With Bartlett, you hear what you want to hear — and don’t want to

Susan Bartlett at Halvorson's Upstreet Cafe, Church Street, Burlington. Mike Townsend/Free Press

Original source 3:10 PM Thu., July 29, 2010 By Mike Townsend

Susan Bartlett met with a small audience today at Halvorson’s Upstreet Cafe in Burlington, and the message was she ”gets it." 

She gets the fiscal challenges. She gets the policy. She gets it that the buck does have to stop someplace.

I have been off the campaign trail for several weeks because of vacations here at the Free Press. I missed seeing the candidates work a floor. I am unsure of where this mass race of five ends up, and I wouldn’t bet on any specific candidate to win — or lose — no matter what polls may say and how much money anyone raises.

I only know that the state needs a persistent forum like this to get itself, as Susan Bartlett says she gets herself. Vermonters need to listen now and vote in the primary election, and not wait for the general election in November.

“I can walk into the governor’s office tomorrow and I don’t have a learning curve.”

The governor must be “outcomes” based in expectations and be consumed with the goals, how to get there and how to measure. Today, she says, “You cannot ask that question in state government.” With her as governor that question will be asked.

“If you like change, I am your person.”

Then comes the momentary pause Susan Barlett has perfected, because you know what is going to follow, with that sense of humor and raw honesty that connects with constituents in search of truth.

“If you want to keep things the way they are, you have at least four other decisions.”

Reminder: The primary election is Aug. 24. Vote.

LGBQT Forum

Susan poses with Amber LeMay at the LGBQT Forum July 19

Photo and edited text below from http://houseoflemay.blog-city.com/glbtvt_gubernatorial_forum.htm 

On Monday, July 19, the five candidates running for the Democrat nomination for Governor met in a forum addressing GLBT issues. Those present walked away feeling that any of the five would be a great ally as governor.

We, as the League of Drag Queen Voters, were present and were pleased to pose with each of the candidates (see below). We also presented them with a pin that several wore during the the event.  We'll be looking for them during this weekend's Pride events, too! 

Fourth of July Weekend

Fourth of July weekend is always a fantastic time for our country, and Team Bartlett geared up for a busy weekend with parades in Bristol and Brandon Saturday, as well as saying hi to people around the Montpelier parade, even if we were not actually in it. I missed this entire day as the Fourth of July in my family means gathering with the extended family in Chicopee, Massachusetts. It was the 85th annual celebration on the 3rd of July, and Susan had enough support that thankfully I could miss being in the parades and go see my family.

Saturday I arrived in Richmond real early to try and find a good parking spot and get to the gathering point for everyone in the parade before the crowd did. I failed on both accounts. I arrived and saw Eammon and his Girlfriend already waiting in line. John Bauer arrived shortly after, and Susan having parked at the end of the parade route arrived later. The parade started on time, and was well organized, but even at 9:45 it felt around 110 degrees in the shade. There were a lot of people who attended who seemed to be fans of Susan, which was great as Susan talked to people and I handed out literature. We got to the end of the parade and we were all dying of heat but Eammon, his girlfriend, myself, and Susan jumped in the car to head for the Colchester parade.

At the Colchester parade we were way back in a huge line, and waited for probably about a hour before we actually started to move. It was fine with all of us - they were handing out free food in the church by the parade route, and all four of us enjoyed hot dogs. The parade was incredibly well organized, but it was very slow moving. It was great for Susan and myself to get some time to talk to everybody in the crowd, however we were all wishing we could do this in 75 degree weather. It was a really long parade, almost 2 miles long but people were cheerful and it made all of us happy to see everybody. After the parade was done, we all walked back to the car and headed back to Richmond. When we got back to Richmond we all went in for Switchback beers at the Toscano Cafe Bistro, and they were exactly what the doctor ordered.

On Monday, Susan was at the parade in Morrisville, but we were given the day off because it was her home town parade, and she had more volunteers than she knew what to do with. I was not going to argue with a Monday off, and spent the day swimming with my girlfriend, another great weekend for Team Bartlett.

Andrew Desmarais