Jess Aloe

Free Press Staff Writer

Rep. Chris Pearson, P-Burlington, is calling for Gov. Peter Shumlin's administration to release the former staff emails that Shumlin's attorney requested be deleted.

The request became public around the same time a Securities and Exchange Commission complaint accusing Jay Peak chief executive officer Bill Stenger and owner Ariel Quiros of massive fraud was filed in Miami federal court. Shumlin administration officials said the timing was coincidence. All emails regarding Jay Peak, the EB-5 program allowing foreign nationals to invest $500,000 in projects in economically depressed areas in exchange for residency, Stenger and Quiros are under a litigation hold by the Attorney General's Office.

Pearson filed a nonbinding resolution asking for the emails to be made public on Wednesday. The Vermont House will take up the issue on Friday.

"I think there's a lot of people around the state of Vermont that feel it's hard to trust a lot of the stories coming out of Montpelier," Pearson said on Thursday.

He added that he was prepared to believe Shumlin, but wants him to prove the emails were unrelated.

Scott Coriell, a spokesman for Shumlin, said Pearson's resolution was riddled with inaccuracies and called his actions political grandstanding.

The emails in question will not be deleted at the moment. Coriell said they will be subject to public records requests.

Shumlin officials defend email deletion request

Contact Jess Aloe at 802-660-1874 or jaloe@freepressmedia.com. Follow her on Twitter at www.twitter.com/jess_aloe