So the Shumlin Administration has a shiny new policy regarding PR/communications positions in state government. For those just tuning in, Shumlin frequently attacked the Douglas Administration for hiring PR folks and using taxpayer money to crank out propaganda. Then, earlier this year, Shumlin threw a hissy when three of his departments posted job openings for communications people.  

Now, the Administration has come up with a policy intended, I’m sure, to clarity the issue. Terri Hallenbeck reports that the new policy reads as follows:

“It is the policy of the state of Vermont that it will only employ individuals in communications positions to provide fact-based information and education materials to the public and government stakeholders in a manner that serves the public interest and engenders trust in state government. The use of communications positions to provide biased information is prohibited.”

My reaction: Shumlin’s old ban is in the dumpster, and the door is once again wide open for PR hires. That one little paragraph is chock-full of Orwellian doublespeak. “Fact-based information,” for example, means exactly nothing. It’s like calling Hawaiian Punch a “fruit-based beverage.”  Just about every piece of information has a fact in it somewhere.

After the jump: more doublespeak… and a hearty endorsement of the new policy.

“Serves the public interest” is in the eye of the beholder. I’m sure that El Jefe General John McClaughry devoutly believes that the Ethan Allen Institute “serves the public interest” by providing a counterweight to Vermont’s rampant socialism.

“Engenders trust in state government” is the biggest howler in the bunch. If you make your agency head look good, aren’t you engendering trust in state government? If there’s a scandal in your department and you try to minimize its impact, are you not engendering trust in state government? Scandals, after all, diminish trust in state government. We can’t have that.

Finally, “The use of communications positions to provide biased information is prohibited.” Yeah, I’m laughing again. One man’s bias is another man’s reportage. Just ask Fox News. Or any Presidential press secretary.

Now that I’ve made sport of this vacuous new policy, let me say that I completely agree with it. Modern government is a big enterprise, and there’s a real need for communications. If you’ve ever been a reporter, you know that you need someone in government who actually answers their phone or returns messages in a hurry. Trying to direct-call an agency head is an exercise in futility. PR/communications people do help get the word out, and they do facilitate the process of journalism. And yes, you have to take everything they say with a grain of salt, but reporters are supposed to do that all the time with everyone they talk to.

I’m glad to see this new policy, because I’d long suspected that the old ban on flacks was a self-serving move on Shumlin’s part. One effect of the ban was that media inquiries were often funneled through Shumlin’s own press office. That kept him in the spotlight, and kept other officials in the shade. Which was useful I’m terms of Shumlin’s obvious aspirations for higher office; we don’t need any other Democrats raising their profiles, do we?  

So I welcome the new policy. But it’s clear  that Shumlin has abandoned a position he’d promulgated — often very loudly — since his run for Governor. And this new policy statement does precious little to conceal that fact.