Vt. PUC Hearing Officer Threatens Citizens’ Attorney with Removal from Hearing Room, Sept. 20, 2018
This first of three 2+ minute videos is 8 minutes into the hearing on the record on the morning of the first day of the two-day hearing. It set the tone for the rest of the day and the following day.
This exchange between the Hearing Officer and the citizens’ attorney occurred in the afternoon after lunch.
2.https://youtu.be/SaxRUoOs3ek
Later, the pro bono attorney representing pro se parties (Vermont citizens who participated without an attorney except for the two days of this hearing) is reprimanded by the Hearing Officer for “interrupting” the witness. The attorney had to keep interrupting because the witness was behaving like a hostile witness and wasn’t answering the questions. The Hearing Officer should have directed him to answer the questions. Instead, he reprimanded the citizen’s attorney. A while later the Hearing Officer finally directed the witness to answer the question he was asked, not the question he wished he was asked.
3. https://youtu.be/0L2R2qRskWU
No Vermonter who participates at the Public Utility Commission should be exposed to this kind of treatment. The state had five attorneys in the room who never asked any questions. Aside from the Petitioner’s attorney, the only one asking questions was the attorney representing Vermont citizens who the Hearing Officer threatened to remove within the first 10 minutes of the start of the hearing.
Video of the full hearings:
Transcripts
