Updated at 5:13 p.m. with a statement from Scott spokesman Jason Gibbs.

Gov. Peter Shumlin has taken some heat for declaring that he will appoint a replacement for retiring Vermont Supreme Court Justice John Dooley, who will formally leave the bench months after Shumlin surrenders the keys to the governor’s office to Republican Phil Scott.

There will apparently be no such controversy in replacing another pivotal legal position — Chittenden County state’s attorney.

T.J. Donovan, who currently holds that office, will be sworn in as Vermont’s new attorney general in January, two years before his term in Chittenden County expires. There had been whispers that Donovan could officially resign his current position in the coming weeks, affording Shumlin, a fellow Democrat, the chance to name his replacement.

But in an interview with Seven Days, Donovan said he won’t do that.

Updated at 6:24 p.m.

Burlington could be designated a “sanctuary city” before president-elect Donald Trump even takes office.

The Burlington City Council hopes to craft and present a resolution by the end of December, according to council President Jane Knodell. The designation would mean municipal employees, including police, would not ask people about their immigration status during calls for service. It also means city employees wouldn’t round up undocumented immigrants at the behest of the federal government.

The policy allows undocumented immigrants to contact law enforcement if they’ve been a victim of a crime, witnessed a crime or otherwise need police services — without fearing reprisal, according to police Chief Brandon del Pozo.
Queen City police have long carried out such a practice, del Pozo said.

“We want to continue the relationship of trust we’ve built with the people who need our protection by locally emphasizing crime fighting over immigration issues,” del Pozo said in a statement Friday.

Recounts are scheduled to take place next week for three House races in Vermont.

In the Windsor-Orange 1 district in Royalton and Tunbridge, Republican David Ainsworth asked for a recount after Election Day results showed  him trailing Rep. Sarah Buxton (D-Tunbridge) by three votes. That recount will start at 9 a.m. Monday at the Windsor County Courthouse in Woodstock.

In the Orange 1 district that includes the towns of Chelsea, Corinth, Orange, Vershire, Washington and Williamstown, Rep. Susan Hatch Davis (P-Washington) is seeking a recount after results indicated she is trailing Republican Robert Frenier by eight votes. That recount will be held at 12:30 p.m. Monday at the  Orange County Courthouse in Chelsea.

In the Franklin 7 district that includes Enosburgh and Montgomery, Rep. Larry Fiske (R-Enosburgh) is seeking a recount based on results that show him trailing Progressive Cindy Weed by 15 votes. That recount will be done at 9 a.m. at state Superior Court in St. Albans.

One Senate recount will be held, but not until December 13 at state Superior Court in Montpelier. Sen. Bill Doyle (R-Washington), a 48-year member,  sought a review of the ballots. Officials results show Doyle trailing Democrat Francis Brooks by 191 votes.

Vermont’s departing Democratic governor and incoming Republican governor issued an unusually harmonious statement Thursday.

Gov. Peter Shumlin and governor-elect Phil Scott pledged to defend the rights and freedoms of all in the wake of a turbulent national election.

Without mentioning the name of president-elect Donald Trump, the joint statement said it was in response to the “presidential election and recent events across the state.”

Local organizations that support civil rights, refugees and access to abortion
say that since Donald Trump was elected president, they’ve received an outpouring of support.

The Vermont Refugee Resettlement Program holds volunteer orientations twice a month. More than 100 people showed up at Wednesday night’s event, community partnership coordinator Laurie Stavrand said.

“We’re just getting a lot of positive energy coming our way, which is great because it’s good when people take action,” she said Thursday. “It helps them, and it helps everybody else.”

In what he billed as a major speech, Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) pledged Wednesday night to hold president-elect Donald Trump to some of the promises he made while also standing up to any racism, sexism and bigotry that Trump may condone.

The speech was delivered at George Washington University and streamed live online.

Sanders, who nearly snared the Democratic presidential nomination before campaigning for nominee Hillary Clinton, read a snippet from his new book, Our Revolution: A Future to Believe In. In it, he declared, “We set the agenda for the America of tomorrow.”

His speech offered an indication of the new role the 75-year-old senator expects to play during a Trump presidency: speaking out early, often and loudly against any transgressions. Earlier Wednesday, the Senate Democratic leadership appointed Sanders to a new role — chair of outreach — that could give him a bigger stage from which to speak.

“What you will see on Capitol Hill is, many Democrats will be prepared to work with Mr. Trump if he turns out to be sincere about the promises he made during the campaign,” Sanders told the GWU crowd. “If those promises turn out to be hollow, if they were nothing more than campaign rhetoric, we will not only oppose his economic policies, we will expose that hypocrisy.”

Sanders cherry-picked all the Trump campaign promises he could support, challenging Trump to come through in standing up for the middle class and elderly, for raising the minimum wage and ending “disastrous” trade policies.

“He was saying he was going to be the champion of the middle class,” Sanders said of Trump. “We’re going to hold him accountable.”

“Mr. Trump said, unlike many Republicans — the vast majority of Republicans — he said he will not cut Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid,” Sanders said. “Pay attention to see what he does.”

Trump talked about a $10-an-hour federal minimum wage, Sanders said. “We will hold him to those words,” he pledged.

Then Sanders shifted to the agendas he doesn’t want to see Trump pursue.

“We will not be involved in the expansion of bigotry, of racism, of sexism,” Sanders said, to thunderous applause. “I know I speak for millions of fellow Americans. Mr. Trump, we are not going backward in terms of bigotry. We are going to go forward in creating a nondiscriminatory society.”

Earlier Wednesday, Sanders had called on Trump to rescind the appointment of Steve Bannon as his chief strategist and senior counsel, echoing the rest of the Vermont congressional delegation and many congressional Democrats. “The president of the United States should not have a racist at his side,” Sanders said Wednesday night.

He then called on Trump to pay attention to science, not the chief executive officers of the fossil-fuel industry, when it comes to climate change. “Climate change is not a hoax,” Sanders said. “Millions of us have got to stand up and tell Mr. Trump to read a little bit about science.”

There will be no need for the legislature to decide who will be the next lieutenant governor after all, Secretary of State Jim Condos said Wednesday, walking back a statement he’d made a day earlier.

Lieutenant governor-elect David Zuckerman received 52.1 percent of the votes cast. That put him above the 50 percent mark and removed any constitutional requirement for the legislature to decide the race, Condos conceded Wednesday.

Zuckerman, a Progressive/Democrat, defeated Republican Randy Brock in the November 8 election. Zuckerman takes over from Republican Lt. Gov. Phil Scott, who was elected governor last week.

On Tuesday, Condos had said Zuckerman received 48.95 percent of the vote, putting him below the 50 percent constitutional threshold. But Condos said Wednesday that number included spoiled and blank ballots — which should not have figured in.

Senate Secretary John Bloomer had questioned Condos’ earlier figure, noting that blank ballots have never counted when figuring whether candidates received a 50 percent majority.

Updated November 16, 2016

Two state officials disagreed Tuesday over whether it will be up to the legislature to decide the lieutenant governor’s race in January.

Progressive/Democrat David Zuckerman came out the clear vote leader on Election Day over Republican Randy Brock. Unofficial vote totals that day showed Zuckerman leading 50 to 44 percent.

When the election results were certified Tuesday, Secretary of State Jim Condos said Zuckerman had received 49.85 percent of the vote — less than 50 percent. By the state Constitution, that meant the legislature would have to ultimately pick the winner.

Rutland Mayor Chris Louras has risked his political career on a controversial proposal to welcome 100 Syrian refugees to his long-struggling city, and spent most of the past year beating back fierce opposition and nativist rhetoric from his critics.

Despite president-elect Donald Trump's victory after a campaign in which he vowed to bar Muslim immigrants from entering America, Louras said he and his allies are proceeding apace.

Louras is coordinating with the Vermont Refugee Resettlement Program and a local volunteer group, Rutland Welcomes, to prepare for the initial wave of refugees from war-torn Syria. They are expected to arrive in mid-December or January. The bulk of the refugees are expected in the spring and summer, Louras said.

"All of us are continuing as if there's been no change," Louras, a Republican-turned-independent, said. "We've got no indications that the New Americans will not be arriving. We're absolutely cognizant of the fact that things could change, but it's not impacting things [now]."

Through much of Lt. Gov. Phil Scott's gubernatorial campaign, Democrats tried to tag him as a tool of the Republican Governors Association.

The Washington, D.C., party organization, after all, spent more than $3 million on television advertisements selling his candidacy and knocking his Democratic rival, Sue Minter. Less than two weeks before the election, corporate lobbyists affiliated with the RGA held an $18,000 fundraiser for Scott's campaign in Washington.

Minter and the Vermont Democratic Party repeatedly noted that the RGA's top donor this year has been Koch Industries, owned by billionaire bogeymen Charles and David Koch.

The attacks clearly fell short (perhaps, in part, because Minter herself benefited from more than $1.4 million worth of Democratic Governors Association advertising). Scott defeated Minter on Tuesday by more than 8 percentage points.

Now, the governor-elect is preparing for his first out-of-state trip since winning the election: to an RGA conference in Orlando, Fla. According to Scott spokesman Ethan Latour, Scott will take part in a two-day retreat next Tuesday and Wednesday with fellow Republican governors at the Hilton Orlando Bonnet Creek resort.