[A]fter House lawmakers saw an increase in threats during the last legislative biennium, the Speaker of the House and Capitol Police chief have decided to take representatives’ personal contact information off the Vermont Legislature’s website.
While the website previously displayed lawmakers’ personal phone numbers and home addresses, addresses are no longer posted and the default number listed for legislators connects to the Sergeant at Arms’ office. The policy change was reported on last week by WCAX.
House representatives who prefer to list their personal information online will still be able to do so. There will also be official phone numbers listed online that can redirect to personal numbers. The Senate has not made any changes to its policy, according to Capitol Police Chief Matthew Romei.
“It is the people’s house, and everything we do is striking the balance between maintaining open government — people’s ability to be in touch with and interact with their representatives — at the same time we have to take an eye toward safety,” Romei said.
House Speaker Mitzi Johnson, D-South Hero, along with Romei and the Legislature’s IT director, decided that personal information shouldn’t be automatically posted online after what they described as an increase in threatening calls and behavior over the past two years.
Johnson’s chief of staff, Katherine Levasseur, said the House wants to “strike a balance” between accessibility and personal safety. She added that with 41 new members entering the House this year, leaders believed now would be a good time to change the way members’ personal information is displayed.
The change in policy also comes after Kiah Morris, who had been the only black woman serving in the Vermont Legislature, faced ongoing racial harassment and threats while she was in office, and declined to run for re-election.
Democratic gubernatorial candidate Christine Hallquist also received threats during her run last year as the nation’s first transgender gubernatorial candidate.
While House lawmakers’ personal contact information will not necessarily be available on the legislative website, much of it will still be available on the Secretary of State’s website through election records.
Secretary of State Jim Condos said his office is reviewing what information is statutorily required to be made public, and what information the office is choosing to post online.
“We need to follow the law and we need to carefully balance transparency and accessibility with privacy and safety,” Condos said in an emailed statement.
“We expect that members of the Legislature will engage us in ongoing discussions around this issue, and ultimately if the Legislature decides to change these legal requirements we will follow the law,” he added.
Romei said he also expected to continue the conversation about how much information about public officials needs to be proactively posted online. He said social media has contributed to an environment in which people can make anonymous threats, which was a contributing factor in the rising number of threats across the board.
“Do I think we’re at a high point in the threat matrix? Certainly not. At the same time, I don’t think you can in good conscience pretend like it’s 2009,” Romei said.
The police chief noted that people who are determined to find addresses and phone numbers of officials will be able to find that information online regardless of whether the government makes it available.
“But it doesn’t mean I am going to publish those things out there and make it easy for you,” he said.
