I take great umbrage at your printing of Mr. Kearney’s oped on your news site, at least with respect to his irresponsible insinuations with respect to my personal character and integrity. He has his facts and argument wrong. Firstly I never denied that Mr. Thayer of Entergy attended my Christmas Party, as was an official from Green Mountain Power, a Vermont State Representative, and employees of the Joint Fiscal Office and the Department of Education. Imagine that diverse group all getting together during the holidays to enjoy each others’ company, chatting about current events, family and popular culture!
People should be given the benefit of the doubt when it comes to integrity.
In hindsight I regret being forthcoming about my personal holiday party, I should have answered that it was no one’s business who visits my home. Ever since this matter was first raised I feel as though my personal space has been invaded. But I do believe in sunshine, being open and honest and certainly having nothing to hide. I also believe that people should be given the benefit of the doubt when it comes to integrity. It should not be assumed that because a utility executive visits my home or we see each other in a social setting, that I or they will have some sort of bias or not ultimately act in accordance with our respective professional responsibility. I remain curious why Mr. Kearney and others do not address all the other interactions in Vermont between government and private business, at political fundraisers for all political parties, or lobbying firms hosting receptions for legislators during the legislative session while critical bills are under consideration, to name two prominent examples.
In the case of my interactions with Mr. Thayer and Entergy the inaccurate disclosure by Entergy was brought to light by the Department of Public Service and I made it very clear that there needed to be accountability on the part of Entergy personnel. I did so knowing that someone like Mr. Thayer and other employees of Entergy whom I have gotten to know over the years would be likely candidates for discipline by their employer. As many now know Mr. Thayer was one of a group of five Entergy employees who were suspended. The personal toll for these individuals is very real indeed, but the stakes here are clear and the need for public accountability vital.
Isn’t ironic that Mr. Kearney cites the tremendous financial problems for the City of Burlington as a result of the Burlington Telecom failure? I think the record is very clear that as Commissioner I called attention to the very serious nature of the problems at BT and within City government last fall. I believe if people stop and apply common sense judgment we can all recognize that business and personal lives intertwine, conflicts arise, but what matters most that in our jobs, private or public, we stay true to the mandates of our vocation. Perhaps I and other public officials and private industry leaders can be fair, objective and vigilant amidst whatever personal interactions we may have in this small, but marvelous state.
Mr. O’Brien just doesn’t understand that a regulator can’t be buddies with the people he regulates. It’s like a judge palling around with defense attorneys, or the Major League Baseball commissioner having Mark McGwire, Barry Bonds and Sammy Sosa over for dinner.
Early in my journalism career, I regularly interviewed the high school football coach. Then I realized we were becoming friends, and as a result I was starting to filter my questions and my writing. I stopped doing those interviews, because I had lost some objectivity, and I have tried not to make that mistake again. I am simply not friends with the people I cover. That way I don’t owe them anything, and I can go about my business fairly and objectively.
Mr. O’Brien also doesn’t realize the power of perception. If the regulator and the regulated are friends, the relationship invites scrutiny, and it’s fair to question whether he might cut his friends some slack.
He’s a public official. When it comes to his public duties, he doesn’t have any personal space.
As for his question about why journalists have not questioned “all the other interactions in Vermont between government and private business, at political fundraisers for all political parties, or lobbying firms hosting receptions for legislators during the legislative session while critical bills are under consideration,” I’d say that’s an excellent question, and those are areas that certainly do need exploring. I also have to say that, in the past, some reporters covering state government took a far too clubby approach, and that was wrong.
I feel as though I am obliged to comment on the umbrage Commissioner O’Brien of the Department of Public Service states.
I am a citizen of Vermont. I raise Mr. OBrien’s umbrage to a state of outrage that a group formed by the Governor to keep him or her up to date on all things nuclear which is Chaired by the Commissioner of the DPS, ie the VT State Nuclear Advisory Panel, will not meet NOW pending the tritium leaks and the ongoing unclear statements made by Entergy employees under oath to the Public Service Board, pending the state Senate vote, pending the ongoing PSB hearings, and in lieu of the fact that every Entergy employee who has spoken to VSNAP over the past 8 years has now been placed on administrative leave. Why won’t VSNAP meet? Because Mr. O’brien refuses to hold a VSNAP meeting as long as a certain Senator Mark MacD is on the panel.
I disagree with Mr. O’Brien. I do not believe that public figures whose incomes are provided by our tax dollars, should be concerned about having their “personal space invaded.” I believe if you are a public figure you lose the benefits of some of your personal space boundaries.
Dear Mr. O’Brien, if the administrative leave is so grievous, please define its boundaries to us citizens. Likely it involves paid leave, perhaps a vacation, and maybe another corporate BMW. If you choose to not explain it, perhaps you would have one of your PR men, Larry Smith, Rob Williams or Brian Cosgrove explain it to all of us. C’mon how real is the “personal toll “for the 5 managers who neglected to correct the record or speak the truth to the Public Service Board ie under oath?
While you claim the DPS is responsible for “bringing it to light” I choose to illuminate that it was the same DPS that formed back room deals with Entergy in Memoranda of Understanding (MOU) that evidenced the “public good” not just for the sale to Entergy but also for the uprate and dry cask docket permissions.
My time to craft this response was not at a state computer on work time paid by your tax dollars.
Sincerely,
Gary Sachs
Brattleboro VT