Vince Brennan

May 9, 2012; Seven Days; Paul Heintz

Last week’s dustup over a controversial city attorney nominee provided a glimpse of what Burlington Mayor Miro Weinberger can expect from a new city council still learning how to work with — and against — a new mayor.

Just two and a half weeks after Weinberger nominated his close friend and political adviser Ian Carleton to be the city’s top lawyer, he found himself scrapping the appointment Thursday afternoon in the face of resistance from half the council members.

Leading the opposition was Councilor Paul Decelles, the 34-year-old, goateed, shorts-wearing Republican from the New North End. Though long a voice of conservatism on an otherwise liberal council, Decelles has emerged in the nascent Weinberger administration as a particularly vocal foil to the Democratic mayor.

The very night the mayor was sworn into office last month, Decelles challenged Weinberger’s nomination of Paul Sisson as interim chief administrative officer, complaining that the council had little notice to review such an important appointment. Two weeks later, Decelles was the first to criticize Carleton’s nomination, arguing that the former Vermont Democratic Party chairman was too partisan for the role and too close to the mayor. When Weinberger was weighing whether to raise property taxes to balance the budget, Decelles made it clear he would fight such a move.

“The voters elected him clearly with an overwhelming number,” Decelles says of Weinberger’s recent mayoral victory. “But at the same time, 14 of us were elected to provide checks and balances. To simply rubber-stamp or approve his agenda without questioning or talking about it would be ridiculous.”

With the departure of former council president and recent mayoral candidate Kurt Wright, Decelles is now the senior Republican on the council. Dave Hartnett, a Ward 4 Democrat who ran Wright’s campaign, sees Decelles as “trying to establish some leadership.” Hartnett, for one, thinks that’s a good thing.

“Paul always speaks with passion and believes in what he says, and I have respect for his opinions. I think it’s a plus for the council as a whole, ” Hartnett says. “Not that I agree with him on every issue. I certainly don’t.”

Democratic Councilor Ed Adrian (D-Ward 1) sees it differently. He says Decelles’ politics are out of the mainstream and his constant criticism of Weinberger is counterproductive.

“I think that it sets a negative tone, which clearly, at this stage in the new administration, nobody else is willing to set. I do think it speaks volumes about where Paul’s coming from,” Adrian says. “I’d like to see him turn it around. I think he has the ability to turn it around.”

For Decelles to effectively counter the new mayor, he will have to find common ground with an ideologically diverse group of pols. Despite Weinberger’s landslide win over Wright, the 14-member council remains divided between six party-line Democrats, three Progressives, two Republicans, two independents and Hartnett — a nominal Democrat who votes with the Republicans more often than not.

Carleton’s failed nomination is an illustration of what can happen when the non-Democrats on the council unite.

Two weeks after Weinberger announced the appointment, Carleton came before an informal panel of councilors, who grilled him on everything from his proposed salary to his residency outside of Burlington. But the common theme that emerged was a matter of trust: Could Progressives, Republicans and independents trust a former Democratic party chairman and close friend of the mayor to give them impartial, confidential advice?

Decelles upped the ante during the interview when he accused Carleton of deceiving him in a private conversation the night of Weinberger’s inauguration. Decelles maintains that Carleton assured him he would not be seeking the city attorney post, while Carleton says he simply said he was very happy in his current job.

Either way, the fix was in. Whatever chance Carleton stood of being confirmed was further diminished by a ham-fisted explanation that he deserved a salary $8000 higher than the city’s step system entitled him to, in part because he attended Yale Law School.

Three days later, Weinberger withdrew the nomination and apologized to the council for misunderstanding the unique role the city attorney plays: representing not just the mayor, but the council and the city as a whole.

“I said that I would be a mayor that acknowledges mistakes when they were made and took the consequences, and I indicated many times over the course of the campaign that a key part about rebuilding the public’s confidence in the mayor’s office was repairing the fractured relationship between the mayor’s office and the city council,” Weinberger said.

Those — like Decelles — who spoke loudest in opposition to Carleton’s appointment reacted graciously to Weinberger’s apology, saying it represented a stark contrast to his predecessor, former mayor Bob Kiss, who tended to dig in when challenged.

“I do hope that this is a sign of things to come,” Decelles says. “Obviously there’s going to be times when we don’t agree with him and he doesn’t agree with us, but I think the way it was handled was well.”

Of course, it’s easy to be gracious when you’ve just won a skirmish. The bigger question is whether the Carleton fight was just an anomaly or a preview of coming attractions. That will depend on how effectively and often the council’s Republicans and Progressives work together — as they have historically — or if Weinberger can peel off enough non-Democrat votes to support his agenda.

“I think it’s going to be an issue-by-issue thing,” newly elected City Councilor Max Tracy (P-Ward 2) says of Prog-Republican relations. “I think we Progressives are happy with our current small caucus. I think we might meet with [the Republican caucus] on an ad hoc basis, but I don’t think it’s going to be a regular thing because we’re really far apart on a lot of issues.”

As for how he’ll approach future nominations, Tracy — who, like Decelles, voted against Sisson’s appointment — says he’ll keep an open mind.

“Provided that Miro sticks with his campaign pledge to make an effort to have a tri-partisan administration, I don’t see myself as being a robotic ‘no’ on the rest of his nominees,” Tracy says. “I obviously want to ask questions and hold their feet to the fire a little bit, but I don’t want to be a robotic ‘no.’”

Councilor Vince Brennan (P-Ward 3), a fellow Progressive, says he sees an opportunity for his caucus to work collaboratively with Weinberger — and to pull the mayor to the left, when possible.

“In talking with Miro, I think he holds some Progressive values. That’s why I feel hope also,” Brennan says. “In all honesty, you can be a Democrat with Progressive values and that’s an OK place to be.”

Council President Joan Shannon (D-Ward 5), a Democrat who was elected without opposition to lead the body, says she is hopeful that councilors can transcend party labels and work constructively with the new mayor — and each other.

“There’s a lot of new people on the council and we have a new mayor, so everybody is really in the process of feeling each other out and finding that way of working with each other,” she says. “I know Miro really wants to work with the council, but exactly how the council wants to be engaged — he’s still finding that out and so are the councilors.”

Shannon says she’s confident the spat over Carleton’s nomination won’t cast an early shadow over her council’s tenure.

“I’m certainly not going to forecast doom and gloom. We’ll hope lessons are learned in this process, and we’ll work through this and we’ll learn from this.”

 Tracy’s take?

“I think the situation really points to the role of the opposition in city government,” he says. “You look for reasons to help the mayor first and foremost to make the city work, but at the same time you also ask questions when things go awry.”

March 6, 2012, SevenDays

Riding his outsider image to a decisive victory, Miro Weinberger took Burlington City Hall by a wide margin Tuesday night, becoming the first Democrat to hold the mayor's office in 31 years.

Now it’s time for Burlington to learn how to pronounce his name.

It’s “muh-ROH,” for the record.

In an election many political observers expected to come down to the wire, Weinberger stormed the city, taking close to 58 percent of the vote to Republican Kurt Wright’s 37 percent and independent Wanda Hines’ five percent. The Democrat heavily outperformed his opponents in the city’s South End and Old North End, and he kept the score close in Wright’s home territory in the more conservative New North End.

“Burlington voters have spoken. They have spoken loud, and they’ve spoken clear. And this city is ready for a fresh start,” Weinberger told a packed house at his campaign’s victory party at Nectar’s. “That fresh start begins tonight.”

Surrounded by his wife, daughter and parents, Weinberger told an enthusiastic crowd, “What this campaign was fueled by from the start was you and your grassroots efforts.”

He said the campaign’s 350 volunteers made 45,000 phone calls since the start of January, including 8500 get-out-the-vote calls today alone. Not mentioned was his massive fundraising advantage. Weinberger outspent Wright by more than two-to-one, raising more money — $118,000 since he joined the race in September — than the entire 2009 mayoral field combined.

The campaign mailed 28,000 pieces of campaign literature.

“It’s only with this type of support that a political outsider with a funny name that no one knew how to pronounce could end up right here tonight,” Weinberger said.

Weinberger’s victory was a big win for the Vermont Democratic Party, which poured organizational and financial resources into the local race. Relishing the taste of victory, party chairman Jake Perkinson took the stage before introducing Weinberger, saying, “It’s been a long time coming.”

Conceding the big challenges facing Weinberger as mayor, Perkinson asked the crowd, “Are you with him?”

“Yeah!” they shouted back.

“I’m taking down all your names,” he responded.

The mood was far more subdued a block away at The Scuffer on Church Street, where Wright’s campaign set up shop as results trickled in. The three-time mayoral candidate conceded the race to reporters early and then huddled with friends and supporters before speaking to the crowd.

“We have run a good campaign. We ran a really positive campaign. I’m proud of the campaign that we ran. Unfortunately, it was not successful,” Wright said.

Thanking those who “stuck their necks out on the line” to support him, Wright said he was proud of the campaign he ran, even if he ultimately came up short.

“As a Republican, I gave it my best shot. I don’t have any regrets. I ran the race that I wanted to run. I ran as who I am and that wasn’t good enough. As I said, I gave it my best shot and that’s all you can do,” he said.

Though congratulating Weinberger and wishing him well, Wright returned to his campaign script, saying he was David going up against Goliath.

“We were running against an opponent who was unknown and had no record, which is a very difficult race, particularly when you’re a Republican in Burlington. We were up against a really well-heeled machine that will probably end up spending maybe $150,000 between the money they spent and the money the party put in,” he said.

Wright told reporters after his concession speech that he would make no immediate decisions about whether he would run for re-election to the Legislature.

Weinberger succeeds two-term Progressive Mayor Bob Kiss, who decided against seeking re-election after the mismanagement of Burlington Telecom left him all but unelectable. Kiss won election in 2006 and again in 2009 with the help of instant-runoff voting, a rank-choice voting system that Burlington voters repealed in 2010.

In this race, many observers predicted that Hines could win 10 percent or more, meaning Weinberger or Wright would clinch victory with less than 50 percent of the vote. To win now in post-IRV Burlington, a mayoral candidate only needs 40 percent plus one of the vote.

Wanda HinesHines (pictured) campaigned largely on her biography as a longtime Burlington resident with close ties to the city's small but growing minitory community. She ran a bare-bones campaign with no paid staff and little organization on a somewhat vague motto of "Your Choice, Your Community."

At Channel 17 studios Tuesday night, Hines said the “best person won” — meaning Weinberger — and that he ran a “smart, tactical campaign.” Hines said she expected to do better in her home turf in the Old North End. She finished behind Weinberger and Wright in both Wards 2 and 3. "I guess people aren't ready to come out," Hines commented.

During the campaign, Hines frequently defended city hall, where she's employed as director of the Social Equity Investment Project. Asked whether she felt underprepared for the campaign, Hines replied, "I might not have been versed on issues.” But after numerous debates, she said, “it became a little redundant.”

Asked if she would run again, Hines hesitated before answering: "no."

Republicans lost one seat on the 14-member city council — the Ward 4 seat Wright vacated to run for mayor. In that ward, Democrat Bryan Aubin beat Republican Ellie Briggs Kenworthy, 1095 to 974. In Ward 7, incumbent Republican Paul Decelles beat Democrat Tom Ayers, 965 to 868.

In other council races: Councilors Ed Adrian (D-Ward 1) and Karen Paul (I-Ward 6) both ran unopposed. In Ward 5, Democrat Chip Mason beat independent Kirstin Daigle, 1177 to 453.

Progressives were able to claim some measure of victory Tuesday night as well, despite losing control of city hall and not running a mayoral candidate this year. Old North End voters showed they still support the Progressive Party's positions.

Both of the Prog candidates for city council — Max Tracy in Ward 2 and Rachel Siegel in Ward 3 — easily defeated their Democratic opponents, even though Democratic mayoral candidate Weinberger won strong majorities in both wards.

The election outcome adds a seat, Tracy's, to the Progressive bloc on the 14-member council. The Progs will have three councilors (incumbent Councilor Vince Brennan was not up for re-election) in addition to Ward 1 Independent Sharon Bushor, who usually votes with them. In a politically unfavorable atmosphere, the party has done more than hold its own; it has advanced by recapturing a council seat that has been in Dem hands for the past four years.

The post-vote gathering of about 50 party faithful at Magnolia Bistro on Lawson Lane had the good cheer of a victory party despite the absence of a Progressive candidate at the top of the ticket.

“There's a new generation of Progressives taking over,” said Morgan Daybell, the party's executive director. The dual victories in the Prog heartland by Siegel, 41, and Tracy, 25, show “the campaign machine is still alive,” Daybell added. Siegel attributed her win in part to “the tremendous amount of volunteers we had.”

The Town Meeting results will lead the Progs to consider running candidates in Burlington outside the Old North End in fall races for the state legislature, Daybell said.

The Progressives expressed hope for positive political relations with Miro Weinberger, the Democratic victor in the mayoral race.

“I've known Miro for a long time and I personally get along great with him,” said Siegel, who revealed that she had nevertheless voted for Independent candidate Wanda Hines. “I hope he will have a balanced way of running things and not keep it party-oriented."

Vince Brennan, the other Ward 3 Progressive councilor, said dealings with the Democrats could be easier once Bob Kiss is gone. Brennan, who endorsed losing Republican candidate Kurt Wright, said that the Democrats had tried to squeeze Kiss politically on almost every council vote.

Progressives interviewed at Magnolia appeared nonplussed at Kiss' recent suggestion that he might run for a Chittenden County state Senate seat this year. None of the Progs wished to be quoted by name on this subject, but they made clear that Kiss would be unlikely to have the party's support to run for Senate and predicted he would have little chance of winning.

At Channel 17, Burlington Progressive Party vice chairman Elijah Bergman praised Weinberger for "exciting people in a new way, attracting people with social media." Bergman said Weinberger's experience as a developer and positions on bike lanes is encouraging.

Bergman's praise is notable because Progressives openly questioned Weinberger's commitment to working class values during the primary campaign, when many Progs were backing state Sen.Tim Ashe (D/P-Chittenden) in the mayoral caucus. Asked about that, Bergman said Progressives have a whole platform — and that Weinberger shares some, but not all, the Progs' priorities.

"When there are issues, we will not hesitate to raise issues," Bergman said. " But it will not be gratuitous. A lot of Progressives were key to his victory. The real test is going to be governing."

Recently re-elected Burlington City Councilor Vince Brennan discusses BT, affordable housing, and the dynamics of the City Council, on Progressive Thought with host Richard Kemp.