| In light of the very recent Supreme Court decision upholding a permit for JLD Properties to build a big box Walmart in St. Albans, I have a challenge to put to Governor Peter Shumlin:
Deliver to us the transparency and accountability that you pledged just months ago in your election campaign.
I bought it; hook, line and sinker; and I worked tirelessly after your nomination to see you elected.
Just three short months after you took office, I sent an e-mail on the governor's website asking that, given the nature and intent of Act 250 permitting, science, and not just business, be represented in appointments to the District 6 Environmental Commission.
I also specifically explained the potential conflicts of interests that made businessman and Douglas appointee Dan Luneau an inappropriate choice for that commission. As I pointed out, the fact that his family has opportunistically located a big retail business at Exit 20 of I-89, where most large-scale development requiring Act 250 review is likely to occur, makes his bias permanently suspect.
That bias has already been raised as an issue at the Act 250 hearings regarding the St. Albans Walmart, but Mr. Luneau refused to recuse himself.
Vermont law, it seems, leaves it up to the individual to decide for himself whether or not he can act in a quasi-judicial role without bias.
As naive as this arrangement seems, it is worsened by the fact that there is no penalty if the individual acting in this role is found to have made a judgement that was contaminated by his conflict of interests.
Bearing all of this in mind, and in light of the fact that accountability had been so much a component of his election promises, one would think that the Governor might take very seriously the concerns raised by a District 6 resident about appointments to her local Commission.
Without recounting once again the slow exchange of phone calls and letters in a vain attempt to get the Governor to not re-appoint Mr. Luneau as Chair of the District 6 commission, I will just leave you to read all of that in the link I have provided.
Today I have been told that there is also no penalty enforceable on Bob Johnson who was the chairman of the DRB that issued the local Walmart permit, despite the fact that the Supreme Court of Vermont clearly states in its findings that his actions flagrantly violated our civil rights.
So much for accountability.
There is a culture of cronyism run wild in Vermont. It contaminates decisions on such a routine basis that most people have simply come to accept it as "just the way things get done."
This simply is WRONG. If you can't see that, I'm afraid there isn't much hope for the promise of accountability.
Here then is my challenge to the Shumlin administration:
Make good on your promise. Charge the legislature with drafting a statewide ethics policy that effectively addresses conflicts of interests by establishing meaningful penalties for violations.
We deserve that much protection at least. |
