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u

VERMONT'S STA1EWlDE \ffEKLY 

BAI LEY LI BRARY

UVM

BURLI NGTON, VTU

05401

REFERENCE ROOM

8/11/2019 Reconsidering the Revolution: Will the Coup Continue? | Vanguard Press | Feb. 20, 1983

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CottIM ......   .tr-oIMP1he   would   model the   program   after-

mu:resringlyl'I1ough- the   Brooklyn   Th:e

Corps, which recruits children to planr 

trees   and provides a chance ror earnmg

 poc~tmonq. .These views rarely   make   headlines,

though,   and Gilson's campaign  manager KathJeen   McGreevyadmiaed   she isotlen

frustrated by her boss' inabiliry to voice"dJ-considered "iews in public   JOrwm."It  scares   the heU out of him" to  be  i n

the limelight, she said recently. "E-ery

little thing lOll  s ay   is going to   be   used 

ror and againsljOll." .One opinion that bas go~ press   IS

Gilson's   convictiOO   thai   BurlingIoo   can-not redistribute wealth - it   can   only

 promote business de>eJopment   andhope that affluence   triddes   down   to

the less fOrtunate. "There   are   a lot of 

things   we   want to do JOr  the   dry of Burlington," Gilson bas said  O\Uand 

O\U"TIle  one   thing   we need to ~

thai   a U   possible is  money,"

Instead of slapping restaurants and 

other   businesses with  n ew   taxes, Gilson

would accelerate   development   of the

waterfront and use the added   revenueto  improve   the streets and other   infra·structure   needed to   suppon   an   activecommercial environment. He would 

also   tip these revenues,  along with thosegenerated    by   the McNeil   wood   chip

 burning plant, to gradually phase out

the   inventory   tax   which he   says   bas

kqJt   a   /aqje   depanment store from  locar-ing downtown.

Gilson is "skeptical" about the   pro-grams   Sanders designed   for    the city's

poor young and elderly Gilson would

8/11/2019 Reconsidering the Revolution: Will the Coup Continue? | Vanguard Press | Feb. 20, 1983

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 people," he   says   in the   gruff  

Old Left orator "We love t

 people put pressure on the

 A ld ermen ."

While Sanders and his cam

conJlicts over issues such a

 posed Southern Connector

 bers of the old guard terrifie

ening their once-tight grip

opponents insist it takes two

Alderman   Wtlliam   Skelton

6) said that when he took h

the board last year, he w as   dis

the internecine warfure wag

mayor and city council. He  o

ders the proverbial olive b

 proposing to discuss comp

 before meetings, Skelton sa

haven't heard from him since

"1 don't have to negotiate w

Sanders   retorted, adding that

osophic diJlCrenees preclude rcompromise.

Sanders arrived in \ermont

Since then , he has sold  a ds  tOra

newspaper. produced    radical  

struggled to become the

mouthpiece for workers a

disenfranchised persons. Sus

 both businessmen and aOIue

(who nevertheless furnish a la

of his support), he sees m

thing - including his adrrunis

in terms of class struggle.Michael   Rotkin   is a leftist

operating   in an environment

 bly similar to Sanders'. Rotkin

 pleted a term as mayor of S

California, an oceanside comm

approximately   45,000   with   bers of students, retirees livin

incomes and young profession·· ·

8/11/2019 Reconsidering the Revolution: Will the Coup Continue? | Vanguard Press | Feb. 20, 1983

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Conlin'"'"   from  J.HIge   11ized  municipal workers. "Before

I can remember    gertin   up at

meetings to   speak   and [being

made to   feel]   like   a complete

fool ."

Knocking   .on   often flimsydoors in the inner city wards

that have benefited most from

Sanders'   concern, the I11ajQrfinds

a generally   warm   welcome.

' 'There's   about   seven  of  us  here

gonna   vote fur you," said one

elderly   \VOI1Ian,   grabbing   Sanders'

face   and    giving   it a kiss.   "I'm

telling you, we're all  funs   of youdown here."

Here in his heartland, Sanders

refrains from diatribes against

the corporate money mongers.

Instead he is almost reverent,

ducking   his   head and mumbling,

"I  think   we've done   a pretty   good

 job,   and we'd   like   a couple more

years   to finish what we started."

Similar to many politicians

who look out for the masses, he

seems uncomfortable when not

talking political shop. In one

home a man laughed about his

son damaging the Sights on his

rifle.   "I guess that's what you

get," Sanders said lamely, "whenyou let kids play with rilles."

But ask him what he's done

lOr the city's less fortunate ami

fire   leaps into Sanders' eyes. "You

see this?" he asks,   scuffing   his

fuot against a freshly plowed 

sidewalk. "Boy, were the Dem-

ocrats pissed when we came up

with   S 100,000 to buy those

snowplows," he laughed.

When asked what he has done

to help the renters who form a

large part of his constituency,

though, Sanders is hard put   to

 point out   any  concrete advances.

 After   a rent control proposal   wassoundly defeated at the polls,

Sanders   dropped that idea.   Allhe has come up with since is a

--·· ·

Proposed 10-cent property   tax

cut   which   he hopes landlords

will pass   on to their tenants. He

also   speaks   of plans   to use fed-

eral   dollars to subsidize lower-

income   housing,   and   trade-offs

with whoever develops thewaterfront.

Sanders points to the   difficultyof getting even small measures

 past the last vestiges of the old 

guard. "People are not as awareas   they might be of the enor-

mous  difficulty"   of getting things

done in City hail.

However, Sanders bristles at

the  suggestion that Judy Stephany

could    better    help renters or 

advance a progressive agenda

with her middle-of-the-road 

POliticking. Stephany is too "be-

 bolden" to   the   old powerbrokers

IIId1aIlenge their values, he said.

A s   for    his administration, he

added, ''We're not beholden to~ne." •