Champlain Crime Watch 

“HAVE YOU EVER BEEN CONVICTED OF A CRIME? IF YES, WHEN AND WHERE?

“HAVE YOU EVER DECLARED PERSONAL OR PROFESSIONAL BANKRUPTCY? IF YES, WHEN AND WHERE?”

Hey, welcome to the brave new world of Vermont journalism! The above capitalized interrogatories come directly from the top of the brand-new questionnaire that The Burlington Free Press just sent out to statewide and legislative candidates.

The Freeps’ crime-busting candidate query appears to be the outcome of the ethical conundrum the local Gannett Empire outpost has been in since last winter.

You may recall that Seven Days broke the news back in January about the criminal records of a couple of candidates for the Burlington City Council. Both were soundly defeated in March. But the Freeps balked at reporting that they both had rap sheets. In fact, one of them had been arrested twice over the Christmas holiday on assault and unlawful mischief charges. She eventually copped a plea.

Back then, Vermont’s largest daily chose not to inform readers of the criminal conduct of those candidates because, as Executive Editor Mickey Hirten told us, the paper wanted to be “fair.” By that he meant it would be unfair to report on the two candidates with known records without being absolutely certain all the other candidates were crime-free. We can only marvel at how the unlubricated wheels of the Gannett journalistic mind turn.

Now it appears Mr. Hirten and crew have come up with a solution — they’ll just ask every single Vermont political candidate point-blank in the newspaper’s statewide candidate questionnaire if they’ve ever been busted.

But what if candidates refuse to answer? What if Gov. Howard Dean doesn’t answer the question? Or Barbara Snelling? Or State Sen. Jean Ankeney? What then? And do traffic tickets count?

Actually, we couldn’t wait for the Freeps to report the results, so we called Babs and Nurse Jean and asked if they had criminal convictions.

“Unfortunately, no. I need the publicity,” said Ankeney, leader of the Senate Granny caucus. Same with Babs — no time in the slammer. What a relief!

After the questions designed to weed out the crooks and bankrupt politicians on the ballot, the Freeps asks five more: What does the candidate consider to be the “top issue” among constituents? What should be done with the state surplus? What’s the office-seeker’s position on “price regulation” of prescription drugs? Act 60? Civil unions?

Candidates are warned to limit their answers to 25 words or less. Can’t wait.

Speaking of Civil Unions

As everyone knows, when it came to the hottest public policy issue on the Vermont legislative burner this year, The Burlington Free Press limited its opinion to much fewer than 25 words. The sorry fact is, the Freeps did not publish even one editorial devoted to the paper’s position on civil unions. Not one.

For an editorial page that has a chronic obsession with graffiti and other equally pressing matters of public policy, the absence of a civil-unions editorial in the state’s largest daily has been astonishing.

“Civil unions” for those of you from Mars or Mississippi, are the brand-new legal partnerships available to same-sex couples in Vermont. For the $20 price of a license, partners in a civil union enjoy the same rights and benefits as opposite-sex married couples.

Here in Vermont, love became legal for all citizens on July 1. And, so far, except for the few vulgarities of members of the sanctimonious “Take Back Vermont” gay-bashing set, civil unions haven’t caused so much as a ripple in life as we know it in the Green Mountains.

As we’ve indicated before, the editorial silence of Vermont’s Gannett paper has been attributed to its publisher. Sources at the newspaper tell us Jim Carey, president and publisher, is a born-again Christian. In fact, on several occasions we’ve witnessed Mr. Carey operating a motor vehicle adorned with a “JESUS” bumper sticker. We assume it was not a reference to the goalie on the Mexican national soccer team.

Tuesday morning we attempted to speak to Boss Carey about this matter, but he declined to take our call. Boss Carey was in his office when we rang, but after informing him of our call, his secretary came back on the line to ask what we wanted. After ascertaining our question about her boss’ religious persuasion and the absence of a civil-unions editorial, she politely informed us that Mr. Carey “will be in meetings for the rest of the day.”

Hey, God bless him! Boss Carey’s a hard worker, for sure. The paper’s a cash cow. A jewel in the Gannett crown. And Boss Carey’s always been reluctant to speak to reporters who are not his personal underlings. Nothing new there. In his mind, it appears we simply don’t exist.

Not to worry, we don’t take it personally. And Boss Carey’s absolutely entitled to his opinion and religious beliefs. Maybe he’s just shy. No problem. We understand. However, Jim Carey is the publisher of the largest newspaper in Vermont. So what’s with the pressphobia, James?

No question. Some folks are getting the distinct impression Vermont’s Gannett newspaper has an internal problem with equal rights for gays and lesbians. You see, the paper has also recently taken a pass on publishing a Gannett-syndicated, pro-civil-unions column by one of the chain’s top columnists, a writer who actually came to Vermont to obtain a civil union with her longtime partner!

Years ago, before gay marriage was even on the radar screen, the Freeps regularly carried a column by Deb Price. Then they dropped her. Ms. Price’s home base is the Detroit News, a Gannett-owned newspaper. Her column is syndicated nationally on the Gannett News Service (GNS) wire. Any one of the chain’s 102 newspapers is free to run it. It’s a local call.

Deb Price also happens to be one of the most prominent openly gay columnists writing for a mainstream, big-city newspaper. And a month ago she wrote a beautiful column in the Detroit News about her recent visit to Vermont. It ran on the GNS wire and was picked up by Gannett papers around the country. However, Vermont readers haven’t seen it.

It’s not often that we’ll do the heavy lifting for the Gannett media empire, but hey, yours truly really does have a soft heart. So if The Burlington Free Press can’t find room for Deb Price, we’ll give up some of ours. You see, we disagree with the editorial geniuses at 191 College Street on this one. We’re positive their Vermont readers would benefit from Price’s work:

We wanted to be among the first gay couples to receive Vermont’s blessing. But since the history-making creation of “civil unions” for gay couples has divided Vermonters, we weren’t sure what sort of welcome to expect. What we received was a joyful, magical celebration of our love that was far more special than anything we could have dreamed up on our own.