Peter Freyne, Seven Days, May 10, 2006

It's been four years since Howard Dean ruled the roost in Montpeculiar as governor, but his clout lives on!

That was demonstrated last week when H.227 suddenly came off the wall in Sen. Jim Leddy's Senate Health and Welfare Committee. The bill, backed strongly by the nurses' union, would set "safe staffing" levels in Vermont hospitals in order to guarantee "quality patient care."

H.227 had zipped through the House but was rotting on Leddy's wall. Rotting, that is, until Howard Dean got involved. ... Ho-Ho