Researching Dean

[Melodybe]

Well after reading countless article and archives from Vermont and Dean's gubernatorial terms, I have to say that i found out a few interesting things about him.

He is pretty squeaky compared to pretty much every other Governor I've known of. Is he totally squeaky NO.

First off know that Dean's stubborn issues in Vermont are the budget, his success by 6 program, education, and healthcare. He seems almost like granite on these issues. And on those issues he has an VERY good record of delivering his promises.

He did have plenty of fights with the environmentalists in his state, though. To be honest a few of the comments I have read make me think that Dean really does like to argue. When he suggested building a coal-buring power plant, he really comes off as just trying to piss of environmentalists. The state did need power and coal was the cheapest way to go. He suggested it once and then kind of dropped it. He even wrote a letter to the people of Vermont explaining their options and asking if anyone had an affordable solution.

After reading 6 articles on the very subject, it really comes off as a challenge to get the environmentalist to figure it out. Dean is cheap, he'll tell you himself and damn Vermont under Dean was one penny pinching state. Dean is a little iffy when it comes to the environment. They wanted wind power, Dean looked into that and some enviro friendly waste burning, Dean said either was too expensive but should be looked into later. He does not mind debating with people, he seems to like it when people offer as many ideas as possible. He definitely gives the impression that if they had could have come up with a viable and affordable solution, he would have gone with it. You can see that his years with the environmentalists have encouraged his energy policies, getting off oil and investing into solar and wind power seems to have be written by environmentalists from Vermont. With a bigger budget, he could get it done with no doubt.

I got a link to one site for a lawsuit but don't really know how credible the suit was being that I found no articles on her nor did i find any government documents, on the matter. Google drew a blank so I moved on.

Dean's best fields were definitely education, medicaid, and several articles mentioned how tight Dean and his family are.

Education is by far my favorite thing he has done. To help poor Vermont neighborhoods pay for good education he passed Act 60. Act 60 is a statewide tax where all money for public education is pooled and then equally distributed to each child in the state. Many wealthy Vermonters opposed the act and the Republican challenger Dwyer (ms) running in 2000, said that she wanted to repeal Act 60, in fact it was part of her platform. Dean said some funny things about wondering what planet she was on, when she suggested that $50,000 dollars combined income for marrieds was wealthy.

Medicaid stuff and his success by 6 seem to be his babies. Child abuse went down 40% and sexual abuse by over 70%.

They mentioned that Judy did not attend most public functions and that Dean often had his children with him while working. Dean said in one article, "It was my turn to take care of them, so they are here." They talked about the family spending tons of time hiking, camping and bike riding. The insist that the Gov. is incredibly private and did not let the press take pictures of his children.

Dean was considered to be the most popular Gov. in the country a few times. He was like by most democrats and republicans.

This is ALL the info i could find after trying for 2 hours of googling him. The worst being some of his enviromental deals. Almost everything that I found questionable had a legit flip side. I know I may not be the most objective but I was curious, so I figured why not.

[justinpower]

1. if you really WANT to find dirt

on Dean try Counterpunch. There are lots of articles archived there about him, not all negative, but some are very negative.

[mzmolly]

18. Counterpunch is pro Kucinich...

not an unbiased source.

[justinpower]

24. Thats ridiculous N/T

[displacedtexan]

2. Do you know why he didn't practice medicine very long?

There's nothing on his website about it. He finished his residency in '78, and he entered politics in '82. What happened?

[Hawkeye-X]

4. Politics in VT is part-time job

So he did continue to practice until 1991, after the sudden death of Governor Snelling, which Dean was his Lt. Governor, and was sworn in after getting a call in the middle of an appointment to do the swearing-in after he completed the appointment and drove to Montpelier to get sworn in.

Hawkeye-X

[Logansquare]

6. He continued to practice medicine until 1986

while serving in the Vermont House of Representatives, and stopped after becoming Lt. Governor. I imagine he felt like he could do more good for Vermont by working in public service.

[hedda_foil]

12. He continued practicing medicine while Lt. Gov.

He was examining a patient when he found out that Gov. Snelling had died. That was his last patient. So he practiced until the very day he became Governor.

[KaraokeKarlton]

20. He was a practicing doctor up to the day Snelling died

In fact, he was in the middle of examining a patient when he got the phone call that Snelling died. That was his last day taking patients, and it was in 1991, not 1982. In Vermont, about every politician except for the Governor works a regular job because their elected offices are only part time.

[pnziii]

3. Thanks

I know Dean isn't perfect, but what candidate is. Or what person is.
I like his conservative fiscal policies and that he provided health care for the people of Vermont.
The Dems (including Kerry) couldn't do that and now the repubs can claim a victory in that area (albeit a sneaky victory)

Kerry hasn't done anything great in the last 10 years whil Dean improved the lives of the people of Vermont.

I'll take actions over words any day.

Dean has shown he can deliver. The others only tell us they can deliver.

[jpgray]

5. If Dean's record wasn't mostly positive, I wouldn't support him

You should throw up there how he reduced greenhouse gas by 1,000,000 tons, and also how he protected hundreds of thousands of acres of land. :hi:

As governor of Vermont, Dean established some significant environmental credentials -protecting hundreds of thousands of acres of land and adopting a model energy efficiency program that has cut greenhouse gas emissions by one million tons. On the debit side, some Vermont environmentalists criticized Dean for his enforcement record on some clean water issues and for cutting funding to the state 's environmental agencies. However, since entering the presidential race, Dean has made a point of staking out strong pro-environment positions and his campaign produced one of the strongest and most detailed LCV presidential candidate questionnaires we received. On the campaign trail, he has spoken out in favor of strong clean air and clean water standards, protection of public lands and wilderness, and he has promoted energy efficiency and renewable energy as key to U.S. energy independence. While he has been critical of the Kyoto global warming treaty, he favors mandatory caps for carbon emissions. Dean attended LCV 's June 2003 presidential environmental debate.

http://www.lcv.org/Campaigns/Campaigns.cfm?ID=1957&c=4

[Gin]

7. thanks for theinfo...I do not need a savior as President and nobody is.

Perfect. He has new ideas that are sensible...unlike the looney tunes coming from the cabal.

A person everybody likes is suspicious to me. Just my 2cents.

Gin

[Feanorcurufinwe]

8. Researching Dean

Here are some good places to start:

http://www.vtce.org/deancrisisagvt.html
http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn?pagename=article&node=&contentId=A1907-2003Jul2
http://www.counterpunch.org/jacobs08292003.html
http://www.vpirg.org/campaigns/financeReform/cfr_page111.html
http://rutlandherald.nybor.com/News/Story/33681.html
http://www.boston.com/news/nation/articles/2003/09/13/dean_backed_medicare_cuts_in_1995_gephardt_says_boston_globe http://rutlandherald.com/Archive/Articles/Article/31792
http://www.counterpunch.org/colby02222003.html
http://timesargus.nybor.com/Legislature/Story/43125.html
http://rutlandherald.nybor.com/News/Story/31711.html
http://www.vtce.org/deanoncoal.html
http://rutlandherald.com/Archive/Articles/Article/23587
http://slate.msn.com/id/2086804/
http://www.socialsecurity.org/dailys/07-02-03.html
http://www.thenation.com/doc.mhtml?i=20030526&s=farrell
http://www.progress.org/2003/sol125.htm
http://www.bradycampaign.org/press/release.php?release=491
http://www.rutlandherald.com/hdean/17429
http://www.bradycampaign.org/press/release.php?release=518
http://www.mountainpridemedia.org/jul98/deanoped.htm
http://www.mountainpridemedia.org/jan2000/news_scyes.htm
http://www.gwu.edu/~action/2004/dean/dean0702/freyneint.html
http://www.boston.com/news/nation/articles/2003/10/09/dean_feared_a_horton_scenario

[Hawkeye-X]

9. 99% of the links has been debunked for YEARS

and you still pull this crap.

I could always dish a few Kerry stuff with links just to irritate you.

Hawkeye-X

[Feanorcurufinwe]

11. This is a thread for people who want to do their own research.

Not have their opinions spoon-fed to them.



As far as your 'threat': Bring it on.

[Feanorcurufinwe]

14. Please DO NOT READ

the source material linked in post #8.


There is no information in any of those links that you aren't better off getting second hand from a Dean supporter.

Please do not read that stuff for yourself and make up your own mind.

[MercutioATC]

15. Amazing how some will take ANY positive Dean post and bash it.

...I also find it amazing how don't feel desire to post pro-Kerry links, just anti-Dean links.

I know that I post roughly 50-1 positive posts about my candidate to negative posts about another's...and it's us Dean supporters that get accused of being uncivil?

[progressivebydesign]

16. That's been making me crazy!

I have been pleading with some of the negative posters to spend their time more productively showing us the good things about their candidate. The field will narrow, and some of us (hopefully not the Dean people!), will have to choose another candidate to support. I'd like to know where to throw my support. All the negative people do is make me dislike their candidate. I'm basing much of my opinion of the other candidates on the attitude of their supporters.

I've done a lot of research on Howard Dean. He's a good guy. He'll make a great president. That's all I need to know!! :toast:

[Snivi Yllom]

10. kick

:)

[cthrumatrix]

13. Thank you for your research...and yes I have looked as well and have

been quite vocal on Dean issues and delievering becuase I like somebody with experience.

I also would add "wisdom" which comes from that experience...where he came out early against No Child Left Behind...and his well known position on Iraq.

I believe him to be honest and passionate in his beliefs and learning more about him only makes me like him more.

Look at this family life with Judy...how they interact...how they respect each other. He's a whole candidate whose deeds follow his words.

[tryanhas]

17. If you want some dirt then try this link

It's from a "SOCIALIST" website, but they CITE THE SOURCES of all of the information that they posted. The information is real. It comes from places like the Washington Post, so no matter whether you like the title of the site or not, the information is cited.

http://www.isreview.org/issues/32/dean.shtml

[gardenista]

19. I have an aquaintance who has known the Deans for many years.

Lived in Vermont, and Judy Dean was his son's doctor for a time. I asked him if there is any dirt, anywhere, that he could possibly imagine might come to haunt Dean in the GE, should he be nominated. This person is well aware of the lengths Rove will take to bring down the Dem nominee.

He looked me right in the eye, shook his head, and said, "No. I have tried to think of anything that could be used against him. He is clean."

That meant a lot to me. I believe him.

Dean may not have made friends with everyone, and he certainly doesn't agree with everyone, but I will be very surprised if he can be personally tainted by the Rovian machinations that are sure to dog the nominee.

This is not to say that the media won't make a "valiant" attempt, as we can see!

[KaraokeKarlton]

21. The person who told you that is right

First of all, Dean is a very open and honest person. Sometimes to a fault, in fact. On top of that, Vermont politics is an open book. People here are very up on what's happening politically from the town level all the way up. Some places are really impossible for secrets, skeletons and political dirtiness to exist. Vermont is one of those places.

Why do you think Gephardt and Kerry have used such lame attacks against Dean? The best they can come up with after days and days of Oppo research workers pouring through everything they could get their hands on up here was snipped quotes presented completely out of context. If there was anything that could be used against Dean, his desperate opponents would have used it long ago. Rove won't find anything to hurt Dean. He's the cleanest politician I'm ever aware of existing. He also won't stay down no matter how bad he gets beat on. He just stands up, brushes himself off and keeps working hard. None of the others have been tested in the way Dean has been. The fact that he's still in the mix and could very well win NH tomorrow speaks volumes. That's the kind of fighter who will beat Bush.

[Logansquare]

22. If they can make up WMDs, they can make up dirt

That's what I'm afraid of.

[gardenista]

23. But Dean has shown that he will fight back. The last week

has been a shining example of that. I think it's impressed a lot of voters. I have faith in the people of New Hampshire. I think they'll see this, and Dean will do well. I'm not willing to predict *any* winners, but I think both Dean and Clark will do better than expected.

And both Dean and Clark will stand up to Bush and Rove!

[corporatewhore]

25. the worst of dean is environment/corporatist record

I met environmental activists in miami for the ftaa they said he was so fucking pro corporate anti environment and were mad as hell that he was painted as a liberal.I also found the remarks about making vermont a corporate haven ala bermuda unsettelling and his past strong support of NAFTAand now we are finding out about his orwellian id card system

Business leaders were especially impressed with the way Dean went to bat for them if they got snarled in the state's stringent environmental regulations. When Canada's Husky Injection Molding Systems Ltd. wanted to build a new manufacturing plant on 700 acres of Vermont farmland in the mid-'90s, for instance, Dean greased the wheels. Husky obtained the necessary permits in near-record time. "He was very hands-on," says an appreciative Dirk Schlimm, the Husky executive in charge of the project.

And when environmentalists tried to limit expansion of snowmaking at ski resorts, "Dean had to show his true colors, and he did -- by insisting on a solution that allowed expanding snowmaking," says Stenger. IBM (IBM ) by far the state's largest private employer, says it got kid-gloves treatment. "We would meet privately with him three to four times a year to discuss our issues," says John O'Kane, manager for government relations at IBM's Essex Junction plant, "and his secretary of commerce would call me once a week just to see how things were going."

http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/03_32/b3845084.htm