In this week’s “Fair Game,” State Auditor Tom Salmon demonstrated his way with words. I had queried him about an email sent from his office, welcoming Sen. Ed Flanagan into the auditor’s race.
Using state computers for political business is not allowed, as is spelled out in the state’s personnel manual and other administrative bulletins.
In fact, last year Salmon ran afoul of state regs by allowing a state staffer use a taxpayer-bought camcorder to videotape a political fundraising speech in Burlington.
Salmon’s response to my email?
Fuck off
Immaterial
I’m wasting more state time on your political bullshit
Clever. Several more well-placed syllables would have netted Salmon a nice little Haiku.
After receiving this email on Monday, I responded to Salmon with this email:
Tom,
I asked the same question of Katie Manaras back in April 2008 when she sent a political note for Peter Shumlin from his state email account congratulating House Speaker Gaye Symington’s entrance into the governor’s race, and of Dennise Casey later that year after she left the Douglas administration and was a campaign worker and was using her state-issued ID badge to get to the fifth floor after hours.
But, thanks for the frank response.
Shay
He then responded with an even longer response, in which he calls me “son,” suggests I’m an “unadulterated hypocrite” and that I “find out what the hell you were put on earth for.”
My editors and I decided we should post this email exchange in its entirety. Here is what he wrote in response to my reply:
Look son, you need to get very clear on something. You and I once had a personal relationship that was forming with a good batch of sincerity. It was ruined by the way you reported the handling of my financial troubles and mischaracterizations (being dragged into court, etc) that never occurred, and many many years of struggle that you didn’t think were germane that may have balanced the story. So what, right?
I believe that you love Vermont and you love your family, and I wish you the best. However, the way you have been acting toward our office with disregard for the work that we do, more inclined to ask political or personal questions, is unacceptable. So that is where the Fuck off derives from.
I am tempted to run a press release about Vermont’s hidden waste: Reporter requests that have no basis for productive news. Or would that be considered campaigning? You tied our time up today on questions about the survey- what day? How are you using that? For who? (When it starts with Dear Legislator?) You’ve riddled my deputy with extensive questions about our budget trying to catch me in a lie from my Nov 20 speech? You have asked about the number 5 license plate which is probably hanging in Randy’s barn? (I never exercised my option for that) and the report could go on.
So, for you to tie up our state time today, then jump on the news release about issues affecting the state’s accountability office in a blurb that was 5 minute cut- paste-send exercise, is the work of an unadulterated hypocrite. You get to prance around and be a “political columnist” but are expected to taken as a serious journalist? You get to ask questions of our office that are politically motivated- or by your personal agenda- and we are expected to answer them with a straight face?
You may be looking to get me to help you sell papers. It’s too bad you have pissed on all the capital you had with me, for both of us. Why? Because it’s too bad you and I do not collaborate on getting productive word to citizens (and that would make public service or reporting more noble professions). I’m serving Vermont to improve the lives of others. Why do you do what you do?
I hope you figure what the hell you were put on earth for………….cause this ain’t it. You are better than this, son.
TMS
To be clear, I didn’t “riddle” his deputy with questions. From April 12 through Monday, I sent Deputy Auditor Joe Juhasz eight emails. Six were related to the auditor’s budget and two asked about a legislative survey Salmon distributed to lawmakers.
The reason I sent eight emails related to the auditor’s budget is due to the fact that Juhasz never fully responded to my requests about the auditor’s budget. Actually, it took four attempts to get Juhasz to provide the detail that was originally requested. I had asked not just how much the office paid out in salaries for FY 2009, 2010 and 2011, but also which funds were used to cover those costs.
The original request was made April 12, but it wasn’t until April 28 that I received the information. Once I saw the financial details, I wanted to ask a follow-up question. After all, that’s my job.
This article appears in May 12-18, 2010.
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“quit apologizing for the misdeeds of Salmon”Oh no, you misunderstand; I think sending a personal email from a work machine is a horrible misdeed. HORRIBLE. Any professional journalist would be crazy not to jump on such a scandal. I expect to see a column in the near future about all State personnel who have ever used a work computer for personal use of any kind, or used their office phone to make a personal call. Because that’s the kind of breaking story that “fearless journalists” pursue.
Two points:1. Jimmy needs to get a life and quit apologizing for the misdeeds of Salmon and those of Douglas’ staffers.2. Salmon is a disgrace, and I’m sure his father is completely ashamed of him. I liked his dad as a governor. He had integrity and decency, things that are apparently completely foreign to his little boy (you can’t in good conscience consider him a man).One final note: Shay, I think you need to step up your game a little bit. You are following in the footsteps of a fine man and political reporter. Upon Peter’s passing, even the most skewered of his targets spoke kindly of him. You lack the deft touch he had, and lack his sense of which lines that should not be crossed. I hate to agree with one single thing that Salmon wrote, but find myself having to agree with this: You can do better.
Missed the “personnel” section – so is there any more of your email to Salmon that you forgot to share? Anything that deals with email accounts? Political activity?
I see no rules forbidding “the use of a state employee and a state email” (an email account is different from a State computer). And there are no rules, that you’ve mentioned anyway, relating to political activity that are relevant to Salmon’s email. Apparently Salmon’s “wrongdoing” comes down to the use of a State computer to send an (arguably) personal email. Something that, you know, EVERY State employee has certainly done at one time or another. Maybe you can walk the halls at Christmas time and bust people for doing online shopping on their State owned computers. Scandalous.Re: Casey, according to your story it was 13 days between the time they asked her for the badge back and the time it was deactivated. The time period is irrelevant though – if there were no rules forbidding her from being in the building to visit the Governor’s office, and if the Governor was OK with it, then your story is about how someone didn’t fill out the right paperwork. You know, the story that pretty much formed an ENTIRE COLUMN. Gee, I wonder why Salmon thinks you’ve got an agenda.Finally, I’m not going to get into the on/off the record thing except to say that not every communication between a journalist and his subject is on the record, and that the rest is something that’s better learned from journalism school than from other journalists who skipped that step.
This is by no means a wasteful exchange. The entire state government seems to have an “I don’t have to play by the rules” attitude. They do. The rules are there for a reason and we have a free press for a reason. The rules of the game are not rocket science, and conducting oneself with a level of professional that honors the job and shows respect to the citizens should not be such a stretch for these people. And for what it’s worth, Mr. Salmon, it’s “For whom”.
Honestly, this seems like a big waste of time on the part of both sides. Are we so lacking in political news that internet snarking back and forth is the best article that can be published? If that’s the case, then I think Vermont politics is in great shape, because we don’t have anything more scandalous or — dare I say it — worthwhile to report. I’ve read more interesting and poignant debates on video game fandom forums. Is this 7 Days, or 4chan?
I can’t tell which who is worse, Tom Salmon or Shay Totten?! On one hand, Tom is clearly a non-professional, but on the other, Shay, common, this is kind of BS. If you are going to post partial emails, then post all of the emails. Then you guys can argue that tone can’t be read in emails so then it is open to one’s own view, which clearly they are different. So what is the point? To get this out there? Or get views/readers? I have to agree with Tom in the fact that this is a waste of my tax dollars. Shay, you did get me to read it…. but what ever the point is, in the end, this isn’t news and I am disappointed in both parties, I guess that is the point. One last thing, you should both stop fucking off and get back to work. Guess that is ok to say given the context!!
@ Jimmy: With Dennise Casey it was a matter of several months, not weeks between her employ as an aide to the governor, her leave to run the campaign, and her return to the taxpayer-funded job. For the record, Salmon was responding to an on-the-record inquiry from a journalist. He didn’t ask to speak or email to me privately, and so there’s no “off the record” here.Other than 5.7, which I cited in part in my email, another bulletin, 5.62, addresses the use of state employees & equipment, which reads: “Employees shall not use, or attempt to use, state personnel, property, or equipment for their private use or for any use not required for the proper discharge of their official duties.”
The point is that if she could have been given a separate ID to get into the building and wasn’t for a couple of weeks, for whatever reason, there’s no story. Again, using the wrong piece of plastic merited an entire column.Re: Salmon, I still don’t see the verbage prohibiting what Salmon did. I think his answer does speak for itself, the rules that you quoted were immaterial. None of them were violated. In retrospect, I’m sure he does feel that sending that email was a mistake, not because it violated any rules, but because it touched off a ridiculous “story” that became a distraction.Now if you want to post the statute or rule that was violated, please do. Because other than a politician speaking off the record the way adults speak when they’re off the record, that’s really the only story here.
@Jimmy: It’s not that campaign workers aren’t allowed on the premises, although there are rules prohibiting campaigning on state property (see our related exchange to TS). It’s that she used a state ID to get into the building — an ID she should have returned when she left state employment.As for the prohibited activities section, I forwarded it to ask the auditor if he felt it was an appropriate email to send. I think his answer speaks for itself.Here’s what he sent the Free Press in response to their query about our email exchange:”Yes, I made a mistake by sending that press release out from my office and have confirmed that understanding with my professional staff of 11 yesterday. I told them it was wrong and I won’t make that mistake again.”