Dear Editor,
Vermont Friends of Israel supports the state House Ethics Panel’s decision to dismiss the complaints against Reps. Sarita Austin, D-Colchester, Matt Birong, D-Vergennes, Gina Galfetti, R-Barre Town, Will Greer, D-Bennington, and James Gregoire, R-Fairfield, arising from their trip to Israel last summer.
The panel was right to do so, and public officials should be allowed to participate in legitimate educational travel without being cast as scandalous.
Lawmakers were dragged through the mud for choosing to see Israel firsthand rather than through the distorted lens of antizionist activists. The resulting ethics review process wasted legislators’ time and taxpayer dollars, only to conclude there were “no reasonable grounds to believe an ethical violation occurred.”
In our view, the entire episode exposed how consumed by hate local extremists have become, and how their protests against the Jewish state fuel antisemitism in Vermont.
Fact-finding trips are a way to better understand a complicated region, its security concerns, and the foreign policy realities that affect both the United States and its allies. Critics treat any engagement with Israel as inherently corrupt or immoral. That is not a serious standard. Lawmakers routinely meet with governments, advocacy groups and institutions whose policies are debated or controversial. The relevant question is whether any rules were violated. The panel found there were not.
Reasonable people can disagree on policy, war powers or the conduct of foreign governments. But disagreement is not an ethics violation, and political anger is not proof of corruption.
The Vermont House Ethics Panel made the correct call.
On behalf of the Vermont Friends of Israel,
Mark Treinkman
Athens, Vt.
