[V]ermont’s attorney general agreed Tuesday to dismiss a high-profile campaign finance
case filed against Dean Corren, a former candidate for lieutenant governor.
Attorney General TJ Donovan said any further prosecution of the state’s case brought by his predecessor would be unfair.
Former Attorney General William Sorrell filed the case against Corren in 2015, alleging the candidate improperly accepted an outside contribution while using public campaign finance funds.
Corren, who ran as a Progressive/Democrat in 2014, had been included in an email blast by the Vermont Democratic Party promoting a political event that he and other candidates were attending, which Sorrell deemed a contribution in kind.
Sorrell sought $72,000 from Corren for the alleged violation, $20,000 in penalties and the $52,000 that was in his public finance account at time the alleged violation occurred. The Legislature later amended the law to provide flexibility in the amount that could be sought from the public financing account after some complained the fine was excessive.
After Sorrell filed suit, Corren countersued in federal court, saying his free-speech rights had been violated. That case was dismissed by U.S. District Judge William Sessions, but is still on appeal in the federal courts.
Shortly after taking office in January, Donovan said he wanted to reach a “global settlement” and dismiss both the state and federal case at the same time, but Corren and his attorney John Franco refused. The agreement announced Tuesday involves only dropping the state suit.
Corren said Tuesday he would not agree to drop the federal case because there were fundamental questions that still needed to be resolved. He and Franco have argued a clear federal ruling would prevent a future attorney general from filing a similar violation. They have also insisted using the email list was exempted from being considered a donation.
The only benefit the state got was an agreement that dropping the state case would not be used to bolster or “amplify” the federal case, Donovan said.
Corren and and Donovan agreed separately that changes needed to be made in the public financing law, including, Donovan said, allowing a candidate to fix a problem if a violation is found. Corren repeatedly offered to pay for using the list and said Sorrell refused. As part of Tuesday’s settlement, Corren agreed to give $255 — the value of using the list — to a charity.
With the state case coming up for trial next month, Donovan said the time was right to dismiss it after his efforts to resolve both cases at the same time fell though.
“The fair thing to do was to dismiss the case,” Donovan said Tuesday. “At the end of the day this one just felt like a bit of an overreach.”
In addition, Donovan said Sorrell’s prosecution had had a “chilling effect” on other candidates using the public campaign finance system, afraid they’d fall afoul of the law, particularly on when candidates can publicly discuss their campaign and start raising money.
Corren accused Sorrell of “manipulating the election” of 2016 and costing Corren the lieutenant governor’s job by filing the enforcement action. Corren lost to Lt. Gov. Phil Scott in 2014 and said he planned to run again in 2016 after Scott announced he would run for governor.
“In 2016, I would have been the leading candidate until this happened,” Corren said, adding later that he was glad a fellow Progressive, David Zuckerman, who also ran as a Democrat, had won the election.
“They got me, but they didn’t get the political part,” said Corren, who has maintained the enforcement by Sorrell, a Democrat, was politically motivated.
Sorrell has denied targeting Corren. Tuesday, he said of the settlement and Donovan’s decision to dismiss the case: “As attorney general, he has that authority.” He did not respond to questions about whether he agreed with Donovan’s decision.
Corren described the case as “Orwell meets Kafka” because he sought to pay for using the email list but was rebuffed.
Sorrell also took enforcement action against the Vermont Democratic Party, which agreed to pay a $10,000 fine, a move Corren called a “business calculation” he disagreed with.
“They don’t have a name to protect the way I do,” Corren said. “It was unacceptable not to fight so we fought.”
The case has been stressful, he said, with the large fines possibly looming, but Corren said he wouldn’t rule out making another bid for public office.
