FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
April 18, 2024
Contact: Stephanie Gomory, Communications Director
[email protected], 802-223-6304 x111
Montpelier, Vt. – The ACLU of Vermont today published its Civil Liberties Report Card, a pass/fail assessment of Governor Phil Scott’s record on civil rights and civil liberties during his most recent term, 2023–2024. The state’s premier civil liberties organization gives the governor a failing grade across several categories, including education, drug policy, criminal justice, police accountability, homelessness, and economic justice.
ACLU Vermont Executive Director James Lyall: “As a nonpartisan government accountability organization, the ACLU has in the past applauded Governor Scott’s actions when they advanced Vermonters’ civil liberties. Unfortunately, the governor’s record on civil rights and civil liberties during the 2023-24 biennium is profoundly disappointing. The ACLU of Vermont and our supporters are increasingly troubled by the governor’s public policy choices regarding Vermonters’ rights and well-being, and we urge him to join us in advancing a more positive vision for the state and its people.”
Among the civil liberties issues highlighted in the ACLU report card for which Governor Scott received a failing grade:
The governor has doubled down on the failed strategies of the past by supporting harsher criminal penalties for drug-related offenses and undermining historic “raise the age” reform passed by the legislature in 2018.
The governor even opposes a modest tax on corporations that would help to staff Vermont’s judiciary—a position squarely at odds with his stated interest in promoting public safety, and one that threatens to undermine a pillar of democratic government, our court system.
ACLU Vermont Communications Director Stephanie Gomory: “The ACLU values Vermont’s traditions of civil discourse and cooperation, particularly in this polarizing era, but they should not preclude any governor from facing scrutiny and accountability. We hope this assessment will provide the public with a fuller accounting of Governor Scott’s actions and policy choices.”
The report card is available on the ACLU of Vermont website and will be publicized online through emails to ACLU members, on social media, and through paid advertising, starting today.
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