[G]ov. Phil Scott has apologized to the Joint Fiscal Office after his chief of staff accused fiscal analysts of playing partisan politics when they pointed out flaws in the administration’s education finance plan earlier this month.
Scott’s apology during a press conference last week came after Senate President Pro Tem Tim Ashe, D/P-Chittenden, took issue with chief of staff Jason Gibbs’ accusations in a letter.
But after apologizing, Scott quickly turned the tables and said the Senate Economic Development committee owed an apology to Karen O’Neill, whom he nominated to serve on the state Labor Relations Board. The Senate rejected her nomination last week, after the committee recommended not to confirm her.
“I apologize to the JFO,” Scott said. “I would like to add though I think Karen O’Neill is deserved an apology by the Senate Commerce and Economic Development Committee for the way she was treated in the committee.”
In Ashe’s letter, which he wrote in response to the governor’s call for a special session, the Senate president said he believes the governor owed the nonpartisan Joint Fiscal Office an apology.
Gibbs said the JFO analysis of the administration’s five-year plan to generate education savings was biased.
In an interview with VTDigger earlier this month, Gibbs said JFO’s analysis “reflects a desire on the part of legislative leadership to undermine the arguments the governor is making in his plan.”
JFO pointed out that the plan double-counted special education savings and used incorrect growth assumptions.
At the time, the plan included special education reform and a statewide teacher health care benefit, and involved increasing staff-to-student ratios and doubling taxes for school districts that spend more than 110 percent of the average per pupil rate.
Scott said he believed the plan would lead to $300 million in savings.
Analysts said the plan “contains some major technical errors” that reduce the administration’s projected savings by $100 million to $160 million.
Other errors that JFO pointed out included “not filling the reserves, overstating health care savings, and seemingly reducing tax rates rather than holding them constant,” according to the draft discussion document the Joint Fiscal Office prepared for lawmakers.
Ashe said that after pointing out the errors, the JFO deserved thanks from the administration.
“The only time I’ve observed such disrespect toward non-partisan government analysts is from President Trump and some extremists in the current Congressional majority in their abhorrent treatment of the Congressional Budget Office,” Ashe wrote.
Scott apologized after being pressed by reporters on the matter. At the time he had not read Ashe’s letter, which administration officials said the media received before they did.
But he immediately added that senators should apologize to his labor board candidate, O’Neill.
In a 4-1 vote, the committee recommended that the Senate not confirm O’Neill, whom the governor had named to serve as a “neutral” member on the six-member board in February.
Opponents of O’Neill’s nomination said her extensive experience in management positions, and lack of work or advocacy for labor interests, meant she wasn’t qualified under state statute to serve as a neutral board member.
Supporters of the nomination said O’Neill was qualified and that there was no evidence that she would be biased against labor.
In a statement, Rebecca Kelley, a spokesperson for the governor, said it’s “exceedingly rare” for the Senate not to confirm a governor’s appointee and that the decision “appears political.”
