Douglas camp calls for Symington to disclose husband's financial info

Gov. Jim Douglas' re-election campaign demanded Monday that his Democratic gubernatorial challenger, House Speaker Gaye Symington, release her husband's personal financial information to the public.  

Symington, a Jericho resident, released her personal financial information last Thursday afternoon with her campaign finance report, but did not include information for her husband Chuck Lacy, a former chief operating officer for Ben and Jerry's.  

"Dorothy (Douglas' wife) and I understand that Vermonters expect candidates for Governor to make their personal finances public," Douglas (R-Middlebury) said in a statement today. "We believe that candor and openness are core values for all public servants."

"It seems she is intentionally withholding this information from Vermonters," Douglas' campaign manager Dennise Casey added. The Douglas campaign also noted that the financial information for both the governor and Vermont's First Lady was available at campaign headquarters. 

The House speaker's move has prompted criticism not only from her opponents, but from the press as well. Monday morning, the Burlington Free Press ran a staff editorial today criticizing Symington's stance on the  issue, writing that it was contrary to common sense and that she was failing "to serve voters by stepping back from full transparency in her run for governor "

Michael Carrese, communications director for Symington's campaign, told PolitickerVT.com that Lacy's financial information would not be released. Carrese said he could not respond to further questions at the time of the interview.

Symington's campaign manager Jill Krowinski told the Free Press on Friday that the Democratic gubernatorial candidate had chosen to lead a public life, not her family, and that she and her husband were "separate people" with different names.  

Casey refuted Krowinski's reasoning arguing that "The Governor's last two opponents, Peter Clavelle and Scudder Parker's wives had different last names from their candidate husbands: Peter Clavelle is married to Betsy Ferries and Scudder Parker to Susan Sussman. They both honored Vermont's values of political openness and released complete financial information for themselves and their spouses."