Burlington Sen. Tim Ashe, D/P, has introduced legislation that would prohibit lawmakers from becoming trustees on state college boards. The measure was introduced a week after lawmakers elected three members of the General Assembly to the University of Vermont board of trustees.
S.125 would ban lawmakers from sitting on the board of trustees for both UVM and the Vermont State Colleges, or being a board director for the Vermont Student Assistance Corp. (VSAC), which provides loans, grants, scholarships and career and college counseling for Vermont students.
Ashe’s co-sponsor, Sen. Dick Sears, D-Bennington, told VTDigger that a board position puts lawmakers in a tricky position when they vote on budget appropriations for UVM or the state colleges, generating a problematic conflict of interest.
“With the amount of money and the conflict between defending the institution or defending the Legislature, I just think it’s not a role we should play,” said Sears.
The Statehouse debate on this topic isn’t new — Sears has co-sponsored similar legislation three times before in recent years.
Sen. Dick Sears says a board position puts lawmakers in a tricky position when they vote on budget appropriations for UVM or the state colleges.
Rep. Don Turner, R-Milton, another supporter of the bill, said he had similar concerns. “When you’re a member of a board for UVM, they ask for your loyalty, your fiduciary responsibility to the university,” he said. “Myself, I have a hard enough time voting on the budget for taxpayers of Vermont. Then, you have an obligation to the university or a state college. Who do you put ahead of the other?”
Turner, the minority leader of the House, stressed his opinion does not represent the views of the Republican caucus. He has personally felt strongly about this issue for years, he said, though he believes that higher education institutions are underfunded.
There are 25 UVM board trustees, with nine legislators and three gubernatorial appointments. Each member serves for six years. According to the UVM website, the board has “full legal responsibility and authority for the University of Vermont, including entire management and control of property and affairs.”
Trustees also set policy, budgets, and strategic planning goals, besides appointing the UVM president. In a statement, UVM spokesman Enrique Corredera said the university doesn’t have a strong stance on the bill.
“We value the geographic diversity within Vermont that public trustees bring to the UVM Board, along with their knowledge of the public process in the state and their public accountability,” the statement said. “Ultimately, this is an issue for the Legislature and the Board of Trustees to address. We will support whatever decision is reached.”
Former UVM trustee Jeanette White, D-Windham, whose six-year trustee term expired last week, doesn’t see the conflicts of interest other senators cite as a big deal.
“I don’t believe it’s any more of a conflict of interest than serving on a local selectboard, and being a legislator that votes on the amount of money we send to towns for their roads,” White said.
“I don’t believe it’s any more of a conflict of interest than serving on a local selectboard,” Sen. Jeanette White said.
These arguments, she said, could be made for school board positions or corporate directorships. There are conflicts in these instances with votes on tax credits or tax rates, she said.
“Some say your fiduciary responsibility as a trustee is to make sure they get all the money they can, even if that’s to the detriment of other programs in the state,” said White. “I don’t believe that for a minute. My responsibility is to make sure they get enough money to operate properly and that money comes from many sources.”
White chairs the Government Operations Committee, which may take up the bill in coming weeks. Sears doesn’t expect it to emerge from that committee, but said the bill’s slim chances of passage are no reason to stifle the ideas behind it.
Former economic development official Pat Moulton Powden ran as the only non-legislator in the February 2013 elections for UVM trustee, but came in last, after legislators elected House members Sarah Buxton, Jeff Wilson, and Anne O’Brien.
Moulton Powden approached her race with the view that talent outside the Legislature should be tapped for the post, notwithstanding what has happened historically.
“Nothing in the statute requires them to elect themselves,” she said. Although she’s hesitant about an outright ban on legislators, she’d welcome a more balanced mix within the nine seats which the General Assembly elects.
“Such a small percentage of the university budget comes from the state: Do they need so many seats from the Legislature? That’s a good question. I definitely think there’s value to them reaching beyond themselves,” she said.
Moulton Powden placed last by only six votes, a margin which pleased her. It could signal a shift in attitude, she said.
“I think there’s enough people in the Legislature saying: Why do we keep electing ourselves? We shouldn’t be doing that – though I was hopeful they’d do that on their own, instead of needing legislation,” she said.
White says if lawmakers were banned from the UVM board, it’s likely that all nine seats would be filled by people from Chittenden County, or the northwestern part of the state near UVM’s Burlington campus. She added that legislators also brought their broad familiarity with the state to the table, and deepened public accountability at the university.
White was skeptical of having a board staffed only by private trustees, with no ties to the public world, or a board with no legislative or gubernatorial appointments. But, she quipped: “We certainly don’t want them all to be appointed by the governor!”
