So it's finally official.
Former Vermont adjutant general and Republican Congressional candidate Martha Rainville is outa here, off to Washington to take a job as close advisor to the head of the beleaguered Federal Emergency Management Agency.
Rainville started work at her new job on Monday, according to a memo circulated among FEMA staff by her new boss, FEMA Administrator David Paulison. Her job is to recommend policy and organizational changes for the agency which, in the wake of the Hurricane Katrina disaster, the agency surely can use.
FEMA's gain is Vermont's loss, particularly from a Republican standpoint. Rainville didn't run the smartest Congressional race last year, but she was also swimming against a powerful anti-Iraq war current and running under the Republican banner in a state about as anti-Bush as any in the country. Still, Vermont Republicans don't have many potential stars on its bench, and she was one of them.
Don't hold your breath expecting she will come back and run for office anytime soon, either. She left without bothering to issue a statement to her supporters or return a phone call from a reporter. And FEMA is hardly what you'd call a stepping stone to higher office.
So long, Martha, and good luck.
-- Sam Hemingway
