Brady Toensing, a Charlotte attorney and vice chairman of the Vermont Republican Party, wants to broaden an investigation of alleged campaign finance violations by Attorney General Bill Sorrell.
The new allegations build on Toensing’s earlier accusation that Sorrell illegally coordinated spending with a super-PAC funded by the Democratic Governors Association during his 2012 re-election campaign.
Toensing says Sorrell accepted legal representation from a prominent Burlington attorney in that matter who, at the time, had clients with a case pending before the Attorney General’s Office.
In April, Toensing filed a complaint with Sorrell’s office that eventually triggered an independent investigation. Gov. Peter Shumlin hired attorney Tom Little, a former state representative, to assist state’s attorneys with the inquiry.
Toensing’s original complaint accuses Sorrell’s 2012 re-election campaign of illegally coordinating with the Committee for Justice and Fairness, a political action committee run by the Democratic Attorneys General Association.
PACs and individuals can make unlimited expenditures on behalf of candidates for media buys, as long as the expenditures are not coordinated with the candidate’s campaign.
CJF spent $200,000 in the waning days of the 2012 Democratic primary campaign, and ran television ads featuring former Gov. Howard Dean. That spending is credited with giving Sorrell an edge over Chittenden County State’s Attorney TJ Donovan, who lost the primary by 714 votes. Sorrell denies there was any illegal coordination between his campaign, CJF and Dean.
The new complaint says CJF failed to register with the Vermont Secretary of State’s Office until months after the primary election and thereafter failed to file regular campaign finance reports.
Additionally, the complaint says Sorrell was represented by Burlington attorney Rich Cassidy during a 2013 court review of the CJF spending. Two days later the Attorney General’s Office settled an unrelated case with two of Cassidy’s clients.
That chain of events represents an “indisputable conflict of interest,” according to the complaint.
Sorrell said recently on WDEV’s The Mark Johnson Show that Cassidy is again advising him on matters related to the current investigation. Cassidy, who works for the firm Hoff Curtis P.C., was not available to comment Wednesday. A secretary said he was on vacation.
Sorrell said he has reviewed the latest complaint by Toensing but is not able to comment on the pending investigation. He said he will fully comply with Little’s investigation and looks forward to “seeing that justice is done.”
Toensing’s original complaint also alleges Sorrell failed to properly report campaign expenditures on 16 occasions; that he improperly coordinated campaign activities with Dean Corren in 2014; and that he received a large donation from a law firm that he later hired to pursue an oil and gas lawsuit for the state of Vermont.
