We appear to have a combustible situation in the tiny Northeast Kingdom town of Glover, whose population includes our current lieutenant governor.

At issue is the dirt-track road seen above on Google Street View. It’s called Rodgers Road, and Lt. Gov. John Rodgers wants to claim part of it as his very own private property. He would allow recreational access, but block any motorized vehicle traffic. Rodgers is not the only resident of the road, and others would be inconvenienced (to put it mildly) if they could no longer use it. He has reportedly bullied the town road crew, and is threatening to take his hometown to court if he doesn’t get his way.

Nice guy, huh? Kinda sheds new light on his stated intent to work with all parties in the Legislature. C’mon, the guy can’t even get along with his own selectboard.

This situation was reported by WCAX-TV way back on May 8, which shows you how much attention I pay to local TV news. I am rather stunned at the lack of follow-up by other media outlets. It’s clearly a story of public interest and WCAX’s report was backed by emails between Rodgers and town officials. It was worthy of coverage by VTDigger or Vermont Public or Seven Days, the latter of which devoted significant space in January to a profile piece identifying Rodgers as a potential future governor*. You’d have to ask these outlets why they’ve chosen to ignore this story. It’s maybe the kind of thing we ought to know about a potential future governor, no?

*That story quoted Rodgers as saying “We need to hush the noise from the left and the right and govern from the middle for the benefit of all Vermonters.” Again, he can’t even get along with his own damn selectboard.

There has been follow-up, by WCAX, the local daily, and at least one national news operation. Let’s catch up, shall we?

In her original report, WCAX’s Laura Ullman said Rodgers accuses the town of failing to properly maintain the road. He says he and his family have had to do the work themselves, but as Ullman reported, “The town’s road crew says they’ve been trying to keep up maintenance, but when they do so, Rodgers tells them to leave and meets them with insults.”

Emails obtained by WCAX have a member of the road crew saying that Rodgers had called him “a moron” and threatened to call the police if the town did any work on the disputed section of road. Which might explain the lack of maintenance.

On May 22, WCAX reported that the Glover selectboard had passed a resolution to reject Rodgers’ claim and keep Rodgers Road a public thoroughfare. The story quoted one Jim Rodgers, identified as John Rodgers’ uncle, as opposing the lieutenant governor’s argument and calling the whole thing “silly” and “plain stupid.”

And while there continued to be radio silence from Vermont’s major non-video news outlets, a national automotive-news website called The Drive published a piece on May 23 under the title “One State’s Lt. Governor Is Trying to Seize a Public Road as His Own Private Driveway.” Great publicity for our Brave Little State^TM.

The town’s action seemed to awaken the Newport Daily Express from a slumber. It published an article on Wednesday that clearly took Rodgers’ side in its opening but still made him look like a hotheaded malcontent in the end. The story opens with an unwarranted slap at WCAX’s reporting followed by a lengthy quote from Rodgers’ chief of staff James Ehlers, who made a reference to his boss’ “offer to engage in mediation,” an offer that has gone unmentioned in any other report on this kerfuffle.

It’s only after presenting Rodgers’ side of the case that reporter Ed Barber extensively quotes town residents and officials, who seem to be unified on the issue. I have seen no quotes in any story, from anyone other than Rodgers and his state-paid minion, in support of Rodgers’ case. It’s him, all on his own, against his entire hometown.

Unfortunately for him, town officials are very confident they have the law on their side as well as the majority of their constituents. It’s been a few days since the select board passed its resolution, and there’s no sign yet that Rodgers is trying his luck in court.

I’d like to conclude with the closing paragraph of The Drive’s piece, by its executive editor Andrew Collins:

I guess I can see why Rodgers would want the road to himself—sure, I’d like the road in front of my house to be my own private property too, why not? But his apparent tactic of strongarming the town seems so bizarrely short-sighted and high-risk, low-reward. I’ve actually been to Glover, Vermont (it’s lovely), and I’d be surprised if as many as a dozen different cars trundle down that two-mile stretch of dirt road any given week. So, best-case scenario, he gets that down to zero, at the cost of all his legal fees and indefinite bad blood with all his neighbors? Just let the people have their dang dirt road, man.

Yeah, man. Don’t be an asshole. Maybe take your own advice and govern “from the middle for the benefit of all.”