It gives me no pleasure to write this post, but I feel I have no choice because yesterday was a really bad day at VTDigger, starkly showcasing its shortcomings and weaknesses. The word “Digger” seems grossly inappropriate for the product they’re putting out these days. “Surface-Scratcher” is closer to the mark. Now that Digger seems to be regularly running stories about the weather, I might suggest “Vermont’s Friendly Companion,” which has a nice Old Farmers’ Almanac feel to it. Lyman Orton would approve.

First, an extremely curious editorial choice. Digger completely ignored Sen. Bernie Sanders’ endorsement of Amanda Janoo, a significant development in the gubernatorial campaign that was covered by yours truly, Seven Days, and Vermont Public, among others.

On the same day, Digger chose to spotlight the sudden departure of Digital Services Secretary Denise Reilly-Hughes in a story that incuriously regurgitated a Scott administration press release about the move. In itself, this would be annoying, not damning. What took it over the top was this little gem:

Reilly-Hughes’ departure comes as several significant IT projects are underway for Scott’s administration including a $70 million overhaul of the state’s human resources and finance systems. 

The link is to an April story about the state “shifting gears” on the $70 million project. A hell of a lot has happened since then (not that Digger has bothered to pursue the story), and all of it has been bad for the administration. This project has gone so far off the rails that a change in ADS leadership comes as no surprise whatsoever.

Back in late July, the House-Senate Joint Information Technology Oversight Committee heard testimony about ongoing IT projects in state government. The news was good for some projects, but devastating for the HR/finance overhaul officially named the Enterprise Resource Management Project, a.k.a. ERP. The committee heard that ADS had put the project on “pause” in April, a pause that was still in effect in July and presumably continues to this day.

Lisa Gauvin, an IT expert hired by JITOC, testified that ERP’s costs are ballooning and no one knows how high the price tag will go. She identified “a number of failures in planning and procurement,” including a failure to adequately address the vital task of integrating legacy data into the new system. And she cast doubt on whether the project could be successfully completed at all. Administration officials including Reilly-Hughes spoke at the hearing, and essentially acknowledged Gauvin’s findings. Let’s put it this way: They didn’t put up a fight.

Digger didn’t bother to cover the hearing, so maybe they were simply clueless that ERP has kinda-sorta fallen off a cliff. It certainly sheds a different light on the announcement, which came only nine days in advance of Reilly-Hughes’ departure date. That sounds less like a career decision and more like a cashiering. Especially since the Legislature’s Joint Fiscal Office and the State Auditor are both conducting reviews of ERP, meaning more bad news could be coming down the pike any day now. During the final weeks of a campaign season.

Not that you’d know from reading VTDigger.

There were a couple of other Digger stories posted Wednesday that weren’t nearly as bad as the Reilly-Hughes goodbye kiss, but are worth mentioning all the same.

Digger intern Tierney Flavin wrote a well-intentioned piece about AI “slopaganda” in Vermont politics, But she opened the story by giving a lot of undue attention to one of the most marginal figures in the field: Curtis Hier, founder and sole operator of a brand-new political action committee called “Flip Vermont Red.” He’s been on my radar for a while, but I hadn’t gotten around to writing about him because he’s so utterly irrelevant. According to its own campaign finance filings, Flip Vermont Red has received money from exactly one single source: Curtis Hier’s own wallet, to the tune of $656.35. Flip Vermont Red is, as far as can be discerned, a “committee” of one.

Flavin describes some of Hier’s AI-generated content, but doesn’t detail how deeply misogynistic most of it is. He’s posted content attacking Dave Wolk, independent candidate for state Senate in Rutland County. But otherwise ALL his content is about female Democratic politicians, depicted as overbearing bitches who are also flighty and dumb as posts. His favorite targets are Sens. Ruth Hardy, Becca White, and “Kesha Hinsdale” (who apparently doesn’t get to keep her birth name?), along with Senate candidate Elizabeth Burrows.

You might think that’d be worth mentioning, but nah. Flavin focuses more on the generic question of AI in politics than on the specific offenses of Flip Vermont Red. She also failed to document Hier’s awful record as a member of the Slate Valley Unified School District Board, which might seem relevant to his participation in the broader field of Vermont politics.

When he ran for the board, Hier touted his educational background. He did not mention that he’s a deeply conservative shit-kicker whose real goal was to make everyone else’s lives miserable. According to a change.org petition calling for his resignation, Hier…

…has had continuous conflicts with administrators, fellow board members, parents, and community stakeholders. The board formally asked him to step down on July 31, 2023, and he refused. He has publicly called for the resignation of the entire board and administration, and has referred to parents who question his social media posts with insulting and inflammatory language.

Hier has cost the district tens of thousands in delays and legal fees. He filed suit against the district over access to seven years’ worth of records about incidents of restraint and seclusion of students. The case went to the state Supreme Court, which ruled in January 2025 that the records were exempt from the Public Records Act.

All of that might seem relevant to a story platforming Hier in our political process, but I guess not. Doubtless Flavin had a tight deadline to meet.

Finally, and least crucially, Digger posted a piece by southwest Vermont reporter Greta Solsaa about the purchase of the former Green Mountain College campus by Florida evangelist Tommie Zito. Her story is competent enough, but it pales in comparison to a Seven Days account by Brian Nearing. His story raises allllllll the red flags about Zito’s sketchy past, shaky finances, and potential stewardship of the Poultney property. It is well worth your time.

Point being, Nearing dug and dug and dug and got the goods, while Solsaa poked around in the dirt. Seven Days‘ output has declined (and its Statehouse presence diminished greatly) since the COVID pandemic devastated its advertising revenue, but what it does publish is some of the best journalism you’ll find anywhere in Vermont. Digger has suffered a similar reduction in output, but its general quality has fallen as well. Some of its stuff is great, but a lot of it fails to get beneath surface level. Fails to, you know, dig.

This is where I’m supposed to restate my continued support for VTDigger. And I’m still a monthly donor. But I’m feeling less good about it than I used to. I’m beginning to worry that Digger will never pull out of what seems to be a slide into irrelevance. And although I still want Digger to thrive and flourish, I will not be silent when it deserves criticism.