Dear Friends and Supporters:

After much consultation with family, friends and supporters, I have decided to throw my hat in the ring again and run for Vermont Attorney General for the November, 2010 elections.

The reasoning behind this decision is consistent with why I ran in 2008. Little has changed since I announced my candidacy in September 2008, in which I deplored the "culture of lawlessness" permeating our culture during eight years of the Bush administration, and the resulting lack of accountability that trickled down to our separate states and infected state government as well. You can read about my 2008 campaign in the margin to the left of this message, and in my recent book about my campaign and the accountability movement The People v Bush: One Lawyer's campaign to bring the President to Justice and the Nationwide Grassroots Movement She's Encountered Along the Way, published this year by Chelsea Green (For more about the book, click here).

The Issues in this Campaign

The official website of Vermont's attorney general states that the job of the attorney general is to "implement and enforce Vermont's laws to improve the quality of life for all Vermonters." This includes "enforcing criminal laws to keep Vermonters safe" and "vigorously pursuing" those would "foul our air, land and water." Below, I invite you to review some of the issues I consider vital to the health and safety of Vermonters. Once you have read the issues, I will contrast the incumbent's record with my vision for the future.

As you can see from my bio [see bio to the left] I have a proven track record of vigorously pursuing injustice. Whether exposing genocide of indians in Latin America, tracking down professional misconduct by Bush administration "torture lawyers" in the U.S. Department of Justice, or proving a link, through a public records request, between the Vermont Department of Health and the Louisiana based corporation which owns Vermont Yankee, I have not shied away from taking on the powerful.

The Issues

Vermont Yankee is the single largest public health issue in the State, and the battle to get it closed has not ended, despite the Vermont Senate's vote last winter against relicensing the plant. As I wrote recently in the Huffington Post about Entergy's and BP's deceptive PR campaigns, "Entergy officials have vowed after losing the Senate vote that they would remain 'determined to prove our case to the legislature, state officials and the Vermont public' that the plant is a "vital, safe and reliable source of clean power."

Safe and reliable? 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 plant's perimeter has been extended outward to limit public exposure to radiation, 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 declined VPIRG's requests.

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

Up next: Holding Entergy accountable for misleading state regulators.

I hope you will support my campaign by pressing the "Donate" button to the left or by sending checks to Charlotte Dennett, Vermont Progressive Party, Box 281, Montpelier, VT 05601.

To follow developments in the accountability movement, I encourage you to visit our movement's webpage, DeclarationOfAccountabiliy.com, as well as my Facebook page. I'm also happy to receive your comments and suggestions at charlottedennett@gmail.com.

Thank you for your support!

Charlotte Dennett