Tag Archives: Henry Bonges

Look Not to the House Ethics Panel for Transparency

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Not that anybody has paid attention, but it’s legislative report season. A rather stunning 55 separate reports have been submitted to the Legislature in the month of December alone. (You can peruse the list and download reports here.) Some are consequential and worthy of attention (fir instance, the Commission on the Future of Public Education has issued its final report, and we’ve got the annual review of traffic stops sorted by race), while some are routine and destined for a dusty filing cabinet in the State Archives (the riveting Annual Report on Railroad Rights-of-Way for Communication Leases and a whole bunch of Fee Reports from various agencies).

I hope to circle back to some that seem worth reading. But for now, I’m focused on the annual report from the House Ethics Panel, submitted on December 23. As ever, it’s a masterpiece of obfuscation and bureaucratic doublespeak. Because as ever, the Legislature’s ethics regime is designed to protect its members, not the public interest.

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The Milton Selectboard Needs a Refresher Course in Civics

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Strange doings up in Milton, where a longtime volunteer member of various town committees has gotten the boot from all his official duties for purely political reasons.

As reported by VTDigger’s Charlotte Oliver, Henry Bonges has served his town “for forty-some years.” And then he made the mistake of publicly criticizing members of the town Selectboard, three of whom happen to be Republican state representatives. (A fourth, Rep. Chris Taylor, just resigned from the board when he was hired as town manager.) In response, the Select Board has refused to reappoint him to his volunteer posts.

(The story has yet to be reported by the local Milton Independent, which appears to be highly risk-avoidant in its coverage of local politics. The paper has yet to be featured in my weekly “News You Should View” roundup because its content is generally bland and uninteresting. It’s a sorry state of affairs, when the town has had more than its share of political firestorms of late. The Independent is shirking its duty.)

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