Administration wants to charge VSEA $1,700 for public records

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The Douglas administration is demanding $1,700 from the Vermont State Employees’ Association if the union wants to look at public records related to the 400 state job cuts Gov. Jim Douglas has ordered.

The letter from an official in the Department of Human Resources says state law allows the government to charge for the time it responds to such public records requests.

But the administration is coming under fire from both the union and two of the candidates seeking to unseat the governor in this year’s election.

Both Democrat Gaye Symington and independent candidate Anthony Pollina say the request for a $1,700 payment is contrary to the spirit of Vermont’s access-to-public-records law and that the fee should be waived.

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