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Don't Count Your Chickens
The Mother of All Democratic Gubernatorial Primaries is midway through its umpteenth week, but there’s still no sign of a definitive winner.
I’m starting to feel like Bill Murray in Groundhog Day — forced to relive the same 24 hours over and over again. You’d think they could have settled all of this while I was away on vacation, but nooooo.
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Don't Shoot the Messenger
Regular columnist Shay Totten is on a well-deserved vacation. He’ll be back next week.
Don’t Shoot the Messenger
Lt. Gov. Brian Dubie, the GOP’s candidate for governor, has been touring Vermont for the past nine months, collecting “wisdom” from struggling business owners and ordinary workers for what would become his big jobs plan.
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Once More, With Feeling?
Five candidates, 20 months and $1.6 million later, it came down to a handful of votes determining a winner in the Democratic primary for governor. Unfortunately, as Seven Days went to press Tuesday night, we still didn’t know which one.
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Starving for Attention
During the last legislative session, Democrats repeatedly promised they were not renegotiating the “social contract” with Vermonters, even as they largely went along with Republican Gov. Jim Douglas to cut taxes, trim spending and eliminate state jobs.
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Paying for Innocence
Last week Superior Court Judge Geoffrey Crawford delivered a blow to storyteller Malcolm “Mac” Parker, ordering him to stand trial on a series of charges stemming from a decade-long, $13 million film fundraising effort.
The trial will take place in early November in Superior Court in Montpelier.
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If You Can't Join 'Em, Beat 'Em
After dominating Burlington’s government for nearly three decades, Progressives are slowly losing their electoral hold on the burg.
With the resignation of Ward 3 Progressive City Councilor Marrisa Caldwell, Emma Mulvaney-Stanak (P-Ward 3) is the lone Progressive on the council — a post she’s held only since 2009.
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Collision Course?
State Sen. Ed Flanagan (D-Chittenden) hasn’t had good luck with automobiles. The Democratic candidate for auditor of accounts was in a near-fatal car crash in 2005 that left him with a traumatic brain injury. After a couple of subsequent accidents, he chose to give up driving.
He’s since got himself an electric bicycle, but recent police reports suggest he is no safer on the road. Flanagan was involved in two bicycle crashes earlier this month that were witnessed by people who say he was riding erratically in traffic and hitting passing cars.
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More Than Money
Campaign finance reports reveal more than the amount of money a candidate has managed to raise; they offer insight into his or her political strategies. On both fronts, last week’s reports delivered.
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The Pension Predicament
Burlington’s city employees are entering their second fiscal year without contracts, according to labor negotiators.
The contracts of the four unions — representing police officers, firefighters, electric workers and general city employees — expired June 30, 2009.
While negotiations with Burlington Electric Department workers and other city employees are ongoing — in some cases, these groups meet monthly — talks with the police and firefighters have been less constructive.
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Hey, Buddy, Wanna Buy a Poll?
A national dispute between Research 2000 pollster Del Ali and Daily Kos founder Markos Moulitsas could have an impact on political polling in Vermont.
For years, Research 2000 (R2K) has been the pollster for WCAX-TV and other news outlets because it’s a reasonably priced alternative for small-market newspapers and TV stations.
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