[F]ranklin County Republicans put forward three names for Gov. Phil Scott to consider in appointing someone to the Senate seat Dustin Degree vacated earlier this year.
Randy Brock, a former holder of the seat, is one of those recommended. The other two are political neophytes with military backgrounds.
Rep. Brian Savage, R-Swanton, said in a news release that the Franklin Senatorial District Committee, which he chairs, had forwarded the names. Degree recently took a job in the Scott administration.
Brock ran unsuccessfully for lieutenant governor in 2016 and has had a long career in Vermont politics. The Swanton resident served one term as state auditor from 2005 to 2007 and served in the Senate from 2009 to 2013. He works in finance and is a former executive vice president for risk oversight with Fidelity Investments.
The two other potential nominees the district committee offered are Daniel Pipes, of Fairfield, and Stephen Trehan, of St. Albans Town.
Pipes will retire as a colonel in the Vermont National Guard after more than three decades of service. An infantry officer, Pipes completed two Afghan deployments and one deployment to Iraq. In Iraq he worked for the U.S. Embassy, primarily on security sector reform. Pipes also went on 28 missions to Macedonia and eight to Senegal, according to the news release from Savage.
Trehan is a retired special agent from the Department of Homeland Security’s Immigration and Customs Enforcement division. Before that he was a special agent for the U.S. Air Force Office of Special Investigations, according to the release.
Trehan is a justice of the peace and serves as vice chair of the Franklin County GOP.
“I am very proud of the nomination of these three highly qualified individuals, that I have forwarded to the governor’s office as soon as I got home from the meeting …,” Savage said in a statement.
Savage said he hopes Scott will make his selection before the Legislature returns in January, so Franklin County can benefit from full representation.
A Scott spokeswoman did not immediately respond to an inquiry as to the governor’s timeline for making the appointment.
