vt.Buzz ~ a political blog

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

9.15.2008

And now the Vt. NEA

Anthony Pollina wins "recommendation" from state's largest union - Vermont-National Education Association with more than 11,000 members.

That's his third union endorsement in less than a week and pretty much up locks up the state's largest labor groups behind an independent/progressive candidate for governor.

Sitting on the sidelines, Gov. Jim Douglas has got to be happy. If he wasn't going to get these endorsements, he has to want them to go to Pollina because it weakens his Democratic challenger, House Speaker Gaye Symington. (Douglas has the professional firefighters in his endorsement column and Symington has Vermont Teamsters Locals 1 and 597)

Symington did secure Hillary Clinton's endorsement today, but Clinton doesn't vote in Vermont, can't be expected to make phone calls or put out yard signs or provide any of the other "boots on the ground" support that Pollina has been promised from the unions now backing him.

Ouch!. That's the only way to look at these endorsements from the Symington camp.

-- Nancy Remsen

posted by vt.Buzz | 12:54 PM |

Comments:

Symington is F***ed.

# Posted by:

Anonymous | 2:15 PM, September 15, 2008

Pollina gets the support of the NEA while Symington gets the support of an egotistical maniac who exemplifies all that is wrong in politics.

Vermonters overwhelming shut the door down on the false-politics of Clinton, however Gaye still insights on going down the road that Vermonters reject. So while Gaye gets the support of a Washington Insider(Even though she charges Douglas of doing that), Anthony Pollina picks up the endorsements of Vermont's Workers, and Educators. The VSEA and the VNEA are two groups that closely follow the workings of state government and are much more qualified in endorsing a candidate than a Washington elite.

Gaye should give up, before she costs her party any more shame...

# Posted by:

Anonymous | 2:36 PM, September 15, 2008

Just another reason to vote for Douglas. He doesn't have to lick the boots of the union thugs over at VNEA VSEA! Too bad these "highly educated" teachers are not capable of thinking for themselves.

# Posted by:

Anonymous | 2:48 PM, September 15, 2008

Take your meds Curtis. The NEA doesn't like you either.

# Posted by:

Anonymous | 3:01 PM, September 15, 2008

Who is Curtis?

# Posted by:

Anonymous | 3:04 PM, September 15, 2008

Who the hell is bubbakis?

# Posted by:

JWCoop10 | 4:12 PM, September 15, 2008

With 9k NEA and 11k VSEA, looks like a cake walk to Montpelier for Tony. You think 20k will win?

# Posted by:

Anonymous | 5:32 PM, September 15, 2008

bubba said...

"Just another reason to vote for Douglas. He doesn't have to lick the boots of the union thugs over at VNEA VSEA!..."

Nah, he's got hell of a job, hofie and neil mini-me blunderville to lick his boots and kiss his sorry butt.

I hate to keep confusin' ya with the facts, bubbakis, but in order for their to be "another reason", there has to be a first.

Feel free to dust off the ol' "are you better off than you were four years ago?" song and dance that was such a winner for Herbert Hoover in 1932.

After all, his boy, shrub's policies clearly calmed Wall Street jitters this morning and he's got them back to partyin' like it's 1929.

Given Doogie's affection, admiration for and warm personal relationship with shrub, it's just a matter of time before some of shrub's economic expertise and luck rub on Doogie and Vermont as it always has over the past six years in the incapable hands of the jimi douglas experience.

Stay cold, phony boy. Stay cold.

# Posted by:

JWCoop10 | 6:02 PM, September 15, 2008

You may get your wish Coopy- all this union support for Pollina. Jimi may be history and so will 1/2 the companies in Vermont.
It is a good thing he switched to Independent- when he was a PROG no one liked him.
Worked for Bernie!

# Posted by:

Anonymous | 6:07 PM, September 15, 2008

This goes to show you that those in charge of the VT dem. party have no political sense. Is it a surprise that the head of Symington's campaign was her former c.o.staff? The D's could have had far better candidates. But sweet Jill and "I want to be the next Attorney General, Ian" wanted their favorite. Racine should have been the choice. Even Galbraith or Campbell would have been better choice.

# Posted by:

Anonymous | 6:20 PM, September 15, 2008

NEK said...

"You may get your wish Coopy- all this union support for Pollina. Jimi may be history and so will 1/2the companies in Vermont."

Nice try, nekkie boy. Like his boy, shrub, doogie has spent the past six years showin' that he can lose Vermonter jobs and Vermonter money without any help from the Democrats, just fine, thank you very much.

Just like Herbert Hoover and a decade of cluelessly-corrupt and corruptly-clueless gop-slime government and incompetent-trash gop-slime policies gave us the Stock Market Crashes of '29, the Great Depression, record Federal Debt, numerous recessions, the Reagan Deficit, the first Bush Deficit, the second Bush Deficit and today's market meltdown in the wake of the latest clueless crony-capitalism collapse, brain-dead bank failure, the inevitable taxpayer bailout and today's market meltdown, gops have never needed any help from anyone to wreck any economy at any level, anywhere, at any time, and shrub and doogie are no exceptions.

I'll always give credit where credit is due and no matter if it's the economy, national security or the environment, gops are without question, the Masters of Disaster. Always have been. Always will be.

Nobody takes a backseat to the gops when it comes to puttin' a Country, a State, a County, a City or a Corporation in the toilet like a gop.

Nobody.

It is a good thing he switched to Independent- when he was a PROG no one liked him.

"Worked for Bernie!"

Bernie got elected to Congress.

Then Bernie got reelected a time or seven.

Then Bernie got elected to the Senate.

What's Pollina ever done but inflict brain-dead brian dubie on the State of Vermont?

Pollina's no Bernie.

Doogie, however, is a brain-dead bushleaguer.

What's more, you remain ignorant anonymous trash with bupkis, nekkie boy.

Always a pleasure.

# Posted by:

JWCoop10 | 7:37 PM, September 15, 2008

If a sign of political success in Vermont now consists of who can get the approval of a bunch of union hacks then we are indeed in a world of hurt. But then again I'm just an old Vermonter who can still remember when real Vermonters made their own way and didn't have to run whining to a pack of union goons. Are there ANY Vermonters left that are proud of their own personal accomplishments?

# Posted by:

Anonymous | 7:37 PM, September 15, 2008

think again about Attorney General!

# Posted by:

Anonymous | 7:48 PM, September 15, 2008

bubba...

If a sign of political success in Vermont now consists of who can get the approval of a bunch of union hacks then we are indeed in a world of hurt."

The "world of hurt" ship sailed for this Country on 1/20/01, bubbakis.

It sailed for Vermont in 1/03.

Still, ya shouldn't worry about it. By any measure, your ignorant anonymous ass will be back on the pine before ya ever get the bat off your shoulder.

You're not a Vermonter in any sense of the word, bubbakis. Like your knuckle-draggin' nitwit act, you're just old.

Take it where the climate suits your sheet. You're an embarrassment to the State of Vermont, the United States, the Human Race and Planet Earth.

Face it, bubbakis. You're an ignorant anonymous trash dinosaur. Go find yourself a tar pit and fall in it.

Always a pleasure.

# Posted by:

JWCoop10 | 8:29 PM, September 15, 2008

Coop, you get dumber by the day.

# Posted by:

Anonymous | 8:40 PM, September 15, 2008

jw blames Dubie for job losses in Vermont? Just how dumb can jw be (please, no replies, don't want to bring down the FREEP computer)? Whenever I hear the reasons for a company leaving Vermont it's always (1) to be closer to suppliers or customers (2) the permitting mess in Vermont (3) the high taxes in Vermont (4) the anti-business attitude of the legislature.

Which of the above is Dubie responsible for?

# Posted by:

Anonymous | 6:44 AM, September 16, 2008

bubba....

"jw blames Dubie for job losses in Vermont?..."

I do, eh? And just where and when do I attribute Vermont job losses specifically to Dubie, bubbakis?

How ya comin' on that Hatch Act nonsense of yours, little fella?

Gee, that's a shame.

Thanks for playing, bubbakis. We have some lovely parting gifts for your ignorant anonymous ass.

Clearly, you're gonna love life in Mississippi where the climate suits your sheet, schmuck.

Always a pleasure.

# Posted by:

JWCoop10 | 7:39 AM, September 16, 2008

coop said..."You're not a Vermonter in any sense of the word..."

This said by a Vermont transplant. You hypocrite.

Perhaps it is you who should take it where the climate suits your sheet. You're an embarrassment to the State of Vermont, the United States, the Human Race and Planet Earth.

# Posted by:

Anonymous | 9:44 AM, September 16, 2008

And by what criteria does me posting under my name, admitting that I didn't move to Vermont full time until 1971 when I'd finished HS, turned 18, married a Vermont Native, raised two sons who went K-College in addition to my wife and I being graduates of the Vermont College System to say nothing of owning homes and working in Vermont make me a hypocrite in the eyes of some nameless-nitwit who feels the need to post anonymously, little nameless-nitwit/anonymous-poster-putz fella?

I know what you and bubbakis are and what you aren't, little fella, but I have no idea who you are or where you live.

Your ignorant anonymous asses have produced no more evidence that you're from Vermont, grew up in Vermont, currently reside in Vermont or plan to live here in the future than you've demonstrated the stones to produce evidence of a name and an address.

Again, the only thing you and any other member of the ignorant anonymous trash community have produced any evidence of is that you're just another nameless-nitwit putz with bupkis who feels compelled to alternate between anonymously posting my name and address while periodically threatening my wife and offering google map directions to our home and telling me how everybody skips right over my posts without reading them, how nobody cares what I think, how I'm constantly against the tide of Vermont Public Opinion despite the fact that the people I support control both houses of the Vermont Legislature and the US Congress, have held Office for quite some time and keep getting reelected and beating your clowns like a drum - assuming, of course, your guys can even come up with token opposition to face them in the first place - and that you feel the need to anonymously remind me several times each and every day that nobody reads my posts or cares what I thinks and - like a bus - your ignorant anonymous ass will be along in another hour or so to remind me just how nobody cares what I think in case I didn't here ya the first 37 times.

So, in view of and in addition to your ignorant anonymous ass having demonstrated - once again - that you've got nothing to say and you've been saying it far too loudly and far too often for far too long, me thinks thou ignorant anonymous ass doth protest too much, little fella.

So, whoever the hell ya are and wherever the hell ya live, stay cold, phony boy. Stay cold.

# Posted by:

JWCoop10 | 11:18 AM, September 16, 2008

Coop said..."...raised two sons who went K-College in addition to my wife and I being graduates of the Vermont College System...."

WOW! So much for the caliber product the Vermont colleges produce. They must be proud every time they read one of your posts.

# Posted by:

Anonymous | 12:55 PM, September 16, 2008

I didn't know the Jethro Bodine Academy of Higher Learnin' was in the VT school system. You are darn right to be proud of that major you earned in 5th Grade....after all repeating it 4 years in a row certainly would make you an expert.

Since apparently you slept through it during your high falooting education, you should know society frowns on 55 year old men behaving the way you do routinely.

Just thought you would want to know...one VT'er to another.

# Posted by:

Anonymous | 1:05 PM, September 16, 2008

Gaye Symington is running for Governor?

# Posted by:

Anonymous | 1:11 PM, September 16, 2008

Wow - pretty impressive resume, jw! You must have a pretty good job...You DO have a JOB, don't you, jw? jw? Hello?

# Posted by:

Anonymous | 1:21 PM, September 16, 2008

The only school JW ever went to was Reform School.

# Posted by:

Anonymous | 1:25 PM, September 16, 2008

"the people I support control both houses of the Vermont Legislature and the US Congress, have held Office for quite some time and keep getting reelected and beating your clowns like a drum "

So if your people hold so much power everything wrong in VT and the US must be there fault.

Thanks for clearing that up Jiffy

# Posted by:

Anonymous | 6:24 PM, September 16, 2008

"their" Don't get your depends in a knot Jiffy

# Posted by:

Anonymous | 6:25 PM, September 16, 2008

Anonymous...

""the people I support control both houses of the Vermont Legislature and the US Congress, have held Office for quite some time and keep getting reelected and beating your clowns like a drum ""

"So if your people hold so much power everything wrong in VT and the US must be there fault."

Ah, so it's "there" fault, eh, little fraudulent fella?

Nice try, nitwit.

Dems are in the majority. They don't have an incompetent gop-slime, veto-proof majority.

Vermont's problems, like the Country's, are the product of ignorant-trash, gop-slime policies, incompetence, cluelessness and corruption.

Like the Crash of '29 and the Great Depression it ushered in, this mess is a gop-slime production from top to bottom and inside and out.

Now, as is clueless-cretin conservative custom, the US taxpayer gets to bail them out.
Again.

Such is the course of American History, schmuck. Gops cheney it up. Dems fix it and clean up the gop-scum mess.

Same as it ever was. Same as it ever was. Same as it ever was.

This mess is solely the product of gop-scum, brain-dead, bigotry and the ignorant, anonymous-trash, lunatic-fringe scum likes of you that support it, but lack the stones to sign your name and say so.

Thanks for clearin' that up and providin' such a clear-cut example of gop slimedom, little fella.

Say goodnight, greasy.

# Posted by:

JWCoop10 | 9:47 PM, September 16, 2008

bubba has left a new comment on the post "And now the Vt. NEA":

"Wow - pretty impressive resume, jw! You must have a pretty good job...You DO have a JOB, don't you, jw? jw? Hello?"

In other words, you're dumb, you're scum, ya got bupkis, ya don't have a job and you're not from Vermont.

I'm shocked.

Thanks for clearin' that up, bubbakis.

Say goodnight, greasy.

# Posted by:

JWCoop10 | 9:51 PM, September 16, 2008

So the Dems are like you Jiffy. Limp, ineffectual and looking to blame someone else for their own failings.

Thanks for clearing that up ol' pal.

No wonder you get all a twitter for them.

Go to bed Coop you have a busy day not at work tomorrow.

Enjoy your soaps.

# Posted by:

Anonymous | 11:00 PM, September 16, 2008

Coop rationalizes: "Dems are in the majority. They don't have an incompetent gop-slime, veto-proof majority. "

Once again Coopy is playing the poor victim card. The sign of an effective politician is the ability to work across the aisle to reach bi-partisan accord.

In VT, the amateur Dems cannot do this. It is their fault and no one elses that they are so ineffective in passing legislation that is acceptable to all parties. Symington has shown on the ‘stump’ that she has no communication skills… and you wonder why a coherent dialogue can’t be had?

It would be refreshing to see just one Dem take personal responsibility for the failures they have been party to.

# Posted by:

Anonymous | 7:25 AM, September 17, 2008

When pigs fly.

# Posted by:

Anonymous | 9:39 AM, September 17, 2008

bubba...

"When pigs fly."

Ah, so that's your ignorant anonymous ass's new time horizon for demonstrating that you can distinguish your sorry butt from your elbow.

That's a lotta pressure you're putting on yourself, bubbakis. Do ya really think you can pull it off by then?

Always a pleasure.

# Posted by:

JWCoop10 | 10:37 AM, September 17, 2008

WOW...how clever. You are truly the man coopy. Do you have another cool sayings you got from the guys down at the clubhouse?

# Posted by:

Anonymous | 10:50 AM, September 17, 2008

Anonymous said...

"Coop rationalizes: "Dems are in the majority. They don't have an incompetent gop-slime, veto-proof majority. "

"Once again Coopy is playing the poor victim card."

I realize your ignorant anonymous ass - like the rest of the ignorant anonymous trash community - feels that ignorance is empowering because you're no longer bound by reality and the forces of gravity and the facts, but just how does a thorough knowledge and understanding of the rules of the legislative bodies in question constitute "playing the victim" in the shallow cesspool that spawned your ignorant anonymous ass, little fella?

Nice try.

"The sign of an effective politician is the ability to work across the aisle to reach bi-partisan accord."

Ya don't say.

As always, little factually-challenged/fundamentally-dishonest/nameless-nitwit fella, feel free to produce any and all evidence pointing out just where and when I accused shrub and doogie of being effective politicians capable of reaching across the aisle to act in an effort to gain bipartisan accord.

Knock yourself out, nitwit. Pack tent, a sleeping bag and enough bread crumbs to help your ignorant anonymous ass's way home, schmuck. You're gonna need 'em.

Again, it would be refreshing to see some semblance of ignorant anonymous trash competition for a change, little fella.

Always too much of a pleasure.

# Posted by:

JWCoop10 | 10:57 AM, September 17, 2008

This comment has been removed by the author.

# Posted by:

JWCoop10 | 10:57 AM, September 17, 2008

Anonymous...

"WOW...how clever. You are truly the man coopy."

Well, little fella, I'd better be.

Clearly, no one else is qualified for the job - either literally or metaphorically - but I'm always happy to step up, man up and help out the less fortunate and those incapable of growing a pair or coming up with a case and a clue and, Lord Knows, that certainly encompasses the ignorant anonymous trash community in general and your sorry butt in particular, little fella.

Still, you'd best stick together. If you're ever gonna force me to crack a sweat, you're gonna have to.

Clearly, you and the rest of the ignorant anonymous trash community have failed to accomplish that mission over the course over the past ten months despite not only making it your full-time job, but you're whole raison d'etre.

But, hey, hope springs eternal, little fella, and if you and your coalition of the clueless compatriots lose hope, ya may as well pack it in, be good little dinosaurs and go find yourselves a tar pit and fall in it.

Lord knows, ya got nothin' else to fall back on

Always a pleasure.

# Posted by:

JWCoop10 | 11:16 AM, September 17, 2008

The VSEA has completely lost touch with the real world.

# Posted by:

Anonymous | 10:19 PM, September 17, 2008

Dorta and his fellow thugs and bottom feeders only care about HOW MANY union teachers they can organize to fill their coffers with dues. And of course the dims are willing participants in their criminal ventures.

# Posted by:

Anonymous | 6:47 AM, September 18, 2008

bubba..

"Dorta and his fellow thugs and bottom feeders only care about HOW MANY union teachers they can organize to fill their coffers with dues. And of course the dims are willing participants in their criminal ventures."

And what crimes would those be, bubbakis?

Since your not the sorta schmuck to make false allegations your ignorant anonymous ass can't substantiate and frequently can't spell, feel free to produce any and all evidence of alleged crimes and/or convictions of Angelo Dorta and the VNEA.

I'm sure it'll be every bit the laugh riot your Hatch Act comedy routine was, bubbakis.

That's entertainment.

# Posted by:

JWCoop10 | 10:29 AM, September 18, 2008