By Guy Page
VTDigger yesterday published an account of a lively three-way discussion between Vermont Democratic Party Executive Director James Dandeneau, a 14-year-old legislative page, and VDC Social Media Director and reporter Paul Bean yesterday afternoon in the hallway outside of the Senate Chamber of the Vermont State House.
The account, authored by Digger Bureau Chief Sarah Mearhoff, appears in the final segment of the Final Reading column for February 1.
After reading the account and discussing it with Paul, I asked him to write up his side of the story of what happened Thursday, February 1. I have no beef with Digger writing about this: Dandeneau and Bean – who also ran a strong fourth in the three-seat Washington County Senate race in 2022 – are both public figures and they were speaking in a very public place. Bean’s account does includes some facts the Digger account lacked – including Durandeau’s longstanding social media beef with Bean.
Paul Bean account of yesterday’s encounter
I’m just telling a story from my perspective, and I will let the reader decide for themselves.
On Wednesday afternoon, I was sitting outside the House of Representatives Chamber on my IPad, reading all about Vermont’s dispatch nightmare, when one of the pages from the State House approached me to inquire about who I worked for, and what I was working on. She really seemed to want to know what my take on feminism was… She told me a bit about herself, and went on with her day.
I thought the interaction was a bit odd, however I did not really make much of it.
Fast forward to yesterday.
I’m sitting outside the senate chambers, fine tuning an article, when I again, was approached by the very same page. This time she was not so timid. She asked “are you like a male rights activist or something?” To which I replied, “I’m really not sure how to answer that question.”
She then asked, “well, do you like think feminism is stupid?”
At this point I was sure the interaction was odd, but I’m a so-called “free thinker” and I’m not afraid that my views will “get me in trouble” or “canceled.”
So I obliged.
I told her “I think the original idea of feminism was good. Voting rights and equality in the workplace, however I think a lot of feminism today can be reduced to “we hate men.” (I should have added specifically- “we hate white men.”)
She inquired more about me. She wanted to know who I was, what my name was, and who I was working for. When I told her my name she didn’t believe me. Thankfully Russ Ingalls was walking by and I asked him to confirm my name and he did.
She was persistent and not going anywhere until she got some type of response out of me. She informed me that women couldn’t take out a loan by themselves until the 1990s, which she was wrong about, it was actually 1974, which I was still very surprised by.
Okay…
I said to her “your problem is…” then I abruptly received a phone call from my boss, Guy Page. We talked for 5 minutes total per my phone log. [Editor’s note: yes, I made that call and we had that conversation.] I figured the page would scurry away during our call, however she remained seated across from me… oh well.
Amidst our conversation, he reminded me of a print out that I needed and I informed him, “oh yes I have a page right here in front of me, maybe she can help me.” To which she agreed.
However it was going to come at a cost.
“Yes I’ll print that out, here is my email. But first you have to tell me what is wrong with me, what’s my problem…”
And I said, “you’re too wrapped up in all this crap.”
And she replied “what do you mean?”
She had informed me the day before that she had a fairly religious background.
So I asked her “have you ever read the book of Genesis?”
“Yes.”
“So you know the story of Adam and Eve right?”
And she said “yeah I know that women were created from Adam’s Rib.”
“Sure.” I said.
“Whether or not the story of Adam and Eve is true or not, I still think it’s an amazing analogy on life and the relationship between men, women, and God. There’s just something about this world that we can’t change.”
And out of nowhere storms into the scene, executive director of the Vermont Democratic Party, Jim Dandeneau.
“Oh really, Paul Bean? You can’t change the world? Didn’t you just host a chemtrail rally this weekend?!?!” Get the hell out of here!” And pointed towards the door.
I started laughing. And laughing hard. To which he became visibly upset. At the time I didn’t know who he was – I’d never met him. But he sure knew me…
“Is this guy harassing you?,” Dandeneau asked the page. “Are you alright?”
I replied “she’s been harassing me for the past 20 minutes, actually. You are being extremely rude, you need to calm down.”
“Yeah sure Paul, why don’t you go drink some onion water!”
I couldn’t contain myself at this point. The laughter was rising to the top. I realized when he said who he was.
Jim and I history… or should I say a one-sided history.
Last year Jim and his team spent “hours” digging through my Twitter posts to find “the worst” things I’ve said online. Of course his goal was to attack Governor Scott through me.
After another exchange, the interaction pretty much ended. I sat there in complete disbelief as to how someone could be so rude.
If you go read through their online attacks, the memes they choose sort of make their party look like zombies. They attack me for a slew of memes, jokes, and replies that in all honestly I can stand by without any fear or repercussions.
The chair of the party with a super majority and increasing control and power amongst local government and statewide government seems fixated on me. Don’t they have bigger fish to fry? For example the housing crisis, ever increasing homelessness, and a budget on the brink of failure.
Conclusion
As editor and publisher of VDC, I haven’t heard anything else about this incident. If I do, my readers will be the first to know. Paul, as a relative newcomer to the State House, doesn’t know that pages aren’t authorized to print material for press or members of the public. But that’s almost besides the point. I’m most perplexed by Dandeneau’s behavior. I’ve known GOP Chair Paul Dame and Progressive chair Anthony Pollina for many years and through agreement and disagreement with both our conversations have always been civil and professional. I can’t imagine either of them treating me – treating anyone – the way Dandeneau treated Paul.
Odd interaction, indeed.
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