Funny doings over at Wikipedia. Until early May, Bill Sorrell’s page was basically a stub — a couple paragraphs of basic biographical material, nothing more. Then, between May 4 and 6, there were eleven separate edits, each adding information that was completely one-sided, and always flattering to Sorrell.  

All eleven edits were made from the same IP address, 24.147.93.129, which traces to South Burlington. Aside from this burst of edits, 24.147.92.129 has done almost nothing on Wikipedia.

Thanks to 24.147.92.129’s literary efforts, Bill Sorrell’s Wikipedia page has been turned into a fluff piece extolling his accomplishments large and small and completely omitting any negatives or controversies. (Not a word about Vermont Yankee or campaign finance, for instance.)  One of his “major accomplishments” is so vastly overstated that it’s entirely misleading.

It’s a statement that is repeated in Sorrell’s own campaign puffery. It concerns his role in the multi-state settlement with the tobacco industry. Here it is, as it appears on Wikipedia (as of Tuesday May 29 at 7:00 a.m., in case 24.147 gets busy again):

Within weeks of taking office, Sorrell brought suit against the nation’s largest tobacco companies to end their deceitful behavior of lying about the harmful effects of their products.

The lawsuit resulted in a historic settlement with Big Tobacco that to date has yielded over $300 million dollars for Vermont taxpayers; and, as a result of Bill’s leadership*, Big Tobacco will continue to pay Vermont approximately $25 million dollars a year in perpetuity.

*A curiously familiar phrase there: “as a result of Bill’s leadership.” You don’t usually see Wikipedia postings on a first-name basis.

We’ll get to the truth momentarily. But first, here’s a curiously similar passage from Sorrell’s campaign website:

As Attorney General, only a matter of weeks after taking office, I filed suit against the country’s largest tobacco companies for lying about the addictive qualities of cigarettes, marketing to children and causing the expenditure of millions of dollars of Vermont taxpayer money each year to treat tobacco-related illnesses.  The settlement of the case has resulted in payments of approximately $300 million to the state and these payments of approximately $25 million per year are to continue forever.

There’s a lot of word-swapping between the two versions, but in terms of shape, thrust, and meaning, they are identical. It’s hard to imagine that 24.147 could have written the Wikipedia entry without using Sorrell’s own statement as a template. (It could have happened the other way around as well, but I hope Bill Sorrell hasn’t been reduced to cadging his campaign material from Wikipedia.)

After the jump: the truth about the tobacco settlement.

Now, aside from the issue of Wiki-fluffing, there’s a larger question: how much credit should Bill Sorrell get for the tobacco settlement? The historical record suggests that he’s claiming far more than he deserves.

(The following information largely taken from a PBS Frontline history of the tobacco lawsuits.)

The first state lawsuit was brought in 1994 by the AG of Mississippi. Three other states joined by early 1995. About a year later, the Liggett Group reached its own settlement with five states and numerous private plaintiffs. That touched off a series of filings; 14 more states joined the party by the end of 1996.

In March 1997, Liggett settled with the rest of the states that had filed suit by then. That touched off a flood of filings; 18 states filed in May and June alone.

Bill Sorrell took office as Vermont AG on May 1, 1997 (according to his Wikipedia page, heh). Vermont filed its tobacco suit on May 29. It was the 10th state in that flood of 18. So, the truth is, Sorrell filed suit a few weeks after taking office — but he did so at a time when Attorneys General were jumping on the bandwagon as quickly as they could. It took no particular “leadership” on Sorrell’s part.

The tobacco settlement was announced not long thereafter, on June 20, 1997. These things take a lot of time, and the deal had obviously been in the works long before May 29. It’s unlikely that Sorrell had much to do with it aside from signing his name.

There’s an Associated Press article about the Sorrell/Donovan primary race which includes an interestingly written account of Sorrell’s boast.

During his tenure, Sorrell said, he ushered hundreds of millions of dollars into the state through enforcement actions, including the tobacco settlement, which will bring $25 million a year to the state for as long as the tobacco industry is in business.

That much is true. He “ushered in” the big bucks, the same way an usher shows you to your seat in a theater. Which is a long way from asserting that the usher produced the evening’s entertainment.

I hope our ever-diligent Vermont political media will closely question Mr. Sorrell on the truth of the tobacco settlement. While they’re at it, maybe they can track down 24.147.93.127.