Sen. Susan Bartlett made her most direct effort yet to cast herself as the lone moderate in the race for governor.
In an e-mail to those on her campaign's e-mail list, she said of her opponents (Democrats and Republican): "One speaks of strength. One speaks of changing everything. One says Montpelier is grid-locked. One wants to raise taxes. One would continue to gut state government."
She seeks to lay claim to the middle and says: "It is time for the middle to rise up."
She is pointed about the Democratic Party's past candidates.
"Since Howard Dean we have had to choose between a liberal and a conservative. Douglas and Racine. Douglas and Parker. Douglas and Clavelle. Douglas and Symington or Pollina. This time moderates have a choice for governor that reflects our values. Fiscal responsibility and balance."
As proof of her status as a moderate she points to Seven Days recent legislative survey (without noting the dismal participation rate the survey received), which found her "most knowledgeable," "best informed" and "stingiest" of legislators.
And she notes her stance on Vermont Yankee in which she objected to the timing of this month's vote.
Does Bartlett rightly lay claim to being the most moderate of the candidates?
- Terri Hallenbeck
Labels: Sen. Susan Bartlett, vermont politics
When Senate President Pro Tempore Peter Shumlin announced last week that the Senate would vote this week on the future of the Vermont Yankee nuclear power plant, it caught some senators by surprise. One could argue it shouldn’t have — he’s been telling the media for weeks that he foresees a vote this session and the session is motoring to its mid-point.
Nonetheless, Shumlin’s fellow Democratic gubernatorial candidate Susan Bartlett said he hadn’t clued her and others in on the vote, just as he hadn’t told them before announcing earlier this session that legislators would be taking a pay cut.
Bartlett’s irritation doesn’t seem to have abated over the weekend. She put out a statement Sunday night, calling this week’s vote “more political theater than making good public policy.”
She said she agrees that Vermont Yankee should not be relicensed, but thinks the time is not right for a vote, with several reports on Vermont Yankee pending.
“If we had followed the process we had in place, I believe that by the end of the session we would have voted as an entire legislature to close Yankee. That would have ended the discussion,” Bartlett said in her statement.
“I am on record as wanting to close Vermont Yankee in 2012. Their behavior in the past few months has only confirmed my opinion. This isn’t about my vote, it’s about doing the job right.”
She was careful not to mention Shumlin’s name anywhere in the statement. The candidates have, after all, agreed not to attack each other.
Bartlett will likely have a chance to vote on delaying the VY decision. Sen. Phil Scott, himself a candidate for lieutenant governor, said Monday he will introduce an amendment to send the bill to the Appropriations or Economic Development committee to study the economic ramifications of closing Vermont Yankee.
Will his amendment pass?
“I don’t know if I have enough support,” Scott said. “We’ll see.”
Senate Majority Leader John Campbell said he doesn’t think Scott has the votes.
Scott also said he doesn’t think he could vote to keep Vermont Yankee running for another 20 years based on current circumstances.
- Terri Hallenbeck
Labels: Mark Snelling; Vermont politics, Sen Phil Scott, Sen. Peter Shumlin, Sen. Susan Bartlett
All the talk about Vermont Yankee this legislative session has taken the $150 million budget gap out of the limelight. The issue will start to peek out from behind the curtains this week.
"Challenges for Change," the method by which the Legislature and the Douglas administration propose to save $38 million through changes in the way government does business, makes its way to the Senate floor Tuesday morning.
The method essentially tells those who are providing the services to figure out how to achieve better outcomes with less money while providing them more leeway to make that happen.
Behind the scenes, plenty of people are scratching their heads over how this will work _ or whether it will work. The best selling point the plan has going for it is that quite of few prominent people have bought into it: legislative leaders, the governor and his under-study, the lieutenant governor, to name a few.
One of them is Senate Appropriations Committee Chairwoman Susan Bartlett, D-Lamoille. She’s one of five Democratic candidates for governor. She sent an e-mail to supporters Sunday talking up the Challenges for Change idea as a key to solving the state’s budget problems and an example of how she does business.
"I find this entire idea really exciting and am looking forward to working with folks over the session to further develop the ideas of developing more challenges for each agency,” Bartlett, the candidate, said.
At least she’s not in it alone.
- Terri Hallenbeck
Labels: Sen. Susan Bartlett, vermont legislature
