Scalia visits top Vermont GOP donors

By Shay Totten | Vermont Guardian

Posted October 22, 2004

Copyright Vermont Guardian. No reprints without permission.

SHELBURNE – U.S. Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia’s recent visit to Vermont was arranged by a top official of the National Italian American Foundation and contributor to the re-election campaign of President George W. Bush. The visit included a private duck-hunting trip in Shelburne.

Scalia spoke to an overflow crowd at the University of Vermont’s Ira Allen Chapel on Oct. 8. However, it was a private meeting with Vermont members and officials with the National Italian American Foundation that originally spurred his visit, and not the public speaking engagement, the Vermont Guardian has learned.

Asked by the Vermont Guardian about the duck hunting trip and private meeting, Scalia, through a court spokeswoman, had “no comment.”

Sources knowledgeable about the meeting, who spoke on a condition of anonymity, said it included two top GOP financial backers construction company magnate James Pizzagalli, other members of the Pizzagalli family and Ken Ciongoli, a clinical associate professor of neurology at the University of Vermont’s College of Medicine and the vice president of the National Italian American Foundation.

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