Fresh off one of its most successful legislative campaign seasons in years, the leadership of the state Republican Committee is losing some of its old guard.
Three committee leaders have stepped down since the November election, including Mark Snelling, who announced Saturday that he was leaving his role as party treasurer.
The changes comes after the committee elected a new executive director, Jeff Bartley, this month in a process some say moved too quickly.
Bartley was chosen in a last-minute election announced slightly more than 24 hours before the Dec. 1 meeting. Insiders say the decision was rushed to leave no time for other candidates to come forward or for a search process to take place. Bartley was confirmed by a 6-4 vote of executive committee members.
Snelling, 64, said in an interview Monday that he stepped down because Bartley’s election comes with changes in the treasurer’s duties and he thought it best to let a fresh face learn the new procedures.
“It’s a changing of the guards, if you will,” Snelling said. During his time as treasurer, the party’s budget rose from a $50,000 deficit to a $50,000 surplus, Snelling said, adding that he does not take credit for that improvement.
Snelling, son of former Gov. Richard Snelling, was one of four people who voted against Bartley’s appointment, along with Wendy Wilton, Randy Brock and Kevin Beal.
Assistant Treasurer Steve Webster, 71, and Secretary Jackie Barnett, 70, on Monday said they left the committee because they were overextended. Their resignations were accepted at the meeting in which Bartley was elected.
The party has not had an executive director for three years. It elected Bartley on Monday, Dec. 1, in a vote that was warned at 3:42 p.m. the previous day in an email to executive committee members.
Wilton, the Rutland City treasurer and an unsuccessful candidate for state treasurer in 2012, said she does not believe Bartley has the experience needed for the job, or the ability to communicate easily with the public and the media. The split vote will, hopefully, give him a desire to prove himself capable, she said.
“My concerns were that he does not have the depth of experience or the skill set that I would typically classify for that job,” she said.
Outgoing officers Webster and Barnett said they supported Bartley because he was Sunderland’s pick. Barnett, who said she made the motion to elect Bartley, said he did a good job during the election cycle.
“Certainly no complaints,” she said. “My personal feeling is the chair (David Sunderland) should have whomever they want working for them.”
Webster also said Bartley did well despite a few hiccups at the beginning with a new online donation system.
“We need youth in our party,” he said. “This is David’s choice, and I’ve been supportive of David.”
The party elected outgoing Barre Town Rep. Tom Koch as assistant treasurer and plans to elect a treasurer at its next meeting. It chose Katheryn Webb Laferriere secretary.
Bartley, 29, who will be paid a $50,000 annual salary, serves at the pleasure of the party chairman.
Bartley said his goals in the job are to build party infrastructure, including voter and donor databases to prepare to make more gains in 2016. Bartley said he has not had any conversations yet about who might run for governor as a Republican in 2016.
He pointed out that this year’s Republican candidate, Scott Milne, has technically not lost yet. The Legislature in January will choose the next governor because neither Milne nor incumbent Gov. Peter Shumlin won more than 50 percent of the votes.
Asked whether the party is gearing up for Lt. Gov. Phil Scott to run for governor in 2016, Bartley said there are many possible candidates.
“Any conversation for any higher office would include Phil Scott, especially for governor,” Bartley said.
Republicans gained eight seats in the Vermont House and two in the Senate this fall. They now trail Democrats 85-53 in the House.
Bartley has had several publicity backfires during his career in Vermont politics.
In a Nov. 24 tweet, Bartley called Dallas Cowboys’ football player Dez Bryant “a monkey.” He quickly apologized and the tweet has been deleted.
Bartley on Monday in a phone interview said he had no idea what the comment meant and regretted it.
“I felt mortified when it was pointed out what it meant,” Bartley said. Bryant is African American.
In 2010, Bartley was a campaign manager for Republican Len Britton, who attempted to oust U.S. Sen. Patrick Leahy.
One week before the election, Bartley sued Britton for $30,000 in alleged unpaid wages. He was the second campaign manager to sue Britton, the Burlington Free Press reported.
Bradford Broyles, a friend and business partner of Britton, said he is disappointed by the way the party handled Bartley’s appointment.
“I think the party would have been better served if there would have been a more thorough search for quality candidates for such an important position,” Broyles said.
Bartley also caught flack in 2006 from the late Seven Days columnist Peter Freyne, who discovered he was behind a bogus website on which he posted anonymous comments to support the candidate he then worked for, U.S. Senate hopeful Richard Tarrant.
The state Republican party has not had an executive director since Michael Bertrand left in February 2012.
Bartley said he did not attend the Dec. 1 meeting when he was chosen because he was rushing his father to the hospital.
“Dave (Sunderland) has a lot of confidence in me. I’m thankful for the support that I do have,” Bartley said.
Bartley in 2014 served as a field director for the Republican party. The Colchester resident worked part-time out of Milne’s South Burlington office, where Milne’s campaign manager said he rarely interacted with him.
“He was perceived as a spy by his own party’s candidate for governor,” said Milne campaign manager Scott Fletcher.
Bartley denied the idea he was a spy. He said he only met Fletcher briefly.
“We worked really closely with them in this campaign,” he said.
