* updated below *
In a five-page ruling issued late this afternoon, Superior Court Judge Geoffrey Crawford ordered the state Department of Public Safety to release the roadside video of Auditor Tom Salmon’s DUI traffic stop.
The state has until 4:30 p.m. Thursday to release the video to Burlington attorney John Franco. The state’s attorneys could not be reached for comment about the ruling, or whether they will ask to stay the judge’s order.
Franco, a supporter of Salmon’s general election challenger Doug Hoffer, a Democrat-Progressive, ordered the DUI video from the DPS website back in early September. Initially the request was granted, and his credit card was charged $45 for a copy. Then Franco received word that his request had been denied by DPS Commissioner Tom Tremblay.
Franco appealed the ruling, was denied again — and then sued the state. First in federal court and then in state court.
This article appears in Oct 27 – Nov 2, 2010.
Got something to say?
Send a letter to the editor and we'll publish your feedback in print!
“Vermont State Auditor Thomas Salmon told a state trooper that he had two glasses of red wine the night he was arrested for drunken driving when he later said he had five drinks.”Tom Salmon – Gets drunk. Drives. Gets caught. Lies to the state trooper. This is not a man who deserves the public’s trust. http://www.burlingtonfreepress.com/article/20101028/NEWS03/101028056/Video-shows-Salmon-claimed-he-only-had-two-drinks
So – you all agree then that Shumlin’s video shouldn’t have been released either?
Both Hoffer’s long history of pro-tax and pro-government advocacy, and also how he is campaigning in this race, make quite clear that he is not running for this office so that he can be an impartial, neutral auditor, but because he intends to use the office for left-wing policy advocacy.I want an auditor, not someone who is going to try to convince me that, despite all the studies to the contrary, Vermonters are actually undertaxed; not someone who is going to try to convince me that increased public spending is a good thing; not someone who is going to try to convince me that Burlington Telecom was a good idea and that the state should take over all private telecom companies in Vermont; not someone who is going to try to convince me that the public sector is good and the private sector is bad; not someone who is going to try to convince me that we should never cut public sector employment; and not someone who is going to try to convince me that we should adopt statewide IRV.Auditor. Auditor. AUDITOR. NOT policy advocate. Policy advocacy is for the Governor’s office, not the Auditor’s.
If Tom Salmon can get HIS DUI video released than I should be able to get a copy of mine, right? Mine would be a CLASSIC. I was ripped. I’d LOVE to see it. What makes him so special that he gets to take home a copy of his video and the rest of us just have to imagine what awesome things we might have done? This is is politics as usual!
Oh yeah, another Franco quote from yesterday that you’d never see repeated here for obvious reasons:”It’s no secret this was directly related to the campaign”
Re: first comment, imitation is the sincerest form of flattery I guess – even bad imitation.Franco’s actions were implicitly, if not explicitly, approved by Hoffer. You can replace “John Franco” with “the Hoffer campaign” in every story on this issue. I guess now we’ll find out what they plan to actually do with the thing, since he’s been singularly silent on that point.I’d rather have a guy who drove 0.06 over the limit working as State Auditor than a guy who said that Burlington Telecom was “doing fine and will work out the problems” two years ago, when they were clearly in a death spiral. He also curiously referred to them as “we.” Of course, you’ll never hear about important points like that here on the Prog house instrument – just endless stories about the release of a video of an arrest that everyone knew about a long time ago.
Mr. Francos good deeds could turn into big brother – be careful what you wish for.
I am a Democrat but I find this kind of tactic very disgusting. If Mr Hoffers Progressive Party operates this way in elections they really need to take a step back. All the complaining about negative campaigns needs to apply here too. Remember – Karma – eventually that bad energy in the universe will come back to you.
As technology gets better and more compact, these instances will only increase. Attorney Franco has done a good thing here on our behalf.
What’s the big deal? Whenever I see him I say “is that guy drunk?”