Vermont transparency headlines
From Sunshine Review
This article is a list of transparency related news from Vermont.
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The Vermont project on Sunshine Review
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Symington sued over e-mail access
October 15, 2008: A Fair Haven teacher is in the process of filling a lawsuit against Speaker of the House Gaye Symington – the Democratic candidate for governor – over access to her correspondence.
The lawsuit may settle a gray area in the law that has periodically arisen for several years: How much access should the public have to lawmakers' correspondence. Read the full article here.
E-mail ruling weakens public accountability
October 14, 2008: The ruling that withheld e-mails written by Burlington city employees -- on city computers on city time -- from the public, despite recognizing that they are public documents, show just how much further Vermont has to go with its open government laws.
Washington Country Superior Court Judge Brian Grearson said the e-mails show a relationship that constitute a conflict of interest, but they will be kept from the public because the exchanges are of a "highly personal nature." Read the full editorial here.
Judge won't release city e-mails
October 9, 2008: Judge Brian Grearson has declined to release e-mails exchanged between the former Burlington city attorney and city employees because of the highly personal nature of the correspondence.
The Burlington Free Press filed lawsuit in 2007 in Washington Superior Court asking that the city of Burlington be compelled to release e-mails exchanged between former City Attorney Joe McNeil and zoning consultant Owiso Makuku and between McNeil and former interim Chief Administrative Officer Karen Wingate. Read the full article here.
Man stymied in hunt for Vt. legislative records
September 17, 2008: Curt Hier has been trying to find out if a teachers’ union influenced lawmakers’ votes on a school funding bill, but says his requests for public records from the Vermont Legislature have produced nothing but frustration.
Hier, a Fair Haven teacher who chairs school reform group First Class Education-Vermont, said he has been trying to investigate the Vermont National Education Association’s failed efforts to get lawmakers to repeal a 2007 law designed to put the brakes on rising school costs. Read the full article here.
The public's shrinking right to know
August 1, 2008: Whether local activist Mike Bethel was on a "fishing" exhibition in seeking e-mails exchanged be-tween local school board members is beside the point as far as the public's right to know is concerned.
Mr. Bethel's request was denied by the boards, and now Superior Court Judge David Howard has dismissed Mr. Bethel's suit against the officials to obtain those e-mails. Read the full column here.
State offers, union nixes alternate records route
July 30, 2008: The Douglas administration extended an olive branch Wednesday to the state workers' union in an ongoing access-to-public-records dispute, but the Vermont State Employees Association said the administration's offer came up short. Read the full article here.
State wants $1,700 for look at public records
July 29, 2008: The Douglas administration is demanding $1,700 from the Vermont State Employees' Association if the union wants to look at public records related to the 400 state job cuts Gov. Jim Douglas has ordered.
"The time (and associated cost) are high because the request will require review of many thousands of e-mail messages to or from the named individuals" -- named in the union's request for access to the documents, wrote Harold Scwartz, administrative services director at the Department of Human Resources.
The union, which had sought e-mails and other internal documents related to the cuts dating back to last fall, called the charge exorbitant. Read the full article here.
