A Superior Court judge ruled against a state representative this week, affirming that records she requested relating to the governor’s single payer financing plan are privileged, not public.
Rep. Cynthia Browning, D-Arlington, made an open records request for “reports or memos or other work products related to financing scenarios” for single payer produced by Michael Costa, Gov. Peter Shumlin’s tax expert and one of the primary developers of the proposal to be unveiled before the end of the month.
The Shumlin administration provided a set of documents to Browning, but informed her that other records would be withheld citing executive privilege.
Executive privilege allows the governor “to maintain the privacy of documents relating to the formulation of policy,” according to the ruling from Mary Teachout.
Shumlin said Thursday that he needs space to formulate policy, and the judge’s ruling affirms his right to do so.
“Governors have to have the ability to develop really difficult policy initiatives, and as they develop those policy initiatives, to get it right,” he said, “If you can’t have the ability to do that, it’s going to be very hard going forward to do big and bold things in Vermont.”
Browning said she is disappointed with the ruling, and it “validates the manipulative secrecy” of the administration concerning its financing plan.
“The judge allows the extension of the shadow of executive privilege to people who are not part of the Governor’s staff — even to specific members of the legislature,” Browning said in an email.
After Browning’s request in March, VTDigger reported that legislative leadership was briefed on details of the administration’s work on single payer financing that were withheld from her request.
Browning pledged to introduce legislation that “prevent this kind of abusive extension,” she said.
Now that details of the governor’s plan are starting to emerge, Browning believes they highlight how the records she was unable to obtain could have been useful to lawmakers and the public months ago when she first made her request.
Browning, one of three Democrats who voted against Vermont’s health reform law, said she will continue to work in the Legislature toward “effective, reliable, and sustainable health reform.”
“I will also seek to hold our government to high standards of transparency and accountability,” she added.
