State Auditor Tom Salmon Jr. makes me wince. Not the kind of wince you do when you hear the sound of nails dragged on a chalkboard, the kind of wince from being really, really embarrassed.
Salmon continues to demonstrate very little understanding of the nature of the Auditor’s office. Nor does he seem to understand his own responsibilities, or even his own audits. Couple with that a… challenging… relationship with the english language, and… well, like I said. It’s cringe-inducing.
But over at vtdigger, Salmon’s opponent from last year – Doug Hoffer – is not simply (once again) challenging Salmon’s statements, he’s raising an issue of professional and ethical conduct.
Hoffer notes that Auditor Salmon was approached by Entergy executives – not simply when policies surrounding Vermont Yankee were being discussed in the legislature, but while Salmon’s office was auditing the VY decommissioning fund. Since that time, Salmon has wasted no opportunity to step way outside his official duties and throw himself into the debate, using language every bit as strong in Entergy’s favor as any official corporate spokesperson.
Hoffer comments in his response below the press release:
We will never know what transpired in those conversations between Tom Salmon and Entergy officials, but it’s not unreasonable to ask if Mr. Salmon was biased or personally impaired in the matter. Government Auditing Standards make it clear that “auditors…must be free from personal impairments” to carry out their duties objectively.
Some of Salmon’s outspoken advocacy, of course, tends into the ridiculous, as in the above-linked vtdigger piece which includes the supremely goofy “Vermont is not some kind of renewable energy utopia.” (wha…?) followed after a few rambling sentences by “Address Yankee swiftly without a lot of nonsense.” (presumably, there was no irony intended).
(NOTE: Stating that Hoffer has a better understanding of economics in general, and the state’s numbers in particular is kind of like saying that The Muppet Movie is maybe a little more appropriate for children than Deep Throat.)
Fortunately for all of us, word is circulating that Hoffer will likely challenge Salmon to an electoral rematch, so stay tuned for that and cross your fingers.
So I will just add my little piece (unedited) here in the comments:
Vermont State Auditor, Tom Salmon, who seems to be on a perpetual campaign for some other office…perhaps any other office…has characteristically issued a press-release on the recent Vermont Yankee court decision.
This time, he seems to be pitching for States Attorney, as he targets the very decision to challenge VY, undertaken by Mr. Sorrell at the Legislature’s behest.
Mr. Salmon continues to have some kind of misapprehension as to the appropriate scope of his elected office. According to the auditor’s official website, his statutory duties include only the following:
I see nothing in there that would suggest it is his official role to evaluate policy and charges handed-down by the Legislature for execution by other elected officials.
Himself considerably overstepping the boundaries of political neutrality that would seem essential to the office of any auditor, he goes so far as to say:
And to postulate that
As if to validate his privilege to opine, “I told you so,” he quotes from a particularly garbled missive which he sent to the Governor Douglas, Governor Shumlin, Speaker Smith, and others concerning Vermont Yankee and S 373, the bill that required that Entergy agree to fully fund decommissioning.
It is beyond me what his purpose is other than to demonstrate his own lack of conviction that Entergy could be compelled to fully fund decommissioning. If that is the case, it would appear that the Public Service Board should have no problem coming to the conclusion that allowing Entergy to continue operating would not be in the best economic interests of the state.
Even the 8/31/10 report on the VY Decommissioning Fund which he helpfully links to in his press-release seems to bear out the intractability of Entergy, and their unwillingness to live up to the spirit of their decommissioning commitment.
I really am at a total loss to know what Mr. Salmon thinks he has to gain here.
He only succeeds in demonstrating once again how irrelevant he feels in the role of auditor and how anxious he is to move into some other role where the spotlight will be warmer.
a more general take on Mr. Salmon’s press release, here are comments I posted later in the day in response to a guy who cheered Mr. Salmon’s remarks (this got bounced off the front page so virtually no one saw it)
Mr. Hudson
You missed the point. The issue is not whether we agree with the decisions of the legislature and the governor; only whether and in what circumstances the State Auditor should weigh in on such matters.
In this case, Mr. Salmon expressed personal views not supported by audit findings. While Vermonters are free to speak out, Government Auditing Standards require the State Auditor to be objective. This is not the first time Mr. Salmon has compromised his objectivity.
In addition, decisions by our elected officials are unavoidably subjective and cannot be audited. Mr. Salmon’s comments were about policy decisions. The fact that money was spent reflects choices made by our elected officials. That’s their job; it’s not Mr. Salmon’s. Look at this statement by Mr. Salmon:
“It’s time to stop playing political games with taxpayer dollars, Vermont is not some kind of renewable energy utopia.”
The “political game” he refers to is the result of elections and decisions made after careful consideration and extensive debate. Obviously, Mr. Salmon disagrees with those decisions. If he was a member of the legislature (or governor) he could participate in such decisions. This press release, like so many other pronouncements from Mr. Salmon, suggests that he would prefer to be a legislator or chief executive. But he’s not. He’s the State Auditor and he should act like one.
Hoffer would be a better Auditor. No question about it.
However, Hoffer’s last campaign for Auditor was abysmal. It lacked organization. It lacked energy. There wasn’t a lot of effort put in to actually connecting with Vermonters on a human level.
Like it or not, winning elections means shaping your message and your image to meet expectations of the voters. Last time out, his campaign attempted to defy this reality and he failed.
At the very least, Hoffer should take a good, hard, objective look at the shortcomings of his last campaign. He needs to get some help and advice from people outside of his circle. Learn. Adapt. Then Win.