News – Politics – Opinion – Podcasts
Rob Roper 
Here’s a hard truth those on the Left will never acknowledge: Anyone who pays taxes in Vermont is already paying MORE than “their fair share.” We already pay the highest property taxes in the country. Is that fair? We have the third-highest state and local tax burden at 11.53 percent. Is that fair? Only eleven … Read more
Anyone who’s been paying attention to the advocates for electrifying our economy – everything from cars and trucks to home heating – you have heard over and over again that fossil fuel prices are “volatile,” and yada yada yada (for the Seinfeld fans) therefore bad. As an example (the only example they offer as it … Read more
Last week, members of the Vermont House and Senate gathered for an all-day, pre-session briefing on the issues they will have to confront when they return for real in January. The agenda included presentations on another looming double-digit property tax increase, our collapsing healthcare system, infrastructure woes, and our generally moribund economy. Serious stuff. But … Read more
During the healthcare segment of the pre-session legislative briefing on the state of Vermont’s economy, Senator Alison Clarkson (D-Windsor) piped up, “At the risk of asking the dumbest question of the day, and having been around when our healthcare costs were $2 billion a year and not $10 [billion], why in the hell do we … Read more
As we edge toward the second year of the legislative biennium in Vermont, politicians on the Left have glommed onto the word “affordability” – a long-time campaign theme on the Right – in an unbelievable attempt to make it their own. I say unbelievable, but if the New York mayoral race was any indication, at … Read more
This is not breaking news but deserves repeating. Mill Moore, writing for Campaign for Vermont exposed this startling new reality earlier this month in a terrific article highlighting Vermont’s decade-long public school performance nosedive, which has coincided with an upward trend in math and literacy scores in Mississippi. Yeah, that Mississippi. The (formerly) “Thank God … Read more
The committee tasked under Act 73 with coming up with a menu of consolidated school district maps for the legislature to consider in 2026… just didn’t do it. It was their whole job under the law, and after six months of hearings and consultants and cashing those taxpayer-funded per-diem checks and blowing through their $170,000 … Read more
New York Governor Kathy Hochul is in a fight with the courts over that state’s greenhouse gas reduction mandates. Like Vermont’s Global Warming Solutions Act, New York passed a law dictating that the state must reduce emissions by, in their case, 40 percent by 2030. And, like Vermont, a major policy for doing so is … Read more
Hat tip to Compass Vermont for their recent article highlighting the state’s public input survey on the choices our legislature will have to make when they return to Montpelier in January, End of the Easy Money: Vermont Braces for Its Hardest Budget in 10 Years. The main point: Vermont is running out of money and … Read more
Nothing good to report for Republicans after yesterday’s off-year elections. The gubernatorial candidate in Virginia, who distanced herself from Trump and was not endorsed by him, lost by fifteen points to an “Orange Man Bad” strategy. The psychopath “two bullets and watch his children die is his arms” Attorney General candidate even won, illustrating that … Read more
After decades of spewing – and funding — climate alarmist rhetoric of the most virulent kind, multi-billionaire Bill Gates shocked the Left by admitting what some of us have been saying all along: Yeah, the climate is changing (it does that), but it’s totally manageable and not a crisis. So, y’all just chill the heck … Read more
In these days of political polarization, I’m hearing a lot of complaints about “whataboutism,” the phenomenon of answering a question about the actions of one person or group with an example of something similar done by someone else. Trump mishandled classified documents! What about Hillary Clinton, for example? But yeah… what about Hillary Clinton? Were … Read more
With SNAP (food stamps) and LIHEAP (home heating) benefits for low-income Vermonters set to be turned off in November if the federal government doesn’t reopen ASAP, state and local politicians are scrambling to find alternative solutions. So far, despite vague promises, they don’t have any. Nothing concrete and actionable, at any rate. LIHEAP in Vermont … Read more
Senator Sam Douglass was in a group chat of Young Republicans where some people did say some truly disgusting things. There were undeniably antisemitic and anti-black racist terms used, and comments made. This came to light in an article by the hard-left, deeply partisan site, Politico, based on leaked transcripts. The Politico article was posted … Read more
As of this writing, there have been ten votes to reopen the government since October 1. The 53 Republican senators need at least seven Democrats and Independents to break with Chuck Schumer to reach the 60-vote threshold to break the Democrats’ filibuster, and while a few have put their constituents above partisan politics, Vermont’s two … Read more
My cellphone binged with a request to take a poll about Vermont issues. Sure, why not? They might be curious about what’s on my mind, but I was equally curious about what was on the minds of the pollsters — and who they’re working for. The answer to my latter question is they are working … Read more
The Committee on the Future of Public Education is circulating an online survey to gauge public awareness and opinions regarding Act 73, the public education reform law that intends to restructure and consolidate Vermont’s school districts. While the introduction to the survey references that “The law was enacted in response to residents’ concerns about high … Read more
In the wake of multiple tragic incidents of political violence, Rep. Laura Sibilia (I-Dover) recently penned an op-ed calling for respect, participation, open-mindedness, and dialogue with those with whom we disagree. “Too often,” she writes, “when people talk about those they [emphasis added] disagree with, I hear ‘they’ or ‘them.’ Used this way, these words are vague … Read more
State Auditor Doug Hoffer’s latest newsletter called out a remarkable statistic about Vermont’s homeless crisis. In less than a decade, we have spent over $800 million to “fix” homelessness. Nearly $100 million on the motel voucher program in 2023 alone. But that’s not the really remarkable part. The truly remarkable part is that, despite the influx of … Read more
Speaking on WVMT’s Morning Drive, Republican Senate Leader Scott Beck (R-Caledonia) outlined a few agenda items that his caucus would be pursuing when the legislature reconvenes in January. Another attempt to repeal the Clean Heat Standard (Act 18). Setting the stage for public safety initiative that would require a constitutional amendment process beginning in 2027. … Read more