Shumlin for governor

The Burlington Free Press editorial board recommends Peter Shumlin, the Democrat from Putney, for governor of Vermont. The critical characteristic is that he will get things done. Shumlin’s promise to run state government in the most open way possible is the precondition for anyone who seeks the state’s highest elected office.

Vermont continues to struggle to rise above the worst economic downturn since the Great Depression. A steady hand to maintain the status quo is no longer sufficient to move this state forward — socially and economically. This state can no longer afford a governor who would see blocking legislation as the major accomplishments of his tenure.

As Senate President Pro Tempore, Peter Shumlin has displayed considerable legislative skill in bringing about results on the biggest issues, an advantage he holds over his main competitor, Republican Brian Dubie of Essex Junction.

Shumlin was a driving force in Vermont becoming the first state to grant marriage equality to gay and lesbian couples without being told to do so by the courts.

Shumlin was a legislative leader in the 2009 budget fight with Gov. Jim Douglas that led Douglas to veto the budget and the Legislature to override that veto — both a first for a state budget in Vermont.

Shumlin can claim credit for the 26-4 vote this year that led the Senate to deny Vermont Yankee a chance to seek from the Public Service Board an extension of its operating license for 20 years beyond 2012.

Regardless of whether you agree with Shumlin’s agenda, there is no denying the senator from Windham County has built a record of bold action in the Legislature.

Shumlin’s platform is equally full of bold initiatives — from his proposal to reduce Corrections costs by focusing on keeping nonviolent offenders from returning to prison, to his push for a single-payer health care system for the state.

Shumlin’s platform shows a politician unafraid of controversy in his search for solutions to challenges facing Vermont. To shy away from trying new approaches to the state’s fiscal problems is to go back to simply cutting services the state provides to Vermonters to bridge the budget gap.

Shumlin will bring his experience gained in the Senate helping to build state budgets in an environment of reduced revenues to work with the Legislature on solutions that are fair to Vermonters.

In politics, the safe route is to stick to generalities and avoid leaving a public trail that could come back to haunt a candidate. In the general election campaign, Shumlin’s willingness to speak out on contentious issues and talk about specifics of his platform leaves him open to equally specific criticism. He has been direct. Again, this is part of being open and accessible as a representative of the people.

Shumlin exposes some weakness when delving into details of some of his proposals. He stumbles to make himself understood on his Corrections plan. He reached too far in claims of cutting taxes. And people will argue about how realistic his plan is to pay for his agenda without raising taxes, especially when he will face a $110 million-plus budget gap on day one as governor.

But throughout his campaign, Shumlin has been consistent on the issues and has remained the man Vermonters have come to know during his legislative career. With Shumlin, his legislative record and his willingness to delve deep into his proposals mean Vermonters know who they are getting as their next governor.

Shumlin pledges to look out for the interest of Vermonters who need help.

Shumlin offers a nuanced approach to Vermont’s budget challenges that avoids a simple-minded policy that more resembles hacking away at spending with a dull ax.

Shumlin’s platform recognizes the importance of investing in education as a way to boost the economy and tackle our social problems.

Shumlin has pledged to run an open administration, and work to reduce the barriers to public access that permeates Vermont laws. This is the only way to run state government, and the only way elected officials can be held accountable. Openness is the most important promise to Vermonters the next governor must keep.

Vermont needs a doer.

Peter Shumlin of Putney will be that governor.

http://www.burlingtonfreepress.com/article/20101024/OPINION/101023016/Voice-of-the-Free-Press-Recommendation-for-Vermont-governor

Last week, Peter Shumlin proudly accepted an endorsement from Planned Parenthood of Northern New England’s (PPNNE) Action Fund.
Steve Trombley, CEO of the PPNNE Action Fund stated, “The next governor of Vermont will make critical decisions about women’s access to reproductive health care services as health care reform is implemented in Vermont.”  Trombley continued, “That’s why PPNNE’s Action Fund is working hard to make sure that women and men in Vermont know that Peter Shumlin will stand up for choice and will protect women’s health.” Vermont has had a pro-choice governor for nearly 40 years and this will change if Brian Dubie is elected. Trombley further reiterated the difference between the candidates stating that when asked about this issue and whether or not the law needs to be changed Dubie has said, ”‘As a pro-life lieutenant governor, yes, I do.”

Peter Shumlin is 100% pro choice and will always protect a woman’s right to choose.  Dubie likes to say that this is a federal issue and it doesn’t matter.  He couldn’t be more wrong.  Anti-choice advocates are waging this battle at the state level.  In fact, in the past year alone, 18 states have passed legislation restricting a woman’s right to choose.  So yes, it does matter.

Sunday, October 10, 2010

Gov. Jim Douglas boarded a motor home Saturday morning to travel across Vermont campaigning with Republican gubernatorial candidate Brian Dubie, the man he hopes will replace him in the governor’s office in January.

Former Gov. Howard Dean is on the phone several times a week with Democratic gubernatorial candidate Peter Shumlin and his campaign staff, offering advice and fundraising help for the man he hopes will fill the office he once held.

The once and current governors of Vermont have each worked closely with their party’s candidate for governor, have seen them navigate policy and politics and have been their mentors and allies. Each knows his candidate’s ability to run the state about as well as anyone could. Both Dean and Douglas enjoyed relative popularity among Vermont voters and won the support of moderates who will be key to deciding the 2010 race.

For the eight years Douglas has been governor, he has worked with Dubie as lieutenant governor, appointing him to serve on his Cabinet to head commissions and councils.

“I believe strongly in Brian’s candidacy,” Douglas said of Dubie. “I believe he’s the best person to lead our state for the next few years.”

For 13 years, Dean and Shumlin worked together in the Statehouse, where Dean was lieutenant governor and then governor while Shumlin was a member of the House, then the Senate, including six years as Senate president pro tempore while Dean was governor.

“He’s very smart. He knows the issues. He knows how to move people,” Dean said of Shumlin. “He’s ready to be governor.”
Douglas, whose been involved in Republican politics in Vermont all his adult life, said he doesn’t recall meeting Dubie until 2000, when Dubie ran unsuccessfully for lieutenant governor and Douglas was state treasurer. In 2002, as Douglas won the open governor’s seat Dean was vacating, Dubie won the open lieutenant governor’s seat that Democrat Doug Racine vacated to run for governor. In their eight years in office together, Douglas said, he’s gotten to know Dubie.
Before Douglas and his wife, Dorothy, climbed into a Winnebago on Saturday for a campaign tour with Dubie and his wife, Penny, he told a crowd of about 100 Dubie supporters that he has worked with both major-party candidates for governor. “I know which one we need,” Douglas said.

Douglas touts Dubie’s work as chairman of the Governor’s Homeland Security Advisory Council, the Governor’s Commission on Healthy Aging and as an ambassador of Vermont products and interests in trips to China, Cuba and Canada. Douglas said he invited Dubie to join his Cabinet, which was not necessarily the norm for a lieutenant governor, because he wanted to be make sure the lieutenant governor was up to speed on issues facing state agencies. Dubie was involved in budget negotiations with the Legislature in 2009 and 2010, Douglas noted. Douglas said he made a point of meeting with Dubie every Friday during the legislative session to make sure they stayed up to date.

He noted that Dubie, who is an American Airlines pilot, used his knowledge of the air industry to create the Vermont Aeronautics and Aviation Association and to push for a sales-tax exemption for aircraft parts to help airplane service companies stay and grow in Vermont. “I can’t recall a lieutenant governor who’s been so involved in so many areas,” Douglas said.

Asked whether Dubie ever lobbied him on issues, Douglas couldn’t provide an example, but he said, “Brian is not at all reluctant to tell me how he feels about things in a respectful and cordial way.”

Along with campaigning at Dubie’s side, Douglas goes to bat for him in a television commercial that started airing last week. In it, he highlights the need for a Republican governor to counteract the Democratic-controlled Legislature. Douglas and Dubie pushed the Legislature to kill a manufacturing tax and reverse course on an estate tax, Douglas noted. “What we need is balance in Montpelier,” Douglas said.

As he talks up Dubie, Douglas isn’t shy about criticizing Shumlin, with whom he has tussled over budgets, energy policy, same-sex marriage, among other issues, the last four years. “That other fella, he’s an interesting guy. He’s made a lot of promises this campaign,” Douglas said, citing Shumlin’s proposals for government-run health care and universal preschool. “I think we know what happens when politicians make promises.”

Dean has run for president and headed the Democratic National Committee since he left office in 2003 after serving nearly 12 years as governor. These days, he said he spends a lot of time on the road, including campaigning for Democratic candidates across the country and helping with the recent Bosnian elections. He said he’s also in regular contact with Shumlin and his campaign staff, offering strategic and fundraising advice.

“I talk to Alex four or five times a week,” Dean said of Shumlin’s campaign manager, Alex MacLean. “I talk to Peter a couple times a week. I’m very involved.”

Dean said there are no specific plans for him to campaign with Shumlin in person in Vermont, though he would if asked. “This is not about Jim Douglas or Howard Dean,” he said. “My own advice is: If you need me, I’m there, but do your own thing.”

Dean worked with Shumlin in the Statehouse through the 1990s and into the early 2000s, through difficult budget years and more flush one, through creation of the state’s controversial Act 60 education funding law and first-in-the-nation civil unions law. He points to more recent times, though, in touting Shumlin’s abilities.

“Most impressive to me was the override of the governor’s veto,” Dean said, referring to the Legislature’s 2009 override of Douglas’ veto of the budget, a first in state history for the budget bill. “I’ve never seen that,” he said. “You have to get every single person in line to do that.”

Shumlin has remarkable political instincts, Dean said. “Peter was our go-to guy,” he said. “He understands politics in the best sense of the word.”

Dean, who was known as governor for being fiscally conservative, said Shumlin played a part in crafting budgets during his tenure. “He gets that Democrats have to be fiscally responsible,” Dean said.

While Douglas calls Shumlin’s proposals fiscally irresponsible, Dean said the ideas have merit. He said he sees single-payer health care as an option Vermont could offer under the new federal legislation, and he respects Shumlin for trying to cut $40 million a year from the Corrections budget within four years.

“I respect him for putting $40 million on the table. Maybe it’ll work; maybe it won’t,” Dean said. “He ought to get credit for trying.”

By contrast, Dean said, Dubie has avoided offering specific budget plans. “I haven’t seen Brian come up with any plan,” Dean said. “The book says don’t come out with any specifics. Dubie’s doing that.”

Dubie has proposed limiting state budget growth to 2 percent, at times citing years when Dean held spending to less than that. Dean said it would mean significant cuts that Dubie hasn’t specified. “You have to say what they are in the campaign,” he said. “You’re going to have to make some really unpopular cuts.”
Contact Terri Hallenbeck at 651-4887 or thallenbeck@burlingtonfreepress.com

Read more: http://www.burlingtonfreepress.com/article/20101010/NEWS03/10100315/Douglas-and-Dean-weigh-in-on-governor-candidates#ixzz1202n2I8J

Published 10/10/2010

Even by the traditional standards of election-year mudslinging, Republican gubernatorial candidates in New Hampshire and Vermont have reached new lows. We’re thinking in particular about their attacks on sensible prison reforms supported by their Democratic opponents.

In New Hampshire, Republican John Stephen and supporters have slammed incumbent Democratic Gov. John Lynch for signing a law mandating that nearly all prisoners be released nine months before their maximum sentence. “I am appalled that anyone, regardless of party, would think that this is a good idea to let violent criminals out of prison early, as Gov. Lynch does,” declared Stephen. “As governor, I will not stand for this assault on the protection of our communities.”

What Stephen failed to note is that the law also requires released offenders to submit to stringent supervision during their early-release time, including electronic monitoring and treatment for the drug and alcohol addictions that landed many of them in prison in the first place. Also unmentioned was the fact that the law enjoyed support among Republican lawmakers and such soft-on-crime types as the New Hampshire Association of Chiefs of Police, Attorney General Michael Delaney and Supreme Court Chief Justice John Broderick.

There was good reason for that broad endorsement. Donna Sytek, the former Republican House speaker who supports the new law, wrote: “Nine months of mandatory, intensive supervision makes a lot more sense than no supervision at all under the old law,” reports the Concord Monitor.

In Vermont, Republican gubernatorial candidate Brian Dubie has proven no less shameless in his criticism of the proposal by Democrat Peter Shumlin to release some offenders into the community under state supervision. By providing those offenders with substance-abuse treatment, mental health counseling and the sort of education that could help them land decent jobs, Shumlin would hope to reduce the inmate population, cut the cycle of re-offending and save $40 million over several years.

“When the time comes for (such prisoners) to be released, I want to have the boots on the ground to break the cycle” of inmates getting out only to commit new crimes, says Shumlin, president pro tempore of the Vermont Senate.

Vermont has long prided itself on creative use of such community sentences, which can cost half (or less) of the $40,000 a year it costs to lock one inmate away in state prison. Such tough-on-crime governors as Democrat Howard Dean and Republican Jim Douglas have supported the approach. But Lt. Gov. Brian Dubie? To hear him and his ads tell it, Shumlin’s plan would create Fort Apache, Vermont.

In a new ad aired by Dubie’s campaign, two women are heard to say Shumlin’s plan “sounds dangerous” and “could threaten the safety of communities all across Vermont.” During a debate, Dubie brandished what he claimed was a list of inmates who would be released under Shumlin’s plan. (It turned out to be a spreadsheet of crimes that are considered violent under state law.) On a recent swing through Windsor, Dubie was unapologetic, telling Valley News staff writer Gregory Trotter, “This is about protecting the people of Vermont … . This is a scary public safety issue.”

Reasonable people can disagree about the proper balance between keeping offenders locked up and releasing them into the community under state supervision. And Democrats and Republicans alike would do well to acknowledge the risk of releasing offenders without providing the money and programs to keep them out of trouble and moving in a constructive direction.

What’s scary is to hear the kind of rhetoric that Vermont and New Hampshire voters normally experience only when a New York state political ad makes its way onto their television screens. Stephen and Dubie would do well to drop the scare tactics and focus on the issues. If they think keeping all offenders locked away is the answer, let’s hear their plans for paying the bills and keeping ex-convicts from committing new crimes when they are sent, without any supervision, back onto the streets.

http://www.vnews.com/10102010/7161070.htm

By Dave Gram

Associated Press Writer / October 8, 2010

MONTPELIER, Vt.—Radioactive tritium that has leaked from the Vermont Yankee nuclear plan  has turned up for the first time in a former drinking water well tied to a deep underground aquifer, plant and federal officials said Friday.

Plant officials said the new test results indicated there was no threat to public health and safety. Two positive readings, showing just over 1,000 picocuries of tritium per liter of water, were well below the federal Environmental Protection Agency’s safety limit for tritium in drinking water — 20,000 picocuries per liter.

However, the presence of any tritium, an isotope of hydrogen and a byproduct of nuclear fission that has been tied to cancer when ingested in large amounts, was troubling to state Rep. David Deen, a river steward with the Connecticut River Watershed Council. The plant is adjacent to the river in Vermont’s southeast corner.

“That’s really bad news,” Deen said. “I was hoping it was going to be contained and that the shallow ground water would flush itself and that we would be done with it.”

The tritium leak that was first announced in January. Asked whether people living near the plant had anything more to worry about than before the latest development, the state Health Department’s radiological health chief, William Irwin, said, “I don’t think so.”

Irwin said there still is a high likelihood that the underground water system will flush itself out over time. He said, however, a great deal of uncertainty surrounds the situation because no one has an exact map of underground rock fractures through which the affected water is flowing.

The test results turned up in water samples pulled from a section of the well shaft extending from 200 to 220 feet below the surface of the plant site in Vernon. That’s about three times deeper than the deepest test well drilled this year — 70 feet — as the plant has tracked the spread of tritium and other radioactive substances through shallower ground water surrounding the 38-year-old reactor.

The well, which had been used as a water supply for Vermont Yankee workers, was shut down in February because of its proximity to the radioactive leaks. Plant, state and federal officials, like Deen, had hoped the contaminated groundwater would be limited to that which has turned up in various test wells on the site since them.

“What it means is that it has gotten through that rock layer that was protecting the drinking water aquifer,” Deen said.

It could not be immediately determined how large the aquifer under Vermont Yankee is. Irwin said he is not a hydrogeologist and did not have that information. Deen said, “That’s the aquifer that most of the wells in that area are tapped into.”

The future of Vermont Yankee, which is seeking a 20-year extension on a license currently set to expire in 2012, has become a major issue in this year’s race for governor. The plant is owned by New Orleans-based Entergy Corp.

The Republican candidate, Lt. Gov. Brian Dubie, has generally been supportive of the plant, but adopted a tougher tone Friday. He said the latest findings show that the plant “has much more work to do in order to regain the trust and confidence of Vermonters” following last winter’s revelations about the leaks and the fact that plant officials had misled the state about the existence of underground pipes at the plant that could leak radioactive substances.

The Democratic candidate, state Senate President Pro Tem Peter Shumlin, has been consistent in calling for Vermont Yankee to close when its license expires in 2012. “How many leaks and lies does Brian Dubie have to live through before he will stand up for the people of Vermont instead of the stockholders of Entergy Louisiana?” Shumlin said. “We need a governor who gets it right the first time and has the courage to stand up to corporate power when it is wrong.”

© Copyright 2010 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

Free Press Staff Writer

Sunday 3rd October 2010

There are plenty of differences between the two major-party candidates for governor, but nowhere is the contrast more stark than on social issues.

Democrat Peter Shumlin supports access to abortion; Republican Brian Dubie opposes abortion.

Shumlin, as Senate leader, was one of the driving forces behind Vermont’s same-sex marriage law that passed in 2009; Dubie opposed the law.

Shumlin supports an Oregon-style physician-assisted suicide law that would allow terminally ill patients to take lethal overdoses prescribed by a doctor; Dubie opposes the law.

Dubie has long been clear where he stands on abortion, same-sex marriage and physician-assisted suicide. As he runs for governor in a state where few would disagree the majority of the population is pro-choice, Dubie is clearly sensitive about the issue.

In debates and interviews, when the topic comes up, Dubie is quick to argue that his focus as governor will be on creating jobs, that issues such as abortion and same-sex marriage are not on his agenda. At one debate, he called talk of those issues an attempt to divert focus from other issues.

“The social issues are settled. Marriage is behind us. … It’s the law. Abortion has been the law of the land for many years,’ Dubie said in an interview.
“I couldn’t disagree with Brian more that this is not a relevant issue for the next governor of Vermont,” Shumlin said.

ABORTION

In a 2009 article in the publication Vermont Catholic Tribute about a trip to the Statehouse by a group of youth, Dubie was quoted as saying that people ask him, as a “pro-life lieutenant governor,” if he thinks laws need to be changed to protect life.

“Yes, I do,” he replied, according to the article.

Dubie said, however, in an interview last week that as governor he would respect that abortion is legal. He said he has no plans to push legislation that would alter that, such as requiring parental notification. Nor does he plan to change state funding for abortions or family planning, he said.

“That’s established,” he said.

Mary Hahn Beerworth, executive director of the Vermont Right to Life Committee, said there is little Dubie could do as governor to change access to abortion.

“He’s not in a position to do much if it doesn’t come to his desk,” she said. “Over half the governors are pro-life. They’re not toppling Roe. v. Wade.”

Pro-choice advocates argue that by requiring waiting periods, parental notification and other measures some states are chipping away at the foundation of the 1973 U.S. Supreme Court decision that legalized abortion.

Retiring Republican Gov. Jim Douglas, who is pro-choice but strongly supports Dubie, agreed Dubie would have little influence on such issues, particularly with a Democratic-controlled Legislature he conceded is unlikely to change with this year’s elections.

“They are very, very unlikely to be revisited,” Douglas said of abortion and same-sex marriage.

Douglas acknowledged, however, that in his eight years as governor, there was a federal family planning grant the state was pursuing, and he wanted to make sure all planning options would be covered in the education program it offered.

Pursuit of such grants is one area pro-choice advocates say worries them if Vermont were to have an anti-abortion governor.

“As governor, you can veto a budget,” said Jill Krowinski, spokeswoman for Planned Parenthood of Northern New England. “The budget could be taking out Medicaid coverage for abortion or family planning. That’s a place where depending on your views, a governor could make a difference.”

That happened in New Jersey this year, Krowinski pointed out. Republican Gov. Chris Christie vetoed $7.5 million in family planning money, citing a need to cut the state’s budget.

Asked if he would look to cut family planning funding in Vermont for budget or other reasons, Dubie said, “I don’t intend to depart from the established practice.”

Groups on both sides of the abortion issue will be playing a role in the election.

Beerworth said that though Vermont Right to Life Committee is pleased to have an anti-abortion candidate running for governor, the organization’s political action committee will do nothing more than it does every election year.

The group will send its members a voter guide highlighting candidates across the ballot who support its views, Beerworth said.

Krowinski said Planned Parenthood’s political action committee plans to hold a “Women for Shumlin” rally in Burlington on Tuesday. Krowinski noted that Dubie would be the first anti-abortion governor in a generation.

“We’ve had a pro-choice governor for 40 years,” she said. “I think that’s a major shift.”

MARRIAGE

In 2009, the Vermont Legislature made same-sex marriage legal in the state, overriding Douglas’ veto of the bill by a single vote in the House. As Senate president pro tempore, Shumlin led the way in choosing to bring the bill to a vote over the objection of some colleagues.

As lieutenant governor, Dubie didn’t have a vote on the bill, but he has made clear his opposition of same-sex marriage.

As with abortion, Dubie said he has no plans to make any changes to Vermont’s same-sex marriage law.

He said no one talks to him about same-sex marriage on the campaign trail. He tells the story of a woman in the Northeast Kingdom who told him that the social issue that matters most to her is whether a mother and father are going to lose their jobs.

“That is the social issue of this campaign,” Dubie said.

Beth Robinson, head of the Vermont Freedom to Marry Task Force, said she isn’t necessarily concerned that Dubie would try to repeal the marriage law. She said she is unabashed in her support of Shumlin, not just because he succeeded in passing the law she sought for more than a decade but because she believes he would come down on the right side of whatever social issue might arise next.

“I’m not sure I even know what the next one is,” she said. She argued that social issues matter even when people are most worried about the economy.

“Many things put in the social issues category have significant impact on our ability to feed, clothe and shelter our families and make sure we’re not going to be evicted,” she said.

END-OF-LIFE ISSUES

If Dubie argues that the hot-button social issues are settled in Vermont, here’s one that is not.
In 2007, the Vermont House voted on a bill that would have allowed terminally ill patients to end their own lives. The debate was emotional and the vote relatively close — 82-63. Dick Walters, a Shelburne resident who pushed for the bill would like to see the Legislature try again in 2011.

The choice in the 2010 governor’s race is clear for Walters — Shumlin would sign such a bill; Dubie wouldn’t.

“It’s black and white. There’s a definite choice,” Walters said.

Dubie said his concerns about physician-assisted suicide are highlighted by disability advocates who fought the 2007 bill. They argued that such a law could put value on some lives over others and could put those with disabilities at risk, Dubie noted. He said he would like to see an expansion of palliative and hospice care.

Shumlin said he supports physician-assisted suicide. “I support end-of-life choices,” he said.

Walters’ organization, Patient Choices-Vermont, recently sent mailings out to 6,000 supporters outlining the differences between the candidates not only on end-of-life choices but on abortion and same-sex marriage. The card simply states the candidates’ stances without making an endorsement.

“If these issues are important to them, we want to be sure they understand how the candidates stand on those issues,” Walters said.

Vermont Right to Life Committee cites physician-assisted suicide as an issue it opposes.

Read more: http://www.burlingtonfreepress.com/article/20101003/NEWS03/101002011/-1/TOPICS0206/Do-abortion-same-sex-marriage-and-end-of-life-choices-matter-in-the-Vermont-governor-s-race#ixzz11OjcrFnh

Campaign Ads: Dubie Goes Personal; Shumlin Focuses On Issues

Bob Kinzel – Montpelier, Vt.

BURLINGTON – The Democratic candidate for governor, Peter Shumlin, reiterated his promise to deliver a single-payer system to Vermont and said campaign contributions from the pharmaceutical industry have unduly influenced his Republican opponent’s stance on health-care issues.

Brian Dubie’s allegiance to health insurers and the pharmaceutical industry, Shumlin said at a press conference Tuesday, would stymie the kind of reform needed to decrease skyrocketing health-care expenses.

Since Dubie assumed public office in 2002, according to Shumlin, he has accepted more than $10,000 in campaign contributions from the pharmaceutical industry.

“I will not and have not taken money from the pharmaceutical industry to fund this campaign, because we know what happens when politicians do – change does not happen,” Shumlin said. “I know that the person who I’m running against has accepted over $10,000 in public life from the pharmaceutical industry. I know given a choice of myself or Brian, they would choose Brian.”

The Dubie campaign said Shumlin has also accepted special-interest contributions, despite his claims to the contrary. Dubie campaign manager Corry Bliss said financial disclosures reveal contributions from groups lobbying for, among other things, the legalization of marijuana, right-to-die legislation and increased public investments in the renewable energy sector.

“We’ve heard Peter Shumlin claim twice in the last 48 hours that he doesn’t take special-interest money,” Bliss said in a statement. “Like most things with Peter Shumlin, the records prove he is not being honest.”

Bliss said Shumlin is also being “dishonest” about his plans to deliver a single-payer health-care system. Federal legislation passed earlier this year expressly prohibits states from adopting single-payer systems before 2017. Shumlin said Tuesday he’ll ensure Vermont makes the transition by the end of 2014.

“Peter Shumlin can talk up his plan for health care all he wants, but that does not make it more true,” Bliss said. “It’s all smoke aimed at covering up the fact that pursuing a single-payer system before 2017 would violate federal law, and there is no evidence that any of the promises Peter Shumlin is making have any basis in reality.”

Shumlin, who picked up an endorsement from the Vermont Federation of Nurses and Health Professionals on Tuesday, said he’ll work with Vermont’s congressional delegation to secure the federal waivers Vermont needs to enact a single-payer system.

A supportive delegation, combined with the good graces of President Barack Obama, Shumlin said, will compel the federal government to look favorably on Vermont’s request.

“I am convinced that with a Democratic governor that got on board with President Obama long before it was fashionable, and best congressional delegation in country, I’m confident we’ll have the qualities to get the waivers we need,” Shumlin said. The senior member of that delegation, Democratic Sen. Patrick Leahy, has accepted significantly more than Dubie from pharmaceutical companies.

Between 2005 and 2010, according to the website opensecrets.org, Leahy accepted more than $72,000 from individuals or political-action committees representing the pharmaceutical and health-products industries. The contributions include $15,000 from Mylan, Inc.; $10,000 from Amgen, Inc.; $10,000 from Teva Pharmaceutical Industries and $9,000 from Pfizer.

Leahy’s campaign manager, Carolyn Dwyer, said the contributions have not influenced his stance on health-care reform.

“Sen. Leahy has worked with pharmaceutical companies and many other companies like IBM on patent reform and intellectual-property rights. Brian Dubie needs to explain the nature of his relationship with pharmaceutical companies,” Dwyer said. “The larger issue is who has worked to improve access to and delivery of health care. Peter Shumlin and Sen. Leahy are strong supporters of health-care reform, including single payer. Brian Dubie is not.”

Shumlin said the single-payer model will eliminate profit motives and lower administrative costs, two factors he blames for driving up insurance costs on businesses and families.

Shumlin’s health-care plan is also the centerpiece of his economic-development platform.

“I think that whether you’re a Republican or a Democrat … you understand that the rising costs of health care in America and Vermont will bankrupt our small businesses and bankrupt our families,” Shumlin said.

A single-payer model, Shumlin said, will be especially alluring to businesses struggling to keep pace with the rising cost of employee benefits. When Vermont adopts single-payer system, Shumlin said, “businesses will be asking one question – how fast can we get to Vermont?”

Shumlin said containing health-care costs will take time. His plan, he said, will offer no savings in the fiscal year 2012 budget.

peter.hirschfeld@timesargus.com

http://www.timesargus.com/article/20100929/NEWS02/709299895/1003/NEWS02

Tuesday, 09/28/10 5:50pm and Wednesday, 09/29/10 6:34am

Bob Kinzel – Montpelier, Vt.

(Host) Peter Shumlin and Brian Dubie have very different visions for how Vermont can control health care costs.

As VPR’s Bob Kinzel reports, the contrast underscores their differing view on the role of government.

(Kinzel) In the past decade, health care costs in Vermont have more than doubled. It’s a situation that has had a big impact on individuals, businesses, schools and municipalities.

Democrat Peter Shumlin wants Vermont to adopt a single payer health care system – a system where a person’s health care coverage is no longer dependent on their place of employment.

Shumlin argues that the time has come to make major reforms because the current growth rate is out of control.

(Shumlin) “It’s not sustainable so we must find a way to contain costs while still delivering quality care. I believe you get that savings through getting the insurance company profits out of the picture, reimbursing providers based on healthy outcomes instead of the number of tests they run through and getting the 12 to 14 cents on the dollar that we’re spending chasing money around out of the system. There are huge savings there.”

(Kinzel) Under the new federal health care law, individual states can apply for a waiver to implement a single payer system beginning in 2017 – although Vermont’s Congressional delegation believes it can happen by 2014.

Republican Brian Dubie doesn’t support the single payer approach and he says the waiver timetable is a problem.

(Dubie) “I’m a realist – the law says, I don’t say…the federal law says that we’ll entertain no waivers until 2017. That’s what the law says, I’ve read it.”

(Kinzel) Shumlin says Vermont has been able to get special health care waivers in the past and he says there’s no reason why it can’t happen in the future.

(Shumlin) “As Governor, we’re going to write and design the bill together with the health care community, business community and others. We’re going to pass it, we’re going to go to Washington…to appeal to the President of the United States to get us the waiver as quickly as possible. You don’t get anything done in government by saying there are obstacles in our way.”

(Kinzel) Dubie has his own plan to control health care costs. He wants to standardize insurance forms, accelerate the use of a computerized medical records system and expand Vermont’s Blueprint for Health chronic care initiative.

(Dubie) “That’s not a wild idea but it could save money some people say significant money. We could also reform medical malpractice reform. Vermont has frivolous lawsuits from taking to the Vermont Medical Society this would be an area that could help bring down costs. There’s another idea – incentives for wellness, you know I’m open minded about people, for people to watch their weight and to stop smoking.”

(Kinzel) Dubie and Shumlin do agree on one key issue. Both believe it’s critical to move away from the current fee for service system and replace it with a financing plan that’s based on quality outcomes for patients.

For VPR News, I’m Bob Kinzel in Montpelier.

http://www.vpr.net/news_detail/88877/

Friday September 24, 2010

BENNINGTON — A television commercial launched Friday by the gubernatorial campaign of Republican Lt. Gov. Brian Dubie that attacks his opponent’s Corrections plan repeats information that has been debunked by the nonpartisan Legislative Council.

The television ad, like a radio ad the campaign released earlier in the week, claims that Democratic Senate President Pro Tem Peter Shumlin’s plan will allow the early release of people convicted of crimes involving child pornography.

Dubie: Plan is ‘reckless’

Shumlin wants to save as much as $40 million annually by providing resources to ensure that nonviolent offenders who are released from prison do not commit new crimes and end up back in prison. The plan will not seek early release for convicted criminals, he said.

But Dubie has maintained in his advertisements and appearances that the plan is “reckless” and dangerous for Vermont. Both ads out this week claim that “child pornographers” would be “released long before their sentences are up.”

The Legislature passed Act 157 during the past legislative session, however, which more clearly defines violent and nonviolent crimes. “Listed crimes,” a collection of 30 or so crimes, are considered to be violent, said Democratic Bennington County Sen. Dick Sears, the longtime chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee.

Legislative Council’s Michele Childs, a lawyer assigned to the Senate

Judiciary Committee, said in an opinion provided at the behest of Sears that possession or dissemination of child pornography is considered to be a violent crime. Any crimes involving the sexual exploitation of children outlined in Title 13, Chapter 64, of the Vermont statutes are considered violent and not eligible for early release, according to Childs.

Dubie Campaign Manager Corry Bliss maintained Friday that possessing child pornography is a nonviolent crime. He said the campaign’s position is based on his “at-length conversation” with Department of Corrections Commissioner Andrew Pallito and the statute itself.

“It’s my contention that child pornography is not a violent crime based on a literal reading of the statute,” Bliss said.

Pallito did not return phone or e-mail messages Friday.

Sears, who worked on the legislation in committee and reported it on the Senate floor, said the law is clear. “Any crime that involves exploitation of a child is a violent crime, whether you touched them or didn’t. I don’t think there’s much question about it,” he said. “That bill spelled out who could be released early and who couldn’t. So even if the Department of Corrections considers them to be a nonviolent offender they couldn’t be released early.”

Sears said there “is no excuse” for Pallito or other Corrections officials for not knowing state laws. He said Dubie should also be familiar with legislation taken up in the Senate.

“By the same token Brian Dubie should not get a free pass and just blame the commissioner,” Sears said. “As the presiding officer of the Senate he should have known content of the bills.”

Sears said the radio and television ads are factually wrong and Dubie continues to run them.

“That’s beyond the pale when people are pointing out to him that he’s wrong,” Sears said. “I don’t now why you would put a TV ad up when the Legislature passed a bill this year when you were presiding that expressly makes it a violent crime.”

Meanwhile on Friday, the Vermont Democratic Party questioned a document Dubie held up during Thursday’s debate here and described as a list of nonviolent offenders provided by Pallito. Dubie said the list of offenders included “people who deal in pornography with children.”

However, in e-mails provided to the Banner, Pallito told Vermont Democratic Party officials that he did not provide a list of offenders, only a list of crimes that shows what is considered violent and nonviolent.

Bliss said Friday that Dubie misspoke about the document he was showing. “The lieutenant governor misspoke, but he has had several conversations with the commissioner about who the 780 nonviolent offenders include,” Bliss said.

http://www.benningtonbanner.com/ci_16168638