Seven Days has filed a public records lawsuit against the City of Burlington seeking documents related to the sale of Burlington Telecom.
The city has refused to turn over records that concern Councilor Karen Paul’s decision to recuse herself last month from voting on a buyer. Paul provided few details about her conflict beyond saying it “has nothing whatsoever to do with the parties interested in purchasing Burlington Telecom.”
Seven Days filed a public records request November 1. The paper requested communications between Paul, Mayor Miro Weinberger, City Council President Jane Knodell and city attorney Eileen Blackwood. That same day, Paul announced that she had quit her job as an accountant with the firm McSoley McCoy & Co. to eliminate her conflict of interest.
On November 3, the city provided the paper with a few “heavily redacted” documents, according to Seven Days‘ lawsuit, but refused to turn over an email between Paul and Weinberger. The city claimed that the record fell under an exemption in the public records act for “interdepartmental communications.”
“The records withheld … are not interdepartmental communications because they are between one city council member and the mayor,” the lawsuit says. It also says, “As a news outlet, [Seven Days‘] need for these documents outweighs the city’s interest in maintain[ing] confidentiality because the basis for councilor Paul’s recusal is information Burlington residents need in order to decide as to the prudence of city council’s decision to sell BT.”
Paul and the city are the named defendants in the suit, which was filed on November 22. Burlington attorney Jared Carter of the nonprofit Vermont Community Law Center is representing the paper. Seven Days is asking a judge to order the city to turn over the records, declare its withholding illegal, and award the paper the costs and fees for bringing the lawsuit.
“Accessing government records is essential for journalists looking into issues of public interest,” news editor Matthew Roy said. “We hope this matter, which involves the closely watched Burlington Telecom sale, will be resolved quickly in favor of transparency and accountability.”
Said Carter: “The spirit and letter of the public records laws in Vermont are at the heart of our system of government and this case gives the city the opportunity for a fresh start when it comes to transparency. As U.S. Supreme Court justice [Louis D.] Brandeis stated, ‘Sunlight is said to be the best of disinfectants.'”
The city attorney’s office did not respond Thursday morning to a request for comment.
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If you don’t think this will have an interesting conclusion…then you haven’t been paying attention.
a giant collective THANK YOU to seven days for pursuing councilor pauls conflict of interest and a pattern of incompetent and unprofessional behavior surrounding her attempts to properly and honestly navigate an otherwise routine discrepancy.
lets be clear: our community wouldve most likely retained local control of BT, and our city couldve moved onto more pressing citywide matters, if it wasnt for councilor pauls malfeasance.
also THANK YOU to seven days for continuing to follow the broader BT sales process and applying sunshine to a bidding process plagued with shady backroom deals, and a lack of transparency and due diligence – we deserve better from our public servants.
we can tie up this failure of a sales process in litigation until we find footing to renege this toxic deal that only serves to devalue our fine city.
“also THANK YOU to seven days for continuing to follow the broader BT sales process and applying sunshine to a bidding process plagued with shady backroom deals, and a lack of transparency”
The absolute shadiest, backroom-iest, and least transparent part of this entire saga was concocted by none other than a Prog. Jane Knodell maneuvered for there to be a last-minute so-called “bid” presented during the wee hours of the final meeting, a bid that nobody — including its owners Schurz and ZRF — fully understood or could explain when the final vote was taken.
For some reason they are afraid to air their dirty laundry, typical politicians!!!
if the paper has such a solid case, how come they couldn’t get a better lawyer? jared carter is a joke.
Seven Days is a local treasure for sure. I don’t know that Karen Paul’s recusal is as worthy of investigation as the painfully corrupt process that resulted in a painfully corrupted bid and vote in the middle of the night. Knodell and Hartnett seem to be the true culprits. No Burlington resident I know or read or heard wanted BT to be purchased by a unknown investor who in a few years intends to flip it for a big profit. It was always KBTL or Ting.
Please vote these awful councilors out. Whether it was corruption, incompetence, or political shenanigans, these are not the kind of people we want representing Burlington. Kudos to Joan Shannon, I have disagreed with her decisions in the past, but was incredibly proud to have a person with her integrity and courage fighting for a just voting process against malevolent forces. I was especially taken with her grace and fortitude in dealing with the rude and crude Hartnett. Why is this type of behavior tolerated in any public official?
This process was corrupted the moment they decided upon the voting methodology. Someone was sandbagging Ting and KBTL in order to allow Schurz to win despite having almost zero public support and a low bid. Allowing them to increase their bid at the last moment is the worst type of political malfeasance. I will never be a customer of BT. Ting would have been the best of both worlds, allowing Burlington to retain minority ownership with a world class internet. Now, we will continue to be pawns in the sad saga of Burlington’s confederacy of dunces.
Thank you Seven Days for looking into this issue as I too would like to know more about Karen Paul’s recusal. It’s unseemly that a councilor can recuse themselves and then a week later suddenly the conflict no longer exists! Chip Mason did the same thing on the Burlington Mall vote. If someone has a conflict, they should recuse themselves from the entire issue which would be the most appropriate course of action.
Republican-controlled US Congress passes a massive giveaway for the rich in the middle of the night with their tax bill.
Democrat-controlled BTV City Council does same with the Burlington Telecom sale.
And we still pretend there’s a difference between the two big parties.
Good work Dave your Dad would be proud