Jewish group files ethics complaints against Vermont legislators who took paid trip to Israel

MONTPELIER — A Jewish group that opposes Israel’s military campaign in Gaza has lodged ethics complaints against the five members of the Vermont House who traveled to Israel last September on a trip that was sponsored by the Israeli government.

The Vermont and New Hampshire chapter of Jewish Voice for Peace argued in filings last week that by accepting invitations to go on the trip, the Democratic and Republican legislators ran afoul of state laws limiting what gifts public officials should accept.

The lawmakers are Rep. Sarita Austin, D-Colchester; Rep. Matt Birong, D-Vergennes; Rep. Gina Galfetti, R-Barre Town; Rep. Will Greer, D-Bennington; and Rep. James Gregoire, R-Fairfield. In all, 250 legislators from all 50 states attended the trip, which was described as the largest-ever gathering of U.S. state legislators in Israel.

According to an Instagram post from Israel’s government at the time, the lawmakers “witnessed the magnitude of the October 7 tragedy, experienced Israel’s innovation and cutting-edge technology, tasted our incredible cuisine, and met with Israel’s leaders — including the Prime Minister, the President, the Foreign Minister, and many others.”

At a news conference Tuesday in the Statehouse — the first day of the 2026 legislative session — members of Jewish Voice for Peace, and several other advocacy groups, lambasted the lawmakers’ decision to travel to Israel and demanded they resign.

Officials from the Israeli government valued the trip at $6,500 per person, according to records attached to the ethics complaints that Jewish Voice for Peace filed.

“As elected representatives of Vermont, they implicated our state in Israel’s atrocities,” said Ashley Smith, a member of the Vermont Coalition for Palestinian Liberation, one of the groups at the press conference, speaking to a crowd of dozens of people.

Israel’s ground and air campaign against Hamas militants in the Gaza Strip has killed more than 70,000 people, according to local health authorities. Israeli strikes have destroyed vast swaths of buildings and other infrastructure in the enclave. At the same time, the United Nations has declared a famine there, saying that more than half a million people face “starvation, destitution and death” as a result of Israel’s war.

An independent U.N. commission determined last year that Israel has committed four “genocidal acts” in Gaza since Oct. 7, 2023. The Hamas attacks on that day that prompted the campaign killed about 1,200 people and led to 250 being taken hostage.

Three other current state legislators were also at the news conference standing among the presenters, including Sen. Tanya Vyhovsky, P/D-Chittenden Central; Rep. Kate Logan, P/D-Burlington; and Rep. Esme Cole, D-Hartford. Vyhovsky called the trip “unconscionable.”

Jewish Voice for Peace is asking Vermont’s State Ethics Commission to recommend that the Vermont House’s internal ethics panel “conduct a thorough investigation” of the group’s complaints. The State Ethics Commission has little authority to take substantive action on ethics complaints when those complaints are related to legislators’ conduct, but the body is generally required to refer such complaints when it receives them.

Christina Sivret, the commission’s executive director, said Tuesday she could not discuss publicly what actions were or were not being taken regarding the complaint.

According to Jewish Voice for Peace, most aspects of the legislators’ trip did not fall into one of the categories of gifts that state law allows public officials to accept. Moreover, the group contended in a news release, the trip amounted to a paid lobbying effort by Israel’s government “with the expectation” that the lawmakers “would support legislation in their home states favorable to Israel’s geopolitical and economic interests.” At the least, the group wrote in its complaints, that created the appearance of a quid pro quo.

The legislators did not file lobbying disclosures with the Vermont Secretary of State’s Office, as is required for some gifts, at the time of the trip. But Vermont legislators aren’t required to disclose gifted trips, anyway, Seven Days reported last year.

The group pointed to how four of the five sponsored a bill last year aimed at creating a new curriculum for Vermont students, and new training for Vermont teachers, focused on “the evolving nature of antisemitism” in the U.S. The legislation, H.310, would also create a new definition of “antisemitic harassment” in Vermont law that includes, among other pieces, “negative references to Jewish customs or the right to self-determination in the Jewish people’s ancestral and indigenous homeland,” which is Israel.

The group also noted how, during a stop in Jerusalem, Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar urged the assembled legislators to pass laws in their states that would hinder the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement. That’s the international movement aimed at using economic pressure to force Israel’s government to change its policies.

All five of the legislators pushed back against the advocacy groups’ assertions and calls for resignation in written statements and interviews on Tuesday.

Birong chairs the House Government Operations and Military Affairs Committee and is the most powerful Vermont legislator who took the trip.

“In a world increasingly filled with siloed media and narrowed information streams, I wanted to take the opportunity to witness for myself and ask questions,” he said in a statement. “When accepting the invitation, I was under no illusion as to the perspective of our hosts.”

Gregoire is vice chair of the House Corrections and Institutions Committee and pushed back against the assertion that the trip was a lobbying effort by a foreign government.

“We went during the off session and there was no connection to our legislative work,” Gregoire said in a statement. “No one asked us to do anything beyond standing up against antisemitism and that was during casual conversations.”

Austin said she did not believe she or her colleagues had violated any ethics rules when traveling on the trip. Both Galfetti and Greer said they were eager to move forward with their legislative work for the year, and pointed to how they have been threatened and have feared for their safety since the details of their trip were made public last fall.

Galfetti said in a statement that the complainants and organizers of Tuesday’s press conference “have lied and continued to lie about this trip, pushing an incendiary false narrative designed to spread disinformation in these troubled times.”

In a statement, House Speaker Jill Krowinski, D-Burlington, said her office did not have purview over the legislators’ decision to go on the trip and that “our established, independent review process — the House Ethics Panel” — was where any issues from critics of the trip could be reviewed. The panel’s proceedings are highly secretive, with little information typically available to the public about a given complaint or how it gets resolved.

Meanwhile, Pattie McCoy, the House GOP leader, said in a statement Tuesday that she supported the legislators’ decision to go on the trip.

“We support State Representatives who reach out and travel to engage in, and build, international relations,” the Poultney Republican said. “Through these efforts Vermont has built business partners that continue to increase our economic presence globally, allowing Vermont businesses to grow and thrive.”

This story was republished with permission from VtDigger, which offers its reporting at no cost to local news organizations through its Community News Sharing Project. To learn more, visit vtdigger.org/community-news-sharing-project.