[F]ormer Vermont auditor and state Sen. Ed Flanagan, the country’s first openly gay elected state official, died Friday morning. He was 66.
According to friend and current House member Mary Sullivan, Flanagan died surrounded by family. He had been living at a nursing facility in New Hampshire for the past several years.
Sullivan said the family plans a memorial service. He is survived by his longtime partner, Isaac Lustgarten.
Flanagan, a Democrat, served as state auditor from 1993 to 2001 and earned the nickname “Bulldog” for his aggressive style. He announced he was gay before the 1996 election.
In 2000, Flanagan ran for U.S. Senate but lost the general election to Republican incumbent James Jeffords. In 2001, Jeffords left the Republican Party to become an independent and threw the balance of the Senate to the Democrats.
Flanagan, a lawyer, served as a state senator from Chittenden County from 2005 to 2011, re-elected twice after the accident despite questions about his competency. In 2006, Flanagan had a less serious accident while entering I-89 in South Burlington. He was later accused of publicly exposing himself at the Burlington YMCA; no charges were filed, and the incident was blamed on the effects of his brain injury.
Former fellow state Sen. Doug Racine said Flanagan was “incredibly bright and used his legal skills to help those who are too often marginalized or left behind. I will remember his smile, his humor, his caring and his compassion.”
Secretary of State Jim Condos also served with Flanagan in the Senate from 2005 to 2009.
“Ed was vigilant, and diligent when working on an issue he supported,” Condos said. “As auditor, he used his watchdog attitude well — sometimes really making administration folks upset with his approach. Ed was a good man and he really cared about people — working to improve people’s lives.”
Terje Anderson, the former AIDS program chief for the Vermont Department of Health, said, “Ed was a groundbreaking figure in Vermont and deserves to be remembered and honored for those things. He was also a friend and a great guy.”
Former state Rep. Steve Howard recalled Flanagan as a “brilliant, funny fighter” who turned the auditor’s office “into nothing we’ve seen before” because of his aggressive style and headline-grabbing investigations.
Howard announced he was gay the year after Flanagan did and said he turned to his mentor for help.
“When I needed him the most, when I was a struggling closeted guy, I turned to Ed for guidance and advice, and he stood by me and said everything is going to be OK,” said Howard, executive director of the Vermont State Employees’ Association.
