[T]he state’s top Republican told the media Monday that Sen. Norm McAllister would resign within 24 hours, but the 63-year-old dairy farmer who has been accused of sexually assaulting two women has not stepped down.
Lt. Gov. Phil Scott said he has not called to urge McAllister, R-Franklin, to resign. Instead, he has relied on a colleague to intervene. Scott said he hoped that his media statements would have given the state senator the impetus he needed to make an announcement. The onus, Scott said, is on McAllister to call him.
“He has my number, and I have not heard from him since this came to light,” Scott said in an interview Wednesday.
Scott said he’s not sure that calling McAllister directly will change the outcome. Beyond waiting for the state senator to make a decision, he said, there is very little he can do. “I don’t think any amount of talk will change his mind,” Scott said.
“I still believe it is in the best interest of everyone involved, including his constituents, for him to step down, but that’s a decision he will have to make,” Scott said.
McAllister was arrested at the Statehouse last week and pleaded not guilty Friday to three counts of felony sexual assault and three counts of a prohibited act, a misdemeanor.
Leading Democrats, including Gov. Peter Shumlin, issued statements calling for McAllister’s resignation Monday afternoon. Scott said at the time that he expected McAllister to resign “within 24 hours.”
The lingering question about whether McAllister will stay on as a member of the Senate in the aftermath of the scandal, Scott says, has “a negative effect on the public trust.”
“We need to begin rebuilding,” Scott said.
The allegations, which include an accusation that the state senator sexually assaulted his 20-year-old Statehouse intern, has made the Senate’s intense, end-of-session work doubly difficult.
Lawmakers are stunned by the idea that one of their colleagues is alleged to have committed sexual assault, and that the lawmakers who lived with McAllister in Montpelier — Sen. Kevin Mullin, R-Rutland, and Rep. Tim Corcoran, D-Bennington — did not raise questions about the state senator’s relationship with the intern. McAllister allegedly shared a bedroom with the young woman, according to Vermont Public Radio. Federal investigators interviewed Mullin and Corcoran on Monday night, the Burlington Free Press reported.
Sen. Peg Flory, R-Rutland, who has been acting as an intermediary, says McAllister has been talking with his three children and is reconsidering whether to resign. She blames herself for the confusion over the resignation announcement.
“He indicated that he’d have to devote so much time defending the accusation that he was going to have to step down,” Flory said. “I relayed that to Phil early Monday morning. We had expected he was going to be doing that.”
McAllister’s reconsideration of the question keeps the issue up front at the Statehouse, she said.
It’s hard, she said, that the wheels of justice move so slowly, “while anything to deal with sex” captures the attention of the media and the public immediately.
“If the allegations are false or tainted, then Norm is going through hell,” Flory said. “If they are true, the victims are going through hell. Only Norm knows what actually did or didn’t happen and for him to sort through this has to be really difficult. I know how much turmoil we’re going through.”
Rep. Brian Savage, R-Swanton, who has also called for McAllister’s resignation, said Wednesday that he was surprised Scott hasn’t called the state senator.
The fallout from the charges have already affected McAllister, a Franklin County goat farmer. VPR first reported, and VTDigger confirmed, that McAllister’s application for a grant from the state Working Lands Enterprise Initiative has been denied.
Agriculture Secretary Chuck Ross explained the decision in a statement Wednesday.
“Mr. McAllister was selected to receive a Working Lands grant but no grant agreement had been issued because he did not fulfill several pre-award requirements of the grant, including submitting his W-9, a certificate of insurance, and revised goals and performance measures, and securing a business advisory consultant,” Ross said in the statement. “These factors, and the recent events surrounding Mr. McAllister, have led me to deem this a high risk application. As the appointing authority, I have determined we will not enter into a grant agreement with Mr. McAllister.”
VTDigger’s Tom Brown contributed to this report.
