He's a she?

Oh, the problems with form letters and statements being sent to elected officials.

So, today the U.S. House voted to approve a new federal government spying program and to give telecommunication companies that had been participating in the previous, secret program immunity for probably breaking laws. U.S. Rep. Peter Welch voted no on the bill.

StoptheSpying.org is an organization that was lobbying against the bill. On their Web page, they have form statements that constiuents can read to their representatives in an attempt to sway their vote.

Well, the page on Welch contains this interesting suggestion to use when calling his office.

I'm a constituent and I'd like to thank Rep. Welch for her strong stance against telecom immunity and illegal spying.

-Dan Barlow

Is the Doctor in?

Shay Totten of the weekly newspaper Seven Days is reporting today that Rep. Harry Chen, the doctor from Mendon who has been a leader in the House of Representatives on health care and other issues, is likely to be the Democratic candidate for Lieutenant Governor.

Chen, who works at Rutland Regional Medical Center, was on vacation and out of reach Wednesday.
"We are talking to a couple folks who have expressed interest in the race,” said Liz Saxe, communications director for the Vermont Democratic Party. "As of now there is no formal officially announced candidate."

Democrats have for several weeks been searching for a candidate to challenge Republican Brian Dubie.

-Louis Porter