News – Politics – Opinion – Podcasts
Rob Roper 
The big question many pundits ask in the wake of the significant Republican pick-ups in the state house and senate is what they will do with their newfound numbers. Six pick-ups in the Vermont State Senate and what looks like around twenty in the house (there will be at least one contested outcome in Bennington-1 … Read more
VERMONT This was almost as good as it could possibly have gone for Vermont Republicans in 2024. Almost. In the State Senate Republicans won all of the “big five” targeted races (Beck, Brennan, Douglass, Mattos, and Hart) Mattos and Brennan even more decisively than I thought they would, plus one of the wildcards in Steve … Read more
There’s no secret ballot outside the voting booth. A political ad for Kamala Harris featuring a voiceover by actress Julia Roberts has sparked a lot of press coverage, but not for the obvious reason it should. In it a woman and her husband enter a polling place. The husband is clearly supposed to be a … Read more
The accusation of “fascist!” is being tossed around a lot in the closing weeks of this campaign season, which gets me to wondering if these accusers actually know what fascism is. It’s a hard thing to pin down because fascist governments only existed for a very brief flash in the historical pan and only in … Read more
To whom it may concern: Advocates for the Clean Heat Standard insist that the program will only add a few cents to the price of fossil home heating fuels (oil, kerosene, propane, fossil natural gas), that the law, Act 18, is “only a study,” and that, if implemented, it will help low-income Vermonters by lowering … Read more
It was a surprise this week when Independent Representative Laura Sibilia (I-Dover) announced with two weeks left to go before the November 5th election that she is challenging the incumbent Speaker of the House, Jill Krowinski (D-Burlington), for the gavel. So many questions! Why now? And why would Sibilia think for even a nanosecond that … Read more
FPF Really Means “For Progressive Favoritism” Last week, I read an article in VT Digger about Front Porch Forum, the Vermont community-based “classifieds” social media platform where one can get help finding a lost pet, advertise a lawn sale, sell that thing that’s been sitting in your basement for ten years and ‘tis the season, … Read more
For good reason, there has been a lot of focus on the supermajority’s intention to implement a carbon tax on home heating fuels (oil, propane, kerosene, natural gas) in order to meet the greenhouse gas reduction mandates of their Global Warming Solutions Act. The big vote on the Unaffordable Heat Act is coming up right … Read more
Before we get into the meat of today’s topic, here’s a quick review of how property tax reform has gone down in Vermont since Act 60 became law in 1997: Property taxes go through the roof…. A critical mass of voters howl…. The Democrat-controlled legislature promises in public they’ll do something about it, but in … Read more
The Vermont Senate contains thirty seats. Democrats/Progressives currently hold twenty-three of them and the office of Lieutenant Governor, who presides over the state senate and can cast tie-breaking votes. So, for the Republicans to take control of the senate for the first time since the 1990s, they would have to hold the seven seats they … Read more
My wife and I got our ballots in the mail for the 2024 November elections this past week. Our son’s ballot also arrived. The problem with that is my son moved to Washington State over a year ago, re-registered to vote out there, and I personally told our local election officials about his move the … Read more
In the movie Tootsie, Bill Murray’s character is a playwright who has a running conversation with Dustin Hoffman about a scene he’s writing, “the necktie scene,” that’s just not working. He finally surrenders to Hoffman’s diagnosis of the problem, “I’m rewriting the necktie scene without the necktie.” I was reminded of this joke when I saw … Read more
You know the story. For over three years, Joe Biden’s critics repeatedly pointed out what should have been obvious to anyone paying attention that the guy wasn’t mentally with it. However, despite evidence steadily piling up supporting that conclusion, the President’s supporters insisted he was fine. Even great! A sycophantic leftist press corps eagerly went … Read more
After the 2020 Covid election, the Vermont legislature passed a law that mandates live general election ballots be mailed to everyone on the voter checklist regardless of whether or not the voter requests an absentee ballot. This raises, to put it mildly, concerns. Citizens need to be vigilant because, Lord knows, election officials are not. … Read more
The Commission on the Future of Public Education in VT’s subcommittee on Finance Reform met on September 4th (going back a bit, but the Commission has not been too punctual about posting its meeting recordings). It was their first meeting so, in fairness, expectations for any real substance were low. Still, some initial observations are worth … Read more
A key architect and proponent of the Unaffordable Heat Act, Rep. Laura Sibilia, recently penned a defense of the program. Since she likely speaks for all or most of the 107 members of the Vermont House and 20 members of the Vermont Senate who voted to override Governor Scott’s veto of this absurdly expensive law … Read more
Governor Scott took the gloves off at his Thursday press conference, calling out the Democrat Supermajority not just over the sticker-shock cost estimates for their cherished Clean Heat Standard (Act 18), but also their lack of transparency and honesty over the past year and a half of the program’s development. Scott said, “The cost estimates … Read more
The big news last week regarding the Clean Heat Standard potential study results was the reveal that the program is likely to add somewhere between $1.78 and $4.03 per gallon to the cost of heating oil and kerosene and as much as $2.12 to a gallon of propane. But also of note is the somewhat … Read more
When Julie Moore, Secretary of Natural Resources, said the Clean Heat Standards “carbon credit” tax on home heating fuels could drive up costs by 70 cents per gallon, the advocates of the program shouted her down and said, “Wait for the official analysis done by the real experts, you know-nothing, political hack!” (I’m consolidating and … Read more
The University of New Hampshire released a poll (The Green Mountain State Poll) on how Vermonters feel about the economy, taxes, and the high cost of living. While an overwhelming majority of Republicans think it stinks and is getting worse, and a majority of Independents tend to agree, 25% of Democrats said, “Nah, things are … Read more