Last Thursday, I was working on a story about the proposed Wal-Mart in St. Albans, and the Vermont Natural Resources Council, and I went to the contacts page to look up some phone numbers. VNRC represents a citizens group opposed to the Wal-Mart location, and had shared with us a copy of a recent letter it sent to the St. Albans Development Review Board questioning the board's alleged conflict of interest.

I noticed on the contacts page, there at the bottom of the page, John Odum’s name. He’s listed as a membership coordinator. Odum, as some of you know, is one of the most prolific bloggers in the state, writing at the left-of-center blog, Green Mountain Daily and a frequent commenter on other blogs.

It got me thinking, isn’t VNRC a non-profit? I did some research and found that they are a 501(c)(3) organization, the type of organization that can enjoy some tax exemptions, and has some restrictions on certain types of political engagement.

I’m no tax lawyer, but a quick search on the Internet (where everything is true of course) showed me this site, explaining some myths about what 501(c)(3)s can and can't do. See #10 on that list -- "employees of 501(c)(3)s are prohibited from endorsing, contributing to, working for, or otherwise supporting (or opposing) a candidate for public office. However, this does not prohibit ... employees ... from participating in a political campaign, provided that they say or do everything as private citizens and not as spokespersons for or agents of the organization, and not while using the organization's resources or assets in any manner."

I looked back at pre-election postings on GMD, and there certainly are pro- and anti-candidate statements by Odum on GMD. Some of them look like they were posted during regular business hours. I sent Odum an e-mail Thursday to make sure I had his correct e-mail address, and was going to ask him about this, but the Wal-Mart story took every last minute I had in the office that day and then some. I was going to follow up, but then my attention got directed to this post, where Odum says an ongoing dispute with the folks over at Second Vermont Republic has turned personal, and therefore, he's not going to be blogging anymore.

I'm not going to get into the details of the debate between SVR and GMD, but in short, there's a debate over one of SVR's connections to a person who may or may not have racist viewpoints. Anyway, SVR on Monday sent out a release questioning VNRC's ties to GMD, and other issues about Odum's employment there.

This afternoon, I called VNRC Executive Director Elizabeth Courtney. I broached the GMD subject and Courtney said, "I really couldn’t say anything about it – it’s something John does on his own time."

I said it looks like a lot of the posts are during typical work hours, but maybe he works part time, and that's the explanation? Her response: "We have flexible hours, and I’m confident that if he has posted on his blog during what appears to be work time, it hasn’t been work time for him. And he doesn’t use any of the machinery in the office for his work."

Next I called Odum -- and he just got back to me. He said he couldn't say much.

"I have not blogged from work," he said. "I use lunch hours, I use late mornings, I have flex time, I take days off." Odum said he goes to Langdon Street Cafe to blog, and he called SVR's claims "demonstrably outrageous." He added that he can set posts up to post at certain times, when he knows it's going to be slow -- so there's fresh content, I assume.

I asked him then, if all of this is on the up-and-up, why did he stop blogging?

"I can't talk about that," he said.

I asked him if VNRC asked him to stop, and he said he couldn't talk about that either. He asked me not to do a "hit job" on him.

Hmm.

A blogging addict, I'll miss the Odum-Snarkyboy back-and-forth for sure. And it's interesting to think about the issue between the freedom of speech and the 501(c)(3) restrictions.

More importantly however, what do you think?

--Sky Barsch