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WEEK IN REVIEW APRIL 30-MAY 7, 2014 COMPILED BY CATHY RESMER & ANDREA SUOZZO
SOUND AND FURY
Nick Sherman of KSE Partners
PAUL HEINTZ
MONEY TALKS I
That didn’t keep him from asking attendees about it. “You want to get to know the people that you’re working with and try to influence and have them get to know you,” Downs Rachlin Martin lobbyist Joe Choquette told Heintz outside the event. “In our business, you trade on knowledge and you trade on relationships.” Of the fundraiser, Choquette added, “It’s considered the cost of doing business.” Outside the fundraiser, MacLean Meehan & Rice lobbyist Andrew MacLean said he was participating on behalf of six of his clients, each of which planned to write $500 checks. Among them, he said, were state prison contractor Corrections Corporation of America and the American Beverage Association. The fundraiser’s star attraction, House Speaker Shap Smith, showed up halfway through. Though state law prohibits legislators from taking donations from lobbyists during the session, Smith defended the widespread practice of raising such money through PACs. “Those are the rules of the road, and we play by the rules of the road — whether we like them or not,” he said. “As I’ve said before, the Statehouse is a place where all Vermonters have access. And so whether people think it’s appropriate or not is their own decision, but the law is the law.”
square feet
That’s the size of the new facility the Alchemist brewery hopes to build in Stowe, according to the Burlington Free Press. The Alchemist owners say they plan to sell Heady Topper, their popular double IPA, in the new retail outlet/ visitors center, though they’ll continue to produce it in Waterbury.
TOPFIVE
MOST POPULAR ITEMS ON SEVENDAYSVT.COM
CLOSE ENCOUNTERS
Productivity ground to a halt Tuesday as office workers gawked at a moose wandering through Burlington. City dwellers aren’t used to seeing strolling cervids.
STENGER STUNG
Real estate magnate Tony Pomerleau says he’s pulling out of a Newport hotel project. Can developer Bill Stenger round up the funds to save it?
TURN OFF
Stop your engines! It’s now illegal in Vermont to keep your car idling for more than five minutes. Good thing it’s warming up outside.
1. “Mandatory Composting: Coming Soon to a Trash Can Near You” by Kathryn Flagg. Vermont’s trash-disposal systems will see big changes over the next six years: By 2020, all Vermonters will be required to compost. 2. “Pascolo Ristorante Opens on Church Street” by Alice Levitt. The newest Farmhouse Group restaurant has opened on Church Street. 3. “Vermont Dignitary Visits Seven Days, Avoids Questions” by Mark Davis. A roving moose came to Burlington on Tuesday, paying a visit to our South Champlain Street offices. 4. “The Vermont Statehouse Is Crawling With Lobbyists; What Does That Mean For Our Democracy?” Paul Heintz delves into the faces — and the finances — of Montpelier’s nearly 400 lobbyists. 5. “Belted Cow Closes; McGillicuddy’s and Café CMAC Open” by Alice Levitt. The Essex Junction favorite has closed after five years; new eateries have opened in Colchester and Brandon.
tweet of the week: Dan Barnes @metallidan wonder if the #btvmoose will be able to understand the @winooskirotary because nobody else can #BTV @winooski #YieldToNoOne FOLLOW US ON TWITTER @SEVEN_DAYS OUR TWEEPLE: SEVENDAYSVT.COM/TWITTER
05.07.14-05.14.14
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WEEK IN REVIEW 5
LET US DARE
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SEVENDAYSVT.COM
n last week’s Seven Days, staff writer Paul Heintz explored how Vermont’s army of nearly 400 registered lobbyists influences the public policy debate in the state. While lawmakers and lobbyists interviewed for the story acknowledged their mutual dependence, both groups adamantly denied that campaign donations play an important role in the process. But before the ink was dry on last week’s paper, an evening event in Montpelier called that claim into question. As the Vermont House worked into the night Wednesday, a steady stream of lobbyists and Democratic leaders left the Statehouse and ambled up the road to the Capitol Plaza Hotel. Their destination? A $500-a-head fundraiser benefiting the Vermont Democratic House Campaign, a political action committee run by House leadership to elect Democratic candidates. With just days remaining in the legislative session, lawmakers and lobbyists were taking a break from last-minute negotiations to exchange campaign checks and pleasantries over beer and wine. As he wrote on Off Message, Seven Days’ news and politics blog, Heintz observed nearly two dozen lobbyists and a dozen Democratic lawmakers — mostly committee chairs and members of the House leadership team — join the fundraiser. But, lacking the $500 price of admission, Heintz himself wasn’t able to make it inside.
After the Vermont Air Guard released its F-35 noise mitigation plan last Friday, a VTANG colonel described the jet as quieter than the F-16. Critics remained noisy.
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