You may have heard about @THISISVT, the new Twitter account which will be operated by a different Vermont citizen each week. It was created by the state Department of Tourism in the vein of @Sweden and @NewZealand, but hopefully without the awkward moments. Picking a citizen to temporarily act as the voice of a polity is officially trending.
@THISISVT's goal of representing Vermont through the real voices of Vermonters is a noble one. But you know what's more fun? Fake voices. More specifically, the jokey Twitter accounts that come about through anthropomorphizing the creatures and machines that populate our state. They're a critical part of the Twitter ecosystem, making sure that it can't be taken too seriously in the midst of all the self-promotion and buzzwords. Sure, they're probably a waste of time — but at least they're fun! (Usually.)
Here's a brief guide to the parody accounts that populate our local Twittersphere. Give 'em a follow if you don't already.
(Note: This list does not include Twitter accounts purporting to belong to pets or newborns. Parents, please don’t pretend to be your child on social media.)
Knock knock. Who's there? Interrupting Sidewalk Plow. Interrupting Sidewalk Plow wh--- RRRRRMMMM BBBRRRRRUUMMMMM beep beep beep VVVVRRRRMMM!
— BTV Snow Dragon (@BTVSnowDragon) January 20, 2012
@BTVSnowDragon. The Burlington DPW’s cute little sidewalk-sized snowplow didn’t have much to do this past winter, so it had plenty of time to learn the art of tweeting. This little machines musings on Burlington life and plow-shaped smiley faces — :] — made it a fast favorite in local social-media circles. It’s not an official account of the Department of Public Works, but it could serve as a model for public agencies on how to creatively engage on social media — and we suspect the Snow Dragon gave its interplanetary cousin, the Mars Curiosity rover, a few tweeting tips before launch.
Phew! #BTVCleanSweep was fun but boy are my brooms tired. Thanks everyone for the sightings and photos!
— BTV Dust Bunny (@BTVDustBunny) May 4, 2012
@BTVDustBunny. Here’s @BTVSnowDragon’s warm-weather counterpart, a street sweeper. This account first popped up in the spring around the city’s annual “Operation Clean Sweep” street cleaning project, but it hasn’t quite got the cult following that the sidewalk plow does.
I believe that music education is important, but someone tell that kid with the penny whistle to shut the heck up. #btv
— BigJoeStatue (@BigJoeStatue) August 5, 2012
@BigJoeStatue. Twitter has a way of resurrecting the dead (or prematurely killing the living), but this might be the first account that gives life to a statue of a dead man. Big Joe is the newest joke Twitter account on the block, so tweets are scarce for now, but any character who's stuck permanently people-watching on Church Street has potential for high comedy.
Mud season in Vermont is really making me regret wearing these dress shoes every day.The move to Florida is inevitable
— Fmr Gov Jim Douglas (@JimDouglasVT) March 15, 2011
@JimDouglasVT. Parody accounts are a classic staple of Twitter — see @Queen_UK, @NotTildaSwinton and the all-time best Twitter account ever, @MayorEmanuel for the finest examples. In that vein, here's an account parodying Vermont's previous governor, which 7D news editor Andy Bromage wrote about last year. Sadly, this Douglas wannabe breaks Twitter rules by failing to announce its parody status and, worse, fails miserably at being funny. Maybe because Jim Douglas is the kind of milquetoast figure that's too boring to joke about?
Gertie the @vermontemu, you will be missed. R.I.P. dear friend. #emudragon4life [via @bfp_news] bfpne.ws/GWHMph
— BTV Snow Dragon (@BTVSnowDragon) March 28, 2012
@VermontEmu. Remember the emu that was running free around the Champlain Islands last year? Yeah, it had its own Twitter account, carrying on a curiously close relationship with @BTVSnowDragon. Sadly, the account was abruptly shut down when the real-life emu turned up dead. Awkward.
What's that smell? It's definitely not me.
— South Union Skunk (@SouthUnionSkunk) July 11, 2012
@SouthUnionSkunk. After repeated reports of a skunk on the loose on S. Union St., this wannabe Pepe Le Pew got an online personification of its own. Who knew skunks could be so sensitive? Or that they liked PBR so much?
So your saying I shouldn't eat them? RT @birddiva: release of rare turtles back into #LakeChamplain.http://ow.ly/5r4xd#bvt #vt #adk
— champ (@Champ_lain) June 27, 2011
@Champ_Lain. Of course the monster at the bottom of Lake Champlain is tweeting — and in true Twitter fashion, the grammar is suspect. Dear old Champ hasn't tweeted much in the past year, though in all fairness, it's tough to type with flippers.
There really should be a long bench in here. Also, about 40 more hangers. Can anyone bring some in? #Vtpoli #VermontProblems
— Statehouse Coatroom (@vtcoatroom) March 1, 2012
@vtcoatroom. Anthropomorphizing animals and machines is so last year. Now we're on to rooms. The Statehouse coatroom is where legislators and citizens famously mingle, and this account keeps followers updated on all the happenings under the Golden Dome. We're certain, though, that there's more gossip told in the coatroom that deserves to be tweeted.
Got another whimsical Twitter account we missed? Let us know in the comments.
*UPDATED*
Four-term Burlington state representative and former mayoral candidate Jason Lorber will not seek reelection to the Vermont House, he announced Friday morning in an e-mail to supporters.
First elected to the legislature in 2004, Lorber was one of four Democrats to seek his party's nomination for mayor last fall, saying he would serve as "chief marketing officer" for the city. At the November Democratic caucus, Lorber won just 106 of 1309 votes on the first ballot and promptly withdrew from the race.
In his announcement, the consultant and stand-up comedian said he was proud of his work reforming the criminal justice system, supporting "farm-to-plate" initiatives and voting to legalize gay marriage. Lorber is one of just a handful of openly gay legislators in Vermont.
Lorber did not immediately return calls for comment on his decision to step down from the legislature, but he said in the announcement that he would "pursue other passions" and that "several exciting opportunities have presented themselves." He did not elaborate.
Lorber shares an Old North End district with fellow Democratic Rep. Jill Krowinski, who was appointed earlier this year to fill a seat vacated by Rachel Weston, who moved to Jordan to take a job with the National Democratic Institute. No other candidates have yet filed to run for the seat, according to the Vermont Secretary of State's office.
*UPDATE*
Former Rutland state representative Curt McCormack, who relocated to Burlington in 2008, said Friday he plans to run for the House seat Lorber is vacating.
An environmental consultant and electrical contractor, McCormack, a Democrat, has had a varied career. He served 14 years in the House before leaving to work for the state Agency of Transportation. McCormack lobbied for the Vermont Low-Income Advocacy Council and for the Vermont Public Research Interest Group. In 2005, he moved to Senegal to volunteer for the Peace Corps.
McCormack put his name forward in January to replace Weston when she announced she would resign her seat, but Gov. Peter Shumlin appointed Krowinski instead. McCormack said he had earlier contemplated running for the seat, but considers both Lorber and Krowinski friends and did not want to compete with them.
McCormack said that, if elected, he would work to extend the Ethan Allen Express rail line to Burlington and would advocate for a single-payer health care system.
Tonight at Nectar's is "Metal Monday," where for $5 you can hear the skull-splitting sounds of Boatman's Lament, Skrogg and Brave the Vertigo.
The opening act? On the big screen, Miro Weinberger's inauguration as Burlington's 38th mayor.
Weinberger will be sworn in as the Queen City's new boss — the first Democrat to occupy the corner office since 1981 — at 7 p.m. in city hall. The mayor-elect's peeps have reserved Nectar's for any overflow crowd, where the event will be live-streamed by Channel 17.
Even before it's official, Weinberger is putting his team together. On Sunday, he named Paul Sisson, a Burlington financial adviser and CPA who worked for KPMG, as interim chief administrative officer — one of the most powerful posts in city hall. The temporary appointment extends through June 30.
Seven Days contributor Kevin J. Kelley caught up with the mayor-elect last week at Maglianero Cafe on Maple Street, where Weinberger came dressed in a black suit jacket, white shirt and no tie. The talk ranged from Burlington's budget problems to Weinberger's feelings on a Church Street smoking ban. The mayor-elect also told Seven Days he and his wife have applied to send their daughter to first grade next fall at a Burlington public school — in the Old North End. She is currently in kindergarten at a private school in Williston
SEVEN DAYS: You’re bound to have something of a political honeymoon when you take office. Is there a 90-day or 100-day window for you to take major actions that will be harder to take later on?
MIRO WEINBERGER: Yes, June 30 is a significant date. We need to pass a balanced budget by then.
The 90-day window also relates to what I’ve said about making a decision on the Moran Plant by then. It’s gone on long enough. We need to decide what to do there. The financial consequences to the city will be significant no matter which way I go on Moran.
There’s already been substantial amounts of time and money invested in the plan. That’s something we need to consider. And I can say that other than the budget, I’ve spent more time on Moran than any issue. It’s a highly complex situation and it’s going to be an important decision for the new administration.
SD: Have you looked thoroughly by now at the city’s budget? Is the picture worse, better, the same as you’d thought earlier?
MW: The Kiss administration released substantially more information to us the day after the election. One significant difference is that the Burlington Telecom settlement [with CitiCapital regarding payments due] means that $400,000 in revenues the Kiss administration assumed to have for the next budget will actually not be available. That changes the challenge facing us from a $700,000-or-so shortfall to one that’s over $1 million.
I’ve not reached conclusions about how to handle this. My time line is to make decisions on it by the end of April. I will be looking primarily at the four biggest departments: police, fire, parks and recreation, and public works. I’ll be holding extensive meetings with each of those department heads.
SD: Can you possibly find $1 million in economies without having to lay off any personnel?
MW: I don’t know yet. I haven’t reached any conclusions. One factor is that I’m optimistic that the initial estimates of revenue for the city that were made in December may prove to be conservative.
SD: Which jobs are you going to fill immediately?
MW: Mayoral assistant, [Community and Economic Development Office] director, city attorney and chief administrative officer.
SD: Do you plan to make any additional appointments? You can’t name other department heads because the respective commissions do that, right?
MW: No, there was a charter change in the late ‘90s or thereabouts that results in a stronger-mayor form of government, with less power for the commissions. It’s a fundamental change in how city government is run. Because of that, this transition is going to look different than what we’re used to seeing.
All department heads have one-year appointments that end on June 30. The exception is human resources and tax assessor which go for two years. I’ll be asking each department head who’s interested in staying to submit a letter outlining their reasons and their plans.
SD: What criteria will you consider in deciding whether to retain a department head who worked for Bob Kiss?
MW: It won’t be based on their having worked for Bob Kiss. I’ll consider their qualifications and abilities, their energetic commitment to working in city government. I’ll also look at their willingness to be held to performance standards that we’ll be developing.
SD: Are you in favor of raising the mayor’s salary and those of some other city officials, as had recently been proposed to the Finance Board? [Currently, the mayor’s salary stands at $99,676.]
MW: I think the mayor’s salary level is generous already. We’re still in a period in which the people of Burlington are living in difficult economic conditions. The incomes of Burlingtonians have been absolutely flat since 2008. I don’t think it’s appropriate to raise the mayor’s salary in those circumstances.
SD: What about the proposals for other salary increases? The argument is that it can be hard to attract top-quality candidates because Burlington doesn’t pay as competitively as some places.
MW: It is critical to get people who are as strong as possible for those jobs. And salary does play a role in that. We won’t shy away from asking the city council to provide competitive salaries.
SD: How about the proposed downtown smoking ban that Mayor Kiss vetoed? What’s your position on that?
MW: I’m not in favor of the ban as it was proposed. It’s interesting that it was one of the issues I heard the most about on the campaign trail. There was opposition to the ban throughout the city, something on the order of 10 to 1.
SD: What’s your view of the proposal coming before the city council to strengthen trespassing prohibitions on the Church Street Marketplace?
MW: I haven’t made a decision on that yet. I am eager to engage in further discussion of it, with a vetting of it in terms of a constitutional review. It’s true there are some fairly acute issues facing us on the Marketplace, and we do have to take some action in regard to them.
SD: What are you going to do with your reserved parking space on Main Street? Will you give it to CarShare Vermont to use?
MW: I have gotten a call from CarShare about that. There’s talk of using the CarShare pod on St. Paul Street for the farmers market when City Hall Park is being worked on this summer. That’s something we have to look at. I haven’t agreed to give up that space. But I do intend to walk to work as much as I can.
SD: This is sort of a personal question, but are you going to enroll your daughter in the Burlington public school system? She’s in kindergarten now at the Bellwether School in Williston where your wife works. Will you keep her there for first grade?
MW: We’ve applied to have her start first grade in the magnet schools here: the Integrated Arts Academy at Wheeler or the Sustainability Academy at Barnes.
SD: Not Edmunds? That’s your neighborhood school.
MW: Edmunds is a great school, but we regard the arts curriculum as very appropriate for our daughter.
SD: What do you expect from Occupy Burlington? Do you think they have something important to say? Can your administration find a way to accommodate Occupy?
MW: I went to one of Occupy Burlington’s general assemblies, and I was very impressed by both the substance of what they’re saying and by their process. They’re giving important attention to the dramatic inequalities in this country. I’ve got great respect for their remarkable way of communicating as a group.
At the same time we do have laws that need to be enforced without bias against anyone in Burlington. So I will welcome a conversation with Occupy about how we can work together.
Photo credit: Courtesy of the Miro Weinberger campaign for mayor.
In the closing days of the most expensive mayor’s race in Burlington’s history, two of the candidates — and one political party — continued to pour cash into their campaigns.
According to filings due Friday, Democrat Miro Weinberger, who won by 20 percent, raised $16,469 and spent $25,050 in the last week and a half of the race. The Vermont Democratic Party spent another $8,631 on his behalf during that period.
In total, Weinberger and his party raised $143,940 and spent $140,118 on the campaign, dwarfing all previous records. Close to $50,000 of that was spent on a heated four-way race for the Democratic nomination last fall.
Republican Kurt Wright also continued to raise and spend in the closing days of the race. He took in $11,694 and spent $18,074 in the same period. In total, he raised $60,358 and spent $58,261 on the campaign. Wright received no help from the state GOP and ran uncontested for his party’s nomination.
Independent Wanda Hines raised and spent just $2,930. Though she came in a distant third, Hines certainly got the best bang for her buck. She spent just $5.80 per vote, while Wright spent $15.55 and Weinberger spent $24.15 per vote.
Most voters, one might imagine, would have preferred a check in the mail.
Given that candidates don’t have to report what they raised or spent in the campaign’s final days until after voters head to the polls, post-election filings tend to include a few goodies. This batch is no exception.
The Vermont Dems paid Alabama-based Anzalone Research $2,500 to conduct a last-minute poll. The party also paid Texas-based AMM Political Strategies $2,097 for paid ID calls — meaning the company called Burlington residents to determine which voters they should concentrate on turning out on election day.
Weinberger’s campaign paid Burlington-based HearForward $3,000 for social media consulting and another $5,017 to buy the campaign’s Facebook advertisements. It also spent $1,255 on more traditional radio ads.
Interestingly, conservative boogeyman Bruce Lisman — whose Campaign for Vermont outfit saturates the airwaves with commercials not quite in line with Weinberger’s “fresh start agenda” — cut the Democrat a $250 check. But don’t worry; he also maxed out to the Wright campaign with a $1,000 check.
For his part, Wright pulled in a few more top-dollar contributions from the Pomerleau real estate clan. In total, the family gave him $4,000. Barre Mayor Tom Lauzon and his wife, Karen, also ponied up $1,000 each to the Wright campaign a week before election day.
The only candidate to go up on television, Wright spent $1,495 to produce an ad and $3,167 to air it on WCAX-TV. He spent $5,138 on a final mailer and paid Florida-based Political Marketing International $413 for robo-calls.
With just two and a half weeks until he takes office, Mayor-elect Miro Weinberger rolled out his transition team Thursday morning at a city hall press conference.
Weinberger said the group — a mix of elected officials, campaign staffers and behind-the-scenes political types — would be “tasked with the important job of converting this optimism and goodwill and desire for change into a successful start in the new administration.”
Leading a team charged with conducting a “top-to-bottom review of city departments,” vetting personnel appointments and writing next year’s budget are Paul Sisson, a retired KPMG managing partner, and Andrew Savage, a former legislative director and deputy chief-of-staff for Congressman Peter Welch.
While Weinberger was mostly mum about specific city hall appointments, he indicated that Sisson is one of three contenders for the chief administrative officer position, a key post that is now vacant. Weinberger said that while the mayor has authority to hire roughly 20 positions, “The actual number of appointments in the beginning of the administration will be well less than that.”
He said he would likely seek to retain some appointees from outgoing mayor Bob Kiss’ administration.
“I’ve also made it clear I don’t intend to clean house for the sake of cleaning house. There are many public servants in the city that have done good work for the city for a long period of time, and who I hope will continue,” he said.
Though Weinberger said he held a “warm and productive meeting” with Kiss on Wednesday, Sisson wasn’t exactly effusive about the outgoing administration’s progress completing next year’s budget.
“What we’ve found is that the budget is far behind where it should be at this time of year,” he said. “Near term, we really need the acting CAO to get done what he’s gotta get done before we really can take some solid steps towards finalizing a proposed budget.”
Sisson suggested that city hall had been distracted by the election season and the ongoing Burlington Telecom debacle — and hamstrung by staffing vacancies.
“It’s just my speculation that they’ve been drawn into other things: pressing matters that the existing mayor is trying to resolve before he leaves office and things of that nature,” he said.
Interim CAO Scott Schrader did not immediately return a call for comment.
Asked whether he would focus more on cutting city services or raising revenue in order to meet a projected $700,000 budget deficit, Weinberger said his team is considering both — though he is optimistic the deficit may be smaller than the Kiss administration anticipated.
“We’re certainly reviewing those assumptions, and there is a sense that the economy may finally be starting to turn in the right direction and next year’s budget may benefit from that,” he said.
Sisson was far less sanguine, noting that the original projection did not include an expected hike in the city’s health insurance costs — so the budget gap could actually widen.
“My understanding is there are certainly costs that have not been put into the budget, including the estimated health care insurance costs for fiscal 2013,” he said.
Four of the eleven members of Weinberger’s transition team come from his campaign staff: campaign manager Jessica Nordhaus, spokesman Mike Kanarick, field director Jaafar Rizvi and event planner Deb Lichtenfeld. They will continue to be paid by the campaign, Weinberger said, and are under consideration for city hall jobs.
The remaining members of the team will volunteer their time. They include Reps. Joey Donovan (D-Burlington) and Kesha Ram (D-Burlington); former Vermont Democratic Party chairman Ian Carleton; former state representative Carina Discoll; and former mayor’s assistant and deputy state auditor George Thabault. The latter three all previously served on the Burlington City Council.
Weinberger and his team will be working out of vacant office space at 77 College Street donated by campaign supporter David Farrington, president of Shelburne-based Farrington Construction. According to Kanarick, Farrington donated $1,000 to the campaign in the closing days of the race through $250 checks from four companies he controls: Brownell, Hawley Block; Brick Box Co.; Box 77; and Sticks and Bricks. Kanarick said he was working to determine the value of the space and how the in-kind contribution would be reported.
Disclosure: Andrew Savage and I worked together in Congressman Peter Welch’s Washington, D.C., office.
A day before Burlington voters pick their next mayor, the candidates vying to take City Hall spent Monday scouring the city for a few more votes in a final frenzy of campaigning.
Republican mayoral candidate Kurt Wright and his Democratic opponent, Miro Weinberger, both spent the afternoon knocking on doors and waving signs in the New North End, traditionally a treasure trove of votes in Burlington elections.
“We feel good. A ton of energy,” Weinberger said as he canvassed Loaldo Drive alongside spokesman Mike Kanarick.
As if on cue, a middle-aged man driving a blue Ford Explorer pulled up to Weinberger and, pointing to his house a few doors down the street, said the candidate should feel free to put up a sign or two.
“We’re campaigning all over the city, but it feels very productive to be up here,” Weinberger said after the man drove away. “We’re making gains. People are open-minded about the race up here, even though it’s Kurt’s backyard.”
Wright, who hails from the New North End, spent the mid-afternoon hours knocking on condominium doors on Eastman Farm Road and making last-minute phone calls to undecided voters from his cellphone.
“Everybody seems to have a different prediction,” Wright said, acknowledging that the most expensive mayoral race in Burlington’s history was likely to come down to the wire. “I feel really good based on how many people have told me they’re voting for me for the first time ever and have never voted for a Republican before. I feel good about the level of support I’ve gotten from different parties.”
Independent mayoral candidate Wanda Hines did not immediately respond to requests for an interview.
If voter registration figures and absentee ballot requests serve as any indication, Tuesday’s election could see an above-average voter turnout. According to the city’s assistant chief administrative officer, Scott Schrader, some 700 Burlington residents have registered to vote in the past month.
As of Monday afternoon, 2798 Burlington voters had requested absentee ballots and 2117 voters had returned them, Schrader said. In the last mayoral election in 2009, 2016 ballots were requested and 1830 returned. In 2006, 2110 were requested and 1882 returned.
“I did end up having to order more ballots because I was nervous, and to some degree I still am,” Schrader said.
The two wards of the New North End — 4 and 7 — had the most completed absentee ballots by Monday afternoon: a combined 863. Early voting totals were also high in the more Democratic southern wards — 5 and 6 — with 336 and 333 absentee ballots returned, respectively.
At Wright’s Courthouse Plaza headquarters, six volunteers were calling through lists of voters Monday afternoon, alerting supporters of Tuesday’s election. According to the campaign, between 12 and 15 volunteers manned the phones all weekend long, making roughly 7500 calls.
Weinberger’s Battery Street headquarters, which he shares with the Vermont Democratic Party, was also buzzing Monday. Thirteen-year-old volunteer Austin Mesick stapled red “Endorsed by Bernie Sanders” signs to the bottoms of a slew of Weinberger yard signs, while field director Jaafar Rizvi made last-minute adjustments to the campaign’s get-out-the-vote plan.
Over the weekend, according to Kanarick, some 100 Weinberger volunteers made phone calls, held signs and took part in an election-day training session. The campaign made more than 11,000 phone calls Saturday and Sunday, Kanarick said.
The two campaigns converged late Monday afternoon at the busy intersection of Route 127 and North Avenue, waving signs and soliciting honks from commuters. The sidewalks abutting and across the street from North Avenue Alliance Church were lined with 30 volunteers, city council candidates and Wright and Weinberger themselves, all competing to out-wave and out-hustle the other — and all hoping for victory Tuesday night.
Be sure to join Seven Days and Channel 17 Tuesday night for a live blog featuring reporters and commentators from around the state as Town Meeting Day results trickle in. We’ll carry results from the Burlington mayoral election, Vermont’s Republican presidential primary, anti-corporate-personhood resolutions and whether Lowell and Eden will support designating an abandoned asbestos mine a federal Superfund site.
The action starts on the Seven Days home page at 5 p.m. and will continue until we run out of results to digest. We’ll be joined by reporters from VTDigger.com, the Bennington Banner, the St. Albans Messenger, the Addison Independent, the Brattleboro Reformer and others. Join us!
In a rare entry into local politics, Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) leant his support Wednesday to Miro Weinberger, a Democrat running for mayor of Burlington.
Citing the need for all levels of government to focus on creating good jobs and affordable housing, Sanders said in a statement, “I am voting for Miro Weinberger for mayor of Burlington because I believe that he is the candidate best able to address these and other serious issues facing our city.”
An independent who caucuses with Senate Democrats, Sanders is widely revered by Progressives in Burlington, who have been slow to embrace Weinberger’s candidacy. Without a nominee of their own, Progressives have been split among the three candidates: Weinberger, Republican Kurt Wright and independent Wanda Hines.
"I'm extremely honored to have the support and confidence of Senator Sanders," Weinberger said in a statement. "Bernie, as much as anyone, knows what it takes to make Burlington a great city. With a fresh voice, the right experience, and a new vision, Burlington can continue to make the remarkable progress of our recent past."
Sanders pointed to Weinberger’s record as an affordable housing developer as a key reason he is backing the Democrat.
“I have been impressed by his private sector efforts to create environmentally sound mixed-use development,” Sanders said. “I have seen first hand his beautiful project in Richford which combines a locally-owned grocery store, a rural health center, a dental clinic, a pharmacy and affordable housing — just the kind of development Vermont needs.”
Dave Hartnett, a Democratic city councilor and Wright’s campaign manager, said Sanders’ endorsement was “not surprising.” He cited previous campaign events on behalf of Weinberger held by Gov. Peter Shumlin and Congressman Peter Welch, and a Washington, D.C., fundraiser featuring Sen. Patrick Leahy.
“That’s pretty much been the theme of his campaign, bringing in the big, Washington, D.C. politicians,” Hartnett said. “He went on a plane and raised thousands of dollars in D.C., so it’s not surprising he’s being endorsed by the big names in Washington, D.C.”
Hines did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The move, which has been rumored to be in the works for weeks, represents a further strengthening of the uneasy alliance between the independent senator and the state’s Democratic machine. Though ostensibly a man without a party, Sanders’ interests have long aligned with those of the Democrats, who have declined for years to field a serious opponent against him. Sanders, who faces reelection this fall, votes with Democrats on procedural matters and receives the Senate committee assignments he would if he were a member of the party.
Earlier this week, Weinberger received the support of Burlington’s Somali Bantu community and the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Local #300.
Disclosure: I used to work for Congressman Peter Welch.