Burlington Mayor Kiss Using Staff Time to Move Forward with Lockheed Martin "Partnership." by: Jonathan Leavitt Originally Published on Green Mountain Daily Fri Jun 10, 2011 at 12:31:37 PM EDT

Despite a City Council resolution which was passed in February, 2011, Burlington Mayor Kiss is using staff time to move forward with a Lockheed Martin "Partnership" without notifying the public. Burlington Community Development and Neighborhood Revitalization Committee Meeting 6-7-11 from Arthur Hynes on Vimeo. Burlington Community Development and Neighborhood Revitalization Committee Meeting 6-7-11 from Arthur Hynes on Vimeo. The last clause of Councilor Mulvaney-Stanank's February 7th resolution states, "Let it be further resolved, that CEDO shall seek public input through at least one public meeting at City Hall before the City agrees to proceed with a proposal involving Lockheed Martin." Inside a controversy filled meeting Tuesday, Larry Kupferman, director of Burlington's Community Economic Development Office (CEDO) informed the City Council's Community Development and Neighborhood Review committee that CEDO, at Mayor Kiss' direction, has been moving forward with plans for a project with Lockheed Martin. The plan involves a conference to be held in conjunction with Lockheed Martin, University of Vermont and University of Maryland, to be hosted in August at UVM. In describing the conference, Kupferman referred to a "partnership" with Lockheed, but when questioned, declined to define the amount of time or details of the CEDO involvement.

These revelations drew strong criticism not only from a room full of constituents, but City Councilors too, including one from the Mayor's own Progressive Party. Ward 3 Progressive City Councilor Emma Mulvaney-Stanak said "Given the attention on this issue I'd hoped things would be a little more public, or at least the Council would be informed about discussions that were still happening with Lockheed in any sort of public way. [...] I think given the interest the public has shown on this it would have been nice if the Mayor had, and nice is not even the appropriate word, it would have been I think more appropriate for the Mayor to mention it in the public comments or have something that go out, so people have a chance to weigh in. Knowing that this process [drafting community standards] is still going on." Burlington residents joined the City Councilors in voicing their displeasure with Mayor Kiss actions. Ward 2 Burlington Progressive Jonathan Leavitt said, "It just seems like a real affront to democracy for the Mayor to move forward with Lockheed Martin as this process is still unfolding, as City Councilors and citizens are partnering in good faith to craft thoughtful legislation. For the City to move forward, with corporate sponsorships just like this, for the Mayor to have CEDO staff using staff time as you just said, to move forward with this in total contravention of [Councilor Mulvaney-Stanak's] early February City Council resolution. Why are we here? Why do we have City Councilors drafting legislation if it isn't going to be followed? Where does that leave the citizens of Burlington who are partnering in good faith disregards those good faith gestures. What does that leave us to do?" Burlington lawyer and activist Sandy Baird questioned CEDO Director Larry Kupferman, saying "I was surprised at the words you used, a 'partnership.'" Baird continued, "I thought there was a letter of intent to continue negotiations. And that's really of concern to me. I thought this was going to be more of a public process before you continued." Peggy Lurs opined, "Our climate change problem isn't just about technicalities, but a lack of democracy." In a charged exchange with Kupferman, Liza Cowan said, "So in other words CEDO broke the resolution, they broke the public faith." South End resident Jay Vos appealed to the CEDO director to explain the seeming contradictions of the Mayor's policy, "Can you explain this? Because it's beyond me." In six months since Mayor Kiss' dealing with the world's largest war profiteer leaked in the media, Burlington residents concerns about Mayor Kiss' actions have received nation attention. Perhaps you saw The New York Times coverage of your neighbors' community organizing against Mayor Kiss' controversial proposal to tie Burlington's reputation to the world's largest weapons maker, Lockheed Martin. Perhaps you saw Bill McKibben promoting No Lockheed community organizers' work on Twitter. Beyond the basic questions about responsive government that were raised at Tuesday's committee meeting, the larger question remains: why is Mayor Kiss is partnering on climate issues with a corporation that actively blocks climate legislation. Lockheed sits on the board of the US Chamber of Commerce which sues entire states to stop them from regulating climate change and lobbied against Congress' 2009 climate bill. Bill McKibben in a recent Burlington Free Press article says of Lockheed, "The fear that they could be just greenwashing is real -- for instance, these guys belong to the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, which has opposed every single good idea on energy and climate for decades; to me, that's a sign they're willing to make money on climate, but still work in Washington to prevent meaningful progress." Perhaps that's why, in the New York Times article, the head of a local sustainability company expressed serious concerns to his company's brand if this proposal moves forward. Many citizens also wonder why Mayor Kiss, who supposedly thinks Climate Change is so urgent that he needs to partner Burlington with one of the worst corporate polluters on the planet, hasn't convened his Mayoral Task Force on Climate Change since November 14, 2007. When Mayor Kiss was on the re-election trail in 2009 he frequently invoked the words of former Burlington Mayor Bernie Sanders, saying, "Burlington is open for business but not for sale." The disclosures of Tuesday night be serious questions of that pledge. Web Resources for further reading: Resolution regarding private-public partnerships and the Lockheed Martin agreement Burlington City Council Deliberative Agenda: Feb 7 https://www.facebook.com/notes... http://www.nytimes.com/2011/05... http://twitter.com/#%21/billmc...