The Free Press, Open Government and Sally Fox

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( – promoted by Jack McCullough)

I was stunned to read the list of Free Press endorsements for Chittenden County Senate. The Free Press predicated its Senate endorsements for Chittenden County on transparency and accountability in government. It went so far to say it is the “number one issue of this campaign.”

Given that the Free Press endorsement of Republican Charles Smith defies logic. Smith was part of a Douglas Administration that relied on something called the “deliberative process privilege” to stymie transparency in government and keep government documents away from the pesky prying eyes of the public. But, don’t take my word for it. Here’s an excerpt from a Peter Freyne column in Seven Days from 2005 when Smith was AHS Secretary under Jim Douglas:

“The Guv already has executive privilege, but now argues Vermont should embrace what’s called the “deliberative process privilege” to protect agency and department records from public view. He notes it is recognized in other states and also by the federal government.


Douglas won round one last summer when Washington County Superior Judge Matthew Katz cited the “deliberative process privilege” in denying public access to two documents sent by Commissioner Patrick Flood to Charles Smith who at the time was the secretary of the Agency of Human Services.”

How does that square with the Free Press’ endorsement of Smith? It doesn’t. Instead, the Free Press seems to fall for the old canard of “balance” (meaning, we’d rather at least one other Republican to endorse for the sake of numbers, rather than worry about being intellectually consistent) and chose to contradict its own stated “number one issue” of the campaign.

A better choice would have been to endorse the obvious alternative: Sally Fox.

Sally is a former State Representative and has chaired the powerful House Appropriations Committee. As such, she’s well aware of both the intricacies of government and the importance of public access to information. She’s spent most of her career involved in public service in one form or another (both in the House, and as an advocate). Given the fact the state faces a huge $120 million budget deficit, wouldn’t it have made more sense to endorse someone with both expertise in the critical area of government appropriations and open government?

The fact is the Free Press blew this call according to its own criteria. If you live in Chittenden County and care about the budget deficit and government accountability one of your six votes for State Senate should go to Sally Fox on election day.

6 thoughts on “The Free Press, Open Government and Sally Fox”

  1. for the sole reason that I could cast a vote for Sally.  I got to know Sally this summer during the primary and found her to be a smart, compassionate, genuine person who would represent all Vermonters well in the Senate.  Go Sally!

  2. …but I was impressed with how accessible Smith was over the course of the campaign.  For a guy whose campaign had the money for him to stay home and run his campaign largely through paid media, he was always out there, and came by my house twice, even though we’re all Dems.  A lot of people I’ve talked to here, like him or not, have been impressed by the effort he’s put into this campaign.

     

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