http://www.rutlandherald.com/article/20160206/OPINION02/160209683
February 06,2016
The situation Annette Smith finds herself in is a result of the lack of putting the brakes on the efforts over the years to centralize power — power at the top rather than from the bottom up, as government was intended back in the days of the founding of this state and nation.
We have seen Act 250, for example, go from a law that initially was intended to be a law allowing owners and developers the majority of presentation at hearings. Now, it is lawyers, engineers and such, which may be OK and necessary, but in the flurry of it all, it has taken from original intent.
Now, mind you, I do not agree with all the positions Annette has taken in her work as Vermonters for a Clean Environment head, but I do agree that as a lay person who clearly understands and knows what she is doing, she should be able to carry out her duties without any hindrances from someone in Montpelier because life is a little tougher maybe for these bureaucrats because of her work.
These are the kinds of things Madison and Jefferson were so concerned about at the U.S. federal level.
Power begets power; the fruits from work of the powerful will only continue to become more so as results oriented to the powerful continue — hence the situation that manifests now. There is no end, until someone or something intervenes and says: This has to stop. We are at that point. Continue to march, Annette.
JAMES B. HALL
Center Rutland
