Jim Condos, a Democrat from South Burlington, announced his campaign for Vermont Secretary of State in the Cedar Creek Room of the Statehouse on Wednesday afternoon.
Condos who represented Chittenden County in the state Senate from 2001 to 2008, declared that he would bring a new level of transparency to the office, now held by gubernatorial candidate Deb Markowitz — though he declined to point to specific instances in which the secretary had not enforced the public right to know law.
Nor did he offer substantive comments regarding some of the government transparency issues that have recently emerged – such as the Burlington Telecom scandal, state universities’ push for a special exemption to the law for anonymous donors and the controversy around the behind-closed-door meetings for the Challenges for Change state restructuring effort.
For the time being, Condos is taking a leave of absence from his job as a government and community relations manager for Vermont Gas Systems – which he said he hopes will be permanent.
Condos served as the chair of the Senate Government Operations Committee and Senate Education Committee. He was a member of the Vermont League of Cities and Towns board of directors from 1999 to 2005.