Category Archives: Editor’s Picks

Rifle season opening sees mixed results

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Thirteen-year-old Camden Devereaux decided to hold out for a buck this year. He came up empty on Youth Hunting Weekend, but was rewarded with this eight-point buck, shot in Barton on the first day of regular rifle season. Photo courtesy of Karen Devereaux

by Paul Lefebvre

copyright the Chronicle 11-14-2012

Mixed results from the 2012 opening weekend of deer season suggest that bragging rights for the biggest deer might be shifting locations in the Northeast Kingdom.

Once the hallmark of the big woods in Essex County, deer weighing over 200 pounds were increasingly showing up at reporting stations this weekend in Orleans County.

“It’s rare in a season to get two deer weighing over 200 pounds,” said Bob Booth, whose Bob’s Quick Stop in Irasburg is one of the county’s premier big game weighing stations.

“Now we’ve got three and it’s only the first weekend.”

Of the 40 deer reported at Bob’s Quick Stop late Tuesday afternoon, the largest belonged to Chris Marsh of Orleans — an eight-pointer weighing 215 pounds.

Elsewhere around the area, early reports suggest that the 16-day rifle season that opened on Saturday got off to a slow start.

No one was calling it global warming, but over at Currier’s Quality Market in Glover, Windy Currier thought the weather might have been a contributing factor

“It’s been so warm,” she said, commenting on a warm spell that sent temperatures up to 65 Monday in West Glover.

Despite a slow start, the count at her store had risen to 30 by Tuesday.

No such drastic turnaround occurred at E.M. Brown in Barton.  By Tuesday only one deer had been reported — an eight-pointer weighing 152 pounds shot by Jed Lyon.

Further to the west, at the Four Corners Mini Mart in Troy, the weekend action was equally slow.

“Haven’t been that many reported,” said Barb Major, speaking from the store Tuesday where seven deer had been reported.

Ms. Major was careful to note, however, that the low reporting numbers might have more to do with the hunters than the deer.

“They could be going somewhere else, I don’t know,” she said.

Up in Island Pond, gateway to the big woods, the season got off to a promising start.

“Opening day wasn’t too bad,” said Walt Driscoll, whose taxidermy shop serves as a reporting station.

He checked in 12 buck Saturday, but then saw the number dwindle over the next three days to five, one, and one for a Tuesday total of 19 deer.

Like others, he suspects the unusual weather may be a contributing factor.

“It has been warm,” he said.

While tough winters traditionally have meant fewer deer in the Northeast Kingdom than elsewhere in the state, people at the Fish and Wildlife Department were optimistic that the statewide harvest would be up this year.

A press release issued by the department last week said that archers in October had taken 2,420 deer, which was significantly higher that it has been over the last three years.

“This represents nearly a 20 percent increase over the average for the past three years at this time, even though there are few concentrated food supplies such as apples and nuts this year to attract deer,” according to a press release dated November 7.

Locally, so far no one is predicting that the 2012 rifle season is going to be a banner year.

Over in Newport at Mr. O’s Sporting Goods, Mike Olden said Tuesday that between 25 and 30 deer had been reported in what he was calling an average year.

And while the numbers may be nothing exceptional, he said the deer were looking healthy.

“They’re very, very fat this year,” he said, adding it may be a sign that the deer already know it’s going to be a tough winter.

One of the largest deer reported this early in the season was shot in Irasburg on opening day.  It weighed 198 pounds, carried an eight-point rack, and was shot by a Newport hunter who had gone 15 years without shooting a buck in Vermont.

“I usually miss,” said Mike Fedele, who has had more success hunting deer in Maine than he has in Vermont.

One of the surprises at this point in the season is that the bigger deer are coming from places other than the big woods.

“They’re shooting some big deer outside the Island Pond area,” said Mr. Driscoll, who recently completed a term on the state Fish and Wildlife Board.

“They’re not getting anything like that out there,” he said, referring to the 133,000 acres of woods once owned and managed by paper companies.

The heaviest deer reported at his station were running around 175 pounds, whereas hunters in Orleans County were bringing in deer that were 20 pounds heavier and more.

Of the deer reported in Glover, Ms. Currier noted that several were exceptionally heavy.  Jon Hinton of Brownington shot a four-pointer that tipped the scale at a whopping 197 pounds.

Big deer may run in his family as his cousin Nate Carrier of Albany brought a five-pointer into Currier’s that weighed 194 pounds.

“You could say he beat Nate out by three pounds,” said Ms. Currier.

The department estimates the state deer herd at 125,000, with the largest numbers found in the southwest, east central, and northwestern regions of the state.

“Deer populations have benefited from excellent survival during the mildest winter recorded over the last four decades and good fawning conditions during the spring and summer,” according to deer project leader Adam Murkowski, who was quoted in the department’s release.

The mild winter may also have boosted hunters’ confidence.  Mr. Olden said license sales at his store were up this year.  Meanwhile over in Irasburg, Mr. Booth said he was seeing a lot more hunters and they all “seemed to be pretty happy.”

The 16-day season ends on November 25.

contact Paul Lefebvre at paul@bartonchronicle.com

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Rodgers wins Senate seat, House incumbents re-elected

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John Rodgers and Tim de la Bruere do some last-minute campaigning in Newport on Election Day. Photo by Paul Lefebvre

copyright the Chronicle 11-7-12

In one of the closest local races of the night, incumbent Democrat Bobby Starr of North Troy and Democrat John Rodgers of Glover won the two seats in the sprawling Essex-Orleans Senate district.

The unofficial tally at the Chronicle was 8,210 for Mr. Starr, 7,360 for Mr. Rodgers, 7,234 for Representative Robert Lewis of Derby, and 4,077 for Jay Dudley of Barton.

That tally was based on results reported from 34 of the 35 towns in the district.  The only town that did not report results Tuesday night in the Senate district was Victory, which had 66 voters on the checklist in 2008.

“A huge thank-you,” said Mr. Rodgers.  He said he had a tremendous amount of help.  The challenge was reaching the far corners of the district.

“I’d like to just thank the other candidates.  It was a good clean race,” said Senator Starr.  He said he also would like to thank the voters in the district.

 Illuzzi loses bid for auditor

 Senator Vince Illuzzi of Derby lost his first bid for a statewide office to Doug Hoffer of Burlington.  Mr. Hoffer, who ran as a Democrat and Progressive, was elected state auditor by winning roughly 51 percent of the vote.

“That’s the way it goes,” said Mr. Illuzzi whose defeat Tuesday was the first time he has lost an election since he was elected to the Vermont Senate in 1980.

“I did the best I could, and that’s all I could do,” he said in a brief interview late Tuesday night.

Mr. Illuzzi also noted that it was a tough year for Republicans as statewide office seekers like Randy Brock for governor and Wendy Wilton for treasurer also lost.

Voters in Essex and Orleans counties bucked a statewide trend and heavily backed Republican candidates for state offices.

On the other hand, voters in the two counties overwhelmingly supported President Barack Obama, who carried every town except Maidstone.

Voter turnout was down compared to the last presidential election four years ago.  This year 63 percent of the registered voters in the two counties came out to the polls as opposed to about 70 percent in 2008.

 Incumbents re-elected in Orleans 2

A pair of Independents challenged the two Republican incumbents in the Orleans 2 House district, but the voters decided they liked things as they were.  Representatives Mike Marcotte of Coventry and Duncan Kilmartin of Newport won handily over Newport Mayor Paul Monette and Newport Alderman Tim de la Bruere.

Orleans 2 covers Newport City, Newport Center, Irasburg, Coventry and Troy.

Mr. Marcotte led the field with 1,962 votes, followed by Mr. Kilmartin with 1,440.  Mr. de la Bruere had 1,213 votes and Mr. Monette followed closely with 1,199.

When reached with the results Mr. Marcotte said, “I’m happy the voters have given me another two years.”

He said he hopes to be back on the Committee on Commerce and Economic Development on which he has served as vice-chairman.

Mr. Marcotte said he’s interested in seeing the makeup of the House after the election.  However it turns out he said he feels comfortable working with both sides of the aisle.

 Higley keeps seat in Orleans-Lamoille

 In the Orleans-Lamoille House district, incumbent Republican Mark Higley fended off a challenge from Katherine Sims, a political newcomer who was running as a Progressive and Democrat.

The final vote was 920-887 with Ms. Sims winning in Jay, Troy and Eden.  In Lowell, however, hometown to both candidates, Mr. Higley won 265-112.

The two candidates could hardly be more different on many of the issues, with Mr. Higley generally taking a more conservative stance.

Ms. Sims is founder and director of the Green Mountain Farm-to-School program.  Mr. Higley is a contractor.

“I feel fortunate to have won and to get back to Montpelier and work for my constituents,” he said Tuesday night.”

He said he knew the race would be close.  “Katherine worked hard.  She was out there door-to-door, very active.  Sometimes we’d run into each other on the campaign trail.”

Mr. Higley said he’s not sure what accounted for his squeaker of a victory — perhaps just the fact that he’s got a little more experience in Montpelier.

For complete election results, see the Chronicle’s digital edition.  For more free stories like this one, please take a look at our Editor’s Picks section.

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Illuzzi and Hoffer seek state auditor’s job

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Don’t forget to vote today: Your vote counts.

copyright the Chronicle 10-31-2012

by Joseph Gresser

Of all the offices voters will fill in statewide voting on November 6, it likely that the one most citizens know least about is the position of auditor of accounts.

The race for this obscure job has taken on a higher profile this year, at least in the Northeast Kingdom, because Vince Illuzzi, who has long served as a state senator representing Orleans and Essex counties, is giving up his seat to run against Doug Hoffer for the job.

Despite any increased interest in the contest, it is likely that most voters have only a vague idea of what duties the winner will have to perform.  One might assume that the auditor checks the books of state government to make sure everything adds up.

But, according to both Mr. Illuzzi and Mr. Hoffer, that assumption is not quite correct.  In fact, that task has for some years now been performed by an accounting firm with which the state contracts.  At present the multinational firm, KPMG, has the state’s accounting business.

Doug Hoffer. Photo by Joseph Gresser

In telephone interviews both candidates said that it makes sense to have KPMG or a similar company check over the state financial statement and the “single audit” required by the federal government to keep track of funds sent to the state from Washington.

The reason, the two men agreed, is that regulations covering the reporting of federal funds change every year and a large company that works for several states can more easily handle the burden of keeping abreast of those changes than can a small office in Vermont.

Mr. Hoffer said it might be possible to have a couple of employees in the auditor’s office assigned to follow those changes.  But, he asked, what would happen if they decided to look for a different job and took their knowledge with them?

As things stand, the two major audits take up about half of the budget of the auditor’s office, $1.8-million.  The other half of its money, and the majority of the department’s attention, goes to what are called compliance audits.

According to Mr. Hoffer, that shift took place during the terms of Ed Flanagan in the 1990s and was part of a national trend among state auditors who started to take a closer look at the efficiency of government agencies and programs.

Both Mr. Illuzzi and Mr. Hoffer said they would continue to focus the energies of the auditor’s office on compliance audits.  Each agreed that such audits are essential to make sure that money is spent in the way intended by the Legislature, and to find ways to make state government more efficient.

Mr. Illuzzi pointed to recent press accounts concerning a new computer program intended to run the state’s court system.  The program, which he said cost around $3-million, is not working as expected.

An investigation of how that program and the non-functional $17-million information technology system at the Department of Motor Vehicles were purchased might help avoid similar wasteful spending in the future, Mr. Illuzzi said.

While the state can try to recover some of the money paid out for these systems, he said, it may be difficult to recover much for a variety of reasons.

Both Mr. Illuzzi and Mr. Hoffer argue that he would be the better person to carry out such investigations.

Mr. Hoffer points to his experience working as a consultant with the auditor’s office during the time Mr. Flanagan held the position.  He said he is temperamentally suited to the job, and is “hardwired to never go beyond the data.”

He acquired that trait while working for Burlington’s Community Economic Development Office during the administrations of Bernie Sanders and Peter Clavelle.  In that time he had to make many presentations to community groups about controversial projects.

By never venturing beyond where the figures took him, Mr. Hoffer said, he was able to establish the kind of credibility that allowed for fruitful discussion and eventual compromise.

Unlike Mr. Illuzzi, who was something of a political prodigy when he first won election to the state Senate at age 27, Mr. Hoffer admits to being a late bloomer.

He said he dropped out of high school after his family moved from an affluent area in Connecticut to Florida, and he was unable to deal with a radically different culture.  Mr. Hoffer traveled around and took various jobs, including a three-year stint as maitre’d of Alice’s Restaurant in the Berkshires.  (This was the same restaurant made famous by the Arlo Guthrie song, but some years afterward.)

From there Mr. Hoffer earned admission on full scholarship to nearby Williams College at age 29.  He went on to study law at the Buffalo campus of the State University of New York.

Mr. Hoffer said he never intended to practice law, a decision that allowed him to take courses that interested him, rather than those that would allow him to pass the bar exam.

He said that in his studies he kept coming across references to programs in Vermont that he found interesting, and after graduation he applied for a job working for the city of Burlington.

After Peter Clavelle left office, Mr. Hoffer was offered a position in the auditor’s office by Mr. Flanagan.

He said he rejected the job because he didn’t want to commute to Montpelier, but accepted work as a consultant.  Mr. Hoffer said he has continued to work as a consultant since then.

Mr. Hoffer said he is interested in the position of auditor because he is a number cruncher who is able to ask good questions, not because he is interested in a stepping-stone to a higher office.

If elected, Mr. Hoffer said, he would work to make the auditor’s office more transparent, for instance by posting the cost of each audit along with the money saved as a result.

Mr. Hoffer said that under the incumbent, Tom Salmon, the auditor’s office has spent $2.4-million to conduct 15 audits, an average of $158,000 per audit.

“That is the equivalent of two very well paid staffers working for one year on a report,” Mr. Hoffer said.

Although he acknowledged that the average gives only a rough idea of what the actual cost of each investigation was, Mr. Hoffer said he thought the office could be run more efficiently.

Mr. Hoffer said the cause might be “scope creep,” a condition under which the area examined by an audit expands as the person conducting it looks into new areas that may be interesting to her, but not worth the time being spent on them.

He said that the auditor should be involved in every investigation into spending, but that sometimes an agency’s own auditors can do the job without the auditor’s office duplicating their efforts.

Mr. Hoffer said that it might save money to have follow-up audits conducted in-house rather than by KPMG.  He said that when an audit uncovers a problem in a federally funded program, a follow-up is required to make sure that it has been properly addressed.

KPMG charges about $165 an hour to do this work, Mr. Hoffer said, far more than they get for the initial audit.  But the parameters for how the agency ought to be handling its money have already been set, and the follow-up does not require the same kind of expert knowledge that the initial audit does, he added.

Vince Illuzzi. Photo by Joseph Gresser

Senator Illuzzi, citing his lengthy experience in state government — he has served Orleans and Essex counties in the state Senate since 1979 — said his deep knowledge of state government would help him to make sure spending is being done as intended by the Legislature.

He also said that, because he is so well known in state government, his investigators would not be met with suspicion and hostility in departments undergoing a compliance audit.

Asked about why he decided to seek election as auditor, Mr. Illuzzi said he decided early not to run for re-election to the Senate.  He said he was considering running for attorney general when Mr. Salmon called him and told him he did not plan to run again.

Mr. Salmon said he thought Mr. Illuzzi would be well-suited to the job, and persuaded him to seek election, Mr. Illuzzi said.

Mr. Illuzzi said that though he is able to get along with everyone in state government, he is very willing to take opposing stands when he believes he is correct.

He said former Governor Jim Douglas was not happy when he called for closing down a state office building in Bennington when workers there became ill, but the building was shut.

Mr. Illuzzi also said he fought to have a majority of the board of the Vermont Electric Company, which oversees transmission lines in the state, represent the public after Green Mountain Power bought Central Vermont Public Service.  He said that he didn’t win that battle, in which Governor Peter Shumlin took the opposite side, but the percentage of public members on the board was increased as a result of his work.

He said the auditor’s work is all about trying to help the government adopt best practices.

“My motto has always been:  We can do better.  If we trust each other and pull in the same direction that will happen.”

contact Joseph Gresser at joseph@bartonchronicle.com

For more free articles from the Chronicle like this one, see our Editor’s Picks pages. For all the Chronicle’s stories, pick up a print copy or subscribe, either for print or digital editions.

 

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Governor’s race: Is our hair on fire?

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Governor Peter Shumlin announced a contract that would create helmet-building jobs in Newport earlier this month. Photo by Bethany M. Dunbar

copyright the Chronicle 10-31-2012

by Bethany M. Dunbar

“When your hair is on fire, you don’t call for a moratorium while you go put your hair out,” said Governor Peter Shumlin.

Mr. Shumlin’s point is that the planet is facing a global crisis, and with oil going regularly up to $4 a gallon and the effects of climate change being felt everywhere including Vermont, “We can’t get off oil quickly enough.”

In the Northeast Kingdom two major wind turbine projects are — depending on your point of view — either a tribute to his efforts to make renewable energy happen quickly, or a symbol of top-down government that allows little local control.

One can’t say there is no local control involved because host towns have had an opportunity to vote on whether or not they want these projects.

“I happen to think they’re beautiful,” said Mr. Shumlin.  “I am sympathetic and empathetic to those who are not in favor.”

He said any town that votes a project down should not have to host it, and he’s made that opinion clear to the three-member Public Service Board (appointed by the Governor) that makes decisions on wind projects.

“I think the Public Service Board process works,” he said.

All that doesn’t stop neighbors in towns that suffer equal or more effects from wind projects and don’t have a vote, and don’t get property tax benefits, from getting frustrated.

That frustration is part of the platform of two of the Governor’s opponents.  Republican Randy Brock, formerly the state’s auditor and currently a state senator, supports a moratorium and says Vermont’s already got the cleanest energy portfolio of any state.

Randy Brock was in Barton on Tuesday to judge a pumpkin pie contest at the Barton Senior Center. He took the task seriously, creating a grid system on index cards for the four judges, where taste and crust would have twice as much weight in the judging as appearance and consistency. At left is the manager of the center, Brenda Sargent. Photo by Bethany M. Dunbar

“The whole industrial wind thing is an issue for so many people,” he said.  He was one of the co-sponsors of the moratorium.  “I don’t think we’ve really done the homework.”

“When we blow off the mountaintops it has an impact on all the surrounding towns and all of Vermont,” he said.  “I’m concerned about the effect on the aesthetics and the ecosystems,” he said.  “I’m also concerned about the economic issues.”

He said Vermont does not actually use much coal or oil.  Mainly our electric power comes from nuclear power, natural gas, and hydroelectricity.  Coal and oil account for only 3.3 percent of Vermont’s electrical energy, he said.

He said while he supports renewables for the future, “the technology isn’t here.”  For one thing, it’s still too expensive, he said.  That means by building it now, poor and working class Vermonters are footing the bill for corporations to get into renewables.

“What I see here is Robin Hood in reverse.”

He said building renewables in Vermont could cost the state jobs as the cost of electricity goes up too high, and companies like IBM start taking a closer look at their expenses.  IBM pays 25 percent less for electricity in one nearby state and 50 percent less in Canada.

Annette Smith is the executive director of Vermonters for a Clean Environment.  She got into the race for governor late — reluctantly at first, and mainly because people asked her to.  She was narrowly defeated in the Primary for a Progressive nomination, which means her name is not on the ballot.  But she is continuing as a write-in.  The winner of the Progressive nomination, Martha Abbott, stepped down, saying the party agrees with Governor Shumlin on two of the issues most important to the party — closing the aging, dangerous Vermont Yankee nuclear plant and health care.  Yet the party stopped short of endorsing Mr. Shumlin.

Ms. Smith said voters who want more local control should write in her name.  She has a history of figuring out strategies for fighting back against corporations that seem to want to roll over the regular people at times.

“I do have a process that has worked and made me very effective,” she said.  She said her preference is not to “break the rules but redefine the rules.”

“This campaign is not just about wind.  It’s about local control.”

Asked her position on the jobs and the economy, she said, “I see nothing but opportunities in Vermont.  We have a tremendously intellectual population and skilled people.”

She said a lot of people look at economic development as an effort to bring in large manufacturing companies, but she would like to see more new small ones starting up.

Annette Smith has been in the area often in her efforts with Vermonters for Clean Energy, but we did not manage to get a photograph. This one is courtesy of penwardenphotography.com.

“I see the capital we have right here in Vermont being put to use,” she said.

On that she and Mr. Brock agree.  He said jobs and the economy are the number one issue for him.

“We’ve got to grow our economic pie instead of figuring out how to cut it up,” he said.  He said his first task as Governor will be to go around to all the welcome centers and where the signs say, “Welcome to Vermont” he will add one underneath it:  “Open for business.”

“We need to change the perception that Vermont isn’t open for business,” he said.  He said Vermont is open, and the permits that developers need to obtain are not unnecessary.  “Our environment is really important.  We don’t want Vermont to look like New Jersey.”  He said sometimes it’s a matter of changing the emphasis of people who handle the permit process.  He said when a developer comes in the door, the state permit workers should adopt an attitude that the permits are important but “my job is to help you be successful.”

He would like to set up a micro loan program for people who are unemployed and want to start a business instead of just getting a job.

“We have a lot of talented people that are unemployed,” he said.

Mr. Shumlin gives high priority to job creation as well, and he points out that he’s had considerable success in that area.  He said Vermont has the fifth lowest unemployment rate in the country, and is the only state that saw income growth in the past two years.

“I promised that I would focus on job creation like a laser,” he said.  In Newport to celebrate a contract for helmets at the Revision Military helmet plant earlier this month, Governor Shumlin said, in an interview after the press conference, the recent announcement by Bill Stenger and others about 5,000 to 10,000 jobs for the area is wonderful news.

To those who are nervous about possible consequences from the development, Mr. Shumlin said fear of change is always going to be a factor for people, but this is good news.  Put in perspective, 5,000 people is not a huge number, he said — Jay Peak might have that many on the slopes on a busy day in the winter.

“Let’s rejoice in the simple fact,” he said.  Issues of infrastructure for those jobs can certainly be solved, he said.

Mr. Shumlin worked on a bill that changed the wording of state law to make Vermont government documents more open and accessible to the press and the public, and he said if re-elected he will continue those efforts.

There are currently over 200 exceptions to a state law that says government records should be open to the public.  Instead of trying to comb through them all at once and get rid of unnecessary exceptions, the Governor said he wants to take one area at a time, starting with the courts and police.

Governor Shumlin might be best known for his support of a single-payer government health care plan that would make sure all Vermonters have access to affordable health care.  It is a lofty goal, and the Legislature has passed a law to move in that direction.  But that next step is dependent on federal funds that are most likely dependent on the re-election of President Barack Obama.

Meanwhile, Mr. Shumlin’s challengers both say they are not convinced it’s the way to go, or maybe not exactly as proposed.

Ms. Smith said she is in favor of single-payer, but believes the state must get a handle on costs and offer choices to patients.

“I would like us to move much more toward consumer-driven health care,” said Mr. Brock.  He said there are steps that can be taken right away to address many of the concerns Vermonters have about health care, including making the costs of every procedure transparent.  At a gut level, he believes competition would drive the costs down and increase the quality better than a government plan would do.

Health care is one-sixth of Vermont’s economy at $5-billion, he said, and a board of five unelected people should not be the ones making all the decisions.  He’d like to look at what some other states are doing, including Maine, he said.

“Is there a reason that 49 other states are not doing what we are doing?” he asked.

Emily Peyton, who is running for Governor as an independent, made a campaign swing through Barton, but efforts to arrange a time for an interview were not successful.  Ms. Peyton is from Putney.  She has a background in videography and supports organics, industrial hemp, and holistic health.  Cris Ericson is a candidate under the United States Marijuana Party in Vermont.  Dave Eagle is the Liberty Union Party candidate and calls himself an information technology refugee.

contact Bethany M. Dunbar at bethany@bartonchronicle.com

For more free articles from the Chronicle like this one, see our Editor’s Picks pages. For all the Chronicle’s stories, pick up a print copy or subscribe, either for print or digital editions.

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Wilton wants more government transparency

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Wendy Wilton stopped in Barton during her campaign for state treasurer. Photo by Tena Starr

copyright the Chronicle, 10-24-12

by Tena Starr

BARTON — Wendy Wilton says she wants to be state treasurer for two reasons:  She believes Vermont is facing a looming financial crisis that is not being addressed, and its finances need to be absolutely transparent to every ordinary citizen.

She’d like to put the state’s financial information online where anyone can look up, say, how much is spent on State Police, or Human Services — a first step to a more vibrant and informed dialogue on how and where Vermont spends its money, she said in an interview last week.

Ms. Wilton, a Republican, took all the vacation time she had coming to her as Rutland treasurer and decided to spend the lot of it campaigning for state treasurer.  Last week she was far from home, traveling the Northeast Kingdom.  She stopped in Barton to outline the reasons why she thinks she’s the best person for the job.

Her main opponent is Democrat Beth Pearce, who was appointed by Treasurer Jeb Spaulding in 2011 after Governor Peter Shumlin named Mr. Spaulding secretary of administration.  Ms. Pearce was Mr. Spaulding’s deputy treasurer.

Ms. Wilton paints a bleak picture of Vermont’s financial future.  The state gets 40 percent of its revenue from federal sources, she said.  “Of the $5-billion we raise and spend every year, $2-billion comes from the feds.”

Most of that has either been from President Barack Obama’s American Recovery and Reinvestment Act or from settlements with tobacco companies, she said.  “We are so highly dependent on this federal money.  For the past few years the Legislature has been plugging budget holes with stimulus and tobacco money.”

Both sources are either gone, or will be soon, however.  And Ms. Wilton fears that Vermont has not planned for what that means.  In addition, she said some state budgets, such as Human Services, are out of control.  And the big elephant in the room, she said, remains $1.2-billion in unfunded liabilities for state employees’ and teachers’ retirement funds.

But all is not lost, Ms. Wilton said.  “The sky isn’t falling.”  However, the time to start tackling projected deficits and pension problems is now, and she argues that Ms. Pearce has failed to develop an adequate plan for addressing matters like how to fund retirement accounts.

Ms. Wilton has run an aggressive campaign, accusing her opponent of all sorts of malfeasance, ranging from mismanagement of the treasurer’s office to deliberately avoiding support of the education system by renting, instead of owning, a home.

The mellower Pearce campaign has occasionally fired back, saying that the decision to rent or buy bears no relationship to one’s commitment to the state, and that Ms. Wilton should end “unfounded attacks.”

Last week, Ms. Wilton wrote a letter to State Auditor Tom Salmon asking for an independent audit of the state treasurer’s office.  Among other things, Ms. Wilton is questioning what she calls excessive overtime expenses in the treasurer’s office.

Ms. Pearce’s campaign has not denied that there has been considerable overtime, but said the treasurer’s office expenses have come in under budget.  The overtime in question largely went to one employee, who worked about 3,000 hours in overtime between 2010 and 2012, mostly because of personnel shifts or retirement, which left that employee doing the work of three people, according to Ms. Pearce in a story by VTDigger.  The work is related to a new computer system.

The race for treasurer isn’t usually contentious or high visibility, but it is this year.  The chairmen of the House and Senate Appropriations committees, as well as the House Ways and Means Committee and the Senate Finance Committee — all Democrats — have endorsed Ms. Pearce, saying the race could be closer than expected.  Ms. Pearce, who has 35 years experience in public finance, was featured by Bond Buyer magazine as one of ten trailblazing women in public finance.

Ms. Wilton doesn’t hesitate to criticize her opponent. She also touts her own accomplishments.  Recently, the Vermont Municipal Clerks and Treasurers’ Association named her Treasurer of the Year.  In Rutland, where she was elected treasurer in 2007, she said that she eliminated a $5-million deficit.  Last year, Rutland had a $3.8-million surplus.

That dramatic shift was accomplished primarily through transparency, she said.  With the use of technology and timely reporting, city officials were able to see that the shortfall was in the water and sewer departments rather than the general fund, and rates needed to be raised in order to keep up with costs, Ms. Wilton said.

“The board had not had timely information to keep the rates up” so they couldn’t budget properly, she said.  “The departments could not tell if they were on track.”

She put raw financial information on the Internet for anyone to see, and that’s exactly what she’d like to do at the state level, although she acknowledges that the much bigger and more complex state financial numbers would have to be simplified or condensed so they’re accessible to anyone.

Vermont is woefully lacking when it comes to government transparency, in many areas, Ms. Wilton said.  Having its financial information accessible to the public would improve democracy in her view.  Access would at least be a start to a more informed public dialogue.

She said she “ran on transparency” when she sought election as Rutland’s treasurer, and she is running on transparency at the state level.

The treasurer cannot make policy or decide how money is spent — the state Legislature does that.  However, Ms. Wilton said, the treasurer can, and should, inform policymakers about the financial consequences of their actions.  The office should be apolitical and independent, she said.

The Republican super PAC Vermonters First has spent $28,037 on advertising for Ms. Wilton.  Her background includes one term — in 2005-2006 — as a state senator, years spent in banking, and a stint at the Vermont Small Business Development Center.

contact Tena Starr at tena@bartonchronicle.com 

For more free articles from the Chronicle like this one, see our Editor’s Picks pages. For all the Chronicle’s stories, pick up a print copy or subscribe, either for print or digital editions.

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Orleans-Lamoille candidates differ on almost all subjects

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Moderator Tod Pronto chats with Orleans-Lamoille House Katherine Sims and Mark Higley. Photo by Joseph Gresser

copyright the Chronicle 10-24-20

by Tena Starr

DERBY — Voters in the Orleans-Lamoille House district will have a clear choice on Election Day.  At a forum here Monday night, Republican incumbent Mark Higley and Progressive challenger Katherine Sims talked about industrial wind power, the economy, the future of agriculture, health care, and regulation — and they differed, at least in approach, on almost everything.

Ms. Sims is founder and director of the Green Mountain Farm-to-School program, which educates children about healthy food choices and links local farms to local schools.  In her opening statement, she said that her father grew up in Vermont, but like so many others, left for better job opportunities.  She said lack of economic opportunity is just one of the problems she’d like to remedy as a legislator

“I’d like to bring a new, independent voice to Montpelier,” she said.  “I’ll represent our district with hard work and vision.”  She said that, knocking on doors recently, she’s realized that most people in the Northeast Kingdom have a similar vision, but she’s not sure that Montpelier shares it.

Mr. Higley is a general contractor who listed his years of experience in public service, both in Lowell and in southern Vermont, as a solid waste management committee member, a lister, and a selectman.  He’s worked on a dairy farm and was in the Navy Seabees.  For the past four years, he’s served on the House Government Operations Committee, which handles more bills than any other House committee, he said.

On wind power, an issue that certainly has divided both candidates’ hometown of Lowell, Ms. Sims said she strongly supports a moratorium on industrial wind projects, although she also supports renewable energy.  “We need to invest in solar, hydro, methane,” she said.

From all she’s heard, Vermont has plenty of power for the next 20 years, so there’s no need to rush, Ms. Sims said.  There’s time to study the Lowell wind project and see what the cost of the energy it produces is and what other effects, negative or positive, it will have.

Mr. Higley said he supported the Lowell project.  He called it a local issue and a project that 75 percent of Lowell voters supported.  Also, he said he’s seen local economic benefits with busy local stores and people who have received jobs as a result.

He added that he would support a two-year moratorium, a period of time long enough to study the important issues in his view.  His concern is what baselines would be used in such studies.  For instance, he said outside the forum, there’s no question that Lowell property values have gone down because of the economy.  Would a study of the wind farm’s effect on property values start with a pre-recession baseline, which would probably be more accurate?

Mr. Higley said he has issues with the state’s energy bill.  “I have not supported it because of the aggressive percentage of renewables they want to have in the portfolio.”  He’s worried that will lead to much higher energy costs, which will be detrimental to business.

Asked about whether there is too much regulation in Vermont, Ms. Sims said, “I think businesses are the heart of our community.”  If businesses are healthy, the community is, too, she said.  Regulation should be predictable and reliable, she said, but not gutted.  “It should be streamlined and more effective.”

Mr. Higley said he’d like to approach that question from a slightly different angle — his four years as a legislator.  Many laws are “well intended with a lot of unintended consequences,” he said.

For instance, a smoking ban in the workplace is ludicrous when it turns out that, if its strictly followed, a farmworker could not have a cigarette while in the cab of a tractor out in the field.  Some regulations simply don’t make sense when carried out to their logical consequences, and they throw unnecessary roadblocks in the way of struggling small enterprises, Mr. Higley said.

Ms. Sims said the most important issue facing Vermont in the coming year is probably health care.  “I hear from a lot of people about health care,” she said.  “They worry about what happens if they get sick.  It broke my heart to hear from a nurse who cannot afford health care for herself and her family.”

The details, including the cost, of Vermont’s proposed health care plan are yet to unfold, Ms. Sims said.  But, she added, it’s a debate she’d much like to be a part of.  “I think a no vote on the health care bill is a vote for the status quo.”

Outside the forum, she said she supports universal health care, which she thinks will save money and ensure better and more comprehensive care.

Mr. Higley said he did not support the health care bill.  There are too many unknowns, for one thing.  Also, other states have come up with options that could have been looked at.  For a third, he’s concerned that the current system is being dismantled before another is in place, which could lead to a worsening of the health care situation for some people.

“I don’t feel that we have the answers,” he said.

The economy is the biggest problem facing Vermont, Mr. Higley said.  “From what I’ve heard from folks, the economy is the number one issue.”  There are many thoughts about how best to tackle that, he noted, but he’d like to think he’s done his part, sometimes by voting for a bill, sometimes by voting against one.

The state often quietly taxes people and small businesses through fees and rules that don’t get much attention but do add up, Mr. Higley said.  “You can’t keep increasing taxes at all levels — it just makes it harder and harder for folks in Vermont.”

The candidates were also asked their thoughts on what changes will come to the Northeast Kingdom as a result of huge development plans for Jay Peak, Burke Mountain, and Newport.

“I’ve thought about that,” Mr. Higley said.  “My biggest answer is to make sure we are involved.”

“We know we need more jobs for kids who want to stay here,” Ms. Sims said.  “Ten thousand jobs sound great, but what kind of jobs?”  They need to be full-time, permanent jobs that earn a living wage, she said.

Also, she said, the promise of development is an opportunity, but it’s important not to destroy the parts of the Northeast Kingdom people love in the process.  “It needs to be smart growth, not just any growth.”

The candidates were also asked about the future of agriculture, a subject Ms. Sims said is near and dear to her heart.

“I think Vermont’s agricultural economy has a bright future,” she said.  While dairy farming has been in steady decline, there’s been a Renaissance in diversified agriculture — vegetables, cheese making, value-added products, she said.

The buy local movement is extremely important, Ms. Sims said.  For instance, she said, the prison in Newport spends $500,000 a year on food each year.  If just 10 percent of that were spent locally, that would be $50,000 injected into the local farm economy.

Mr. Higley agreed that diversification is likely the key to a healthy farm economy in Vermont.  He also mentioned the Working Lands Enterprise Board, which is comprised of 15 members from agricultural and forestry sectors.  He said he hopes the board will collaborate and come up with some big ideas, even though it does not have much money to work with.

On a question about death with dignity, basically physician-assisted suicide, Mr. Higley said he does not support it.  Ms. Sims said she does.

Mr. Higley does not support decriminalizing marijuana possession.  Ms. Sims does.

Neither supports a tax on business services, such as hiring a plumber or electrician.

In response to a question from Mr. Higley, Ms. Sims said she would like to serve on either the education or agriculture committees.

In response to a question from Ms. Sims, Mr. Higley said the legislation he’s presented that he’s most proud of is a bill he spoke to on the floor about public records.  “I think it’s important that the press, as well as citizens, have access to information that’s public,” he said.

“I’m here before you, in part, because my grandmother took me to meet the first female governor of Vermont,” Ms. Sims said in her closing statement.  That was an inspiring experience, she said, that contributed to her desire to work in public service.

“I have a proven record of making a difference,” Ms. Sims said.  “My commitment is that I will continue to work hard, I will listen, and ask questions.”

She said she would post a monthly update on her website and send it to newspapers as well so her constituents would know what issues are coming up that would affect them.

Mr. Higley said that one of the most rewarding parts of his job is dealing with constituent problems.  Big issues are the ones that make the news, he said, but they aren’t always the ones that most directly affect people.  Often a legislator can make a difference simply by navigating the bureaucratic process on behalf of a citizen, he said.

“I’m in the minority down there,” he said.  But he believes that the minority voice he represents needs to be heard, and he’s happy to help his constituents if possible.

Lowell, Jay, Westfield, Eden, and part of Troy are in the district.

This series of forums was sponsored by the Chronicle, Vermont’s Northland Journal, the Orleans County Record, the Newport Daily Express, WMOO, NEK TV, IROC and the East Side Restaurant and moderated by Tod Pronto. The full forum will air on NEK TV, which is channel 15 on Comcast cable.

Both the House district forums will air on Wednesday, October 24, at 9 a.m., Thursday at 9 a.m. and 9 p.m., and Friday at 2 p.m.  They will be rebroadcast at other times as well.  For more information, see www.nektvonline.com.

contact Tena Starr at tena@bartonchronicle.com

For more free articles from the Chronicle like this one, see our Editor’s Picks pages. For all the Chronicle’s stories, pick up a print copy or subscribe, either for print or digital editions.

 


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Newport House district race draws three public servants

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The four candidates for the two seats representing Orleans-2 in the state House of Represenatives answer questions.  From left to right sit Newport Alderman Tim de la Bruere, Representative Duncan Kilmartin, Representative Michael Marcotte and Newport Mayor Paul Monette.  Photo by Joseph Gresser

copyright the Chronicle 10-24-12

by Joseph Gresser

DERBY — It is unusual for challengers in an election to be as well known to voters as the incumbents.  But, in the case of the race to represent Newport, Newport Center and Coventry in the state House of Representatives, each of the four candidates has a high public profile.

Representatives Duncan Kilmartin and Michael Marcotte seek re-election from the two-member Orleans-2 district.  They are opposed by Newport Mayor Paul Monette and Newport Alderman Timothy de la Bruere.

The candidates met Monday night at IROC for a forum sponsored by local newspapers and broadcasters.  Differences between the candidates could be found more in tone than in substance and the discussion was courteous despite the competitive nature of the event.

“I voted for Mayor Monette every time I went to the polls, I will not vote for him this time,” Mr. Kilmartin said with a smile, in what could have been the most contentious moment of the evening.

This was in the context of his introduction, in which he described himself as a retiring criminal lawyer.  Mr. Kilmartin said he hopes to have his final cases done by May.

Mr. Kilmartin said that during his 12 years in the Legislature he has gained a reputation for solid research on issues.  “I like to get down in the weeds,” he said.

“I don’t trade in sound bites, I trade in conclusions based on facts,” Mr. Kilmartin later declared.

Like Mr. Marcotte, Mr. Kilmartin is a Republican.  Mr. Monette and Mr. de la Bruere are running as independents, but each said they would likely caucus with House Democrats in order to get committee assignments.

Mr. Kilmartin described himself as being “one generation off the farm.”  His grandfather, he said, was a dairy farmer.  His father was a pipefitter and Mr. Kilmartin said that he pursued that trade as he worked his way through college and law school.

He has two daughters and three grandchildren, “who can’t afford to live in Vermont,” Mr. Kilmartin said.  Mr. Kilmartin told the forum audience he was at the event at the urging of his wife, even though she was ill and in the intensive care unit of North Country Hospital in Newport.

Mike Marcotte, like Mr. Monette and Mr. de la Bruere, is a Newport native.  A graduate of Sacred Heart High School, Mr. Marcotte now lives in Coventry where he is chairman of the town selectmen.

He was first elected to the Legislature in 2005 and serves as vice chairman of the House Committee on Commerce and Economic Development.

Mr. Marcotte is married and has two sons and one daughter.  He has owned the Jimmy Kwik store in Newport for the past 29 years.

Mayor Monette, a product of Newport’s public schools and a graduate of North Country Union High School, attended Lyndon State College where he studied meteorology.

After graduation he moved to Boston where he worked for Weather Services International, travelling the country setting up weather stations around the country.

Mr. Monette said he became homesick for Newport and moved back.  He took a job with a software company in Richford and, after the company laid him and other employees off, started his own computer business.

Today he works as technology coordinator for Newport City Elementary School and is a partner in Baan Thai Cuisine, a restaurant on Newport’s Main Street.

Mr. Monette is in his second term as mayor, and served on the city council for 12 years before that.

Mr. de la Bruere said that he has been involved in public service for a third of his 30 years.  He dated his interest in working for the community even earlier, to his days as a Boy Scout.

He graduated from Sacred Heart High School and attended St. Lawrence University in Canton, New York, where he majored in history and Native American affairs.

Mr. de la Bruere has worked as an electrician, as have many of his family.  He currently is employed as a 911 dispatcher.

At the forum he recalled being hoisted atop the shoulders of Governor Howard Dean when he went to Montpelier to be honored for becoming an Eagle Scout at age 14.

He was appointed by Governor Jim Douglas to serve on the Vermont Commission on Native American Affairs in 2006 and credited both Mr. Kilmartin and Mr. Marcotte with working with him during that time.

He was elected to the North Country Union High School board in 2007 and to the Newport City Council the next year.  He is currently serving his second term as alderman.

The forum, which was moderated by Tod Pronto of NEKTV and WMOO radio, produced little in the way of major differences between the candidates.

All four candidates said they would be able to work with people of all political persuasions should they be sent to Montpelier.

Mr. Marcotte cited his experience on the economic development committee.  After the crash of 2008, he said, the state unemployment fund appeared to be in danger of bankruptcy.  Attempts in the Legislature to craft a remedy went nowhere and a summer study committee was appointed.

When it appeared that nothing was being accomplished Mr. Marcotte said he called then-Representative Michael Obuchowski, a democrat.  Together they worked to develop the outlines of a plan that was made law, Mr. Marcotte said.

Mr. Kilmartin said his reputation in the Legislature is that he works to make bills he favors, better.

Those bills he feels neutral about, Mr. Kilmartin said, he tries to make better crafted.  And with bills he dislikes mildly, he works to make sure they achieve their stated objectives.

Mr. Monette said he has worked with a city council that embraces varying shades of political opinion and helps work as effective force for the public good.

An unsuccessful attempt to see a ban on disturbing unmarked graves enacted into law, was recounted by Mr. de la Bruere.  He said that he expected that a bill granting respect to all cultural and religious traditions would be embraced by all sides, but was disappointed.

“I may not have won the battle,” Mr. de la Bruere said of his efforts to bring Legislators together, “but, at least I tried.”

The most startling information that came out was the in that while all oppose industrial wind projects, three of the four would favor siting a nuclear power plant in the Northeast Kingdom.

Mr. Kilmartin, and Mr. Marcotte and Mr. Monette each expressed enthusiasm for the idea, but acknowledged that practical considerations make the construction of such a plant impossible.

Only Mr. de la Bruere said he would not support a nuclear reactor.

Mr. Kilmartin said that an engineer working for General Electric told him there is not enough water available in the Kingdom to cool such a plant.

Mr. Marcotte said that if such a plant were to be built he would like to see it use a European design to minimize the amount of radioactive waste produced.

Mr. Monette said he initially supported large-scale wind power, but after seeing projects built on local ridgelines has changed his mind.  He said that he has solar panels mounted on the roof of his house and supports all sorts of small-scale renewable energy.

Addressing an issue that has been in the news lately the four men applauded Bill Stenger of Jay Peak for his proposal to spend more than $500-million in projects intended to bring 10,000 jobs to the area.

Mr. Kilmartin, though, expressed concern about possible negative effects on Newport residents.  About 30 percent of the city’s Grand List is non-taxable properties, he said.

He noted that more than 500 drivers could be commuting each day to and from a biotechnology plant planned for the former Bogner building.

How, he asked, will these workers navigate the three-way stop at the intersection of Main Street and the Lake Road?  Mr. Kilmartin suggested that the resolution of the problem may be up to the federal government because Main Street is also Route 5, a federal highway.

Mr. Monette responded, saying that Newport has plenty of capacity for growth.  He pointed out that the city has, in the past, boasted a population 2,000 souls greater than today’s number.

He said that transportation issues will be important in Newport’s ability to deal with the new jobs as will affordable housing and good child care for workers.

The addition of between $100-million and $300-million in new investment, is likely to bring new tax income to Newport, Mr. Monette said, which may lower the tax burden on property owners.

Mr. Marcotte said that while development in Newport is important “we can’t forget outlying communities.”

Newport Center, Coventry, Barton and Charleston will all feel the effects of the new investment, he said.

“We have to make sure everybody is at the table,” he said.

On the issue of plans to reform the state’s health care system the four men’s opinions ranged from highly skeptical to strongly opposed.

Mr. de la Bruere said he had spent time while a fellow of the Snelling Center studying the plan with one of its architect and said “I came away more confused than ever.”

He said he would have preferred it if state officials had tried to mend the current system rather than tear it down to build a new one.

Mr. Monette said he has spoken with Claudio Fort, chief executive officer of North Country Hospital, who says he fears the new system will force his organization to cut services.

The state ought to open the health insurance market to all comers, as is done with car coverage, Mr. Monette said.  He suggested the result would be lower rates.

Mr. Marcotte asked if large corporations and state workers will be included in the pool for an eventual single-payer system.  If not, he said costs will be much higher for everyone else.

Saying that he has been further in the weeds than ever before on the issue due to his wife’s health problems, Mr. Kilmartin said Vermont’s claim that it can improve health outcomes for its citizens while reducing costs, makes no sense on its face.

He said everyone ought to be charged something for the medical care they get “because people don’t value what they don’t have to pay for.”

The forum was one of a series sponsored by the Chronicle, Vermont’s Northland Journal, the Orleans County Record, the Newport Daily Express, WMOO, NEK TV, IROC and the East Side Restaurant.  The full forum will air on NEK TV, which is channel 15 on Comcast cable.

Both the House district forums will air on Wednesday, October 24, at 9 a.m., Thursday at 9 a.m. and 9 p.m., and Friday at 2 p.m.  They will be rebroadcast at other times as well.  For more information, see www.nektvonline.com.

contact Joseph Gresser at joseph@bartonchronicle.com

For more free articles from the Chronicle like this one, see our Editor’s Picks pages. For all the Chronicle’s stories, pick up a print copy or subscribe, either for print or digital editions.

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A day in Vince Illuzzi’s quest for statewide office

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During a September interview on the Mark Johnson Show, Vince Illuzzi of Derby says 32 years of serving the Northeast Kingdom as a senator has prepared him for statewide office. Photos by Paul Lefebvre

copyright the Chronicle 10-17-12

by Paul Lefebvre

On a rainy early September morning, Senator Vince Illuzzi is heading to the State House.  No legislation is seeking his attention, but as the place where he has forged a formidable political career, the State House may be the place where he feels most comfortable as he prepares for a debate in his first run for statewide office.

The senator spreads his notes out on a table in the cafeteria, which feels hollow as a cavern now the Legislature is not in session, but his attention strays to a State House worker heading in his direction.

“How you doing?” he says, exchanging pleasantries with the man, who knows who the senator is without any introduction.  “Hope I can count on your vote.”

The exchange is vintage Illuzzi — a politician who might be said to have brought campaigning to a height that even surprises some veteran observers of Vermont politics.

The live debate this morning is being broadcast on the Mark Johnson Show, a daily feature on WDEV, a radio station that takes pride in its coverage of all things pertaining to Vermont — especially politics.  Mr. Johnson is a familiar, regular face at the State House, conducting live, face-to-face interviews with legislators as the business of governing Vermont swirls around him.  Today’s debate is being held in a small bakery and café in Middlesex, and marks the first public encounter between Senator Illuzzi and his opponent, Doug Hoffer, in the race for state auditor.

It’s a show that is driven in part by listeners calling in with questions.  Driving from the State House to Middlesex with his notes in his lap, Mr. Illuzzi isn’t sure what to expect.  He raised the possibility there might be a plant, someone who has been put up to call in with a question designed to embarrass him.  But once the debate begins, his anxiety recedes into the background.  Although he may fidget in his chair, running a hand in and out of his pant’s back pocket, he answers questions assertively, mixing anecdotes with facts and numbers.  When the other’s fellow’s turn comes, Mr. Illuzzi shifts his attention to café patrons, a smile here and a wave there.  And then he’s on his feet, going from table to table, shaking hands when the show breaks for advertisers.

Acting somewhat perplexed that his guest is breaking away from the show’s routine and may be straying from its timetable, Mr. Johnson is prompted to remark on the senator’s relentless campaigning style.

“Does he stop and shake hands with every guy he sees standing beside the road?” he wonders.

Except for a caller’s complaint that he is monopolizing the conversation, there are no trick questions that morning for the senator.  The debate over, Mr. Illuzzi bristles at the suggestion he is driven in his quest to win a statewide race.  He is fashioning his campaign around his 32 years of experience as a state senator, and a political philosophy based on pragmatism and common sense.  Ideologically, he has no center.  Or what he calls in an interview “no red line in the sand.”

As someone who came from a working class family — his father worked in the Barre granite sheds as a sculptor — and as someone who identifies his base as the 47 percent that Governor Romney recently singled out as those Americans left behind, Mr. Illuzzi may be the state’s most unlikely Republican.

He recalls that when he first ran for the Senate in 1979, the people who quickly lined up behind him were workers.  He says the legislator he admires the most is the former Speaker of the House Ralph Wright, a Democrat.  And in interviews and in public, Mr. Illuzzi repeatedly touts his ability to work with legislators regardless of their political affiliations.  To hear him tell it, he is the non-partisan candidate.

“Vince works in mysterious ways,” says Robert Appel, the executive director of Vermont’s Human Rights Commission and someone who has worked in the Legislature for 20 years or so with Senator Illuzzi.  “He was willing to be an ally on issues that held nothing for him.

One of the strongest showings of the Senator’s bi-partisanship came when he announced his candidacy for state auditor inside the granite shed where his father had once worked.  The make-up of supporters surprised at least one veteran State House lobbyist.

“I don’t know how he did it, but they were there,” says Ed Lawson, executive director of Vermont Forest Products, who added he never saw such a mix of support from labor unions and business types.

At the Vermont History Expo that was held in June on the fairgrounds at Tunbridge, Mr. Illuzzi already had his campaign in hand, right down to the straw hat.

Orleans Republican Jim Greenwood, who served in the Senate for five terms beginning in 1996, recalls that Mr. Illuzzi was seen as a legislator who listens.  If someone had a problem and was trying to figure out what he would do, Mr. Greenwood would often hear him say:  “I’m going to call Vince and see what he can do for me.”

And often he came through.  “The next thing you knew, he was writing a bill,” says Mr. Greenwood.

From the debate in Middlesex at the Red Hen Bakery and Café, Mr. Illuzzi veers off the campaign trail to attend a funeral in Barre for Oreste Valsangiacomo, who once headed the financially powerful House Ways and Means Committee.  He grabs a quick lunch at the Wayside Diner on the Montpelier-Barre Road, where he resumes campaigning and shaking hands before heading south to Manchester and a scheduled interview with the local paper.

“I’ve worked hard all my life,” he says, straying for a moment to recall the long hours that his father put in at the sheds.  “I’m married to my work.”

If campaigning alone could ensure a victory in a statewide race, Mr. Illuzzi would be a shoe-in.

Mr. Greenwood says his former colleague has an irrepressible work ethic; someone who “works night and day.”

These days there hardly appears a trace of Mr. Illuzzi’s characterization of himself as a shy young man who had to change his ways.  He says it wasn’t hard, but he may have overdone it by becoming “overtly aggressive in engaging other people.”

Mr. Greenwood, who is an economic development specialist for the Northeastern Vermont Development Association, says that because he was the youngest politician to be elected to the Vermont Senate, the media was quick to pick up on Mr. Illuzzi.

He was depicted as young, knowledgeable, and quite aggressive from a region whose politicians were traditionally seen as laid back, recalls Mr. Greenwood.  Back home there was a feeling that the Kingdom had “a new life blood in Montpelier.”

Mr. Appel calls Mr. Illuzzi a politician who “doesn’t lack backbone”; as one who “put in a lot of time and political capital” pushing legislation for state recognition of the Abenaki as a native people and helping to improve conditions for inmates in Vermont prisons.

North Troy’s Bobby Starr, the most recent senator from Orleans County to serve with Mr. Illuzzi, says his colleague “would go to the mat” with an issue in which he believed.

On the drive to Manchester, Mr. Illuzzi is constantly on the phone.  He says he buys 4,000 minutes of airtime a month, and uses every one of them.  He uses a cell phone like a magician uses a wand — to make something happen.

“Harry, where are you?” he says, in a call made while he’s driving.  “Well, I’m in Rutland, and I was going to stop and see if you could introduce me to some of the people in your office.”

At the Manchester Journal the Senator tells editor Andrew McKeever that “the problem with ideology is that it gets in the way of common sense in solving problems.”  He goes on to say that relationships “are so important” in politics, and that he is “a known quantity.”

But among some people who work in the State House, Mr. Illuzzi is regarded as unpredictable.  And sometimes dangerous.  A legislator, says one lobbyist who spoke on condition his name not appear in print, who can side with you one day and be against you the next, depending on what’s up for trade.

“You never know when he’s going to call in his chips.”

Mr. Appel, who also served as defender general before becoming head of the state’s Human Rights Commission, says that Mr. Illuzzi was often a legislator who waited until late in the session before coming out on an issue.

“He was very conscious about showing his hand,” said Mr. Greenwood, who characterizes Senator Illuzzi as “a front bench personality” who was most effective when he was at the center of the action.

One lobbyist, who spoke on condition of remaining anonymous, characterized Mr. Illuzzi as being “emotionally intelligent” for his ability to see where people on his committee need to land on any given issue.  As a front bench player, he would not take a lead but rather wait until he could identify that point where all the other players could find agreement and move the legislation on.

At least one lobbyist believes that as a legislator, Mr. Illuzzi wanted a seat at the table so badly that it didn’t matter what the issue was, just as long as he was a player.

That Mr. Illuzzi went into negotiations without taking a stand or showing his hand didn’t trouble a former colleague.

“That’s the mark of a good politician,” says Mr. Greenwood.

Ever the pragmatist, Mr. Illuzzi has his own explanation.  “I’ve always seen myself as a problem solver,” he says.  “People look up to me to get the job done.”

The legislator most admired by Mr. Illuzzi, Democrat Ralph Wright, was repeatedly elected speaker in an era when House Republicans were the majority party.  In his book, All Politics is Personal, published in 1996, Mr. Wright says he won the support of House members by being a good listener.

Mr. Illuzzi believes there is “a lot of truth” in the book’s title, and he says — and others confirm it — that in pushing for state recognition for the Abenaki bands, he was keeping a promise to the St. Johnsbury senator, Julius Canns, a sponsor of the legislation who died before it could be brought to a vote.

But as Speaker Wright knew very well, being personal in politics cuts both ways.  To this day, Mr. Illuzzi blames Judge David Suntag for getting him in hot water with the Supreme Court that led to his suspension from the practice of law for five years.

While Mr. Illuzzi admitted at the time that the allegations he had submitted against the judge were not based on fact, he says today the judge was arrogant, refusing to hold court in Guildhall, causing Essex Country residents to drive to courthouses elsewhere in the state.

That the suspension had no bearing on his political career comes as no surprise to him.

“Why would the locals hold that against me?” he asks.

To many of the senator’s constituents, it may have appeared that powers outside the Kingdom wanted to cut Mr. Illuzzi down to size.

Mr. Greenwood says that many people didn’t understand the nature of the complaints, while others suspected that politics were behind the suspension — “holding suspicions that the big wheels in Montpelier were pushing the envelope more than they should have.”

Those suspicions may have been sowed much earlier and before Mr. Illuzzi became a household name in nearly every Kingdom town.

A graduate of Vermont Law School, he came to the Northeast Kingdom in the late seventies as a deputy prosecutor for Orleans County State’s Attorney Leroy Null, a controversial figure who died in office.  Snubbed by the Snelling administration, who chose someone else to fill Mr. Null’s office, Mr. Illuzzi might have fallen into political obscurity were it not for the leaders of the county’s Republican Party.

By 1980 longtime Senator John Boylan of Island Pond, a Republican, had decided to retire from politics and the party leaders in the district were looking for someone to replace him on the ticket.  Recruited by Republicans, Mr. Illuzzi became one, and won his first election to the Senate, gaining a reputation along the way as a tireless campaigner.

“Never heard anyone say he was not a hard worker,” says Mr. Greenwood.

In the Senate he earned a reputation as someone who could write bills and craft legislation.  Mr. Starr remembers Mr. Illuzzi as a committee chairman who would stay up all night writing a bill and have it ready to present to the rest of his committee members the next day.

Recently, as chairman of the Senate Committee on Economic Development, Housing and General Affairs, he was seen by one lobbyist as the person in the room who could see five or six moves ahead.  And someone willing to make an ally out of opposing colleague by telling him:  “I’ve got something you want.”

As he gained power and won appointment as chairman of the Senate Committee on Institutions, his reputation grew as he brought projects and funding into a district that traditionally lagged behind the rest of the state.

“Don’t know anyone who has brought more money into the Kingdom than Vince,” says Mr. Greenwood, adding that Mr. Illuzzi had the ability “to position himself in the Legislature to do this.”

Around the State House, Mr. Illuzzi says, he became known as Washington County’s fourth senator because of the projects he sponsored and championed, like the new granite museum in Barre.  As the author of the state’s capital construction bill, which funds projects statewide, Mr. Illuzzi had the power to make friends and win influence.

“Since 1991, I’ve had a major say on how every state dollar was spent,” he says.

“He had enough stuff in those bills for everyone, so no one would vote against it,” says Senator Starr.

“Vince is a guy who gets around,” says Mr. Appel.

Mr. Illuzzi is leaving the Senate at a time when the old guard is giving way to younger faces who are not as likely to defer to him — a new wave of legislators and lobbyists who don’t know they should be careful around Vince, says one who works the hallways of the State House.

Senator Illuzzi sees it, too.  During the closing weeks of the 2012 session, his customary role of problem solver did not rise to meet the occasion.

“It didn’t make any difference if the agreements I made had merit,” he says.  “They were flat out rejected.”

After his interview at the Manchester Journal, the Senator makes a quick trip to the mall, where he buys a new pair of shoes before heading to a Republican fund-raiser that is being held in a private home.  He delivers a short speech to the guests, who include former Governor Jim Douglas.  The last Republican speaker of the House, Walter Freed, introduces Mr. Illuzzi as the politician who provided the coattails that Ronald Reagan rode to victory in Vermont during the 1980 presidential election.

From Manchester Mr. Illuzzi drives south to drop off campaign lawn signs on the doorstep of the Bennington Town Clerk’s office.  Then it’s back to Manchester, where he stops at a snazzy restaurant to schmooze with the owner before driving home through intermittent rain and fog.

By the time he drops off a reporter in Barton, candidate Illuzzi — a Northeast Kingdom senator for 32 years and the first politician to seek a statewide office since Em Hebard was elected treasurer in 1976 — has been on the campaign trail for roughly 18 consecutive hours.  Derby and home are still a 30-minute ride away.

Vince Illuzzi marching in a parade in Island Pond.

contact Paul Lefebvre at paul@bartonchronicle.com

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Four vy for two seats in Essex-Orleans Senate race

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Left to right are Jay Dudley, John Rodgers, Bobby Starr and Bob Lewis. Photo by Chris Braithwaite

by Chris Braithwaite

copyright the Chronicle 10-17-2012

In a campaign season that on the national level compels voters to choose between radical extremes, people who will elect the next two state senators from the Essex-Orleans district face the opposite problem.  It’s not easy to find important differences in what the four candidates stand for.

That was emphasized at the opening of Monday night’s media-sponsored debate at The East Side Restaurant in Newport.

Asked about industrial-strength wind power on the Kingdom’s ridgelines, the candidates were unanimous in their condemnation.

That included the only political novice in the race, Jay Dudley of Orleans.  In his day job, Mr. Dudley is the chief financial analyst for the state Public Service Board, the body that granted permits to the big wind projects in Sheffield and Lowell.  But Mr. Dudley is no friend to wind.

Vermont wind developers, Mr. Dudley said, “are going into wild, natural areas and blowing them to smithereens.”

The existing projects will offer a handful of highly technical jobs that probably won’t go to local people, Mr. Dudley added.

“I support a moratorium on industrial wind,” he said, “but ultimately we need to just stop it in its tracks.”

In response to the moderator’s specific question, how wind projects should be sited, John Rodgers of Glover said, “somewhere out in Nebraska would be good.  They have no place on our ridgelines.”

“Vermont does not need the power,” he added, noting that a wood-fired power plant in Ryegate shut down this summer because there was no market for its electricity.

Bobby Starr of North Troy, the only incumbent in the race, said the only people who make money on wind projects are the developers and the landowners who host the towers.

Consumers, he said, will have to pay for power that, even after government subsidies, will cost ten to 12 cents per kilowatt hour to produce, while the wholesale cost of power is about six cents.

All the towns within view of a proposed project should have a say in the permitting process, Mr. Starr added, and share equally in any payment the developer offers to the town that would host it.

“How come we don’t put them on Lake Champlain?” said Bob Lewis of Derby, a state representative who hopes to move up to the Senate.  “We have a lot to do on this issue.  We need to know the truth.”

Policy differences did emerge on the subject of drugs — specifically the prescription painkillers that, the candidates agreed, have become a bigger problem than illicit drugs.

Painkillers are the number one problem, said Mr. Lewis, who has retired from a career in law enforcement.  In Montpelier, he said, “we worked to give law enforcement the tools they needed.”

He supported a bill that would have given a police task force the right to monitor online the prescriptions filled at the state’s drugstores.  Presently, he said, police have to visit pharmacies in person to view such records.

The Democratic majority rejected the bill, he said, because “people were upset about access to their personal information.  We could get a lot more done if we just gave them the tools.”

“I disagree that we should let police look at every person’s prescription records,” said Mr. Rodgers, a Democrat.  “What’s next?  They can listen to your confessions in church, or when you talk to your lawyer?”

After 30 years of struggling with the problem, Mr. Rodgers added, “I think we would learn that enforcement is not the answer.”  He called instead for an emphasis on education and keeping young people in school.

Mr. Dudley, a Republican whose campaign puts a heavy emphasis on economic development, seemed to agree with Mr. Rodgers.  The root problem with drugs is people’s economic circumstances and high unemployment, he said.  “Economic development would be an important cure for a lot of these social ills.”

He blamed the plight of poor Vermonters on “this notion in Montpelier that we can have a zero-growth economy without any real effect on people.”

Mr. Starr agreed that “we need to keep children busy — keep them in school, hopefully, until they’re 18.”  Raising the age at which children can leave school from 16 to 18 is something he’s tried to accomplish in the Senate, Mr. Starr said in an earlier interview.

But Mr. Starr seemed to side with Mr. Lewis on the issue of prescription monitoring.

“It may not be good, John, to track these,” Mr. Starr said.  “But you can’t allow druggists to pump out prescriptions to these people.”

Mr. Starr and Mr. Dudley differed on a couple of points.  In his opening remarks, Mr. Dudley suggested that a major reason to vote for him is that he is not a Democrat, and so wouldn’t add to that party’s “super-majority” in the State House.

Among the consequences of that dominance, he said, would be a new sales tax on services — for work done by people like plumbers, electricians and mechanics.

In his regular visits to Montpelier, Mr. Starr said, “I haven’t heard one word about that.”

For the first and only time in Monday’s debate, Mr. Dudley invoked the rule that let him speak out of turn to respond to a direct challenge.  He said he’d heard House Speaker Shap Smith say that a sales tax on services would be on the agenda for the next session.

Mr. Starr said that was news to him.  Such a tax was discussed, but not adopted, during the last session.

And in his closing remarks, Mr. Dudley said his own campaign is self-financed.  “My only interest group is you,” he told his audience.  “My only debt is to you.”

While Mr. Starr and Mr. Rodgers might claim to be independent, Mr. Dudley continued, they depend on the Democratic Party for financial support.

“Nobody does anything for Bobby other than Bobby and his immediate family,” Mr. Starr responded.  “I don’t take directions from Montpelier, and I certainly don’t take any of their money.

“I usually get the job done without a lot of fanfare,” Mr. Starr concluded.  “I always left that up to Vince.”

That was the evening’s only reference to the man who is chiefly responsible for this year’s spirited Senate campaign.

Senator Vince Illuzzi created a vacancy in the district when he decided to run for state auditor, his first try at a statewide office.

That ended a long run of elections in which Mr. Illuzzi and Mr. Starr pretty much walked into office without serious opposition.

Mr. Starr is running to retain the seat he has held for eight years.  He moved to the Senate after a career in the House that began in 1978.  During most of his political career he ran — and drove for — his own trucking firm.

Mr. Lewis was appointed to the House to fill a vacancy five years ago.  The biggest reason he wants to move to the Senate, he said in an interview, is that “you have a lot more clout in the Senate than in the House.  You can get more done.”

Mr. Lewis worked as a state trooper and, later, a game warden.

Mr. Rodgers was part of the fifth generation on a family farm in Glover.  He runs his own small contracting firm.  That kept him so busy in the summer and fall of 2010 that he did little personal campaigning in his bid to retain his seat in the House.  He lost in his two-member Orleans-Caledonia district by a single vote, to fellow-Democrat Sam Young.

Mr. Dudley worked in commercial lending and small business development with area banks for 17 years before he joined the Public Service Board.  His lack of political experience put him at a disadvantage Monday night, when the candidates were asked to name their most important public accomplishment over the past five years.

Mr. Dudley spoke of his 18 years on the Barton Planning Commission and Zoning Board, ten years as chairman.  In that role, he said, “we structured our bylaws in a way that was fair, and had the interest of the property owner first and foremost.”

Mr. Rodgers said he was on the House Institutions Committee when local voters turned down a proposal for a free-standing technical education center in Newport that would be entirely state funded.

“Many legislators thought this area would never get it together,” Mr. Rodgers said.  “The majority on my committee wanted to drop the tech center.”

But Mr. Rodgers said he fought to keep the idea alive, and the center was ultimately established at North Country Union High School.

Mr. Starr cited his successful efforts to find state funds for all new school buildings on the western side of Orleans County.  “Our children were going to school in buildings they shouldn’t have been in,” he said.

Reaching back well over five years, Mr. Starr also mentioned the Northeast Dairy Compact, which he created with the help of economist Dan Smith.

He had to sell the idea in five other New England states and in Washington, Mr. Starr said.  Before it was killed by Congress, he said in an interview, it brought $150-million to distressed dairy farmers in New England and New York State, of which $50-million came to Vermont.

Mr. Starr said he hopes to become chairman of the Senate Agriculture Committee if he’s returned to Montpelier.  He served for years as chairman of the House Agriculture Committee.

As for Mr. Lewis’ major accomplishment, he said, “There is no question that number one is my family.”

Beyond that he spoke of his work on the Committee on Fish, Wildlife and Water Resources.  “I’m very proud of the bills I sponsored for sportsmen that became law,” Mr. Lewis said.

Asked about a single-payer health care system, three of the candidates agreed that they had not been given enough information to make up their minds.  Only Mr. Dudley took a firm stand against a single-payer system.  He cited the Canadian system, which, he said, tries to control costs by rationing and delaying services to its patients.  That was the only comment of the evening that drew angry grumbles from some members of the audience.

“I support a market-based approach,” Mr. Dudley said.

In general, however, the two Republican candidates took moderate positions, which placed them miles to the left of the Tea Party, while the two Democrats emphasized their independence.  It may be that Mr. Starr spoke for all of them when he made this comment on national politics, in an interview:

“The middle of the road is gone.  You’ve either got to get into the ditch on one side or across the yellow line on the other.  Usually the best part of the road is in the middle.  I see myself as a middle-of-the-road guy.”

The full debate can be viewed on NEK-TV, Comcast channel 15, on Wednesday, October 17, at 10 a.m. and 8 p.m., Thursday at 9 a.m. and 9 p.m., and Friday at 2 p.m.

contact Chris Braithwaite at chris@bartonchronicle.com

For more free articles from the Chronicle like this one, see our Editor’s Picks pages. For all the Chronicle’s stories, pick up a print copy or subscribe, either for print or digital editions.


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In Derby: Morin appointed clerk at heated meeting

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Left to right are: Selectman Laura Dolgin, Selectman Beula-Jean Shattuck, Selectman Brian Smith, Selectman Stephen Gendreau, and Selectman Karen Jenne. Photo by Joseph Gresser (taken in May 2011)

copyright the Chronicle 10-10-12

by Joseph Gresser

DERBY — At a contentious meeting on Thursday, October 4, Derby selectmen voted to appoint Fay Morin interim town clerk and treasurer.  But town voters will go to the polls, probably in December and again on Town Meeting Day in March, to have their say on who should hold those offices.

The meeting at which the vote was taken was actually a continuation of the one that began on Monday, October 1.  That meeting was recessed for three days after the four selectmen present could not come to an agreement on filling the positions.

Selectman Laura Dolgin was not present for the October 1 meeting, but she was there to cast the deciding vote on October 4.

The vote to make Ms. Morin clerk and treasurer filled vacancies in Derby’s town government caused by the resignation of Nicole Daigle, who held both offices for 19 years.

Ms. Daigle took another job this summer, but offered to continue to serve in an unpaid supervisory capacity until Town Meeting Day.  She made the offer in executive session at the selectmen’s July 9 meeting, according to board chairman Brian Smith and Selectman Stephen Gendreau.

Both men said that Ms. Daigle asked the four selectmen who were present (Selectman Karen Jenne was not at that meeting) whether she ought to appoint an assistant clerk and treasurer to keep the office running until Town Meeting, or if the selectmen wanted to make the appointment.

Mr. Smith and Mr. Gendreau said the selectmen said Ms. Daigle, as town clerk and treasurer, should go ahead and fill the position.  Ms. Daigle named Ms. Morin assistant clerk and assistant treasurer after that meeting.

After some selectmen and members of the public objected to Ms. Daigle’s action at the following selectmen’s meeting, Ms. Daigle said she would resign immediately.  She was persuaded to stay on for a time, and agreed to hold the position until the end of September.

The interim appointments will be of short duration.  Mr. Smith said a petition calling for a special Town Meeting to fill the two positions until March had enough signatures to be valid.  The petition was presented to the selectmen on October 1 by Vicky Farrand-Lewis.

Mr. Smith said the selectmen will meet on October 15 to set a date for the vote.  Because Derby elects town officials by Australian ballot, the vote is unlikely to be held before December, Mr. Smith said.

Whatever the result of the balloting, it is questionable whether it will diminish the anger that was evident both between selectmen and among the 40 or so members of the public who attended the Thursday meeting.

Ms. Jenne said, “I did not attend the meeting on July 9, but I believe there was a violation of the open meeting law.”

“I disagree completely,” Ms. Dolgin shot back.

“It says in the minutes that no action was taken, but a hiring decision was made,” Ms. Jenne said.

“No action was taken by the select board and I am correct on that,” said Mr. Smith.

Ms. Dolgin read from a sheet of paper two Vermont laws that, she said, clearly authorized Ms. Daigle to appoint an assistant and required the selectmen to name a replacement for Ms. Daigle when her resignation became effective.

“You are the clerk of Derby Line,” Ms. Dolgin said to Ms. Jenne, “I’d think you would know this.”

A portion of those attending the meeting applauded Ms. Dolgin’s remark.

When Mr. Smith called for a vote Mr. Gendreau and Ms. Dolgin said they were in favor of appointing Ms. Morin, while Selectman Beula-Jean Shattuck and Ms. Jenne abstained, as they did at the October 1 meeting.  That left the question up to the chairman, Mr. Smith, but only after a long argument about whether to abstain from voting is to vote “No.”

Ms. Dolgin, who takes minutes at selectmen’s meetings, pressed both Ms. Shattuck and Ms. Jenne to explain their reasons for abstaining.  Ms. Shattuck at first refused to do more than say “that’s how I feel.”

Eventually, though, she told Ms. Dolgin that she believed the process leading up to the appointment of Ms. Morin was improper.

Ms. Dolgin then turned to Ms. Jenne, suggesting that she had a conflict of interest in the question because she is considering running for the two offices.

Ms. Jenne said she didn’t see what one thing had to do with another.

When Ms. Dolgin again asked her to explain her reasons for abstaining, Ms. Shattuck said, “There have been things that have been underhanded and I don’t like it.  I’m not going along with it.  It’s not an argument between us.”

Ms. Dolgin again asked for clarification.

Ms. Shattuck said, “Just keep talking — you’re burying yourself.  You’re not a lawyer — you think you are, but you’re not.”

A number of those present expressed their approval of Ms. Shattuck’s remark with applause.

Ms. Dolgin told Ms. Shattuck and Ms. Jenne that her minutes would show them as casting votes against Ms. Morin.

A chorus of protest arose from Ms. Shattuck, Ms. Jenne and many of those who gathered to observe the meeting.

Some appealed to Mr. Smith to prevent Ms. Dolgin from using the minutes in such a fashion.  Ms. Farrand-Lewis said that Ms. Dolgin should be required to write exactly what had been said at the meeting without inserting her opinions.

Mr. Smith ruled that Ms. Dolgin could write whatever she wanted, but that minutes would be reviewed and voted on at the next meeting.

Mr. Smith then cast his vote for appointing Ms. Morin interim clerk and treasurer, creating a majority in favor.

Mr. Gendreau then moved to adjourn the meeting.  A chorus of protest was heard from members of the public who demanded to be heard.

“We have an opportunity to speak according to open meeting law,” Ms. Farrand-Lewis said.  “We have the right.”

“We had discussion Monday night,” Mr. Smith responded, saying that the October 4 session was a continuation of the same meeting.

“In government the ultimate boss is the public.  You have the onus of responsibility to respond to the public,” Ms. Farrand-Lewis said.

“Your concerns will be addressed with the secretary of state in the morning,” Mr. Smith said.

“No, they won’t, they’ll be addressed with the Attorney General, because there was a violation of the open meeting law,” Ms. Farrand-Lewis shot back.

“We’ll discuss that and make sure everything is done correctly,” Mr. Smith said.

“What a kangaroo court you hold, Mr. Smith,” Ms. Farrand-Lewis replied.

As Mr. Smith called for a vote on the motion to adjourn, Ms. Farrand-Lewis said, “What a laughing stock.  You people are disgusting.”

That her opinion was not shared by all in attendance was shown by the round of applause given the board at the end of the meeting.

There were enough people who shared Ms. Farrand-Lewis’ views to ensure that the parking lot of the Derby municipal building was the scene of heated discussion long after the meeting’s end.

contact Joseph Gresser at joseph@bartonchronicle.com

For more free articles from the Chronicle like this one, see our Editor’s Picks pages. For all the Chronicle’s stories, pick up a print copy or subscribe, either for print or digital editions.

 

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