Gov. Peter Shumlin has appointed attorney and former state representative Tom Little to investigate allegations that Attorney General Bill Sorrell violated Vermont’s campaign finance laws.
The governor made the announcement Friday afternoon. In a statement, Shumlin said Little will work with and report findings to an eight-member, bipartisan group of state’s attorneys as part of a newly formed Campaign Finance Review Committee.
“There is broad consensus, including from Attorney General Sorrell, that it makes sense to have an independent counsel look into this matter,” Shumlin said. “Working with the State’s Attorneys, I have appointed Tom Little to serve in that role. Tom has a well-deserved reputation for integrity and common sense in both his public and private life. I am grateful to Tom for taking on this role.”
Little, of Shelburne, is vice president and general counsel for VSAC, a student lending institution. Prior to joining VSAC, he was an attorney with Little, Cicchetti & Conard from 1980 to 2002.
Little was a Republican member of the Vermont House of Representatives for a decade. Near the end of his tenure in the Legislature, he brokered Vermont’s historic civil unions law, which was enacted in 2002. He has been chair of the District 4 Environmental Commission since 2003, and he has served on the boards of University of Vermont, ECHO at the Leahy Center for Lake Champlain and the Snelling Center for Government.
Shumlin, a Democrat, agreed to appoint independent counsel after Sorrell told lawmakers he was prepared to name an attorney who would investigate the allegations, but he was advised that any law firm he selected could be seen as a partisan hire.
Until that point, the governor, who has the authority to appoint independent counsel, said he was too busy to do so.
Sorrell has been accused of violating campaign finance laws in the 2012 and 2014 election cycles. The Democrat, who has served as Vermont Attorney General for 18 years, denies any wrongdoing.
He told a Senate panel last month he wants to clear his name and restore confidence in his office.
“I can’t investigate myself,” Sorrell told a Senate panel Tuesday. “I realize the need for an independent inquiry.”
Brady Toensing, vice chair of the Vermont Republican Party, filed a four-count complaint against Sorrell in April. Toensing alleges that Sorrell coordinated with a super PAC, failed to report campaign expenditures on 16 occasions, improperly coordinated campaign activities with Dean Corren in 2014 and received a large campaign donation from a law firm he later hired.
“I’m happy they found someone,” Toensing said Friday. “For the first time in Vermont’s history, the conduct of a state official has led to the appointment of an independent counsel. It’s an important precedent for the future and for good government.”
David Cahill, the executive director of the Vermont Department of State’s Attorneys and Sheriffs Association, explained that Little will be paid to investigate the allegations and issue a report that will be reviewed by an eight member panel of state’s attorneys. The report will be similar to an affidavit produced in a criminal or civil case, Cahill says.
The Campaign Finance Review Committee will then determine whether criminal or civil charges should be filed with the court. If the state’s attorneys decline to charge Sorrell, the committee will issue a press release.
Either way, the report will be made public, Cahill said.
The timeframe for the investigation is “as long as it takes,” Cahill says.
The state’s attorneys will treat the campaign finance case no differently than a murder case: The objective is to investigate the allegations “to the best of our ability,” not to “arrive at trial in a certain number of days, weeks or months,” Cahill said.
Little and the state’s attorney are negotiating a contract for the investigation, and the cost is currently unknown.
The state’s attorneys on the committee include:
David Fenster, Addison County
Erica Marthage, Bennington County
Scott Williams, Washington County
Jim Hughes, Franklin County
Lisa Warren, Caledonia County
Tracy Shriver, Windham County
Paul Finnerty, Lamoille County
Doug DiSabito, Grand Isle County
