‘Inconvenient Truth’

I commend Seven Days for reporting the inconvenient truth that Abenaki people were barred — and continue to be barred — from decisions affecting them in Vermont [“Seats of Power: In the Vermont Statehouse, Legislative Committee Chairs Hold Sway Over the Bills That Shape Public Policy,” February 11].

Missing from that reporting, however, is that senator Vince Illuzzi’s exclusion of the Abenaki was only one of several far-reaching legislative actions that controlled the 2010 to 2012 state recognition process and produced four invented “Abenaki tribes.” These groups now shape Indigenous policy, representation and education across the state.

Legislators also removed any requirement that applicants show Abenaki ancestry. That means no genealogical or historical connection to Abenaki people is needed to claim an “Abenaki” identity or to harvest benefits reserved for Indigenous people, such as scholarships, federal grants, and free hunting and fishing licenses.

Further, the legislature and governor ensured that the Vermont Commission on Native American Affairs —the body responsible then and now for overseeing Indigenous affairs — contained no actual Abenaki citizens. This placed authority over state recognition into the hands of self-identified “Abenaki” and their allies, creating blatant conflicts of interest. One commissioner was not only a member of an applicant group but also an “expert” reviewer of applications.

In the end, state recognition validated four groups as “Abenaki” that scholarship and multiple investigations show are non-Natives, while excluding the Abenaki nations — a contemporary act of colonialism that contradicts multiple articles of the U.N. Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. Vermonters who care about Indigenous rights and justice should be concerned.

Recognition Was Right

Hannah Bassett’s long article [“Seats of Power,” February 11] on legislative committee chairs is an odd mixture of interesting politics and one-sided cheerleading for the Canadian First Nations. Late last fall, I spoke to Bassett at length as background for a story, as she portrayed it to me, on “the Vermont Abenakis’ state-recognition process.” I described how this process and outcome were decades in the making. “This has been a long journey, a long trail of tears,” said one of the chiefs in 2012 upon receiving recognition.

Bassett’s final story clearly diverted from that initial mission. While she concluded that “Lawmakers ultimately voted by wide margins to grant state recognition to all four Vermont groups,” she never explained the reasons for this strong committee support, followed by overwhelming backing from the full legislature and governor.

For one, the tribes had powerfully demonstrated their Indigeneity through a rigorous recognition process and decades of work for their communities and for all Vermonters. And two, many legislators knew Abenaki families in their districts. They experienced and understood these families’ deep, powerful connections to the land and to their Native heritage. There is nothing fake about them. Perhaps Bassett should have interviewed these legislators. See the abenakialliance.org for extensive information on the long, winding and difficult road to state recognition.

‘Do Better’

[Re “Seats of Power”; Kids VT 2026 Camp Guide, February 11]: It’s galling to see an ad for Night Eagle Wilderness Adventures and its game, Stalk the Chief, practically superimposed on the story about Denise Watso testifying before the legislature, trying to prevent the erasure of her identity. Do better.

Young white boys can live in the wilderness for a month without appropriating bits of First Nations’ cultures. And Seven Days can force a discussion of why that’s racist and why running the ad and the story makes you hypocrites.

‘Valuable’ Reporting

Thank you for the article “Plan of Action: Vermonters Brace Themselves for the Possibility That Federal Immigration Officials Target Them Next” [February 4]. Lucy Tompkins did a great job of reporting on the intimidation that immigrants face from the presence of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement in Vermont communities and also on the impending dangers from any escalation of ICE presence and aggressiveness.

The crisis in Minnesota has already moved on to Maine and may well occur in other states. With a tenfold increase from 2024 to 2025 of statewide immigration detentions, according to Migrant Justice, residents of Vermont have already been affected and their activities limited by fear of capture, even when they have legal status.

The value of this kind of local reporting is inestimable. Not only does it include ways to prepare for the eventuality of heightened ICE actions, but it also gives information on some of the organizations that provide assistance to people who are at risk or threatened. Gratitude for explaining that Vermont police departments are forbidden to collaborate with federal immigration agents but that neither can they impede their actions. Very important for all of us to understand.

This is the kind of reporting that makes local news coverage extremely valuable, especially when reality is changing moment to moment.

Confusing Article

The story [“All Wet? Gov. Phil Scott Wants to Relax Wetlands Regs to Spur Housing Construction. Critics Say the Change Would Endanger the Environment — and Homes,” January 28] started to make a strong argument for moving into the future valuing the needs for affordable housing over what we have valued in the past: the need to protect wetlands. That seems to be the very simplified way the government interprets the situation. The last part of the article, however, shows a very different picture. The facts are clear.

It reminds me of the old line used when someone displays gullibility: “If you believe that, I can get you a great deal on some swampland.”

Not only is taking wetlands for building in opposition to the 2024 flood mitigation law, but it is also extremely unsafe in many ways. Those wetlands are very useful just as they are to prevent flooding. They’re like natural sponges — great for absorbing water, bad for building on or even nearby.

This is a perfect example of short-term planning. The long-term consequences cannot be underestimated. Spend just five minutes online researching the pros and cons of building in wetlands, and I think you will agree that it is a very foolish idea.

Why I Left Cigna

[Re “Manage Your Care: To Lower Health Costs, Vermont’s Largest Insurance Company Is Urging Patients to Shop Around,” January 14]: Seasoned mental health clinicians don’t leave insurance networks impulsively. We leave after years of being underpaid, controlled and treated as interchangeable. Cigna Healthcare has exemplified this pattern, which is why the University of Vermont Medical Center did its employees a disservice by choosing it as a carrier.

For years, Cigna has reimbursed mental health clinicians at roughly 30 to 40 percent less than Blue Cross Blue Shield for comparable outpatient care. That gap has persisted despite increasing clinical complexity, documentation demands and liability. Rate increases are not standard; clinicians must ask repeatedly just to receive them at all.

In my own case, after years of underpayment, Cigna eventually agreed to raise my rate. At the same time, I was explicitly told I was not allowed to share that rate with other clinicians. My subsequent raise three years later was $1.

That experience says everything. Raises are framed as concessions, not corrections. Silence is encouraged. Comparison is discouraged. The baseline underpayment remains intact.

Early-career clinicians often stay in these networks because they need access and referrals. But over time, experienced clinicians — those doing trauma work, addiction treatment and long-term care — reach a limit. Balance billing is prohibited, reimbursement stagnates, and many eventually leave.

When UVM moved employee coverage to Cigna, it placed its workforce into a system already known among seasoned clinicians for chronic undervaluation. Employees deserve better than an insurance card that looks adequate on paper while access quietly erodes in practice.

Insurance networks are not losing clinicians. They are losing experience.

Missing Camp

[Re Kids VT 2026 Camp Guide, February 11]: I enjoyed reading about all the summer camps for kids. It brought back memories of attending summer camp myself in 1962; my dad was a counselor at the same camp that summer. The camp was Keewaydin on Lake Dunmore in Salisbury, now in business for 130 years. It specializes in wilderness experiences and canoe tripping. We were forever addicted to canoe trips.

Given that my dad was a public education leader, a lot of students went on canoe trips by his hand. My brother and I ran a lot of trips for our friends, too. I didn’t see Keewaydin or its sister camp, Songadeewin — both on Lake Dunmore — in the Vermont Camp & School Finder list. Keewaydin Temagami operates in northern Ontario, where canoe tripping and wilderness experience are at their best. This camp is about wilderness and canoe trips!

Needle Exchange Works

[Re Feedback: “Sharps Eye,” February 11]: No one in Burlington wants to see discarded syringes where we live, work or play.

At the same time, a substantial body of high-quality research shows that syringe services programs (SSPs) are among the most effective interventions for preventing HIV and hepatitis C, reducing injection-related infections, and connecting people to treatment. Studies of low-barrier SSPs consistently show reduced needle sharing, lower HIV risk, and increased uptake of HIV and hepatitis testing, naloxone, wound care, and medications for opioid-use disorder.

The proposed requirements in the letter, such as strict “one-for-one” exchange and mandatory enrollment in treatment, are not supported by this evidence. Needs-based distribution, rather than one-for-one rules, is associated with greater reductions in risky injecting without increasing drug use. Likewise, voluntary, person-centered connection to treatment is more effective than coercive conditions, which tend to drive people away from services altogether.

Finally, the suggestion that unreturned syringes in Burlington are fueling a lucrative black market does not fit Vermont’s context. Vermont, unlike Ohio, allows pharmacies to sell inexpensive injection supplies over the counter without restriction. If someone wanted to resell needles, purchasing them directly would be far more straightforward than diverting them from SSPs. Importing Ohio’s “$3 per syringe” narrative into Burlington misrepresents both our laws and our public health reality.

Any alternative to the Safe Recovery Program must reflect reality, be evidence-based, and respect the best interests, needs and dignity of all residents, including those with substance-use disorders.

Bob for Burlington

I enjoyed Ken Picard’s [“Bernie’s Burlington: A New Biography by Queen City Native Dan Chiasson Chronicles the Rise of the ‘People’s Politician,’” January 28]. I have a memory of walking with Vanguard Press political columnist Peter Freyne near the corner of St. Paul and Main streets on the night Bernie Sanders defeated the incumbent mayor Gordon Paquette, the feeling of a seismic shift in the air.

There I stop, 599 pages short of Dan Chiasson’s book, Bernie for Burlington. Not interviewing Bernie yet having some poignant vignettes, but nothing after essentially 1990 as Bernie starts his House and Senate careers?

I grew up in then-Ward 4 in Burlington’s New North End, where most of the city property taxes come from. It had two GOP aldermen at the time!

I was a young man then, and Bernie appealed to me because I was struggling, doing the thankless and “dirty jobs,” at one point covering every hour on the 24-hour clock. I credit Bernie for staying on message and for making some good changes to the Queen City.

Bernie’s socialistic appeal continues to grow for many young, highly educated people trapped in service-related jobs and with few advancement opportunities. Pay no attention to the hypocrisy of Bernie owning multiple homes, a millionaire traveling on private jets! Cash-on-delivery socialism?!

The appeal of Bernie fades. I contribute but also want what little I earned to be for my family and community, not for a collective that falsifies equality and disdains individual achievement.

Vote No on REIB

When considering the March ballot in Burlington, remember this: Upon taking office, Mayor Emma Mulvaney-Stanak’s team discovered a $10 million deficit, resulting in her laying off a number of workers while simultaneously giving her wife a $14,000 pay increase. Galling.

Again, the $12 million deficit this year reveals poor management of the people’s money.

Charter change question on the ballot: Should the city make the racial equity, inclusion and belonging director position permanent? The money for that position has long dried up — hence the question. The mayor’s poor judgment is an unnecessary financial drain on taxpayers. There is much opposition to the charter change.

The REIB office is on its third director. Tyeastia Green’s tenure was a nightmare. She flew the coop and then sued us for over $1 million. The second director worked for a very short period of time before taking a very long leave while collecting wages. She never returned.

Between the $10 million deficit and now the $12 million deficit, the mayor very irresponsibly hired a third director [“Kelli Perkins Named Burlington’s Director of Racial Equity,” September 25, 2025, online]. Frankly, it was a jaw-dropper. Salary around $130,000, plus very generous benefits.

The total taxpayer-financed 2025 REIB budget was $715,568. Salaries alone accounted for $487,118.

Voting no on making the position permanent is a no-brainer.

This article appears in The Media Issue • 2026.

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