I’m fully aware that we should take anything reported by WGOP — er, WCAX with a grain of salt. After all, just last week it made a huge and completely unwarranted fuss over Rep. Peter Welch’s alleged involvement in the IRS/Tea Party affair.
But WCAX has produced a follow-up to Peter Hirschfeld’s scoop about Gov. Shumlin’s East Montpelier land deal — you know, the one where he bought a 16-acre property and a dilapidated house for well under appraised value, the seller (Jeremy Dodge) was a troubled individual who wasn’t represented by counsel in the sale, and who now believes he was ripped off by Our Governor.
And if Channel 3 is right, the trouble may just be getting started. Because, according to Dodge’s longtime friend Bernie Corliss…
The land deal attracted the attention of federal authorities. Corliss says an FBI agent came to his door Monday, telling him he was investigating the legality of the deal. The agent even left a card.
“He asked me what I thought Jerry’s mental ability was. He asked me if I thought there was something wrong with the buy,” Corliss said.
WCAX News confirmed the FBI’s involvement. The U.S. Attorney for Vermont said agents followed up on a tip. Authorities would not tell us what they were looking for, but say there is no active investigation.
This may be purely routine, but I don’t think the FBI deploys its agents on a mere lark. And it’s never good news when a politician’s next news conference might well begin with the question, “Governor, have you been questioned by the FBI?”
After the jump: Shumlin jawbones himself a tax break.
One more exclusive tidbit from WCAX: you may recall that the assessed value of the Dodge property was lowered from $233,700 to $144,000 after the sale. Well, according to Channel 3, that’s because Shumlin sought a reduction in his East Montpelier property taxes.
“He did suggest that, you know, this was a worthless property and it isn’t worth what we had it in for,” [town lister Ross] Hazel said.
So he spent $58,000 on a “worthless” property that, even after a generous reappraisal, is still listed at $144,000.
Do I think there’s a scandal here? Not really. But my God, it stinks. At the very least, as Corliss told WCAX…
“A good person with ethics would have definitely done something different,” he said.
Hard to argue.
Shumlin’s been ‘slick’ for years. And in 2010, he ‘slicked through’ the primary–Racine should have won, but the ‘recount’ got in the way of ‘plant care’, maybe. Now this atrocity–oh wait…it’s only an ‘atrocity’ if a Republican does this kind of shit. That’s why there are, so far, no comments posted. Shumlin and Sorrell. Douglas and Sorrell. The FBI ought to poke around the AG’s office while it’s at it. Where was our ‘watchdog’ AG when this land deal and tax reappraisal went through?
You’re wrong. This IS a Scandal! And considering how Shumlin is shitting on the poor, the elderly, the un-and-under employed, looks to me like we got our very own Mitt Romney as Gov.
All our millionaire Gov. saw was a deal on abutting property to be scooped up easily-he’d deal with the politics later. Yeech.
Taking ownership of Dodge’s property will likely enable the governor to petition to close the town road, which sort of dead ends past his new house (turns into an ATV/Jeep trail at best). Pretty cheap way to get a private road.
The larger issue of taking advantage of someone who obviously is in distress raises questions about why the governor didn’t do the deal in a way that assured adequate housing for Mr. Dodge in the future. Having worked on relocations of mobile home park tenants, it is no small challenge to find affordable housing. The governor is especially in a position to have assisted Mr. Dodge going forward. Instead, it looks like all he cared about was getting a great deal for himself and making himself look good by helping Dodge pay off his debts. That doesn’t get Mr. Dodge a place to live.
Our wealthy governor took advantage of a disadvantaged man, and he didn’t do it through lawyers, he did it himself, personally.
the guy was losing his house due to failed tax payments based on the $200K assessment, and then Peter pays the bill off and has the amount he is going to be assessed upon lowered by almost $100K? And the guy starts off with 58K but ends up with squat after Peter pays off his outstanding debts “for him”?
And in response to this all we get is a press release?
Not over at all I suspect.
When will rich white men catch a break in this society?