Pollina slams Douglas' 'Jim Equals Jobs' program

Progressive gubernatorial candidate Anthony Pollina attacked today Republican Gov. Jim Douglas' plan to cut 150 positions within the state government while giving some administration officials "merit" bonuses.

Pollina branded Douglas' "Jim Equals Jobs" program as a failure, citing drops in employment in construction, manufacturing, and retail sectors amidst a dwindling economy and poor economic growth.

The progressive candidate cited a recent report from the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston which revealed that this past year, the Green Mountain State's economic performance was the lowest it had ever been since 2002, when Douglas was elected governor. The report said "As a metric of overall economic health, the state's economic index grew a meager 0.9 percent between December 2006 and December 2007," and that it was "no surprise that Vermont was one of New England's poorest performing economies."

According to a Vermont Housing Finance Agency report published earlier today, Green Mountain State homeowners are also feeling the economic crunch as almost 516 families are now living in shelters, up from 429 in 2000, and the highest rate of homelessness in New England this past year.

Pollina called the governor's plan to "the wrong strategy at the wrong time," and continued to assail the incumbent governor for giving certain members of his administration bonuses, including Secretary of Commerce and Community Development Kevin Dorn, Secretary of Natural Resources George Crombie, and Spokesman Jason Gibbs.

The progressive candidate said that the full cost of the merit bonuses totaled $285,000 in 2007, and were used to supplement raises while state workers' wages were frozen.

Pollina said that should he be elected governor, he would provide Vermonters with jobs repairing roads and bridges, and asked "the administration to cut the tax-payer funded public relations staff before eliminating the jobs of state workers who are on the front lines helping Vermonters get the services they need."