Way back in January 2013, when the earth was young and Peter Shumlin was still popular, the Governor unveiled two online transparency portals aimed “to open access to a litany of information about state government finances and life in the Green Mountains.”

Spotlight provided information on how state funds were being spent. Dashboard offered updates on the progress of Shumlin’s policy initiatives. Shumlin was particularly proud of Dashboard.

“We compiled a list of statistics that’ll show progress, if we’re making progress, or sliding backwards, on issues from crime to school graduation rates,” Shumlin said, referring to the “Governor’s Dashboard” site.

Spotlight is still there. Dashboard, however, appears to have been taken out back and shot.

This was brought to my attention by State Rep. Oliver Olsen via Twitter:

Governor’s Dashboard now a dead link: https://t.co/3VqM55rQ9s – tech problem, failing grades, or gimmick quietly buried? #vtpoli

— Oliver Olsen (@oliverolsen) July 31, 2016

Sure enough, clicking the link to Dashboard brings you to the inglorious “Page Not Found” warning on the Governor’s website.

There is still a link to Dashboard over at the Agency of Administration website — but it, too, links back to “Page Not Found.”

What with all the last-days turnover in state government, perhaps it’s too taxing to keep the Dashboard up to date. Or maybe our Lame Duck-In-Chief has embarrassingly little progress to report, now that his administration is largely in the rear-view mirror.

Still, if the Dashboard had proven itself a useful tool, you’d think that Shumlin would want to pass it on to his successor. Its unheralded departure suggests that it’s one more brilliant idea that never lived up to the hype.

It’d be ironic (and yet typical) if one of Shumlin’s transparency efforts has met its end in a thoroughly opaque manner.

/p