As it became clear Monday night that the Burlington City Council would vote not to make permanent the appointment of acting Police Chief Jon Murad, Councilor Joan Shannon, D-South District, warned her colleagues about the potential impact of their “no” votes.
“If we are still at some kind of stalemate after tonight, it’s really in the hands of the voters to advise from this point,” Shannon said.
Moments later, the council’s six Progressives voted against Murad’s appointment, counterbalancing the six Democrats and independents who backed the acting chief. In doing so, they blocked Murad’s confirmation, and — according to Shannon and other like-minded Burlingtonians — hurt their party’s chances of maintaining a plurality on the council.
Despite Monday night’s vote, Democratic Mayor Miro Weinberger has signaled plans to again nominate Murad once the city’s March 1 election refreshes the roster of the 12-member council.
In other words, though he is not one of the 15 candidates running for City Council, Murad’s name is all but etched onto the ballot.
“The people of Burlington … have spoken and made clear their overwhelming support for Chief Murad,” Weinberger said in a statement. “It is my sincere hope that at some point soon a majority of the Council joins us in this critical work.”
Next month, voters will elect eight of the council’s 12 seats (all those that represent wards and not districts). The Progressives are almost guaranteed one of those in an uncontested race, though they face competition to keep three others.
In Ward 1, Progressive Zoraya Hightower faces a challenge from Democratic newcomer Rob Gutman. In Ward 3, Progressive Joe Magee and Republican Christopher-Aaron Felker are squaring off for the second time in seven months. And with Progressive Jane Stromberg bowing out of a chance for reelection in Ward 8, Progressive Ali House, a University of Vermont senior, will go head-to-head with her classmate, Democrat Hannah King.
The caucus won’t face any opponents on the ballot in Ward 2, where Progressive Max Tracy, the council’s president, has also opted not to run again. That paves the way for former Councilor Gene Bergman to retake the seat he first held decades ago and keep it in Progressive hands.
In all those races, Progressives may have a hard time explaining to voters why they voted against Murad, their opponents say.
Gutman, the Ward 1 Democratic candidate, said he was deeply disappointed by the Progressives’ move Monday night but not surprised.
“The dysfunction of our City Council is preventing necessary progress on public safety,” Gutman said in a statement. “If elected, I pledge to support the hiring of a qualified Police Chief as soon as possible so we can get to work on rebuilding a Police Department that is stable, properly resourced, and positioned to support the full range of public safety needs facing our diverse community.”
While Hightower joined her caucus in opposing Murad’s nomination, she told councilors Monday night her vote was almost a yes.
Hightower said she had two problems with the nomination. Firstly, she felt Murad had flaws as a candidate. She noted allegations that the acting chief was disrespectful to members of the city’s Police Commission and said he was reluctant to consider racial disparities in the department’s enforcement statistics as indicative of racial bias.
Secondly, she said the process of finding a permanent police chief had been “botched.”
Had just one or the other been the case, Hightower said, she would have looked past that and supported Murad. But since both were true in her estimation, she voted no.
Hightower also said she and Councilor Karen Paul, D-Ward 6, tried to forge a deal with Weinberger to keep Murad in charge of the department while adding measures to assess how it handled racial disparities, but both councilors said the compromise fell through.
Still, Gutman and other Democrats have grievances with Hightower that extend further than the Murad nomination. The Ward 1 incumbent championed a 2020 resolution that reduced the number of police officers Burlington could hire by 30%. While Hightower later voted to raise that number, Gutman said the initial move meant longstanding harm to the city’s public safety.
In Ward 3, Felker has adopted an even stronger rebuke of Progressives than Gutman, tweeting out an open letter sent by the Burlington police union to the council’s largest caucus.
“The well trained and experienced police officers of the Burlington Police Department are leaving in droves because of Progressive Councilor’s continued petulant, politics and abject-refusal (sic) to seek common ground and move past their failed public safety experiment,” the letter read.
“Now is the time to support council candidates who will support and restore @OneNorthAvenue,” Felker said in his tweet.
Magee, Felker’s opponent, said they voted against Murad’s nomination because the chief objects to citizens issuing disciplinary decisions in cases of police misconduct. Magee has advocated for the practice.
Progressives also are set to duke it out for the Ward 8 seat. In a press release issued in response to questions, King, the Democratic opponent, did not commit to voting for Murad. She said she wanted to have a conversation with Murad and UVM police before sharing a stance.
House, the Progressive nominee for Ward 8, said she opposed Murad becoming the city’s permanent police chief.
“We really need a chief who’s going to lean into reform within the department,” House, who is also employed as a social worker at the nonprofit Lund Family Center, told VTDigger.
And while the Progressives do not hold Ward 7, its incumbent — independent Ali Dieng — previously signaled he would not confirm Murad before reversing course and supporting him the day of the vote.
Independent Aleczander Stith, who is challenging Dieng and was endorsed in Democratic and Republican caucuses, criticized the former mayoral candidate’s shift in stance, saying his opponent “waffled back and forth.”
“He’s been really inconsistent in his voting record,” said Stith, an engineer who urged councilors to approve Murad’s appointment. “There’s no logical reasoning to that pattern, and I think that’s very frustrating for voters.”
Dieng, however, said there was a reason for the change. He had heard from members of the city’s Police Commission on Dec. 20 that Murad had been disrespectful to them, Dieng said, and as a result, signed on to a Progressive-led effort to expand the police chief search.
Yet in subsequent meetings with Murad on Dec. 28 and Jan. 29, Dieng changed his mind about the acting chief and eventually voted to confirm him, cutting against what he told Seven Days on Jan. 27.
“We talked extensively about these allegations, and he convinced me that he is open to having a better working relationship with the police commissioners,” Dieng told VTDigger.
The third Ward 7 candidate, Progressive-endorsed independent Olivia Taylor, lamented the politicized nature of the police chief search. She called for an “apolitical third party” to select the next permanent police chief instead of the mayor.
“If an apolitical third party decided that Murad was the correct pick, then I would support that,” Taylor said.
Clarification: This headline has been clarified.
