Editor’s note: This commentary is by Keith Ballek, a delegate to the Vermont Democratic Committee, chair of the Sheffield Democratic Committee, chair of the Sheffield Planning Commission and a board member of the Northeastern Vermont Development Association.
[I]’m a delegate to the Vermont State Democratic Committee, member of the Caledonia County Committee, and chair of the Sheffield Democratic Committee. I’ve been active in my party for over 12 years and have believed in and voted for issues the Vermont Dems have supported many years prior including health care and environmental causes.
Within the last six years I have seen a disturbing trend which probably started several years earlier.
There is, within the Vermont Democratic Party, a growing element that has become more of a group of insider elitists running the party for themselves and a handful of big money donors. That being said, there are still a number of honorable statewide and local candidates down the ticket, good hardworking leaders who have stayed connected with their supporters on important issues. These candidates have been conscientious and haven’t felt the need to bow to party peer pressure.
Unfortunately, there has been what can only be described as a corporate capture of a number of party leaders in the Legislature and the governorship. This culture of deeply entrenched corporate interests and their lobbyists are already clamoring around Sue Minter, planning to ramp up their influence even further if she is elected.
These are the same lobbyists and big money donors that have influenced the likes of Peter Shumlin, Tony Klein, Shap Smith, Chris Bray, etc., plus the so-called environmental and public interest groups (who now lobby with the energy industry in the halls and committee rooms of the Statehouse). As an active member of a group of citizen lobbyists at the Statehouse, I have witnessed firsthand how the final deals are made in the hallway with the energy committee chairs and a handful of corporate lobbyists. I have spoken with a number of legislators who told me this is the worst they have ever seen since they have been at the Statehouse.
What has taken place within Vermont’s leadership is a form of corruption that has infiltrated and infected several key government leaders, parts of the Democratic Party along with some of the state agencies and Vermont’s once principled environmental advocacy organizations.
Unfortunately the result is an energy policy that is primarily profit-driven with disregard for accountability on environmental impacts, loss of wildlife habitat, human health effects, actual CO2 reduction, and overall public well being.
This same corporate influence will continue to have a hold on the governor-appointed agency heads, the Agency of Natural Resources, Department of Public Service, Department of Environmental Conservation, as well as the Public Service Board. Environmental impacts, public health, and sound science will continue to take a back seat to profit and politics.
It is also unfortunate that Vermont citizens can no longer count on most of the so-called environmental and public advocacy groups, because they, too, have abandoned their core values for a piece of the financial pie! (While under Paul Burns’ watch, VPIRG has been transformed from a public advocacy group to a corporate lobbying group for the industrial renewable energy industry whose board members profit from the deceptive energy policy they helped to write).
What has taken place within Vermont’s leadership is a form of corruption that has infiltrated and infected several key government leaders, parts of the Democratic Party along with some of the state agencies and Vermont’s once principled environmental advocacy organizations.
This culture of exclusion will continue to manifest itself and become even further entrenched if some major changes in government aren’t made. Vermont’s elected and appointed leaders should be representing the people, protecting their health, and once again protecting our environment, not representing a handful of corporate interests. As Nov. 8 looms, I hope voters will explore beyond the surface of the scripted sound bites before making their choices.
Some independent thinking and voting one’s conscience regardless of party affiliation, checks and balances in Montpelier, and a break from one-party rule is needed along with forward-thinking discussion and policy making. Otherwise the downward spiral will continue.
