The Vermont Attorney General’s Office this week began posting online all public records requests and responses from 2017 and 2018.
The decision to make the information public was driven by criticism from media organizations, according to TJ Donovan, who assumed the office of Vermont Attorney General last year.
Battles over public records have made headlines over the past few years. The Rutland Herald, the Vermont ACLU, VTDigger and the Vermont Press Association have all sued the state for documents.
Records relevant to key VTDigger stories, including the EB-5 fraud at Jay Peak Resort and an embezzlement case in Coventry, have been completely withheld, delayed and/or heavily redacted. Documents, for example, that would bring to light the nature of the relationship between state officials and the developers at Jay Peak have been denied for three years because of a broadly defined relevant litigation exemption in the law. Other news organizations have also experienced difficulty obtaining documents. Read more…