Peter Hirschfeld, Vermont Public Radio (VPR); Vermont is one of five states without a statutory code of ethics. A bill in the Senate seeks to change that
"Last month, a federal judge unsealed documents that showed former Gov. Peter Shumlin had accepted gifts and favors from the man who perpetrated the massive EB-5 fraud in the Northeast Kingdom.
Those documents, first covered by VTDigger, reveal that Shumlin’s aides flagged the favors — including free stays in a luxury New York City condominium — as a potential “problem.”
Shumlin’s general counsel, however, advised they needn’t be concerned from a legal perspective at least, because, according to an FBI summary of those conversations, “the state of Vermont does not have a statute regarding gifts, or a requirement for such disclosures.”
Vermont is one of only five states in the country without a statutory code of ethics."
