The Burlington Free Press from Burlington, Vermont • Page 17

Classified Crossword J1B Employment Real Estate Automotive CO SECTION tinea $14,000 in Groups failed to file disclosure reports By Andrea Zentz Capital Bureau Chief MONTPELIER The Secretary of State's Office is seeking $14,000 in fines from business and special interest groups that have failed to file lobbyist disclosure reports. Of the 300 groups registered with the state, 50 lobbyists and 30 of the lobbyists' employers did not meet a Jan. 25 filing deadline. Elections Director Ellen Tofferi said she does not think the missed filings yl I ft i -4 River Junction, Ticor Insurance Cos. of Boston and Telmark Inc.

of Syracuse, N.Y. A review of lobbyist disclosure reports that were filed by Jan. 25 indicates that at least $890,000 was spent from May 1 to Dec. 31, 1989, to influence Vermont legislators. But lobbyists who spent less than $500 were not required by law to file statements.

Because of a flaw in the law, some expenditures by lobbyists who do file are going unreported. Secretary of State James Douglas said the law does not detail exactly what expense is reportable, leaving lobbyists and their employers to interpret the MARK SASAHARA, Free Press and others spoke against the one-lane plan that city officials had favored. Two Vermont companies and one New Hampshire firm entered bids on several alternatives to repair the deteriorating bridge, which was closed in October. The bridge crosses the Wi-nooski River, connecting South Burlington and Colchester. Local officials planned to repair the Turn to ONE-LANE, 4B $35,000 shortfall the shelter struggled with in the fall.

In November, Svitavsky and others asked the public for help to continue the shelter and operation of the Good Neighbor program out of the North Winooski Avenue house. The public responded to the holiday season call, and donations erased the deficit, he said. Since early this year, a core of 15 churches has not helped the shelter as much as the board had hoped with its fund-raising efforts, Svitavsky said. A holiday fund-raiser brought in $14,000 $17,000 less than in 1989, he said. ,4 requirements.

Tofferi agreed. "I don't feel like we have any more grasp (of what is being spent to influence legislators) than we did under the old law," she said. Sens. William Doyle, R-Washington, and Jeb Spaulding, D-Washington, are sponsoring a bill this session that would impose more accountability. The Senate Government Operations Committee is expected to vote the measure out of committee today.

Of the six committee members, all but Sens. Joe Sherman, R-Caledonia, and John Farmer, R-La-moille, said Thursday that they favor the measure. Turn to LOBBYIST, 4B Defendant: Hazing led to slayings Ex-Norwich cadet on trial in Virginia By Molly Walsh Free Press Staff Writer A former Norwich University cadet who is on trial in Arlington County, for the slayings of three prostitutes claims that a hazing incident at the military academy led him to kill the women last year in the Washington, D.C., area. Chander "Bobby" Matta of Arlington, has pleaded innocent by reason of insanity to the slayings of Jodie Phillips, 16, Sandra Renee Johnson, 20, and Sherry K. Larman, 26, all killed by asphyxiation during a 36-hour period on Memorial Day weekend.

Officials at Norwich say that Matta, who enrolled as a freshman in the fall of 1988 and left school during the spring term, never reported a hazing incident and there is no evidence to suggest one occurred. "We're not on trial here," said Frank Griffis, director of public relations at Norwich. The well-publicized trial, which began this week and is expected to conclude Wednesday, has prompted Norwich alumni in the Washington, D.C., area to call the university with their concerns. "The alum are stirred up," Griffis said. "Many of them have students who are college age and want to attend here, and suddenly this is appearing in the Washington Times and (Washington) Post." In his opening trial statement, defense attorney William B.

Moffitt said Turn to DEFENDANT, 3B The churches give a lot, Svitavsky said. "Expecting the extra (support) just hasn't been able to happen." The recession has affected private donations, he said. The board decided it had to sell the house, which it bought in the spring of 1989. "Since the beginning of the year, we started once more to slip in debt," Svitavsky said. "We want to take the chance to solidify financially to take that pressure off." Turn to SHELTER, 3B (t ti Buzz Hoerr, owner of In Prints, stands by the sign for the Lime Kiln Road bridge in South Burlington.

Hoerr is one of 80 business people who signed a petition calling for its reopening as a two-lane span. Bids for bridge repair seal its fate Friday, March 8. 1991 Metro Editor. Rob Eley Phone: 660-1862 SAM HEMINGWAY Progressives flex muscles in City Hall A quick glance at the scorecard might leave you thinking Election Day in Burlington was a real yawner. By Burlington standards, the ballot this week was bare no high-profile resolutions on nuclear waste, foreign affairs or peace dividends to clutter up the usual menu of school-tax and bond decisions.

The big-ticket electoral contest was a bust. Mayor Peter Clavelle, the one-term incumbent Progressive, had no major party opposition and strolled to victory without breaking into a sweat. Even the fact that five incumbents on the City Council were stepping down failed to excite the electorate. In five of the six wards, fewer voters went to the polls than two years ago and, overall, turnout clocked in at 36 percent, the lowest for a mayoral election since 1981. In the end, the most curious outcome of all was the surprise election of perennial candidate Michael Hackett to the School Board over a hard-working incumbent who didn't take Hackett seriously.

All this hardly made for blockbuster headlines this week. But a closer look at Tuesday's results suggests that something significant happened here, that this was the election historians will identify as the one that made the Progressive Coalition a permanent political party in this town. True, the Progressives have been a force in Burlington for a decade, since Bernard Sanders beat the odds to become mayor in 1981. The rap on the Progressives, though, was that once the charismatic Sanders moved on in 1989, the party created around him would soon wilt and die. Tuesday's performance by the Progressives, the only party to offer council candidates in all six wards, put that theory to rest once and for all.

The party that helped send Sanders to Congress and two councilors to Montpelier has, in Clavelle, a mayor every bit as popular as Sanders was. And, depending on a runoff contest in Ward 5, it might have as many Progressives on the City Council as Sanders ever enjoyed. "We're stronger than ever," Clavelle crooned during a news conference Wednesday. "The collapse of the Progressive Coalition had been predicted, but instead we're celebrating our second decade in office." The interesting thing about all this is that the Progressives are doing it with new faces. The group of aldermen who rode to victory in the early Sanders years are gone and so are most of the second generation of candidates who replaced them.

Today, the party is winning with twentysomething politicians like Dana Clark in Ward 2 and Brian Pine in Ward 3, people who weren't old enough to vote the last time a party other than the Progressive Coalition won City Hall. The Progressives are doing it with the best campaign organization in town, thanks to door-to-door voter identification knowledge gained during the Sanders congressional campaign. Make one mistake in judgment, like the Democrats did by not working hard enough to hold on to their Ward 5 council seat, and the Progressives will pounce on the opportunity. Because of that, the Democrats are the underdogs in their strongest ward: Don't be surprised if the Progressive-backed candidate, Marc Kornbluh, sweeps past Democrat Jane Watson in the Ward 5 runoff. Meanwhile, the future looks exceedingly bright for Clavelle and his friends.

Liberal Democrats took seats in Wards 4 and 6 from a comatose GOP, and most Democrats sound like they're willing to work with instead of against the mayor. The proof of that will come when a council president is chosen and commission appointments are made. "Peter now can hold on to City Hall as long as he wants," predicted Garrison Nelson, the University of Vermont political analyst. "He's in great shape." Sam Hemingway is the state news columnist for The Burlington Free Press. were intentional.

"I'm sure a lot of them were unaware," she said. "The people who suffer, if I can use the word suffer, are the people who do it part time and don't understand the law changed and there are different disclosure dates." The new law, which took effect May 1, requires disclosures three times a year rather than twice. The remaining deadlines are March 25 and July 25. The penalty for tardiness is $35 for the first day and $5 each day thereafter, up to maximum of $175. The state is seeking fines from groups representing a wide range of interests, including Food Markets of White three sealed bids to repair the closed "bridge.

"The bids show that we can get our pipeline across the river for about $50,000 less by building our own bridge," Champlain Water District Manager Ed Blake said. "It's great news," said Lee Hemingway, president of the neighborhood association in Country Club Estates, a residential area near the bridge. She funded shelter means that families will no longer be served there, he said. Despite the growing need during the last two years for family shelter space in Burlington, Svitavsky said few families have stayed recently at the shelter. Most families stay at the Committee on Temporary Shelter's Firehouse Family Shelter at 120 N.

Champlain Svitavsky said. The family shelter opened in July 1988. The Burlington Emergency Shelter will refer families to the COTS family shelter, Svitavsky said. The latest $27,000 debt follows a That, in turn, means committee members will not have the time to devote to 13 other bills that deal with spending. So the March 15 deadline for money bills to be on the House floor will not be met.

Democratic House Speaker Ralph Wright, who met with the Appropriations Committee on Thursday morning, said, "We'll change that." Senate Appropriations Chairman Robert Gannett, R-Windham, said the House delay would not affect the Senate's deliberations. While attention has focused on House deliberations, the Senate has been working on the budget, leaving only testimony from the Human Services Agency for this week. Gannett predicted that the committee could have the budget bill on the Senate floor by April 10, despite the House delay. House Republican Leader Sara Gear, R-Burlington, said, "If it goes a week longer, it goes a week longer." Lime Kiln Road 1-lane plan sinks By Lisa Scagliotti Free Press Staff Writer Reopening the Lime Kiln Road bridge as a one-lane span also carrying a water line became an unlikely alternative Thursday when officials opened Financially troubled shelter to sell halfway house By Ann E. Donlan Free Press Staff Writer The Burlington Emergency Shelter is selling a halfway house for former homeless men with alcohol and drug problems to stave off financial problems that have plagued the shelter since fall.

Men who had been living in the 38 N. Winooski Ave. home have moved into the upstairs of the shelter at 89 North said Jon Svitavsky, shelter founder and a member of the board that runs it. The consolidation of halfway house occupants into the privately Human Services is blamed for possible late adjournment Lawmakers: Agency slowed budget talks By Betsy Liley Free Press Staff Writer MONTPELIER The House Appropriations Committee is almost a week behind schedule in preparing the 1992 budget, which could push the legislative session past the April 26 target date for adjournment. "The problem is that it creates a situation that sends us past the adjournment date.

The people of the state have a right to know that it was not the legis-lative branch," Rep. Michael Obuchowski, D-Rockingham, said Thursday. He blamed it on late information from the Human Services Agency, which threw the committee into confusion. Agency Secretary Cornelius Hogan on Wednesday presented a $6.4 million list of programs to be eliminated or trimmed. The budget delay has a domino effect on the rest of the legislative process.

The 1992 budget likely will not be presented to the full House until the middle of next week. The 'right to dry' bill Rep. Chuck R. Ross D-Hinesburg, works Thursday in a Statehouse meeting room where the House Natural Resources and Energy Committee is considering a bill requiring that Vermonters be allowed to dry clothes outdoors. Lawmakers have nicknamed the legislation the 'right to dry' bill.

It is intended to counter restrictions at many condominiums and apartments. '1'.