It was that time of year again on Thursday: the Vermont Democratic Party’s “Speaker’s Soiree,” an evening of hors d’oeuvres, drinks and access to lawmakers during the legislative session. Tickets ran for $50 to $1,000 apiece, and the proceeds went toward Democratic campaigns for the Vermont House.
The gathering of muckety mucks at the Capitol Plaza Hotel in Montpelier also celebrated the record number of LGBTQ+ lawmakers elected in Vermont in 2022. U.S. Rep. Becca Balint, D-Vt. — the state’s first openly gay member of Congress — was invited but couldn’t make it, so she offered remarks via video instead.
Just as the party was getting started, another event down the hall was already underway: a reception honoring Vermont LGBTQ+ lawmakers hosted by the LGBTQ Victory Institute, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit based in Washington, D.C.
“There was a large overlap” in attendees of each event, according to Bill Lippert, a former member of the Vermont House who was honored at both, and whom Balint introduced in her remarks. Social media photos from the events show lawmakers and state officials at both.
The LGBTQ Victory Institute… Where have I heard that name before? The nonprofit is affiliated with the LGBTQ Victory Fund, the hybrid political action committee/super PAC that spent roughly $1 million backing Balint’s 2022 congressional campaign. After last year’s primaries, Seven Days revealed that a close associate of Sam Bankman-Fried — the alleged fraudster and disgraced founder of the cryptocurrency exchange FTX — had bankrolled the victory fund’s pro-Balint spending. Prosecutors have since alleged that the money was stolen from FTX and another Bankman-Fried company, Alameda Research.
Astute VTDigger readers may recall that also on Thursday — just hours before the twin festivities at the Capitol Plaza — a superseding indictment filed in federal court outlined new details of Bankman-Fried’s alleged scheme. The indictment, VTDigger reported, cites one donation that appears to mirror the circumstances of the LGBTQ Victory Fund’s million-dollar investment in Balint’s victory.
Balint is not named in the indictment and has not been accused of wrongdoing. Her campaign manager, Natalie Silver, said Thursday that the campaign was cooperating with federal prosecutors — and it has pledged to return separate contributions Bankman-Fried and his associates made directly to Balint’s bid.
Asked about the coinciding Capitol Plaza events Thursday, Vermont Democratic Party executive director Jim Dandeneau said the party had no role in planning or promoting the Victory Institute’s reception.
“It was a separate event,” Dandeneau said, though he acknowledged that the events were timed so that as many people as possible could attend both. (The VDP also received roughly $10,000 apiece from Bankman-Fried and his brother, Gabe, VTDigger reported last December.)
House Majority Leader Emily Long, who helped organize the Speaker’s Soiree, said Friday that she and other organizers knew the Victory Institute reception would be happening at the same time as the VDP’s event, but she said she “had no idea” about the connection between the LGBTQ Victory Fund and FTX.
“I don’t know anything about that,” the Newfane Democrat said in response to a question.
The primary contact listed on the Victory Institute’s event registration page was Marty Rouse, vice president of outreach and engagement for the LGBTQ Victory Fund — the organization that directed the crypto cash to Vermont. Rouse campaigned in Vermont last summer for Balint and other Democratic candidates.
In response to questions about the Victory Institute event and the superseding indictment, Albert Fujii, a spokesperson for the Victory Fund, wrote this in an email Friday: “We have set aside funds and will take appropriate action once we receive guidance from authorities.”
— Shaun Robinson
IN THE KNOW
Advocates for Vermont’s community-based long-term care services made their bid for a bigger piece of the state’s 2024 budget at a show of force in the Cedar Creek Room today.
Despite an 8% increase last year, the current Medicaid rate of reimbursement “doesn’t even come close to what the true cost of services are,” said Rep. Theresa Wood, D-Waterbury, chair of the House Human Services Committee, speaking about a wide variety of programs and services including adult day care, home health agencies and assisted living and residential care facilities.
Legislators, care providers and consumers spoke about the need to drastically boost Medicaid reimbursements in order to maintain services in the face of decades of underfunding and the wage increases needed now to recruit and retain staff.
Based on provider surveys, the Department of Vermont Health Access found that an almost $31 million increase in Medicaid funding would be needed to meet their estimated costs. About $13 million would need to come from the general fund to match federal dollars, advocates estimate.
At today’s press conference, Rep. Dan Noyes, D-Wolcott, also on the Human Services Committee, was positioning the long-term care request in the context of an even wider range of competing priorities.
Noyes said he looked forward to budget discussions in the coming weeks that framed decisions “by using ‘and’ instead of ‘or’ or ‘if.’”
“Funding for child care and adult care,” he said. We shall see.
— Kristen Fountain
A new version of H.10 has scrapped almost all of the changes that the original bill would have made to Vermont’s corporate incentives program.
House Commerce members have made a few tweaks to the existing program geared toward increased transparency. But the main focus of the bill now lies in a task force that would study the program and suggest changes to improve its efficacy and accountability.
Many committee members said Tuesday they believed it was time to ask hard questions about whether the program was really creating Vermont jobs or making a difference in business’ decisions to come to the Green Mountain State. They just needed more time to do it.
Logan Nicoll, D-Ludlow, said that only extending the program’s lifetime by one year would hold “their feet to the fire.”
“We have some accountability coming back to us to see how the changes work and make sure we’re on it again next session,” he said.
— Erin Petenko
ON THE MOVE
Lawmakers in the House Committee on Agriculture, Food Resiliency, and Forestry advanced a bill implementing free universal school meals Friday morning.
H.165 would require schools to offer free breakfast and lunch to all Vermont students in public schools and all publicly tuitioned students in independent schools.
As written, the bill would simply pay for those meals from the state’s education fund, although lawmakers have also discussed raising money from other sources, such as taxes on software, sweetened drinks and candy.
The bill passed out of committee by a 9-2 vote, with Reps. Rodney Graham, R-Williamstown, and Charles Wilson, R-Lyndon, voting against it. It must pass through the Ways and Means and Appropriations committees before going before the full House.
— Peter D’Auria
WHAT WE’RE READING
Superior Court judge’s ‘gruff’ style faces Statehouse scrutiny (VTDigger)
Looming water and housing crises shape Montpelier mayoral race (VTDigger)
Report: Gaps in mental health services contributed to 2019 fatal police shooting in Montpelier (Vermont Public)
Vermont’s Butterfly Bakery spices up new season of hit show ‘Hot Ones’ (VTDigger)
