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Political notes from Free Press staff writers Terri Hallenbeck, Sam Hemingway and Nancy Remsen


9.05.2007

 

Dubie to the FAA?


Lt. Gov. Brian Dubie is on the list of possible candidates for administrator of the Federal Aviation Administration. That’s the top job at the FAA, the big enchilada.


Dubie, who is a commercial pilot and a colonel in the U.S. Air Force Reserve, is not considered the front-running candidate, according to Aviation Week, but he’s on the list. The Washington Post mentioned the leading candidate might be Barbara Barrett, a former deputy FAA administrator under President Reagan.


Peter Freyne, over at Inside Track, came up with the FAA connection, but I do believe he got the job wrong. He said it was the FAA’s chief operating officer Dubie was in line for. Today, Dubie’s chief of staff Martha Hanson issued a statement with Dubie referring to it as the administrator’s job. That’s also how I read the story in Aviation Week on the subject, which you can see by clicking here.


Though we would have liked to ask Dubie if he’s planning to run for lt. gov. in 2008, he could not be reached for direct comment Wednesday. He said in his statement that he’s still focused on his work as lieutenant governor and doesn't know what may come of the FAA thing. He also said: "I am aware that my name has been under consideration, and it’s an unexpected honor just to be considered for the FAA administrator’s job at this pivotal time in the direction of our nation’s air travel system performance and infrastructure."


The Republican who lives in Essex said his chairmanship of the Aerospace States Association, his role in creating a Vermont Aerospace and Aviation Association and a column he wrote in Aviation Week in February about making an effort as a pilot to fly more fuel-efficiently raised his profile.


The FAA administrator is appointed by the president and confirmed by the U.S. Senate. Current administrator Marion Blakey’s term expires Sept. 13. She has already landed a job as head of the Aerospace Industries Association, according to The Washington Post.


What’s Gov. Jim Douglas, a fellow Republican, think of all this? Spokesman Jason Gibbs said Dubie had informed the governor he was under consideration for the job. "We think it speaks to how well-respected Lt. Gov. Dubie is in the aviation profession," Gibbs said.


Still, Gibbs said, Douglas is counting on Dubie to run for re-election and has every expectation that he will. "The governor is looking forward to running with him in 2008," he said.


- Terri Hallenbeck


Comments:
If Dubie were appointed to the FAA, there would be no Lt Gov until January 2009. Shumlin would be presiding officer of the Senate during the 2008 session.

If Lt Gov is open in 2008, Matt Dunne would certainly run for, and win, the open Lt Gov position, making it even harder for the Dems to recruit a strong candidate to run against Jim Douglas in 2008.
 
"He said in his statement that he’s still focused on his work as lieutenant governor"

Terri, is that true?? When is the last time Dubie was seen in the statehouse?

How long has it been since Dubie has done anything related to his job as Lt Gov? (other than shake hands and hold babies.)
 
If Dubie cares about Vermont, he'll take a pass on this job. We need him to stay where he is. Just think - Shumlin as President of the Senate? He would flush Vermont right down the crapper.
 
Wake up, Dude – Shumlin already runs the senate. Dubie hardly gets out of bed most days.
 
OK - so why not impeach Shumlin?
 
Because there is no reason to?
 
Impeach Douglas - He speaks out of both sides of his mouth.

His actions differ from his talk!

He tries really hard to "speak" the middle but his appts and action smack of Grover Nuquist, and John McLaughry.
 
I can't imagine how awful it will be to turn on the tv following some tragic air disaster and see Dubie standing in front of the tv cameras like a deer in the headlights. "Uh....ummm....uh.....
this is very very bad....what happened again?....oh yeah....very very bad." Doltie on national television? Scary.
 
I would not be just a nothin'
My head all full if stuffin'
 
Because there is no reason to?

How about because he is dishonest crook?
 
Who said we needed a reason to impeach Shumlin? Shumlin set the precident - if we don't like someone, we don't wait till election day, we just impeach them!
 
No such precident has been set. Sorry.
 
That's exactly the precedent set by Shumlin. And what's worse, before caving in to the pressure from the dirty, smelly impeachment crowd that storemed the State House, Shumlin INSISTED that the State Senate would NOT vote to pass an impeachment resolution. Then, when a few radical hobos showed up, he unceremoniously held an impeachment vote, unannounced, at 8:15 a.m., without informing the President of the Senate (Lt. Gov.), who was out of town at the time. And why, because we don't ike the current occupant of the President's office. Yes, precedent has been set that if we disagree with the policies of a current officeholder, we don't wait for the next election, we have an impeachment vote.

So it's time to impeach Shummy.
 
At least he showers.
 
Impeachment wasn't about not liking Bush. It was about:

1) Intentionally misleading Congress and the public regarding the threat from Iraq in order to justify a war

2) Ordering the National Security Agency to conduct electronic surveillance of American citizens without seeking warrants from the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court of Review, as required by law

3) Conspiring to commit the torture of prisoners.

4) Ordering indefinite detention without access to legal counsel, without charge, and without the opportunity to appear before a civil judicial officer to challenge the detention.

It isn't about not liking someone. It's about upholding the law.

You might not like how Shumlin has done his job, but it's his perogative as Senate President Pro Tem to schedule votes as he pleases.
 
Shumlin fits the bill for impeachment perfectly, acording to your own criteria:

1. Misleading the public
"Misleading" is Shumlin's middle name. He wouldn't know the truth if it hit him in the face. Just ask his wife.

2. Invasion of privacy
The legislature - under Shumlin's leadership (he's driving the bus in both houses, Symington's just along for the ride) - refused to address the privacy problems with Act 185 that were raised earlier this year. We're not talking about 5 or 10 Vermonters whose phones *might* be tapped - we're talking about the financial records of 106,000 Vermonters.

3. Conspiring to commit torture of prisoners
Anyone in that senate chamber is a prisoner, and having to listen to him is worse than torture.

Come on out Jimmy Leas - let's get the party started!
 
I'm so sick of impeachment. I'm voting against anyone who talks about impeachment. Don't we have a government to run?
 
Just ignore the "impeach Shumlin" poster. S/he just sits in here all day posting the same stupid message over and over and over and over.... Not an original thought to save his or her life.
 
". . . it's his perogative . . ."

That's the point. According to you, Shumlin shouldn't be impeached because he has only exercised powers that he believed were his to exercise. Many people believe the President did exactly the same thing. You disagree. That doesn't make you right and everybody else wrong.

So what it boils down to is exactly that you want to impeach the President because YOU DON'T LIKE HIM OR HIS POLICIES. Of course it's your "prerogative" not to like him.
 
Not because I don't like him.

Because he broke the law.

Deal.
 
Terri...

Why is "Anonymous 12:08 Sep 7" not deleted by the Freeps Blog Police... It's clearly a personal attack on Shumlin.

The Freeps was quick to remove personal attacks on the Governor.

Is it becauise Jason Gibbs asked those attacks on the Gov to be deleted?

And Jason probably wrote this one attacking Shumlin?
 
To the person who wrote: "Just ignore the "impeach Shumlin" poster."

You seem to think that only one person is calling for Shumlin's impeachment.

Wrong.

I only authored one of the impeachment comments in this post. So, at least one other person is on the same page as me.

In fact, I bet you would find more people who want Shumlin impeached than the 400 stinkers who can't drop the Bush impeachment fetish. Nobody would be calling for Shumlin's impeachment if those stinkers could have just crawled back to their yurts - or better yet, moved back to New York.

Its known as a taste of your own medicine. Its annoying - but no more annoying than the continuing drive to impeach Bush.
 
The Free Press blog police won't censure messages attacking Shumlin while deleting those attacking the Governor because Publisher Jim Carey is a big GOP and Jim Douglas fan!
 
Can you imagine the mess if Matt (I love to hear myself speak loudly) and Peter (I just love everything about myself) Shumlin are running Montpelier? God help us all!!!
 
1. You say he broke the law. Constitutional scholars disagree. Guess you're an authority unto yourself and your opinion is the only valid one, huh? We must all bow down to your infallible correctness and simply accept your pronouncement that he broke the law.

2. Clinton also broke the law while in office. (And, yes, his impeachment was a stupid political farce.) But are there different degrees of breaking the law, in your mind? Or do you agree that Congress had no choice but to impeach him? And don't come back with this bullshit about how Clinton's law-breaking did not cause this or that. HE BROKE THE LAW, JUST LIKE YOU SAY BUSH HAS DONE. Impeach both, or impeach neither. Anything else confirms that it's definitely a political thing.
 
Some constitutional scholars agree, some disagree. Not all speak with one voice.

I'm not rehashing the Clinton years. It's a very dead horse, and it has nothing to do with the charges against Bush -- and nothing to do with your bizarre Shumlin fetish.
 
1. You're barking up the wrong tree. I never said anything about Shumlin.

2. Your response was classic avoidance. Leaving aside the fact that very few constitutional scholars I have heard of are advocating for Bush's impeachment (which alone satisfies me that impeachment is unsupportable), if you insist that Bush must be impeached because he broke the law (in your authoritative view), then you must also agree that Clinton had to be impeached, because he broke the law while in office.

Come on. If you want to impeach Bush, then I want to see you say it: Clinton had to be impeached. Go ahead. Say it. Say it.
 
That one blogger is right. The Gannett Gestapo rids this blog of nasty references to Douglas but allows Shumlin to be crapped on every single day (by the same GOP hack, I suspect).
 
I don't recall anyone on this blog "humorously" accusing Shumlin of being a homosexual.
 
Randy Brock for Lt. Governor!!
 
Does anyone really think Dubie could run anything? Nice guy, but c'mon!
Green Mountain Boy
 
Exactly - lets give Randy Brock a try - he would work hard.
 
Is Matt Dunne running for Lt. Governor in '08?
 
Sure sounds like it.
 
Randy can beat Matt!!
 
Go Randy!
 
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