Well, well. Just a few days after publishing an anecdote about Peter Shumlin’s money-grubbing youth (paywalled), here comes Peter “Scoop” Hirschfeld with a story of Our Governor’s modern-day devotion to unvarnished capitalism. (Partial version free here; full story paywalled here.)

Latest Shumlin land deal leaves seller feeling jilted

Last year, as you may recall, Shumlin bought a plot of land in East Montpelier on the cheap with a lot of help from his friends. And on that little piece of paradise, he had a new home built.

Then, last fall, Shumlin arranged to buy an adjacent piece of property. The owner, Jeremy Dodge, had inherited the land in 2009, had fallen way behind on his taxes, and was facing foreclosure. The 53-year-old Dodge is a troubled soul who dropped out of school in the ninth grade, has been in and out of trouble with the law, and as a longtime friend put it, “Jeremy’s not all there.”

The sale price: $58,000. At the time of the sale, the appraised value of the property was $233,700. That’s since been reduced to $144,000 because the house is in serious disrepair. But even so, Shumlin got a deal.

Or should I say “steal”?

Because Dodge, a man who obviously lacks the business smarts of a millionaire Governor, didn’t have legal representation.  

“I could not afford a lawyer,” Dodge said. “And (Shumlin) said we’d just use his lawyers.”

Oh dear. Smells like “conflict of interest” to me. And now, looking back on the deal, Dodge’s perspective has changed:

“I don’t have nothing bad to say about him, but yeah, I got ripped off, plain and simple,” Dodge said Tuesday. “I wish it had turned out differently.”

Shumlin insists that “$58,000 was a fair price” because the house “is in terrible shape.” Well, yeah, but even so, the revised appraisal is still nearly three times the purchase price. And although Shumlin claims the deal was a good one for both parties, he seems to realize that there’s a certain… odor… about it.

Dodge said Shumlin came knocking late last week to ask about whether he’d been speaking recently with reporters.

Yeah, I bet.

Now look, the Governor did nothing illegal here. But it sure does appear that he took advantage of someone who wasn’t fully capable of defending his interests or knowing his rights. Sounds a lot like that little kid who was happy (and proud) to price-gouge his brother and sister.