As the screw turns: ‘Break their will’ climate czar resigns

By Guy Page

A high-ranking Massachusetts climate change official has resigned after he was caught on a Jan. 25 video advising the Vermont Climate Council to “turn the screws” on elderly fixed-income citizens and “break their will” in order to meet climate change mandates.

In a Feb. 10 letter, David Ismay submitted his resignation as Undersecretary for Climate Change in the Massachusetts Executive Office of Energy and Environmental Affairs.

Screen Capture

David Ismay, right middle square

“I would like to apologize, again, for my comments at last month’s Vermont Climate Council meeting,” he wrote to Secretary Kathleen A. Theoharides, Executive Office of Energy and Environmental Affairs. “My inability to clearly communicate during that discussion reflected poorly on the Governor, on you, and on our hardworking staff. Although my comments were interpreted by some as placing the burden of climate change on hardworking families and vulnerable populations, my intent was the opposite. In the entirety of my remarks, and as I have elsewhere, I was urging caution in order to minimize such impacts out of a sincere concern that overly aggressive emissions targets may have unintended and harmful consequences on those we most need to protect.”

Ismay told the Vermont Climate Council: “So let me say that again, 60% of our emissions that need to be reduced come from you, the person across the street, the senior on fixed income, right … there is no bad guy left, at least in Massachusetts to point the finger at, to turn the screws on, and you know, to break their will, so they stop emitting. That’s you. We have to break your will. Right, I can’t even say that publicly.”

The screw started turning on Ismay after Massfiscal.org flagged and publicized the video comments. A subsequent column by Howie Carr in the Boston Herald reported that the hard-driving climate warrior holds a private pilot’s license. Then Mass Fiscal also released a video of him appearing to say that transmission lines needed for offshore wind projects would take precedence over the needs of the fishing industry.

“Something has to give,” Ismay said, appearing to refer to the fishing industry. But in the end, that “something” was Ismay’s job.

Read more of Guy Page’s reports. Vermont Daily is sponsored by True North Media.

Image courtesy of Screen Capture

20 thoughts on “As the screw turns: ‘Break their will’ climate czar resigns

  1. The Peter Principle comes into play here. The definition of this principle is that given the opportunity every person will eventually reach his or her level of incompetence. It would appear that by his ridiculous statement he has thankfull reached his before being able to cause too much damage.
    I would say say that John Kerry is the one who will cause the most amount of climate problems.

  2. It is good to see that people are fed up with the climate zealots and we need to keep forcing them out and get back to common sense policies that create real jobs.
    I think we all wonder why VT has gone from a healthy State to an ailing, radical one. We do use Dominion voting machines don’t we? And other voting machines can also be connected to the internet to allow hackers to change votes. And how many town clerks complained of questionable ballots? Just sayin’.

  3. “climate change mandates” – I propose a minor change in nomenclature: Climate Change Madness. Nothing whatsoever that Vermont does is going to change, even temporarily, the climate short of having its own volcano – and the Biden administration surely won’t give them a permit for that. If the citizenry of Vermont totally vacated the state (and it seems to be happening) it still won’t change the climate.

  4. David Ismay was in a job way above his abilities.
    He has been known to use blustering words, likely to cover his shortcomings
    He thought he had power, but he certainly displayed no wisdom.
    He was a blustering super-zealot, “fighting climate change”
    Vermont has those types in and out of government as well.

    I am totally shocked the befuddled Vermont Council would ask an idiot in MASSACHUSETTS for advice.

    Why in hell is that drowning Council not asking over-taxed, over-regulated Vermonters, who trying to make ends meet in Vermont’s near-zero, real-growth economy.

    Poor Vermonters, sure as hell, do not need electric busses that cost $300,000 each, and have PROVEN IN MASSACHUSETTS TO BE A FLOP, because they did not reduce operating costs and did not reduce CO2, on a lifetime, A-to-Z basis.

    All this GWSA business stinks to high heavens
    Here we have the STATE GOVERNMENT turning itself inside out to do CONSTITUENT SERVICE for a bunch of RE lobbyists, who have been coddling LEGISLATORS, in whatever way required.

    They have been at it for 20 years, and have spent more than $2 BILLION, for useless government energy programs, that did not reduce Vermont’s CO2, but, sure as hell, raised the costs of doing business in Vermont, leading to a zero-growth economy, and stagnant real incomes.

    This super nonsense and irrationality will not stop until the Democrats are voted out EN MASSE.

    • Please repeat that last sentence again and again and again until the voters get it. There really can’t be that many brain dead climate change zealots voting. The problem is that regular people are not seeing it or hearing it in the Vermont left wing news. Nothing is going to change here until the press starts telling the truth and stops censoring what they don’t want people to see.

      • Dani,

        The VT Media, except True North Reports, is under the control of the
        Left-Socialist-Bernie Wing of the Dem/Prog party.

        Which Legislators have the courage to speak enough is enough, regarding all the nuttiness in Vermont?

        The Vermont government is at least 50% bigger than it needs to be.

        The Vermont government needs to get out of the Education, Health and Energy sectors.

        Put the teachers in charge
        Put the doctors in charge
        Put the engineers in charge
        Put local people in charge

        Reverse command/control-style centralized government.
        It is ruining the nature of true Vermonters

        Get the Ismay-style climate zealots out of government.
        Give control back to the local people

        Why can’t they face the reality, there is ABSOLUTELY NOTHING Vermont can do regarding climate change.

        It is TOTALLY ABSURD to claim otherwise.

        Show some spine.
        Do what needs to be done
        Just junk the the unconstitutional GWSA.
        It is a USELESS piece of paper.

        There will never be anywhere near the funding to implement the VT Comprehensive Energy Plan,
        $1.25 BILLION PER YEAR FOR 30 YEARS?

    • Addition:

      In the Valley News today, Feb 12, Governor Sununu presented his budget, which includes TAX CUTS:

      – Lowering the Business Enterprise Tax
      – Increasing the threshold to except 30,000 small businesses from filling for the BET
      – Five-year phase-out of the 5% Interest and Dividend Tax (especially beneficial for retirees)
      – Reducing the Rooms and Meals Tax from 9% to 8.5% (especially beneficial for tourism)

      Remember, New Hampshire already has:

      – No sales tax
      – No income tax
      – Does not tax social security payments
      – Does not tax distributions from Retirement Accounts, such as SEPs, IRAs, etc.
      – Does not have an inheritance tax

      No wonder the New Hampshire economy is booming!!!!!

      What does the SOCIALIST, CLIMATE-FIGHTING Vermont State Government do?

      The Environment Committee of 21, at a loss on how to implement the unconstitutional GWSA, has a ZOOM meeting with a climate zealot in MASSACHUSETTS, who was FIRED the next day, for making inappropriate/zealot “BREAK THEIR WILL” exhortations.

      Vermont’s “government” misplaced priorities are OFF-THE-CHARTS IDIOTIC.

      Vermont’s “government” wants more:

      – Foreign and domestic Solar Systems in meadows and cleared forests, with the heavily subsidized production charged to the utility rate base at 21.5 c/kWh, plus DUCK-curve management costs, plus variability/intermittency costs, plus grid augmentation/extension costs.

      – Foreign and domestic Wind Turbine Systems, 450 ft tall on pristine ridge lines, with the heavily subsidized production charged to there utility rate base at about 9 c/kWh, plus variability/intermittency costs 24/7/365, plus grid augmentation/extension costs.

      – More of REGRESSIVE, BREAK-THEIR-WILL taxes on fuel oil and gasoline to implement electric buses at $300,000 EACH, a hare-brained scheme, dreamt up by climate zealots.

      – A $15/h minimum wage, which is guaranteed to REDUCE JOBS, INCREASE UNEMPLOYMENT, AND UNEMPLOYMENT PAYMENTS

      Vermont’s government is stagnant, and on FEDERAL LIFE SUPPORT

  5. Although David Ismay made a fatal job ending political mistake, he has actually done the people of Vermont a favor when making the statement: “there is no bad guy left….to point the finger at, to turn the screws on, and you know, to break their will.”………..He told us the truth!

    It’s going to be regular Vermonters and the elderly on fixed income who will bear the brunt of the burden that the Global Warming Solutions Act (GWSA) will dish out. Regular Vermonters will pay big time and be the losers……..And the winners will be the renewable energy industry and other businesses that have heavily lobbied the Legislature to pass the GWSA. They will now handsomely profit by providing the mechanisms costing hundreds of millions required to lower CO2 levels.

    The GWSA might lower CO2 levels, however, there will be no “global warming solution”. This we’ve been told by Biden Climate Czar John Kerry and even by Vermont Representative Scott Campbell.

    Vermonters have now heard from David Ismay that they will be the ones to bear the burden…….Vermonters will not like it and that’s why the Climate Council is going to have to “turn the screws and break the will of the people”…….Just as David Ismay has honestly told us has to happen.

    • Peter,

      First they will do fingerprints
      Then you will wear a double mask forever (Fauci, the fountain of common sense, says it is better), to prove you are one of us
      Then you will have a chip implant for remote command/control purposes
      You will be “trained” like a Pavlov dog

      If you resist in any way, you will be ostracized, declared a non-person, deprived of your livelihood, and forced to place your thumbs in a Vermont-invented device.

      Climate zealots will turn the screws, until you say uncle, or croak.

  6. Looks like “cancel culture” can go both ways. Wishing him the best in his “next career endeavors.” Maybe a job turning screws somewhere.

      • Earl,

        You mean like the West Virginia coal miners Biden is putting out of business?
        Oh no!

        Instead, we will be importing more illegal, unskilled, uneducated/semi-literate, unexperienced aliens, and have THEM design solar panels and write software. They will just walk across the unprotected border

        What about the Keystone pipeline folks and the whole supply chain attached to it?

        They will become solar panels designers and striptease software as well?

        AOC said, she likes the way things are going.

    • He’ll be back, perhaps in another State, perhaps in some federal agency, doing exactly what he did in MA. The climate change fanatics will take good care of him.

      The VT GOP needs to capture the moment and start playing 30 sec spots on radio & television.

  7. As always their words are taken out of context. He meant what he said and obviously had thought about it making the comment ” I can’t say this publicly”.

    Turn the screws doen is exactly what he meant and he’s full of Bull%*#* to suggest anything else.

    He forgot what he was saying was being recored is what happened.

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