Seven Days, September 28, 2005 by Seven Days

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22A | september 28-october 05, 2005 | SEVEN DAYS

inside track

BY PETER FREYNE

AN IRREVERENT READ ON VT POLITICS

Here Comes Hinda! 2x5-Windows033005

3/24/05

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he March 2006 mayoral election in Vermont’s Queen City officially kicked off Tuesday as a 55-year-old, Montréal-bornand-raised fashion designer threw her hat into the ring for the Democratic nomination. “In my twenties, while living in New York City as a union costume designer,” said Democratic State Sen. Hinda Miller, “I came to Burlington the summer of 1977 to work at the Lake Champlain Shakespeare Festival at UVM. There, as many of you know, in the costume shop of the Royall Tyler Theatre, myself and two friends created the very first sports bra, called the Jogbra, by sewing two jockstraps together. The rest is history!” Yes, indeed. And a big slice of Vermont political history was present as former Gov. Madeleine Kunin introduced Hinda to the crowd of 30 supporters. It was a women’s-lib flashback moment. We’ve had a woman governor, but the mayor of Burlington has always used the men’s room. For an excellent, in-depth look into who Hinda Miller is, the current issue of Vermont Business Magazine has a marvelous, must-read feature by Joyce Marcel. It includes a long list of adjectives people use to describe Hinda: “sophisticated, attractive, tailored, polished, no-nonsense.” Ms. Marcel also personally found Hinda to be “warm, open, intelligent, introspective and witty.” A Vermont Martha Stewart! What most people don’t know about Hinda is that she became a U.S. citizen just four years ago, prior to launching her state senate bid. And most people don’t know that she was planning on running as a Republican until two jockstraps, Howard Dean and Patrick Leahy, twisted Ms. Jog Bra’s arm and convinced her she was actually “a centrist Democrat.” Burlington Democrats will vote for their mayoral candidate at the January 5 caucus. P.S. Everything went smoothly until the very end, when, in an impromptu Q&A with reporters, John Briggs of the Freeps asked for Hinda’s “take on the Moran Plant. How did you vote?” “I’d rather keep that to myself,” said the mayoral hopeful, explaining she preferred a community-supported solution. “Did you vote in that election?” asked yours truly, on a fishing expedition. “You know what?” replied Hinda, “I think I was out of town for that.” Absentee ballot, we asked? It was one of those “you-could-hear-apin-drop” moments. “Ah . . . nope,” she replied softly. Then, 20 minutes later, the phone rang. A much-relieved Hinda Miller happily told us she had checked at City Hall. In fact, she had voted by absentee ballot after all! Anyone over 50 can surely sympathize, eh?

REPEAT? Regular readers of Seven Days noticed something unusual about last week’s issue. Due to a printer error, pages 9A and 10A were duplicates from the previous week. While the entirety of “Inside Track” and “Local Matters” were available on our website, we have opted to reproduce those interrupted features in this week’s issue for our readers who may not have had electronic access. Our apologies for the confusion.

The Ghost of Bill — His name was never mentioned at the grand opening, but without Bill Boettcher, it’s impossible to imagine Fletcher Allen Health Care cutting the ribbon on its $380 million drive-through ambulatory-care Taj Mahal. Boettcher, the former high-powered, goal-oriented CEO on Hospital Hill, is currently serving two years behind bars for not telling state officials the whole story about what the Mary Fanny’s Renaissance Project would cost. Instead, he just got it done. That’s what they hired him for. Today, everybody appears delighted with the results. The inside of Hospital Hill has been carved out to build the largest underground parking garage between New York and Montréal. On top, the architecturally inviting new Ambulatory Care Center looks and feels like an upscale, three-story McDonald’s. And the cash registers will be ringing from the daily in-and-out traffic. Look, if Martha Stewart can come back after her federal prison term, so can Bill Boettcher. Commander Boettcher went down, but his mission was truly accomplished. His legacy lives on! Let’s face it. Everybody knows it’ll always be known as “The Bill Boettcher Center for Keeping the Cash Registers Ringing.” Thanks, Bill. Out-of-the-Mainstream? — Last week, it was GOP Chairman Jim Barnett calling Vermont’s seven-term congressman Bernie Sanders an “extremist” that drew our attention. This week Democratic Party Executive Director Jon Copans called Vermont’s two-term lieutenant governor “out of the mainstream.” Brian Dubie has run statewide three times. He lost with 41.3 percent in 2000. Won with 41.2 percent in 2002, as Prog Anthony Pollina and Democrat Peter Shumlin split the left. But after Vermonters got to know him better, Doobie-Doo did better and soared to victory with 56 percent in 2004, despite Democrat Cheryl Rivers and Prog Steve Hingtgen carving up the so-called left. How can that make Dubie “out of the mainstream”? “My response is that mainstream views