Public Assets Institute Hires Jack Hoffman
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
October 10, 2007
Contact:
Paul Cillo
Public Assets Institute
Montpelier, Vermont
802-472-6222
paul@publicassets.org
www.publicassets.org
Public Assets Institute Hires Jack Hoffman
Former Vermont Press Bureau Chief will act as Senior Policy Analyst
MONTPELIER – Former Vermont Press Bureau Chief Jack Hoffman has joined the Public Assets Institute as senior policy analyst, PAI President and Founder Paul Cillo announced today.
“As a reporter, Jack had a reputation of actually liking to study spreadsheets and budget information, and he took some ribbing for it,” Cillo said. “But someone with Jack’s experience and interests is just the person to help us fulfill the mission of the Public Assets Institute — to provide timely, accurate information and analysis about state tax and budget issues and promote government policies that improve the wellbeing of ordinary Vermonters, especially the most vulnerable.”
In anticipating his new job, Hoffman stressed the importance of information and openness, which he called “two key ingredients of good government.” He added: “We need to get away from the knee-jerk notion that government is the root of all evil and never part of the solution. We’re supposed to be a democracy, after all, and government has an important role to play in addressing many of the problems we face today. I look forward to helping Vermonters gain a better understanding of the workings of their state government.”
Hoffman covered politics and state government in Montpelier for 20 years with the Vermont Press Bureau, the capital bureau for the Rutland Herald and Barre-Montpelier Times Argus. He served as bureau chief for 14 years, during which time he also wrote a weekly column. Hoffman covered many of the major stories in Vermont, including the state raid on the Northeast Kingdom Community Church in Island Pond, Madeleine Kunin’s six-year term as Vermont’s first female governor, Act 60 and education finance reform, and the passage of Vermont’s civil union law. After leaving the Bureau in 2002, he served for five years as executive director of the Vermont Broadband Council, a non-profit organization promoting the use and availability of broadband in the state.
As senior policy analyst for Public Assets Institute, Hoffman will research, analyze, and report on state tax and budget policies and help PAI become an important resource for residents, businesses, journalists, and non-profit organizations in understanding how and where Vermont is using its public assets.
Before becoming a reporter, Hoffman traveled extensively in Africa and tried – unsuccessfully and perhaps foolishly – to start a motorcycle safari business in Kenya. He served as a Peace Corps volunteer in Libya in the late 1960s. Except for a few extended travel breaks, Hoffman has lived in Vermont since 1965. He and his wife now live in Marshfield, where he serves on the Twinfield Union School Board.
The Public Assets Institute (PAI) is an independent, nonpartisan nonprofit founded in 2003. In September, it published The State of Working Vermont 2007 in cooperation with the Economic Policy Institute in Washington, DC. On October 23, with Voices for Vermont’s Children, PAI will convene Choices for Vermont, a statewide conference to discuss Vermont’s fiscal challenges, along with ways to make Vermont a state where everyone can prosper.
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