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In reply to the discussion: I would support Howard Dean for Vermont's US Senator... [View all]DFW
(54,058 posts)I got this from someone in Burlington who was a Sanders supporter last year, but is personally close to Howard as well, closer, in fact, than to Bernie on a personal level, although he knows Bernie well, too.
As I heard it, Sanders was mayor of Burlington and was looking for ways to raise money for the city. Howard was a member of the Vermont House of Representatives, which, even though he rose to assistant minority leader, was still very much a part-time position, and he was still an actively practicing physician. There was some stretch of land between the edge of the city that Sanders wanted developed with housing. Howard wanted it left alone as undeveloped public land that anyone could use to go by foot or bicycle to get to and from the lake shore. The dispute grew into a big legal fight, and Howard, even back then a big environmentalist, won the dispute. Each was furious with the other, and they didn't speak for four years after that.
Before anyone tries to make too much of that, though, it means they HAVE again been on speaking terms for nearly the last 30 years.