 Hi everybody, welcome back We are you are live at 527. Well, I'm two minutes late here Thanks to my producer Stephen and my executive producer Jordan and my board op Kevin. We really appreciate it man We got a lot to talk about we got 33 minutes to talk, but first I've got to thank town meeting TV Look at that That's a cool hat and then a cool tote bag to put the hat in I'd like to thank Emily. Thanks, Sam. Thanks, Megan Appreciate you guys as always the best Coverage of town meeting day, which is my favorite day of the year is only on town meeting television So what but what we're doing today is we're basically doing a recap I'm gonna start at the top We got a new mayor Now, I don't know if Kevin has a picture of Emma Mulvaney Stanek if we can show that that would be great There she is with the Ukraine flag in the back. Congratulations Emma. You did a great job. You ran hard The progressives had a big big day on Tuesday now as a passionate Democrat You have to tip your cap sometimes when things don't go your way. I Knew when I was at the polls You could just really feel the progressive wave coming especially where I was in Ward 2 Thanks to all my friends in Ward 2 and I had a big victory also some new city councillors Carter new bizer I'm sorry that my friend Hannah King lost. I'm sorry Jeff hand loss This show is not a recap of every race because it's already been a week away So if you were interested in finding out about the races you already have Emma ran a very very strong race. We We ran a good candidate in Joan Shannon I'm a candidate that been around for over 20 years. So had a lot of good things for her but also had You know, she's well known and so people had their opinion made up about Joan and I have to say I I'm a little upset. I today I saw a sticker on the street somewhere on a mailbox or something that showed a picture of Joan and Donald Trump together and I I don't think she deserved that She's a moderate Republic. I mean moderate Democrat. Sorry about that and She was kind of I think there she is Joan still on the council I think she's awesome and I'd like to thank you and your team Hannah King her daughter her husband They all did a great job the thing is after four years of Four terms of Merrill Weinberger You know, it's gonna be tough for the Democrats to repeat that would have been 15 years in office five terms Now there's an old saying That third terms are tough and four terms are impossible and I think that was kind of the case We ran into a lot of social issues here the fentanyl the drugs the the crystal methadrin the Suboxone a lot of homelessness also still ending up from the ravages of COVID and all these kind of put together was a perfect storm that you know a Progressive or liberal challenger could come in and challenge the status quo Because Joan and Merrill were the status quo. There's no question of that and so today of course I'm always always always supporting the Democrats, but we've got to tell a little truth here We got out beaten. Um, I think that Emma was able to tap into She was able to tap in an amazing research, which is young people Young people that were very fired up and we'll go knocking on doors five six seven nights a week and That's tough to beat. Um, I Again, I want to congratulate Emma. So what's gonna happen? Excuse me is We're gonna have a council seven Seven Democrats and five progressives. So we're gonna have a progressive mayor and we're gonna have a City council that is dominated by Democrats. So there's gonna be some I think what they're gonna try to do is kind of put it together here I think my friend Ben Travers who is in Ward five He won a big reelection by over 800 votes I think he is the leading candidate to be city council president He or Mark Barlow that did it very well and Sarah carpenter We have a lot we also have some things to be happy about all three ballot items past overwhelmingly school board a bond issue on the electric company and also Some more money for public safety, which we all agree. I think we all agree was the number one issue in the campaign Now The progressives had a lot to answer for they had on their reign in 2020 They what they didn't do they did not They did not defund the police that is not the case and I want to state that I think that's a Republican trick But what they did was they did not For example a policeman after 20 years retires or moves to another job or moves out of state They did not replace that policeman. And so we were at dangerously low levels I think Emma now Emma wasn't part of that. She's part of the she is a state representative and I Think I think public safety in Montpelier is a big issue. I know it is with Governor Scott now Talking about Emma's seat. She has a she is a Statehouse person so what I'm thinking and I haven't talked to her about it I saw an election day is I think that she will resign that and I wouldn't be surprised if her Her her campaign manager and also whose city councilor he didn't run again A friend of mine a guy named Joe McGee. I don't know if we have a picture of Joe smoking Joe McGee good guy I have a feeling that he will be named to her seat Emma if you're watching that I think it would be a good appointment Joe worked very very well with the Democrats He's a great advanced man. He's done advanced work for former president Barack Obama and also did a lot of advanced work for Congressman Peter Welch when he was running for Senate so You know what we have here is a kind of a changing of the guard it's kind of interesting morrow and Karen Paul and Joan Shin and will not be running for Marin three years Joan has one more year on city council. I would kind of think that would probably be it after I think 22 years or 20 and You know maybe time for her to do something else because it's very very time-consuming You get calls at home at night you get emails. You have to do a lot of prep Usually you meet with your caucus and then you you have the meetings So, you know, we're talking about a lot a lot of work for five thousand dollars in pay, which is not very much I'd like to see their pay go to about ten thousand dollars Maybe a hundred dollars a meeting or so something like that. Yeah, maybe a little bit more But again kudos to Murrow Weinberger. He my friend maybe we can get a picture of him up Kevin I thought he did a great job as mayor. I really did now. I am a moderate Democrat. I'm a Ted Kennedy Democrat and so I I I'm not as progressive as some people are in Burlington. Definitely not as progressive as Emma but What I think Emma was able to do and Murrow I'd like to thank you I swore him in for a second term. That was a great honor for me He asked me to do that and I also just recently Registered his daughter Leland Weinberger who is a senior in high school and was turning 18 So when her dad became mayor, she was six years of age. She was in first grade Now she's going to be a college a high school graduate and on the way to hopefully a wonderful college So I'd like to thank her her mom Stacy Weinberger and her sister Ada Really really great family. Um, these are good people Murrow really cares about Burlington And it'll be anxious to see his next move. I personally think I'd like to see him Working in Washington in the in the Biden administration and I know he's interested in He's interested in running for governor Unfortunately for us. We have the most popular governor in the United States. I think his approval rating boy. Kevin. You are sharp, man His approval rating is close to 80 percent now. I wish he spent some more time up here and He he has not tackled the crime and the drug issue like I would I would I would say I think housing people in motels is is Sure, maybe it worked for COVID but you know, it's a rough life living in just a little room and But you know what he's an honest good man. I'd like to thank him for his good work He cares about Vermont. He was just at a state dinner President Biden invited him in and he brought his mother So anyone who brings their mother to a state dinner has got to be all right Phil is looking very very strong for reelection. I think this will be his last term This will be 10 years for him. This will be five election cycles and again unlike 48 of the 50 states except for New Hampshire and Vermont They run four-year terms. So I think Phil gets sick of raising money. He gets sick of the campaigning I know he likes to drive his race car I know he likes to just do stuff, but the governor is always very strictly on a schedule has a state trooper Driving him and you know has basically a stuff going on seven days a week. So governor Scott You're a good man. I'd like to see you in Burlington more often. I'd like to see you in the new north end. I Still can't figure out your policy on drugs We cannot arrest our way out of this But even though, you know, I asked Emma at the at the polling place. I said Emma If someone's selling fentanyl, do you think they should be arrested and she said absolutely and I agree We have a drug here unlike any drug that in my long career 60 years of life and to be honest my generation we did plenty of drugs, okay But fentanyl is just so scary. It's so so scary It requires multiple injections a day. It's it can kill you at any time and It's really the devil's medicine. Stay away from it. Don't ever try it. I've never even seen it I don't want anything to do with it. It's cancer. It's poison. It's poisoning our community Anyone who's bringing that stuff into our community is a criminal and deserves to go to prison for a long long time So Emma is going to have to deal with some issues. She's going to have a divided city council They're going to want to work with her But they're not going to give her everything she's got She is going to be I think one thing what she will probably do is she will probably move a little to the center and Try to govern center left. I think that's the best strategy for Emma and you know the one thing that we have coming up, which is really going to be rough is we have a We have some budget cuts. We have some serious stuff going on And you know our COVID money is gone and we had a lot a lot of money coming in that money is Is history so there's going to be some budget cuts. There's going to possibly be I hear by rumor There's possibly going to be some job cuts in Burlington. We have over 800 city employees for 45,000 people 42,000 people. That's a lot. That's a big ratio So we'll see what's going to happen there Let's talk about Let's go. Let's flip over to the state here All our all our officers will be up for election in November that includes can we get a picture of them? I saw him at Seth Meyers Maybe mr. Zuckerman as lieutenant governor that includes Doug Hoffer as auditor that includes there he is and that's an old Picture he's cut his ponytail and he donated it for locks for love which is wigs for people with cancer David's a good guy We had fun at Seth Meyers really really great Stand up. He did two shows at the Flynn. I'd like to thank the Flynn and mr. Meyers for Letting me do a voter reg there. I registered five people to vote special thanks to my friend AJ Fusil at the Flynn and Obviously it went right through mr. Meyers management Now Seth we did the show on Saturday on Monday. It was his 10th anniversary. He had president Biden on so pretty cool He was he wasn't just funny. He was smart funny Seth. Hey, there he is Okay, let's talk about this guy Boy, did he kick he kicked it man for state. I was gonna say town meeting day state of the union Absolutely exceptional speech and he took on the Republicans. He took on Those crazy crazy freedom caucus they were hooting and hollering weren't trump hats being you know chanting Chanting all sorts of crazy things, but you know, he stood tall. He stood tall He's so used to being in the political thick of it that he did a great job I liked all the people that he and dr. Jill Biden and maybe we can show her Invited to the ceremony. I liked what he talked about. I'm thinking about about 10 things I liked he talked about. I liked what he talked about immigration that Because you're here illegally. There's got to be a path for citizenship Remember anyone watching this show me included my grandfather came here from Ireland with $50 Okay, he knew one person and he had a leg up because he could speak English But think if you come here, you don't know anyone. It's cold. It's winter. You've had a rough thousands of mile trip God knows what's happened to you on the route you cross the cold Rio Grande and you're in America That's tough man. That's really tough Getting back to the getting back to the state of the Union. He I Likeed what he talked about about protecting trans rights. I liked what he talked about with Roe versus Wade That you know that used to be the law of the land. We see how Trump Trump's biggest success was Was getting these three justices on the court Brett Kavanaugh Neil Gorsuch and Amy Amy Something I'm sorry and Amy Ford They're all very conservative and they're all young. They're gonna be on the court for a long time We're we're in a bit of a jam on that What we need is we need to add to the Supreme Court and this is so vital that That president Biden is reelected because my god, they could have six or seven on the court and right now it's six three If our if our members passed away or had to quit We'd really be in trouble He also talked about You know affirmative action. Sure. Maybe it needed some changes. Okay. It's an old program. It dates back from the 70s 1979 But mend it don't end it as Jesse Jackson always says I think people sometimes who are in tough circumstances need a leg up need a helping hand Our country has been built by immigrants and You know, our country is changing the the white power elite is on its way out We're gonna be primarily Hispanic in 20 or 30 years. Well, we'll be more than 50 percent Hispanic And we see that black lives matter trans lives matter Hispanic lives matter Indigenous people matter Now, I'll tell you one thing I always like about president Biden was he He he nominated the head of Indian affairs, which is a very important cabinet position Um, remember the Indian Indian affairs. They have millions of acres out west and he As our secretary He has appointed an Indian indigenous native to be secretary first time ever So for all these years our indigenous friends who we so screwed over And left on crummy land and the reservations so rough We're always administered by or dictated by A white male now those days are over I'd like to thank him for cabinet's point and I see a lot I see that, um Our friend Kamala Harris the vice president has really picked it up And seemed to assume more a leadership role. She had a great picture of her Um, she was over in europe with our with her with all our allies now again It seems like donald trump Is for the russians that makes him a traitor in my eyes What does putin have on on donald trump? He has something How could you not be for the ukrainian people first? russia annexes Crimea Okay, that's like taking new england. Okay, canada's taking new england. There he is boy What a devious bastard he is man I disliked that guy because so much blood on his hands And now as we see that sweden and finland are nato You know, I think he feels his back is against the wall We want to work with him But we need a ceasefire in ukraine and we need them to return to the previous positions that they took We see We see that the russian army is not as fallible Is this their vietnam? Is this their afghanistan? It seems like it they're taking a lot of casualties It's you know, it's so sad they're they're grabbing guys out of prison and saying if you know you fight You know almost like commando kamikaze type stuff You'll be freed and these poor guys ended up just using as cannon fodder Unfortunately, we're still fighting over there kind of a world war one trench warfare But with modern weapons and drones So it is very very difficult war and Cold it's it's a little colder than here and Do you imagine fighting all february outside in a trench? I don't think you do um Okay, I got 14 minutes. So I want to keep keep talking about uh, the state of the union I liked what he talked about about these large corporations Not paying their taxes not paying their fair of chair pair share of taxes They pay so many school and these shell companies that these companies use In europe are really really a scam or in other countries and You know if you can believe under trump he God, you know, I have to laugh because it sounds like I'm making this stuff up, but he Took the budget of the irs And and you know cut it like a third now. We all know we need the irs. Okay internal revenue How does our country run without it? it doesn't So again some takes from the uh from the uh From the state of the union one that uh President biden doesn't mind getting in and mixing mixing around with uh Mixing around with the republicans Marjorie taylor green wearing a trump hat inside the house chambers Now, how do you support a trader like that? Who is not supporting ukraine in the war is not supporting nato Um, does not support a woman's right to choose does not support affirmative action Does not support drug You know, we're gonna have to do something about this drug problem in america before it licks us because if this if the next generation Of people are on these narcotics You know, we're done. We're really done. They're so strong They're such poison that they really really ruin your life Now let's talk about someone who's watching this and maybe has a drug problem or their brother or sister or friend or mother or grandmother has a drug problem The state has a lot of resources. They have counseling they have They have drug treatment, you know Medicaid will pay for someone to go to rehab. Obviously with drugs is strong. You've got to be away From them. They're just too strong The number to call for that and also for covet if you have questions about covet covet is not over 211 Thank you, kevin Boy, you're really in sync today. Good job, brother My friend My friends Everyone needs to get that covet shot. Please. Um Or your booster. I've gotten five shots over the last couple years. I think I need to get another one Coven is not gone. If you're in a spot where you have a lot of people Don't be afraid to put your mask on. No one's going to laugh. No one cares We want you to live over one million people in america died of covet Why donald trump's response was to deny deny deny um Not push the vaccine again. He could be impeached on so many different levels He's really a terrible person and if you love this country, you are not supporting him Um, we talk about january 6. We still see people being in prison for their role in january 6 Attacking the capital Destroying the capital urinating in the capital vandalizing the capital Threatening representatives and senators and a vice president's life I really think if mike pence or uh, uh alex aoc Or nancy plosie if the mob had gotten close to them, they would have killed them and that is murder Okay You know anyone can go into the capital every day and get a tour and sit and watch the senate and the house Okay, you can call your congressman's office congresswoman's office and do that but to break in to vandalize to To destroy the capital And it really means you don't care about your country Now i'll tell you let's let's do a little bit more about state of the union Uh, I guess senator lehi was invited to take pictures. He's no longer senator. There he is He's a great photographer a great guy We'd like to thank you senator lehi you and marcel such wonderful people My friend i'm glad you're keeping your hand in in vermont And living in in burlington part-time and also in washington. I'm sure he's on senator lehi He's on so many boards and councils always so giving of his time I'd like to thank some of his people carol and dweyer and john tracy And john gedro. They're now in retirement and Senator lehi god bless you man. You've been so kind hired me worked on campaigns for me with me Helped us out just a great guy one of the nicest guys i've ever met and also let's talk about our new senator senator peter welch Who was at the other areas that's an old picture of him and I believe that's at the state house in montpellier We'll have to maybe get a more up-to-date picture But peter you are the man you've been so kind to me. I had so much fun working on your campaigns Thanks for hiring me. Thanks for always being so kind you and margaret your dear wife Doing such a great job. He's on some great great committees Now let's talk about the senior senator the man The hero of the left our friend bernie sanders. Hey, that's a great picture of bernie Boy, nobody like him and in the history of the senate. I don't think Someone who's come up Through the ranks, you know when he first started running in the 70s he'd get two or three percent And he's grown he's evolved and our state has evolved. I I about there he is Uh, I really believe that about 95 percent that he's going to run for reelection. Um I uh, I think he will announce probably in may or so and um You know, he'll be tough to beat. I'll be helping him. I'll hopefully be working with him We'll be registering a lot of voters Now let's go to our new congresswoman Boy, she's doing a great job. She's on so many good committees. Now that looks like a picture of her At the state capitol also on the lawn. Maybe we can get that's a good picture and um Becca Becca brings it man. Becca from brato bro brings it. She's on some great committees. She's doing very very well She's running for reelection. I endorse her wholeheartedly. I endorse bernie sanders Uh, senator welch was so nice he doesn't have to run for a reelection for For four more years. But god, what a strong congressional delegation we have And again, I thought that was pretty nice of president biden to invite senator lehi to take photographs Senator lehi has an exhibit of photographs at the vermont supreme court in montpelier That is running through i believe april 29th that i want to go down and see i believe there are 70 photographs Around the world from pictures like dolly lama pictures ronald reagan um senator lehi a lot of times took pictures that were used by the ap and the ups upi And uh about like bill signings and stuff in washington So I have seven minutes left We're gonna recap It was a tough day for democrats in burlington We uh We took one in the pants. We uh, we got beaten by a strong strong candidate who Maybe worked a little harder and was able to get a coalition of younger people And the progressives have consistently consistently beaten us in town meeting I'd like to thank my friend adam roof who did such a good job. We also held several several City council positions including my friend ben travers including um Including sarah carpenter and so we're going to have a strong council What i'd like to thank i'd like not thank what i'd like to say to everyone Please is that try to work together with emma Let's find some common ground emma is much more progressive than i am But you know what i've you have to kind of see the writing on the wall and realize that uh That the progs had their day and uh again the ability of the progressives to And get young people interested and involved in In campaigning especially in the cold winter nights when they're out Knocking on doors seven nights a week that really adds up you do that for six or seven weeks. You are really flying Again also congratulations to carter new hyzer A friend of mine who we do a lot of done a lot of voter registration of real liberal guy So we'll see how these you know You know sometimes the progressives have some very high flying ideas and They sound good on paper, but who's going to pay for them? How are they going to be implemented? So we're going to have to see How the progressives do running the city We haven't had a progressive mayor in a long long time 12 years And that you know that was that was still in president obama's first term I've got four minutes left So again i'm going to wrap up If you know anybody that is hungry has income insecurity Is worried about paying their rent or their heating bill There's a lot of programs that can help and that would be 2 1 1 you can call the state the state That's a state number and that is toll free Also, you can call me We're about seven and a half months away from the general election and you can give me a call I'd be glad to register anyone to vote My telephone number is 802 five four oh 07 1 7 that's 802 five four oh 07 1 7 I'd like to thank Everyone here town meeting television was outstanding on town meeting day and for someone who's And you're everyone's going to laugh Don't laugh steven or kevin, but my favorite day by far of the year Is town meeting day? It's really so special and especially i find where i I work at the polls at in the old north end it awards two and three now A lot of the wards changed they all the all the wards have to be within 10 of each other so for example, I was in ward two for 25 years I'm now in ward three. Some people are in ward four that were in ward two Uh, some people are in ward three one and eight have changed a little bit so By the time of the next election You know, it's always good to find out you can always call city hall. That's eight six five seven thousand or send them an email In my last three minutes left I'd like to thank town meeting television for this great hat. Let's see how it looks Wow Custom fit kevin And then this handy dandy tote bag, you know, I might give this to my mother This looks like kind of a mom tote bag Um, I have two minutes left I'd like to thank everyone for voting still the turnout was too low. I was told by a friend only 35 percent Now remember the roles are a little overfilled. We have a lot of college students that leave town We have people that pass away people move um You know, if you're moving if you're moving out of town or you're graduating and leaving Maybe just let city city hall know and we can keep these roles up to date But the people that did come out um They really cared and they showed they cared and I have to again congratulate ml. Movaney stanek our new mayor She will be sworn in on april 1st Um, what will happen will be a city council meeting They'll also decide who the new city council president is and I think that's either going to be mark barlow from the new north end or I think it might be um My friend ben travers from the south end who I worked on his campaign. He had a big win He won by 800 votes. I'd like to thank him and his family. We had a grand time working on the campaigns I'm at one minute left. So I'd like to thank everyone. I'd like to thank town meeting television Jordan Mitchell my producer steven and kevin Megan or work um, miss lauren glen devine emily Everybody um, I'm going to leave you with a picture of president biden I think he did a great job on the state of the union He is going to be a reelected president of the united states And I'm taking off my microphone and I'd like to thank everyone and we're going to leave you with Joe And thank you so much