The phone lines were buzzing this morning with chat about Democratic House Speaker Gaye Symington‘s political trip to Brattleboro to “listen,” and apparently talk a little bit, too:

Symington gets an earful from locals
By NICOLE ORNE, Reformer Staff

Friday, June 1
BRATTLEBORO — House Speaker Gaye Symington’s “listening tour” to Brattleboro Thursday resembled a serious debate much more than a casual conversation.

The room was crowded, with about 35 residents of the area in attendance. The questions tended to take the format of complaints or demands, forcing the Jericho Democrat to defend her legislation and Senate President Pro Tem Peter Shumlin, D-Windham, to come to her aid.

“I think your analysis is correct, but your conclusion is dead wrong,” Shumlin told a resident at one point.

“This is a legislature that is willing to tackle complex issues,” Symington said. “When you tackle issues that complex, especially when you have a governor who’s not willing to tackle it in that same way, you’re not going to walk away saying, ‘Oh, that’s done.’ And yet we tackle them anyway.” –  more.

Interesting.

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Peter Freyne, 1949-2009, wrote the weekly political column "Inside Track," which originated in the Vanguard Press in the mid 1980s; he brought it to Seven Days in 1995. He retired it shortly before his death in January, 2009. We all miss him.