Lobbying Ethics? 

Most of the distinguished hired-gun, contract business lobbyists who buzz through the Statehouse honeycomb on a daily basis readily acknowledge that their role is similar to that of whores. They provide a service for a price and do their best to keep the customer satisfied.

But make no mistake — even among whores there is honor and a fundamental sense of right and wrong. “Lobbying ethics” is not an oxymoron.

And last week the buzz among the bees was all about one distinguished contract lobbying firm’s unusual, and some say “unethical,” list of clients.

Capital Strategies is the name of the outfit. The principals are Betsy Bishop, her mom Susan Auld (the Republican Howard Dean beat back in 1986 to win the lieutenant governor’s race) and Will Adams.

The firm is registered to represent more than a dozen business interests. Among them are the Vermont Association of Hospitals and Health Care Systems, the State Chamber of Commerce and the Vermont Distributors Association.

What many insiders were scoffing at last week was the obvious conflicts of interest that particular dance card presents.

For example, the Hospital Association frowns on tobacco addiction and supports a big increase in the state’s cigarette tax, currently the lowest in the region. But the State Chamber opposes a cigarette tax hike, and so does the Distributors Association, whose members stock the state’s shelves with cigarettes, retail snacks and health and beauty aids.

Interesting, eh?

“There are any number of curious combinations among lobbyists,” veteran State Rep. Ann Seibert (D-Norwich) told Seven Days. But the client list of Capital Strategies, said Seibert, “is really a conflict that falls in the category of, ‘Who are you lobbying for today?’”

Seibert, a staunch anti-tobacco legislator, knows that tobacco interests “are not interested in increasing the tobacco tax, which I understand is a priority of the Hospital Association. I think the public would be stunned,” she said.

Even veteran Big Tobacco lobbyist William Shouldice Sr. of Shouldice & Associates appeared stunned by the odd assortment of clients. Big Bad Bill is the Philip Morris point man under the golden dome.

“Of course it’s an ethical conflict,” Mr. Shouldice told Seven Days when queried about the Capital Strategies client line-up. Being a water- carrier on both sides of an issue is an impossible task, he said.

Several other business lobbyists who asked not to be identified noted that if Auld, Bishop and Adams were a law firm, they couldn’t possibly get away with representing such diametrically opposed interests.

But Betsy Bishop assured us it’s all perfectly kosher.

“As long as the parties involved have an understanding,” Ms. Bishop told Seven Days, there’s no conflict. “This is between Capital Strategies and our clients.” Bishop said her clients are “knowledgeable” about other clients her firm represents at the Statehouse. “We have an agreement,” she said.

Asked what that agreement is, Ms. Bishop replied, “I don’t want to get into that with you.”

So we contacted the president of the Hospital Association, Marie Beatrice Grause. Ms. Grause, a nurse and lawyer, has been on board just three months. She previously worked on Capitol Hill.

“I come from Washington, D.C.,” she told Seven Days, “and these kinds of conflicts exist on a day-to-day basis.”

The way they handle it in Foggy Bottom, said Ms. Grause, is lobbyists “create firewalls.” For example, she said, “Betsy does not lobby on the cigarette tax” issue for the hospitals. While Ms. Bishop and Mr. Adams “may do some monitoring” on the tobacco tax issue, she said, “Betsy will have no involvement whatsoever. That will be my personal mission.”

President Grause noted we were not the first to raise this ethical issue with her. She said she has had “long and detailed discussions” with Ms. Bishop about a possible conflict and is “comfortable” with the arrangement.

“I find Capital Strategies to be a very ethical business,” said Grause.

Cool. If it works in Washington, D.C., then surely it’ll work in Montpeculiar.

And good news to report on Mr. Adams’ criminal troubles. You may recall Will was arrested at his Hartford home last February and charged with simple assault on a police officer and resisting arrest. Adams pled not guilty. The case has wound its way through the system.

In the end, Adams admitted to the charge and was given diversion. As a first-time offender, his record will be erased if he keeps his nose clean.

According to Windsor County Deputy State’s Attorney Matthew Huntington, “Court diversion will give Mr. Adams an opportunity to meet with a board of community members, as well as the police officers affected, and take responsibility for what he did wrong.”

The prosecutor said that if Adams “successfully completes the program, he’ll avoid a criminal conviction on his record. In light of his clean record, I think this course is a just one.”

Asked about the outcome this week, Mr. Adams replied, “I don’t think there’s a need for a response.”

Douglas Rewrites History! — In his latest direct-mail fundraising letter, Republican gubernatorial hopeful Jim Douglas opens fire on Democrat Lt. Gov. Doug Racine, but manages to simultaneously shoot himself in both feet.

Mr. Douglas goes negative in the January 15 two-page pitch, charging, “It would be dangerous to have Racine as a governor” of Vermont.

Dangerous?

If mild-mannered Doug Racine, Gov-Lite for the past six years, is “dangerous,” then Mother Teresa was a terrorist!

Good grief. The things politicians will say to get money. But it gets worse.

In Slim Jim’s signed letter, not only is the name of the state capital of Montpelier misspelled, but Treasurer Douglas asks potential donors to study Racine’s “seven-year record in the Vermont Legislature and his two years of service as Lieutenant Governor…”

Jeezum crow. Everybody but Jim Douglas knows that Doug Racine served 10 years in the State Senate and is currently in his sixth year as Lite-Gov.

Bizarre.

Meanwhile, Mr. Douglas’ challenger in the GOP primary is back on deck raring to pull off the political upset of the year. Con Hogan spent the opening week of the legislative session tooling around the west of Ireland with his band, Cold Country.

King Con’s quite the banjo picker. If Hogan wins, expect a musical inaugural.

Media Notes — Just one week away from Ruthless, sorry, Investigative Reporter Ruth Dwyer’s debut on the local airwaves for our local ABC affiliate WVNY-TV. The anticipation mounts and the opinions are flowing freely.