C o n g r e s s i o n a l Stan C h e c k

W
ith all the discussion lately about the ethnic diversity oCthe
Burlington school system's faculty, or rather thelack thereof
yours truly decided to check in on the distinguished con:
gressional delegation ofthe so-called 'whiteststate intheunion" to
ascertain how much ethnic diversity there is on the personal staffs
of Bernie. J im and Pat.
Senator J bn J effords has a personal staff of 33 people. That
includes theW ashington and Vermont offices. According toJ elIords'
spokesman, Howard Colfrln, one member of J imbo's staff is an
African-American. That's Spercent of the staff.
Next, we checked in with Senator PatrickJ . Leahy. Vermont's
senior senator has a staff comprised of SI individuals and of that
number three are black - 9.6 percent.
And finally. we checked in with the office of Vermont's lone
c o n g r e s s ma n , Be r n .i e Sa n de r s . As you k n o w, 01' Be r n a r do i s
Vermont's champion of poor people. working people and the eld-
erly. He is neither a Democrat nor a Republican, but rather a
Progressive, which he would have you believe is a word reserved
for visionary leaders and right-thinking people.
Burlington Progressives recently called onthe teacher's union to
forgo their hard-won right to permanent contracts inorder to keep
some spots open down the line for teachers of color. Councilor
DonnaBailey wentso far as tosay all city departments should have
an ethnic mix that reflects the cultural diversity of the city's
population.
Unfortunately. Congressman Sanders, Vermont's number-one
Progressive, does not have even one person of color on h i s congres-
sional staff of 17 hard-working. dedicated individuals. Not one.
That's 0percent ifyou're keeping score.
speaking of Sanders' staff,there have been some changes oflate.
First of all ,Press Secretary DebbleBookchin iscuttingback onher
workload asshe prepares for motherhood. SoBernie recently hired
on a second press person - Tina W lsell. Tina's been a radio
reporter at W MOO in Derby. Her dad. Bill W lsell, is the stale
representative from Bristol.
It's been five months since Sanders' Vennont Director J im
Schumacher departed in the midst of atempest over his romantic
attachment to his soon-to-be-wife. Ms. Bookchin, and his post
remains unfilled. Picking upsome of the slack, though, hasbeen 01'
Bernardo's wife J ane Sande ..... who's taken on the duties of chief
of staff. J ane's not getting paid because it's against the law for
congressmen to hire their spouses. Jane's been Bernie's n umbe r .
one fansince he was elected mayorofBurlington in1981. Heput her
to work back then. too, as director of the Mayor's Youth Office.
Separated at Birth?
W ere the mayor of Burlington and the governor of Vennont
separated at birth?
Maybe.
Turns out Howard Dean and Peter Brownell entered the world
at the same New York City hospital within hours of each other.
Howard was born November 17, 1948 at Doctors Hospital on the
EastSide. Shortly thereafter, on November 18, 1948, Peter made his
grand entrance.
It was Peter's mom who uncovered the coincidence and last
week Brownell confronted the governor about It. Ho-Ho didn't
recall which hospital he was born at and, unable to reach his mom
on the phone, reached for his wallet and pulled out his birth
certl.licate. Bingo!
TI,e two little tykes shared the hospital nursery for afew days
and, according to Brownell, decided way back then that Howard
would be governor of the state and Peter would go for the mayor's
job in Vermont's largest city.
"Howard was older." notes Brownell.
But what's he doing carrying his birth certllicate around inhis
wallet? Let's hope he still doesn't get carded
Anchors Aweigh
Channel S's City Hall reporter, ChrlBtlna McKellJ Ul, departed
last weekend for her new City Hall beat inRichmond, Virginia. No
surprise. Everyone knew Chris was going places the day she
arrived.
Before departing, though, she did draw yours truly's attention ~o
the absence of women anchors at W CAX-TV.MarsellsParsons IS
afixture at 6 p.m. and Will Mlc""". has been doing the honors at
11p.m. Now W ill's being replaced by RollOr Ganity.
W P'fZ has Erin Clark and until recently, W VNY's had J udy
Sbnpson anchoring the nightly news. But ChannelS - 'Vermont's
News Station" - has been strictly Boys Town.
Peter MartIn, the man in charge at W CAX. was quick to remind
Inside Track of Alexandra Marks, who used lo anchor the late
news. But Alexandra departed long, long ago.
Martin says nobody has the title "anchor" at ChannelS, and that
their policy has always been to have the news director read the
news at 6 and then have the night editor read. it at, 1I: W hen a
vacancy comes up, says Martin. they look to see who sready as of
this moment." So it looks like the station's talented women report-
ers just aren't ready.
Meanwhile, W VNY's news director and 6 p.m, anchor J udy
Simpson has departed to become afull-time mother. J udy and her
husband adopted their first child a couple weeks ago. W ord Isthe
sports guy, J ohn Cavazos, Isthe "acting" news director and Mark
Economou will be holding down the anchor desk onboth nightly
newscasts.