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Stephen Colbert’s truthiness is emerging as a new journalistic standard in Vermont: ignoring facts in the service of a good story.

Case in point: the fallout from last week’s charge by gubernatorial hopeful Anthony Pollina that Republican Gov. Jim Douglas was unfairly taking credit for the burgeoning “buy local movement.”... Read more

It’s become a habit to invoke a literary giant when writing about the Winooski imbroglio.

First came Emile Zola’s “J’accuse!” Then Albert Camus’ The Plague. And for the last, I save the best: Samuel Beckett.... Read more

Think a single Vermont politician or party has the answer to rising gas and home heating prices? Think again. But anyone who’s pulled up to the pump recently sure wants something to be done, by somebody.... Read more

Just when it looked as if spring was going to last as long as the Democratic presidential primary, someone turned up the heat — and in more ways than one.

As we went to press last week, it appeared Sen. Hillary Clinton might challenge Sen. Barack Obama all the way to the Democratic National Convention in Denver. No such luck. Cooler heads prevailed, and Clinton ended her campaign Saturday and endorsed Obama.... Read more

Anthony Pollina might have more in common with Sen. Hillary Clinton than his supporters care to admit.

Both Pollina, the Progressive candidate for governor, and Clinton have defied calls from pundits to throw in the towel and let their opponents get an early shot at the Republicans in the race.... Read more

"J'accuse!” That was the cry uttered in 1898 by French writer Émile Zola in defense of a general he believed was improperly prosecuted and imprisoned. Zola’s open letter, entitled “J’Accuse!” (“I Accuse”), in the newspaper L’Aurore claimed the government conflated charges against President Félix Faure, in part because Faure was Jewish.... Read more

Republicans must defy the laws of gravity.

That was the recommendation Lieutenant Governor and pilot Brian Dubie offered delegates at the GOP State Convention on Saturday during the folksy analogy portion of the program.

Dubie, whose family owns and runs a maple syrup operation, said Republicans must do what sugar makers do to get sap uphill and then down to the sugarhouse. He notes that he uses a “step-up” system — a series of sap lines divided and organized.... Read more

Gaye Symington finally had her day in the sun. On a glorious Monday morning, in front of the Vermont Statehouse, Symington ended the “wink, wink, nudge, nudge” banter and announced she was running for governor.

Symington, the outgoing House speaker and mother of three who has an MBA from Cornell, is taking on the daunting effort to unseat the well-liked Republican incumbent Jim Douglas. And she’ll do so with a prominent third-party candidate in the race: Progressive Anthony Pollina.... Read more

Ah, spring: time for the crack of the bat, the smell of the compost, the end of another legislative session and — because we’re in an even-numbered year — the official start of the Vermont campaign season.

This week, lawmakers will scurry off to vacations or head back to their jobs, and the governor will hit the ribbon-cutting road doing what he does best: getting out and talking to people.

But his potential challengers are doing some public outreach, too.... Read more

This column makes it official — all is fair game now. I want to thank Seven Days for welcoming me aboard. And thanks in advance to the many well wishers — and probably not-so-well wishers — whom I hope will read this column closely each week.

Some of you know me from my various stints in journalism. I’ve covered Vermont politics and its people since high school, when I was a sports stringer for The Barton Chronicle. More recently, I founded and ran The Vermont Guardian, a statewide print weekly and online daily.... Read more