Recent days have brought the unedifying spectacle of Vermont’s top Democrats fleeing pell-mell away from one of their own. Yes, I’m talking about Mark Larson, commissioner of the Department of Health Access, currently being raked over the political coals for the capital offense of giving an incorrect answer to a Republican lawmaker:

At a House Health Care Committee meeting Nov. 5, Rep. Mary Morrissey, R-Bennington, directly asked Larson who is commissioner of the Department of Vermont Health Access, if there had been any security breaches with Vermont Health Connect.

Larson told her there hadn’t, failing to disclose an incident on Oct. 17 in which one user was able to access another user’s Social Security information.

The blowback? Larson’s boss, Gov. Shumlin, called the incident “unacceptable” and said he was “tremendously disappointed” in Larson’s “lapse of judgment.” House Speaker Shap Smith, a former House colleague of Larson’s and a self-described “friend”, said the lapse “will undermine” Larson’s effectiveness.

Will undermine. Not “could” undermine, but “will” underrmine.

Dead man walking!

This is all of a piece with Democrats’ rank cowardice on health care reform, nationally and in Vermont. Rather than defending the signature legislative accomplishment of Obama and Shumlin, Democratic officeholders are fully engaged in a truly epic campaign of ass-covering: if anything goes wrong with health care reform, they want to be positioned as Guardians of the Public Trust.

Even if it means throwing a good man, a formerly valued colleague doing a really difficult job, under the nearest bus.

Understand, misleading a legislative committee is a serious matter. But the “security breach” was a one-time event involving two consumers who somehow were given the same Vermont Health Connect password. It wasn’t the usual kind of security breach, where hackers can or do gain access to reams of supposedly secure information. And when Larson answered Morissey’s question, that’s the kind of breach he had in mind.

Why would he think that? Well, perhaps because the isolated breach was well-known in Administration circles. Shumlin himself learned about it shortly after it happened, didn’t think it was a big deal, and didn’t try to inform the Legislature or the public. A fix was quickly put in place, and the incident was almost three weeks in the rear-view mirror when Larson gave his testimony.

You think maybe Shumlin’s own handling of the situation played a part in Larson’s non-answer to Morrissey?

The question of Larson having to resign was broached, and was promptly squelched by Shumlin. But the public rebuke, which ace reporter Peter Hirschfeld called “an unprecedented public dressing-down,” looks to me like a management tactic known as “creating a paper trail.” If you have doubts about an underling’s performance (or if you need someone to take the blame), you don’t immediately take action —  but you do put your doubts on the record. Then, if more problems appear, you’ve got a solid pretext for dismissal.

The real meaning of this little foofaraw? The Democrats, who are in the most secure electoral position you could possibly imagine, scatter like cockroaches at the first sign of trouble. And if there are more problems with Vermont Health Connect, they’ve chosen their designated scapegoat.