[B]URLINGTON — City Council President Jane Knodell is crying foul over the campaign finance practices of a political action committee seeking to defeat two measures on the November ballot.
Burlington residents will be asked to approve a new downtown zoning district and $22 million in TIF bonds for city streets. Both questions (3 and 4) are described as crucial for a proposed $220 million mixed-use redevelopment of the Town Center Mall to go forward.
Read the ballot here.
The Coalition for a Livable City’s political action committee, which is the focus of Knodell’s attack, is opposed to the Town Center Mall development.
The city councilor is a member of a pro-development PAC run by Mayor Miro Weinberger. Another PAC, Together for Progress, also backs the mall project.
The pro-development PACs have spent three times more than their opponents.
Knodell says the Coalition for a Livable City hasn’t followed campaign finance rules. Donations and expenditures for the CLC’s political action committee weren’t reflected in recent campaign finance reports.
The PAC’s treasurer, Steve Goodkind, said that’s because group members are collecting donations and making expenditures independently, and reporting them or seeking reimbursement from the PAC after the fact.
Knodell said that’s “unacceptable,” in a statement released Wednesday, because the public has no way of knowing who is financing the Coalition for a Livable City’s campaign.
Will Senning, director of elections and campaign finance for the secretary of state, said it appears the group is violating the spirit of the law.
“The law says that expenses should be paid directly from the (campaign) account. Reimbursing people for expenses that the PAC wants to assume should be the exception not the rule,” Senning said.
John Franco, the Coalition for a Livable City’s attorney, said the idea that there are “implied conditions” in Vermont’s campaign finance law “is absolutely wrong and unconstitutional.”
Franco said that the group cleared reporting practices with the secretary of state’s office prior to filing.
Campaign finance laws are restrictions on free speech, Franco said, and therefore should be interpreted liberally.
Knodell described the CLC’s campaign against the ballot measures as a “well-funded campaign of distortions and misinformation,” in her statement.
Knodell, a Progressive who represents the Central District, is active with the mayor’s Partnership for Burlington’s Future, a PAC formed by the mayor and other city officials that is promoting questions 3 and 4.
The mayor’s PAC and a separate PAC, Together for Progress, which was formed by the Burlington Business Association, have combined to spend $30,000 to support passage of the two questions.
Both PACs are heavily supported by the business community. Local real estate developers Antonio and Ernest Pomerleau have contributed $5,000. The BBA PAC has donated nearly $10,000 from member businesses.
The Coalition for a Livable City PAC has raised nearly $10,000, according to campaign finance filings and a GoFundMe page. The $7,000 in GoFundMe donations are not reported in current filings, but Goodkind said much of that money will be reflected in the group’s next filing — one he plans to make before the election.
Goodkind said he believes the PAC has spent all or most of the money it’s raised, but he has not received bills from coalitions members, and therefore hasn’t reported nearly all of its spending.
Knodell said in her statement that it would be a “great social injustice if a few wealthy abutters of the proposed redevelopment were to block the creation of hundreds of much needed jobs, homes for lower-income families, and tax relief for everyone.”
In an interview Wednesday, Knodell said she had no evidence that wealthy abutters are funding the campaign.
“I’m just saying we don’t know,” Knodell said. “It’s a hypothetical possibility.”
Genese Grill, a member of the Coalition for Livable Cities, said in an email that Knodell’s statement is “totally out of line.” Grill said some of the group’s donors may live near the Town Center property but that shouldn’t disqualify them from “being involved in their community.”
Barbara McGrew, who is listed in the group’s campaign finance reports as contributing $1,500, has an address of 76 St. Paul St., a building that does abut the Town Center property.
Grill provided a partial list of donors who have given money to the GoFundMe account set up to raise money for the coalition’s campaign.
The group has raised nearly $7,000, and the donations don’t appear in the latest campaign finance reports. Goodkind, the group’s treasurer said the GoFundMe donations will be reflected in a new report he plans to file with the secretary of state on Nov. 4.
Goodkind said he’s following the reporting deadlines for political action committees.
Goodkind said the Nov. 4 report will include many of the expenses and donations that aren’t currently reflected on the group’s filings, including several advertisements placed in Seven Days.
CLC is doing its best to obey campaign finance rules, but because it has a decentralized structure, Goodkind said he’s not always able to record donations or expenditures during the reporting period in which they occur.
“No one’s hiding anything. No one’s doing anything illegal,” Goodkind said, “All I can do is say guys please give me the bills.”
In fact, Goodkind suggested that by following the deadlines for political action committees, instead of political question committees, his group is actually being more transparent than the Partnership for Burlington’s Future because they will file once more before the election. The next filing deadline for political question committees is Nov. 22.
“I think you’re looking at the wrong PAC,” Goodkind told VTDigger, adding that the post-election filing date when the mayor’s committee will likely file its next disclose “leaves room for all kinds of stuff to go on.”
