[S]en. Dustin Degree, R-Franklin County, is resigning his seat to take a job with Gov. Phil Scott’s administration.
Degree will assume the title of special assistant to the governor and executive director of workforce expansion. The appointment will make Degree part of a “bipartisan duo” of former lawmakers tasked with coordinating and strengthening “initiatives to expand the size of Vermont’s workforce,” according to a statement by the governor.
The other half of that duo will be Sarah Buxton, a former Democratic state representative from Tumbridge. Buxton, who has worked at the Vermont Department of Labor since March, will remain in that department as the director of workforce policy and performance.
“Growing and strengthening our workforce is the most important goal we have as we work to grow our economy, make Vermont more affordable and protect the most vulnerable. Increasing the size of our workforce is central to our ability to make investments in the priorities of our state,” Scott said in a statement.
Degree will start in his new role next week, and Buxton will begin immediately.
Scott will appoint the replacement for Degree’s Senate seat. Republicans will have to select a new minority leader, a position Degree took on last year after the ouster of Sen. Joe Benning, R-Caledonia.
Possible replacements for Degree’s seat include Rep. Corey Parent, R-St. Albans, and former State Auditor Randy Brock, who ran an unsuccessful campaign for lieutenant governor last year and previously served as state senator.
Degree said he had heard those names and others in the private sector as well.
The Franklin County Republican Committee will make a recommendation to Scott, and while Degree is a member of that committee, he said he has not personally recommended anyone to the governor.
Degree said leaving the Senate is “bitter sweet,” adding that representing Franklin County in the Legislature was “the privilege of my life.” When the governor approached him about the job a week ago, he said it was too good an opportunity to miss.
“I’m 32, I’ve got the energy, I’ve got experience on the fifth floor,” Degree said, referring to the governor’s offices in the Pavilion building in Montpelier. “To have the opportunity to work on this problem and help a governor who I believe in wholeheartedly, it’s something I just couldn’t pass up.”
Degree said this job will give him the chance “to do more, not less” for his former constituents, because it’s a year-round gig, with no adjournment as there is with the legislative session.
That’s not to suggest Degree won’t be in the statehouse come January. He said he will be helping to advance Scott’s workforce development agenda under the golden dome, looking to leverage the relationships he’s built with other lawmakers.
