Welcome to Power Lunch, a semi-regular special series of Final Reading where I, your dear scribe, will dine with a broad range of Statehouse rats to discuss anything but politics.
The inspiration comes from the lackadaisical martini lunches of yesteryear, back when I wouldn’t have been allowed to open my own credit card. We’re networking here, people! Think Mad Men — but I’m Don Draper now.
I sat down to coffee recently with Senate President Pro Tempore and noted Girl Dad Phil Baruth, D/P-Chittenden Central. A certain chief of staff whose name rhymes with Shmashley Shmoore spilled to me recently that the Senate’s top dog is a proud Swiftie.
And Dear Reader, as a white woman in my 20s, I feel I have the authority to report to you objectively: He is.
Mearhoff: So you like Taylor Swift, I’m told.
Baruth: I love Taylor Swift. Let’s put it that way.
M: Would you call yourself a Swiftie?
B: Absolutely.
Baruth — a writer himself and University of Vermont English professor, with an appreciation for Swift’s lyricism — said his fandom began with a “forced introduction,” by his three daughters.
B: “It got to the point… where we couldn’t take a trip without the music on the car stereo being Taylor Swift.”
Over the course of our conversation, he proved himself to be familiar not only with the music giant’s discography, but also with the lore of the Taylor Swift Cinematic Universe, rattling off past feuds and ex-boyfriends with ease.
B: If you remember back in the day, Katy Perry and Taylor Swift were like equivalent icons… Katy Perry just imploded, disappeared. And Taylor Swift went on to, in my mind, be kind of like the Beatles. She never put out anything that I don’t think is great, and then some things are kind of transcendent.
What’s transcendent? “Well, Reputation.” But also Swift’s re-recordings of her past albums, after famed music exec and Swift enemy Scooter Braun purchased her master recordings. Baruth equated Swift’s move to the Artist Formerly Known As Prince’s legendary rebrand.
B: I just try to think of an artist at that stature who has recreated their music to retain ownership. But also, I just don’t think you could make it identical. It has to be, in some sense, different. So something like the 10-minute-version of All Too Well-
M: I’m deeply familiar.
B: It took a great song and made it so comparatively deep. Who does that in pop music?
The quick facts: His favorite era is Reputation, and favorite songs are Style (“I love the pun that it’s about Harry Styles.”), Delicate (“There’s this kind of brooding sort of feel to it. I really love that.”) and Wildest Dreams (“It’s so synthesized and perfect.”)
I asked Baruth: Do you think that when you listen to Taylor Swift, it’s almost like a sonic representation of your relationship with your daughters?
B: Wow, I’ve never thought of that. At this point, it is because I think of them whenever I hear a song, or if there’s a news story about Taylor Swift. Like Time Person of the Year. I immediately texted (my daughters) and my youngest texted back, “And she did the photo with her cat!” I’m kind of off the bus on the cat stuff — sorry — but other than the cat stuff, I just think she almost never makes a wrong move.
Do you know someone else under the Golden Dome you’d like to invite to Power Lunch to discuss their hyper-fixation? Or maybe you, yourself, would like to sit in the hot seat? Shoot me an email.
— Sarah Mearhoff
In the know
The House Judiciary Committee took up two related bills Friday aimed at curbing a reported increase in theft at retailers across the state. H.534 and H.579 would both increase penalties for people convicted of retail theft — though the bills take different approaches.
Currently someone can commit multiple retail thefts, he said — and some individuals are committing dozens — but as long as the amount of each theft is under $900, they’ll face only misdemeanor-level charges, said committee chair Rep. Martin LaLonde, D-South Burlington.
A yearslong backlog in Vermont’s courts has meant that court dates for those people are likely months out, officials said — and a jury trial could be several years away.
“We have to have accountability in the short term,” Shawn Burke, the South Burlington police chief, told the lawmakers Friday.
Read more here.
— Shaun Robinson
On April 1, hundreds of Vermonters are set to lose their shelter through the expanded pandemic-era version of the state’s motel housing program. Agency of Human Services officials have begun to flesh out their plans to stand up a host of new emergency shelters by spring to accommodate them, yet many key decisions remain up in the air as the deadline set by lawmakers last year creeps ever closer.
The agency is seeking $4 million in its mid-year budget request to stand up the emergency shelters in five communities.
“The real challenge is, of course, trying to get this done by April 1,” Department for Children and Families Commissioner Chris Winters said in an interview on Wednesday. “We have some big decisions to make really in the next couple of weeks.”
Read more here.
— Carly Berlin
The Scott administration is asking the Legislature to set aside $9.5 million this year as the first of three annual payments on a $16.5 million total settlement of legal claims reached between the state and EB-5 investors in the largest fraud scandal in Vermont’s history.
The settlement agreement was reached between the Vermont Attorney General’s Office and dozens of foreign investors, who claimed the state dropped the ball in monitoring a series of development projects in the Northeast Kingdom.
The state was left on the hook for the settlement after unsuccessfully trying to convince its insurer, AIG, to provide coverage.
Rep. Jim Harrison, R-Chittenden, had a question for Adam Greshin, commissioner of the state Department of Finance & Management, during Friday’s Budget Adjustment Act hearing in the House Appropriations Committee. Had the attorney general’s office consulted with the Scott administration prior to reaching the settlement?
“The administration had conversations with the attorney general’s office,” Greshin replied. “This settlement amount was the attorney general’s.”
“But they are obligating us, the taxpayers, to pay for it,” Harrison interjected. “That’s correct,” Greshin responded.
— Alan Keays
Esther Charlestin, a former administrator who spoke out against the racism she faced at a Middlebury middle school, is running for governor of Vermont.
Charlestin, co-chair of the Vermont Commission on Women and a former Middlebury Selectboard member, announced her candidacy for the Democratic nomination on the steps of the Statehouse on Friday afternoon.
“Vermont is changing, change is coming, and we must be ready, we must embrace it, we must shape it, and that’s what I plan to do as your governor,” she said.
Read more here.
— Babette Stolk
On the move
There was a wide range of emotions early Friday afternoon among members of the House Appropriations Committee as they voted to approve H.72, a bill that would establish the legal framework to operate overdose prevention sites and also fund the creation of two such sites.
First, there was excitement over voting the first bill out of committee at the Statehouse this year.
(Actually, they were beaten to that achievement by about a half hour, by the House Judiciary Committee, which passed H.27, a bill to expand the definition of abuse to “coercive controlling behavior” to help victims more easily obtain abuse prevention orders.)
Later, the mood turned more reflective.
“This is a really emotional one,” said Rep. Diane Lanpher, D-Vergennes, chair of the committee. “And I will get all choked up maybe — it’s just because I don’t think this issue has left any Vermonter untouched.”
The bill advanced by a vote of 8-4 with all four Republicans on the committee opposed. Its next stop is the House floor.
— Patrick Crowley
The Statehouse will be seeking a new logistics pro because Sergeant at Arms Janet Miller is retiring effective March 1. Her news became part of the legislative record thanks to a joint resolution approved by both chambers today, laying out the process for electing her successor in a joint session on that day, which is adjournment day before the Town Meeting break.
Miller has held the post, which is both ceremonial and highly practical, for almost nine years. The job description is varied and includes everything from assigning and tracking the use of rooms and overseeing both the Capital Police and the Legislative Page program. Sound like anyone you know?
— Kristen Fountain
Both chambers passed resolutions this week that continue their current practice of allowing for remote committee participation and voting. In the Senate, through at least March 1, “Zooming it in” is allowed for two consecutive days, or more if the Rules Committee allows, for lawmakers isolating due to Covid-19. Another acceptable reason would be a “temporary emergency” involving a household member for whom they are the primary caregiver.
The House’s resolution, good through the end of 2024, also keeps Covid-19 isolation at the fore, though House members can be authorized to vote remotely “for any other reason,” though not for more than three discrete days during the session.
— Kristen Fountain
Notable quotables
During a House Judiciary Committee hearing on legislation aimed at curbing retail theft, Rep. Barbara Rachelson, D-Burlington, offered a buzzy analogy to suggest that the panel take a look at things differently.
“We’re using a hammer to kill a mosquito, when we could be getting out the mosquito spray,” she said.
— Shaun Robinson
After a long, in-depth review of the governor’s Budget Adjustment Act proposal in Senate Appropriations Friday afternoon, Sen. Bobby Starr, D-Orleans, said of the state’s current fiscal picture, “So we could be in a lot worse shape than we are.”
“Well, sure, Bob,” Senate Appropriations Chair Jane Kitchel, D-Caledonia, replied matter-of-factly. “We could.”
— Sarah Mearhoff
Corrections section
Senate President Pro Tem Baruth expects to schedule the ‘bottle bill’ veto override for Tuesday, Jan. 23. He misspoke yesterday on the floor and the error was repeated in last night’s Final Reading.
What we’re reading
Norwich University president is out, calls decision mutual, VTDigger
Brattleboro Municipal EMS takeover plan may face state review, VTDigger
Lawsuit claims PCBs at Vermont elementary school caused cancer, Seven Days
