Tag Archives: Liam Elder-Connors

The Legislature’s Definition of “Conflict of Interest” Is Remarkably Indulgent

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Another day, another cheeseball graphic from the Internet. But in the case of the Vermont Legislature, there’s something a little bit off with this picture. It’d be more accurate if the red “X” was removed, because its conflict of interest rules are more designed to enable conflict than prevent it. And the standard, as flaccid as it is, seems to be applied with stunning inconsistency.

Exhibit A: The very good story co-authored by Carly Berlin and Liam Elder-Connors and published by VTDigger and Vermont Public, about the clear and obvious conflict of interest involving Republican Rep. Debbie Dolgin.

Dolgin’s husband Steve is a hard-nosed landlord from St. Johnsbury who has actively lobbied the Legislature to make it easier for landlords to evict tenants. Dolgin herself now sits on the House Committee on General and Housing, whose remit includes landlord/tenant law. In committee deliberations, she has openly advocated for her husband’s interests.

This isn’t a problem, I guess, because the House’s conflict standards are as loose as a pair of panties in the mind of Fifties illustrator Art Frahm.

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It Wasn’t the Best Week to Roll Out Your Ebenezer Scrooge Impression

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Last week, the Budget Adjustment Act sailed through the House on more or less a party-line vote, with Republicans raising whiny objections over a penny-ante increase in funding for the General Assistance Emergency Housing program. Gov. Phil Scott did his share of whining as well, and there’s been some talk of a possible BAA veto. Which, if it happens, would be utterly ridiculous.

But amidst all the Republican whining, the most ignorant, shameful, bigoted remarks actually came from a Democrat. Stay tuned for more on that.

This all happened against the backdrop of a tremendous piece of journalism that dropped the day of Scott’s comments and the day before the House’s BAA debate: a story by Vermont Public‘s Liam Elder-Connors and Seven Days‘ Derek Brouwer exploring how many unhoused people have died in Vermont, a statistic the state has so far declined to keep. With that story on the front page, it was a bad time to bitch about an extra $1.8 million in motel vouchers.

The two reporters found that “at least 82 people in Vermont… died between 2021 and 2024 while appearing to reside in an emergency shelter or outdoors.” That’s almost certainly an undercount; no one in Vermont officialdom tracks that number, nor does anyone seem interested in doing so. Outgoing Health Commissioner Dr. Mark Levine said it would be “very challenging” to collect such data.

Not as challenging as, say, sleeping outside in the dead of winter, but sure, let’s only keep the easy statistics.

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