Winners:
Wind — First it was a moratorium. Then it bolstered local control. Now it’s just a study. Sure, anti-wind legislation passed the Senate this week, but only after its teeth were knocked out. Now look for the House to further defang it.
Gov. Peter Shumlin and House Speaker Shap Smith — In their escalating tax fight, both men win. By railing against the House’s broad-based tax hikes, Shumlin looks like a fiscal conservative outside the Statehouse. Inside the building, Smith gets credit for standing up to Shumlin and opposing the governor’s own proposed tax hike on working Vermonters. Runner-up losers: Shumlin, Smith and the Democratic Party, because other than people who read this blog, most Vermonters just hear a bunch of Dems arguing over how much to raise their taxes.
VPR’s Kirk Carapezza — For shamelessly goading Shumlin into providing a little more color at Wednesday’s weekly presser. Color he got.
Pot jokes — They didn’t quite hot-box the Statehouse, but House Judiciary Committee members got to sample — or at least eyeball — a couple baggies of kind bud Thursday as the po-po educated them on what an ounce of pot looks like. As if they didn’t already know!
Queen City partisanship — It’s still looking like Democrats v. Everybody Else in the looming April Fool’s Burlington City Council presidency showdown, as 7D’s Kevin Kelley reported this week. But as Kelley asks, who would want the job?!
AP’s Dave Gram — Oops! Turns out an administration official may have uttered that much-disputed $2 million figure after all, as the Burlington Free Press‘ Terri Hallenbeck discovered early this week.
Heady Topper & Switchback — After four rounds of voting, the Waterbury and Burlington brews are facing off in the finals of (SHAMELESS PLUG!) Seven Days‘ 2013 Vermont Brew Bracket, sponsored by Three Penny Taproom (think they’ll give me a free Edward next time I’m in there for dropping their name?). Drink — I mean, vote — early and often.
Losers and ties after the jump…
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