because I think I am the best person for the job.  I am not interested in political gamesmanship or egotistical folly. Modern American politics is too littered with that garbage already."

Sorry. I trust my sources on this one. The reason there's no name of a Democratic gubernatorial candidate even being floated, I'd suggest, is that there is no Democratic candidate who thinks he/she has a chance of WINNING against Gov. Scissorhands.

Which tells us something about a current shortcoming of the Vermont Democratic Party, doesn't it?

When Irish Eyes...

Belfast’s David Trimble visits Vermont for the first time this weekend for talks with Sen. Patrick Leahy and other senatorial types, and Dublin's Padraig Harrington [left] wins the hallowed Open Championship on the Scottish links at Carnoustie - even after a choke-ridden "twice-in-the-water" double-bogey on the 18th hole?

Interesting times.

All Spain's Sergio Garcia with his new belly putter had to do was par the 18th to win his first major. Just par it, as he had in the three previous rounds.

But his eight-footer lipped out.

Such is life, eh? Maybe there is a God?

Harrington’s home course is the Royal Dublin. It’s located on the “Bull Wall,” a sandbar in Dublin Bay. Yes, I’ve been there. More than a few times in the early chapters of my life.

Yours truly got an early taste of it early because cousins Oliver and Cyril Freaney, All-Ireland Gaelic footballers in the mid-1950s, were members. I caddied for Ollie starting at seven (pulling the hand cart), and played it as a teenager.

Back in “The Troubles” of 1920-21, the Bull Wall was a place dear ol’ dad and others in Michael Collins’ Dublin Brigade took informants and the like for their “last ride.” I heard it as a boy from Daddy's lips, the victims were always allowed to say the Act of Contrition before taking a round in the back of their head.

Back to Carnoustie. Watching Sergio lose the Open, throw away victory, or have god almighty yank it from his grasp, was tragic. Painful to watch, as the tears in Padraig's eyes attested.

I guess that’s why “golf” is just a four-letter word, eh?

Like "life."

Life's Little Surprises

The email came late Thursday from U.S. Sen. Patrick J. Leahy's Washington office. For the 70th consecutive year, representatives of the British Parliament and the U.S. Congress were about to have their face-to-face series of summer meetings. [I confess, I was not aware of them.]

This year, they were being held on this side of the Atlantic, starting with a Friday lunch at the Leahy ECHO Center on the Burlington Waterfront and continuing over the weekend in Stowe.

If he'd agree to it, would Columnist Freyne be interested in a little one-on-one interview with David Trimble?

Pinch me. Is this a dream?

The leader of the Ulster Unionist Party in the Six Counties of Northern Ireland who I watched "religiously" on the TV news during the 1990s?

The Protestant who shared the 1998 Nobel Peace Prize with Catholic John Hume, leader of the Social Democratic and Labour Party?

Yes, indeed.

That's Trimble on the left, during the little stand-up presser he, St. Patrick, Conservative William Hague MP, and Sen. Thad Cochran of Mississippi [who I cropped out for space], participated in after lunch on the Burlington Waterfront outside of ECHO.

And after the presser, Trimble was kind enough to peel off with yours truly for a private, up-close-and-personal, one-on-one along the lakefront.

As some of you know, the Peter Freyne I'm named after, Uncle Peter, was 18 and a member of the Irish Republican Army's Dublin Brigade in April 1921 when he got his head blown off during an IRA attack on the H.Q. of the Black & Tans on Dublin's North Wall.

Frank Freyne, the older brother who led that raid, was captured six weeks later in May as he was departing the Dublin Customs House, a huge structure he and more than 100 of his IRA colleagues had just successfully torched.

A little over six months later, the December truce between the IRA and Winston Churchill established the Irish Free State. That peace treaty saved Dear Old Dad from the execution he was awaiting in an unheated cell in Kilmainham Gaol [now a major tourist attraction]. You might say, it was also a factor in my being here today to write this.

I'll have much more of the David Trimble/Freyne Land interview in next Wednesday's "Inside Track" in Seven Days. He was quite open and insightful on a number of issues. A very special experience for this journalist. But here's a little taste:

FREYNE: Do you think of yourself as Irish?

TRIMBLE: Not in the political sense. You then have to say, ‘What do you mean by that word?’

In terms of my political national identity, I’m British. The British concept is capable of embracing all the people within the British Isles. That’s where it comes from.

Unfortunately, we have some people in the British Isles who've been determined to say they’re different and separate and don’t want to be the same as everybody else. They now form a separate state called the ‘Irish Republic.’  And if that’s what they want to do, fine. That’s okay. I think they’ve made a mistake, but there we are.

Yes, indeed.

King James Brushes Off Lord Carleton

Not that it appears to be doing them any good, mind you. But after last week's Republican double-header victory under Montpelier's beautiful Golden Dome, they had to do something.

That something turned out to be this Wednesday's press release from the Vermont Democratic Party HQ in Montpeculiar under the signature of its chairman, Ian Carleton of Burlington. Ian's a 30something corporate attorney with Yale on his resume and statewide political aspirations. Sources say he gave some serious thought to taking on incumbent Republican Gov. Jim Douglas in 2008, but has decided against it. Yes, indeed, King James has no challenger of merit on the horizon, yet.

As far as we can tell, Carleton's press release got little if any attention from the Vermont press even though it had a snappy headline:

"Douglas Gives Sweetheart Deal to Big Donor"

"Fecteau Residential, a Berlin-based business, has fared well recently under the Douglas Administration, first scoring a deal to lease temporary facilities for state employees in Bennington and now turning that lease into a sale (in spite of initially supplying defective units).  As his Monday campaign finance disclosure reveals, it turns out Jim Douglas is faring pretty well with Fecteau Residential, too."

Chairman Carleton's release stated Democratic research of state campaign finance records had found that Fecteau Residential of Barre, the company that leased trailers and has now sold "temporary modular buildings" to the state, also - ready for this? - also donated a total of $1,100 to Gov. Douglas' 2006 Campaign.

Shocking, eh?

Carleton's Democratic Party research also found that Fecteau Residential donated $500 to King James' 2008 re-election campaign in February and "about two weeks ago," the state cut a deal to purchase $539,000 of modular offices.

Yesterday, yours truly "ambushed" King James after the big ribbon-cutting marking the opening of Grand Way Commons in South Burlington.  Told him about Lord Carleton's attack,  one which insinuates the modular office contract had been bought with contributions to his gubernatorial campaign.

DOUGLAS: I’m proud to have thousands of Vermonters support my candidacy. I’ve never had this many contributors at this point in an election cycle and it’s because I have broad support around the state. More and more people are embracing my leadership.

FREYNE: But this is the company you just bought the trailers from.

DOUGLAS: You may well find other businesses that do business with the state who are my supporters. I’m sure of it. I’m proud of all the supporters I have!

Good answer, eh?

After all, accepting campaign contributions from Vermont businesses or persons is not exactly against the law, is it?

Nice try, Lord Carleton.

God forbid if the State of Vermont had done  business with any corporation or person that donated to Howard Dean's gubernatorial campaigns, eh?

Howard who?

Playing Catch Up

***Updated 5:50 P.M.***

The boys are en route from Marseilles to Montpellier today. A long. flat, hot ride along the south coast of France.

A poor man’s European holiday via the tele for a Burlington columnist/blogger more familiar with Montpelier, Vermont.

And the opportunity, rare these days, to watch current events on TV that do not involve random mass murder by suicide bombers answering their god’s call, or the roadside-bombing of American soldiers in Iraq, a country they were ordered into based on some of the greatest lies ever championed by an American White House.

Speaking of which, on Monday, that courageous antiwar activist Cindy Sheehan intends to lead an occupation of the Capitol Hill office of Democratic Rep. John Conyers, chairman of the House Judiciary Committee. Sheehan, whose son Casey was killed in action fighting the Bush-Cheney War of Lies in Iraq in 2004, wants Conyers to take action on impeachment.

It's fair to say, she's far from alone.

Nonetheless, as of the moment, many of the same Republican congressmen acting outraged at calls for Bush’s impeachment for causing the death and dismemberment of thousands of US troops, were on their moral high-horses when the previous president denied having consensual sex “with that woman.”

They felt back then that impeachment of the president was the ONLY way to go!

Vermont’s congressional troika, as you know [Leahy, Sanders and Welch], opposes Mr. Bush’s Iraq War, opposes the Bush administration on just about every policy front, but also opposes congressional action on impeachment. Their spin is that it would divert attention in Dubya’s last 18 months from other congressional investigations of the corrupt regime.

Some folks deal with all this, no doubt, by simply tuning out the news completely. Hey, it’s summer!

Many, however, simply cannot, even if they haven’t had a family member killed or crippled in a  war launched to defeat an Iraq threat to the United States that did not exist.

Holding those responsible does not seem an outlandish idea to many good and decent “ordinary" Americans and "ordinary" Vermonters.

In fact, a recent poll by the American Research Group  found 45 percent of Americans want action on the impeachment of Bush - 54 percent on Vice President Dick Cheney. If you have a moment, do check out the recent Bill Moyers Journal.

Closer to home, local impeachment activist Jimmy Leas, a South Burlington attorney, informs us a similar occupation of Vermont Congressman Peter Welch’s Burlington office is planned to coincide with the one Cindy Sheehan will be leading in Washington on Monday.

Cool.

*** UPDATE ***

Posted late Thursday Afternoon

Welch Sit-in Called Off

Got this via email from Jimmy Leas after the above post. A change of plans for "Impeach Bush" folks:

"Rather than just going to the congressional office in Vermont on July 23 to meet with staffers we decided to find a time when Peter Welch will be in Vermont and use that opportunity to hand him the petitions with the signatures of hundreds of Vermonters for impeachment."

"It's Unfortunate," said Sanders

Sometimes I still have to pinch myself:

United States Senator Bernard Sanders of Vermont.

Started covering the gentleman everyone knows as "Bernie" back in 1981 when he upset Mayor Gordon Paquette by 10 votes.

Now look at him!

Why, after about 20 years, he even started to relax a bit, realizing, apparently, I have a job to do.

So does he, right?

Which probably explains why Sen. Sanders does not include questions from the press, his unrehearsed answers, and the back-and-forth that goes on there in the video "propaganda" postings of his press conferences you can watch his senatorial website.

But, Bernie, they're called "press" conferences!

Didn't have room in the print "Inside Track" column to report on that part of his "press" conference where we asked him for a reaction to Republican Gov. Jim Douglas' double-victory last week over Statehouse Democrats & Progressives who tried to override his vetoes of their sacred climate change and campaign finance reform bills.

The Sunday before Wednesday's special session, Sen. Sanders convened a Montpeculiar Town Meeting on global warming that featured Author/Activist/Whistle-blower Bill McKibben of Ripton.

Sanders supported the veto override of H. 520 as did everyone of the 250-plus Vermonters at the Sunday morning conclave.

Sanders' side lost.

Reaction, Ol' Bernardo?

“It’s unfortunate. Look, anyone who does not think that global warming is a serious problem really does not know what is going on. There are large numbers of people, according to the World Health Organization, who have already died as a result of global warming. You’re looking at droughts. You’re looking at floods. You’re looking at tremendous dislocation of our economy.

"The good news is we know how to cut greenhouse gas emissions. We know how to reverse global warming.We know how to do it, and you know what?

"We're going to learn more and more about this in the years to come."

Apparently a tree or two did grow in Brooklyn, eh?

Bernie cited one man from St. Johnsbury at Sunday's Town Meeting who had retro-fitted his home and cut his energy consumption in half!

"It’s waiting to happen. Wind technology is the fastest growing source of new energy in the world.  All of this is waiting to happen. Prices will go down. Technology will expand. We can do it, and it pains me we are not moving forward more aggressively because if we are not successful the results could be calamitous."

Given the opportunity to smack GOP Gov. Douglas, our socialist, tree-hugging U.S. senator declined. In fact, he noted his comments on Sunday in support of the veto-override came in response to a question from a reporter - me

Just doing my job, right, Bernie?

Bernie Invites Bush to Vermont

Only one state in the United States of America Republican President George "WMD" Bush has not visited - the state of Vermont!

Independent U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders [pictured at this morning's press conference with Maj. Gen. Michael Dubie of the Vermont National Guard], let it be known in response to a question from yours truly that several months ago, he personally invited President Bush to Vermont before his term runs out. Here's the transcript of that part of today's presser at Ol' Bernardo's Burlington office:

FREYNE LAND: Is there any outside hunch, gotta ask, if this deployment of the Vermont National Guard is in any way, that there’s a political side of it in terms of Vermont being the only state the President hasn’t visited, and, given the politics of our congresssional delegation in opposing the President...

SANDERS: Do I think it is a coincidence that this is the last state, the only state that the President has not visited?

No, I don’t think that it’s a coincidence. [Chuckling breaks out.]

I think he understands that he is not enormously popular in this state.

But, let me be very frank. He is the President of the 50 states, and I hope he has the decency and the courage to come to the state of Vermont. That’s his job as the President of the United States and furthermore, I hope he will do what he very rarely does, and that is, in a respectful meeting of sorts, answer the questions that people have. Here’s the President of the United States and he deserves to be treated with respect.

But one of the issues that has concerned me with regard to this president for many years, he keeps giving speeches into audiences which are not quite open to people who have different points of view. And I would hope that he would allow us to ask him questions. And I hope and expect that in this state they would be done respectfully.

FREYNE LAND: So have you invited him?

SANDERS: I did, actually, as a matter of fact, a number of months ago when I met him [at the White House], I did.

FREYNE LAND: You said, 'Come to Vermont?'

SANDERS: Sure. We’d love to talk to you.

The Symington Show

Two things one can say about Democratic House Speaker Gaye Symington:

1. She's evolving...politically.

2. Nice haircut.

Fresh from a holiday with her daughter in Norway and a butt-kicking on two big veto votes on the House Floor, Symington of Jericho occupied the hot seat on WCAX-TV's You Can Quote Me Sunday morning.

We will.

"Is the tax on Vermont Yankee off the table?" inquired News Director Marselis Parsons.

SYMINGTON: I think the tax on Vermont Yankee is off the table for funding the all-fuels utility.  I know there are many members of the House who are very concerned now that we have done this work we really understand that there is a very large business in the state who was being asked to pay a property tax that is way out of line and much lower than any other business in the state. And I think you might see legislation that addresses that in the question of tax fairness. When one business is paying less than its share into the Education Fund we know that it increases the burden on everybody else.

PARSONS: Yankee argued, and their supporters argued, you made a deal and you ought to stick with it.

Yes, indeed. "A deal's a deal," right? That was a red flag waved by Yankee and by the Guv, their best and loudest spokesman.

Symington made the argument that in politics and policy, as in life, things change.

SYMINGTON: Maybe five years ago we had a sales tax rate that was 5 percent. When Gov. Douglas signed Act 68, the sales tax rate changed to 6 percent.  You could say Vermonters had a deal at 5 percent and we broke the deal by moving to 6 percent.

Every once in awhile we do change our tax policy, re-adjust our tax policy, as we’re making adjustments. In that case, we were recalibrating the property tax burden.

PARSONS: I remember it well. [Gov.] Deane Davis saying that he had to have a sales tax when he indicated during his campaign that there would be no sales tax. But that’s ancient history [chuckle, snort, guffaw].

CARLSON: Why call ‘em back if you had a fairly clear picture it wasn’t going to be overridden?

SYMINGTON: I thought it was important to make a statement that we’re standing up for our work. We believe in this work. This was a good bill. This was a bill that was about our energy future. It was about the tomorrow we’re building for our kids. And we have got to take some action and stop just talking and studying the issues that go into global warming and our energy future in this state. And those choices are not always going to be easy.

Another campaign finance reform bill will move quickly in January, said Symington, but it's impact on the 2008 race, if any, is uncertain.

SYMINGTON:  It’s very unclear that any law we pass will create clear ground rules for the upcoming election. Because of the veto, we’re going into the upcoming election cycle in a no-man’s land in terms of the influence of money on our election cycle in this state.

I thought it was important to make every effort now to override that veto.

P.S. Some sore hands, swollen by some chemo-injection infection kept us from the Bloggers BBQ at North Beach.  Couldn't even shake hands, let alone grip the handlebars.  Next time.

Democrats Get Introspective

Democratic House Speaker Gaye Symington is the target, er, the guest on "You Can Quote Me" at 11 this morning on WCAX-TV.

Her third-in-command, House Majority Whip Floyd Nease [left] was the target, er, guest at the Democratic State Committee Meeting Saturday in the library at Montpelier High School.

One committee member wanted to know why if somebody's supposed to count votes ahead of time, Wednesday's double-barreled Democratic defeat was allowed to happen?

“You asked the right question," replied Whip Nease. "I’m the guy that counts the votes." He conceded he knew ahead of time what the votes were in both chambers on both bills: global warming and campaign finance reform.

But Nease made the pitch that, "It was an opportunity to hold Gov. Douglas accountable even if we lose the votes."

Nease pointed to the editorial in the following day's Rutland Herald. "It really did generate some press," said Nease, press that talked about Douglas in a way he hadn't been talked about before.

Yes, indeed, Pulitzer Prize-Winning Editorial Writer David Moats personally attended the Wednesday circus in Montpeculiar. Thursday's Herald editorial carried the headline: "Stymied."  And Ol' Moatsie showed his 60s-generation roots, calling Vermont's Republican governor "Dr. No."

Don't know about you, but it made me think of Sean Connery right off, showing my 60s-generation roots. Wrote Moats:

Doctor No is trying to portray himself as Doctor Sort Of. The political reality is that climate change and energy issues have significant political momentum, and Douglas could become an irrelevance unless he takes action.

The Legislature will be prepared to move ahead aggressively in January on energy and climate issues; one hopes the leadership will avoid political minefields like the one into which it tiptoed with the Yankee tax. This is a priority that will not go away.

House Speaker Gaye Symington was persuasive in her statement that climate change is a Vermont problem and that Vermont must show leadership. She also made the salient point that the two bills that went down on Wednesday —campaign finance and energy — were linked.

Big money has the power to block action in the public interest. Douglas helped preserve the prerogatives of big money through his veto of the campaign finance bill. It will be up to the Legislature in January to continue the fight to address the climate and energy issues, dragging the governor as it goes.

Nease noted that on the House Floor only one Republican stood up to defend Jim Douglas on the campaign-finance veto and that was [Burlington Rep.] Kurt Wright.

Ol' Floyd's argument that, even in defeat, the majority Democrats scored points by getting "Dr. No" on record as an opponent of reform legislation addressing campaign finance reform and  global warming didn't fly with everyone.

State Committee Member Bill Sander from Jeffersonville told the gathering Wednesday's embarassing Democratic defeat at the Statehouse - one that gave the Guv the opening to call the Democrats "big losers" - was "an exercise in exposing Gov. Douglas to folks who already knew" where Jimmy D stood on those issues.

"The guy is a fascist with a smile and it's clear to us," said Sander. In many quarters, he told the committee, Gov. Douglas "comes out looking like an effective leader and comes out with a plausible explanation if you don't look at it too carefully, and most folks don't."

Good point, eh?

Happy Friday the 13th!

Watching Le Tour de France this morning.

Feeling French.

Way back in the Freyne Family genes, pre-Irish, pre-Norman, there was a French connection.

Speaking of the Freyne Family, got a voice mail yesterday from a a lovely lady in Plymouth, Massachusetts who said she knew my dad. She had recently completed an Irish Studies course through University of Galway that included the book My Kilkenny IRA Days by James Comerford.

Would you believe, she informed me, Papa Freyne took the cover photo?

The man I knew as a dad, a Peat-Marwick CPA [and Irish Sweepstakes agent in his 50s and 60s], was also a camera bug. Getting that Leica at Shannon Airport in 1960 made a difference in his final chapter.

About a decade ago before Seven Days was online, back when the Michael Collins movie came out, I wrote up the story of my father's Dublin Brigade IRA days in 1920-21. A story I grew up with. Days that included the death of his little brother, the uncle I never met, Peter Freyne. Peter was killed in action by the Black & Tans in Dublin in April 1921. Born on a Kilkenny farm in 1901, dear old dad died in New York in 1974.

Nice to hear from Ms. Buckley that history lives on!

Vermont Beckons Bush

At a time when polls are showing President George “WMD” Bush with an approval rating below 30 percent, there aren’t many silver linings left for Republicans in the United States of America these days - except Vermont!

Yesterday, under Montpeculair’s Golden Dome, the Republican minority - with a little help from Democrat defectors in the House - defeated attempts by Majority Democrats to override two “line-in-the-sand” vetoes by Republican Gov. Jim Douglas of Middlebury. That’s the Guv appearing “live” on WDEV’s “Mark Johnson Show” Wednesday morning from just outside the Statehouse cafeteria. Furniture was in short supply. No couches.

Gov. Douglas, governor of the state of Patrick Leahy, Bernie Sanders and DNC Chair Howard Dean, had vetoed two key pieces of Democrat legislation this past session relating to items near-and-dear to their hearts and their campaign literature: global warming and campaign finance reform.

Gutsy, eh?

And he got away with it, too!

Instead, the real “inconvenient” truth is that Vermont Democrats were defeated on both by GOP Jim and his loyal GOP minority, despite all the hooopla and activism and intense lobbying from activists and environmentalists like VPIRG’s Executive Director Paul Burns entering the Statehouse Wednesday ‘morn with his fist raised for battle!

Time for the White House to take notice.

Until two weeks ago there were only two states in the United States that had not been visited by President George W. Bush: Rhode Island and Vermont.

Then, Dubya paid a visit to the Naval War College in Newport to give a speech.

Now there’s only Vermont.

But show me a state anywhere in the country where the Republican Party has, of late, not only been able to stand up in public, but stand up and win, eh?

Credit where credit is due.

That White House gets awful stuffy, doesn't it, Mr. President?

Global-Warming Fight Sustains VT Setback

You're kidding?

But I thought Vermont was a strong, pro-environment state?

Yet in one historic skirmish in what will be a global environmental war to prevent Mother Earth's overheating, the tree-huggers lost today. Republican Gov. Jim Douglas' veto of H. 520 was upheld.

There were 86 votes in Democratic House Speaker Gaye Symington's House of Representatives to override the Douglas veto and 61 votes to support him. Two-thirds are required to override.

"I don’t feel like we lost," said Speaker Symington [at left in front of Gov. Howard Dean portrait] afterward. "I feel like we stood up for a good bill. We stood up for Vermonters and  we stood up for good work. We said in the beginning this was going to be a challenge and we took it on anyway and we will continue to work and invite the governor to have a more constructive role in it."

What does it mean?

"It means that the power of the large corporation won the day," said Symington. "And the message of money won the day. And that the interests of Vermonters were put aside to the interests of one very large business [Entergy Vermont Yankee].

"And my reaction is we’ll continue to work. We’ll have the second-half of the session ahead of us and we’ll continue to work toward comprehensive legislation that addresses our energy future and the extent to which Vermonters can afford their energy bills. And," she said, "I invite the governor to have a more constructive role in that discussion than he’s had this year, rather than standing in the way."

How was Norway [where she recently went for vacation]?

"Beautiful. It was Incredible. The sun goes down at like midnight. It’s light all the time. We went hiking up in the mountains. At 11 o’clock I took a picture. The clouds were pink, but other than that it looked like it was three o’clock in the afternoon," said Speaker Gaye.

Vermont Democratic Party Chairman Ian Carleton, the Burlington attorney who wants to be something someday, had a statement & video ready to go.  Looks like the Democrats intend to make Gov. Scissorhands wear his global-warming veto victory through the November 2008 election.

Good strategy, eh?

Montpelier Showdown

Thunder and lightning in the forecast - both inside and outside the Statehouse today!

The Republican governor of Vermont, James Douglas, may well "win" the global-warming battle today, but "lose" the war. Know what I mean?

That is, having his veto of H. 520 upheld today might only fire up the Democrats, Progressives, Independents -  and even a few environmentally-conscious Vermont Republicans -  to replace him in 2008. In politics, they say, "the action's in the reaction."

The "CW" going in is that Entergy Vermont Yankee's favorite governor has his veto sustained on H. 520, but his veto of the campaign finance bill gets overturned.

We shall see.

Anyway, recognize this gentleman?

I had coffee with him at Uncommon Grounds on Church Street the other day. He was up from Washington where he's the press secretary for a certain U.S. senator who's the champion of "poor people, working people and the elderly."

I did a little item on Michael Briggs in the print "Inside Track" column that's out today, but I didn't have room for the photo.

With Briggs, Ol' Bernardo, er, Sen. Bernie Sanders gets a heavy dose of Capitol Hill experience. He's previously worked for Sens. Paul Simon and Carol Moseley Braun of Illinois and - get this - for Sen. John Edwards!

And before that, he wrote for the Chicago Sun-Times for 14 years. Mike certainly knows the ropes on Capitol Hill, and he knows he's got a rare and special bird to rep in the person of U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont.

Nice.

Also in the political noise this Wednesday - in the dailies and in "Track" - is antiwar activist and Newfane Selectman Dan DeWalt's promise to field an independent candidate in the 2008 congressional race if Incumbent Democrat Peter Welch doesn't jump on the Bush Impeachment Train.

Welchie had a good comeback when we asked him about it privately after his Monday presser promoting UVM cafeteria use of locally-grown food [including Ben & Jerry's Ice Cream!].

Sheehan vs. Pelosi?

Cindy Sheehan, the soldier's mother who galvanized the anti-war movement, has told the Associated Press she plans to seek Democratic House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's liberal San Francisco congressional seat unless Pelosi introduces articles of impeachment against President Bush in the next two weeks.

Sheehan said she will run against the San Francisco Democrat in 2008 as an independent if Pelosi does not seek by July 23 to impeach Bush.

Interesting.

The fact is, with each passing day, the American public's faith in the current regime occupying the White House and running the government wanes noticeably. Even Republicans are defecting in droves.

We've been lied to and we know it.

What does Vermont's lone member of the U.S. House, Peter Welch, say?

Pedro is, after all, a close ally of Speaker Pelosi.

"I think that the folks who are arguing for impeachment are making a very, very compelling case about the misuse of power by the president of the United States," said Congressman Welch. "But the major question is what’s the best way to end this war, and what we’re seeing is Republicans are beginning to crack."

Welch noted last week's defections by two prominent GOP senators.

"Sen. Domenici, a very respected, a very high-ranking Republican expressed strong reservations about the war, indicating that he’s splitting from the Administration position. Sen. Lugar did the same," said Welch.

"So the one thing I know continues to be the case is that we’ve got to get Republican votes to join the 218 of us who voted to end the war in order to get 290 to overcome the president’s veto. And the one thing that I continue to believe would consolidate the Republicans would be defending the president on impeachment, whereas they’re abandoning him on the war.

"And I believe that’s the view of Speaker Pelosi," said  Vermont's member of the House.

Saving the Planet?

Quite the healthy Sunday morning turnout at Montpeculiar High School for the "Bernie & Bill Show" - a United States Senator's Town Meeting on Global Warming featuring the one-and-only Bernie Sanders and Mr. "End of Nature" himself - Bill McKibben.

"I think we all know what the bad news is," said U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders as he wrapped up his two-hour Sunday morning town meeting on global warming at Montpelier High School. "This state, this country, this planet faces some terrible problems and we have got to get our act together. We have to do it quickly and we have to do it aggressively.

"The good news is, and it really is good news," he continued, "is that consciousness on this issue is rising all over the place, not just from progressives, not just from moderates, but from conservatives as well. I happen to believe that as often is the case, you’re going to see states play important roles, and cities playing important roles."

"There’s a sense that things are changing?" we asked.

"Absolutely," replied Ol' Bernardo, "no question about it. The oil companies, as powerful as they are, the coal companies, as powerful as they are, the big-monied interests - they’re on the defensive. But we’ve got to continue the strong grassroots effort and get Congress to do the right thing."

Certainly the Sanders Town Meeting on Global Warming is a perfect lead into Wednesday's showdown under Montpelier's Golden Dome over Republican Gov. Jim Douglas' veto of H. 520, the Democrats' global warming bill.

"I think Vermont is one of the birthing places," said McKibben, "of what’s now become a nationwide movement to do something about climate and we’ve just got to keep it up. We’ll have a chance this Wednesday to keep it up and we’ll have a lot more chances in the year ahead to make sure that this is at the top of the agenda in the presidential elections, that it’s the most important issue that we have out there. It's the one thing that really threatens our civilization and our way of life and we have to take every opportunity, including ones like this, to broaden the base of that movement all the time.

"What does it say," we asked, "that the governor of the state of Vermont vetoed it and it looks like his veto going to be upheld?

"You know," replied McKibben,  "I think that it says we need a new governor."

Any suggestions?

"The governor doesn’t take global warming seriously," said McKibben. "He’s the only politician of note that didn’t come to our rally last year when 1000 Vermonters walked up the state of Vermont to demand action and now we know why he didn’t come. He talked a good game on climate change. Says all the right things cause he’s in Vermont where people care about it, but he won’t do anything about it. And given the opportunity, he vetoes legislation about it. It’s a tremendous shame," said the Ripton writer.

"What's dissappointing is what’s going on in Montpelier," said Bill. "What’s going on in Washington is pretty exciting and Bernie is at the absolute center of it. It’s amazing to turn on the TV and see Pat Leahy preventing them as best he can from shredding the Constitution and Bernie Sanders preventing them, as best he can, from shredding the Earth."

A Sanders Sunday

Off to Montpeculiar bright and early this Sunday morning for a Senator Bernie Sanders town meeting at the high school on: Global Warming. It starts at 10:30. I know, competing with church. [No big deal, but Republican Gov. Jim Douglas, in his best George W. Bush impersonation to date, vetoed the global warming bill the Legislature passed. The showdown on a veto-override vote is Wednesday.]

Of the four committees Sanders of Vermont sits on, one is Environment and Public Works and one is Energy and Natural Resources.

He's connected and appears to love his new areas of responsibility: energy and the environment.

He's also competing with himself since he'll be the featured guest on WCAX-TV's "You Can Quote Me" at 11. It was taped on Friday. Marselis and Andy Potter ask the questions. Do let me know if anything newsworthy happens. WCAX is too stingy to post video, audio or transcripts of its "premier"  Sunday Morning News Special. In fact, it's the station's ONLY news/public affairs program outside of the regular news.

Meanwhile, did want to share this photo of a rainbow over The Burlington Free Press, Gannett's cash-cow in Vermont. Took it last Monday after we were tipped off about Publisher Jim Carey's decisio