STATE OF VERMONT SUPERIOR COURT CIVIL DIVISION Washington Unit Docket No. 11:;1-?J-- L3~JitiCA STATE OF VERMONT, ) Plaintiff, ) ) v. ) ) DEAN R. CORREN, ) Defendant. ) COMPLAINT Plaintiff, the State of Vermont, by and through Attorney General William H. Sorrell, for its Complaint against Defendant Dean R. Corren alleges as follows: Nature of the Action and Legal Framework 1. This is an action brought by the Attorney General on behalf of the State of Vermont seeking enforcement of statutes governing the system for public financing of election campaigns in Vermont's campaign finance law. 2. Pursuant to Vermont's public financing option, a candidate for the office of Lieutenant Governor who raises at least $17,500.00 from no fewer than 750 individuals who each make a contribution that does not exceed $50.00 will qualify to receive campaign finance grants of public money in amounts up to $32,500 Office of the ATTORNEY GENERAL during the primary election period and $150,000 during the general election period 109 State Street Montpelier, VT to fund his or her campaign for election. 17 V.S.A. §§ 2964, 2965(b). 05609 1 3. Once a candidate qualifies for public financing and receives campaign finance grants, he or she may not solicit, accept, or expend any additional contributions that were not part of the qualifying contributions or the public financing received. 17 V.S.A. § 2963(b)(1). 4. A publicly financed candidate who violates the prohibition against soliciting, accepting, or expending additional contributions "shall refund the unspent balance of Vermont campaign finance grants received ... as of the date of the violation." 17 V.S.A. § 2903(b). 5. Under Vermont law, a contribution is defined as"a payment, distribution, advance, deposit, loan, or gift of money or anything of value, paid or promised to be paid for the purpose of influencing an election ... or supporting or opposing one or more candidates in any election." 17 V.S.A. § 2901(4). The definition of a contribution does not include "costs paid for by a political party in connection with a campaign event at which three or more candidates are present." Id. § 2901(4)(L). 6. Under Vermont law, a contribution includes "a related campaign expe~diture made on the candidate's behalf." A "related campaign expenditure" is defined as "any expenditure intended to promote the election of a specific candidate" that is "intentionally facilitated by, solicited by or approved by" the candidate or the Office of the ATTORNEY GENERAL candidate's campaign committee. 17 V.S.A. §2944(a),(b). 109 State Street Montpelier, VT 7. An expenditure made by a political party that primarily benefits six or 05609 fewer candidates for state office who are associated with that political party is 2 subject toa rebuttable presumption that it is a related expenditure made on behalf of those candidates. 17 V.S.A. §§ 2944(c)(1), 2901(1). 8. A candidate who is the beneficiary of a related campaign expenditure must report that related expenditure as a contribution received on his or her campaign finance reports filed with the Secretary of State. 17 V.S.A. §§ 2962-2964. 9. In connection with the 2014 election, Dean R. Corren voluntarily sought public financing for his campaign for election to the office of Lieutenant Governor. 10. Corren qualified for public financing and received $180,717 in . campaign finance grants. Accordingly, Corren was prohibited from receiving contributions or spending money on his campaign from other sources. 11. Notwithstanding this prohibition, Corren solicited assistance in the form of in-kind contributions for his election campaign from the Vermont Democratic Party ("the VDP"). Corren's campaign manager, Megan Brook, worked with the VDP's Executive Direct6r, Julia Barnes, to write a mass email that expressly advocated for Corren's election. The VDP.sent this email on October 24, 2014, to approximately 19,000 supporters. The value of the email was estimated by the VDP to be at least $255. The mass email was a related expenditure made by the VDP on Corren's behalf and therefore is considered a contribution to Corren. Office of the ATTORNEY GENERAL Corren did not report the VDP's contribution on his campaign finance reports filed 109 State Street Montpelier, VT with the Secretary of State. 05609 12. Such conduct by Corren violated Vermont campaign finance law. 3 Parties and Jurisdiction 13. The Attorney General has the authority to enforce Vermont's campaign finance laws on behalf of the State of Vermont pursuant to 17 V.S.A. § 2903. Accordingly, this Court has jurisdiction over this matter pursuant to 17 V.S.A. § 2903. 14. The State of Vermont has its principal offices in Montpelier, Vermont. Venue is proper in this Court pursuant to 12 V.S.A. § 402. 15. Dean R. Corren is a natural person who was a candidate for election to the office of lieutenant governor of the State of Vermont on November 4, 2014. He . resides in Burlington, Vermont. In order to conduct his gubernatorial campaign, Corren formed a candidate committee and was responsible for its actions. Background Facts 16. Julia Barnes was Executive Director of the Vermont Democratic Party in 2014. 17. Dottie Deans was Chair of the Vermont Democratic Party in 2014. 18. Megan Brook was campaign manager for Dean·Corren's lieutenant governor campaign in 2014. 19. On October 27, 2014, the Attorney General's Office received a Office of the complaint about an email sent by the VDP on October 24, 2014, advocating for the ATTORNEY GENERAL 109 State Street election of Dean Corren. Montpelier, VT 05609 20. On October 30,2014, the Attorney General's Office informed Corren that it had received a complaint regarding the October 24, 2014, mass email and 4 that it appeared the email was a contribution to the Correncampaign in violation of the conditions on campaign finance grants. 21. The State conducted an investigation into the complaint. The investigation included obtaining documents from the Corren campaign and the . VDP. The Corren campaign provided the State with a series of emails exchanged between Megan Brook for the Corren campaign and Julia Barnes and Dottie Deans for the VDP. 22. On September 26,2014, Corren wrote an email to Dottie Deans, copying Megan Brook, stating in part: "I want to let you know how much I appreciate all of your personal support and all th~ time your staff is putting i'n to navigating some uncharted waters. After our Wednesday meeting I was encouraged that we might be able to find a way forward that works for all of us. As I hope I've made clear, I need your help if I'm to have any shot of replacing Phil Scott, so I can really help work for the issues we care about.'" Attached as Exhibit 1. 23. On September 30,2014, Brook wrote an email to Julia Barnes in which she asked the following: "Wondering if there is opportunity to do and [sic] email from Dottie or you introducing everyone to the D candidate for Lt. Governor? ... It could simply say to get your Dean Corren lawn sign email [email protected]. If you can't do that can this be posted on the FB page Office of the ATTORNEY GENERAL at some point? Still searching for the best way to engage that doesn't have any 109 State Street Montpelier, VT barriers at this point. Attached is a jpeg of the sign in case you can do anything." 05609 Attached as Exhibit 2. 5 24. Brook followed up with an email to Barnes and VDP Chair Deans on October 10, 2014 in which she wrote: "Wondering how the idea of an email message to Dems is coming along." At'tached as Exhibit 2. 25. The same day, Barnes replied to Brook, with a copy to VDP Chair Deans, in which she wrote: "Can you draft something that you would like us to send from Dottie to the list. We can then review it and make edits." Attached as Exhibit 26. On October 13, 2014, Brook sent Barnes and VDP Chair Deans an email with the subject .. Email message about Dean." In .the message she wrote: "Thank you for sending a message about Dean to your email list. I have tried my best to put something together for you but don't know the style of your messages or how you usually communicate. Feel free to edit liberally. Let me know if I can help in other ways and please send me a copy when it goes out, I'm not on the Dem list." Following this introduction, she provided six paragraphs of text about Dean Corren for use in an email from the Vermont Democratic Party to its list. Attached as Exhibit 3. 27. On October 16, 2014, Barnes sent a message to Brook and VDP Chair Deans that said, in part, "Spoke to both of you on the phone - to be clear, we will hold on the letter until Dottie films the ad on Monday. If there are other requests of Office of the ATTORNEY GENERAL the VDP, please send them in writing to me so that we can fit them into the already 109 State Street Montpelier, VT packed email schedule." Attached as Exhibit 2. 05609 6 28. On October 23, 2014, at 5:58 PM, Barnes sent an email to Brook, with a copy to VDp Chair Deans, with the subject "Corren Email" Blast." She wrote, in part: "I sent the em,ail to our lawyer to have it approved (he checks everything because of the public financing) and he said it does not qualify as an exemption from the contribution definition because the email list has v'alue.