Up the Down Staircase

By 2030, Vermont’s ability to govern had descended into entropy. After decades studying, tinkering with, and deferring action on Vermont’s increasingly complex challenges, we came to understand we needed to… Read More

Leveraging Government’s Role by Funding Designated Agencies and Specialized Service Agencies in the Nonprofit Sector

The socio-economic governance spectrum divides itself into the for-profit business sector, the nonprofit mission-driven sector, and the government sector. There are statutory regulations that, often rather loosely, regulate the governance… Read More

Oppose Senate bill S.211….written by Vermonters for Vermonters?

Senate bill S.211 is an attempt by the Vermont Association of Hospitals and Health Systems (VAHHS) to gain more power. Their dominant member is the UVM Health Network (UVMHN). Over… Read More

Leadership and the Governor’s “Affordability Crisis”

For over 70 years, I’ve confronted each New Year reviewing what got better, what got worse, and what I hope for in the ensuing year. At 78, I’m grateful that… Read More

Beauty, Eroticism, Sexuality, and Pornography

Michelangelo’s David courtesy of BBC Media When I was young and in search of the facts of life, there was no discernible pornography. The closest we ever got was a book we… Read More

Camping, Daycare, Early Education?

  Image Courtesy of Oregon Public Broadcasting With the second highest per capita homeless rate in the nation, the legislature ended, as of July, current state funding for providing hotel/motel… Read More

An Ethical Vermont Addiction Policy

Photo by Nancy Stevens A measure of the Vermont legislature’s commitment to Vermonters’ well-being is the extent to which it commits the money earned from licensing and taxing addictive substances… Read More

The Inversion: Make Primary Care Primary and Hospitals Secondary

Photo supplied by UVM Medical Center We’re at an inflection point in healthcare reform in Vermont. The number of Vermonters who can’t access or afford healthcare is a rising tide… Read More

“The Affordability Agenda”

On its surface, the term “affordability agenda,” often used by our Governor and legislators, makes sense… but it’s important to dig in and examine the politics behind it. A recent… Read More

My New Year’s Wish for Vermont

I don’t want any one thing in the New Year but rather a new way of understanding leadership and governing from our executive, legislative, and judiciary branches. I don’t have… Read More

Free Speech: From Core Values to Current Debates by UVM’s Tom Sullivan and Leslie Niehoff

    I’m reading former UVM President Thomas Sullivan’s new book, Free Speech: From Core Values to Current Debates, written in collaboration with Leonard Niehoff of University of Michigan Law… Read More

Don’t defund the police, fire, and rescue, consolidate and fund them cost-efficiently

Last Monday, VTDigger reported on a convocation on “Crime and Punishment” in Burlington City Hall held by a group called “The Keep Vermont Safe Coalition.” I flattered myself by imagining… Read More