Tag Archives: TJ Donovan

Time for the AG to Take Center Stage

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Charity Clark is in a unique position. At a time when our democracy and our system of government are under threat from The World’s Biggest Golf Cheat, she is Vermont’s chief legal advocate. More so than, say, our other Democratic statewides, she has the authority to take action. And the responsibility.

So far, she has followed the Bill Sorrell playbook: Signing on to 13 lawsuits against the Trump administration filed by coalitions of Democratic attorneys general. She also gave a nice speech at Saturday’s lawyers’ rally in Burlington. (In which she oddly referred to the rule of law and the separation of powers as “kind of one of our major brands” as if the Constitution is a consumer product.) That’s all fine, but it’s kind of the least she could do.

Stepping forward on her own would take some courage, but would also be the smartest political move she could make. Setting aside right and wrong for just a moment and focusing on the politics, which is after all the remit of this popstand, Clark is one of a number of top-tier Democrats presumed to be angling for higher office. But she appears to lag behind Treasurer Mike Pieciak (but then, don’t we all?) in terms of profile, connections, and fundraising prowess. If she wants to run for governor or the next Congressional opening, she’ll need to raise her public profile and differentiate herself from a potential swarm of primary candidates.

The best way for her to do that — and also, ahem, do the right thing — is to find ways to lead the fight against Trump. Even purely symbolic moves would help.

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Gentlefolk, Start Your Engines

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It’s been two and a half months since Election Day, which means I’m way behind the Political Observer curve in terms of looking ahead to the next election.

Or perhaps the 2028 election, depending on when Gov. Phil Scott decides to retire undefeated. Because until that happens, there won’t be a serious contest for the Democratic nomination — and when it happens, we’re going to see a political stampede the likes of which we haven’t seen since Jim Douglas’ retirement in 2010 touched off a five-way contest in the Dem primary.

If you think it’s Way Too EarlyTM for such talk, well, let me tell you, the engines have been revving for some time now. Recent examples: Former Burlington mayor Miro Weinberger’s emergence as the public face of Let’s Build Homes, a nominally bipartisan slash nonpartisan organization promoting the cause described in its name; and the obligatory tongue bath given to Lt. Gov. John Rodgers in the cover story of last week’s Seven Days, which touted the notion that this crusty, ornery Son of the SoilTM was suddenly transformed into gubernatorial timber by his extremely narrow plurality victory over David Zuckerman. Which I don’t buy, but hey, I’ve been wrong before.

In reality, the race to succeed Scott began at least two years ago and maybe four, when Mike Pieciak left his post in the, ahem, Scott administration to run for treasurer and immediately succeeded his predecessor Beth Pearce as the person most likely to get a standing ovation at party meetings. Pieciak’s been fundraising far beyond his minuscule needs ever since, and the only plausible explanation is that he’s preparing to run for governor as soon as Scott steps aside.

A more pointed signal of Pieciak’s intent could be seen in his November 19 campaign finance report: a $3,000 payment made on November 6 to Silver Strategies, LLC.

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The Unbearable Weirdness of Being Attorney General

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Over the years, I have written some unkind things about the last two Vermont Attorneys General, Bill Sorrell and TJ Donovan. I can’t say I regret anything in particular. But in light of recent events, it must be said that some of their actions have less to do with political timidity or personal fecklessness and more to do with the inherent weirdness of the office itself.

Our current Attorney General, Charity Clark, has been all over the news this week. She joined other AGs in challenging the Trump administration order ending birthright citizenship. She announced a multi-billion-dollar settlement of a lawsuit against the Sacklers and other bigwigs of Big Pharma responsible for an epidemic of substance use disorder. Strong stuff.

At the same time, her office was before the Vermont Supreme Court defending Gov. Phil Scott’s appointment of Zoie Saunders as interim education secretary. Yes, a Democratic AG was taking the side of a Republican governor in a lawsuit filed by a Democrat and a Progressive.

Because she had no choice. Clark, like Donovan and Sorrell before her, can act like a progressive firebrand outside of Vermont, but she must defend the status quo within the state. It’s literally in her job description: She is the people’s lawyer, yet she also represents the state. And when those two notions are in conflict, her duty to the state comes first.

Here’s another encapsulation of the weirdness. Clark is pursuing a suit (originally filed by Donovan) against fossil fuel producers for knowingly contributing to global warming. But Clark would represent the state in a suit filed by the Conservation Law Foundation over the state’s failure to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. She’d be arguing against climate action. Not because she’s an environmental hypocrite, but because she is legally bound to represent the state in court.

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More Money Than Sense, and Other Notes from the Latest Round of Campaign Finance Reports

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August 1 was another campaign finance deadline, the last before our August 13 state primary. As usual, there was plenty of interesting stuff to be found. And as usual, there was a dearth of coverage in our sadly diminished media ecosystem. VTDigger waited a few days to put together a solid campaign finance database helmed by its longtime (by Digger standards) data reporter Erin Petenko. But any effort, by anyone, to identify trends or develop insights? Haven’t seen any.

Meanwhile, those who follow me on Elon’s Hellscape know why I’m late to the party. After doing a fair bit of spadework around the deadline, I came down with Covid. It was a pretty severe case for a few days and I’m still on the mend, but I feel able to put words on the screen for the first time since last Thursday.

Anyway, got some things to say. Let’s do the toplines first and then get to the details.

  • While the vast majority of candidates have trouble scratching a few bucks together, there are a few who have more money than they know what to do with. The primary’s one week away, early voting as been going on for roughly a month, and they’re sitting on large quantities of unspent cash.
  • Many of these hopefuls have been generously funded by a cadre of Burlington-area business types, who may look at their investments post-primary and despair at the improvidence of their strategery.
  • Two candidates got a rocket strapped to their backs by those business leaders in July. John Rodgers, running for lieutenant governor, and Rep. Pat Brennan, running for state Senate. They went from near zero on July 1 to huge, nigh unspendable hauls on August 1. Congrats, I guess?
  • Gov. Phil Scott’s campaign has far outstripped Democrat Esther Charlestin. Why his people are bothering to beat the bushes, I don’t know. I remain convinced that he’d be better advised to mothball his campaign and start a PAC — or a Super PAC — and spread his influence around.
  • The oddities around Thomas Renner’s campaign for lieutenant governor continue to proliferate. His fundraising slowed to a trickle in July, but he spent very little and has a sizeable unspent reserve. I still don’t know what his campaign is about. Or who’s running it, for that matter.
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A Decent Interval Might Have Been Appropriate

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On Monday, to the surprise of absolutely no one, Charity Clark launched her bid for re-election as Vermont’s Attorney General. In the process, she touted her role in protecting Vermonters from the excesses of big corporations and presented herself as a shield against “any immoral, illegal or unjust action taken by Donald Trump” should he become president again.

I have no problem with any of that. But while Clark does good work defending our interests against threats from outside Vermont, she is constitutionally constrained from doing the same when it comes to the actions of our own state government. When the state is challenged in court, the AGO acts as the state’s lawyer. Like, for instance, on the previous business day when the AGO was in court defending Gov. Phil Scott’s crappy shelter program against a challenge by Vermont Legal Aid.

And yay, they won the case. Yippee. Congrats on helping keep hundreds of Vermonters unsheltered. Drinks all around.

The contrast between Friday’s defender of an indefensible state policy and Monday’s champion of justice couldn’t have been more stark. Good thing for Clark that nobody seemed to notice. Well, I did, and I kinda wish she’d postponed her campaign announcement by a few days at least. Put a little distance between the two separate and often contradictory roles that our AG must perform.

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Vermont Continues to Enable Health Care Sharing Ministry Scams

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Well, we almost did it.

Back in 2019, the Vermont Legislature adopted a bill imposing penalties on those who didn’t have health insurance. But the bill included an exemption for those enrolled in so-called health care sharing ministries instead of actual health insurance. That same year, the Scott administration and the Attorney General’s Office issued a consumer warning about the perils of choosing an HCSM over insurance.

Now it’s 2023, and there are almost certainly more Vermonters in HCSMs now than there were four years ago. (HCSM participation grew dramatically during the Covid pandemic as many lost their insurance coverage due to unemployment, and were desperate for any cheaper option.) And we haven’t done much about it at all.

This issue came to my attention when I was writing up former health care reform opponent and former Trump administration appointee Darcie Johnston’s employment with the Alliance of Health Care Sharing Ministries. I didn’t include Vermont’s own sad little history because (1) I needed to do more research and (2) I do try to keep these posts from getting painfully long. But now it’s time to tell Vermont’s part of the story.

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If a Candidate Waffles in the Forest, Does Anybody Hear?

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I haven’t spent a lot of time covering this year’s debates, mainly because there are so damn many of ’em that I could spend all my time doing nothing but that, and there’s too much other stuff to write about.

Debates are considered key moments in a campaign. Candidates spend a lot of time preparing for them. Staffers dissect performances and adjust tactics for future encounters. But how many people pay attention?

Well, we’ve got a pretty good test case before us, and the answer is “hardly anybody.”

Last night, VTDigger hosted a debate for the two Democrats running for attorney general. By Digger’s own account, the affair highlighted some key disagreements between Washington County State’s Attorney Rory Thibault and Charity Clark, who was ex-attorney general TJ Donovan’s chief of staff.

After it was live-streamed, the debate was posted on YouTube. As of this writing, it has been viewed 645 times.

Six hundred forty-five. For comparison, the last time the Democrats had a competitive AG primary was in 2012 when Donovan challenged Sorrell and nearly won. 41,600 people voted in the primary.

That’s, um, [checks notes] a lot more than 645.

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The Money Race: Attorney General

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Third in a series. Part 1 covered the race for lieutenant governor; part 2 was about the race for governor.

The big money in the campaign for attorney general belongs to the guy who’s not in office anymore. TJ Donovan, recently departed for a sweet corporate gig that somehow advances his commitment to consumer protection, still has nearly $300,000 in his campaign treasury, most of it surplus from 2020. Unlike Treasurer Beth Pearce, Donovan has yet to disperse his money to other candidates or the Vermont Democratic Party or anyone else. I’m sure he’ll get around to it sometime. Or maybe he’s saving it for……

Regarding the people who want the job — former Donovan chief of staff Charity Clark and Washington County State’s Attorney Rory Thibault — they’re in a competitive money race that leaves neither in a dominant position, although Clark has some advantages.

This race got off to a late start thanks to Donovan’s sudden decision to go corporate. The July 1 campaign finance reports include all of Clark and Thibault’s campaigns. Clark reported raising almost $80,000, while Thibault took in $74,000. But… Thibault donated $12,000 to his own campaign while Clark gave herself $4,000.

On the other hand, Clark raised $12K from people named Clark while Thibault only netted $4K from others sharing his last name, so those two factors are a collective wash.

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One of These Things Is Not Like The Other, Or Even Like Itself

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Gov. Phil Scott must be feeling extra invulnerable right now. On Monday he decides not to appoint new state’s attorneys in two counties because it’s too close to the next election; on Wednesday he appoints a new Attorney General even though Election Day is even closer. He’s not even bothering to be subtle about it.

Scott declined to appoint anyone to the SA vacancies in Addison and Rutland Counties because there’s not enough time left in the SA’s term. It would create continuity issues, supposedly. Instead, the current interim occupants will serve out the remainder of the time.

Meanwhile, Scott is parachuting administration stalwart Susanne Young into the attorney general’s office to serve out the remainder of TJ Donovan’s term even though Donovan’s chief deputy Joshua Diamond is right there in place to, um, provide continuity. In a much more important and complex office.

So what is Scott doing here? Hell if I know, but I have a guess or two.

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My Weaselometer Is About to Explode

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And so we bid a fond farewell to the former Boy Wonder of Vermont politics, T.J. Donovan. He announced, on Friday afternoon (nothing suspicious there), that he would resign effective June 20 — ten days from now — to take an executive position with online gaming platform Roblox. His new job as director of public policy and U.S. state strategies, he said, “will allow me to continue to advance consumer protections.”

When I read that, my Weaselometer shrieked, its red lights flashed furiously, and a wisp of smoke wafted from the back of the machine. And that was before I read of the controversy surrounding Roblox. But I knewthat no one on God’s green earth has ever gone from public service to corporate executive “to advance consumer protections.”

Especially not if the new job appears to be Top In-House Lobbyist for Roblox, a publicly-traded corporation worth billions upon billions. I bet Donovan’s salary will let him afford the top-line custom-tailored suits you see in the Statehouse whenever a bigtime corporate lobbyist parachutes in to try to defeat a, ahem, “consumer protection measure.”

Now, I don’t begrudge Donovan cashing in on his legal expertise. He’s been living on public sector salaries for 16 years, and that’s a big sacrifice for a skilled attorney. But I am ticked off that he wants to have it both ways: rake in the big bucks and try to bullshit us about his reasons.

And that’s not the end of the bullshit, either.

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