“Todd Bailey has been a fixture at the Statehouse for years — first as executive director of the Vermont League of Conservation Voters and now as a lobbyist for the Dem-friendly firm KSE Partners. Come January, Bailey will take on a new role as treasurer of a new “Super PAC” named Americans for a Better Tomorrow, Today, part of a new branch of KSE Campaigns. The PAC name is a reference to Stephen Colbert’s Super PAC Americans For a Better Tomorrow, Tomorrow, but the purpose is dead serious.”

http://www.7dvt.com/2011vermont-politicos-watch-2012

“The core lesson from the historic campaign in Vermont is that the great advantage that the gay and lesbian community and their allies have is that they are real,” Ellis says. “That campaign in Vermont was the most authentic political effort I’ve ever been a part of because people were doing it for all the right reasons. They weren’t making money and they were doing it because it was something they truly believed in. In the end, that is what sways skeptics.”

Read the rest at the Times Argus: http://www.timesargus.com/article/20110726/NEWS02/707269950

Read the full story here: http://www.forbes.com/feeds/ap/2011/07/25/general-vt-health-care-lobbying_8582879.html

groSolar Expands Solar Distribution and Commercial Business
Sells Residential Division to SolarCity

White River Junction, Vt. – groSolar today announced the expansion of its solar distribution and large-scale commercial business, positioning the company for future growth. To facilitate this, groSolar announced today that it has sold its residential division to SolarCity, the nation’s largest residential solar service provider.

“This transaction allows us to concentrate fully on our distribution and commercial businesses, which are the fastest growing solar markets,” said Jeff Wolfe, CEO, groSolar. “It allows us to target, expand and move our distribution and commercial solar businesses to the next level. It’s a very exciting time for the company and our customers.”

groSolar’s distribution channel has seen tremendous growth. A strengthened focus on inventory, quality technology from manufacturers, and market development will allow groSolar to continue as a leading nationwide, full-service solar distributor. groSolar has added sales and customer service staff to its distribution team and will continue to enhance its services.

groSolar’s commercial division has received contracts for multiple large-scale commercial projects in 2011. In the coming weeks, groSolar will commission its largest commercial installation to date, at Clean Harbors landfill in New Jersey. The 1.5 megawatt installation, which will sit on top of a capped landfill, will power equipment used to decontaminate groundwater and offset 90% of the facility’s annual electric bill. The commercial team will hire more personnel to support the new growth.
SolarCity will take over all support and maintenance services to groSolar’s existing and contracted residential customers immediately.

“We are extremely proud of the industry leadership demonstrated by groSolar over the past decade of experience. We look forward to an increased focus on our existing distribution and commercial channels, while we are also pleased that most of our skilled residential division personnel will continue this important work, now for SolarCity,” said Wolfe. “We share the mission of affordable solar for all and we’re certain that our residential channel could not be in better hands. Furthermore, our distribution and commercial divisions will be stronger than ever.”

About groSolar
groSolar is North America’s premier provider of solar energy solutions for commercial and residential applications. groSolar serves the 1-30 MW commercial markets with complete EPC, financing, and development options, while serving the residential markets exclusively through our nationwide dealer network value added distribution services. Founded in 1998, groSolar brings leading knowledge to the industry and integrates components from leading solar manufacturers into simple solar energy solutions, which generate clean, reliable energy for decades. groSolar is a mission-driven company dedicated to providing high quality solar energy systems and financial solutions. Learn more at groSolar.com or call 800.374.4494.

Bassist and vocalist Nick Sherman is part of the KSE lobbying team.

Drummer and cover artist Jeremiah Johnson is an analyst for KSE FOCUS.

Click here for a review: http://7dvt.com/2010torpedo-rodeo-vs-sharktopus

Follow them on Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/torpedorodeo
Click here for their myspace: http://www.myspace.com/therealtorpedorodeo
Official Torpedo Rodeo website: http://torpedorodeo.com/

MONTPELIER, Vt. – Our friend, colleague and partner Steve Kimbell announced his retirement today from Kimbell Sherman Ellis (KSE). After 34 years at the center of every major political and policy debate in Vermont, Steve has decided it is time to pursue other challenges.

“This has been a great run,” said Kimbell, “but intuition tells me this is the right time to move on.”

“Steve Kimbell has represented our clients with dignity, intelligence, wit and unparalleled resolve and he will retire as the most respected lobbyist ever to walk the halls of the Vermont Statehouse,” said Bob Sherman, who founded the firm with Kimbell in 1987.

Kimbell is an Illinois native with a B.A. from the University of Illinois and J.D. from the University of Michigan Law School. He served on active duty in the U.S. Marine Corps from 1970-72.

Steve began working in the Vermont Statehouse in 1976 as an attorney with  Vermont Legal Aid. He learned the Montpelier lobbying trade representing the low income community.  He spent two years as a policy adviser to former Governor Madeleine M. Kunin and then returned to private practice.

KSE Partner Kevin Ellis said: “We view Steve’s retirement with some sadness and enormous pride in a terrific past and a successful future that will be carried on by the creative and highly-skilled professionals at our firm.”

Chuck Storrow, the firm’s managing partner, said that KSE is well-prepared to make the transition when Steve’s retirement becomes official on July 1.

“We will miss Steve both personally and professionally, but the firm in recent years has grown substantially both in numbers and fields of practice.”

KSE, with offices in Montpelier, Boston and Washington, DC, is a multi-state government/public affairs/communications firm with 25 professionals and a national network of strategic partners.  In addition to lobbying Vermont state government, the firm provides multi-state legislative/regulatory strategy in government affairs and manages marketing and public relations campaigns throughout the U.S.  KSE’s affiliated law firm, Kimbell Storrow Buckley Hughes, represents clients before Vermont’s regulatory agencies.

KSE is planning for growth and will announce exciting changes in the coming weeks. As always, we are committed to delivering the same high standard of service to our clients that was established by our co-founder Steve Kimbell.

All of us at KSE wish Steve a happy and productive retirement.

For more information, contact Kevin Ellis, 802.371.8112 or Kevin@ksefocus.com.

Kimbell Sherman Ellis, LLP

Vermonters Confront Collapse with Michael Ruppert
Author & Peak Oil Activist to lecture across Vermont May 13-16

White River Junction, Vt. -  Chelsea Green Publishing announced today that author Michael C. Ruppert will give a series of talks in Vermont about the peak oil crisis and what we must do to confront it.

The Los Angeles-based Ruppert, author of Confronting Collapse and the subject of the Chris Smith/Bluemark Films 2009 documentary Collapse, will discuss and sign copies of his book in Burlington, Montpelier, Brattleboro and Woodstock May 13-16.

Ruppert is a former LAPD narcotics officer turned investigative journalist who details the intricate connections between money and energy, including the ways in which oil shortages and price spikes triggered the economic crash that began in September 2008. Fossil fuel, and oil in particular, is the single resource on which our whole industrial civilization is built, and inexpensive, easy-to-access supplies are now in a state of accelerating and irreversible decline. In Confronting Collapse, Ruppert predicts that as much as two-thirds of the human race may perish in the next five to 10 years as global oil sources dry up, food disappears and lights go out around the world.

Ruppert’s Vermont speaking tour will focus on the tangible steps we must take to confront the grave reality we face globally.  In Confronting Collapse, Ruppert outlines 25 steps the nation and all states should implement immediately, including the creation of a second strategic petroleum reserve for the use of state and local governments, and national Feed-in Tariff legislation to support renewable energy sources.

In the film documentary Collapse, filmmaker Chris Smith set out to make a film about peak oil and ended by filming Ruppert, chain-smoking in an abandoned meat-packing warehouse in downtown Los Angeles. Called “shockingly persuasive” and “unexpectedly moving” by the New York Times, the film has received rave reviews from the LA Times, Variety, Chicago Sun-Times, USA Today, Entertainment Weekly, The Onion, and many others.  Says Robert Ebert of the Chicago Sun Times, “Above all else see Collapse. Above all else.”

Ruppert is an internationally sought-after speaker on peak oil who lectures across the nation.  His statewide tour is sponsored by Chelsea Green Publishing, Vermont Commons, The Candidates for Vermont Independence, and Free Vermont Radio, as well as 21 local sponsors.

TOUR SCHEDULE:

BURLINGTON – May 13, 2010, 7:30 pm – Burlington City Hall, Contois Auditorium

149 Church Street, Burlington

MONTPELIER – May 14, 2010, 7:30 pm, Unitarian Church of Montpelier

130 Main Street, Montpelier

BRATTLEBORO – May 15, 2010, 7:30 pm, Brattleboro Union High School

131 Fairground Road, Brattleboro

WOODSTOCK – May 16, 2010, 7:00 pm Woodstock Town Hall Theatre

31 The Green, Woodstock.  Features screening of the film Collapse followed by Q & A with Ruppert.

LOCAL SPONSORS:

Burlington sponsors:  Peace & Justice Center , Transition Town Charlotte, Transition Town Shelburne, UVM Environmental Program, and Burlington Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom.

Montpelier sponsors: Transition Town Montpelier, Food Works at Two Rivers Center, The Bridge, Post-Carbon Sustainability Network, Peak Oil Awareness, and Rural Vermont.

Brattleboro sponsors: Post Oil Solutions, Save the Corporations from Themselves, and Marlboro College MBA in Managing for Sustainability.

Woodstock/Upper Valley sponsors: Pentangle Arts Council, groSolar, Transition Town WRJ, Transition Town Hartland, Sustainable Woodstock, Pompanoosuc Agricultural Society, and Sustainable Energy Resource Group.

# # #

About Chelsea Green Publishing

For 26 years, Chelsea Green has been the publishing leader for books on the politics and practice of sustainable living. We are a founding member of the Green Press Initiative and have been printing books on recycled paper since 1985, when our first list of books appeared. We lead the industry both in terms of content—foundational books on renewable energy, green building, organic agriculture, eco-cuisine, and ethical business—and in terms of environmental practice, printing 95 percent of our books on recycled paper with a minimum 30 percent post-consumer waste and aiming for 100 percent whenever possible. This approach is a perfect example of what is called a ”triple bottom line“ practice, one that benefits people, planet, and profit, and the emerging new model for sustainable business in the 21st century. www.chelseagreen.com.

CONTACT:

Diane Zeigler
KSE Partners, LLP
802-229-4900 x 100
zig@ksefocus.com

The event is the largest elite cycling race in the country, where more than 2,000 amateur and professional cyclists will compete.

Team member Nick Bennette

“We’re proud to sponsor the MetLife team and we believe they are excellent ambassadors for groSolar’s message – that solar power is a lifestyle choice with a global impact,” said groSolar CEO Jeff Wolfe.  “In the race to save the planet, we are determined to install solar on as many rooftops as possible.  The MetLife team is exceptional group of athletes committed to practicing and promoting sustainable living, encouraging healthy ideals while racing at an elite level.   It’s a great fit for groSolar, and we hope that cycling fans will take note and adopt clean, sustainable energy practices as well.”

Founded in 1998, groSolar is the largest 100 percent U.S.-owned distributor in the solar industry, and is the fourth-largest installation company in North America. This is the first time that Vermont-based solar company has sponsored an elite cycling team.  Team members are taking advantage of the opportunity to work closely with a solar company and are participating in training sessions with groSolar to learn more about the fundamentals of solar power technology.

“We love this sport, and being committed to it means that we embrace a broader set of lifestyle choices,” said Brad Sheehan, the team’s director.  “A healthy planet begins with healthy people.  When considering climate change, there’s a planet at stake and solar power is an important part of the solution. We’re proud that a company like groSolar is getting behind us with their support, and we’re equally behind their mission to bring more solar to America’s rooftops.”

groSolar will be present at the races throughout the season to offer information about solar power to cycling fans. For more information on the team and its racing schedule, go to MetLifeCyclingTeam.com.  For more information on the Tour of the Battenkill, visit TouroftheBattenkill.com.

The ‘MetLife Cycling Team powered by groSolar’ cyclists have support from MetLife, groSolar, Sheehan Graphic Design, Landry’s Bicycles (Boston), S&W Sports (Concord, NH), Trek Bicycle and Brighter Planet.

About groSolar

groSolar is North America’s premier distributor, installer and integrator of solar energy solutions for residential and commercial installations. Founded in 1998, groSolar is the largest 100 percent U.S.-owned distributor in the solar industry, and is the fourth-largest installation company in North America. The company has offices and warehouses across the US, distributing solar electric and solar hot water systems from offices in VT, NJ, NY, CT, MA, MD, DE, PA, and CA. groSolar integrates components from leading solar manufacturers including Zep Solar, Canadian Solar, Solon, Motech, Heliodyne, SMA, Fronius, and UniRac into simple solar energy solutions for customers that generate clean, reliable energy for decades. groSolar is a mission-driven company dedicated to providing high quality solar energy solutions and whole energy appreciation. groSolar’s venture capital investors include NGP Energy Technology Partners, SJF Ventures, and Calvert Social Investment Fund. Learn more at groSolar.com or call 800.374.4494.

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groSolar, a national leader in solar power distribution and installation, today announced a new relationship with SOLON Corporation, a leading North American photovoltaic manufacturer. SOLON’s products and information will be on display in the groSolar booth at the upcoming Renewable Energy World Expo in Austin, Texas on February 23.

“We are pleased to bring SOLON’s modules to the US market, for our own residential and commercial installations, as well as through our nationwide network of dealers,” said groSolar CEO Jeff Wolfe.