the bernie papers | vanguard press | oct. 12, 1989

8/11/2019 The Bernie Papers | Vanguard Press | Oct. 12, 1989

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'I 1 Ii I, :--l' E \ Volume X I I

NUIII~r3J27l989OcIOuer

NEW 5

F re e P re ss U nio n '" ... , _G et s Tough........ ~

The "Inside Trailimm lL~.on Peter Freyne ..

A R T 5 O C T 18 1 f : l : J r - ; ; ; ; r ; ; - ; ; ; ; : ; , '

~~~.tlBR

Fifly Cents



12.1' I'"

OCT 0 • t: • fit quality of life in OUf country."' It w as moe. I topics At first some Ies endorsement than be usually gave in pUbl~of al l

and 8few.con~v:=l A slim folder on "GE ic.

w er e a d lS ~P po .? ' : e d o ol y two flyers. My IDemonstraUO~ l~~~~ders had saved only one

: : ; n~=o rcn< K e I o I I l ! IettelS Iw ro te t o h im n 1 98 3, S an de rs ' a dm in is tr at io n a nd t he

e w e r 1 I le yws., ~ _ chose to .overall Progr~~v~ mo~~~~~ were in highTh e 1e I\e r S a J i d eD - '0 < 1 J... ,,;Im .1o n for gear. The~l11nuhtes0 tbe dPn d " 3administra.

w as 01),& i n . _bicb ur~ ~.. .. live meetmg s ow a rca an Increasingly

::'CSSl1ltbel tbaa~Jn 1~;~~~ tematicapproach. With five ProgressiveCoali~r~~tlllIts poop~~ ~~.. members on the hoard, the staff charted a mull '

eoun ~m~~~'.l'~Ie!l'ff faceted push. Assis.tant City Attorney JohnFra~:~ gi ll a! jj ~l il o. 4& Jl OU It fO l; ;q J1 ll ~% : c o, P er so nn el Director P e te r C 1ave lle a nd

th" They offetcd advice,wammgsaOd~~ Treasurer Jonathan Leopold were clearly at thaoo er. '"'.. , di I cth a few pats on trlC back. center of things, lea 109 P 80S to expand health

a~uthor andres~er GerardColby,for ex- insurance fa: city employees, streamline alder_

am l e , n o ted in a N~mb er 1 9 83 l eu ~r, b efo re man ic meetings, b r in g mo re w o men i nt o t heP, g toVermon. do:ainterstatebankmgwould pol ice department . and push through interim

movm ~I'.,. d Z O .~nLon "H d 'buI1ctfoIts.lO$ij)p mmtum ev . >T- : : : e - zo nin g. o w 0 we org~nJze around major I ,he WlIUfdl:jInt &fji i ng en tr ep r . ~ ~illI. de ve lopm ent i ssues until the Community

d~~a ~and powerfui. 81 , f y~b e y Development Office is formed?" the minutes ask.VtrmOOtt~" T hr ee y e~ ,' I~ A l is t o f o ve r 4 0 a ct u, al a nd p ro po se d p ro je ct s,

. .. b9kinI ~ a b o t s ta tew l~~u ~. i n an ot her A p ri l memo , l ~cl ud ed a rent al h o us in gTh i f oUowing month, Montp€t .. a( tpfD:ey clearinghouse, al ternat ive school , emergency

RlcbardRubiD O'tpressed bis concern that the city shelter, office of arts and culture, international

migbtbeduped in dealings with deve1op,ersof t~~ work camps, taxi subsidies, park improvem ents,

waterfront. "I thought I would pqln~ o~lO . Y youth ceuter and self ·defense classes. With eachthat the term 'profit ' b as little meaD~ m~ge-: month, the l is t grew longer.

sca!erealestatedevelepmeOlSl'hewrote. = A mo n g Sand ers ' man y fru st ra ti on s ab o u t

pro jec ts can operal:e;at su~iaI ba~e..s Burlington's form of. governm~nt~ commissionslosses but still be quite lucrauve 10 the IDVestors. may bave topped the list. CQmmlSSloners,mostof

"lam sure there are good accountants who ca n them aligned with the Democrats and Republicans,

explain dUs to you." . controlled m ost city departm ents. Attem pts toBy spring of 1984. Sanders bad, statewide unify and streamline were resisted by bureaucrats,

visibility and growing local power. WI.thGeorge commissioners and the aldermanic majori ty.Thabault·s victory in solidly Democrallc Ward 5, Prior to Sanders' elect iQn, one handwri tten

tbe Progressives gained a sixth se~t on the board analysis reveals , the vast majori ly of appoint-of alders , Sanders considered bnefly, and then ments were made with only one candidatc in therejected th e idea Qf a run for governor that year. running. In 1980, only tWQQutof25 appoinlmcnls

Many people offered opinions on what be should were contested. TWQyears later. however. a l l b u t

do. Among them was Democrat Pe.ler Welch, two invol.. .. . .ed com petitiQn.

h ims elf a p o ten li al s ta tew id e cand ld af.c , " , -,h e In a March 1 9 83 l ei te r t o t he a l d ermen,wrote, "CQngratulations on your recent vlctones. Sanders focused on one area of inequality. "Of thePerhaps your opponents hav~ ~ome to the rcl~c. 103 ci tizens turrently serving Qn Burl ington 'stant conclusion that the poi ll /~ of obstruct ion commissions," he reminded them, "only 21 arc

doesn't work. . . women. Clearly, the City of Burlington wants to"While Iunderstand your reecDt C!eclslOn, address this serious il1equality of representation,"

many had looted forward 1 0 y ou r c am p ai gn . P e r· B U I S an de rs Y o • • • • 1 I . : d to dQ much more t h an

bap s ano the r da y." tha t. He loo ked tow ard ch an ges in t he cit y c har ter ,

S including shorler terms of Qffice for cQmmis·

sioners. The current structure, he fclt, "re.~ieson

anders rarely hesitated to offe~ advice to the Board of A ldermen .. . for handling manyother politicians. To Ronald Reagan, on routine ndministralive matl~rs more properly theresponsib Jt an executIve. The Mayor com· pet es wi th iJ variety of independent boards, com-missions, committees and individuals ...."

I n th e s p ri ng t he a ld er m en a sk ed f or a

clari ficat ion from the ci ty at torney, who wrote ba ck tha t. "so me com mi ssiQ ns are sub jec t to o r·

ders issued by the City Council while others ~renot." In fact, at least eight cQmm issions, includm~

traffic, pol ice, planning, parks and recreat i?~,lightand the library, werenol subject lathe councilsorders in areas delegated to them by tbe charIer.

T bi s n ew s, o f c o ur se , d id n ot d is su ad eSanders, his staff and supporters from trying tounify the administration. One approach was to

iii support departmen' '' ' mergers , several of which~ were considered during the '80s.

~ H ear in g fro m Po li ce Ch ief Beau li eu , ( ~r ex -Iample. that a merger of the pol ice and airport

commissions might prove beneficial . Sand~rssupporled the plan and prQposed a joint meeungto "discuss the pros and cQns." The response from bo tb com mi ssiQ ns wa s une nth usi ast ic. On e com -missioner argued angrily that, "IT there ~s an y

merger i t sbould be with the Soutb Burl ingtonPQnCeDepartment," since that iswhere the airportis located. The entire Airport PQlice Departmenlo p po s ed t he i dea , an d o n e l on g ti me o ff icer

th re ate ne d to re sign . .. h

Sanders was apparently taken off guard by I .eresponse, especially when Beaulieu changed hISmind. A half hour after the joint meeting began,it was over, and so w as the police.airport merger

movement.

va ••• a •• ,. ••••

IIEll P A P I IBYGREGSUMA

~

...-'

\

H I. 'nlio It BtnMSondefs •• ...a Ibe.

wa y Isee it loday is that some Ver-mont/tl:ttave to rethink.their attitude toward Bur-Iingtolf.lae largesl city in the stale, where Ihap- pe n to be fta e M ayo r. Ev ery ye ar in the VermontLegislatu we hear tbat tbere Bre people who

bav e it o ut t e a Burlington. They think we're too big , too rich, 1 00 snobbish. They keep telling thatold l ine . . . 'Oh, Burlingtoo? That 's not too far from Vermont.,..

II 's hard to pinpoint exactly when BernieSanders spoke those words to radio l istenersthroughout cenlIBI VermoD!' The typed page,

bu rie d in a file labe led "WDEV Commentaries,"shows no broadcasl date. II 'S just one of thecountless media stalements Sanders wrote in themid·l980s in hopes of selling t he record straighlabout Burlington, himself and lhe world allarge.

That panicular week be aimed to prove thai

"Burlington is really part of Vermont." To build

his case, he menlioned me city's "working dairyfarm," Ethan AJkn homestead and new hoISe ' bac k riding lrails through lhe Inlervale. "Our Farmer'. Market, community and you.h garden.ing projects are pretty nifty, '00," he added.

"And like the best of Vermont traditions, our city governmenl IDUlinp can get prelly hal 'nheavy," he concluded. ·So, aU in all, isn't Bur.Iinglon righl in (be bean of Vermont. when youcome down to il?"

Reading that almosl playful radio rap, andhundreds of other memos, leuers and speeches in

dozens of bulging folders, J was s t ruck by lhediversi ty and sheer volume of wri t ing Sanders pro du ced ov er the eig ht y"¥ s he hel d off ice .Much of his mayoral l i re, i l seems, was spentdictating responses and clarifying his ideas. AI.most any serio~ fener receiVed at least a brief reply.

the occasion of declaring October 24-31, ~981

T Disartl\8lDeol Week iDBurlington, be wrote:"1 "'ge you, iu tbe Sl,roDgestpossible way, 10

o. SU!'I"l'Ier who thouilbJ, Jn~ f I 8 l! , thaI SlOp<loins.'b1lsiness a s usua l. ' I n_ tioDa l c on.Sanders 'las a social is t alpdidate for fl icts can no longer be solved by war. ft has DO l

Congress . hecan·d~~ explained, "S~st is the worked in the past , and i t may well destroy the po litic al an d ec o~ ic ph ilos op hy I~ , no t a wo rld in the fut ure ."

pa rty tball run under." Several years later, be made a prQposal toA n d w h en t w o Cali fo rni an s asked i n~t er , fo rmer Pres id ent Cart er : t ha t Cart e r v is it

"What does 'Socialism' really mean in the~ed Nicaragua and help build some housing. "Your States at the current state of conditions and con· presence there," he urged in August 1985, "wouldfusion tbal exis ts at al l levels?" be offered a send a powerful message to the ci t izens of tbec ha ra cte ristic re ply: U nite d S tate s, c ha lle ng in g tbe m by tb e m Qd el of

"That's an excellent question which I real ly your own efforts to provide material aid to helpdon't have the time to answer now. I will simply the people of Nicaragua in constructive ways ......say that in Burlington we have a tbree-party sys- He also kepi in touch with Senator Robert

tern - Progressives, Republicans and Democrats, Stafford, once about normalizing relations w ithand that Ilhink we are doing many good things Cuba. "Our cQuntry is supposed to be a free

for working people, poor people and elderly nat ion," he wrote, "'in which cilizens are entitled pe opl e in our community." to [ormulate their own views based on the best

Ye st Ihal was our Bernie. iofonnation (hal tbey can acquire. It seems ab -Such exchanges and l i teral ly hundreds l ike selutely wrong to me tbat Americans who wish 10

them are merely a small slice of the history cur· visit C u b a are unable 10 do so and that Cubansrenlly siored in a warehouse on the UV M campu s. w h o w i sh 10 visit the United States are equallyIn early 1989, UPODleaving office, SandelS prohibi.ed from doiug so."

dona.ed over S O boxes of his papers an d f iles to S taf for d' s r e p ly wa s nonc omm i 'tal : "I franklythe Univenity of Vermoollibrary. S o far no one suspect thaI normalizing of relat ions with Cuba

except Sanders - and possibly not even him - has will have to wait until fUlure administrations takeread them all. In faa, since they were caned from over in each country."

Cily Hall 10 the campus, no human excepl Je ff .. Despite Sanders ' obvious desire to changeMarshall, acting curator of manuscripts at UVM's military and foreign policies. there isn't m uch inl ibrary, has even cracked open a box. his paper. ' about local act ivi ties in support oflhese

1beiodexaeatedbySpeciaJColleclionsalUVM goals. HIS coolness 10 the economic conversion

lists over 1,400 separate f iles, iu 56 boBes,covering of Burlington's General Electric plan~ in par .

Marcb 198] to November 1988. Acx:ording to t icular, is evidenced by the absence of any file onSanders' Aide George Thabaul~ mucil correspon· the subject. All 1could unearth were a few letters.dence during the fi rs l few years was lost. St il l the In 1987, he noted to peace act ivist Robinremaining fi les run from Abenaki to Zoning. ' Lloyd that OPPOSit ion10 peace initiatives whicb

By analyzing thc index, I located about 10 cost jobs would b e enormous. However he added box es co ver ing are as suc h a s a dm inis tra tive me et- "I be liev e tha t a rat ion al co nve rsi on P o l i cy wili

ings, speeches and s tatements , commlssi?ns, not only ~esull in more employmenl Opportuni tiesselected departments and people. proclamatIons for Amencans but in a radical improvement in th e

1 2

T 'onh e p ol ice d epar tmen t w as ag am h e

SandelS 's mind inSeptemher 198~~ d

wrote to Attorney yeneral lohn Ea~ton: He ~~eethe state 10 conduct an investigation iD,to,. Zserious allegations" including the pOSSibilitycriminal activities ~nd tbe department's failure to

vigorously bandle the problems. dart-

During the succeeding months, the ~~is'mem underwent a thorough review ..The cOJ m e ssion. wQrking with Personnel DlreclOr a les

. . tent ru ,Dunn, found] 7 t ro u bl e sp o ts . In co n sl s . 'n g" , dequale IraiDI

po or co mm un ica tIO ns. an ID a . a u C S -

pro gra m, an tiqu ate d rec ord -ke epm g an d h q e o n -tionable promQtions pQlicy were among t e m o s '

c1usions filed at the end of tbe year. The ~t one ph ere wa s sum me d up, in Du nn' s rep ort •. Y ~ if

, k quesllon .. . pa tro l off ice r wh Q sai d, "If you as "

YQUthink. you bave an attitude problem: C hief

In tbe wake oftbis critical review, poll~e der5Beau li eu an no u nced b is re t iremen t: an l it t

pro po sed a spe cia l com mi uee . inc lud l~g e~ hisofficers. an alderman and a represent8UV



d a replacement even beforeommen .

offlce,10 r~ w as g on e. A national search w~swe old chief f rrner Lo s Ange l e s lawman W I!·

due te d a nd 0

C O n look over.1· , [ 11aurke d ,Burke was a tough and con-I . rneOUt

A s It IU ., h more than once bucked horns·Ichlewo

IfOvcrsl3 d r ing his less tban two years onmayor u .

withlh e 1986, 'conservatives were openl~ dis-lhejob.B y es as a mayoral challenger Inthe. ghlschanc

c u S S ln .

flex!elcct,lon. ach was made clear during a JuneBurke5 approco~cerning civil disobedience. in~ change. h

198 J e x . ith The Burlmgton Free Press, C

. "'leW WI C· T Ban m tC ,T es ted that A s s i s ta n t n y re a s u re r a r r bad5 u g g I' decision to trespass on GE properlyswenncr fe t 5 ,.nSIGa l li ng gun p r oduc ti on was

alest aga .asapr, ent with her role at City Hall. ,incOllSlste John Franco , whose memos In the

Attorn Y the most colorful, wrote to Burke

fileslIre.lI~~~~ents, Though no fan of civil dis-

aboD: h i s e Franco noted that it was usually based

obedlenc, ral convict ion" and that Americanson"strong m~ to live in a tolerant society with a

're fortuna , 'I dl b dl "w . . of "principled CIVI ISO e renee.

. h tradltlon h b inc IThoreau's classic essay on t e su ject

A COPt~a~hedto his letter,

wa~,a onse to your presumptuous pedagogicIn r e s p "I ·11 G I" Burke shot back, W I quote eoera

lelter, M cA uliffe w hen he rec eive d a n ul-

AfI\bony,om the German Command to surrender

~~mr . 9' Iege of Bastogne In December 1 44,

al Ibe Sl I if S f I, TSIII'" Burke suggested t,la t I wenner e t~ ... . . .

Franco believed that our government ISoreven ., ..then why not leave Its service.

wro~ it turned out, Burke and Swennerfclt b~th

~ h 'le Franco remained one of the most 10-lell,WI, .. I ., I · I and feisty of Sanders oogma appomtees.uUfO la h . . h bl·

Franco rarely pulled punc es Inell er pu IC. ate communications. He could even lakeorpnv .

b' bo sses to task when fairness and honor were: the line. Thai was precisely Ihe case, in his

. w when he wrote test ily to Joe McNeil onVIe ,

August22, 1985, .For some time, Franco had been handbng all

requeststo void parking lick~ts, a Ihan~less task thathe attempted to syslcmattze and stflP of any

favorilism.Public records were maintained one ach an d e ve ry d ec ision . T hu s, w hen tw o

reportersasked whelher he had voided some of Sanders'lickels, he assured them that no request

hadbeen made or acted upon."Imaginemy embarrassment and Chagrin," be

wrote, "when I learned Ihal without m yrnowledgethe Mayor made a request to you for

thevoiding of the tickets, that you had v0idcdthem,and worse yet, none of this had been com~municatcdto me!" Sanders' end-run had "put theconduclof this office and my own credibility inthelerriblelighl."

[f the incident WllS ever repeated, he warned,"I shall refuse to handle these matters any fur~th er ."

T he correspnndence [iles, although bulg-ing with fan mail, a re n ot short o n

crilicismseither. Anyone who remains in office!ongenoughis bound to offend some people, andSandcrsirritalct.!more thon his share.

Take Pat Robin" who had helped pl.n and buildChurch Street Marketplace and chaired theCOmmission beginning in 1985. In 1986, he hoped

thattheProgressives would back his candidate for markctplacecommissioner, architecl Bill Truex,am ajorplayer in the redevelopmenl of downtownBurlington.When Ihey didn't , he complained 10Sanders,"I can'l boneslly believe that you peoplewouldlet this kind of talenl go by. It seemed likeanaW fullysmall favo r to me:'

Then there was Antonio Pomerleau, an in-fluentialdeveloper who had remained tbe keyfigureon tbe Police Commission during most of Sanders'tenure. In 1987, be had finally resigned,

Confidentthat he and lhe m ayor understood one~nothcr.Less than a year laler, he was upset to~arnIhalthe police force wouldn 'Igel rive addi~tIOnaImen.

h "Remember Bernie at your last re-election,"Be~rote heatedly, "you promised Ihe people of

o~IJngton you would put on an additional 20walccrsOver Ihe next four years .... Bernie, this

pe S

t o abSOlute definite commitment to IheI op eofBurlington. Let's get together on this asameXlremelydisappointed."

The q .R1d' ueslJon was, why was he so shocked? pon~t he heard, from Sanders' more biuer op~

lrl1ste~''pthatSanderistas could simply not be

warnin .~{~apshe'd missed the Paul Revere-likeTomC

gISSUedseveral years earlier by Senator

rOWley1[' . .31 DVM . ::;0, e can dig It out of the boxes

IVrit;·ngto R I' --._ ..CroWleyh ut and MaY.QrJohn Dnley in 1982;Daley ad offered a bizarre conspiracy theory.

Burlingl~pparenlly harbored hopes that , i f ll1inaledn s Soulhern Connector project was ter-

aToadi~~?me of the funds might be freed up for Buthe w IS area. Not likely, responded Crowley.

"\I, ent mUch further tban that"atch Ih· ,

warned "'1'L. IS gro up from B urlin gto n," be, • IIlCy

~PTOUtedth ar~ th~ exacl sam e group tbathngtoono e seed which is nourishing in Bur-connector w , They started under Ihe guise of Ihe

as a front. Their program worked so

o tl T 0

well in Burlington that they have apparently tar-geted Rutland as Bernie Sandersville number two."

. My, those Burlington "socialists" were trickyindeed,

B y 1988, midway through h is fourthterm, Sanders had his eyes on Congress.

"While il is true," he wrote loa Newport Vermontsupporter, "that a Congressman is only on e of

435, a strong Congressman saying things that fewothers have th e courage:o say could ha ve a national

im~acl. U ltima tely, the mOSI impcr tam questionsfacing rhe nation, are being dealt with in Wash-

ington, It would be very interesting being there."

On the same day, during one of his regular letter-answering sessions, he explained to a sup.

porter from Florida that, "While we have notcreated utopia in Burlington, I t h i nk we havemade some significant progress."

Though he was already after a new prize, hedidn't comple te ly neglect the loca l scene .Management of day-to-day affairs might be main-ly in the hands of Clavelle and Leopold, bUIthe

broad vision still em anated from the mayor 'soffice. When the University Health Center decided to restructure its hoard of directors, for instance, Sanders was quick to suggest that URC

put a consum er representativ e on the bo ard, Or when word filtered back about conflici betweenthe public works department and city workers, he

warned the commiss ion that he would "noltolerate any department in Ihis city allempt1ng tosubvert the legal contract thaI we have with theunion."

He was also concerned about how his upcom-ing marriage would affect his wife's employment.Jane Driscoll, soon to become Jane Sanders, wasdirector oIthe cily's youth office. She had createdthe office and the job in 1981, beginning as avolunteer, and developed it into a well paid con-traCI position. William Aswad, a longtime op-

ponent of the mayor and curren tly a Dem ocratic

Ward 4 alderman, was making nOI-so-subtle in~quirics aboul her salary and status_ In May 1988,Sanders asked City A llorney McNeil if th&city's"anti-nepotism" rules would preclude his bride-

lo-be from conlinuing her work.The answer was a clear no. Personnel regula-

lions were intended to limit the hiring of a relative,

not to prevent existing em ployees from becomingrelalives or forcing them to lose tbeir jobs if they

did so."Ill conclusion, tbis orrice wishes you and

Jane a very happy marriage," wrole McN~il."This is the firsl time in nearly 20 years as CItyAttorney that I have been able to close a legal

opinion in this fashion."

I

Muchmore could be found in the Ber-nie papers tban obscure resolutions

and minor exchanges between political rivals, Butit isn'l easy, in a few thousand words, t,o sum upeilher the significance of such a collecllon or tbechange.' i that look place during Sanders' four

terms, .Even my cursory look , how~ver, mak~ I t

clear just how diverse and demandlOg was theJob.Starting with only a secretary, Sanders had I~learn aboul nitty-gritty matters that ba~ rarely If ever crossed his mind prior to 1981. It IS a tesla-ment to his stamina and commitment Ibat he wasable to edllcate himself about sewers and Ira,sh

without losing sight of the vision tbat made him

such a compelling figure. .. .

His papers, like his ad~mlstrallon, revealtroubling blind spots. EnVironmental matters,local control, participatory management and al-te rnatives in a reas like development rarelyreceived much more than lip service. Researchers

will search in vain for Sanders' though~s or ac-

tions on nuclear power, growth or pollu~l?n.On the other hand, his was an ambItious at-

h e Ihe rules of local government,tempt to c ang , I

'ally sinceJ'ust balding Ibe rems of an umu yespeci , took all thed often resistant government 0 tennfIn ISanders and the Progressives coul~ muster.e Of. h- mlOd whenMaybe the strain of it all was on IS

he issued onc of his more personal comments on

the '~:t~~O~11so confusing," he told bis listeners oned "A nd tben - life goes on b ack at

.summ~ . aY'hereal world. Another farm disap-home In . 'I"

Another parking lot ISbUl l. •

pea~, ro ily breadw inners are afraid 10 speak outa _ for fear of being fired, hc.lamented.

~ Ih~;~~ phone and electric bills 10pay, and car ey . "And it's summer lime, and

repairs to thmk aboul.h

beach if the lake 's notmaybe we'l l get to Ie,

ed" po llu t. . S ders" he concluded. "II's

"I'm Berme an , ~ been a very long day at Ihe office . Thanks or

listening." , f , book, The Penple's Republic a

Greg Guma S . '/I bed the Sanders Revq,lullon, Wf

Vermont a? k b the New England Press.released ,hIS wee Y 1 3

the bernie papers | vanguard press | oct. 12, 1989

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