8/11/2019 Congressional Staff Check | Vermont Times | Aug. 19, 1993

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C o n g r e s s i o n a l S tan C h e c kW

ith all the discussion lately about the ethnic diversity oCthe

Burlington school system's faculty, or rather the lack thereof

yours truly decided to check in on the distinguished con:gressional delegation ofthe so-called 'whiteststate in the union" to

ascertain how much ethnic diversity there is on the personal staffsof Bernie. Jim and Pat.

Senator Jbn Jeffords has a personal staff of 33 people. Thatincludes theWashington and Vermont offices. According toJelIords'spokesman, Howard Colfrln, one member of Jimbo's staff is anAfrican-American. That's S percent of the staff.

Next, we checked in with Senator PatrickJ. Leahy. Vermont'ssenior senator has a staff comprised of SI individuals and of thatnumber three are black - 9.6 percent.

And finally. we checked in with the office of Vermont's lonecongressman, Bern.ie Sanders. As you know, 01' Bernardo isVermont's champion of poor people. working people and the eld-erly. He is neither a Democrat nor a Republican, but rather aProgressive, which he would have you believe is a word reservedfor visionary leaders and right-thinking people.

Burlington Progressives recently called on the teacher's union toforgo their hard-won right to permanent contracts in order to keep

some spots open down the line for teachers of color. Councilor

DonnaBailey wentso far as to say all city departments should havean ethnic mix that reflects the cultural diversity of the city's

population.

Unfortunately. Congressman Sanders, Vermont's number-one

Progressive, does not have even one person of color on h is congres-sional staff of 17 hard-working. dedicated individuals. Not one.That's 0 percent ifyou're keeping score.

speaking of Sanders' staff,there have been some changes oflate.First of all , Press Secretary DebbleBookchin is cuttingback on her

workload as she prepares for motherhood. So Bernie recently hired

on a second press person - Tina Wlsell. Tina's been a radio

reporter at WMOO in Derby. Her dad. Bill Wlsell, is the stalerepresentative from Bristol.

It's been five months since Sanders' Vennont Director Jim

Schumacher departed in the midst of a tempest over his romantic

attachment to his soon-to-be-wife. Ms. Bookchin, and his postremains unfilled. Picking up some of the slack, though, hasbeen 01'Bernardo's wife Jane Sande ..... who's taken on the duties of chief

of staff. Jane's not getting paid because it's against the law forcongressmen to hire their spouses. Jane's been Bernie's number.

one fan since he was elected mayorofBurlington in1981. He put herto work back then. too, as director of the Mayor's Youth Office.

Separated at Birth?

Were the mayor of Burlington and the governor of Vennontseparated at birth?

Maybe.

Turns out Howard Dean and Peter Brownell entered the worldat the same New York City hospital within hours of each other.

Howard was born November 17, 1948 at Doctors Hospital on the

EastSide. Shortly thereafter, on November 18, 1948, Peter made hisgrand entrance.

Itwas Peter's mom who uncovered the coincidence and last

week Brownell confronted the governor about It. Ho-Ho didn'trecall which hospital he was born at and, unable to reach his mom

on the phone, reached for his wallet and pulled out his birthcertl.licate. Bingo!

TI,e two little tykes shared the hospital nursery for a few daysand, according to Brownell, decided wayback then that Howardwould be governor of the state and Peter would go for the mayor's

job in Vermont's largest city."Howard was older." notes Brownell.But what's he doing carrying his birth certllicate around in his

wallet? Let's hope he still doesn't get carded

Anchors AweighChannel S's City Hall reporter, ChrlBtlna McKellJUl, departed

last weekend for her new City Hall beat in Richmond, Virginia. Nosurprise. Everyone knew Chris was going places the day she

arrived.Before departing, though, she did draw yours truly's attention ~o

the absence of women anchors at WCAX-TV.MarsellsParsons ISa fixture at 6 p.m. andWillMlc""". hasbeen doing the honors at11 p.m. Now Will's being replaced by RollOrGanity.

WP'fZ has Erin Clark and until recently, WVNY's had JudySbnpson anchoring the nightly news. But ChannelS - 'Vermont's

News Station" - has been strictly Boys Town.Peter MartIn, the man in charge at WCAX. was quick to remind

Inside Track of Alexandra Marks, who used lo anchor the late

news. But Alexandra departed long, long ago.Martin says nobody has the title "anchor" at ChannelS, and that

their policy has always been to have the news director read thenews at 6 and then have the night editor read. it at, 1I:When avacancy comes up, says Martin. they look to see who s ready as of

this moment." So it looks like the station's talented women report-

ers just aren't ready.Meanwhile, WVNY's news director and 6 p.m, anchor Judy

Simpson has departed to become afull-time mother. Judy and her

husband adopted their first child a couple weeks ago. Word Isthesports guy, John Cavazos, Isthe "acting" news director andMarkEconomou will be holding down the anchor desk on both nightly

newscasts.