Jeb Spaulding, the secretary of the Vermont Agency of Administration, appeared on WDEV’s Mark Johnson Show on Wednesday, the morning two stories, in the Times Argus and VTDigger.org, revealed that the Shumlin administration did not have a firm commitment last spring from FEMA to fund proposals to replace the Vermont State Hospital and the Waterbury State Office Complex. On July 25, the administration told lawmakers that FEMA had rejected its original proposals.
The two news organizations placed public records requests for correspondence between the administration and FEMA officials, which the state released quickly.
Sen. Randy Brock, a GOP candidate for governor, had also requested the information. Brock held a press conference accusing the administration of misleading lawmakers. Coincidentally, the presser was held right after Spaulding’s appearance on WDEV.
Spaulding told interviewer Mark Johnson that the administration never guaranteed lawmakers that the state would get the funding for the projects. At this point, he said, the target amount will be “somewhere between zero and $120 million.”
Listen to the interview with Mark Johnson.
Later, in an impromptu press conference following Brock’s event, Spaulding told reporters that he thought the administration was “very clear with the legislators.”
“Was I confident FEMA would participate substantially with the state hospital replacement plan, yes I was,” Spaulding said. “Did the information change? Yes, it did, and we reported that to the legislature. we tried to be transparent through the entire process.”
“It’s unfortunate we are in a campaign season debating this publicly,” Spaulding said. “I think it does hurt our odds and there’s no question in my mind if Sen. Brock wasn’t running for governor he would have come in and asked the questions and he would have gotten the answers directly as opposed to having press conference.”
