The recent kerfuffle over the Douglas administration’s effort to hide aspects of its plan to cut state jobs is keeping tensions high between union members, key lawmakers and the governor.

State employees made public hundreds of emails, in some of which key aides to Gov. Jim Douglas called lawmakers “whiners.” Other emails showed Douglas aides looking for ways to hide the true titles of the jobs they were cutting. You know, change a job title to “clerk” when it’s really “social worker.”... Read more

The release last week of hundreds of Douglas administration emails shed light on how the governor’s office tends to the people’s business — and its own.

Additional emails provided to “Fair Game” show the administration is using thousands of dollars of Agency of Transportation funds to pay for communications positions within the governor’s office.

These emails show that, while struggling to find jobs to cut, AOT officials debated whether they could eliminate an agency-funded position being used by the governor’s office.... Read more

Staying on message is an important political skill, and few in Vermont politics do it better than incumbent Gov. Jim Douglas.

Then again, few politicians can boast a $400,000-a-year communications A-team at their disposal, thanks to the taxes you and I pay.

And Republicans like Douglas say they oppose public financing of political campaigns. Sure they do.

Democrat Gaye Symington and Independent Anthony Pollina would like to have that kind of PR money kicking around — especially given their lackluster fundraising — to issue daily updates on their good deeds.... Read more

With the Democratic National Convention underway, and the Republicans gearing up for Minneapolis next week, local political races are increasingly on Vermonters’ minds.

That explains the persistent questions I’ve been getting from readers: Will the Progressives fade as a party? Does Gaye Symington really know how to run a statewide campaign? What the hell is Anthony Pollina thinking?... Read more

The already thinning ranks of Vermont journalism will get a little thinner this week, thanks to newsroom cuts at The Burlington Free Press, the state’s largest daily newspaper.

In all, six staffers at the Gannett-owned broadsheet will get the axe. Among the first to go was columnist Ed Shamy, who joined the Freeps as a metro editor in 1999.... Read more

It’s August, the time when many Vermonters pack up and hit the road to enjoy what’s left of summer.

Undaunted by a tanking economy and near $4-per-gallon gas, my family headed to Acadia National Park for a weeklong camping trip. Early August on Mount Desert Island usually means sun, and lots of it. But the coast of Maine has been hit with the same rainy weather that Vermont has. Still, we managed to soak up a few rays between the raindrops.... Read more

A note to readers: I’m off this week on vacation to the Maine coast. Any late-breaking news will be dealt with next week — if it’s still news.

The news couldn’t have come at a worse time for gubernatorial candidate Anthony Pollina. Late last week the Vermont Milk Company, Pollina’s business start-up, laid off two of its seven employees in an effort to stay afloat.... Read more

Listening to the calls for more investigations, a special session and harsher penalties for sex offenders, one can only feel less enthralled than ever with Vermont’s elected leaders.

In the wake of Brooke Bennett’s murder we’ve heard only shallow, calculated platitudes that fall short in the solution category. The proposed “fixes” represent knee-jerk political reactions, rather than any substantive means to address root social problems.

It’s so predictable, and so sad.... Read more

In an 11th-hour conversion, gubernatorial hopeful Anthony Pollina decided that after years of running as a standard-bearing Progressive, what he really wants to be when he grows up is . . . an Independent.

On Monday, the deadline for major-party candidates to file their petitions, Pollina gathered a dozen supporters to announce that his coalition was gaining so much steam, he had to become an Independent. Only then could he build the support needed to oust incumbent Republican Gov. Jim Douglas and brush aside Democrat Gaye Symington.

Color me underwhelmed.... Read more

Last week, “Fair Game” detailed negotiations between the Intervale Center and the administration of Gov. Jim Douglas that, in the end, could severely restrict farming and gardening at the 179-acre site.

As we went to press, news broke of another Vermont composter that’s come under the state’s not-so-green regulatory thumb.... Read more