Category Archives: local/regional

In Vermont, that’s rich

local/regional,

 

None of this is new, in fact a lot has been written lately about the increasing gap between the rich and the rest of us: income inequality. But since Vermont is entering into another round of state budget cutting maybe it is time for a quick refresher on income inequality.

So how’s it goin’ for Vermont’s top one percent of income earners — the group that yet again will likely be spared an income tax increase this year?

This map detail of the Northeast shows how much income it takes to be in the top one percent of income earners by state. [Entire map here]

The amount of income shown for Vermont, $349,000, is only the entry level income to this exclusive group (VT’s one percenters’ minimum wage). In 2011 the average income for a Vermont one-percenter was $705,000.

And it keeps getting better at the top in Vermont. Between 2009 and 2011 Vermont was one of 33 states in which the top one percent captured between half and all income growth.

Nationally since the end of the recession was declared, the top one percent has captured about 95 percent of the income gains. And one percent of earners have taken roughly one fifth of all the income earned by Americans in 2012. This trend continues for the top earners while lower earners continue to struggle.

And what of those who aren’t in the one-percent club? Income gains for everyone else, when they happen at all, are slower … or almost invisible. The 2013 median income in Vermont was $52,578.00, up slightly from the national number by about $300. With hardly any variation the median income has been in this range since 2005 when it was $54,514.00.

So, I guess the income gains at the top should start to trickle down any day now … right?

 

Updated:One…bad…day.

local/regional

Fairewind’s Associates’, Arnie Gundersen has answered our question about the safety implications of VY’s staff cuts:

1. 2003-  When VY increased its power by 20% in the “uprate”, it did not increase its staff.

2. 2009- The Oversight Panel found that VY’s staff was already too small

3. 2013- Now Entergy wants another 10% reduction.

Entergy is not cutting fat, they are cutting muscle!  The NRC stands by and lets this happen!

Those workers at VY are already overworked, based on my personal observation.  Don’t tell me safety is Entergy’s top priority.

 

It’s well past time to revisit the dysfunctional world of nuclear energy on GMD.  The downward spiral has been unwinding so relentlessly that I’m abandoning hope of ever giving each item the individual attention it so richly deserves, and am resorting to a sort of “rogues roll” of the news.

ITEM: Before we get all down and dirty with the nuclear walk of shame, take a few minutest to watch this compelling new video release from Fairewinds Associates  which goes right to the heart of the Fukushima conundrum…a slow-motion disaster that is nowhere near to resolution.  The title really nails it.

A Vermont-based non-profit (and I do mean non-profit!), Fairewinds does much of the educational heavy-lifting so necessary to bring attention to a host of critical issues around nuclear energy.  They need and deserve our support.

ITEM: On July 18, TEPCO (Tokyo Electric Power Corp.) revealed that

The operator of the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant stood ready Thursday to inject boric acid into one of its most heavily damaged reactors after it found steam emanating from the reactor building. The preventive measure would stave off sustained nuclear reactions in the reactor’s damaged core, though officials stressed that such reactions were a remote possibility.

 

The emphasis is mine, but where have we heard those assurances before?

ITEM: Same day; different continent…and right close to home, at that. Entergy revealed plans to reduce its workforce at Vermont Yankee by 10%, citing economic reasons.

Entergy’s stock has recently been downgraded from a “neutral” to a “sell.”  You might recall that this downgrade was announced soon after Entergy’s spectacular failure to provide dependable power to the Super Bowl this year.  You will also note that the company has not announced any plans to reduce the plant’s output, which was amped-up shortly before Yankee’s license was waived through the renewal process by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.

*As jvwalt has asked in his diary below, exactly when does the ratio of workers to generation load tip the safety scales precipitously?

ITEM: Back in Japan again, the Nuclear Regulatory Authority is confronting a stand-off by owner/operators of the Tsuruga nuclear power plant which refuses to comply with an order to assess the ways in which a recently confirmed  active underground fault could impact stored fuel at the facility.

In the objection filed by the utility, Japan Atomic Power argues that providing such an assessment of the risk to spent fuel would be akin to concluding that the fault is active, which they fervently deny.  If the utility is unable to convince regulators that there is no fault under the reactor then they will be forced to decommission the reactor.

‘Talk about your proverbial rock and a hard place!

The debate as to whether or not to restart any of Japan’s idled reactors continues; but money talks and as you may have noticed even in U.S. media, there’s been a concerted effort to downplay the risks from radiation in an attempt to stem the tide of resistance.  But the economics are finally beginning to be seen for what they are, and there’s a definite chill in the air toward nuclear on Wall Street, where the bottom line is in permanent residence.

ITEM: Back in the good ol’ USA, our old friend Entergy (yes, again) has another crisis of confidence down in Arkansas, where it joins Bigge Group Inc, Biggie Power Constructors, Biggie Crane and Rigging Co., Siemens Energy Inc, DP Engineering Inc and a few others in defending themselves against a wrongful death lawsuit brought by the family of Wade Walters, a 24-year old worker at Arkansas Nuclear One, who was killed March 31 during an operation to remove the Main Turbine Generator Stator.  The suit alleges that Entergy “rushed” the job to completion without competent help, in order to avoid a late fine.   Charming.

“This is an action for wrongful death, ordinary negligence, negligent hiring, negligent training, negligent supervision, negligent retention, negligent hiring of an independent contractor, for declaratory judgment, and for punitive damages, stemming from multiple incidents of recklessness and negligence that lead to the collapse of an industrial crane on Easter Sunday, 2013, killing Wade Walters.”

Anytime I’m feeling too cheerful about the future, all I need is a quick visit to enformable.com for a quick reminder of just how hair-brained the idea of putting nuclear energy in private hands always was.

Be that as it may, I can’t resist this final tidbit just to lighten the mood.

ITEM: What’s wrong with this picture?  Workers at the Perry Nuclear Power Plant in Ohio were just doing their job, when they discovered a lemonade pitcher full of radioactive water and two goldfish in one of the steam tunnels.

No one’s fessing-up to the prank, but someone helpfully provided the information that there were originally five goldfish in the pitcher, but three were apparently removed.  No word on the condition of the fish but plenty of concern was raised over the state of security at the plant, and I have just read that Perry is one of >10 or 12 nuclear power plants at greatest risk of closing in the next decade or so, due to the economic downturn of the industry as a whole.  I would guess that frat-boy pranks won’t help much to extend the life of Perry.

Well, that’s all the radioactive news I can take for one day.

Have a good ‘un.

Phil Scott’s Summer Party

local/regional,

Banking on the RLGA

Lt. Gov. Phil Scott joined the Republican Party in Boston a couple days ago. The supposedly reluctant Republican found time to attend his first Republican Lieutenant Governors Association (RLGA) meeting. And of course he didn’t “just join” the party in the sense of becoming a bona fide member, but you might be forgiven for receiving that mistaken impression if you read his comments in the Free Press’s VtBuzz. In fact, given the way he (and by lazy reportage, the Free Press) races to spin himself as a moderate, you might have gotten the impression that the entire Republican Lieutenant Governor’s Association meeting was a special bipartisan training workshop.

One Democrat, Massachusetts Lt. Governor Tim Murray, was on hand for one session, but that hardly makes the typically highly partisan event politically neutral. Murray is resigning office soon for the private sector. This is the Tim Murray who, some may recall, was arrested in 2012 for crashing a state-owned Crown Vic into a rock ledge at almost 100 mph. He was at the RLGA conference to discuss emergency preparedness planning.

So VtBuzz says Scott scooted out of town for the Boston meeting Sunday after racing at the Devils Bowl in West Haven. Scott has certainly been in politics long enough to know what to expect, but surprisingly claimed he didn’t know what to expect (and Freep political blogger Nancy Remsen takes his word for it):

“I didn’t know what to expect,” Scott said about attending a meeting of just Republican lieutenant governors. “I thought it was going to be more partisan.” [emphasis added]

Partisan enough, on the flip …

Scott claims he didn’t know what to expect, but he did expect it be “more partisan”. Well, how partisan was it?

A partisan organization, the RLGA bills itself as the only national organization committed to raising money and assisting Republicans in campaigns for Lieutenant Governor.  The RLGA is one of the party-building groups overseen by the Republican State Leadership Committee (RSLC).The RSLC chief is Ed Gillespie (former counsel to President GW Bush), who with Karl Rove founded the American Crossroads “superPAC.” Don’t know how much more ‘partisan’ the RLGA can get.

The Vice Chairman of the RLGA is Lt. Gov. Tate Reeves of Mississippi,  elected in March. His task:

“[…] helping elect more strong conservative leaders to lieutenant governor offices around the country,”

And Scott might have visited with Mike Huckabee, the former Arkansas Governor and ordained Southern Baptist minister who is certainly no stranger to red-meat partisanship, who was  on hand at the event. A happy Huckabee tweeted with joy:

Joined impressive #conservative lt. governors in Boston for @theRLGA National Meeting. Important to support these strong leaders!

Unfortunately VtBuzz’s Remsen hardly bothered to question Scott’s reporting from Boston. And it leaves one wondering: What prompted the Vermont Republican-lite lite gov to tear himself away from the race track in mid-summer?

Hmmmmn, could it possibly have been to make a pitch for campaign funds from the national Republican money raising group?

Not to mention, Scott’s first outreach to the RLGA looks more than a little interesting in the light of recent stories of a rift in the VT Republican Party that supposedly pits Scott’s “moderate” faction against that of red-meat party Chairman Jack Lindley, whose fundraising efforts lionize folks like Maine’s Gov. Paul LePage, who has broken the veto record for his state and engaged in a very public scrap with most of the state’s major dailies.

Of course, maybe it’s as simple as Scott realizing that his party is broke(n) under Lindley’s leadership, and the money to run has to come from somewhere. And Scott may have to run further to the right to qualify for RLGA funds. Attending the conference was likely a step in that direction.

Republican Senator Mullin: Betting on the lottery

Business, local/regional,

Pro gambling Republican State Senator Kevin Mullin wants more state-sponsored gambling. He says if he had his way he’d have a casino at Killington Ski area, but he knows the odds are against that happening. So, hoping to win a different prize in the final days of the legislature, the Senator finagled a provision into a budget bill. According to VTDigger.com the last minute provision requires the Vermont State Lottery commission to issue a report in November studying the computerized bingo game Keno. In computerized Keno players try to match 10 out of 20 randomly generated numbers to total 80, and winners are chosen every four minutes. Intralot, the Greece-based lottery operator that Vermont contracts with, offers Keno in other states. The multi-national gambling corporation boasts that it “has become an international protagonist in the lottery sector.” Sen. Mullin says:

“Nobody likes gambling, but the reality is, people will leave the state to go gambling elsewhere. I think it’s worth exploring.”

He claims if we don’t have Keno here people will leave the state to lose their money. Massachusetts, New York and Rhode Island feature Keno but New Hampshire does not. Mullin’s apparent ‘logic’ is that by adding Keno, we would stop Vermonters from going to NY, MA and RI for their gambling fix, but reap the rewards out of the pockets of our neighbors coming from NH – at least until New Hampshire wised up. Increasing state lottery betting is proving a bad way to raise a few bucks. One study from 2010 found that households with take home incomes of less than $13,000 spent on average $685.00 a year on lottery tickets. And economists note that this “game” takes money from those least able to afford the loss and redistributes money upward.

These billions also are diverted away from local businesses – with the exception of the stores where tickets are sold. “This is exactly the opposite of the kind of economic stimulus a depressed economy needs,”

Expanding Vermont’s current offering of ten lottery games at 700 outlets to include the fast paced online bingo would need approval from the House, where it faces solid opposition from Speaker Shap Smith and Ways and Means Chair Janet Ancel. Odds are for now, lottery protagonist Mullin has placed a losing bet.

Private Rest Area: A Good Opportunity for…?

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Vermont has been saving pennies by closing Interstate highway rest areas, and for years the state has not provided sufficient funds to properly upgrade and maintain those that have remained. So pennywise and pounds foolish, it seems the state must be searching for schemes to keep rest areas available. One scheme apparently not under consideration is, you know actual proper funding of the facilities.

Now if you owned a large industrial park near an interstate and were offered a state backed monopoly business deal at the nearest highway exit, would you jump at the deal? How about if the state guaranteed no competition for many miles north and south?

From VPR News:  So the Shumlin Administration has backed a plan by developer Jesse “Sam” Sammis to build a rest area and visitors’ center off I-89 Exit 4 in Randolph. Said Administration Secretary Jeb Spaulding […]”If it goes forward it seems like a good opportunity for the Vermont taxpayer, the traveling public and for Vermont producers to have a place to display their products,” he said.

 

“Sam” Sammis, Chairman of the New England Land Company of Greenwich CT and Randolph VT, owns projects in Vermont including The Green Mountain Stock Farm and Green Mountain Office and Industrial Park.

“I said it’s a good idea, but how am I going to make this thing work financially? I’ve got to pay to build the buildings, put the infrastructure in,” he said. Sammis said he plans to use a site next door to showcase Vermont products. He would charge companies rent to display their goods.

How well would this possibly work financially? How on earth could an exclusive State of Vermont deal at a heavily trafficked interstate highway interchange benefit financially someone that owns the surrounding 170-acre office/industrial park?

State studies from an earlier 2010 effort at this project by Sammis showed that by closing the existing rest areas combined with installing Vermont promtional signage on the Interstate, 500,000 travelers would “be put on the doorstep” of a commercialized area annually.

Getting the centers off the Interstates, [Department of Buildings and General Services Commissioner Gerald Myers] added, would make it possible to have retail sales on-site, something prohibited on federally-owned land.

No mention has been made of any remuneration to the state for its guarantee of non-competition or its promotional signs directing weary, rest-room-needy travelers to the privately owned commercial venture at Exit 4.

It’s beginning to sound like our Granite State neighbors to the East, where they sell liquor at the rest areas, just in case there aren’t enough drunk drivers on the road. But then again, selling liquor is exclusively a state prerogative over there.

So there you go, Sammis is the first to potentially have a state-blessed but otherwise unregulated monopoly with zero accountability. You want one? The key is on the hook. It’s around back. (Psst, don’t tell WalMart!)

On Jack McMullen and the Ghost of Fred Tuttle

local/regional,

Whoever wins the Democratic primary for attorney general will face wealthy businessman and Republican (long-shot) candidate Jack McMullen. Famously, McMullen lost the Republican senate primary race to Fred Tuttle in 1998 and an actual senate race in 2004. In 1998 Tunbridge farmer Fred Tuttle mocked McMullen’s lack of knowledge about local place names and cow anatomy. The thing was Tuttle hardly had to actually do anything special, McMullen’s humorless sense of entitlement to a US Senate seat from Vermont shined through. It was there for all to see with or without “Tuttling”. Judging from an interview in Vtdigger.com it seems he may have missed the lesson and just wants it all forgotten.

McMullen recalls 1998:“A good laugh was had at the time.” He continues,

“What better human interest story than a recent full-time arrival – Harvard educated – versus a lifelong farmer Vermonter dropout from high school.”

It wasn’t just a human interest story or about teats or how to say Calais, but about his failure to skillfully address the carpetbagger issue.

If McMullen understood how this issue may linger he might have said something different along these lines: “We did have good laugh back then, at my expense, but in the past 16 years I have grown to feel Vermont is truly my home, although I’ll never be a natural Vermonter as Fred Tuttle was. I still hope to serve my adopted state.” [No reason not to lay it on thick!]  He did nothing of the sort, but briefly notes that he now knows how to say “Calais” and how many teats a cow has. “Ha, ha harrumph …yup all behind me now …quite a colorful local character that Fred Tuttle”…subject changed, he pivots awkwardly to hit Sorrell/Donovan on a couple issues.

Surprisingly McMullen does kind of channel the spirit of Calvin Coolidge’s tight lipped style when responding about his familiarity with legal issues and why he never became a member of the Vermont bar. “I was busy”, says Jack McMullen.

“I’m not a member in Vermont because when I came here it required an apprenticeship and I was busy…”

Although he has a law degree from Harvard, McMullen is not an attorney here in Vermont and doesn’t have to be for the AG office.

Why did Rapid Visa USA and Jay Peak Part Ways?

Business, local/regional, ,

So what did happen between Jay Peak and Rapid Visa USA? The show pony for Vermont’s Federal EB-5 investment funded expansion has hit a bit of controversy or “flappette” as one local report called it. Some principal players are unavailable to the media, and the story coverage in state has mostly consisted of assurances from Jay Peak’s owner and a State of Vermont Commerce Agency official. However, what is known is that EB-5 broker Douglas Hulme of Rapid Visa USA terminated his longtime lucrative business relationship with Bill Stenger and Jay Peak, writing that he  “no longer has confidence in the accuracy of representations made by Jay Peak.”

Rapid Visa USA had a long association with Jay Peak and had successfully brokered $200 million in investment from 400 green-card-seeking investors for the ski-becoming-destination resort.

  Assuming that figure [$200 million] to be correct, the fees paid to agents and attorneys involved with the sale of these securities offerings (the subscription fee used to be $65,000 but is now $50,000) would be well over $20 million.

The sudden departure of a business associate set off speculation in the EB-5 world about Jay Peak’s financial wellbeing.

Several other EB-5 financed projects are underway in Vermont, including a bio-tech business in the Northeast Kingdom.

Eyes wide shut?

It remains just a “flappette” locally. The EB-5 program (explained below in detail) in Vermont is a big deal, and to date it has worked well for Jay Peak. But in other areas nationally it has been criticized for spawning cynical practices that are stretching the rules and violating the spirit of the law.

Here are some numbers from the online blog EB5Info.com that examined the arrangement that existed between Jay Peak and Rapid Visa USA and brought in the funds. These amounts have been questioned but it gives an idea of the scope of a partnership that likely wouldn’t have been severed lightly or on a snarky personal whim.

  …a compensation arrangement that was very profitable for Hulme’s firm, Rapid USA Visas, earning well over $25,000 per investor once the I-526 had been approved. Rapid USA Visas and Jay Peak had an additional clause in the subscription agreement that provided both parties with compensation of $10,000 even if the investor did not pursue the investment after the 30-day review period ended, making Jay Peak one of the few EB-5 regional centers that charged (and still charges) a document fee.

 

The media – unable to talk to Rapid Visa’s Hulme or the online EB-5Info’ s analyst Michael Gibson – have relied on reassuring remarks from Jay Peak owner Bill Stenger and James Candido, the Commerce Agency’s Economic Development Specialist who found “no issues” regarding Jay Peak. Candido and the State of Vermont have an active role promoting  EB-5 and, like Stenger himself, are hardly neutral observers. Before this unpleasantness began Vermont’s Candido made an interesting point in a January interview with EB-5 expert Norman Oder when he spoke of the state’s responsibilities to investors:

“everything points to them getting their investment back” but stressed “that’s not under the jurisdiction of the government.” Because Jay Peak did not start getting investors until 2008-09, none have seen their investment periods reach maturity, so they haven’t had a chance to get their money back, Candido said. The investment is a private transaction, he said, “unless a company we see is blatantly or intentionally trying to deceive investors.”

An observer might wonder if at a minimum a “flappette” might be elevated to the level of “flap” or higher when more information becomes available. Until then the State and Jay Peak will no doubt refer often to their  “great track record”- however something caused longtime business associate and stakeholder Rapid Visa USA to bolt Jay Peak and that might tarnish the track record.

About the program: The EB-5 program allows immigrants wishing to obtain US citizenship to invest in approved private businesses ventures. A $500,000 investment in a US business that indirectly creates 10 full-time (often low wage) jobs for American workers will yield citizenship for the wealthy immigrant and family. The program has aspects of both immigration and investment so the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) and the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) handle oversight nationally.

Stand Clear(ed): AG Sorrel Investigates Hartford PD Again

local/regional,

On Friday the 13th (before a long three-day holiday weekend) Attorney General Sorrell made available a report that finds no basis for charges against Hartford Police officers involved in two recent incidents involving excessive force – sorry, alleged excessive force.

In one incident a woman involved in a domestic dispute suffered a concussion and assorted bruises when officers attempted to take her into “protective custody.”

In the other event a man was dragged from his home, taken into custody, and cited for leaving the scene of an accident after his unoccupied vehicle was found off the road nearby. However he was released a short time later and charges were withdrawn.

Here is the local paper’s description of the second case:

Darrek Daoust, 49, told the newspaper he had had a pizza and glass of wine at a restaurant earlier in the evening. No alcohol charges were filed. He said he’d intended to deal with his vehicle in the morning.

After police arrived, he talked to officers through his screen door, but refused to step outside. They entered his house and detained him, pressing his face into the crushed rock of his driveway as they subdued him. He also was struck [four times] by an officer wielding a flashlight, a police report said.

 

No strangers to this sort of problem, the Hartford Police were investigated and cleared by AG Sorrell in another – alleged – excessive force event that took place in May 2010. In that case, following reports of a burglary, Hartford police found an African American man, who was unconscious and had a medical condition, pepper sprayed him, hauled him naked from his own home, and handcuffed him on the pavement. An officer threatened a neighbor with arrest while trying to tell police they were arresting the home owner. (The question of press access to police reports in this case, and potentially others like it, is under consideration by the Vermont Supreme Court.)

In these two recent cases Attorney General Sorrell found no cause to bring charges against officers.  Regarding the Daoust case he states:

Although the officers did not obtain a warrant or consent to enter the Daousts’ home, the question of the legality of the arrest does not determine the outcome of the review of the officers’ use of force to the resistance.

Under Vermont law, there is no right to resist an arrest, even an illegal arrest. The remedy for an alleged illegal arrest is suppression of any evidence wrongfully obtained, or the filing of a lawsuit for civil damages. These legal principles support an underlying public policy of discouraging citizens from fighting with police any time they think the police may be acting in error.”

 

Sorrell’s five-page report notes that the town had taken “steps in the right direction” and should continue ongoing training for officers to properly serve the community. Perhaps there are a few Dirty Harry’s on the Hartford force, but the principle that the ends (arrests, however unsupported by facts or due process details like warrants) ‘justify’ the means usually gets passed down from the top.

Apparently in Vermont there can be lots of smoke, but Attorney General Bill Sorrell – who, among other responsibilities, is supposed to protect Vermonters’ civil rights, even, or especially, against over-zealous police forces – can’t see a fire anywhere. Citizens apparently have no recourse, in his very laissez faire point of view, except by filing a lawsuit for civil damages.

There’s certainly smoke in the Hartford PD – in 2010 when officers were cleared of wrong-doing, and now a relatively short period later, after another two incidents. Sorrell ought to be hosing down the source of the smoke and not simply wagging his finger at those mischievous pyros while waiting for six-foot flames.

Price Points of Citizenship

Business, local/regional, , ,

The Federal EB-5 Visa program may be made permanent in 2012 and the move faces limited opposition. Some whining from Senators Charles Grassley and Lindsey Graham and testimony by the Center for Immigration Studies, an anti-immigrant “think tank,” were the few remarks not leveling praise at the early congressional hearings. A New York Times editorial, while generally kind to EB-5, however has serious reservations about its implementation:

But the program has spawned cynical practices that are stretching the rules and violating the spirit of the law.

 

For those not familiar with it, the EB-5 program allows immigrants wishing to obtain US citizenship to invest in approved private businesses ventures. A $500,000 investment in a US business that creates 10 full-time (often low-wage) jobs for American workers will yield citizenship for the wealthy immigrant and family.

For a second year, Vermont and the state’s administrators overseeing the program received the EB-5 Regional Center of the Year Award from a group they oversee. This award was given by the Artisan Business Group, a brokering firm that assists American business owners in capturing investment opportunities (potential immigrants of means) in China. Estimates by the state are that Vermont received $100 million in 2011 for EB-5 visa investment. When Vermonters hear about the EB-5 Visa program at all, it often involves Jay Peak and its years-long expansion into a four-season destination resort, complete with a $25 million year-round indoor water park, funded in part through government-initiated EB-5 investor cash.

This cash-for-visa program has certainly helped Jay Peak’s infrastructure, boosted the owner’s bottom line and lastly supplied some low-wage employment for the Northeast kingdom (see trickledown theory).

The program has aspects of both immigration and investment, so the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) and the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) handle oversight nationally. However, questions about the oversight ability of the consistently overburdened and understaffed SEC have surfaced: from EB-5’s inception until 2010, the USCIS had decertified only two regional centers.

It shows some kind of strange disconnect that can allow one arm of our immigration policy to go piggybacking on a development scheme and actively court the wealthy to invest  cash in private business enterprises, while another arm works aggressively to deport hundreds of poor immigrants unable to buy their way to a better life. When all is said and done we may soon have a permanent structured system for marketing American citizenship for cash. Strip it all down and it does follow the money.

Douglas’ Admin Disappeared Emails

local/regional,

Here is a little fur-ball of an issue that got carried along between two administrations. Important emails between former Governor Douglas’ Agency of Natural Resources (ANR) officials involved in a legal dispute with the Vermont State Employees Association were deleted and are missing. The VSEA originally sought ANR email records concerning a fired employee and a proposed computer employee monitoring system then the Douglas administration attempted to impose a $1,200 fee to access the email. The VSEA went to court against the Douglas administration and won the right to see the email free of charge.

A small scale Vermont version of the historic eighteen and one half minute gap? Fast forward to the Shumlin administration and the discovery now, that the relevant emails at some point were deleted.

When Abigail Winters, the union’s counsel, went to see the records, Shumlin officials at ANR told her the items couldn’t be found. Winters sent a letter to Jeb Spaulding, the secretary of the Agency of Administration, and Vermont Attorney General William Sorrell on Monday, alleging that the email correspondence was “willfully and permanently” deleted. Sorrell, she wrote, failed to place a litigation hold on the documents.

The Shumlin administration has given a high priority to transparency. Secretary of State Jim Condos recently completed what he called a “transparency tour”  to help the state’s public officials. Regarding transparency (digital and otherwise) Condos suggests the problem might lie with starving beast budget priorities:

“It’s an ongoing process that frankly needs resources,” he said. “With all due respect to the current administration and the past administration, a lot of those resources have been taken away because budgets have been cut and slashed and personnel reduced.

However Shumlin’s  Secretary of Administration Jeb Spaulding sounded a wee bit bristly about the attention the deleted email issue has generated and wished the VSEA had come to him before going to the press.

He was nonplussed by the attention the issue had generated among members of the media, and said it was a distraction from his work-[on LIHEAP]

In contrast Attorney General Sorrel seems more laid back about the issue. He has now started an inquiry but originally never imposed a litigation hold on relevant material-yet says if deleting the emails was intentional it shouldn’t have happened: “If they were deleted and not retrieved, then that was a total mistake and shouldn’t have happened. But we don’t know and we won’t know for days.”

Finally, at least to many untutored in these mysterious rules and rituals it might seem there is actually a law that may apply here. But what the heck, guess it’s not as if it is as important as a SSB (Sugar Sweetened Beverage) or something like that.

Disposition of public records – A custodian of public records shall not destroy, give away, sell, discard, or damage any record or records in his or her charge, unless specifically authorized by law or under a record schedule approved by the state archivist pursuant to 3 V.S.A. { 117(a)(5).