By Ted Cohen
The school board chairwoman in Vermont’s largest city blasted a plan to require board candidates to reveal their personal finances.
Clare Wool, who has headed the board for eight years, told city councilors they should exempt school-board candidates from the proposal.
“We are not a political body,” Wool told the council Monday night. “There are no party labels on the ballot for school board.”
As drafted, the measure – which passed to the Ordinance Committee for refining on a vote of 8 to 4 – would cover both council and school board candidates.
City Councilor Carter Neubieser, who sponsored the financial-disclosure resolution, argued it would “increase transparency” for both council and school-board candidates.
Neubieser, a Progressive, said council races now cost as much as $35,000 and mayor campaigns $100,000.
Citizens deserve to know more about the personal finances and potential conflicts of interest of candidates who are raising and spending this much money, Neubieser argued.
“There are currently no mechanisms in place other than self-reporting,” he told fellow councilors.
“The Department of Finance says this will be easy to implement at no additional cost to the taxpayer,” Neubieser added.
Wool complained that Neubieser failed to notify her about the pending resolution.
“We’ve also always had a culture of collaboration,” she said. “I was disappointed we weren’t told this was coming up.”
Councilor Mark Barlow, who argued there is no need for additional financial regulation, also agreed with Wool that the school board should have been notified.
Councilor Melo Grant said that additional transparency for all city political candidates is a good idea.
Candidates for local office in Vermont, including Burlington city council, must file campaign finance reports with the Vermont secretary of state if they raise or spend $500 or more for a campaign.
But they do not have to file financial-disclosure forms.
Candidates for state public office in Vermont, however, must file financial-disclosure forms that include a copy of their most recent federal tax return.
The disclosures cover a candidate’s personal finances and potential conflicts of interest for the previous calendar year.
The council’s Ordinance Committee will review the proposed measure before deciding at a future meeting whether to recommend its final adoption.