[A]n internal struggle among Republican state senators — divided whether their collegue Sen. Norm McAllister should step down now — could leave deep personal scars that impact the legislative session.
That’s the view of the senate’s Republican leader, who is spearheading the effort to oust McAllister, the Franklin County Republican accused of sexually assaulting three women.
“I am worried because the conflict will leave some longstanding hard feelings and that bothers me,” said Senate Minority Leader Joe Benning, who represents Caledonia County. “I think eventually the Senate will come together, but I’m quite sure there will be some hard feelings that will take a long time to evaporate.”
McAllister, 64, was arrested at the Statehouse in May and was charged with three counts of felony sexual assault against two women, including an intern. McAllister allegedly assaulted the women close to 100 times, according to court documents.
Benning said distrust in the Republican caucus started swirling after an internal email chain was leaked to Seven Days that revealed a schism over what action to take against McAllister. Benning has called on McAllister to step down by the beginning of the legislative session, which McAllister has refused to do.
There are nine Republicans in the 30-member Senate, including McAllister.
The emails about what to do if McAllister’s case is unresolved in January included messages from Rutland Republican Senator Peg Flory, who said she “firmly opposed” ousting McAllister, saying he should be presumed innocent.
“I don’t know who leaked that material, but that automatically results in distrust and finger pointing in the caucus,” Benning said.
Benning said his rationale to expel McAllister was not based on the senator’s guilt or innocence. He instead claimed that the allegations themselves have made it impossible for the Senate to operate normally, and that McAllister will be unable to effectively represent his constituents.
“Should he return to the building, there will be people who will line up with him as friends of his and those will not work with him,” Benning said. “There will be dysfunction in the Senate.”
Sen. Flory disagreed: “Will it be a media circus? Sure. I expect the media will be all over it. I’m perfectly capable of doing my business in the midst of a media circus.”
Flory said “more than one” senator agrees “if Norm decides to stay and believes he can deal with the workload, I’m not about to question that.”
How expulsion would work
John Bloomer, the Secretary of the Senate, said the Senate rules allow for the expulsion of a senator if he is found to not meet the qualifications of service. A simple majority vote is required for the expulsion, he said.
“It has to be done in the Legislature, it has to be done while in session, it has to be in the Senate,” Bloomer said.
Bloomer says the Vermont Senate has never expelled a member of the body before. He is researching expulsions in other state legislatures, including Michigan, where a female representative was removed in September following a bizarre affair with another state leader.
Bloomer said multiple resolutions could be introduced in January giving different reasons for McAllister to be expelled. He said any expulsion resolution must first be sent to the Senate Rules or Senate Judiciary committee, before the measure would go to the Senate floor.
The complex process means the first few weeks of the legislative session could be consumed by the McAllister resolution, according to Benning and Bloomer.
“You have to give them some type of due process. It’s not the same as criminal due process but you can’t do it in a Star Chamber,” Bloomer said. “There needs to be an opportunity for evidence or testimony.”
McAllister did not return calls seeking comment, but he told Seven Days earlier this month that he was innocent, the sex with the women who accuse him of assault was consensual and he would not resign his seat.
“What the hell did I do to deserve this?” he told the Burlington weekly newspaper.
Gov. Peter Shumlin reiterated Thursday the position of most Democrats that McAllister should resign by January or face expulsion by the Senate.
“He is not helping Franklin County, he is not helping Vermont, and he is not helping himself by continuing to serve when these allegations have not been resolved,” Shumlin said.
Franklin County Republican Sen. Dustin Degree, McAllister’s counterpart and colleague, said constituents have mixed opinions about McAllister’s future.
“It’s a topic of conversation for some people, and there are certainly folks who are vehement on both sides,” Degree said. “I think a majority of folks are reserving judgement and seeing how the process plays out.”
Degree said McAllister had a good reputation with voters before the allegations surfaced. Now, the county is not fully represented, he said. In May, senate leaders including Republican Lt. Gov. Phil Scott stripped McAllister of his seats on the Senate Agriculture and Institutions committees.
Degree disagreed with that decision.
“I have to ensure that we are represented to the fullest degree that we can and should be,” Degree said. “We deserve two members to sit on committees.”
If McAllister is removed from the Senate, Shumlin will appoint a senator to fill the post until the election in November. Shumlin would receive recommendations from the Franklin County Republican Party on who to fill the seat, but may pick who he wants.
While the McAllister proceedings may impact the start of the session, leaders from both parties agree that calling a special legislative session before January to deal with McAllister would waste taxpayer dollars.
“I think our normal business will be interrupted for a while,” Benning said with a sigh.
Correction: The charges against McAllister were unclear in an earlier version of this story.
