Dubie's Dubious Daybook

Oops!

Vermont's Republican Leuitenant Governor Douglas Dubie has been under pressure lately for doing part-time work for full-time pay during his term. The claim is that he has worked less than 30% of the time he has been in office. In reponse to the pressure, he finally this week released a "schedule" that tries to make him appear to have been busy while outside the office, soaking up taxpayer's money while soaking up the sun. (Boy and get a gander at all those unspecified "private meetings" in there).

I find it truly ironic that he's been endorsed for his "honesty," by the Times Argus/Rutland Herald just in time for the news to break that after working for 3 weeks with a team of lawyers, he managed to conjure up a falsified schedule that made him look like he was working when he wasn't (turns out, he was in Hawaii on vacation for at least one of the weeks that his schedule shows him to have been a Very Busy Man). Among the Very Busy Activities he claims to have done while in Hawaii: paying his respects at a Julius Canns' memorial service - not once, but twice!

I can only imagine Julius Canns' family might be a bit disappointed to find that Mr. No-Show covered up one of his weeks of Amazing Absenteeism by pretending to be paying his respects to a man who actually worked hard serving Vermont for many years.

For lying about something so easy to verify, I nominate Lt. Gov. Doug Dubie to receive the award for Lamest Coverup Attempt by a 2006 Republican candidate.

And for not covering the story, I nominate the local media for the Foot-Dragging award. This story is of direct relevance to the voters of Vermont, who might be willing to support a nice-enough guy who works for them, even if it's not as often as they'd like and even if he's not always on their side, but who might take exception to paying an incumbent to lie to them about how many hours he put in for the $61,000 he drained from their pockets.

Update: Want to do something about the media blackout on Dubie's foray into fiction? Drop a line to the following VT political reporters - BE POLITE - some of them may not have heard, yet, and being nasty is ineffective at best, and counterproductive at worst:

- Peter Freyne: pfreyne@aol.com pfreyne@aol.com (7 Days)
- Darren Allen: Darren.Allen@timesargus.com (Times Argus)
- Louis Porter: Louis.Porter@timesargus.com (Times Argus)
- Stewart Ledbetter: sledbetter@hearst.com (WPTZ, Channel 5, Burlington)
- Terri Hallenbeck: bfp.burlingtonfreepress.com (Burlington Free Press)
- Sam Hemmingway: shemingway@bfp.burlingtonfreepress.com (Burlington Free Press)