William Sorrell's Record

Criminal Prosecutions

On his website, William Sorrell says he is most proud of his role in the creation of the Chittenden Unit for Special Investigations (CUSI), "a nationally-recognized county wide collection of specially trained police officers, victims' advocates and other professionals, specializing in sex crimes and severe cases of child abuse."

Consumer Fraud and Deceptive Advertising

William Sorrell's campaign website gives the impression that he went up against the country's largest tobacco companies single-handedly, bringing in millions of dollars to Vermont. "Only a matter of weeks after taking office, I filed suit against the country's largest tobacco companies for lying about the addictive qualities of cigarettes, marketing to children and causing the expenditure of millions of dollars of Vermont taxpayer money each year to treat tobacco-related illnesses. The settlement of the case has resulted in payments of approximately $300 million to the state and these payments of approximately $25 million per year are to continue forever."

This statement in misleading. The fact is, Sorrell is taking credit for the work of over 40 other attorneys general across the country. They, not he, initiated the lawsuit against the tobacco companies. He merely joined it after taking office., riding on their coattails. Vermonters deserve a more truthful performace from their Attorney General.

They also deserve to be listened to when they complain that he has been less than aggressive in going up against the deceptive advertising of a powerful company in his own state: Entergy, the owner and manager of the Vermont Yankee nuclear plant.

In September, 2008 - before tritium leaks were discovered -- The Vermont Public Interest Resaerch Group wrote to the Attorney General complaining of deceptive advertising by Entergy, which putt out ads with the tag line "Safe, clean, reliable." VPIRG cited a litany of known safety and reliability problems at the plant: a major transformer fire (2004), 62 cracks in a steam dryer (2005) a collapsing water tower (2007), a condenser tube leak, which triggered a plant shutdown (2008) and security violations (2008).

Again, after dangerously high levels of radioactive tritium were found in the plant's groundwater in January, 2010, VPIRG complained about an ad declaring Entergy's commitment to "keeping Vermont's environment strong and healthy." VPIRG's letter to Attorney General Sorrell stated:

"In the few short years since it has operated the nuclear powr plant, radiation releases have increased… the ground water beneath the plant has become irradiated, and the temperature of heated water released into the Connecticut River increased. Clearly Entergy's claims of grand environmental stewardship are false and misleading."

In both cases, VPIRG asked Attorney General Sorrell to commence a civil investigation into Entergy's deceptive ads as a violation of Vermont's Consumer Fraud Act, 9 VSA Sec. 2453. In both cases, the Attorney General refused VPIRG's requests.

As your Attorney General, I would have filed a civil lawsuit against Entergy for violating Vermont's consumer fraud statute.

Public Health

Sorrell's website says "Throughout my term as AG, I have strived to make for a healthier and safer Vermont. " But when I asked him in a debate if he knew what Vermont's cancer rate was he drew a blank. He did not know, for example, that in 2005 the Center for Disease Control showed Vermont as having the highest cancer rate for children up to the age of 19. Is this the result of carcinogens being dumped illegally into Vermont's environment?

I announced my campaign with a press conference on the impact of Vermont Yankee on the public health of Vermonters.

Environmental Protection

Although Sorrell claims that "We have successfully prosecuted individuals and companies for dumping toxins into our streams and upon our lands," Vermont's environmentalists have been dismayed by his lack of enforcement action. The Conservation Law Foundation wrote a scathing critique in its 2007 report, Lost Opportunities: Surveying the Weak Enforcement of Vermont's Environmental Laws. It begins:

The health of Vermont's forests, lakes and streams and the quality of its air is facing an insidious enemey: lax enforcement of environmental laws. The state is failing to timely respond to complaints, inadequaltely punishing polluters and shutting the public out of the enforcement process…The Agency of Natural Resources…is underutilizing the assistance of the Attorney General's Office in prosecuting environmental crimes….

Actual punishments for violations are rare and in those eception cases when fines are assessed they are so low they fail to deter future polluting activity. ..Only 4% of all complaints result in environmental actions involving fines…and 57% of assessed fines went uncollected, costing the state thousands of dollars a year..ANR enforcement actions provide little or no opportunity for concerned residents to comment on the actions taken against polluters.

The report gives numerous examples, including what happened after a massive sewage spill in the Winooski River in 2005 in violation of the Clear Water Act.. The ANR negotiated a settlement behind closed doors with the city of Winooski and the settlement was announced before the public had a change to give any input. It didn't have to happen this way. As the CLF notes:

Vermont law currently includes a safeguard against weak settlements - review of final Assurances of Discontinuance [the state's formal enforcement tool] by the Attorney Generals office. Title 10, Chapter 201 provides that "upon motion by the attorney general made within 10 days of the date the assurance is sgined by the court and upon a finding that the order is insufficient to carry out the prupose of [the state's enviornmental laws] the court shall vacate the order." 10 VSA Sec 8007 (c) But CLF's investigation failed to uncover any instances in which this safeguard was employed, thus it is largely illusory.

As Vermont's new Attorney General, I pledge to utilize this enforcement tool and to meet with Vermont's environmental groups to determine how to increase citizen input and regulatory controls over polluters.