Weeks before I sent my letter to Commissioner Hogan, I complained about the practice in question to my state legislators, one of whom made inquiry of the DLC’s licensing bureau. Alas, the agency itself uses the same explanation. The idea that a government agency would create such a lie detector mechanism is so at variance with basic notions of fairness that one is tempted to conclude that Assistant Attorney General Humbert misspoke, perhaps out of zest to justify his client agency’s practice. The other issue - and the one where the DLC’s position seems especially inconsistent with the values one associates with Vermont – concerns the department’s professed interest in using this information to evaluate applicants’ “level of candor.” In other words, it’s a trap – the DLC can do its own research about your minor traffic tickets and test how honest you’ve been on your application. These civil infractions simply lack the same moral dimension as thievery, violence and other more heinous varieties of criminal conduct. But there is a reason why Vermont doesn’t define minor traffic violations as crimes (unless committed habitually). The former obviously do have a bearing on whether someone has the moral compass to obey the law. One issue is that the DLC lawyer conflates two distinct things – criminal convictions and traffic violations. That leaves only the rest of Humbert’s explanation – that the information is relevant when deciding if an applicant generally has the capacity to conduct her or his affairs “within the boundaries of the law.” These comments, though written in sensible government lawyer-ese, become worrisome when deconstructed.ĭo Vermont’s liquor authorities really think it possible that people who commit traffic infractions do so because they don’t understand what “no left turn” or “speed limit 55” mean – and, thus, might not be able to grasp what “don’t sell beer to people under age 18” means as well? That would be ridiculous, even if one accepts Humbert’s characterization of Vermont liquor law as “oftentimes complex.” Liquor licensees, Humbert wrote, “are charged with understanding and enforcing oftentimes complex statutes and regulations designed to protect the welfare of the people of Vermont.” In that light, according to the VLC’s lawyer, “criminal and motor vehicle offense information, together with the person’s level of candor concerning such offenses, provide a more complete picture of each responsible person’s capacity to conduct their affairs within the boundaries of the law.” (Emphasis added.) And, 36 days later, I had my reply – not from the commissioner himself but from his lawyer, Assistant Attorney General Jacob Humbert. I sent such a request to DLC Commissioner Michael Hogan in July. Within 30 days, an agency is obliged to respond by either granting the request (or at least starting the process of doing so) or explaining why it will not. This provision allows citizens to make formal requests of agencies for changes in their rules or policies. Happily, section 806 of the Vermont Administrative Procedure Act provides a mechanism for finding out.
#VERMONT LIQUOR LICENSE APPLICATION LICENSE#
But, as someone who teaches administrative law, and who is an endemic curmudgeon when it comes to coughing up personal information just because someone demands it, I got to wondering why the DLC could possibly care about illegal left turns and speeding tickets in the course of evaluating liquor license applications. Not wanting to hold up my co-op’s license application, I disgorged everything I know about my driving record. My board colleagues and I were instructed to provide complete lists of any criminal convictions (of which I have none) as well as any traffic violations. I had to disgorge this information to the DLC earlier this year when a food co-op on whose board I serve decided to seek a license to sell beer and wine in Vermont. To this day, my aunt doesn’t know I got the ticket – but now the Vermont Department of Liquor Control (DLC) does. Guilty as charged, I paid a small fine in due course. I did, however, notice the police officer who pulled me over.
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When I made that left, I was a block away from where I was supposed to be – and, since I was focusing on the directions, I didn’t notice the “no left turn” sign. She had given me some driving directions, which I somehow misunderstood. Consider, for example, that on Septem– a quarter century ago – I made an illegal left turn while visiting my aunt and her family in Virginia.