Reply #27: This is quite my point [View All]

MOst of the articles I have posted about Dena as Governor come from the Rutland Herald, The Times Argus, and the Burlington Free Press, all rather respectable papers, and well known to be without politicla slant, in the best tradition of New England Journalism


The problem is that Deans supporters are unable to come up with reasonable anwers to those questions in Denas record which place him closer to John Ashcroft, than to Paul Wellstone. Much of Deans record as governor, and most of his re-elections was largely dependent on Republican support, not Democratic support. His record regarding legislation is largely one of complete support of ther Republican legislative agenda, and virtually complete oppostition, or threats to veto Democratic sponsired legislation. His opposition to methadone clinics basedon the effects on properties in the neighborhoods these clinics would be based in is almost cruel, and he completly forbid opiate maintanance in prosons, after the director of prosons establishe such a program after a court decision requiring it.


Governor Nixes Methadone Plan for Vermont Prisons
Thursday, December 20, 2001

Vermont Governor Howard Dean has again proven himself to be a formidable obstacle to methadone maintenance therapy in Vermont. In May 2000, the state of Vermont finally joined 44 other states and passed a law allowing for methadone maintenance, despite the opposition from the Governor. Gov. Dean eventually reached a compromise with the Legislature by stipulating that methadone be distributed in a controlled environment and not for take-home use. Although a methadone clinic has yet to open in Vermont -- the first is scheduled to open in January 2002 in Burlington - the Vermont Department of Corrections recently announced plans to allow certain inmates to receive methadone in jail. This summer the Department of Corrections argued against methadone in court, but later agreed to allow methadone distribution in jails. Since the Department of Corrections’ approval of prison-based methadone maintenance therapy, Gov. Dean intervened and put a stop to the program, which would have been limited to inmates already on methadone.
The recently thwarted Department of Corrections decision resulted from a lawsuit involving an inmate who was on methadone as a condition for his probation. Whether or not the Governor’s decision will spur future lawsuits remains to be seen. At the press conference announcing his opposition to methadone distribution in prison, Gov. Dean said he would like to see AIDS “put back on the front burner.” Hopefully the Governor's opposition to harm reduction does not extend to needle exchange. According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 58% of AIDS cases among American women are linked to injection drug use or sex with partners who inject drugs. Overall, 36% of AIDS cases in the United States can be traced back to intravenous drug use. This easily preventable public health crisis is a direct result of zero tolerance policies that restrict access to clean syringes.

http://www.lindesmith.org/news/12_20_01vermont2.cfm

In order to establish a clear record of Deans actions as governor, I, along with a group of 20 othe researhcers are going through every piece of legislation that was offered during Deands tenure as governor, dividing them up by democratic sponsorship, republican sponsorship, and who the legislation favored, and comapring this with Deans position on all of the legislation. We are half way through the first year and it has rapidly become obvious that Dean has opposed democrats on all issues, and supported all republican legislation.

Dean ran Vermont as a virtual dictator, was incapable of working with the legislature to develop meaningful legislation threatened to veto what would likely have been the first meaniingful universal health legislation in the entire nations, because it stipulated control over the costs and insurance premiums. And so on


Deans action in trying to totally destroy all meaningful public defenders work in Vermont was obviois, and RObert Appel was hailed by his collegues as one of the best heads of public defense departments in the US in his ability to maintain prublic defense for the poor and indigent and mentally ill in spite of all Deans opposition and budget cuts. Dena was infuriated when Appel found alternative funding, and refused it, as it was Deans goal to create a Republican like criminal justice policy:

TO Dean it was better to send a few innocent people to jail if that gave you a better chance of getting more guilty people.

ANd it wouldnt do any harm if this made Dean look tough on crime, but it reminds me of a very old quote:

“There is no crueler tyranny than that which is perpetrated under the shield of law, and in the name of justice”

Charles-Louise de Secondat, Baron de Montesquieu 1742.

This is only scratching the surface of Deans attempts to subvert civil liberties. He escaped New Yrk to move to lily white, crime free Vermont, and all of Deans legislative ideas of governance were, and are based on NIMBY...Not in My Back Yard.