 Hey, we're on, coming to you absolutely live from town meeting television studios in the old North end of Burlington. I'd like to thank you all for tuning in. My name is Andrew Champagne, and I'm the producer and host of this show. I'd like to thank a couple people today. My executive producer, Jordan Mitchell, my cameraman A, Daniel, cameraman B, Jackson, and always another person who helps me, Kevin. Thank you so much. Also, I'd like to thank Megan and Miss Lauren Glendividian and Emily, of course. We're glad to see you, everyone. I'm sorry if anyone was scheduled in last Tuesday. I was just feeling a little under the weather. The bright lights of television, I think would have been a little too much for me, but I feel great. We have so much to talk about. The first thing I'm gonna talk about, I must always talk about is COVID has not gone away. I saw Bruce Springsteen as COVID. I sure hope he's doing okay, but the only way COVID is gonna go away is if everyone gets their shots and boosters. For those out there who have not, there is a statewide number you can call about information about COVID. Also, information about if you're having trouble paying the rent, paying the gas bill. You may be an application for Three Squares program, which provides free food. Basically, food stamps is now called Three Squares. We're still so close to the COVID that we haven't psychologically, I think, really taken it all in. And for some people, COVID was very, very rough. One million people died. And so many hundreds of thousands of others are still dealing with COVID-like symptoms. There's a statewide number. We sometimes have put it up on the screen. I don't know if that's possible, Jordan. That is 211. Excellent. Now, we've got to talk about 211. I was told by a friend that the program is not used very often and is in danger of going away. Now, I think it's amazing. It's a statewide, a statewide number. So for the counties of, these are the 14 counties in Vermont. Addison, Bennington, Caldonia, Chinden, Essex, Franklin, Grand Isle, LaMoyle, Orange, Orleans, Rutland, Windham, Windsor and Washington, those are the 14 counties of Vermont that they can call that single number 211, okay? So I have a feeling unless that number is being used more often that it's not gonna make it. So if you do have any questions, excuse me, give them a call. And also if you think it's a good thing, call them and tell them it's a good thing. The last thing we need is a cut in social services right now, okay? So let's get to the democratic politics right off the bat. This is a democratic politically oriented show. So for the next 31 minutes, we're gonna talk about democratic politics, okay? Big, big news, the democratic national convention has been awarded to this great, the Windy City, Chicago. We're going to Chicago. The other two applicants were New York City and Atlanta. Now I think Chicago was a great choice. Right in the Midwest, there's a host of states that are up for grabs. It's a great union city, which Atlanta was not. And also it's in the heartland, which New York is not. There's plenty of hotels. There's 25 union hotels, so we love that. So I believe I was told the president has the final pick and he called the governor of Illinois personally and said, hey, you got it, we're coming to Chicago. That will be August 19th through the 22nd in the Windy City. Now, I think that's gonna be great. As someone who's been able to fortune it up to go to three democratic national conventions and be a delegate at a couple of them, it's really, really fun. And I think it was an excellent choice. And I will be running for delegate myself, hopefully supporting President Biden. Of course I will be. I'm endorsing him today. Big endorsement. I think the president is doing a wonderful job. But what the National Convention does is it puts the focus on the party, on the people. Not just the president, the vice president, the cabinet. You hear a great speech from a congressman or a senator or an ambassador or a functionary in the party. Maybe you didn't know. And it's such a big country. I mean, all the way out to the West Coast and then the enormous Alaska and Hawaii and then the 48. So your version of politics in Vermont is different than the version of politics in Iowa or Idaho or Alabama or Illinois. So it's kind of this gorgeous mosaic that brings America together. And it's really funny. I can always tell the California people by their tan. So it's fun. The people watching, there's unbelievable musical guests. I'm sure President Clinton will be there. President Obama will be there. President Biden will speak. Vice President Harris will speak. You get some great people. And so I think it's great as going to Chicago. Also, the president has just returned from a fantastic trip in Ireland. And I think he very much feels his Irish Catholic roots. And that's great. And he was over there first visiting Northern Ireland. But his heart's in the, in Southern Ireland, in Ireland, not Northern Ireland. And he had a great few days there, a little bit of a vacation. Dr. Jill, since I've been on the air, Dr. Jill Biden was here. She came to the Burlington Airport and did a presentation about beach aircraft, which are electric aircraft. I believe my friend Thea Wurzberg, here she is. Oh, thank you, Jordan. She's great. My friend Thea Wurzberg was, I believe coordinated all that and did an unbelievable job. So Dr. Jill, she really adds a lot to the ticket. She has, she's still teaching college English. You know, that doctorate is in education. And she's for the kids. She's for the people. So that was a cool, cool trip for her to Vermont. She also went to Maine that day. That was a big, that was a big 20-state push by the president, the vice president, the cabinet. Dr. Jill, the second gentleman to promote the economic agenda of the Biden administration. And I think it was a big success. The president, he was talking to Al Roker of NBC News. The Today show and Al of course asked him, Mr. President, are you gonna run? And he said, I expect to. Now I'm thinking an announcement's gonna come in late May or early June. And you know, obviously I wouldn't be doing this show if I didn't think the president was doing an outstanding job. The Republicans as always are fractured. We'll talk a little bit about this. You know, since I've been on television, you know, terrible, the first president of the United States indicted on 34 counts. Now, Donald Trump must feel some shame. Okay, we're just gonna put that up for a minute, okay? I don't like that guy on my show. There he is, former president. He's caused a lot of problems in this country. He has been charged with paying what is called hush money. He had a sexual encounter with a woman who's in pornographic movies. He didn't want his wife to know. She was pregnant at the time and he had his attorney, guy named Michael Cohen, Mickey Cohen, paying her off $130,000. Now who pays the tax? Who, and then tried to deny it was hush money. Now, I'm glad this case was made. It pains me to see a president of the United States arrested. It's never happened before. But if you look at the facts, the indictments are very carefully written. I read the whole thing and the real crime, there were several real crimes of the Trump administration. One, using the White House as a business function. No other president has done that. You know, my cameraman's laughing and I know it's so ridiculous. That he used the White House for a financial gain. And you know, I compare that with President Carter who was in hospice, okay? God bless him. Teaching Sunday school till he was 97 years old. The guy who cared about America started Habitat for Humanity, the greatest ex-president ever. And I think about the other presidents that I've grown up with and they were, for the most part, honorable people. So we have this indictment. You know, also I believe he's gonna get indicted in that arm. All right, hey, sorry. We had a little bit of technical difficulty there. What I did was with my foot and shoe, I pulled my microphone off, which is a faux pas in television. Daniel, thank you. Jackson, thank you. Jordan, I hope you're not mad. Okay, so we're getting back. Are you mad? No, absolutely not. So getting back to the president, I also think that, you know, he tried, he called the secretary of state. They have it on tape. And he tried to get this gentleman, to his credit, did not do it, to find him 11,380 votes. Now, to me, that is a much more serious charge. I hope the charge in New York sticks. It sounds like it happened as it did. But let the jury play out. Someone is innocent, he'll prove him guilty. But the lack of honor and class and that President Trump seems to possess is very frightening. Now obviously, palling around with Putin right before the Ukrainian war, you know, always speaking up for the Russians, okay? So, you know, you have to wonder about this guy. He's an anomaly. He's the worst, most crooked president ever. And thank God, he didn't lead us into a huge war. I'll tell you, his terrible antics with COVID led to a lot of people dying too early. So he really, when I think about it, I get so angry because I love the country so much that one person could really kind of almost ruin it, but he almost did. So thank goodness that secretary of state found those votes and found those votes and they found that they were correctly voted for Vice President Biden at the time. So, moving on, Trump's indicted. He's a crook and a bum, okay? As LeBron famously said, he's a bum. As I said, the president will be running again. Vice President Harris will be his running mate and we're glad about that. That's a good team. And I think things are really working out nationally. We see some of the other potential candidates, Governor DeSantis, Ron DeSantimonius as Trump. That's the one funny thing Trump ever said. I also see that Senator Tim Scott from North Carolina is looking at it. Former, I'm sorry, South Carolina. Former Governor Nikki Haley has already announced. Asia Hutchinson, the former governor of Arkansas has announced. On the Democratic side, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is considering running. Now, he has really turned into kind of a crazy guy. He's anti-vax, anti-this, anti-that. He'll be a marginal candidate and please don't tarnish the wonderful Kennedy legacy, Mr. Kennedy. Now, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., Bobby Kennedy Jr. has done so many good things in environmental causes and the Hudson River and he's a professor. He seemed to have gotten off at a bit of a tangent. Also, I forgot her first name, I'm so sorry, and Ms. Williamson, who is kind of a, she's a speaker and a vocational speaker and very positive about humanity. She ran last time. Christine Williamson, I'm not sure her name is, but the road to the nomination for the president is for his for the taking. It's not like in the past couple of times where we've had primaries with Senator Sanders and so the president's looking good. Now, if the Republicans nominate President Trump, I mean, honestly, I think that's great for us because he's such a tarnished, weak, terrible candidate that I think we'll crush him, but if they stoop so low to nominate him three times then I really fear for the two-party system in America and maybe the two-party systems are not in the Constitution. The parties have changed. There used to be the Whigs, the No-Nothings, the Republicans were founded in the 1850s, the Jackson Democrats. If you look, there's been quite a few parties. You know, an independent party, a green party. Maybe we're better off with that in America, like four or five parties, a center left, like the current Democratic Party, a left, a far left, and then a center right, right and right. You see that the far left is not happy with the Democratic Party and the far right is not happy with the Republican Party. So we see this as kind of a cycle of American history. You know, Professor Schlesinger, Arthur Schlesinger, he always talked about how America kind of worked on a cycle about every 30 years. It was cyclical. And I think there's a lot of truth to that. You see, obviously, the election in 2016 was a wrap on the establishment and Mrs. Clinton was not able to connect in the Midwest and the South. And Trump, as a new candidate, was able to connect with that. I don't think we'll have this problem this time. I do think that if I have to bet, I would think the nominee would be Governor Santis, who is, he's really waging a far right fright campaign. You know, wants to ban certain books from library. Doesn't want any transgender athletes. Doesn't, not a supporter of gay rights. Is not a supporter of abortion. You know, as Roe versus Wade was overturned by that third judge that Trump was able to appoint, we see that the presidency has, even though President Trump is out of office, we see his three Supreme Court picks, Neil Gorich, Brett Kavanaugh, and Ms., Ms., I'm commonly for it, I believe her name is, that they, you know, there's no swing now, it's six, three. There used to be a five, four. That was kind of traditional for many years when I was a, you know, a younger person and growing up. Also, Clarence Thomas, a man who's taken, they said something like 100 trips with this billionaire and didn't report any of it. He was appointed by the first President Bush, that was in 1991, okay? Now, his conservatism and lack of imagination have really brought down the court. And him taking all these, he and his wife is another election denier, they've really kind of tarnished the Supreme Court. I would kind of be in favor of a 20-year term. The founding fathers, when the Constitution was written, the average life expectancy, I believe, was in the 50s. And I'm not sure they realized that someone could be on the Supreme Court could be 100 years old. So, okay, that's some national stuff. Let's see what we talked about. President's trip, the Trump stuff, the Republican candidates, the convention. Okay, now I'm gonna turn it to the state. We see, now, we could have some big news coming up here. I'm hearing some rumors that Governor Scott might not be running. Now, who knows if he even knows? Maybe that's all nonsense. But the feeling is after he's in his seventh year, that maybe Phil is tired of it. And being governor, it comes with a lot of work, but it also, you can't really lead a normal life. And I think Governor Scott misses that. I think he misses all the fun times racing his race car. And if he doesn't run, there he is. He's a good man for a Republican. That's for sure. No, he is a good man. He has won four times very convincingly against some pretty good opponents. And the thing that Governor Scott, his secret is he doesn't try to do too much. He has certainly not moved the state forward. I've talked about this on the show several times that if you go over to Johnson, Vermont, and then all the way up to Newport, that's about 60 miles, it's just a trail of tears. It's just these old, old, banged up towns with no young people, more people dying than are being born, severe opiate problems, very not great economic news, and just kind of banged up and beat up. Some of the towns up there have been in decline since World War II, that's 78 years ago, okay? And any more than a 25 year decline, you see out in the Midwest like the Rust Belt, it's sad because the intelligentsia leaves, the arts leave, the kids leave, you know, there's, I always thought there could have been a great college up in Newport. It would have been a great spot. It would have attracted probably a lot of kids from Quebec and a lot of kids from the North Country. But those counties up there, Essex, Lamoille, Orleans, they're really facing tough times. And I kind of wonder why the governor isn't kind of working on a North Country kind of bill of rights to get that thing going up there. You know, as we know, Burlington, Chinden is booming, but as I listed all the 14 counties before, about 10 of them are not. Washington County, William Mopilier is doing well, Brattleboro is doing okay, White River is picked up. But there, you know, the secret in Vermont is, you know, there's a lot of poor people. And we also have a very high concentration of elderly here. So we're facing some problems. Governor Scott did an excellent job on COVID. He's an honest, very fine, efficient governor. But is he an inspired governor, like former Governor Peter Schumlin? I don't know if we have his picture up there, Jordan. I'd love to see that. That's my guy there. I found that he was the best governor that I had encountered and always full of new ideas and new visions. And he was a real breath of fresh air, Peter Schumlin. Governor Scott is more your traditional governor. We'll see what happens with him. I'm starting to think that he's not gonna run. Now there's also been some talk that perhaps Mayor Murrow Weinberger, we must have a picture of him, Jordan, is thinking about possibly running. Yay, there he is. You did a great state of the state, Mr. Mayor, if you're watching this program. So as I was trying to go from federal to statewide to city, but we're jumping to Murrow. Murrow, the state of the state speech was outstanding and we also swore in two new democratic counselors. So the progressives don't have a majority or anywhere close to it. And they are still, you know, they are a strong group in Vermont and excuse me, in Burlington and especially in the neighborhood where I'm broadcasting from, the historic Old North End, the progressives run great campaigns. They're very people-oriented. They've done a lot for Burlington. They really care. But the mayor is, you know, I wouldn't be surprised if he's thinking about running for governor because I think Governor Scott has to feel that, hey, eight years is enough. Now the thing that a lot of people don't know who are in Vermont all the time is there's only two states that have the two-year term. And that is, excuse me, that is New Hampshire and Vermont. So, you know, sure it might seem typical to us, but us in Vermont and New Hampshire a two-year term, but the other 48 states have a four-year term. I favor a four-year term. I think Governor Scott gets sick of, he's, even though he's a politician, he's not a political man. And unlike someone like me that loves campaigns, he, you know, I don't think he does as much. So we'll see what happens. There would also be Lieutenant Governor David Zuckerman would be a strong candidate, perhaps speak, hey, there he is, Zuck, good man. Re-elected again, good for him. He campaigns hard, he's a good man. He cares about people. Also, Speaker Jill Kroinsky, I could see her potentially running for governor, perhaps Senator Keisha Rom-Hinsdale. So we got some good candidates, and also State Treasurer Mike Pitchek. Well, those are great Democrats right there. Maybe former Speaker Mitzi Johnson, maybe Matt Dunn, I'm trying to think. These are good people. So, when I talk about, let's, before I wrap up, I have 11 minutes, I wanna talk about the Vermont Democratic Party's annual dinner. It's called the Curtis Hoff Awards, okay? And David Curtis was a man, he was a former state rep. He actually started out as a Republican as kind of saw the light in the 70s and was a state rep. But he was a gay man and he unfortunately contacted AIDS, but he did not hide about it. He had a lot of courage. He lived till 1999 and he passed away from AIDS. And also Governor Hoff was the first Democratic governor ever elected in Vermont in 1962. So it's called the Curtis Hoff Awards. It's gonna happen May 12th, I believe it'll be at the Sheridan. And we've just announced three award winners. The first one is Senator Cheryl Hooker from Rutland, someone who's been in politics I think for 40 plus years who took on the fat cats and bureaucrats in the anti-unionists in Rutland. The second one is my dear friend Ryan McLaren who was the campaign chair for Congressman now Senator Peter Welch. Can we put his picture up there, Jordan? So Congressman Welch is very proud of Ryan and I am too. He's a wonderful guy, also coach, areas also coach at Burlington High School, go see horses, lacrosse, go to lacrosse game everybody, it's fun. And then the third winner was my also good friend, Natalie Silver, who was the campaign chair for our new Congresswoman, Becca Ballant. We have a picture of her too, yay. Nat Silver from Bennington, Vermont is now going to George Washington Law School. So these three winners, Senator Cheryl Hooker, Ryan McLaren and Natalie Silver will all be congratulated, awarded. They will all speak at our dinner. It's May 12th, if you go to vermontdemocraticparty.com you can find out all the information. I will attend that, it's fantastic. The Curtis Awards are a real honor. I was fortunate to win one, I can't believe it, 10 years ago, 2013. So congratulations to all the winners. I'd like to thank David Glidden, the chair of the VDP. I'd like to thank Jim Dandano. I'd like to say hello to Sheldon and Justin and Kate Lap and the whole crew, Jenny, I appreciate all their good work. We have our main office in Main Street in Montpelier. And so it's always been there because that's where the legislative session is going on. So now the session has reached the point where bills have proceeded. There's a day in the middle where bills either go forward or they don't make it. And now the bills now are going forward. The session will end in about five weeks, six weeks, and they're still working on things like paid family leave. They're working on more economic stuff, try to bolster the economy in Vermont, which needs it. You know, for all the wealth and the skiing and the culture and all that stuff, there's so many poor, poor people. I was over in New Hampshire this weekend and driving through Caledonia and Orange counties and they're having hard times. They're banged up. They're not doing well. You don't see any young people. You don't see any new development. A lot of those places, the cell service is non-existent. So we need to go, as Governor Shublin always spoke, God, every time I ever saw him, he talked about 100% broadband. You cannot move forward as a society. I don't think you can go to school now without a computer. I should hardly talk. I'm not a computer person, but I see the value in the rural areas. So I have about seven minutes left. So let's, we're gonna talk a couple more issues. So again, the Curtis Awards are May 12th. I believe it will be at the Sheridan, I'm not sure. Why don't we go to VDP.com? But I'd like to thank those winners. Also, getting back to Moreau, he gave a very good state of the city address, talking about public safety, talking about economics, talking about infrastructure, trying to, we have a very old housing stock in Burlington. So what are we gonna do about that? Still retain our historic flavor, but our housing, some of it's very old and some of it's banged up. I guess I've been using that word too much today, so we'll forget about that. I have about six minutes left. So what I'd like to talk about is someone is watching this show is not registered to vote. Let's talk about ways you can do that. You can go to the city clerk's office, which is on Main Street, 149 Main Street, church in Maine, and you can fill out the form. You can give me a call, Andrew Champagne, 802-540-0717. Hey, there we go. It's funny to see your own number up there. Call today. Okay, so we see in a lot of Republican-dominated states especially when they have the House, the Senate, and the Governor, when they run the full gamut, they have all three offices that they're pushing some very crazy stuff through. We saw about this incident in Louisville where these three state representatives were justifiably upset, apoplectic, about the murder of five people in Louisville and went on the House floor, and sure maybe caused a little bit of a stir, but there aren't many issues that are life or death but proper gun control is life or death and they were expelled from the Tennessee House. Now there's, to this is great. The city council in Nashville promptly put them back in and I believe there's gonna be a special election. They will be back, but we see, that reminds me of fascism. That reminds me of something in the 1930s that maybe they were slightly inappropriate. They used a bullhorn, they were angry, but we're talking about children being shot dead with automatic weapons, okay? As Bill Clinton famously said, I've never known anyone to go hunting deer with an automatic rifle. They obviously have to be banned. I mean, unfortunately with this Republican-dominated Supreme Court, they take a literal view of the Constitution. Okay, so I have about four minutes left. Again, I'd like to thank the crew on site today. My executive person, Jordan Mitchell, Jackson and Daniel and Emily, Kevin and Epsencia, Miss Lauren Glendividian, Megan. I'd also like to say hi to my former producer, Jordan Butterfield, who is back in school and I wish you the best, Jordan. And thanks for all your help. Now, okay, the last three minutes of the show, we're just gonna talk about what's going on for the next few months. So this is supposedly off-year, but it feels so busy. We're gonna see what happens with some Supreme Court decisions on affirmative action about perhaps the day after abortion pill, gun control. We're gonna see some stuff about that. The Congress will be pretty much in a stalemate because the House Republicans are so far right that they can maybe get some stuff through the House narrowly. I think they have a six-vote majority, but they can't get through anywhere through the Senate. So we're not gonna see a lot of political progress in the House. And I believe the last time I checked, their approval rating was 9%. So that means 91% of the people in the poll thought they were doing a poor job. Now, the Senate is where you're gonna see some more action with great new senators and a lot of cool senators re-elected. We had an excellent Senate midterm. Senator Peter Welch is off to a fine start. Congresswoman Becca Ballant on the Budget Committee. That's great. Senator Bernie Sanders, chair of the Budget Committee and always the heart of the soul of the Democratic left in America for the last about 20 years. Can we put a picture of our friend Senator Sanders up there? He's a good man and he cares. Now, he will be announcing this fall whether he is gonna run again and I believe that he will run again and I want him to run again. So I'm letting you know, I think Senator Sanders will run. I don't know if he's decided but I'd like to say hello to him and Jane. There he is. Okay, done a lot for America, done a lot for Vermont. Former, when I first came to Burlington, he was mayor. Mayor, Congressman, Senator, presidential candidate. Wow. My cameraman Jackson's a big Bernie fan so he's enthusiastic. There he is. You know, they have a lot of old archival programs of Senator Sanders, Mayor Sanders and the old days. Now, Jordan is also the archivist here and if you're interested in any kind of thing, it's available here and it's really brilliant. TownMeetingTV, they did such a great job covering TownMeeting. TownMeetingTV, it says it all. Now, I have about one minute left. I believe when the clock goes to six, so we're gonna be gone. So I'd like to thank you. We were all over the place this week. Sorry about the week absence. We did a lot of stuff nationally, internationally, state, federal, local, and also even down to the wards in the city council. So I think we covered it all. I'd like to thank everyone and I hope you have a great day. We're gonna tune out now. Again, two on one on the COVID, Andrew Champagne signing out. Please register to vote. Keep following politics and I will talk to you next month. Thank you.