Freshman Vermont lawmaker again boasting of murky financial background

By Ted Cohen

The newly elected state lawmaker from Vermont’s largest city is again touting the career she once resigned from in a cloud of secrecy while also on the municipal payroll.

In an interview with a Burlington street journalist, Karen Paul said, “I will be the only CPA serving in the State House.”

Paul, a former city councilor, made the same claim when she announced five months ago for the Chittenden District 13 seat in the Vermont House.

“Between my experience and professional service I'm hoping to make a contribution,” Paul told Facebook journalist Todd DeLuca at the polls while campaigning November 3.

“At its core most of the issues we face in Vermont are financial,” she added. “There's limited resources and there are lots and lots of needs.”

Paul last spring first boasted as a new candidate without opposition she would be the only Certified Public Accountant in the lower chamber.

But she never explained then nor did she disclose on election day why she suddenly quit her CPA job while on the city council.

The still-veiled resignation was allegedly due to an undisclosed conflict of interest during city negotiations with the municipal cable company.

“If elected, I would be the only CPA in the Vermont House,” she said when announcing her candidacy. “My professional background in finance and accounting and my years of public service have prepared me to bring a steady, informed, and practical approach to the State House – one grounded in transparency, accountability, and a deep and demonstrated commitment to the people of our district.”

During the cable negotiations Paul didn’t explain to the taxpayers why she quit the supposed job she relied on for income but suddenly didn’t need the salary.

So much for the transparency claim.

The monetarily less-invasive choice would have been to quit the council if the conflict was as serious as she portrayed.

The council position paid a nonliving stipend, but instead Paul resigned the job that allegedly she depended on for income.

“I have the experience of bringing people together,” she told DeLuca in a claim devoid of an explanation for those same people - the voting taxpayers - how resigning as a CPA amid a public cable controversy was “bringing people together.”

Paul’s bio on LinkedIn shows her currently associated with an accounting firm in Montpelier.

She worked less than two years for a Burlington accounting company before resigning with no public explanation at the same time she was a member of the Burlington city council embroiled in divisive cable negotiations.

In November 2017 Paul said she was quitting the CPA firm McSoley McCoy & Co. to resolve an alleged professional conflict of interest.

Getting rid of the undefined conflict would allow her to vote on the sale of Burlington Telecom, she said at the time.

Paul announced her recusal from the Burlington Telecom vote on October 30, 2017, after a conflict of interest came to light.

She insisted the conflict had no connection to the potential buyers, Ting/Tucows and Keep Burlington Telecom Local but refused to then clarify the supposed conflict.

On November 2, 2017, Paul announced she had resigned from McSoley McCoy, where she had worked since January 2016.

Quitting her job allowed her to ethically participate in the upcoming City Council vote, she said.

Her initial 11th-hour recusal prompted City Councilor Dave Hartnett to push for a one-week postponement of the vote while the city attorney reviewed Paul’s past votes.

On election day DeLuca approached Paul for an interview as she was campaigning outside Burlington Electric Department's ward five precinct.

"I'm happy to answer any questions you have but I'll be honest I'm here to interact with voters," she said before launching into her canned "I'll-be-the-only-CPA-in-the-statehouse" spiel.

At least one question still has no answer...

Beyond that one, Paul has never explained why being an accountant is an antidote for her party having overseen spending at such an astonishing rate as to make Vermont the third-highest-taxed state in the nation.