Controversial Obamacare architect Jonathan Gruber was paid $400,000 in July…to design another health care system

Jonathan Gruber, the MIT professor who has touted the "stupidity of the American voter" as a reason why Obamacare passed, was paid $400,000 in July to advise Vermont Governor Peter Shumlin (D) on how to finance a government-run health care system in that state.

According to Watchdog.org, Shumlin's office announced in July that it would pay that amount for advice on how to proceed. But the website said Shumlin's office has declined to reveal anything about its plans for nearly two years.

Gruber has created a huge headache for Democrats all week, after video surfaced in which he said the bill was written in a way to hide the true cost of the legislation. He said the absence of transparency and the "stupidity of the American voter" were critical for its passage.

"Politically, you just literally cannot do … transparent financing, transparent spending," he said.

Watchdog.org contacted some state officials in Vermont, some of whom said they would review the state's contract with him.

"I was completely unaware of his comment at the time we hired him, and I'm frankly appalled," said Lawrence Miller, chief of health care reform for the Shumlin administration. "It does not represent how we believe it should be done."

A Republican state senator also told Watchdog.org that he wants the state government to revoke Gruber's contract.

Watchdog.org is a group of independent reporters that is a project of the Franklin Center for Government & Public Integrity.