Bruce Lisman, retired Wall Street baron and Grand Poobah of the shadowy Campaign for Vermont, is at it again, calling for greater transparency in state government in an opinion piece posted Saturday March 25 on Vermont Digger.
We aggressively promote transparency because without it, we are left with uninformed arguments and angry partisanship and a government lacking accountability to you – its citizens.
I agree with you, sir. The Center for Public Integrity recently gave Vermont a grade of D+ in accountability and transparency. That’s not good enough. Without transparency we are, indeed, left with uninformed arguments.
But you, Mr. Lisman, calling for greater transparency. That’s rich. And not “rich” in the “made a pile on Wall Street” sense, but in the “”funny, sad and ironic all at once” sense.
You call for transparency from the cozy confines of a completely opaque organization. You’ve voluntarily disclosed that you are CFV’s sole funder, but you refuse to say how much money you’ve given or how much CFV has spent. As you did in a March 14 interview with VPR’s Jane Lindholm.
I can’t reveal here. But we have some filing obligations which we’ll have to meet. …We have reporting deadlines and you’ll see it just like everyone else.
Yes, you have filing obligations and you promise to meet them. Because you “have to.” Let me remind you of your filing obligations.
As a 501c4 group, CFV is required to file an annual report of financial activities — on May 15 of next year!
Your group is obviously engaged in some of this year’s biggest issues. Do you really think we should wait until seven months after the election to learn anything about CFV’s finances?
Is that your idea of transparency?
You’ve said that you are simply abiding by the rules. And that’s true. But you chose to organize CFV as a 501c4 — a type of organization notorious for its lack of transparency. You could have chosen to organize as a more transparent, open type of group, but you did not. You chose to hide behind the rules you now claim to be obeying.
In your VPR interview, you pointed with pride to your voluntary disclosure that you are CFV’s only donor.
I think we’ve been more transparent than we needed to be, or had to be. Pretty good step, I’d say.
Well, I wouldn’t. I’d call it transparency tokenism: a small, essentially meaningless gesture. And you’re promising not to tell us anything more until May 15, 2013. Gee, thanks.
And now let’s talk about the “transparency” of CFV’s strategy. You tout “nonpartisan and informed debate” that produces “middle-of-the-road, common sense public policy.”
But why, if that’s really true, do all your arguments and positions seem to be essentially Republican? And why is all your criticism aimed at the Democrats? Sure, you couch it in terms of “politicians in Montpelier”* but we all know who you’re talking about.
*You’re apparently trying to turn “Montpelier” into a curse word along the lines of “San Francisco” or “Massachusetts,” and for that, I, a resident of Montpelier, offer you my heartfelt gratitude. You Wall Street one-percenter, you.
You rail about Governor Shumlin’s health care reform plan, Democratic plans to increase our use of renewable energy, the Governor’s desire to close Vermont Yankee, and the rising cost of education. I haven’t heard one peep about a single bad idea from a Republican — nor have I heard anything about Jim Douglas’ responsibility for the perceived shortfalls of state government. If there are problems with state government, perhaps Eight-Year Jim had more to do with it than One-Year Shumlin.
Your platform — under the bashful monicker “The Lisman Perspective” — is full of conservative dog-whistles that make it very clear where you and CFV are coming from. And CFV’s top brass includes a whole lot of prominent Republican politicos and donors, along with a few token “moderates.”
So you’re keeping CFV’s finances secret, and you’re pursuing a deliberately misleading course of action. Is this your idea of transparency?
These failures in transparency and accountability must be addressed. Vermonters can’t hold their government accountable without it.
Again, I agree with you. But I’d turn that statement right back at you: Your failures in transparency and accountability must be addressed. Vermonters can’t hold you and CFV accountable without it.
All Vermonters should read this post. CFV is nothing but a front for conservative Republican views. CFV is holding to the same ol’ conservative principle – “Do as we say, not as we do!” Lisman, et al, have decided that the way to convince Vermonters CFV is correct and the elected Democratic majority in this state is wrong is to simply send out a barrage of untruths, misstatements and other scare tactics. What they fail to realize is that Vermonters are smart enough to see through these dark claims coming from the opaque house. But, don’t expect CFV to open its windows and doors to let the sunshine in. They believe that openness is for others, not for them. Remember they are priviledged by money.
Lisman is clever, though. His group is all former Douglas people and I wonder how much the Ethan allen institute has to with Lisman’s group. It is galling for him to yap about transparency when he has never even been to a green Mountain care board meeting and while his own organization is concealed in secrecy.