All Posts Tagged With: "Vermont Secretary of State"
Open records struggle in Vermont
This week saw a new chapter in open records struggles here in Vermont. The Vermont State Employees Association, the state workers’ union, had requested from the Department of Human Resources emails and other documents relating to Gov. Douglas’ plan to cut 400 jobs from the state’s payrolls. DHR responded with a demand for $1700 to pay for the time DHR staff would have to spend gathering the documents
2Aug2008 | Deborah Alicen | 1 comment | Continued
Unpacking the last decision: Egregious is as egregious does
If Franz Kafka and Lewis Carroll had provided the raw materials for the fantastical creation of a government office, their results would probably look very much like the Office of Professional Regulation in the Vermont Secretary of State’s Office. Last week I posted the latest and last decision in my Kafkaesque journey through the Looking Glass world of the OPR. This week I unpack that decision.
6Jul2008 | Deborah Alicen | 0 comments | Continued
When the best can’t pull it off…
What is to be done when even the best, most idealistic and well-seasoned elected official, in the country’s most politically progressive state, cannot prevent her staff from abuses of power based on crony-ism and conflict of interest?
Create a State Ombudsman Office.
30Jun2008 | Deborah Alicen | 0 comments | Continued
A Case in Point
In my 11/24/07 inaugural post on this blog, I wrote the following: I have seen state bureaucrats possessed of as much ineptitude and malice as anyone in the Bush administration, and what I’ve seen has convinced me that we’ve wound up with something as bad as our present corrupt government because of our acceptance of [...]
27Feb2008 | Deborah Alicen | 0 comments | Continued
Not Quite SOP at OPR: Update from Vermont Secretary of State’s Office
Yesterday I finally received an update from the Office of Professional Regulation (OPR) in the Vermont Secretary of State’s Office (SoS). It turns out that they had sent me a couple of emails prior, but emails from addresses that once arrived without a hitch were apparently getting caught by my spam filter. I appreciate the [...]
29Jan2008 | Deborah Alicen | 0 comments | Continued
Innocent Until Investigated or Innocent Until Charged
Head of Rove Inquiry in Hot Seat Himself – WSJ.com Today’s Wall Street Journal carried a story about Scott Bloch, head of the Office of Special Counsel who is investigating Karl Rove’s actions, and who is now being investigated himself at the behest of (surprise–not) the White House. In addition to pointing out the somewhat [...]
28Nov2007 | Deborah Alicen | 0 comments | Continued
