Archive

From as early as I can remember, I’ve been an opera buff. I remember sitting in the orchestra section at the Old Metropolitan Opera House on 39th and Broadway and… Read More

Many small colleges are struggling with low inquiry, application, and admission rates, including here in the Northeast. Rising tuitions, student loan abuses, and radical change in employment patterns have discouraged… Read More

The Legislature is at an impasse trying to decide whether to establish and adequately fund a statewide ethics commission that has real enforcement capability. There’s been considerable favorable testimony by… Read More

Vermont’s Ageing Legacy Governing Systems How we understand our complex systems affects the quality of our discussion about them, as well as any agreements we might make toward progress. Too… Read More

The Vermont legislature is at an impasse trying to decide whether to establish and fund a statewide Ethics Commission. There has been considerable favorable testimony by Vermonters, ethicists, and our… Read More

Vermont has a “consensus” problem. We don’t understand the concept. This confusion manifests itself especially when leadership is weak. For example, there’s broad agreement that we need more affordable and… Read More

Whomever we elect to lead us for the next two years, we’ll need to confront two gaping holes in our governance: strategic planning and ethics. Our last few decades ought… Read More

I’m struggling to reconcile the unfolding Jay Peak scandal and the “we did a great job” remarks of our elected administration officials. According to the SEC, the developers misused $200M.… Read More

The Mt. Peculiar Jabberwalkers With apologies to Lewis Carroll on the last day of the 2015-16 session   ’Twas quiblous in Peculiar Town Rambunction and dysfunction, As Ceres eyed the… Read More

As the legislative biennium winds down, it’s time to consider what happened, what didn’t, and more important, why? Many Vermonters are vocal about wanting their government branches to change how… Read More

There are many actors in the Jay Peak/Q-Burke tragedy playing out on our Northern Vermont stage. The unfortunate investors whose investments were by law “at risk,” have been clearly deceived… Read More

“We must agree to disagree” is a fair resolution to any discussion and such was the case with a thoughtful discussion I had recently about S. 107, a bill to… Read More