Tag Archives: Jill Krowinski

A Casual Comment Gets a Deeper Dive

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I realize there’s a “Day” for just about everything, just as the Catholics have a stunning collection of patron saints. But fact-checking? Now there’s a party. For those wishing to celebrate IFCD, it’s on April 2. You’ve got plenty of time for venue-shopping and caterer-hiring.

Anyway, in my post about the filing deadline, I offhandedly remarked on the difficulty of moving from President Pro Tem or Speaker to the governor’s office. Lately, every single House or Senate leader has been included on everyone’s short list for governor but none of ’em have gotten a sniff of the corner office. The soon-to-be-dearly-departed Phil Baruth and Jill Krowinski were once widely seen as chief executive timber; not now, and probably not ever again.

I stand by my comments about the political difficulties of leading a legislative majority: You’re responsible for herding the cats and engaging in The Art of the Possible, not establishing a strong personal image or agenda. Every Pro Tem and Speaker acquires baggage, often at a rapid clip. That’s why the longest-serving leader in Vermont history, Ralph Wright, managed “only” 10 years in the job. (In his memoir, he acknowledges that his power was pretty much gone by his final term.) Most leaders hit their sell-by dates after two or three terms. Many (including Wright himself) get 86’ed by their home voters, presumably for seeming too removed from their district’s interests.

Just to be clear, I’m talking about Speakers and Pro Tems advancing directly to the governorship. It rarely happens despite the high profile those offices confer. (House or Senate majority leaders, occupying the #2 post in each chamber, have been more successful, perhaps because they enjoy the advantages of networking and favor-trading without the burdens of being the leader.) But I’ve gotten some pushback from diligent readers who cited exceptions, so it seemed worthwhile to take a closer look at the question.

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So, Anything Happen While I Was Out?

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Well, today’s confluence of events — the Legislature desperately careening toward adjournment on the day of the filing deadline for major-party candidates — was inevitably going to produce a flurry of political happenings. Most, frankly, were no surprise. The major exception: House Speaker Jill Krowinski’s decision to bow out of the Legislature. More on that below, but let’s shoot through the rest of the headlines.

Phil Scott runs for a sixth term. Not a surprise at all. He’s got to be enjoying life more now than during the Democrats’ supermajority years, and he’s still got to see himself as the only person who can forestall Democratic hegemony. But if he wins and serves out his next term, he will set the all-time record for longest serving Vermont governor — displacing Howard Dean, whose record for vetoes was shattered by Scott long ago. And Scott has already surpassed Dean on one electoral score: Dean only ran for governor five times, and this is Scott’s sixth gubernatorial campaign. He’s already entered new territory on that score.

The prediction markets are finally warming a bit to #vtpoli, and becoming more on point. Kalshi’s “Vermont Governor Winner?” proposition has “Republican Party” at 86% and “Democratic Party” at only 7%, which seems about right. Wednesday morning, those odds were 73% Republican and 27% Democratic. One thing changed in the last 36 hours, and that was Scott formally announcing his candidacy. Also seems about right.

Pieciak declines. In other unsurprising news, Treasurer Mike Pieciak pissed on the dying embers of gubernatorial speculation by officially filing for re-election. His decision not to seek the corner office, he said, was due to a difficult past year in his personal life including the loss of both parents and separation from his husband. But it’s a disappointment for Democratic wishcasters who saw him as their best hope for beating the governor. (Despite his decision, Pieciak remains the second favorite on Kalshi to win the Democratic gubernatorial nomination, far behind Aly Richards and a skosh ahead of Amanda Janoo.)

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Lift Rug, Briskly Sweep, Hope Nobody Notices the Lumps

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It’s been a hell of a day under the Golden Dome. The House had a full agenda, with plenty of bills trying to beat crossover deadline. And there were a bunch of resolutions honoring, among other things, Athletic Trainers’ Month, the Month of the Military Child, McNeil & Reedy’s 70th year as a clothing retailer, the Vermont athletes who competed in the 2025 National Senior Games, and East Haven Selectboard member Kirwin Flanders, plus the designation of October 5 as Italian-American Day in Vermont, presumably a sop to those who still bemoan the loss of Columbus Day.

Anyway. It was going to be a big day… and then all hell broke loose.

First came a letter from Speaker Jill Krowinski to House members announcing that Rep. Bob Hooper of Burlington had relinquished his seat on the House Government Operations & MIlitary Affairs Committee because of an unspecified violation of the House Sexual Harassment Prevention Policy. Krowinski further said that Hooper would not be given any other committee assignment in the current biennium, which is as close as a House member can get to Siberian exile.

Then we got a press release signed by almost everyone in the House Democratic caucus* urging Hooper to resign from his seat in the House after “a thorough and diligent investigation… substantiated a claim of sexual harassment against another member.”

*There were 84 signatories out of 87 Democratic House members, including Krowinski**. By my count, the three who didn’t sign were Hooper himself, Mollie Burke, and Saudia LaMont. Burke, for what it’s worth, chairs the House Sexual Harassment Prevention Panel. You know, the folks responsible for that “diligent and thorough investigation.”

*Intentionally or not, the House Dems made it hard to find out who didn’t sign. The 84 members were listed in alphabetical order BY FIRST NAME, which meant I spent a lot of time identifying the three non-signers.

Finally, Vermont Public reported late Friday afternoon that Hooper plans to resign from the House, but not until Monday “so that he could consult with his lawyer and let his constituents know first.”

And thus ended, within a few short hours, a seven-year-long legislative career.

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I Wouldn’t Trust ANY of These People to Reform the Public Education System

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On Monday, Tax Commissioner Bill Shouldice issued his annual December 1 letter estimating property tax rates for the coming fiscal year. It was completely predictable bad news: Shouldice projects a roughly 12% increase in property tax bills, a figure largely attributable to Our Political Betters’ decision to kick the tax can down the road this year by using one-time money to cut a double-digit increase down to one measly percentage point. They knew, at the time, that (in the words of T Bone Burnett among many others) There Would Be Hell To Pay.

Almost as predictable as the 12% increase is the practically unanimous response from Our Betters: They plan to double down on Act 73, which (a) would have no effect whatsoever on next year’s taxes and (b) promises future cost savings that are unproven at best and chimerical at worst.

Gov. Phil Scott: ““The choice before lawmakers in 2026 is clear: show courage by working together to keep moving forward with [Act 73,] our bipartisan transformation plan.”

Senate President Pro Tem Phil Baruth: “Last session, the Governor and the Legislature worked together to pass a framework for transforming our education financing system. It was not easy; too many opposed any approach but the status quo… The truth is that Act 73’s success depends on even harder work being accomplished this session. I am committed to continuing this mission – in collaboration with the Governor, the House and my colleagues in the Senate…”

Oh, WHAT a brave man, heaping scorn on those who didn’t fall in line as “oppos[ing] any approach but the status quo,” when, in fact, NOBODY wanted to continue the status quo. They just happened to not like Act 73.

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This One Had All the Drama of a North Carolina – East Nowhere Tech Basketball Game

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It was over before the shouting. Or the talking, for that matter. In retrospect, it was probably over from square one. At its organizing session Wednesday morning, the House re-elected Democratic Rep. Jill Krowinski as House Speaker by a lopsided 111-to-35 margin over independent Rep. Laura Sibilia.

The image above is not the cover for the little known Sergeant Pepper Bureaucrats Club Band album, but a press conference held by House Democrats before the House convened. In a calculated show of solidarity, dozens of Dems squeezed tight behind incoming House Majority Leader Rep. Lori Houghton, who described the caucus’ agenda for the 2025 session. Houghton began the presser by asserting, pointedly, “I am the new House Majority Leader.”

From that moment, there was no doubt that Krowinski would prevail. Unless you beleve that a now permanently hypothetical Speaker Sibilia would have retained Krowinski’s leadership team.

Frankly, all but the tiniest hint of doubt had been removed Tuesday morning when the Dems distributed an email announcing the press conference. I mean, if leadership is unveiling its priorities at a presser immediately preceding the vote for Speaker, then they must have known it was in the bag. How embarrassing would it have been for leadership to unveil its agenda only to be tossed out within a couple of hours?

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Democrats Be Democrattin’

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VTDigger’s post-Mearhoff political “team” has done itself proud in the early days of the new year, publishing not one, but two, articles outlining a fresh outbreak of an old familiar malady of the left — Democrats in Disarray.

Yeah, I’ve seen this movie before, over and over again. The Dems react to an electoral defeat by watering down their agenda and shifting (if not stampeding) to the center. When, in fact, the lesson to be learned from election victories on both sides is that voters reward authenticity — and are unconvinced by carefully titrated policy positions that have been focus-grouped to death. And by “authenticity” I mean everything from Jimmy Carter’s humble populism to Donald Trump’s extravagant disregard for political norms. (Trump may be a phony and a huckster but he’s consistent about it. He is, as he has told us repeatedly, that snake.)

Digger’s Emma Cotton brings us word of a panicky retreat from the Dems’ climate agenda, while the (at least for the moment) sole occupant of the political beat, Shaun Robinson, reports that quite a few House Democrats are prepared to defenestrate Speaker Jill Krowinski in favor of independent Rep. Laura Sibilia. Enough are against Krowinski or undecided that next week’s election for Speaker may be a close affair.

Both are clear and obvious overreactions to the results of the November elections, which saw many a Democrat go down to defeat — but which left the Democrats with a majority in the Senate and nearly a two-thirds majority in the House. To say that they “lost” the election is to avoid the fact that they still rule the Statehouse roost, and would be fully justified in pursuing an ambitious agenda in the new biennium. Even so, many Dems seem to be running scared. Some of their more influential member are, dare I say, sounding a lot like Phil Scott Republicans. And no, that’s not a compliment.

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You Got to Know When to Hold ‘Em

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The House and Senate Democratic caucuses took six of the best in this year’s election, losing their supermajorities and being reduced to, well, plain ol’ majorities. (As old Statehouse hands have noted, their “defeat” reduced them to the kind of solid partisan edge that used to be normal.) Most of the losses came in rural precincts, and the remaining rural Dems are in their feelings about it. As Rep. John O’Brien of Tunbridge put it, “we had nothing to run on.”

Given the situation, caucus leadership had two choices: Rein in their ambitious agenda or stay the course and try to craft better messaging. Recent votes for leadership positions show the majority supports option number two. Rather than try to accommodate rural discontent, House and Senate caucuses each decided to make their leadership teams more strongly Chittenden-centric. (Hat tip to Rising Young Blogger Matthew Vigneau for calling the House changes a couple weeks in advance.)

House leadership also seems determined to ignore independent Rep. Laura Sibilia’s bid for Speaker, as they went ahead with renominating Speaker Jill Krowinski while voting to prohibit non-Democrats from seeking the caucus nomination. The issue will be settled in the full House come January.

Clearly, the hatches are being battened. While it might seem as though the Dems are ignoring the lessons to be learned from their November beatdown, their actions make a lot of sense in two ways: The True Believer and the Machiavellian.

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Just a Reminder That the State’s Ethics Regime Serves Officials’ Interests, Not the Public’s

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The Legislature never wanted to establish a process for governing official ethics. It took years for lawmakers to enact an embarrassingly threadbare State Ethics Commission, which has since improved somewhat but still conducts its business in secret. The House and Senate were essentially forced to create ethics panels of their own in the wake of the Norm McAllister scandal. Of course, they did the absolute minimum: The panels are black boxes, operating entirely out of public view — as I found out first-hand when I became the first person to file an ethics complaint. The House Ethics Panel considered my complaint behind closed doors and dismissed it. I never heard a peep until after the panel had completed its “work.”

When the House and Senate created the state commission and their respective panels, their first concern was avoiding embarrassment for officials. This remains the operative principle today, as we see in the case of Rep. Mary Morrissey repeatedly dumping cups of water into Rep. Jim Carroll’s tote bag — so repeatedly that it drove Carroll to distraction and affected his mental health.

This follows the pre-primary disclosure that Lt. Gov. David Zuckerman was the subject of an ethics process of sorts, over actions that caused discomfort among multiple female lawmakers. This happened a year and a half ago, and we would never have heard of it at all except that the lawmaker who filed an ethics complaint against Zuckerman, Rep. Heather Chase, went public with the matter shortly before the primary because she believed the voters ought to know before they cast their ballots.

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This Is Too Stupid to Merit the Term “Scandal,” But It Cannot Go Unpunished

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Pictured above is state Rep. Mary Morrissey, a longtime (but not at all influential) member of the House who has suddenly been thrust into the spotlight for the most bizarre of reasons.

Per Kevin McCallum of Seven Days, the Bennington Republican has repeatedly dumped cups of water into a tote bag owned by Rep. Jim Carroll, a Bennington Democrat. Well, she allegedly did so, but Carroll has the goods. After finding his stuff thoroughly soaked on several occasions, he set up a small camera across the hall from his bag. And, as McCallum reports, he’s got video that “clearly shows Morrissey leave her Statehouse committee room, walk over to a bag outside Carroll’s committee room and dump a cup of water into it.” And he caught it on camera more than once.

Also, House leadership has already taken at least one action that indicates Morrissey is, in fact, guilty.

No matter what your attitude toward casual profanity might be, the phrase “What the fuck?” cannot help but escape your lips. This is so petty, so pointlessly mean-spirited, that it boggles the mind. Morrissey has served in the Legislature since 1997. Her Legislative bio lists an incredible number of community honors and appointments in Bennington. She is a devout Catholic.

By her biography, you’d think she’d be the last person on Earth to do something like this. But it’s right there on tape.

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Congratulations to Team Scott for Scoring a Cheap Political Point Against the Democrats

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Legislative leadership has a somewhat (but only somewhat) overblown reputation for shooting themselves in the foot. They have often made Gov. Phil Scott’s job easier by giving him pain-free victories or allowing his minions to run rings around them.

The latest installment of this depressing melodrama features the complaint from House Speaker Jill Krowinski and Senate President Pro Tem Phil Baruth about the “Vermont Strong II: Electric Boogaloo” license plates first suggested [checks notes] almost two months ago by Gov. Phil Scott.

Now, I’m no fan of the plate. It’s an obvious play on Vermonters’ partially earned self-regard, and there’s something ironic about flogging vehicle license plates to help recover from a climate change-related disaster.

Also, Baruth and Krowinski have a strong argument that the governor overstepped his constitutional authority by advancing the program without Legislative approval. Team Scott argues that he is simply extending a program authorized by the Legislature in 2012, after Tropical Storm Irene.

That seems pretty thin to me, but politically speaking it doesn’t matter. There is no way that this doesn’t end up being a strong net positive for Scott. Assuming he runs for re-election, this thing would be potent fodder for the TV ads he probably won’t have to bother airing: “Legislative leaders are so petty and obstructionist, they didn’t even want me to raise disaster recovery money with a positive, feel-good message.”

Team Scott fully realizes this. And when you look at the sequence of events, it’s pretty clear that his people leaked this story and that Baruth and Krowinski didn’t intend for this to become public.

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