What a week for State Auditor Tom Salmon, the Vermont GOP’s Golden Boy and crusading voice of fiscal restraint and personal responsibility.

First was the news in last week’s “Fair Game” that Salmon has not always balanced his own books — specifically, he racked up more than $30,000 in debt while living in Los Angeles and was taken to court and ordered to repay it.... Read more

Since leaving the Democratic Party in September, State Auditor Tom Salmon has been on a one-man crusade to convert folks to his Church of Fiscal Responsibility.

He’s been a hit not only at GOP rallies and fundraisers around the state; he’s gone right into the lion’s den — telling union workers they should take pay cuts and the unemployed they should expect less money per week.... Read more

The media has engaged in plenty of navel gazing and hand wringing in the wake of several small “s” scandals involving officials keeping info secret from the public.

Oh, if we only had more resources, we’d be able to hold officials accountable, has been the mainstream media’s lament. What would the public do without us? How our democracy would suffer.... Read more

Burlington Democrats may be the ones who get burned as a result of smoking out their biggest adversary in the administration of Burlington Mayor Bob Kiss: Chief Administration Officer Jonathan Leopold.

By an 8-6 vote at 1:15 Tuesday morning, the city council passed a resolution urging Mayor Kiss to put Leopold on paid leave pending an audit of Burlington Telecom finances.... Read more

The financial scandals embroiling Montpelier and Burlington have some striking similarities. No, it’s not just that the administrations of both cities are liberal — if not downright progressive.

Rather, key administrators opted to keep their money troubles — and the strategy to get out of those fiscal pickles — a secret from citizens.... Read more

Burlington Telecom’s problems may be more numerous, and its violations of various city and state rules more widespread, than was initially believed.

That’s the assessment of several lawmakers and former city councilors. Plus, the state’s chief telecom regulator finds it “troubling” that the city admits to funding BT operations out of the municipal checkbook.... Read more

They say a fool and his money are soon parted. Barre resident Wallace Nolen thinks the State of Vermont should do more to wise people up.

Nolen is on a mission to reunite people with lost money from insurance policies, uncashed checks, old bank accounts or forgotten safe deposit boxes, among other assets. By law, when an asset is abandoned, it’s turned over to the state — the length of the holding period varies depending on the type of asset.... Read more

As FairPoint Communications struggles to stay afloat, its Vermont competitors are beginning to circle.

Burlington Telecom, one of the smaller sharks in Vermont’s sea of telecom operations, announced it is ready to fill any void left by a flailing FairPoint. With only 4600 subscribers and a data hub capable of serving at least 100,000 households, BT has room to grow.... Read more

Static between the owner and programmers of WCLX, the “Album Station,” has silenced the 10-year-old free-form rock station — on the airwaves, at least.... Read more

Used to be the Vermont Senate was the chamber with minimal turnover — an incumbent’s paradise. But if you count up every state senator who is either thinking of running for higher office or stepping down in 2010, it amounts to as many as 11 new faces in the 30-member chamber.

Of the 11 senators potentially leaving, six are Democrats and five are Republicans.... Read more