Thursday Snow Jobs

Sure "looks" like Christmastime, eh?

Nice fluffy dose of the white stuff this morning. There's a shot of the street out front. Burlap's South End - Five Sisters Neighborhood.

Gonna go grab a little coffee then hit Gov. Jim Douglas' weekly press conference - which he hasn't held for a few weeks.

In fact, this one has been moved over to the Ceremonial Office at the Statehouse for a prime photo-op.

There, according to Ol' Jason's missive,  our beloved Guv [left] "will join officials from Medicare and the Green Mountain Council of Boy Scouts to encourage eligible senior citizens to enroll in the federal Medicare prescription drug program.

Thousands of Vermont’s senior citizens have taken advantage of the federal prescription drug benefit implemented in January 2006.  According to officials, however, there are several thousand more Vermonters who are eligible but who have not yet enrolled."

Anybody notice the "Pollina Governor ‘08" ad in the current print edition of Seven Days?

It's now or never time for Tony the Prog...some say.

That's Anthony [right] in a recent shot taken at Uncommon Grounds on Church Street. Think the long hair would be a plus or a minus?

The campaign print ad, "Paid for by Pollina for Governor," says, "We're looking for volunteers, donors and campaign staff to help build this important grassroots campaign."

Interesting.

Comments

[Nate Freeman]

Speaking of snowjobs, have you verified that neither Doug Racine or Peter Galbraith will be in the race for '08?

All it takes is a phone call, right?

Nate

[Phyllis]

Anthony Pollina is a regular presence in coffee shops across Vermont, as your photo verifies. But is that a qualification for office?

[row]

I think all you need to be qualified to run for governor of Vermont is to be a certain age. Pollina looks old enough. I get a little tired of hearing how he isn't qualifed. Douglas has been milking government work for his entire life. Are you better off than when he started? I'm not.

[Mel Torme]

"Are you better off than when he started? I'm not."

Obviously because you expect gubmint to babysit your sorry lazy ass.

[row]

Actually, I work pretty hard. I don't expect gubmint to babysit my sorry ass. I expect the government to assist where the free market continues to fail. Jim said he equaled jobs. He didn't. Jim said he'd make Vermont more affordable. He hasn't. Someone's sitting on his sorry ass and he's our governor. Can we withhold his pay?

[equal blame]

Hey, it's fun and it's easy to blame the Gov. for the lackluster Vermont economy, and he certainly can take his share of the blame. But any blame-giving that leaves the "business friendly" policies of the Speaker and the Pro Tem out of the equation is simply unfair.

[row]

Yeah, but he never takes a share of the blame. It's always everyone else's fault. The man is a drag on Vermont and needs to go.

[eyes wide open]

I agree with row that blame is equal between the Democrats and Republicans. Godspeed to Anthony.

[equal blame]

"Yeah, but he never takes a share of the blame. It's always everyone else's fault. The man is a drag on Vermont and needs to go."

Again, not fair.

I don't recall either the Speaker or the Pro Tem accepting their share of the blame.

Do you?

When the Speaker and the Pro Tem acknowledge their anti-business policies of the past and vow to change, I'll send the Gov. a letter.

[linguini]

. ll pollina's long hair hurt or help?? well in VT it might hurt him with the crusty older crowd but who knows for sure?? Remember when Dick Snelling got out of politics for awhile and went sailing, grew a beard??? Well when he announced for either US senate or govenor he had shaved it off. I remember people were having wagers on whether or not he would keep or shave the beard and he showed up for the announcment with a clean face. It didnt do him any good because i believe it was the senate race and old St. Patrick kicked his republican ass good.

[vermonter]

Yes, and then later Vermonters elected him Gov. again in 1990.

[snow monster]

I did catch the Mark Johnson show the other day with the speaker who indicated that she had toured a number of businesses and was setting the sights of the legislature on addressing the concerns of these businesses. She also mentioned that she had already contacted the Governor's office in an effort to start to work with him on healthcare. She didn't say whether he had accepted the invitation. If he behaves like he has in the past, I suppose not.

"Yeah, but he never takes a share of the blame. It's always everyone else's fault. The man is a drag on Vermont and needs to go."

This is completely accurate. You have Douglas touring the state and cutting ribbons that mark Vermont success stories, while at the same time putting forth a consistently negative message in an effort to create and use conflict for his own benefit. Douglas' complaining and finger pointing does not do anything to help Vermont and it avoids accepting blame to assigning blame. It does not benefit anybody, but Douglas. It doesn't help businesses or business growth. Add to the conflict producing message, Douglas refuses to work with anybody. He refuses to work with our federal level legislative body(Wilderness). Douglas is a day late, dollar short to every single piece of legislative effort(Catamount, H520,..). He's a day late and a dollar short in his own executive acts. (Bennington, Sand). Instead of being involved in efforts to make Vermont better, Douglas prefers to tune his message with a cast of PR folks.

He is in fact a drag on Vermont and currently benefits from being a drag on Vermont. I really don't see the same with Symington.

[JPC]

"speaker who indicated that she had toured a number of businesses and was setting the sights of the legislature on addressing the concerns of these businesses."

"while at the same time putting forth a consistently negative message in an effort to create and use conflict for his own benefit."

"You have Douglas touring the state and cutting ribbons that mark Vermont success stories,"

Man am I lost. How can Douglas mark success stories while spreading a negative message that the speaker acknowledges by promising to address those negatives in the next session?

"Douglas refuses to work with anybody"
Or maybe they refuse to work with him. Seems as though before the last session started Douglas laid out his agenda, Shumlin and Symington stood there with him and promised to all work together. The S&S ignored Douglas' agenda and tackled there own personal agenda. That doesn't really sound like S&S were really in the mood to work with the gov on legislation last year. Further Douglas' being realistic and laying out the negatives have helped business, a few short weeks ago the Speaker had nothing to say about business, wasn't concerned about business, and had no intention of addressing business' concerns. Now she is talking to businesses and is going to address them next session. Sounds like DOuglas is having an impact.

Symington a drag???? Come on....seriously, how is your life better due to what she accomplished last session? Drag????? How is revisiting health care only months after the friggin program went into effect anything but a drag on Vermont. Was the legislation written that poor in the first place that it needs tweaking before it even get's going? That would be a drag. Symington does even less then Douglas, and I admit he doesn't do a lot. Worse off is Shumlin does less then either of them.

[snow monster]

"Man am I lost. How can Douglas mark success stories while spreading a negative message that the speaker acknowledges by promising to address those negatives in the next session?"

You are lost because you assume "negative message = "those negatives" and that "concerns" = "those negatives.

Nice try.

[JPC]

Well, maybe you could explain in a little more detail so as to clarify your statements.