Editor’s note: This commentary is by Rep. Warren Kitzmiller, a Democrat of Montpelier.
A recent mailing I received from Campaign for Vermont has raised several concerns with me.
I’ll start by saying that I certainly agree that Vermonters deserve the highest level of ethical conduct from their government officials. However, the mailing implies that we are not getting that, and goes further to imply that, in many ways, we are among the worst of states. I challenge that.
On page four, it says: “Politicians and civil servants have exploited the lack of structure – and Vermont’s public trust – for their own personal gain in greater proportion than in any other state in the country,” and on that same page the report cites a New York Times article dealing with the subject. That article paints a VERY different picture of Vermont and I do not see how the Campaign for Vermont could interpret it in the way it has.
Also on page four, the report shows a chart of five selected states. It is titled “Number of public officials per capita federally convicted of corruption in the past 10 years.” Vermont has a score of 2.1, in the middle position of the five states. Really? Does Campaign for Vermont truly believe that for every resident of Vermont, we have 2.1 convicted officials? That is simply impossible, and I doubt the report means what was so clearly said, so I’ll chalk that up to poor writing and/or poor editing.
Any way you slice it, Vermont is a wonderful place to live, to work, and to raise a family; our politics are cleaner than in most other states, and I am proud of the work we do.
One graph in that article shows the actual number of convicted public officials during the years 1998 – 2007. Vermont is second best, at only 13. Of course, we are a small state. The next graph shows the number of convictions per million, per year. Vermont does not do as well here, with 16 states doing better. Still, we are a long way from the bottom and solidly in the top third of states.
What I cannot tell from either the New York Times or the paper, is whether the Vermont score is an approximation of how many convictions Vermont might expect if we actually HAD a million residents, or if it is a raw number, non-adjusted for our population that is roughly only 60 percent of a million.
Their final chart, admittedly less scientific but still telling, is a survey of journalists within each state, asking them to assess their state on a scale of 1 (clean) to 7 (crooked). On that scale, Vermont tied for fifth best! The folks who report on us consider us to be pretty “clean.”
It just seems to me that the Campaign for Vermont’s ethics paper goes out of its way to paint as bleak a picture as it possibly can … through the use of selected information, half-truths and innuendo. That is exactly what we should be seeking to eliminate, not promote. What ethical standard was applied when writing this paper?
Without a doubt, there are many things that Vermont can do better, and ethical standards are clearly on that list. I will support any real and helpful steps that move us in that direction, but I will not be persuaded by the use of what looks to me like “cheap shot” lobbying ploys. Any way you slice it, Vermont is a wonderful place to live, to work, and to raise a family; our politics are cleaner than in most other states, and I am proud of the work we do.
