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.

Comments

[BearGryllis]

I'm sorry, but trying to take Kristin Carlson serioulsy is a difficult task. She's the queen of lobbing softies to whoever is in the room. Parsons is just a giant bag of wind. His time has long passed. I keep hearing ABC might be bringing a new news station to Vermont. I hope to God it's true. WGOP is better than PTZ, but it's like comparing Ishtar to Gigli. That Michelle Mortenson (sp?) on PTZ has the most grating voice ever (and Morticia Adams hair). And lil' Stuie Bedwetter is another champion of revisiting the already beaten to death story. And that PTZ idiot who comes on spouting his viewpoints, or pretending to be a PI. "That's our view, what's yours?" Uh, that you're an asshole.

The news media in Vermont (especially tv) should begin looking at stories from different angles and peeling off the obvious layers to get to the more meaty center.

[manoman]

WCAX is the most pathetic news station I've ever encountered. Parsons truely IS a wind bag, but the rest of the newscast amounts to National Enquirer level of reporting.

[vermonter]

Maybe so, but I regularly compare both PTZ and CAX, and, for what it's worth, CAX is better. Better local coverage than PTZ and far less sensationalism. PTZ is the "weather news," with "the Paris Hilton report" ocasionally thrown in. Want to know what's happening at the Vermont State House or Burlington City Hall, as opposed to 15 minutes of super doppler radar, a trailer park shooting in West Chazy, a jail break at Danemora, and Lindsay Lohan's latest? Better check CAX and skip PTZ.

[Vermonter]

Just to clarify...

The "vermonter" who frequents Freyne Land is not me.

[sandy ward]

I have to confess that I just love marpar, believe it or not, he has evolved in the last 40 or so years that I've been watching him. Sorry, petfry, but Symington made the same mistakes all over again and the next session will be no different. And, why are you men always commenting on women's hair dos and then complain that WGOP has national enquirer mentality headlines? Stop it already, eh?

[JPC]

"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"

Gaye, that is why people hold press conferences. Spending 60K of taxpayers money to hold a veto session, that you know is going to fail, to make a statement is just plain irresponsible. Resign.

[Ahem]

Good catch reporting on Gaye's haircut. It's critically important that whenever you discuss women politicians that you comment on their hairdos.

[vermonter]

Funny. A on May 4, Freyne led off one of his blog postings with a comment about Symington's new haircut. Frankly, I thought it was sexist, and I said so in a comment. Immediately I got blasted by someone calling himself "real vermonter" who called me a four-letter word and defended Freyne. Freyne the sexist then deleted my posting.

Now I see that I have something in common with Sandy Ward and "ahem," who point out correctly that Freyne's infatuation with Symington's haircut is sexist.

Whether one like's Symington's policies or not (and I frequently do not), her hairdo is irrelevant, and to comment on it is sexist.

[Brattlerouser]

Peter,

You were missed at the BBQ! Hope you're doing well!

[bigbadbrad]

It is His Blog, lets not forget. However, I'm not touching that "haircut" crack with a ten foot clown pole!

[clar-z]

Mentioning her hairdo is not necessarily sexist. (John Edwards and Donald Trump come to mind when I think of male haircuts.) I noticed her haircut immediately. It changed her appearance. Commenting on it seems natural to me. If the Gov grew his hair long and sported a ponytail or shaved his head, the comments would be brutal. The PC cops need to lighten up!

[Casey]

Clar-z is, of course, correct. Symington's haircut will be looked upon with approval by the foggies who think such things are important. Foggies VOTE! Pragmatism is not a four-letter word. Sumington is smart, and so is Peter for noticing her new do.

[linguini]

Gayes haircut is nice but her leadership sucks bigtime!!
Douglas probably spent all weekend wiping the shit off his boots after the swift hard kicking he gave to Gaye and Shumlin. The Dems better be looking for some real leadership because these two cant lead. Neither one of them will dare run against Douglas next year because they can count...mmmmmmm wonder why they werent counting the veto votes??

[Vermonter]

Just to clarify...

"real vermonter" is not me, either...

[manoman]

"hold a veto session, that you know is going to fail, to make a statement is just plain irresponsible. Resign."

at least she wasn't a defeatist.

Symington isn't the problem. She made a mistake in following Shumlin on the VY tax, but in the past she has shown some moderation.

The real problem is with Shumlin and Douglas. These two need to go.

[vermonter]

Hear, hear.

[vermonter]

And speaking of Vermont's business climate . . .

http://www.burlingtonfreepress.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070717/NEWS/70717041

Thanks, Pete and Gaye.

[manoman]

"And speaking of Vermont's business climate . . .

http://www.burlingtonfreepress.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070717/NEWS/70717041

Thanks, Pete and Gaye."

No, the sky is not falling. You are truely clueless. A business makes a choice to HQ in a geographically central location moving from Proctor to a city that is a transit hub and has an AIRPORT and you off the cuff blame the legislature.

[vermonter]

Hello, have you been following the antagonism between the state and OMYA for the last ten years? Probably not. Sorry, there can be absolutely no doubt that, whatever the official reason that is given for the move, at least part of the motivation has to be that Annette Smith, and the State, have tried to make life miserable for OMYA for the last ten years, and the Legislature's anti-business attitude certainly hasn't helped.

[sandy ward]

Symington is from my district. She made a huge mistake trying to squash the impeachment movement and it has nothing to do with her appearance.

Donald Trump isn't in politics and if petfry were to comment on the cost of Symington's haircut, that would be similar to the John Edwards reference.

Symington, Shumlin and Douglas all need to go.