Charity Clark was sworn in as Vermont’s first female attorney general two years ago. On Monday, the Democrat announced her campaign for a second two-year term. Clark tells WAMC North Country Bureau Chief Pat Bradley that two years is not enough time to accomplish what she had set out to do.
It feels like we are just really getting started. I feel really strongly about the power of this office, the importance of this office. I mean, there's 150 people who work at the Attorney General's office, 100 lawyers. We do really important work for the state. It's a privilege to serve Vermont as Attorney General and I'm ready to sign up for another term.
You said that you have not been able to accomplish what you want to accomplish. What are those things?
We just have so much that, you know, in the middle of things. You know, we sued Meta last year for creating an addictive product that's harmful to children in violation of Vermont's Consumer Protection Act. We have an investigation going against Tik Tok for a similar problem. Now, that's an example of a case that feels like we just got started. We also sued Monsanto for contaminating Vermont's natural resources and schools with their toxic chemical PCBs. And those are just a couple of examples of lawsuits we just got started. I also have spent a lot of time focusing on those issues that uniquely affect women, access to abortion being one of them and also the problem of domestic and sexual violence being another. I want to continue the work that we've started on those issues to help women but all Vermonters. I also think it's really important to prioritize public safety. We house within our office the Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force. That is a law enforcement agency that investigates child sexual abuse materials and really protects our most vulnerable. More than half of our criminal cases are focused on that kind of case. And I've really tried to make protecting children a kind of marquee part of my tenure as Attorney General and will do so going forward.
Charity Clark, when you talk about some of the cases that you've been working on it seems like a good portion of them are not specifically Vermont oriented, you know the Meta and the Monsanto, but they are affecting Vermonters considerably. How much of what you do is national that has become intertwined with Vermont tissues.
You know, that's such an interesting point to make. There are so many issues that affect Vermont that affect other states as well. And of course, we have our own unique perspective, which is in part why we sued Meta here in Vermont and we sued Monsanto under a unique theory suing on behalf of schools in addition to the natural resources. And you know, another really important example, where the lawsuit was not here in Vermont but our participation was so critical, was last spring we were involved in a lawsuit against the FDA to make abortions more accessible nationwide. And there were other lawsuits happening and we were making sure that Vermont's voice was heard. Of course, Vermonters voted to enshrine the right to abortion in our Constitution. I have taken very seriously my obligation to honor that vote and make sure that we are always looking out to protect abortion rights. So that's another example of a national issue. I will say it's so wonderful to have relationships with other attorneys general in other states because we do see a lot of these issues and we like to coordinate and collaborate. But of course, Vermont has a very liberal viewpoint on some of these issues. And I have the ability because of that to really know this issue. I'm thinking of abortion particularly is so important to Vermonters and their mandate to me was very clear: protect abortion rights.
Attorney General Clark, you mentioned at the beginning that one of the reasons why you want to run for another term is because there's a lot of things that you haven't been able to finish yet. But are there any new initiatives that you'd like to be able to implement in a new term?
Well, I'm working right now in the legislature on two bills that I want to highlight. They haven't passed out of the full legislature yet but last week they passed out of the House. I’m really excited. The first is a comprehensive data privacy law. And I have been advocating for this law for some time. The House has done a wonderful thoughtful job of crafting that bill, revising it, hearing from all the stakeholders. It's in really good shape and it's making its way to the Senate now. That will provide more protections to Vermonters: their biometric information, like you know, their fingerprints, their DNA, their faces, things like that. It's a really great bill. So if that makes it across the finish line, the enforcement for that law would be housed in my office. So that would be something on the horizon. And the second is expansion and a change to our criminal records sealing law. It would go to a full sealing regime. Right now, there's mostly expungement where the record is totally destroyed. And that bill also passed out of the House. That is another bill that we have advocated for and worked with stakeholders to get into really good shape. I'm really proud of that work and hope that it's able to have the same success when it gets to the Senate. And then we can begin, you know, the work that we do helping people with their sealing and expunging of their criminal records, which we do through our, we have expungement clinics we do every three or four months.
Charity Clark, you've been AG for about a year and a half now, your first term it's two years long. You had worked in the Attorney General's office before you ran for Attorney General. Did you find anything surprising when you became AG or more challenging than you anticipated?
That's such a good question. It's really been so interesting. I was an Assistant Attorney General for a few years and then I was Chief of Staff. So I was a member of the leadership team which was really useful because I got to see up close what being Attorney General was like. So it's been really interesting to now be the Attorney General and having experienced that as a foundation for my work. Despite saying that I think the thing has been most surprising is our office was impacted greatly by the flood in Montpelier last July. We were displaced and our office building was closed for six months. So returning back to that environment where we're all operating on video calls from our living rooms and whatnot was jarring and unpleasant for me. I don't do well working remotely. I like being around people. So I think honestly that was the biggest surprise. But it is a different role certainly to be Attorney General than to sort of sit beside the Attorney General supporting them and their work. So it's been really, really an interesting, and it's been an interesting experience and I guess it's the kind of experience that makes me want to do it again, because here I am running again.
Did you ever think about running for a different office after your first term as Attorney General?
No. I knew I would be focused on running for Attorney General again. I just think two years isn't enough time to accomplish the things you want to accomplish. So I'm, I'm still focused on the Attorney General role.
Democrat Charity Clark is the first candidate to formally announce a campaign in the Vermont Attorney General race.
