At first glance, there don’t appear to be too many similarities between our straightlaced Gov. Jim Douglas and South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford. The latter fought to keep federal stimulus dollars out of his state, then skulked off to Argentina to chase a more traditional form of stimulation.

No, Douglas is not holed up in another hemisphere with some National Governors Association aide, nursing wounds inflicted by an uppity legislature.... Read more

Writing about the state of journalism can get damned depressing. Don’t get me wrong: I’m lucky to work for a kick-ass paper that’s doing pretty well in this economy.

However, I really feel for my colleagues in the daily print media, especially the folks at the paper I most love to rib, the Burlington Free Press (where I once worked).... Read more

In press interviews since the end of the legislative session, Gov. Jim Douglas continues to harp on how the Democratic leadership “walked away” from budget negotiations with his administration.

The Republican tells anyone who will listen that House Speaker Shap Smith and President Pro Tem Peter Shumlin abandoned the negotiating table “two or three times.”... Read more

Does history repeat itself? Today’s Burlington City Council shenanigans — including Democratic efforts to block one or more of the mayor’s annual appointees — suggest so. For readers who remember the Queen City in June 1981, June 2009 feels like “déjà vu all over again.”... Read more

Seismic. Almost two months to the day since their first veto override, Vermont lawmakers voted to override a second gubernatorial veto — the first time in state history that two vetoes have been overturned in one legislative session.

To top it off, Tuesday’s vote marked only the eighth veto override in state history.

The first veto of this session came after the guv tried to block passage of same-sex marriage. This second veto came after he shot down a sweeping $4.5 billion budget that directs how local, state and federal dollars will be spent.... Read more

Remember the good old days? We had a president we loved to hate, wars to end, and Frisbees, er discs, to toss around?

Monday marked the eighth Memorial Day since “Operation Enduring Freedom” was launched in Afghanistan October 7, 2001; seven since Operation Iraqi Freedom saw a “coalition” of forces invade Iraq on March 20, 2003.... Read more

Try, try again.

That is turning out to be the motto of Republican Gov. Jim Douglas in the face of an increasingly emboldened Democratic legislature.

Just six weeks ago, Douglas said he would veto a bill legalizing same-sex marriage. He did — and lost.... Read more

With a $423 million budget deficit hanging over them, is it any wonder lawmakers chose this year to tackle an important civil-rights issue like marriage equality?... Read more

In January, at the start of the 2009 legislative session, there was talk of weathering the recession by reviving Republican Gov. Dick Snelling’s income-tax surcharge.

In the early 1990s, Snelling levied a multiyear surcharge on upper-income earners as a way to close dramatic budget gaps. Eventually, those tax rates were lowered (though a corresponding sales tax increase never was). For their part, legislative Dems went along with budget cuts and a small number of state layoffs.... Read more

The swine flu outbreak, Bea Arthur’s death, another $50 million drop in revenue for Vermont, and Progressive Anthony Pollina considering another run for governor. Signs of the End Times, or just the endgame in Montpelier?... Read more