Editor’s note: This commentary is by Cyrus Patten, who is the former executive director of Campaign for Vermont, and the CEO of MAYDAY.US, a national grassroots campaign to elect campaign finance reformers. He lives in Williston.
[A] massive alleged fraud has been perpetrated under the nose of Vermont regulators. It took a year to investigate and file charges, which is understandable given the sheer scope of the situation.
I don’t believe the governor knew of the fraud, or could have directly prevented it. But I believe the cozy relationship between regulators in his administration and the alleged perpetrators led to a conflicted relationships and delayed recognition of the clues.
For years, groups like Campaign for Vermont and the ACLU have been calling for the establishment of standards that might have prevented such conflicts by freezing the revolving door between the the “regulator” and “regulated” roles. Meanwhile, the political establishment urged us to look the other way, claiming there was no problem here.
The Shumlin administration said “the voluntary system we have has worked for our small state” while accepting $24,000 from Ariel Quiros and Bill Stenger. Twice in 2013 Gov. Shumlin stumped for Stenger’s scheme in Florida and Asia, after criticizing his predecessor for taking similar “junkets.” Then Shumlin’s top aide joined Quiros and Stenger at Jay Peak.
And it goes on.
Deal after deal has been hatched behind closed doors, dishing out no-bid contracts and sweetheart economic stimulus money without even the pretense of transparency or respect for the electorate to which our public servants are accountable.
In July of last year, the chief regulator of the EB-5 program in Vermont resigned to work for an EB-5 funded program at Mt. Snow. And officials like Senate President Pro Tempore John Campbell consistently resisted the idea that public officials could use a set of ethical standards to follow. He then proceeded to lobby for the creation of a job he then took.
And it goes on.
Deal after deal has been hatched behind closed doors, dishing out no-bid contracts and sweetheart economic stimulus money without even the pretense of transparency or respect for the electorate to which our public servants are accountable.
And it goes on.
On April 8, one day after the governor’s office was alerted to the allegations against Quiros and Stenger, a request was filed to delete the email records of former top aides, one of whom took a senior position with the alleged fraudsters following her term in the governor’s office.
While nobody predicted this exact scenario, the conflicts of interest that permitted it were blatant.
How many times will we allow public officials to cozy up to corporate money or take big campaign contributions timed with key regulatory decisions? How many times will we watch lawmakers leave their posts to work for industries they legislated or vote on bills that benefit their employer?
How many times will this happen until Vermont accepts the unfortunate fact that corruption does indeed happen here. As long as we lack fundamental standards for disclosing relationships between the wealthy and the powerful, there will be corruption.
Let’s start with the reforms the Legislature and governor have been tiptoeing around: enacting strict standards that prohibit conflicts of interest, mandate disclosure of business relationships, and shine sunlight on the critical decisions that are made behind closed doors. Then we create an independent ethics commission that is empowered to act swiftly and firmly in the event of impropriety.
This election, I’m ignoring party lines to cast my vote for every outsider candidate I can find. Vermont’s ethics problem hasn’t been created by the Democrats or Republicans. It has been created by the hubris of politicians and the voters that continue to empower them. The good news is we have the power to throw them out.
