Senate Republicans made a last-ditch appeal Tuesday for Sen. Norman McAllister to resign, but the Franklin County lawmaker vowed to fight to keep his seat, one day ahead of a full Senate vote where it appears there are enough votes to suspend him.
McAllister, who has been charged with sexual assault, including allegations he repeatedly raped a young woman who served as his Statehouse intern, continued to deny he had done anything wrong — criminally, morally or ethically.
McAllister sat alongside his other 29 Senate colleagues as they scheduled a Wednesday afternoon vote on whether to suspend him. The two-term senator has already been stripped of his committee assignments. If suspended, he would likely continue to receive his legislative salary.
“I don’t know what tomorrow will bring,” McAllister told reporters in the Statehouse cafeteria. “It’s never happened. Nobody will tell you what’s going to happen, I don’t believe.”
McAllister maintained “everybody’s been cordial,” but a few minutes later admitted that it was awkward being at the Statehouse when some didn’t want him there.
“It’s always uncomfortable going someplace where somebody doesn’t want you,” he said.
Republicans urge McAllister to resign
Tuesday morning at the Statehouse began with an impromptu caucus before the Senate convened, with seven Republicans meeting with McAllister in the Senate Economic Development committee room to discuss the impending Wednesday suspension vote. Sen. Bill Doyle was the only Republican who did not attend at least part of the meeting.
Sen. Kevin Mullin, the Economic Development Committee chair, sat at one end of the table. McAllister, composed, was at the other end.
It was the first time the Republicans had met since May and the purpose of the get-together, according to Sen. Joe Benning, R-Caledonia, was to air “very strong differences of opinion” among the Republicans about McAllister.
The group did not take a formal position on the suspension, but one senator strongly opposed the effort to oust McAllister, while his Franklin County seat mate and others implored McAllister to step down before the vote could even occur.
Sen. Dustin Degree, R-Franklin, pleaded with McAllister to “do what you think is right” for his constituents.
The suspension vote, Degree said, “is probably the hardest thing any of us had to do.”
“It in some ways usurps the will of the 48,000 people that I represent, that Norm represents,” Degree said. “I think, Norm, you just gotta think about going forward. Is this a fight worth fighting? Even if you win, you might lose.
“I don’t have any advice for you,” Degree continued. “Think about why you ran the last time and think about the folks back home. There are folks who support you, but you know there are folks who don’t. You know who those people are. You represent them, too, so do what you think is right. That would be the only advice I have.”
Later in the cafeteria, McAllister said he thought he had the support of his constituents.
“From the people who have called, sent cards, stopped down the street, pulled into my dooryard, yeah, those people, I feel I have the support from,” he said.
At the meeting of Republicans, Sen. Peg Flory, R-Rutland, who is McAllister’s biggest supporter in the Senate, opposed efforts to suspend him. Flory questioned how the Senate could move ahead with the suspension without a floor discussion first about the allegations against McAllister. According to Senate rules, the vote will be a simple yes or no.
Flory, however, said a suspension without cause would open “a dangerous precedent.”
Flory said she didn’t “know why we are resorting to this now.”
“Folks keep saying if we don’t expel or suspend, it’s doing nothing,” Flory said. “I don’t think that’s correct. What I think it’s doing is recognizing there is a process and courts are the correct place to have that process.”
McAllister Defends Himself
After each of the senators said their piece, McAllister was invited to respond.
In measured tones, he told his colleagues he would not resign, that he had been unfairly portrayed by the media, and that it was “discouraging” to hear his colleagues encourage him to step down and leave the building.
“I can tell you, the easiest thing I could have done was to resign early. That would have been the easiest out for me,” McAllister said. “If you don’t think this was a hard decision then you’re thinking exactly wrong.”
McAllister took particular aim at The St. Albans Messenger, his hometown newspaper, for spreading misinformation about the sexual assault allegations.
“I have to face people in my county with those lies being put out there, and that is probably the toughest thing I’ve ever had to deal with,” McAllister said. “My grandkids live in the county. They’re in high school, they know what’s going on, they also know me. I feel I would be betraying them if i took the easy route.
“I’ve never taken the easy route, it’d be a lot easier if I would it let you guys all off the hook, yeah, it would,” McAllister said. “I’m sorry I’m putting you on the hook. I truly am. I never intended for any of you to have to go through this.
“But you have to know on the other side what it does to me and that you can’t even imagine,” he said.
He said if his colleagues vote to suspend him, “you would be finding me guilty of something… other than disrupting the Senate.”
McAllister’s criminal case in Franklin County is pending. A trial is not expected before March at the earliest. In addition to the charges of raping his intern, McAllister is also accused of being part of a sex-for-rent scheme. He had pleaded innocent to all charges.
McAllister said senators should not conflate the criminal case and his service as a senator.
“If this body says we’re going to kick you out, which is basically what you’re saying, that’s your choice,” he said. “You feel I have done something wrong. I have no control over the media and the other things that go on, but I have never done anything wrong in this body. I was accused of something, but that will be taken care of. I have not done anything wrong to be treated this way.
“And if you do this, if this body does this, it’s on them, it’s on you, not on me,” McAllister continued. “I believe the truth is going to come out, and I’m not going to be found guilty of anything, and what have you done to vote to suspend me is you’ve voted to make your life easier. It’s about justice. It’s about fairness.”
After McAllister spoke, there was a pause as senators gathered their thoughts, then Flory said: “I need a cigarette after that.”
In the cafeteria later, McAllister reiterated his innocence.
“I have maintained my innocence from the day one and I still do. I did nothing illegal and I will go by how the courts go,” he said.
Asked if he had done anything immoral, McAllister said: “I don’t think so.”
The 64-year-old senator has said the sex was consensual and that his alleged victim was at least 16 years old when it began. The age of consent in Vermont is 16.
Did you do anything unethical, the senator was asked.
“Unethical? No. If I’d did, I would have resigned,” he said.
Meanwhile, some of McAllister’s senate colleagues, from all three political parties also weighed in.
Sen. David Zuckerman, P/D-Chittenden, said he would vote in favor of suspension.
“I don’t think there is a reason for me to speak on the floor, I think the issue is very clear that when you have a workplace environment where there is a power structure at play, and there’s allegations that that power structure has been violated, it’s pretty clear you have to suspend until that is resolved,” said Zuckerman, who is running for lieutenant governor.
Sen. Mark MacDonald, D-Orange, said he did not favor suspension, that it would deny his constituents full representation, but like others thought McAllister should resign.
“He’s elected by the people of Franklin County, he has an issue that is going to be dealt
with in the courts,” MacDonald said. “I don’t think that’s an appropriate move, for us to be denying representation to citizens that have elected folks. Sen. McAllister can deal with that, and vacate the position for someone else to be appointed.”
Sen Diane Snelling, R-Chittenden, said she also encouraged McAllister to step down.
“I have said that to him directly, myself, and that is what I believe. As soon as we are forced to make a vote of any kind, the situation changes,” she said. “The resolution was presented to suspend him, and at this point that’s what I will vote for.”
“I think Franklin County deserves true representation,” she said. “On the other hand, there is no way to have predicted this, there’s no process in the Senate to deal with that. That’s why I’m saying the standard thing would be he should resign. Once he resigns there is a process to replace him and fully represent his district.”
“It may fade” by next week, she said, “but it’s not going to go away.”
Republican Phil Scott, the presiding officer of the Senate and candidate for governor, who favors suspension but not expulsion, said: “I certainly have a lot of trepidation, particularly with this first week. We are in unchartered territory, and it will be a difficult week to go through.”
“I am certainly hopeful that this will be taken care of tomorrow,” he said.
According to several senators, there are enough votes to support suspension. One Senate leader predicted at least 19 senators would vote in favor.
Senate Secretary John Bloomer said if McAllister is suspended, he would be prohibited from sitting on the Senate floor, but would be entitled to stay in the Statehouse.
“We couldn’t kick him out of the building, he’s a citizen,” Bloomer said. Any ban on him entering the building would have to be pursued in the courts. “If you sit in the Senate gallery, and you don’t drink, eat, use your electronics, you are entitled to sit there. As long as you don’t talk.”
Bloomer said he expects McAllister will leave his Senate seat peacefully if suspended.
“I don’t expect him to go and make the Capitol Police pull him off.”
