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


10.29.2007

 

The fretting behind climate change

The Governor’s Commission on Climate Change came out with its final report Friday, as you surely noticed.

It lists six items that the commission urges the governor to do immediately, among them is beefing up energy efficiency, that little old item that hogged so much of the spotlight during the legislative session and refuses to go away.

One of the other items is a collaboration between the state and the University of Vermont and other state colleges on climate change issues. The state would use the colleges’ expertise, the colleges would use the state as a laboratory, or something like that.

This one caused a tussle on the commission because some wanted it to be the focal point of the commission’s report and some thought that if it the final report focused on a collaboration and not on specific ways the state could reduce greenhouse gas emissions, that the specifics would get lost. The administration, particularly Agency of Natural Resources Secretary George Crombie, was a big backer of the collaboration idea; so was commission Chairman Ernie Pomerleau.

I always love a good tussle, so I became intrigued about the genesis of this idea. I asked ANR for correspondences between UVM and the agency just to see what I’d learn about it. E-mails back and forth contain a few interesting items I’d like to share with y’all.

- First, there’s no doubt ANR was working out the details of this thing, rather than the commission. E-mails about the agreement are between UVM President Dan Fogel and ANR Deputy Secretary John Sayles. Crombie, Pomerleau and the governor’s staff (Chief of Staff Tim Hayward, Administration Secretary Mike Smith, press secretary Jason Gibbs and aide Dennise Casey) are all included on the e-mail exchanges.

- The e-mails also offer a little insight into worries about whose feathers might get ruffled, the way they did on the governor's scholarship proposal last year. Fogel says in an Oct. 12 e-mail to Sayles (and copied to the rest of the crowd):

" ... we see an opportunity to draw good lessons from the experience with the
Vermont Promise Scholarship proposal." (you might recall a protracted
disagreement between the governor and the legislature on that one) "In a
nutshell, we think we need to be as inclusive as possible in the very early
stages of the work on this agenda. We should therefore probably avoid, in the
draft, statements that suggest that the General Assembly will not be a partner
in this project (e.g. statements like point 11 and 13 on the draft, as
transmitted by you at 3:23 p.m. yesterday, that the blueprint for the transition
to a green economy will be drawn up without legislation.")


Fogel also worries over whether legislators will object to UVM"s higher profile in the agreement over Vermont State Colleges.

Sure enough, the final wording of that section of the report includes everybody except your grandmother, calling the agreement:

"a strategic partnership among the State of Vermont, including its agencies,
departments, the General Assembly and the Office of Governor; the University of
Vermont among the nation’s leading centers of environmental education and
research, and Vermont’s other premier academic and research institutions; and
the private business and non-governmental sectors."


- Fogel also offers some insight into how the thing was going to be publicized, indicating there was going to be a news conference that was postponed. In the Oct. 12 e-mail, he says:

"We may want to consider, for example, having the initial press conference
feature the Governor and the Chair of the GCCC rather than the Governor and the
president of UVM, but of course I will defer to the Governor’s best judgment on
this."

In an Oct. 13 e-mail, Fogel refers to plans for a public announcement of the agreement "in 10 days or so." He worries in that e-mail about whether the public debut of the agreement "is a great leap forward or will seem, in retrospect, to have been a misstep."

What’s all that mean? Well, the fact that ANR worked the agreement out and the import Crombie gave it by calling it the "commission’s signature proposal" in an ANR press release issued Friday indicate that this is what the governor is going to focus on. No matter that the commission’s report ended up treating the UVM agreement equally with a handful of other priorities, this is the one the administration cares about.

And all the fretting wasn't about the substance of the agreement (who's opposed to "working together?"), but the politics of the agreement.

- Terri Hallenbeck

Comments:
Did this backfire on Douglas?

What a bizarre set of people to put on this commission. I can understand DeHayes and Courtney, but the others make no sense.



Chairman Ernie Pomerleau of Pomerleau Real Estate in Burlington

Brian Searles, director of Burlington International Airport

Donald DeHayes, dean of the Rubenstein School of Environment and Natural Resources at the University of Vermont

Elizabeth Courtney, executive director of the Vermont Natural Resources Council

Parker Riehle, president of the Vermont Skis Areas Association

Theresa Alberghini DiPalma, senior vice president at Fletcher Allen Health Care
 
I guess we know where Jim Douglas will be this Thursday.

3:00 p.m. Von Bargen’s Jewelry Store Grand Opening and Ribbon Cutting Ceremony, Springfield Shopping Plaza, Chester Road, Springfield
 
They needed some controversy like partnering with UVM (is this really controversial?) because the rest of the report basically says Douglas shouldn't have vetoed the energy bill last year.
 
This clearly shows how this Governor and Administration operates.

Just like the Bush Administration!

They want to qwork out the details to their satisfaction then have a report written to match - Of course, Jim Douglas will continue to ignore (in the state) the success of our Energy Efficiency model while taking credit for it outside of Vermont.

Jim Douglas has no vision, except as to how he gets re-elected.

Terri, it would be great if you this article appearwed as a regular news item in the print copy rather than just a blog article.

However, I'm sure your bosses wouldn't want to do that - because they might make the Governor and Jason Gibbs mad if you reported the truth!
 
Jim Douglas wishes he never commissioned this - It really does say teh legislature had it right!

Terri, I agree with the previous blogger - this should be a front page story about how the Governor and his administration is trying to manipulate a supposedly independent study group.

Jim Douglas never expected this to come out!

"The emperor has no clothes!"
And he is looking for a rock to hide under.
 
Senator John Campbell for Governor!
 
Yeah. The whole vetting process for this (especially Hayward, Smith, Gibbs and Casey) makes you realize that Douglas really does operate like Bush and crew. The level of paranoia on the 5th Floor at 109 State Street is at an all-time high. Judging by this and other recent stories, maybe it should be.
 
I agree that this would make a good regular news item. I also think that some news coverage should be done about our exisiting weatherization program that is operated out of AHS via of OEO. This is from their website:

"The Vermont Weatherization Program was started in 1976 in response to the nation's energy crisis. Funding for the early days of the program was provided for solely by the U.S. Department of Energy (USDOE). This changed in 1990 when the State of Vermont Legislature introduced and passed bill H.832, which established the Vermont Weatherization Trust Fund (WTF). The WTF provides state funding for weatherization through a one-half percent gross receipts tax on all non-transportation fuels sold in the state. The WTF stabilized the funding, infrastructure, and technical capacity of the program. It also allowed Vermont to raise the average cost per job for more comprehensive work. Of the current funding for weatherization in Vermont, which is about $4.5 million annually, 81% comes from state funds and 19% comes from USDOE. Between 1990 and 2001, 13,790 homes were weatherized in Vermont.

Weatherization Services available to income-eligible people include:

Comprehensive "whole house" assessment of energy-related problems.
State-of-the-art building diagnostics including: blower door, carbon monoxide, and heating system testing and infrared scans.
"Full-service" energy-efficient retrofits including dense-pack sidewall insulation, air sealing, attic insulation, heating system upgrades and replacements."

Why does the legislature want to gut this very successful program
and start a new one???

It will never fly...
 
Yeah, I want MY house weatherized, and I want the Gummint to pay for it all so I kin spend my own monies drinkin' beer at the VFW! Bernie promised!
 
The only insulation Jim Douglas needs is his staff, appointees and hired PR flaks.
 
John Campbell for Governor!
Jim Condos for Lt. Governor!

Campbell from Windsor County - Condos from Chittenden County!

This would make a great team!
 
Crombie is a perfect fit in the Douglas Administration. Any voices of dissent were quickly "taken care of" upon his arrival at ANR. Hopefully he realizes that his head may be lobbed off just as swiftly if he screws up the Agency's reorganization.
 
"I want the Gummint to pay for it all so I kin spend my own monies drinkin' beer at the VFW!"

Nice way to smear our veterans.
 
Who said anything about gutting the weatherization program?


Funny how even the Douglas appointees conclude differently than Douglas.
 
"They needed some controversy like partnering with UVM "

Is that controversy?

I think for one, the state doesn't use UVM nearly as much as it should.

Secondly, pulling in UVM lends credence to the report and this action is exactly what you would want to do when faced with the problem of disagreeing with your boss.
 
Leave it to Douglas to ignore all the Vermont State Colleges. Have to appease the UVM contributors, I guess.
 
Here's another vote for putting this story in the paper rather than just keeping it on the blog.

Besides, if the Freeps doesn't run it, the Rutland Herald / Times Argus or VPR just might.
 
Umm ... what is the "story?" That in a highly politicized atmosphere, politicians play politics?

I give President Pro Tem Peter Shumlin high marks for recognizing global warming as a fantastic political issue. It's big, it's scary, and it's definitely something the media like to report on. The science on whether it's caused by humans isn't solid but it's suggestive.

Given that every pronouncement by Bill McKibben, every public hearing, every committee vote that had the words "global warming" got great play in the media last session, any politician worth his or her salt is going take notice of it and make the appropriate moves to position themselves on it.

So the story goes something like?

EMAILS SHOW DOUGLAS CONCERNED ABOUT POLITICS OF CLIMATE CHANGE

MONTPELIER -- Emails between Douglas Administration officials and members of the Governor's Commission on Climate Change indicate that politics was a factor in drafting its final report.

This would surprise ... who?
 
F it. It wouldn't matter anyway. This isn't the first time posters have asked Terri, Sam and Nancy why a story is in here, but not in the paper. Or if they would try and get it in the paper. Obviously, the BFP owners and editors have got their reporters by the you know whats. This situation is a microcosm of the press nationally and everything that is wrong about journalism in the year 2007. It sucks.
 
I find the bitterness, chronic suspicion and paranoia in this and other blogs ponderous. This can not be mainstream VT. Geesh...

Surprisingly not everything that happens is an orchestrated subversive conspiracy perpetrated by the fat cats on us poor rural folk.

...or maybe it is.
 
It isn't conspiracy ... it's just incompetence in the Governor's office.
 
Campbell

Condos

Sounds good!
 
That does sound like a winner.
 
Oh, yeah!
 
"anonymous said...

Campbell

Condos

Sounds good!"


Paid for by the Committee to Elect John Campbell.

John Campbell's mother, Chairman

Geesh.
 
Campbell from Windsor County

Condos from Chittenden County eh?? since when???????????
 
Where does he live?
 
Who cares!
 
His constituents should care. He gets paid to represent THEM.
 
Exactly why Tarrant and Brock should never have been running in Vermont.
 
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