Gov. Shumlin has changed his tune in regards to the Legislature’s authority over Public Service Board cases. It appears that when the Legislature and the PSB are playing with Gov. Shumlin’s political ball on his court, he favors his own team.

In the Vermont Yankee case, he led the legislative effort to interfere in the PSB’s open docket. Since the CVPS-GMP merger was announced in June, Gov. Shumlin has consistently been on board, and now that his buddies at CVPS and GMP have an open PSB case, it’s “absolutely inappropriate” for the Legislature to interfere with the PSB.

This double standard is a result of the governor’s own political agenda. His hypocrisy will not give any Vermont business the confidence that they will be treated fairly in regulatory processes unless they’re rubbing elbows with the governor. This is closing the door to any businesses coming to Vermont.

At a clean-energy summit in Burlington in early April, Gov. Shumlin was reported as saying, “It’s absolutely inappropriate for the Legislature or the governor to weigh in through law on a pending case ...” A few weeks ago he publicly scolded the Senate after it voted to require CVPS to pay back ratepayers.

Without a consistent regulatory process for each PSB case, it will be impossible to predict which way Gov. Shumlin will push the Legislature. The governor’s scam to protect only those who compliment his own agenda is proving that to him, politics are more important than laws.

Dick Trudell

Grand Isle