Monday, May 11, 2015
Lt. Gov Phil Scott said Monday morning that Sen. Norm McAllister (R-Franklin) planned to resign from the Senate as he faces sex-crime charges.
But reached Monday afternoon, McAllister said, “That’s incorrect.”
“I haven’t even talked about this with my lawyer yet. I’m going to talk with him tomorrow,” McAllister told Seven Days. “I’ve not made up my mind in any which way.”
Scott initially would not reveal who told him McAllister planned to step down, other than to say it was “an official representative” of the Franklin County Republican. He said that person told him Monday morning that McAllister would resign within the next day.
As conflicting stories swirled through the Statehouse, Scott clarified Monday evening that his go-between was Sen. Peg Flory (R-Rutland).
“I stick by what I said. I spoke with his official representative, and she informed me that he had committed to resigning, pending having his attorney review a letter of resignation,” Scott said after the Senate adjourned for the day.
Tags: Norm McAllister , Peter Shumlin , Image , Web Only
Sunday, May 10, 2015
The woman, now 20, told Seven Days McAllister first assaulted her when she was 15 or 16 years old and employed on his Franklin goat farm. The attacks continued over the years, the woman said, as she worked as his house cleaner, on his reelection campaign and as his “assistant” at the Statehouse earlier this year.
McAllister’s legislative colleagues said they knew the woman stayed with him at the Terrace Street apartment, but had no reason to suspect he may have victimized her there.
Some details of her allegations are outlined in a three-page affidavit signed Thursday by Vermont State Police Detective Drew Cota. After another alleged victim identified the woman to police, she agreed to speak to Cota and Detective Maurice Lamothe Thursday in a 25-minute, recorded interview in a cruiser outside her home.
The woman agreed to share further information with Seven Days on the condition that her name be withheld. As a general practice, Seven Days does not identify alleged victims of sex crimes.
Tags: Norm McAllister , arrested , sexual assault , Vermont Statehouse , Dustin Degree , Peg Flory , Kevin Mullin , Timothy Corcoran , Image , Web Only
Friday, May 8, 2015
But the giant refused to remain asleep. So, next week — just as the session is wrapping up for the year — the House will have that difficult debate.
“It was not a priority of the House, but it’s here,” House Speaker Shap Smith said Friday.
The issue is here because the Senate voted relatively late last month to remove the philosophical exemption that allows parents to opt out of vaccinations for their children. Senators attached the measure to a House bill that deals with other health records. From the House's perspective, it appears more expedient to tackle the issue this year than to delay it until next year.
Tags: Robert F. Kennedy Jr. , vaccinations , Vermont legislature , Peter Shumlin , Image , Web Only
Shumlin had tried to maintain momentum on reform. He proposed a multi-million-dollar initiative to increase Medicaid payments for medical treatment. Right now, when the state's Medicaid shorts providers, they make up the difference by requiring private insurance to pay more. Shumlin's proposal fizzled because lawmakers rejected the funding mechanism — a payroll tax — and questioned whether the investment would lower costs for Vermonters with private insurance.
Next week's negotiations will sort out whether the state can afford just $5.1 million for health initiatives or $8.8 million. The Senate advocates the leaner plan. And the two sides must also find consensus on how to raise this money. The Senate expanded an existing employer assessment while the House suggested taxing candy, soft drinks, vending machine food and tobacco products.
The Senate sent its version of the bill to the House Thursday night. The House Health Care Committee voted 9-0 Friday to disagree and demand negotiations.
Tags: health care , William Lippert , Jane Kitchel , Image , Web Only
By the time he took the woman’s phone call on Wednesday night, state Sen. Norm McAllister (R-Franklin) had known her for years, allowing her to live in a trailer he owned and to work at his farm, according to court documents. In exchange, she told authorities, she provided McAllister with sex.
He had noticed something, he told her during the conversation: When she performed oral sex on him, he did not feel as if she cared about him.
“I understand why you felt that way, but it was not much of a turn-on,” McAllister told her, in a conversation that police were secretly recording with her permission. He later added, “I knew I was forcing you to do something you didn’t want to do … I knew that you didn’t really want to do that.”
In Franklin Superior Court today, McAllister, 63, pleaded not guilty to three felony counts of sex assault and three misdemeanor counts of prohibited acts. Authorities say McAllister repeatedly coerced two women to engage in sex acts and pursued a third.
Tags: Norm McAllister , Vermont State Police , Image , Web Only
Members of the Vermont Senate expressed shock Friday morning at the news that one of their own had been arrested. As they took the floor to debate an education governance bill, Sen. Norm McAllister (R-Franklin) was due in court to answer to sexual assault and other charges.
"I think my reaction is the same as everybody else in the Senate: just kind of confused," said Sen. Dustin Degree (R-Franklin), who shares a district with McAllister and campaigned with him in 2012 and 2014.
"Everybody's sad and concerned, and we're trying to withhold any judgment," said Sen. Joe Benning (R-Caledonia), the Senate minority leader.
Police officers approached McAllister Thursday evening at the Statehouse during a break between Senate debates, according to two senators and a police affidavit signed by Vermont State Police Sgt. Benjamin Katz.
"I was outside having a cigarette and I saw him walk with two gentlemen and just hollered out, 'Everything OK?'" recalled Sen. Peg Flory (R-Rutland). "And he said, 'Yup, be right back.' And he kept walking, and my instincts bothered me, so I went up and saw him."
Tags: Norm McAllister , arrested , Image , Web Only
Thursday, May 7, 2015
“I see a major disruption of Vermont tradition with inadequate justification,” Sen. Richard McCormack (D-Windsor), argued on the Senate floor before he voted against the bill.
“I, honest to God, believe it will make the system better,” Sen. Phil Baruth (D-Chittenden) said.
Senators debated, stopped, conferred and debated some more for four-plus hours Thursday, wrestling with whether the bill, H.361, will help, hurt or do nothing for Vermont’s shrinking schools.
The bill is significantly different from a version passed earlier in the House, but both offer financial incentives for Vermont schools to work together to form larger school districts.
Supporters argue that will give smaller schools more flexibility and will allow them to withstand shrinking enrollment. Opponents fear the effort will force the small schools that they treasure to close. Some also say the bill will do nothing to curb rising property taxes.
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Vermont State Police said that the case against the 63-year-old man "stemmed from an investigation into complaints made against McAllister," but they did not shed further details on the underlying allegations. Judge Alison Arms ordered him held in the Northwest Regional Correctional Center in St. Albans and set bail at $20,000. He was to be arraigned in Franklin County District Court at 11 a.m. Friday.
State police declined further comment, and noted that a document outlining "probable cause" would be made public after the arraignment.
Tags: Norm McAllister , human trafficking , sexual assault , Statehouse , Image , Web Only
Rep. Willem Jewett (D-Ripton), the former House majority leader, approached House Speaker Shap Smith (D-Morristown) at the dais shortly before the vote — and then disappeared from the chamber before the roll was called.
"Did I?" Jewett said Thursday when asked about his absence. "I heard the debate."
So why didn't he cast a vote on an amendment that would prevent leadership PACs from accepting campaign contributions from lobbyists until after the two-year biennium concludes?
"I didn't think it was a complete thought," he said of the bill. "Look, money finds the path of least resistance, and if anyone believes that that's going to somehow undo things, they're sorely mistaken. So you can pat yourself on your back if you want, but... I didn't think it was fully vetted. So that's what I chose to do."
"You left the chamber so you didn't have to vote?" Seven Days asked.
"I did. Yes," Jewett said.
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Wednesday, May 6, 2015
By a margin of 137 to 1, the House voted Wednesday to ban so-called "leadership PACs" from accepting donations from registered lobbyists and those who employ them until the end of the two-year biennium.
If approved by the Senate, the amendment to a broader lobbyist disclosure bill would close a loophole Democrats and Republicans alike have exploited for years: While individual legislators are currently barred from taking lobbyist cash during the session, the PACs that support their campaigns frequently accept such contributions.
Rep. Kurt Wright (R-Burlington), who cosponsored the amendment with Rep. Patti Komline (R-Dorset), reminded his colleagues during a floor debate that many of them had previously expressed "unease" over the practice.
"We all believe that it is wrong, that it does create a bad perception, at the very least — that we ought to ban this practice," Wright said.
Tags: Kurt Wright , Patti Komline , Shap Smith , Don Turner , lobbyist , fundraising , Image , Web Only