Faced with questions about a recent real estate transaction, Gov. Peter Shumlin on Thursday accused a Vermont reporter of practicing tabloid journalism and then stormed out of a press conference he himself called.
Though Shumlin had gathered reporters to announce a federal grant, many of their questions focused on the governor’s acquisition of 27 acres of land in East Montpelier this July, on which he is building a 2200 square-foot “cabin.” As Vermont Press Bureau reporter Peter Hirschfeld reported Wednesday, the real estate deal involved several friends who have contributed to the governor’s campaign.
After answering some questions about the transaction and declining to answer others, Shumlin lost his cool and went after Hirschfeld, who had posed several questions about the governor’s decision to buy the property through a limited liability corporation.
“You gonna criticize me now for forming an LLC before the rest of Vermont and America?” Shumlin snapped at Hirschfeld.
“I’m just wondering why you would want —,” Hirschfeld responded, before the governor cut him off mid-sentence.
“I’m just wondering what you’re digging for, Peter,” the governor said.
Hirschfeld responded, “The question is why would you want to escape liability for incidents that —”
“Have you moved from the Vermont Press Bureau to the National Enquirer?” Shumlin interjected.
At this point the exchange became hard to follow, as other reporters [Disclosure: including this one] attempted to jump in. As Hirschfeld sought to ask the question again, Shumlin said, “It’s been great seeing you,” and stormed out of the room.
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Shumlins trousers are now at 451 degrees fahrenheit
@ voluntaryreflex: I’d say you’re partially correct. The fact that he formed an LLC to buy real estate is not a big deal.
However, the fact that the governor got a sweetheart deal on a piece of property is something the public has a right to know about.
First of all, a pet peeve. LLC stands for Limited Liability COMPANY. It is expressly not a corporation, not subject to corporate income tax, and entails substantially less paperwork. Any profit made by an LLC is part of the owner’s AGI for the year it was made, as opposed to the profits of a corporation, where profits can be retained until a leaner year to avoid a higher income tax bracket.
LLC’s are common in real estate investments. Maybe Shumlin is planning to rent part or all of the cabin. There are a lot of reasons why Shumlin isn’t a good governor, including his demeanor, but this is silly.
You make it have an appearance of something wrong and the press should be asking. What’s wrong with being impartial and thorough for a change?
Jeezum Crow, would you please lay off? I’d rather you interrogate the NEK tractor idiot – there’s no there there, either. LLC is safer than individual, with regard to the limitation of liability. Oh yeah, that’s what LLC means. Duh! It appears that you wish to prohibit the use of the term “cabin” here. I don’t care if he calls it a 2200sf outhouse.
I truly do appreciate the press doing its job: pressing for the facts. But there’s a point at which it becomes invasive. Name your roomies, and whyzit so big…is there some scandalous theory you’re trying out?
Real people, with real lives, real choices, some with real money. Live and let live sound OK to you?
I wonder, will his house be completely green? Will it be off the grid? Will it be powered totally by on-site, renewable energy? Will he have solar panels? Will he have geothermal heating and hot water? Will he have a residential wind turbine? With all the money our millionaire gov saved on buying this property for its actual value, he ought to be able to pay for all the renewable stuff. And he ought to be able to get the wind turbine for free from his crony Blittersdorf, anyway, right?
And which of his seven automobiles will our green governor park in the driveway of his second home? (Oh, make that his fourth, when you include his places in Nova Scotia and the Caribbean.)