Get Back to Bernie’s Vision For Our City — Vote Progressive on March 5th!
Burlington Democrats are bad. Vote them out.
1.
Even before the Weinberger-Sinex downtown mall plan went south faster than an Adam Roof Tinder date*, Burlington was just about done with its city council. In recent years, a neoliberal caucus — led by the mayor and made up of City Democrats, former Progressive Party member Jane Knodell, & others — has repeatedly put the interests of Out-of-State Capitalists ahead of the interests of People Who Live Here. Time and time again, this group of aspiring senators/governors have ignored waves of constituent input while selling off an impressive series of community resources to the highest bidder.
*😃 hi Adam #LivesBeforeDecorum
From local cooperative Burlington Telecom to the actual center of town, these nihilists have made neoliberal privatization their — in Yale University terms for Miro — raison d’être. Now, with a *dope* hole in the center of our city and an out-of-state millionaire biding his time because that is what is profitable at this moment, our Reagan Republican council leaders have a strong visual representation of what they are about — frozen nothing.
2.
On March 5th, we have an opportunity to reject this New Normal and begin a return to community-based governance by electing Progressive Party candidates in all four districts:
- Perri Freeman in the Old North End!
- Kienan Christianson in the New North End!
- Jack Hanson in the East!
- Mohamed Jafar in the South End!
(Ward Maps and voting details here)
You can read all about specific issues and proposals on the candidate websites, linked above. There are some really cool ideas being put forward. I won’t do y’all the disservice of poorly summarizing them here, in an essay that is mostly about insulting Elite Burlington Democrats. :)
But — yes! These four young leaders are bright, thoughtful, way classier than me; would never make jokes about a city councilor’s Tinder presence…….and are ready to begin the arduous process of returning to the People-First vision that, through Mayor Bernie Sanders and others, is our Burlington heritage.
AND! Unlike insufferable Democratic incumbent Joan Shannon, these Progressives don’t run their campaigns on large contributions from Hilariously Rich White People such as:
- Russ Scully, the dude that bought the Blodgett Factory in Lakeside for $14 million ($14,000000).
- “Real Estate mogul” Ernie Pomerleau, protector of one of the largest fortunes in Vermont history (above $100 million according to the elder Pomerleau).
- Pat Robins, who is sitting on many millions from the sale of SymQuest, and is a self described “card carrying high handicap golf fanatic”.
I mean…if you are sitting on millions of dollars, it’s clearly not in your interest to support the Progressive Party. As your lawyer, I would recommend looking into Burlington Democrats (or honorary member Jane Knodell in the Old North End).
For the rest of you! Tuesday! March 5th! Progressive Party! Do it.
(Ward Maps and voting details here)
3.
Okay. Back to how horrible Burlington Democrats are. For those of you who have not banged your head, in recent years, against the wall of our unresponsive municipal government — here’s some (200% unbiased) background:
- We used to have a radical mayor named Bernie Sanders.
- Unsurprisingly, his policies were people-driven and pretty awesome.
- His legacy survived for a while under the banner of the Progressive Party, with mayors such as Peter Clavelle.
- Thennnn:
- Things got sticky under Mayor Bob Kiss; investments in the city’s Burlington Telecom asset got weird; city leadership sneakily loaned themselves money from the city’s general fund, got caught; and a new crop of local Clinton Democrats took advantage of the moment, elected Miro Weinberger, and brought a new era of technocratic bond rating management into City Hall.
These neoliberals sought to — in my own words — apply White Bro Reaganomics to our city to increase their personal 401K yields, pad résumés for future political/economic ambitions, and minimize the number of homeless people their children had to look at.*
*😃 #LivesBeforeDecorum #NotSorry
Weinberger campaigned in 2011 with a close-knit group of Ivy League graduates who saw themselves as bringing a dose of realism to a naïve, utopian populous. At the time, Seven Days described this shift as a “changing of the guard”.
Last week’s inauguration of Burlington’s new mayor Miro Weinberger signaled a changing of the guard at city hall. In place of the old-school Progs and veterans of the city’s social service organizations is a cabal of mostly fortysomething professionals with advanced degrees and young children — many of whom, like Weinberger himself, moved to Burlington a decade or so ago to raise families.
This new-to-town yuppie crew, which, for the record, featured 100% white members, was managed by Miro’s Yale classmate Jessica Nordhaus (go Bulldogs!). It included fossil fuel industry veteran Paul Sisso; U Penn economics department graduate Dawn Moskowitz (Go Quakers?); aaand high-end lawyer and fellow “Yalie” (by way of Columbia) Ian Carleton* (go Bulldogs/Lions!)!
*Ian Carleton! What’s up? I nicknamed you “Tartare” Carleton in my head! I hope that’s chill.
So, “Tartare” Carleton ended up being the Mayor’s OG choice for City Attorney. Buuut that shit fell apart somewhere between him asking for too much money and him *being an asshole* about asking for too much money. It ended up being a pretty great representation of the new administration’s “vibe”.
In response to questions about the his proposed $112,000 salary, Carleton TOLD THE COUNCIL HOW GOOD YALE WAS.
“I was optimistic that Miro’s administration would be a fresh start, but, to be honest with you, it’s laden with cronyism, in my view,” said Councilor Paul Decelles at the time.
According to VT Digger, there was criticism of the $10,000 raise given to Mike Kanarick in the chief of staff position. But most significant was the blow-back for Weinberger’s appointment of “Tartare” as City Attorney. From Seven Days at the time, in a piece impressively titled “In Burgeoning Bromance, Burlington Mayor Taps Best Bud for City Attorney”:
Could Miro Weinberger’s honeymoon be over so soon? When Burlington’s new mayor nominated friend and political adviser Ian Carleton to the post of city attorney two weeks ago, he called on the city council to vote on the appointment this Monday. But instead of getting a new job Monday night, Carleton got a grilling from skeptical city councilors. While formal consideration of the nomination was postponed, councilors raised tough questions during an informal session with Carleton prior to the regular council meeting.
In response to questions about the his proposed $112,000 salary, Carleton TOLD THE COUNCIL HOW GOOD YALE WAS:
“I graduated from the best law school in the country. It was ranked number one when I was there and is still ranked number one,” the Yale Law School grad responded. “I come from a very successful private practice right now. The proposal is to leave a practice where I make a great deal more than I would with this city. I’m taking this job out of a dedication to public service.”
Bro.
Eventually, Carleton withdrew his name and returned to his corporate practice. The year before, Seven Days reported:
Every winter, Weinberger, Carleton, Mike Kanarick and a few fellow fortysomething professionals spend a weekend hiking together in the Adirondacks — sometimes climbing Mount Marcy’s icy, 5344-foot summit.
Apparently the City Attorney’s salary did not leave Carleton enough of a crampon budget.*
*😃
4.
Welp. It’s 7 years later and they’ve done pretttttty good! Our municipal credit rating is BAAAAAAACKKK, meaning we can….borrow more money from corporate banks at lower interest rates…if we….want to….keep selling off all our community resources? Well that makes no sense to me but on the plus side I am pretty sure nobody froze to death in the recent cold snap….I’ve been out of town so I’m not positive….
But enough with the “uncivilized attacks on people who haven’t figured out that money & success do not mean anything if one does not have: a) a vessel inside for authentic self-esteem; b) a working planet on which to live.”
On March 5th, we have an opportunity to reject this New Normal and begin a return to community-based governance by electing Progressive Party candidates in all four districts:
- Perri Freeman in the Old North End!
- Kienan Christianson in the New North End!
- Jack Hanson in the East!
- Mohamed Jafar in the South End!
(Ward Maps and voting details here)
We can be better. Please do what you can. Change starts at home! Burlington Democrats suck! Bye! :)
