Governor Phil Scott’s chief of staff on Friday defended his boss’s commitment to education and flatly denied the administration had tried to meddle in the past appointment of an education secretary.
Jason Gibbs’ email was a response to striking testimony that former State Board of Education chair Krista Huling gave on Wednesday before the House Education Committee. Huling, who led the board’s search committee that resulted in the 2018 appointment of former education secretary Dan French, alleged that Gibbs asked her to add an additional candidate to the pool of finalists, after the committee had already forwarded three candidates’ names to the governor’s office for consideration, as required by statute.
Huling said she declined to do so.
House Education Committee chair Peter Conlon (D-Cornwall) told Seven Days that he didn’t know the specifics of Huling’s testimony when he invited her to speak with his committee about the history of the state board. She spoke the day after Scott’s current nominee for the secretary post, Zoie Saunders, answered questions from the Senate Education Committee as part of her confirmation process.
In Friday’s letter, Gibbs said he was “stunned” by Huling’s testimony and described her as having “a clear political agenda.” He presented a different account of the events that Huling described.
Gibbs said that in a conversation with Huling, he mentioned that qualified candidates had missed the application deadline for the secretary position and asked her if she would consider reopening the process to allow for those candidates to apply.
Huling “very reasonably said that was not something the board would support,” Gibbs recounted. “I acknowledged understanding and acceptance of that position — particularly considering how far along things were — and said we would let those people know the process remained closed. And the discussion moved on. That’s it.”
Gibbs said there was “nothing unusual” about his actions, noting that it is common practice for the adminstration “to support inclusionary processes that consider all qualified applicants.”
Gibbs said Huling’s description of being summoned to his office mischaracterized events.
“Nothing even remotely resembling what she described and implied occurred,” Gibbs wrote.
He included two attachments to his email to legislators. One included excerpts from 16 presentations the governor has given to the legislature over the past eight years about “his vision for making Vermont’s education system the very best in the nation, from cradle to career.” Another included what Gibbs said amounted to “all emails to, from and regarding the former chair, as well as calendar entries, for the period in 2018 raised in her testimony.”
“Please note: These documents would normally be subject to Executive Privilege, but we have taken the unusual step of requesting that the Governor waive this privilege in this instance so you could review the records,” Gibbs wrote. ” I urge you to determine for yourself how well the record aligns with her testimony.”
In the close of his email, Gibbs pointed out how rare it is for a chief of staff to weigh in on legislative testimony.
“In this case, however, the statements made were so egregiously misleading I am compelled to respond,” Gibbs wrote.
On Friday, Huling said she had seen Gibbs’ rebuttal of her testimony and believed it showed that she had “hit a nerve.” She took issue with Gibbs describing her as having a political agenda.
Huling served six years on the board and was chair for two years. She resigned in August 2019, after she became treasurer for the gubernatorial campaign of Rebecca Holcombe, Scott’s former education secretary. Holcombe sought the Democratic nomination but lost in 2020 to David Zuckerman, who in turn lost the gubernatorial election to Republican Scott.
“Everyone has a political agenda and mine is a strong public education system,” Huling, a South Burlington high school teacher, wrote in a text message to Seven Days. “Jason also has a strong political agenda.”
Huling stood by her assertion that Gibbs asked her to add one additional candidate who had not applied to the finalist pool. She told Seven Days the person was Heather Bouchey, who at the time was interim education secretary. Bouchey also served as interim secretary after Dan French resigned until earlier this month, when Zoie Saunders began her job as secretary. Saunders still needs to be confirmed by the full Senate; that vote is expected next week.
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This article appears in The Animal Issue 2024.
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