Reconsidering the Revolution: Will the Coup Continue? | Vanguard Press | Feb. 20, 1983
4
u VERMONT'S STA1EWlDE \ffEKLY BAI LEY LI BRARY U VM BU RLI N G TO N , VT 8UU< ~ Us. POST PAl( 05401 RE FERENCE RO O M • ...... 21 & as_, Reconsidering the Re volut ion; Will the CoupConfinue? B y Jeff G oo d O ne blustery Sat urday the Hon- orabl e Berna rd Sande rs, M3jQt ofBurl i ngt on, stoppe d ins ide a mend's home to don thermal socks before con tinuin g a cam- paign swing through the Old North End. A. he laced his shoe s, a pol iceman - one of the ci ty empl oyees who ha ve ben- efi ted from Sande rs' sympat het ic ear - st roll ed up to Sand er s' small car and sla ppe d a tic ket on its win dsh iel d. 'Iwo yea rs af ter the coup, Burl ing- ton's color ful mayor sti ll ca n't get no respec t. And the pr es ent ca mpai gn is no exception. Si nc e Sanders swept into of fi ce in 1981 with tousled hair and a fierc e des ire to r esh ape cit y gover nment, the city's polit ical esta blish ment has alfurded hi m no spe ci al pr ivil ege. Inde ed, it s membe rs have re-acted to Sanders' sharp tongue and stubborn ideas by s tone- wal lin g him at every poss ibl e opp ortu- nity. Unda unte d and even ener gi ze d by their oppos ition, the 41- year- old Brook- lyn nativ e thras hed along , intro ducin g reforms and opening the must y corri- dor s of Ci ty Hal l to fresh ide as. 1bday, many member s of th e so-c alJe d old guard grndg ingly recog nize the valu e of some of his efforts, Tha t doe sn' t mea n the y'r e wil lin g to sit idly by whi le San der s bre ezes int o paign coordinator. I f n o can did ate ga rner s more than 40 per ce nt of t he vote and Sande rs is forced into a run-of f wi th ei ther Gi ls on or St epha ny, Ja ne Dr is coll , ci ty yout h coor di na tor and Sa nder s' pe rs onal fr ie nd , "we' re in trouble." Re publ ican ca ndidate Ji m Gi lson, sc hool boar d chai rman and owner of Bi g Ben's pi zz a pa rl or s, char ges that Sanders ha s done litt le but st ar t the ci ty on a he adlo ng pl unge in to ec o- nomic di st ress and has intr oduced ref orms tha t were har dly sta rtl ing . Democr at Jud ith Ste pha ny, for mer min ori ty lea der in the 'k rmont Hou se and a nat ive of Queen s, New York, sup - ports many of Sanders' initiatives and ideas. However, she claims she could rea liz e such goa ls without ali ena ting people. "The last tw o years have sbown," the 38-year-old Stephany said at a recen t de ba te , "t ha t th os e wh o ma ke the revolution are not al wa ys thos e be st qua lif ied to lea d aft er the coup. " Inles s tha n two wee ks, Bur lin gton voters will turn out in exp ected rec ord number s to p rove her right . Or wro ng. J imGi ls on outside a Tuesday night bingo gan,e, shifting from foot to foot and adjust ing hi s dr ab gr een ski park a. No ha rd pitches lbr the incoming players and po ten tia l supporters, jus t a b rie f, winsome smile. almos t timid , camp aigni ng styie stan ds in sha rp contr ast with the high-p owere d te rro ris t at ta ck he is waging on the incumbent through an expe ns ive ad camp aign. But i t seems cons isten t with the moderately conservanve philosophy that moti va ted Gi ls on to take on San- ders . Hand in han d with his co nvict ion tha t ind ivi dua ls - not gov ernmen ts- are re spons ible lbr thei r ow n well·being, goe s a qui et res pec t for d ill eri ng opi n- ions. Suc h def ere nce doe s not a po lit ica l str ate gy mak e, howeve r - es pec ial ly 'when competing with two experienced politicos who never hesitate to toot thei r own tr umpe ts. When cour ti ng voters on the campaign trail and through the pre ss, the besp ecta cled and ba lding India na nativ e often misses c han ces to art iculat e the d ill ere nce s bet wee n him and his opponen ts, str ess ing instead issues that can he lp him li ttl e - and actually ma y haw: < ia J n a lle d his underdog candidacy. The tactical blund ers began earl y in the camp aign . One of Gilson's first press rel eas es bla ste d San der s for pus hing a 25- cen t proper ry tax hike upon tak ing offic e. Gilso n failed to men tion that Gordo n Paqu ette would haw: supported a 65-ce nt hi ke i f el ected and. more impor tantl y, that Gilso n had emerged as on e of the tax incre ase's vocal sup- porters. Asked why he w as rev ersin g his posi ing by ha nd, he adde d, the city could manage its chec kbook more efficient ly by ta pping the computer faci lities it owns. The compu ter is run by th e schoo l department,andCitylteasurer)onatban Le opold, Jr. sho t bac k tha t "on e of the rea sons we never di d any thi ng wit h it is beca use we could never get any thing out of them [th e sch ool off ici als ]." Gi ls on al so att ac ked the ma yor's af te r-s chool ac ti vi ti es , which he ~ cost S30,OOOand ben efit only 150 chil- dr en. Th e pr ogra m does li tt le to co rn- bat Juvenile delinquency, Gilson said, and may be li tt le more than a co st ly "bab ysitt ing serv ice. " '\buth progr ams need to provid e more of a " sen se of bel ong ing " to fight dclin - quenc y, he said. I f ele cte d, Gilson sai d eo.............. JM pl 0
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Transcript of Reconsidering the Revolution: Will the Coup Continue? | Vanguard Press | Feb. 20, 1983
8/11/2019 Reconsidering the Revolution: Will the Coup Continue? | Vanguard Press | Feb. 20, 1983
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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." •
