Monday, Jeremy Dodge was supposed to move out of the home his family owned for decades.
That was the agreement he signed with his neighbor, Gov. Peter Shumlin, who bought the home for less than half of its assessed value. But after the land deal went sour in May, and the ex-convict and high school dropout told the media he didn’t know what he was doing at the time of the sale, the governor agreed to sell the property back to Dodge and allow him to remain on the property.
To negotiate a return of the property, Shumlin hired former Democratic Attorney General M. Jerome Diamond. Weeks later, the Republican-connected Brady Toensing began representing Dodge.
Now, it appears, Dodge has one month left on the property to reach a deal with the governor.
“We agreed to put the deadline off from July 15 to August 15,” Diamond said. “I’m hopeful that we’ll settle soon. They’ve been professional. They’ve been cordial … The governor has made a number of proposals, and they’ve made some themselves, and we’re expecting to hear back from them fairly soon, maybe the middle of this week.”
Toensing declined to comment on the private negotiations, and Dodge said the matter is now in the hands of the lawyers. He said he has no hard feelings toward the governor; he just wants to resolve the land dispute.
“I don’t have anything bad to say about him,” Dodge said. “I just want my land back.”
