Vermont Lt. Gov.-elect John Rodgers has named a recent state House candidate and a longtime activist to serve as his office’s chief of staff and as a top advisor, respectively.
Rodgers this week announced that Elizabeth Brown, who ran unsuccessfully in this year’s Democratic primary to represent the Washington-Chittenden House district, will be his chief of staff. He also said that James Ehlers, himself a former Democratic candidate for governor, would hold a title that Rodgers called “special advisor.”
It’s not clear yet, Rodgers said Friday, whether the office will have enough money to pay Ehlers for that role. Regardless, Rodgers said, Ehlers has offered to do the job as a volunteer. The chief of staff is traditionally the lieutenant governor’s sole staffer.
Rodgers, a Republican, said both Brown and Ehlers played a key role in helping him unseat incumbent Lt. Gov. David Zuckerman, who’s a Progressive/Democrat.
“They really helped pull things together and put us over the top,” Rodgers said in an interview. “So I’m really thrilled that I’m able to keep them both on staff.”
While Rodgers scored the most votes in last week’s election, his win won’t be final without the Legislature’s say in January. That’s because neither Rodgers, nor Zuckerman, scored more than 50% of the vote — triggering a constitutionally-mandated process by which state lawmakers have to elect the new lieutenant governor themselves.
Zuckerman, who fell more than 6,000 votes short, has conceded the race and said he would not seek a recount. But in an interview last week, he nodded at the possibility that the Legislature could overturn the result, and suggested it had good reason to do so.
Both Democratic and Progressive party leaders, however, have told VTDigger that they do not support any effort to reverse a plurality of voters’ decisions to back Rodgers.
Brown is a financial consultant from Waterbury with a background in corporate development, most recently working as head of strategy for a national bank, TIAA Bank.
In this year’s Democratic primary, Brown sought to unseat either incumbent Rep. Tom Stevens or Rep. Theresa Wood, both also from Waterbury. Brown’s campaign raised a historic amount of money by her district’s standards, the Waterbury Roundabout reported.
Like Rodgers, Brown also had GOP Gov. Phil Scott’s backing in her race. And, like Rodgers, her campaign messaging centered on sharp criticism of how the Legislature has handled statewide education funding this year, which — along with spending that local school districts approved — led to a statewide average property tax bill increase of 13.8%.
Ehlers — described in the past as a “provocateur” in Montpelier and staunch clean water advocate — was also a vocal critic of legislative leadership this year.
He and Rodgers were part of a grassroots group that twice rallied at the Statehouse this spring over concerns about the Democratic supermajority and what the group described as overtaxation and attacks on Vermont’s traditions of fishing, hunting and trapping.
In 2018, Ehlers ran unsuccessfully for governor in that year’s Democratic primary. He has also run, unsuccessfully, as an independent for a Chittenden County state House and Senate seat.
Read the story on VTDigger here: Vermont Lt. Gov.-elect John Rodgers brings on staff.