State Employees Held Hostage

At great cost to you and me, the taxpayers, the Shumlin administration is holding 1,500 state employees (a fifth of the workforce) hostage.  The state employees who worked in Waterbury are being denied a return to that work assignment because the Shumlin Administration wants to close the State Hospital.

Here's something you should know right now - the State office complex in Waterbury has been rehabbed and is ready to have employees move back in.  Yes, the administration needs to let the telephone people back in and the computer network people but the building itself is ready for occupancy.  You may have missed that only the cellar area was flooded and that 75% of the buildings had no water damage.

So why is the administration keeping people in cramped spaces in the Montpelier office complex and in expensive rental space in the Burlington area and elsewhere?  Why would they do something like that?  Simple, if they get most State employees back into those buildings then the public and many legislators will ask why not move the State Hospital back into its space and the governor and Jeb Spaulding can't have that - they want the hospital closed and are using the flood to do it.

I keep wondering why no one in the press is asking how much putting VSH (Vermont State Hospital) patients in the Brattleboro Retreat and other settings is costing.  A hint - a lot!  The administration is hoping to hide that cost in post-Irene recovery funding.  So far no one is interested in pursuing it so you and I will have to foot that bill also.

Keep in mind this is a lot of money being spent as recovery money that is not really realted to the flood or the recovery.  This money is being spent with the idea of getting you to spend even more - to build, contract out or otherwise replace the State Hospital.

Don't Let  Good Crisis Go To Waste

Every Governor for the past 40 years has made closing the State Hospital a goal.  None have done it because the legislature has not wanted to tackle it.  Now, Peter Shumlin has decided to use a real crisis to manufacture a supposed crisis response of replacing the hospital.  That only happens if the building is unusable.  If Shumlin and Spaulding let the state employees return then the hospital looks to the legislators like it could, or should, also reopen.

The legislature is feeling cash strapped and so doesn't really want to deal with the hospital issue.  Plus, they are hearing from their local hospitals that Vermont needs a secure, State-run facility.  In the past the response has been to just limp the existing hospital along.  The previous administrations have just funded it enough to pass accreditation inspections.

The truth is, running the State Hospital is a losing proposition for the State. They pay out more in sick time, workers comp claims and medical related expenses there than they do at any of the correctional facilities.  If you run a hospital or community mental health facility why would you want to take it over from the state?  None of them do and so the legislature and the Shumlin Administration will be saddled with continuing to run a State facility - the question is: will it be in a totally rehabbed Waterbury facility or a new building elsewhere.

It's time for the Shumlin Administration to come clean on its motives. It's time for the legislature to become adults and make a decision on the hospital and fund that direction.  And it's time for both of them to come out from behind the smoke screen of Tropical Storm Irene and be honest with Vermonters. (Wouldn't that be refreshing?!?)  But most of all it's time to stop holding 1,500 employees hostage and let them go back to doing work for Vermonters from their offices in Waterbury.

Hey Google - I'm Sorry

I have used a lot of the Google tools including this one - Blogger.  I have a Gmail account, I use the analytics program for my web sites, reader to get my feeds and Google news.  But I never took to Buzz and didn't use it.


Now I'm on Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn so I thought that was enough.  No one on any of these platforms asked me to join them on Buzz so I went my merry way.

And then Google+ arrived.

I went to the announcement site and was intrigued.  It sounds a bit over complicated but, I thought, it might be worth trying out.  I like the idea of having circles, just like you do in life.  Sometimes you want to tell one circle something that another circle has no interest in - Plus would allow me to do that.

I asked Google to sign me up and they said they'd get back to me. They did the same thing with Analytics and some of the other services.  I figured it would be a week or two but so far Google hasn't gotten back to me.  I'm beginning to think it's because I dissed Buzz.

Oh sure I could try to get one of my more important friends to give me one of their invites but I think Google should let me in and I shouldn't have to ask a third party.

So Google - I'm sorry I didn't use Buzz.  I promise, if you get me my invite to Google+ I will give it some tough use, give you some feedback and invite in others I think will do the same.

You know the address and I'll be waiting.  (Insert smiley face here) JT