I just spent an hour in a rabbit hole researching her and the lobby group she works for, and I can't find anything bad. The Necrason Group does represent some shitty corporations, such as comcast, but they seem like they're mostly white hat, labor, civil rights, and environmentalism. And Oski seems like she mostly cares about LGBTQ+ action, and also made mention about how she wants to see women in politics. Not saying it was a smart move to ask people to send Emma's family meals, but also, this meal is a nothingburger. All the outrage about this has the same smell as reddit yesterday when they were all trying to find controversy in the Hunter Biden verdict. Wake me when there is something worth talking about.
This whole thing is an attempt by certain folks to make her fail before she even starts. If it’s true, it’s wrong, but it’s really a nothing burger either way like you said.
My FB was on fire with conservatives throwing this story around like it was Jan 6th equivalent last evening. I think that says a lot. Most of these people don’t even go into Burlington often if ever and they are fully invested in pulling her down.
I’m not a far left progressive either but from where I sit I can see her trying to do the job, and I’d like to give her that chance.
I haven’t seen any confirmation where she even did anything? Her friends set up something stupid with bad optics, and then they took it down. Am I missing something?
There was a quote from the story where someone said "the mayor and her family have loved the meals so far and appreciate the help" or something along those lines which would indicate that she was accepting the meals and aware of the meal train. But that's the only thing definitively connecting her to it and it was just a single quote from someone.
What if it was cash? Would that be different? She accepted gift cards from this lobbyist you know not just meals. Given the principles she ran on taking gift cards from a lobbyist seems hypocritical.
As far as I've read the (free to set up) meal train mentioned gift cards as an option. Whether or not any were provided is unclear. Whether or not Oska gave any gift cards herself is also unclear, and so far I've seen no evidence to back up your claim.
If it does come out that Mulvaney-Stanak accepted gift cards from a lobbyist, yes, I think that's worse. But I'd also ask how much it was for. Was it a $25 gift card to Chili's? That deserves a slap on the wrist and a warning.
It's more of a problem to me that lobbyists exist at all, and that lobbyists regularly have relationships with politicians. That's an indictment of US politics at large though, not one person who I guess didn't have time to cook on Mondays.
Oh, I'm fine ridiculing how stupid it is as an unforced error, assuming Emma approved it in the first place.
But to call this "shameful," "disgraceful," and "political cancer" is a bit different than "ha that's dumb, next topic."
And it's certainly not, as a standalone occurrence, egregious enough for me to question anyone's intelligence.
There's a level of of outraged pearl clutching here that is either incredibly disingenuous or profoundly naive.
It's also donated food cards to DoorDash, Panera, Chili’s, Visa and more. This was set up by someone lobbying, and is not just one friend, but a signup sheet for more than one delivery. It's bad optics and smells of cronyism.
Necrason…oooh scary….kinda sounds like NECROMANCY….
Let’s look at some of the clients…Let’s Grow Kids, Ben & Jerry’s, Suicide Prevention Coalition, Renewable Energy Vermont…
This goes deep people……
I used MANY ellipses so get my point across……
"We’re the firm that can strengthen your messaging and connect you with the key elected officials, thought leaders and community groups who ultimately shape public policy"
https://www.necrasongroup.com/government-affairs/
Basically they buy politicians and sell access to politicians and regulation legislation.
Vermont has a citizen legislature and they don't have staff.
Like it or not, lobbyists end up doing a lot of the staff work for legislators... because the State refuses to fund them appropriately.
The Necrasson group lobbies for a lot of good causes... and has a few less than good clients to foot the bill (looking at comcast).
It'd be great if they weren't actually necessary but honestly they do more good than harm.
It's a huge issue... I'm literally pointing out that we refuse to fix the problem by professionalizing the legislature and regulating lobbying.
Until we do that, we need to recognize that this is the way the system works...
What? You're not making much sense friend.
I assume you lost a "not" in there.
In any case... pick your poison then? Career politicians or lobbyists... or in America... usually both
36% of my income is stolen from me by the government by threat of death or imprisonment, you bet your sweet ass I'm gonna take what little I can back from those bastards
On the anniversary of losing 50 people to a slaughter perpetrated by a gun the murderer should never have had access to, gotta ask if you have the same energy for say, gun lobbyists? Or are you just focused on this because you dislike the target?
We don't need gun lobbyists, guns are both a god given and constitutional right in the US. Attempts to take guns from law abiding citizens would be a declaration of war and the start of a revolution. Lobbyists are not the reason I get to keep my guns, the government's fear of a violent revolt is how I keep my guns.
Holy shit. This is absolutely terrifying and I very much hope you don’t act out your masturbatory violent fantasies someday, but I suspect you will. Going to set a little reminder on this post.
Nobody’s trying to take your guns you fuckin Jethro. Absolutely no one. But you are precisely the reason we need sensible reform. You’re one of those whack jobs that open carries in supermarkets because it gets you hard to scare people, right?
Did you just say your right to carry a gun is God-given? Holy fuck. You really don’t understand how this works do you? If that’s the case, my right to have an abortion is God-given and how dare you mess with that right? Also a law has been bastardized and changed so why can’t guns get the same treatment? It’s because women are worth less than guns in your world.
So who will your target be? Children in a school or maybe like that one dude you can go find a salon with immigrants and women so you can take out two groups you hate at the same time.
Self preservation is a god given right, you are born with the right to defend your own life. You're the only one talking about killing kids, I specifically said tyrannical government agents who kill and imprison innocent people would be my enemy. You should learn about negative rights and positive rights. Negative rights impose a duty of non interference and are God given, or granted by the nature of existence if you don't like using the word God. Positive right impose a duty on others to act or provide these are rights like abortion and healthcare. Settle down I'm not a violent person
Yea, let's address that! Oops, it got reframed by governor race car as "the legislature is giving themselves raises" so it was abandoned. Back to lobbyists we go!
As someone who routinely has to deal with very very very poorly written legislation I could not disagree more. The law makers in this state are much to free and easy with the wording of their laws and should be held to a higher standard because the ambiguity and incorrect jurisprudence, harms citizens by subjecting them to vague and difficult to understand laws. It also allows bad actors to skirt the system.
I think by abdicating their duty to write laws to the lobbyists they're kinda digging a hole
That's exactly what I'm saying... they end up defaulting to this alternative because they don't have staff to actually do the necessary work.
Most legislators themselves have zero knowledge about writing laws and the legislative counsels are overworked and are often just literally taking what the legislators say and transcribing it... vs a dedicated staff that could do the leg work and put more carefully worded laws together.
Idk man, if you run for a seat, get the seat, then don't learn how to do your job... my sympathy is kinda thin
Our citizen law makers used to do this and some still do. Some will meet for hours with lawyers to craft legislation just to have it eviscerated by a committee of ppl who don't know wtf they're doing. I think they owe it to their constituents to be good at the job and train.
You and I know how it works but I don’t know if everyone else does - or if they understand how few people lobby for so many big interests at once and the disproportionate amount of influence they have.
Full time fully paid legislature only solution IMO…
Whatever the role of lobbyists inside the state house, manifesting that intimate relationship with free meals feels like a ‘let them (us) eat cake level’ of arrogant detachment at best.
Eh I mean it seems like the organizer should have known better than to set it up and the mayor should have known better than to accept (if she did)... but I genuinely don't think it is a malicious intent thing.
But yes, I'm all for holding our officials accountable to the ethics standards they claim to uphold.
I would bet my left nut and resident parking pass that they're not. Folks are going fully Charlie in the mailroom in trying to connect dots here on unrelated matters.
It starts making more sense once you realize op is a failed lobbyist who got outplayed when the state legalized weed so now he rails against all lobbyists. Just more disingenuous bullshit, a reddit specialty.
What’s changed more in the past ten years: Vermont weed laws or Burlington affordable housing and development laws?
Ironically, cannabis reforms have been (incredibly) successful because of grassroots efforts of thousands of Vermonters, NOT paid lobbyists and firms like Necrason and certainly not my skills or shortcomings.
Go Celtics
You mean the mayor has to order food when she has to work late?
Geeze she could have just done that with the 250k a year her family makes
I was told this was about home cooked meals when in reality the mayor got 350k in cash and gift cards lol
Ok I am a reasonably smart (and modest) person, and I didn’t vote for Emma so I’m no home-teamer, but I still cannot tell if this is something really bad or just poor judgment. It all sounds kind of overblown to me, and the sort of thing that happens when you live in a small state and your friends/neighbors have jobs, wear many hats. Whatever. Just cancel the dang meal train and move on.
Imo nothing more than a goofy blunder and really bad judgement. It will be added to the permanent record tho and referred back to if this becomes a pattern
It's bad. They start here. Next will be something just a bit more. If you accept this what else will you do. Its a bad image that others can use against you. Its that question if you start with something small you've already conditioned them to accept these things. Time for her to make a statement and clear up and misconceptions. Letting this fester will turn into her political cancer.
Eh. Like I said, cancel the meal train and move on. It’s more dumb than nefarious. That’s my view of it. If it’s just the beginning of something more nefarious, I guess we’ll see. I’m opting to give her the benefit of the doubt on this one as to corruption, but I admit it’s pretty unprofessional and a bad look. A person who has risen to the position of mayor of the state’s largest city ought to know better.
This could be a true conflict of interest or could just appear as if it is a conflict of interest (benefit of the doubt). In either case, it’s bad. Perhaps this is the steep learning curve that Emma needs to quickly climb. People running governments offices need to keep the optics clean.
Ok for people like me who don’t know, what is this? Who is “them” that got the money? Is this the same or similar to campaign contributions? Aren’t there limits to that? What are Necrason group’s interests? Was there similar lobbying in Joan Shannon’s campaign?
Them: The mayor of Burlington
Are these campaign contributions: Probably yes but also maybe no, but that's up to robe men with gavels.
Are there limits: Yeah. (bonus answer: but these "contributions" probably don't come close to the limit)
What are Nercason's interests: Kinda the wrong question cuz that's not really how these small lobbying firms work. Lobbyists are kinda like mercenaries, they don't reallllyyy have any values they do what their patrons tell them to do. That said a quick google will show you they represent some big VT institutions and businesses
Joah Shannon: idk if she was foolish enough to ask for free food in a campaign whose major themes were about people without any food but maybe we seem to be espically tone deaf this election cycle in Burlington.
All these people talking about gluten free taco night and friendly neighbors cooking meals.
SMDH this is how EB5 Burlington Telecom and the fucking Pit happen in this state.
Lobbyists and corporate sharks take advantage of the folksy assumptions of good and use soft power to gain incredible influence over a small group of power elected officials.
I think there may be a way to view this that lies somewhere between "Lobbying isn't a problem at all," and (as one user put it) "This is as bad as if Emma murdered her pet dog and bragged about it."
Pretty much sums up how I feel about this. Her friends should have been smarter though, how naive do you have to be to not realize how bad the optics on this would be.
I mean…. EB5, Burlington Telecom and the Pit involved some serious cash! That’s a long way from three-bean salad. This has to be the softest soft power play ever.
This is the correct answer. The group will have “suggestions” that they are really passionate about. Once you have their ear and you have something they can hold over you it's all downhill. Best intentions can be bastardized by this kind of group.
> Lobbyists and corporate sharks take advantage of the folksy assumptions of good and use soft power to gain incredible influence over a small group of power elected officials.
Was this your approach when you were a lobbyist?
If it was you really gonna fault him for it? Its a proven winning Strat and he's doing his job. Its not his fault we should have outlawed his industry years ago. Is it?
Ah, I see. Perceived Emma hypocrisy means her political career is over. Perceived Eli hypocrisy is just him doing what works. Got it. This brand new account deserves a gold medal for the mental gymnastics it has exhibited here today. Now we wait for the paragraphs in response professing how you don't actually care about any of this, it's just funny to you.
"This is fast approaching the same level of political suicide that lady who wrote the book saying how she shot her dog." This you admitting you're wrong and come from "an angry dishonest place"? If so, congrats on maturing. But I won't hold my breath.
Also it IS ruinous to her messaging lol you can stretch all you want but it is.
Its like when the hard right guys get caught giving head in a bathroom. I don't really care but his supporters sure do. I don't really think sucking pp indicates a bad mayor or senator, but most of them do.
At the very least it forces her supporters to take a contradictory position and come off silly (hi its u)
It is a major blunder but "career is over" is way too much. I also never said that I did compare this to blunders so similar magnitude, like the dog lady, or just now the republican bottom.
Ah, never mind. You just say whatever you think sounds good, consistency be damned. And you wonder why people don't trust brand new accounts on the internet.
Lobbying in general is always worth closely examining and regulating, but even if there's something nefarious about the lobbying group and it's compensation to Jessica Oski, I'm not seeing a connection between that and the meal train other than that Jessica is also a friend of the Mayor.
Do we know this has anything to do with Emma? You can setup a meal train for anyone. To me, based on what I know so far, this is more a bad decision by a lobbyist.
The lack of any empathy about how someone other than you may see this is insane. I'm sure your opinion is the only one on the matter lmaoo.
I don't care either, but "non-controversy" is not even close. That's coping and comes off as tone-deaf as Emma was for accepting this. This DOES look icky even if there's no greater implication
Your lack of empathy for how I see this is telling. How dare you call me insane?
I'm not saying the meal train was a good idea. It's certainly a bad look to say "my job is hard can you make me dinner?" as the mayor of a medium-sized town. Which I guess is sort of what happened, through a third party. But the idea that this is somehow nefarious or corrupting is (I repeat) really dumb. A person used to a free website to publicly ask other people to give a politician home cooked meals. Gasp. Thank god she didn't do anything worse, like bake them muffins.
This isn't a free trip to an island vacation home. It's not even paying for a nice dinner out. Shit, it's not even a burger and fries at Al's. If this is an attempt at a bribe, it is both the weakest and most conspicuous attempt at bribery in American political history.
Should we laugh at the idea the the Mulvaney-Stanek's need a meal train in this difficult time? Sure, although I should warn you that displays a profound lack of empathy as well. We've all been overwhelmed by our jobs, and in those dark and trying times I sure any one of us would have appreciated a casserole or a nice soup (but not a chowder or chili, that obviously crosses the line to an inappropriate level of sustenance).
Of course, empathy also doesn't mean respect. When my daughter was a toddler she asked for vanilla ice cream and then cried because she wanted chocolate. I empathized with her emotional pain, which I guess this meal train has caused some folks. That did not mean I had to respect her opinion.
Why, when you present it like that, without context or detail, how could I not trip over myself trying to backtrack?!
I don't like lobbyists or lobbying. That there is an industry solely dedicated to influencing politics on behalf of those wealthy enough to afford their services is problematic. So, insofar as this story involves a lobbyist, I see a problem.
But this particular example? No. Like I said, this is very dumb. Incredibly dumb, even. It's possible that details will come out that change my mind - like maybe people were hiding gold bars in chicken pot pies - but with the information I have now I feel solidly comfortable relentlessly mocking anyone who wants to make an issue out of this.
Let's imagine instead Oski used a free website to say "Hey, Emma's feeling blue right now, here's how you can send her some fun drawings to cheer her up." BUT WAIT! What if some of those drawings come from several of Burlington's many talented artists? Then our dear mayor would be sitting on a veritable gold mine! My stars, I cannot imagine a greater threat to US democracy than a handful of fucking doodles.
To me, it is exactly that stupid.
Your reasoning for this being a bad idea on your first post I do not agree with. Although I'm glad you are now saying this is very dumb. Simply put, reread my first response. That's why it's dumb. At best this was a dumb idea. At worst it's because she is a lobbyist trying to influence the mayor.
I'm really not sure why you are so passionate about this in your lengthy posts. Honestly I was going to respond and simply ask if your name is Jessica.
It's called soft lobbying. It's bad optics, especially for a new mayor attempting to build credibility. And let's be honest, it's not something Emma really needs...hundreds of other families [that don't make over 250k] make do every day without delivered meals, food cards to DoorDash, Panera, Chili’s, Visa and more.
You're so ready to be insulted you took an insult from me calling your take insane. That's not you, thats your take. If you can't respect an opnion for what it is, which based off your fucked up story you can't, then we can't talk from a place of shared values and you're literally in the wilderness.
I never called you insane I called your insane take insane. Idk you to stand on the street and yell at the sun. The take was rational enough to suggest you're not illiterate or don't know whats going on. But the take is insane.
And there you go citing all kinds of examples to support your OPINION. Yeah I agree those points makes your opinion the next logical conclusion. The lack of empathy comes from, what looks like, a fundamental unwillingness to acknowledge the validity of opposing views. Views which would see these meals in a similar light to corrupting influences or bad morality. Btw empathy is respecting the validity of the opinion. You're literally arguing and inventing arguments to deflect an accusation of being a bit of a bit tone deaf. Literally diggin in and writing a few paragraphs about how actually I'M THE TONE DEAF ONE, YOU SEE, BECAUSE OF THESE EXAMPLES IVE CONTRIVED displays a profound jerkiness that has become endemic to this sub and Burlington at large. I'm not sure we can salvage a conversation if you really feel like you can't understand why a reasonable person would be upset by this.
Massive Woodrow Wilson arrogance energy
# “I am sorry for those that disagree with me because I know that they are wrong.” Pres. Wilson
This is WILD. NO FUCKING WAYYYYY she let a lobbyist set this all up. This is fast approaching the same level of political suicide that lady who wrote the book saying how she shot her dog. This is gonna get both progs and dems pissed off right fast.
Oh fuck I know this criminal, she's a lobbyist who has been selling access to politicians but also will hunt down those who criticize her or her politicians, I can't remember where I saw but she was having a shit fit over something burlington_looks_shxt had posted.
Wow. This is getting worse and worse. She needs to resign immediately due to corruption. I'm also a bit worried a VSEA state union was listed in the meal train article. It's getting deep.
This rings pretty hollow coming from this account (Eli Harrington, a [former lobbyist himself](https://www.reformer.com/local-news/vermont-cannabis-bill-heads-to-the-senate/article_81a28d1a-e531-11ee-baa7-83d14c82c306.html))
> [Harrington now works as an independent consultant as the founder of Greenbridge Consulting, and is a registered lobbyist in Vermont, where he lobbies independently on behalf of Greenbridge Consulting interests and has launched, “Vermontijuana”, a brand that produces cannabis podcast and other media, hosts and coordinates events, as well as promotes cannabis advocacy and activism.](https://www.yourgreenbridge.com/consulting)
Its always about the messenger with you folks never the actual message. That's kinda tough. So what? OPs a bit of a scummy dude ok, is he lying about this? If not then what's your issue, the mere fact that he exists and posted about it?
Does a scummy dude fundamentally lack the ability to voice his opinion now? Or just to voice it to you? Its quite chilling that you gauge whether or not to value someone based off how you feel about them. Don't you think thats a problem?
Yea it was extremely disappointing to spend 6yrs in the state house seeing how the sausage was made and who really runs the show…former lobbyist doesn’t sound great in a bio but clearly, I’m not hiding my identity on these internet streets.
If you want to see real VT lobbyists, you should look up the lobbying firm “MMR” and check their client list…those people don’t make public mistakes like this but these Progs in BTV clearly didn’t /don’t feel that social pressure to conceal the depths of their relationship.
How appropriate and intimate that relationship should be is subjective, but the hubris with this specific campaign is not.
I’ve got nothing to do with burlington politics or any political axes to grind - my personal social politics generally align with the mayors — except for individual lobbyists who I believe to be unethical or just think are dickheads. Never met this lobbyist who organized this or have any beef with her, that firm was actually weed allies.
Weed reforms previously happened because of lots of peoples grassroots efforts and a few organized groups like VGA and medical advocates who were able to do it themselves - and still are - without hiring one of these mercenaries.
As people invest in the weed industry, those powerful conventional lobbyists are starting to work with the weed industry too, including this firm.
For me, I registered because I had been there blogging before as a journalist capacity and when I shifted focus to primarily trying to change laws instead of reporting them, lobbyist seemed most honest and gave me instant standing (for better and worse) with a $75 registration anyone can get. Getting dragged here is first time I’ve really questioned that decision.
Obviously, as an independent unpaid lobbyist I had no clout or influence or money or clients. And with no horses to trade or status to lose, I didn’t make many friends inside that building - or apparently on this sub.
Not a scummy dude or hopefully even a bit of a scummy dude, but thank you for defense of objectivity and your earlier meme.
I asked on another thread if people would react this same way if a trucking company lobbyist had started a coors light train for the Governor…
I don't think you're scummy at all. But even conceding that does not, and should not, undermine your central point. Its literally pants on head wacky here these days
Exactly. Can’t imagine defending why the lobbyist being such good friends with the politician and giving them things and favors is actually super cool.
It’s giving Bob Kiss…
People excusing the cronyism and unreported lobbying because of the political affiliation of the Mayor should remember the mayor before Miro and how his (“progressive”) fuckery led directly to Miro’s election.
Can you imagine if you switched the names and someone that wasn’t a leftist progressive was the focus? Oh the people who are defending the progs would be losing their minds! 🤯
This is not a big deal. This is a standard lobbying firm that has been operating in Vermont for years. If you think lobbyists are bad, these folks aren’t any different. But you have not discovered some black hat bad actor here. This is how it works in VT. If you don’t like it, support increased funding for legislative staff and increased legislative compensation. The sad truth is that lobbyists are often some of the only people providing information for lawmakers to make decisions with.
This has got to be the dumbest shit I've ever read. Do any of you people live in Burlington? Do you know these people? This whole thing was started by her friends. Her real life friends. I know this is Reddit so some of you may not know what that is. It is in fact ok for the mayor to have friends. As someone who knows all these people involved I can assure you they are actually friends of hers. Yes Jess is a lobbyist. It's a job people. But she is also a very drear friend of Emma's. Meal Trains are for anyone. There is no income limit. You could set one up for your friend who just lost their dear goldfish and are too bereaved to make a meal for a couple days. It is literally people trying to be nice and y'all are acting if you just uncovered the biggest scandal since some semen got on a particular dress. Get a grip on yourselves. It's embarrassing.
Clearly not everyone in the meal train was a close friend because someone reported it and got screenshots of the page. Meal trains are only viewable to members the organizer invites.
I don’t think this is big news, but it’s definitely weird. Yes, meal trains can be for anything, but transitioning to a new job? How the hell is she going to be Mayor of Burlington if she actually needed a meal train when her and her wife are perfectly healthy? She might lack time management and planning skills which is not great for a city leader.
"This is a major scandal!!!" brought to you by the same crowd who swore up and down that Joan Shannon would be the city's next mayor and Ted Kenney would easily win election as state's attorney. Not to mention op is a former lobbyist who got outplayed when the state legalized weed, so this is just a bunch of sour grapes. So much transparency and accountability, lol
Very impressive! 73 days and has already accepted questionable gifts from lobbyists and spent $50k without informing the entirety of the city council. And the cherry on top is the continued enablement of the crime and drug infested encampments. SMDH
Leave Jess alone. She’s a great person and a great member of the community. She fights the good fight. If she’s trying to organize some sort of dinner train for Emma it’s because she actually cares about Emma. Nothing else. Spend time on something real.
How about setting up meal trains for the homeless? Or even Burlington residents in need?
The optics of this suck. Progs should know better. This is regressive.
Go on and do it then. Nothing stopping you. Yes the optics are bad. Yes they probably should have thought of that. Is it a nefarious scandal to buy the mayors office with a three bean salad? No.
I hear you. I don’t really think it’s a big deal and it’s pretty common to help someone out with meals. It’s just funny and kind of weird. Most people are just having fun with it.
Emma needs to get broken in and used to the criticism. I mean, look at what we did with Miro. I’m surprised he didn’t have a nervous breakdown. That’s one thing I’ll give to our former Mayor, the guy had thick skin and confidence.
Rightly or wrongly, someone’s probably lobbying against every cause on here. So - in the world we all live in, the choices are either - fight fire with fire, or let the gun nuts and oil drillers win. I recognize this probably is too practical of a position for many Progs though, enjoy eating your young.
They are correct. You have the right to petition government, which isn’t always a bad thing. Individual groups have certain interests that they want to pursue. It turns into something else if those interests negatively impact citizens. Thats why we need to elect people who have good judgement and moral character.
Lobbying itself isn’t really an automatic evil. If the interest was a children’s hospital, I would hope they would hire people to represent them in the political process. Feel free to hate the bad interests, but screaming about the mechanics of system this country has operated under for 200 years seems misplaced.
> Lobbying itself isn’t really an automatic evil.
yes it is.
you want something done - pay to play. no matter if it's a good happenstance or a shitty one, the methods are always evil.
It’s not pay to play, if you had an interest you could bad together with likeminded people and go to congress and lobby for your interests. Uh oh now you’re an evil lobbyist.
Further, It’s not evil for an organization to pay a lobbyist to outsource that work for them, it’s basic specialization. The organization specializes in x and feels it’s a more efficient use of their money to outsource the advocacy(evil lobbying) to another so they can stay doing what they are best at doing.
> It’s not pay to play, if you had an interest you could bad together with likeminded people and go to congress and lobby for your interests. Uh oh now you’re an evil lobbyist.
write your reps - not pay them off with lobbyists.
lobbying is evil and needs to be outlawed
/thread
Writing to your reps is lobbying. Professional lobbyist are paid well because they are experts in advocacy and can leverage their relationships better than any Joe Schmo can. If your elected representative only listens to a lobbyist then that is a bad rep. And the evil lies there, not in the process of lobbying.
Again, lobbying is just the act of advocating elected leaders to make decisions that benefit a group or ideal. It’s a basic tenant of how a representative democracy works. Elected leaders and their internal offices can’t know everything about everything independently, so they rely on 3rd parties to brief them and then they make a decision based upon the information given to them. If a lobbyist is representing an anti environmental group, then the environmental groups should work to advocate their interest so the rep can make an informed decision
> Writing to your reps is lobbying
I aint sending them money or hiring a firm to get my message to them. Our reps are elected to represent us. There is no way in hell we should have to grease their hands or hire people to grease their hands.
Our vote doesn't cost anything, neither should engaging with our reps.
End paid lobbying now.
> Again, lobbying is just the act of advocating elected leaders to make decisions that benefit a group or ideal.
Again, stop this shit. The average citizen isn't doing this. Only the powerful are.
> Elected leaders and their internal offices can’t know everything about everything independently, so they rely on 3rd parties to brief them and then they make a decision based upon the information given to them.
yawn, thanks for calling elected officials dumb that they need a concierge to help them navigate subjects like drugs bad, internet gud.
> If a lobbyist is representing an anti environmental group, then the environmental groups should work to advocate their interest so the rep can make an informed decision
Again, this is all pay to play fuckery. It becomes a game of wallets instead of ideas. fuck this shit.
It’s no more pay to play than being an it specialist, I could learn the skills myself and do them, but it’s more efficient for me to do other things and outsource my it needs to you.
lol, they certainly do have the cash. Aside from that, if you actually read the client list OP is vilifying, there are a lot of great originations on there who are using lobbyists to engage in the legislative process to do the most good. Don’t be dumb and throw out the baby with the bath water. Take some time and understand who the bad interests are, or those who go againts your own values and interest and dissent against them.
Listen i get that the world works like that. I just naively think that the government ought to make policy based on the market place of ideas not the market place of gluten free entrees no matter how nice the people making it are
> based on the market place of ideas
I'm still waiting for any helpful suggestions to improve from Burlington's sad GOP presence other than shitting on the other parties. P.S. Culture wars aren't helpful.
It almost seems like a certain account who posted a comment saying "I don't care" and "It doesn't really bother me" about this whole thing was misrepresenting themselves based on the amount of effort that same account has put in to keep this literal nothingburger alive.
I've given much thought to this I think the way to do it would be to caucus with a gaggle of liberal but semi conservative voters and literally coup the party into something new. The problem with that is you'd get zero support from the national GOP and have to go against dems with a lot of support from their national caucus. But the lack of a genuine back and forth is harming our discourse bahdddd.
If you're poking at me heres my take. I didn't vote for her the 1st time and probably won't the second time, however this does zero to influence that decision. I hold the same opinion of her as I did yesterday morning before I read any of this I think she will do the same job as mayor as I previously thought. Imo shes gonna be a mid to slightly annoying mayor but overall just fine for BVT.
That said it's one of the funniest, if not THE funniest, thing ive literally ever seen any politician do, and its MY MAYOR whose doing it lmfaoo, so in that respect I care deeply because I'm still suffering a severe case of the giggles over this.
Which is the point
If we want something done, we contact our officials
Lobbyists collecting millions of dollars from whoever and then using that money to do nice things for politicians is different especially in a relatively small area like Burlington
I don’t understand, could you clarify how to connect the dots?
Jessica Oski is the person who set up the meal train, she’s also the lobbyist showcased in this post.
I just spent an hour in a rabbit hole researching her and the lobby group she works for, and I can't find anything bad. The Necrason Group does represent some shitty corporations, such as comcast, but they seem like they're mostly white hat, labor, civil rights, and environmentalism. And Oski seems like she mostly cares about LGBTQ+ action, and also made mention about how she wants to see women in politics. Not saying it was a smart move to ask people to send Emma's family meals, but also, this meal is a nothingburger. All the outrage about this has the same smell as reddit yesterday when they were all trying to find controversy in the Hunter Biden verdict. Wake me when there is something worth talking about.
This whole thing is an attempt by certain folks to make her fail before she even starts. If it’s true, it’s wrong, but it’s really a nothing burger either way like you said. My FB was on fire with conservatives throwing this story around like it was Jan 6th equivalent last evening. I think that says a lot. Most of these people don’t even go into Burlington often if ever and they are fully invested in pulling her down. I’m not a far left progressive either but from where I sit I can see her trying to do the job, and I’d like to give her that chance.
I haven’t seen any confirmation where she even did anything? Her friends set up something stupid with bad optics, and then they took it down. Am I missing something?
There was a quote from the story where someone said "the mayor and her family have loved the meals so far and appreciate the help" or something along those lines which would indicate that she was accepting the meals and aware of the meal train. But that's the only thing definitively connecting her to it and it was just a single quote from someone.
A lobbyist is providing an elected official with freebies.
What, pray tell, is the estimated value of a home cooked meal? I hope the mayor doesn't accept compliments. That would be the downfall of society.
What if it was cash? Would that be different? She accepted gift cards from this lobbyist you know not just meals. Given the principles she ran on taking gift cards from a lobbyist seems hypocritical.
As far as I've read the (free to set up) meal train mentioned gift cards as an option. Whether or not any were provided is unclear. Whether or not Oska gave any gift cards herself is also unclear, and so far I've seen no evidence to back up your claim. If it does come out that Mulvaney-Stanak accepted gift cards from a lobbyist, yes, I think that's worse. But I'd also ask how much it was for. Was it a $25 gift card to Chili's? That deserves a slap on the wrist and a warning. It's more of a problem to me that lobbyists exist at all, and that lobbyists regularly have relationships with politicians. That's an indictment of US politics at large though, not one person who I guess didn't have time to cook on Mondays.
I'd be happy with a disclosure form saying "lobbyist gave $25 gift card." (As that's over the $15 reporting threshold)
I agree. This is not a big deal, but you have to question her intelligence level at this point. How did she not see this coming?
Oh, I'm fine ridiculing how stupid it is as an unforced error, assuming Emma approved it in the first place. But to call this "shameful," "disgraceful," and "political cancer" is a bit different than "ha that's dumb, next topic." And it's certainly not, as a standalone occurrence, egregious enough for me to question anyone's intelligence. There's a level of of outraged pearl clutching here that is either incredibly disingenuous or profoundly naive.
Believe it or not, meals have a value, and the gov has ethics rules. I didn't make em, but they exist.
I was just summarizing
Lol a once a week home cooked meal from a friend.
It's also donated food cards to DoorDash, Panera, Chili’s, Visa and more. This was set up by someone lobbying, and is not just one friend, but a signup sheet for more than one delivery. It's bad optics and smells of cronyism.
Lobbying should be illegal. Basically bribe money
Necrason…oooh scary….kinda sounds like NECROMANCY…. Let’s look at some of the clients…Let’s Grow Kids, Ben & Jerry’s, Suicide Prevention Coalition, Renewable Energy Vermont… This goes deep people…… I used MANY ellipses so get my point across……
[удалено]
(It is someone’s last name)
I deleted my comment
"We’re the firm that can strengthen your messaging and connect you with the key elected officials, thought leaders and community groups who ultimately shape public policy" https://www.necrasongroup.com/government-affairs/ Basically they buy politicians and sell access to politicians and regulation legislation.
I don’t really understand. Wasn’t Emma already a pretty well connected politician as a state rep?
Vermont has a citizen legislature and they don't have staff. Like it or not, lobbyists end up doing a lot of the staff work for legislators... because the State refuses to fund them appropriately. The Necrasson group lobbies for a lot of good causes... and has a few less than good clients to foot the bill (looking at comcast). It'd be great if they weren't actually necessary but honestly they do more good than harm.
> The Necrasson group lobbies for a lot of good causes... still evil. all lobbying is evil. pay to play. get them the fuck out.
May I introduce you to Citizens United vs. FEC? The Supreme Court says corporations are people too
That's dog shit and you know it. Citizens United exists because of lobbying.
No shit Sherlock... I'm saying it's fucked
then we are in agreement! 💪
Lol you don't see a problem with lobbyist groups writing legislature instead of democratically elected officials?
It's a huge issue... I'm literally pointing out that we refuse to fix the problem by professionalizing the legislature and regulating lobbying. Until we do that, we need to recognize that this is the way the system works...
Public servants don't need more money. People should see politics as a career
What? You're not making much sense friend. I assume you lost a "not" in there. In any case... pick your poison then? Career politicians or lobbyists... or in America... usually both
Yes, missed a not. I'm an anarchist, I don't see any good in government or politicians
Then please stop using the government subsidized internet. Thanks
36% of my income is stolen from me by the government by threat of death or imprisonment, you bet your sweet ass I'm gonna take what little I can back from those bastards
An anarchist that pays taxes? Strange
It’s a huge problem but lobbyists write legislation all the time at all levels of government. This isn’t a new issue.
But it's obviously an issue whether new or not and should be discouraged by the public
On the anniversary of losing 50 people to a slaughter perpetrated by a gun the murderer should never have had access to, gotta ask if you have the same energy for say, gun lobbyists? Or are you just focused on this because you dislike the target?
We don't need gun lobbyists, guns are both a god given and constitutional right in the US. Attempts to take guns from law abiding citizens would be a declaration of war and the start of a revolution. Lobbyists are not the reason I get to keep my guns, the government's fear of a violent revolt is how I keep my guns.
Holy shit. This is absolutely terrifying and I very much hope you don’t act out your masturbatory violent fantasies someday, but I suspect you will. Going to set a little reminder on this post. Nobody’s trying to take your guns you fuckin Jethro. Absolutely no one. But you are precisely the reason we need sensible reform. You’re one of those whack jobs that open carries in supermarkets because it gets you hard to scare people, right? Did you just say your right to carry a gun is God-given? Holy fuck. You really don’t understand how this works do you? If that’s the case, my right to have an abortion is God-given and how dare you mess with that right? Also a law has been bastardized and changed so why can’t guns get the same treatment? It’s because women are worth less than guns in your world. So who will your target be? Children in a school or maybe like that one dude you can go find a salon with immigrants and women so you can take out two groups you hate at the same time.
Self preservation is a god given right, you are born with the right to defend your own life. You're the only one talking about killing kids, I specifically said tyrannical government agents who kill and imprison innocent people would be my enemy. You should learn about negative rights and positive rights. Negative rights impose a duty of non interference and are God given, or granted by the nature of existence if you don't like using the word God. Positive right impose a duty on others to act or provide these are rights like abortion and healthcare. Settle down I'm not a violent person
Yea, let's address that! Oops, it got reframed by governor race car as "the legislature is giving themselves raises" so it was abandoned. Back to lobbyists we go!
As someone who routinely has to deal with very very very poorly written legislation I could not disagree more. The law makers in this state are much to free and easy with the wording of their laws and should be held to a higher standard because the ambiguity and incorrect jurisprudence, harms citizens by subjecting them to vague and difficult to understand laws. It also allows bad actors to skirt the system. I think by abdicating their duty to write laws to the lobbyists they're kinda digging a hole
That's exactly what I'm saying... they end up defaulting to this alternative because they don't have staff to actually do the necessary work. Most legislators themselves have zero knowledge about writing laws and the legislative counsels are overworked and are often just literally taking what the legislators say and transcribing it... vs a dedicated staff that could do the leg work and put more carefully worded laws together.
Idk man, if you run for a seat, get the seat, then don't learn how to do your job... my sympathy is kinda thin Our citizen law makers used to do this and some still do. Some will meet for hours with lawyers to craft legislation just to have it eviscerated by a committee of ppl who don't know wtf they're doing. I think they owe it to their constituents to be good at the job and train.
I think we're expecting too much from folks paid $15k a year and that only have 5 real months to do the job.
ok KINDA FAIR but also its not rocket science to double check and do your homework
You and I know how it works but I don’t know if everyone else does - or if they understand how few people lobby for so many big interests at once and the disproportionate amount of influence they have. Full time fully paid legislature only solution IMO… Whatever the role of lobbyists inside the state house, manifesting that intimate relationship with free meals feels like a ‘let them (us) eat cake level’ of arrogant detachment at best.
Eh I mean it seems like the organizer should have known better than to set it up and the mayor should have known better than to accept (if she did)... but I genuinely don't think it is a malicious intent thing. But yes, I'm all for holding our officials accountable to the ethics standards they claim to uphold.
Maybe law makers who have zero knowledge about writing laws should not be writing laws? Lol. I think we have enough laws anyways
If they’re trying to buy political access with a meal train, that has to be the dumbest, most ineffectual political bribe ever. Only in Vermont.
I would bet my left nut and resident parking pass that they're not. Folks are going fully Charlie in the mailroom in trying to connect dots here on unrelated matters.
It starts making more sense once you realize op is a failed lobbyist who got outplayed when the state legalized weed so now he rails against all lobbyists. Just more disingenuous bullshit, a reddit specialty.
What’s changed more in the past ten years: Vermont weed laws or Burlington affordable housing and development laws? Ironically, cannabis reforms have been (incredibly) successful because of grassroots efforts of thousands of Vermonters, NOT paid lobbyists and firms like Necrason and certainly not my skills or shortcomings. Go Celtics
And gift cards.
You mean the mayor has to order food when she has to work late? Geeze she could have just done that with the 250k a year her family makes I was told this was about home cooked meals when in reality the mayor got 350k in cash and gift cards lol
350k cash!? First I heard about this. Where can I read more?
350k in “gifts” aka not home cooked meals
Where is this info coming from though?
It was on the other post here about it. Said it broke down to approx 100k in food and 350k in “gifts”
How many “meals” were donated ? How much cash and gifts?
Isn’t that what all lobbyists do? How else would you define lobbyist?
Oh for sure I just like to word it in a way that makes sure everyone reading it knows what lobbyists actually are.
Ok I am a reasonably smart (and modest) person, and I didn’t vote for Emma so I’m no home-teamer, but I still cannot tell if this is something really bad or just poor judgment. It all sounds kind of overblown to me, and the sort of thing that happens when you live in a small state and your friends/neighbors have jobs, wear many hats. Whatever. Just cancel the dang meal train and move on.
Imo nothing more than a goofy blunder and really bad judgement. It will be added to the permanent record tho and referred back to if this becomes a pattern
It's bad. They start here. Next will be something just a bit more. If you accept this what else will you do. Its a bad image that others can use against you. Its that question if you start with something small you've already conditioned them to accept these things. Time for her to make a statement and clear up and misconceptions. Letting this fester will turn into her political cancer.
Eh. Like I said, cancel the meal train and move on. It’s more dumb than nefarious. That’s my view of it. If it’s just the beginning of something more nefarious, I guess we’ll see. I’m opting to give her the benefit of the doubt on this one as to corruption, but I admit it’s pretty unprofessional and a bad look. A person who has risen to the position of mayor of the state’s largest city ought to know better.
This could be a true conflict of interest or could just appear as if it is a conflict of interest (benefit of the doubt). In either case, it’s bad. Perhaps this is the steep learning curve that Emma needs to quickly climb. People running governments offices need to keep the optics clean.
Ok for people like me who don’t know, what is this? Who is “them” that got the money? Is this the same or similar to campaign contributions? Aren’t there limits to that? What are Necrason group’s interests? Was there similar lobbying in Joan Shannon’s campaign?
they'll lobby for who ever gives them money. that's how these firms work.
I’m sorry. Either I’m too dumb to understand all this, or it’s not a big deal. Maybe both
Them: The mayor of Burlington Are these campaign contributions: Probably yes but also maybe no, but that's up to robe men with gavels. Are there limits: Yeah. (bonus answer: but these "contributions" probably don't come close to the limit) What are Nercason's interests: Kinda the wrong question cuz that's not really how these small lobbying firms work. Lobbyists are kinda like mercenaries, they don't reallllyyy have any values they do what their patrons tell them to do. That said a quick google will show you they represent some big VT institutions and businesses Joah Shannon: idk if she was foolish enough to ask for free food in a campaign whose major themes were about people without any food but maybe we seem to be espically tone deaf this election cycle in Burlington.
Damn this story goes deeper than I thought
All these people talking about gluten free taco night and friendly neighbors cooking meals. SMDH this is how EB5 Burlington Telecom and the fucking Pit happen in this state. Lobbyists and corporate sharks take advantage of the folksy assumptions of good and use soft power to gain incredible influence over a small group of power elected officials.
I think there may be a way to view this that lies somewhere between "Lobbying isn't a problem at all," and (as one user put it) "This is as bad as if Emma murdered her pet dog and bragged about it."
Pretty much sums up how I feel about this. Her friends should have been smarter though, how naive do you have to be to not realize how bad the optics on this would be.
It's idiotic enough that I'd almost believe it if she said it was done on purpose to make her look bad. It wasn't. It's just that stupid.
I mean…. EB5, Burlington Telecom and the Pit involved some serious cash! That’s a long way from three-bean salad. This has to be the softest soft power play ever.
This is the correct answer. The group will have “suggestions” that they are really passionate about. Once you have their ear and you have something they can hold over you it's all downhill. Best intentions can be bastardized by this kind of group.
> Lobbyists and corporate sharks take advantage of the folksy assumptions of good and use soft power to gain incredible influence over a small group of power elected officials. Was this your approach when you were a lobbyist?
If it was you really gonna fault him for it? Its a proven winning Strat and he's doing his job. Its not his fault we should have outlawed his industry years ago. Is it?
Ah, I see. Perceived Emma hypocrisy means her political career is over. Perceived Eli hypocrisy is just him doing what works. Got it. This brand new account deserves a gold medal for the mental gymnastics it has exhibited here today. Now we wait for the paragraphs in response professing how you don't actually care about any of this, it's just funny to you.
Both perceptions are wrong and come from an angry dishonest place and are unfortunate
"This is fast approaching the same level of political suicide that lady who wrote the book saying how she shot her dog." This you admitting you're wrong and come from "an angry dishonest place"? If so, congrats on maturing. But I won't hold my breath.
Also it IS ruinous to her messaging lol you can stretch all you want but it is. Its like when the hard right guys get caught giving head in a bathroom. I don't really care but his supporters sure do. I don't really think sucking pp indicates a bad mayor or senator, but most of them do. At the very least it forces her supporters to take a contradictory position and come off silly (hi its u) It is a major blunder but "career is over" is way too much. I also never said that I did compare this to blunders so similar magnitude, like the dog lady, or just now the republican bottom.
Ah, never mind. You just say whatever you think sounds good, consistency be damned. And you wonder why people don't trust brand new accounts on the internet.
Lobbying in general is always worth closely examining and regulating, but even if there's something nefarious about the lobbying group and it's compensation to Jessica Oski, I'm not seeing a connection between that and the meal train other than that Jessica is also a friend of the Mayor.
This is the dumbest noncontroversy in recent political memory.
Agreed. People were ready to pounce on Emma before she even became mayor.
Do we know this has anything to do with Emma? You can setup a meal train for anyone. To me, based on what I know so far, this is more a bad decision by a lobbyist.
The lack of any empathy about how someone other than you may see this is insane. I'm sure your opinion is the only one on the matter lmaoo. I don't care either, but "non-controversy" is not even close. That's coping and comes off as tone-deaf as Emma was for accepting this. This DOES look icky even if there's no greater implication
Your lack of empathy for how I see this is telling. How dare you call me insane? I'm not saying the meal train was a good idea. It's certainly a bad look to say "my job is hard can you make me dinner?" as the mayor of a medium-sized town. Which I guess is sort of what happened, through a third party. But the idea that this is somehow nefarious or corrupting is (I repeat) really dumb. A person used to a free website to publicly ask other people to give a politician home cooked meals. Gasp. Thank god she didn't do anything worse, like bake them muffins. This isn't a free trip to an island vacation home. It's not even paying for a nice dinner out. Shit, it's not even a burger and fries at Al's. If this is an attempt at a bribe, it is both the weakest and most conspicuous attempt at bribery in American political history. Should we laugh at the idea the the Mulvaney-Stanek's need a meal train in this difficult time? Sure, although I should warn you that displays a profound lack of empathy as well. We've all been overwhelmed by our jobs, and in those dark and trying times I sure any one of us would have appreciated a casserole or a nice soup (but not a chowder or chili, that obviously crosses the line to an inappropriate level of sustenance). Of course, empathy also doesn't mean respect. When my daughter was a toddler she asked for vanilla ice cream and then cried because she wanted chocolate. I empathized with her emotional pain, which I guess this meal train has caused some folks. That did not mean I had to respect her opinion.
So, to be clear, you don't see a problem with a lobbyist setting up a mechanism to provide an elected official something for free?
Why, when you present it like that, without context or detail, how could I not trip over myself trying to backtrack?! I don't like lobbyists or lobbying. That there is an industry solely dedicated to influencing politics on behalf of those wealthy enough to afford their services is problematic. So, insofar as this story involves a lobbyist, I see a problem. But this particular example? No. Like I said, this is very dumb. Incredibly dumb, even. It's possible that details will come out that change my mind - like maybe people were hiding gold bars in chicken pot pies - but with the information I have now I feel solidly comfortable relentlessly mocking anyone who wants to make an issue out of this. Let's imagine instead Oski used a free website to say "Hey, Emma's feeling blue right now, here's how you can send her some fun drawings to cheer her up." BUT WAIT! What if some of those drawings come from several of Burlington's many talented artists? Then our dear mayor would be sitting on a veritable gold mine! My stars, I cannot imagine a greater threat to US democracy than a handful of fucking doodles. To me, it is exactly that stupid.
Your reasoning for this being a bad idea on your first post I do not agree with. Although I'm glad you are now saying this is very dumb. Simply put, reread my first response. That's why it's dumb. At best this was a dumb idea. At worst it's because she is a lobbyist trying to influence the mayor. I'm really not sure why you are so passionate about this in your lengthy posts. Honestly I was going to respond and simply ask if your name is Jessica.
I think I've been pretty consistent on how dumb I think this is. And what am I gonna do? Cut the soup bit? I don't have time for that kind of editing.
It's called soft lobbying. It's bad optics, especially for a new mayor attempting to build credibility. And let's be honest, it's not something Emma really needs...hundreds of other families [that don't make over 250k] make do every day without delivered meals, food cards to DoorDash, Panera, Chili’s, Visa and more.
yoooo... hold up, begging famous artists for sympathy art then turning around to sell it is kinda brilliant. You wanna start a biz together?
Yes.
You're so ready to be insulted you took an insult from me calling your take insane. That's not you, thats your take. If you can't respect an opnion for what it is, which based off your fucked up story you can't, then we can't talk from a place of shared values and you're literally in the wilderness. I never called you insane I called your insane take insane. Idk you to stand on the street and yell at the sun. The take was rational enough to suggest you're not illiterate or don't know whats going on. But the take is insane. And there you go citing all kinds of examples to support your OPINION. Yeah I agree those points makes your opinion the next logical conclusion. The lack of empathy comes from, what looks like, a fundamental unwillingness to acknowledge the validity of opposing views. Views which would see these meals in a similar light to corrupting influences or bad morality. Btw empathy is respecting the validity of the opinion. You're literally arguing and inventing arguments to deflect an accusation of being a bit of a bit tone deaf. Literally diggin in and writing a few paragraphs about how actually I'M THE TONE DEAF ONE, YOU SEE, BECAUSE OF THESE EXAMPLES IVE CONTRIVED displays a profound jerkiness that has become endemic to this sub and Burlington at large. I'm not sure we can salvage a conversation if you really feel like you can't understand why a reasonable person would be upset by this. Massive Woodrow Wilson arrogance energy # “I am sorry for those that disagree with me because I know that they are wrong.” Pres. Wilson
This is WILD. NO FUCKING WAYYYYY she let a lobbyist set this all up. This is fast approaching the same level of political suicide that lady who wrote the book saying how she shot her dog. This is gonna get both progs and dems pissed off right fast.
Are you taking the piss? Haha I honestly can't tell sometimes in this sub...
Dude I can't even tell anymore lmaoo I genuinely only care about this story for the laughs and the overall goofiness of it all
Oh fuck I know this criminal, she's a lobbyist who has been selling access to politicians but also will hunt down those who criticize her or her politicians, I can't remember where I saw but she was having a shit fit over something burlington_looks_shxt had posted.
Wow. This is getting worse and worse. She needs to resign immediately due to corruption. I'm also a bit worried a VSEA state union was listed in the meal train article. It's getting deep.
This rings pretty hollow coming from this account (Eli Harrington, a [former lobbyist himself](https://www.reformer.com/local-news/vermont-cannabis-bill-heads-to-the-senate/article_81a28d1a-e531-11ee-baa7-83d14c82c306.html)) > [Harrington now works as an independent consultant as the founder of Greenbridge Consulting, and is a registered lobbyist in Vermont, where he lobbies independently on behalf of Greenbridge Consulting interests and has launched, “Vermontijuana”, a brand that produces cannabis podcast and other media, hosts and coordinates events, as well as promotes cannabis advocacy and activism.](https://www.yourgreenbridge.com/consulting)
Its always about the messenger with you folks never the actual message. That's kinda tough. So what? OPs a bit of a scummy dude ok, is he lying about this? If not then what's your issue, the mere fact that he exists and posted about it? Does a scummy dude fundamentally lack the ability to voice his opinion now? Or just to voice it to you? Its quite chilling that you gauge whether or not to value someone based off how you feel about them. Don't you think thats a problem?
Yea it was extremely disappointing to spend 6yrs in the state house seeing how the sausage was made and who really runs the show…former lobbyist doesn’t sound great in a bio but clearly, I’m not hiding my identity on these internet streets. If you want to see real VT lobbyists, you should look up the lobbying firm “MMR” and check their client list…those people don’t make public mistakes like this but these Progs in BTV clearly didn’t /don’t feel that social pressure to conceal the depths of their relationship. How appropriate and intimate that relationship should be is subjective, but the hubris with this specific campaign is not. I’ve got nothing to do with burlington politics or any political axes to grind - my personal social politics generally align with the mayors — except for individual lobbyists who I believe to be unethical or just think are dickheads. Never met this lobbyist who organized this or have any beef with her, that firm was actually weed allies. Weed reforms previously happened because of lots of peoples grassroots efforts and a few organized groups like VGA and medical advocates who were able to do it themselves - and still are - without hiring one of these mercenaries. As people invest in the weed industry, those powerful conventional lobbyists are starting to work with the weed industry too, including this firm. For me, I registered because I had been there blogging before as a journalist capacity and when I shifted focus to primarily trying to change laws instead of reporting them, lobbyist seemed most honest and gave me instant standing (for better and worse) with a $75 registration anyone can get. Getting dragged here is first time I’ve really questioned that decision. Obviously, as an independent unpaid lobbyist I had no clout or influence or money or clients. And with no horses to trade or status to lose, I didn’t make many friends inside that building - or apparently on this sub.
oh look! i spotted a peacock! 
Not a scummy dude or hopefully even a bit of a scummy dude, but thank you for defense of objectivity and your earlier meme. I asked on another thread if people would react this same way if a trucking company lobbyist had started a coors light train for the Governor…
I don't think you're scummy at all. But even conceding that does not, and should not, undermine your central point. Its literally pants on head wacky here these days
Exactly. Can’t imagine defending why the lobbyist being such good friends with the politician and giving them things and favors is actually super cool.
It’s super cool if that politician is the one you voted for. If it isn’t, they deserve the death penalty
It’s giving Bob Kiss… People excusing the cronyism and unreported lobbying because of the political affiliation of the Mayor should remember the mayor before Miro and how his (“progressive”) fuckery led directly to Miro’s election.
Let's keep burlington moving in the right direction. Let's got the homeless encampment some free meals!
Can you imagine if you switched the names and someone that wasn’t a leftist progressive was the focus? Oh the people who are defending the progs would be losing their minds! 🤯
We all know exactly how that would go They would be collectively literally shaking
So, where did all the Prog gloaters from election night go? Witness your idealist mayor that has the answers to all the problems in Burlington! Lmao.
Home for the summer
I'm hoping there's a "Let Her Cook, Let Her cook!" sticker that comes out of this.
This is not a big deal. This is a standard lobbying firm that has been operating in Vermont for years. If you think lobbyists are bad, these folks aren’t any different. But you have not discovered some black hat bad actor here. This is how it works in VT. If you don’t like it, support increased funding for legislative staff and increased legislative compensation. The sad truth is that lobbyists are often some of the only people providing information for lawmakers to make decisions with.
This has got to be the dumbest shit I've ever read. Do any of you people live in Burlington? Do you know these people? This whole thing was started by her friends. Her real life friends. I know this is Reddit so some of you may not know what that is. It is in fact ok for the mayor to have friends. As someone who knows all these people involved I can assure you they are actually friends of hers. Yes Jess is a lobbyist. It's a job people. But she is also a very drear friend of Emma's. Meal Trains are for anyone. There is no income limit. You could set one up for your friend who just lost their dear goldfish and are too bereaved to make a meal for a couple days. It is literally people trying to be nice and y'all are acting if you just uncovered the biggest scandal since some semen got on a particular dress. Get a grip on yourselves. It's embarrassing.
Clearly not everyone in the meal train was a close friend because someone reported it and got screenshots of the page. Meal trains are only viewable to members the organizer invites. I don’t think this is big news, but it’s definitely weird. Yes, meal trains can be for anything, but transitioning to a new job? How the hell is she going to be Mayor of Burlington if she actually needed a meal train when her and her wife are perfectly healthy? She might lack time management and planning skills which is not great for a city leader.
Looks like money well…. Spent.
I really hope she is found guilty of violating ethic codes. She has continued to ruin this city from day one.
Getting ahead of yourself there.
Just speaking my dreams into existence lol
She’s not on trial for anything and this isn’t the “gotcha” moment people think it is.
Never said she was on trial
The part about being found guilty of ethics violations. She’s only been mayor for what, a few weeks now?
"This is a major scandal!!!" brought to you by the same crowd who swore up and down that Joan Shannon would be the city's next mayor and Ted Kenney would easily win election as state's attorney. Not to mention op is a former lobbyist who got outplayed when the state legalized weed, so this is just a bunch of sour grapes. So much transparency and accountability, lol
> She has continued to ruin this city from day one. There's only been 73 days of ruination in Burlington, eh?
Very impressive! 73 days and has already accepted questionable gifts from lobbyists and spent $50k without informing the entirety of the city council. And the cherry on top is the continued enablement of the crime and drug infested encampments. SMDH
Leave Jess alone. She’s a great person and a great member of the community. She fights the good fight. If she’s trying to organize some sort of dinner train for Emma it’s because she actually cares about Emma. Nothing else. Spend time on something real.
How about setting up meal trains for the homeless? Or even Burlington residents in need? The optics of this suck. Progs should know better. This is regressive.
Go on and do it then. Nothing stopping you. Yes the optics are bad. Yes they probably should have thought of that. Is it a nefarious scandal to buy the mayors office with a three bean salad? No.
Lol. She was a rep before mayor. She knows better.
Apparently not. Should’ve known better.
I'd expect this behavior out of the GOP to be honest.
I hear you. I don’t really think it’s a big deal and it’s pretty common to help someone out with meals. It’s just funny and kind of weird. Most people are just having fun with it. Emma needs to get broken in and used to the criticism. I mean, look at what we did with Miro. I’m surprised he didn’t have a nervous breakdown. That’s one thing I’ll give to our former Mayor, the guy had thick skin and confidence.
Rightly or wrongly, someone’s probably lobbying against every cause on here. So - in the world we all live in, the choices are either - fight fire with fire, or let the gun nuts and oil drillers win. I recognize this probably is too practical of a position for many Progs though, enjoy eating your young.
You will get downvoted to oblivion for this, but you are right. Don’t forget that practical nuanced takes on this page are not allowed.
That nothing will come of this is just confirmation that the conspiracy goes even deeper than we thought lol
So groups aren’t supposed to advocate for their interests?
ohhh neat a lobbyist defender! Not saying that's bad but it IS rare. Everyone mark this one off on your bingo sheets
They are correct. You have the right to petition government, which isn’t always a bad thing. Individual groups have certain interests that they want to pursue. It turns into something else if those interests negatively impact citizens. Thats why we need to elect people who have good judgement and moral character.
Lobbying itself isn’t really an automatic evil. If the interest was a children’s hospital, I would hope they would hire people to represent them in the political process. Feel free to hate the bad interests, but screaming about the mechanics of system this country has operated under for 200 years seems misplaced.
> Lobbying itself isn’t really an automatic evil. yes it is. you want something done - pay to play. no matter if it's a good happenstance or a shitty one, the methods are always evil.
It’s not pay to play, if you had an interest you could bad together with likeminded people and go to congress and lobby for your interests. Uh oh now you’re an evil lobbyist. Further, It’s not evil for an organization to pay a lobbyist to outsource that work for them, it’s basic specialization. The organization specializes in x and feels it’s a more efficient use of their money to outsource the advocacy(evil lobbying) to another so they can stay doing what they are best at doing.
> It’s not pay to play, if you had an interest you could bad together with likeminded people and go to congress and lobby for your interests. Uh oh now you’re an evil lobbyist. write your reps - not pay them off with lobbyists. lobbying is evil and needs to be outlawed /thread
Writing to your reps is lobbying. Professional lobbyist are paid well because they are experts in advocacy and can leverage their relationships better than any Joe Schmo can. If your elected representative only listens to a lobbyist then that is a bad rep. And the evil lies there, not in the process of lobbying. Again, lobbying is just the act of advocating elected leaders to make decisions that benefit a group or ideal. It’s a basic tenant of how a representative democracy works. Elected leaders and their internal offices can’t know everything about everything independently, so they rely on 3rd parties to brief them and then they make a decision based upon the information given to them. If a lobbyist is representing an anti environmental group, then the environmental groups should work to advocate their interest so the rep can make an informed decision
> Writing to your reps is lobbying I aint sending them money or hiring a firm to get my message to them. Our reps are elected to represent us. There is no way in hell we should have to grease their hands or hire people to grease their hands. Our vote doesn't cost anything, neither should engaging with our reps. End paid lobbying now. > Again, lobbying is just the act of advocating elected leaders to make decisions that benefit a group or ideal. Again, stop this shit. The average citizen isn't doing this. Only the powerful are. > Elected leaders and their internal offices can’t know everything about everything independently, so they rely on 3rd parties to brief them and then they make a decision based upon the information given to them. yawn, thanks for calling elected officials dumb that they need a concierge to help them navigate subjects like drugs bad, internet gud. > If a lobbyist is representing an anti environmental group, then the environmental groups should work to advocate their interest so the rep can make an informed decision Again, this is all pay to play fuckery. It becomes a game of wallets instead of ideas. fuck this shit.
It’s no more pay to play than being an it specialist, I could learn the skills myself and do them, but it’s more efficient for me to do other things and outsource my it needs to you.
Dumb take.
I wish we lived in a world where children's hospitals had the cash to hire lobbyists that would be sick
lol, they certainly do have the cash. Aside from that, if you actually read the client list OP is vilifying, there are a lot of great originations on there who are using lobbyists to engage in the legislative process to do the most good. Don’t be dumb and throw out the baby with the bath water. Take some time and understand who the bad interests are, or those who go againts your own values and interest and dissent against them.
> Don’t be dumb and throw out the baby with the bath water. already did. pay to play doesn't belong in government.
Listen i get that the world works like that. I just naively think that the government ought to make policy based on the market place of ideas not the market place of gluten free entrees no matter how nice the people making it are
> based on the market place of ideas I'm still waiting for any helpful suggestions to improve from Burlington's sad GOP presence other than shitting on the other parties. P.S. Culture wars aren't helpful. It almost seems like a certain account who posted a comment saying "I don't care" and "It doesn't really bother me" about this whole thing was misrepresenting themselves based on the amount of effort that same account has put in to keep this literal nothingburger alive.
I've given much thought to this I think the way to do it would be to caucus with a gaggle of liberal but semi conservative voters and literally coup the party into something new. The problem with that is you'd get zero support from the national GOP and have to go against dems with a lot of support from their national caucus. But the lack of a genuine back and forth is harming our discourse bahdddd. If you're poking at me heres my take. I didn't vote for her the 1st time and probably won't the second time, however this does zero to influence that decision. I hold the same opinion of her as I did yesterday morning before I read any of this I think she will do the same job as mayor as I previously thought. Imo shes gonna be a mid to slightly annoying mayor but overall just fine for BVT. That said it's one of the funniest, if not THE funniest, thing ive literally ever seen any politician do, and its MY MAYOR whose doing it lmfaoo, so in that respect I care deeply because I'm still suffering a severe case of the giggles over this.
> lobbyists that would be sick I guess sick lobbyists might get more sympathy for a hospital.
Show me any hospital - children’s or otherwise that isn’t spending millions a year to lobby.
We already pay taxes. We can petition our Representatives by writing directly to them. There is no reason any elected official should be lobbied.
You need to educate yourself of what lobbying really is. Petitioning your reps by writing to them is lobbying. /thread
Which is the point If we want something done, we contact our officials Lobbyists collecting millions of dollars from whoever and then using that money to do nice things for politicians is different especially in a relatively small area like Burlington