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8/11/2019 Reconsidering the Revolution: Will the Coup Continue? | Vanguard Press | Feb. 20, 1983
http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/reconsidering-the-revolution-will-the-coup-continue-vanguard-press-feb 1/4
u
VERMONT'S STA1EWlDE \ffEKLY
BAI LEY LI BRARY
UVM
BURLI NGTON, VTU
05401
REFERENCE ROOM
8/11/2019 Reconsidering the Revolution: Will the Coup Continue? | Vanguard Press | Feb. 20, 1983
http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/reconsidering-the-revolution-will-the-coup-continue-vanguard-press-feb 2/4
CottIM ...... .tr-oIMP1he would model the program after-
mu:resringlyl'I1ough- the Brooklyn Th:e
Corps, which recruits children to planr
trees and provides a chance ror earnmg
poc~tmonq. .These views rarely make headlines,
though, and Gilson's campaign manager KathJeen McGreevyadmiaed she isotlen
frustrated by her boss' inabiliry to voice"dJ-considered "iews in public JOrwm."It scares the heU out of him" to be i n
the limelight, she said recently. "E-ery
little thing lOll s ay is going to be used
ror and againsljOll." .One opinion that bas go~ press IS
Gilson's convictiOO thai BurlingIoo can-not redistribute wealth - it can only
promote business de>eJopment andhope that affluence triddes down to
the less fOrtunate. "There are a lot of
things we want to do JOr the dry of Burlington," Gilson bas said O\Uand
O\U"TIle one thing we need to ~
thai a U possible is money,"
Instead of slapping restaurants and
other businesses with n ew taxes, Gilson
would accelerate development of the
waterfront and use the added revenueto improve the streets and other infra·structure needed to suppon an activecommercial environment. He would
also tip these revenues, along with thosegenerated by the McNeil wood chip
burning plant, to gradually phase out
the inventory tax which he says bas
kqJt a /aqje depanment store from locar-ing downtown.
Gilson is "skeptical" about the pro-grams Sanders designed for the city's
poor young and elderly Gilson would
8/11/2019 Reconsidering the Revolution: Will the Coup Continue? | Vanguard Press | Feb. 20, 1983
http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/reconsidering-the-revolution-will-the-coup-continue-vanguard-press-feb 3/4
people," he says in the gruff
Old Left orator "We love t
people put pressure on the
A ld ermen ."
While Sanders and his cam
conJlicts over issues such a
posed Southern Connector
bers of the old guard terrifie
ening their once-tight grip
opponents insist it takes two
Alderman Wtlliam Skelton
6) said that when he took h
the board last year, he w as dis
the internecine warfure wag
mayor and city council. He o
ders the proverbial olive b
proposing to discuss comp
before meetings, Skelton sa
haven't heard from him since
"1 don't have to negotiate w
Sanders retorted, adding that
osophic diJlCrenees preclude rcompromise.
Sanders arrived in \ermont
Since then , he has sold a ds tOra
newspaper. produced radical
struggled to become the
mouthpiece for workers a
disenfranchised persons. Sus
both businessmen and aOIue
(who nevertheless furnish a la
of his support), he sees m
thing - including his adrrunis
in terms of class struggle.Michael Rotkin is a leftist
operating in an environment
bly similar to Sanders'. Rotkin
pleted a term as mayor of S
California, an oceanside comm
approximately 45,000 with bers of students, retirees livin
incomes and young profession·· ·
8/11/2019 Reconsidering the Revolution: Will the Coup Continue? | Vanguard Press | Feb. 20, 1983
http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/reconsidering-the-revolution-will-the-coup-continue-vanguard-press-feb 4/4
Conlin'"'" from J.HIge 11ized municipal workers. "Before
I can remember gertin up at
meetings to speak and [being
made to feel] like a complete
fool ."
Knocking .on often flimsydoors in the inner city wards
that have benefited most from
Sanders' concern, the I11ajQrfinds
a generally warm welcome.
' 'There's about seven of us here
gonna vote fur you," said one
elderly \VOI1Ian, grabbing Sanders'
face and giving it a kiss. "I'm
telling you, we're all funs of youdown here."
Here in his heartland, Sanders
refrains from diatribes against
the corporate money mongers.
Instead he is almost reverent,
ducking his head and mumbling,
"I think we've done a pretty good
job, and we'd like a couple more
years to finish what we started."
Similar to many politicians
who look out for the masses, he
seems uncomfortable when not
talking political shop. In one
home a man laughed about his
son damaging the Sights on his
rifle. "I guess that's what you
get," Sanders said lamely, "whenyou let kids play with rilles."
But ask him what he's done
lOr the city's less fortunate ami
fire leaps into Sanders' eyes. "You
see this?" he asks, scuffing his
fuot against a freshly plowed
sidewalk. "Boy, were the Dem-
ocrats pissed when we came up
with S 100,000 to buy those
snowplows," he laughed.
When asked what he has done
to help the renters who form a
large part of his constituency,
though, Sanders is hard put to
point out any concrete advances.
After a rent control proposal wassoundly defeated at the polls,
Sanders dropped that idea. Allhe has come up with since is a
--·· ·
Proposed 10-cent property tax
cut which he hopes landlords
will pass on to their tenants. He
also speaks of plans to use fed-
eral dollars to subsidize lower-
income housing, and trade-offs
with whoever develops thewaterfront.
Sanders points to the difficultyof getting even small measures
past the last vestiges of the old
guard. "People are not as awareas they might be of the enor-
mous difficulty" of getting things
done in City hail.
However, Sanders bristles at
the suggestion that Judy Stephany
could better help renters or
advance a progressive agenda
with her middle-of-the-road
POliticking. Stephany is too "be-
bolden" to the old powerbrokers
IIId1aIlenge their values, he said.
A s for his administration, he
added, ''We're not beholden to~ne." •