ST. ALBANS — Weeks after two major political parties called on John Grismore to pull out of the race for Franklin County sheriff, the local Republican committee has voted to back another candidate’s write-in bid, though Democrats have yet to do the same.
Grismore, who is under criminal investigation after he was caught on video last month kicking a suspect in police custody, is set to be the only candidate on the general election ballot for sheriff this November.
Though both parties have expressed a desire to support a single write-in candidate to challenge Grismore in what is likely to be an uphill battle, reaching consensus on an alternative is proving difficult.
Franklin County’s Republican committee voted unanimously at a meeting Wednesday evening at St. Albans City Hall to endorse a write-in campaign for Mark Lauer, a lieutenant in the Franklin County Sheriff’s Office who identifies as an independent. But Democrats deadlocked on making the same endorsement in the same location the night before.
Republican county chair Joe Luneau told his members at their meeting that he fears unless a joint endorsement with Democrats comes together soon, any write-in campaign would be doomed to fail, particularly because voters will start getting ballots in the mail soon.
“I wouldn’t say it’s impossible, but that’s a tall order,” Luneau told committee members. “And if we don’t have a candidate in unison, I think it’s impossible.”
Lauer was hired at the Franklin County Sheriff’s Office in 2017 and currently works with the Northwest Unit for Special Investigations, which is responsible for investigating crimes such as sexual assualt and child abuse. He previously worked at the Vermont State Police for 27 years, according to his campaign website.
At their meeting Wednesday, the Republicans also considered endorsing Gale Messier, who ran unsuccessfully to be Franklin County sheriff in 2010. Another potential candidate, Paul Morits, had also put his hat in the ring for a write-in bid, and as of Wednesday evening he had campaign signs up around St. Albans. But he said this week he is withdrawing his bid and urged the local parties to support Lauer.
Luneau insisted that all meeting attendees who were not committee members leave the room for roughly 10 minutes so the committee could deliberate and vote in private. He maintained that, otherwise, members would not be able to speak freely about the candidates. Other attendees included Lauer and the other men who had thrown their hat into the ring for a write-in bid, as well as a reporter.
Luneau said his committee endorsed Lauer because he had stronger qualifications than Messier, and because members felt Lauer had a better chance of garnering an endorsement from the county Democrats, too.
Democrats deadlocked
At the outset of the Franklin County Democrats meeting on Tuesday night, Rep. Mike McCarthy, D-St. Albans, proposed endorsing Lauer. After about an hour of discussion, the committee voted 8-8, with three abstentions, failing to endorse Lauer.
Several members raised questions about posts they said they’d seen on Lauer’s social media, which they characterized as “offensive” and disqualifying for the local party’s endorsement.
County Democrats decided to have two members meet with Lauer Thursday to ask him follow-up questions. The committee had previously spoken with Lauer as a group. Those members plan to report back at a future meeting, at which point the committee may hold another vote.
At Tuesday’s Democratic meeting, member Reier Erickson described seeing a post that “called out peaceful protestors.” In a later interview, member Hadley Priebe — who also spoke at the meeting — pointed to a post on Lauer’s Facebook page from 2018 in which the candidate appears to have written several paragraphs describing “my protest to the protestors.”
Lauer’s post went on: “Instead of bowing down and taking a knee to the problem, why don’t you stand up and work towards correcting the problem?”
Erickson said he would feel unsafe protesting in Franklin County knowing that the sheriff had made a post questioning the utility of speaking out against injustices.
In an interview Wednesday, Lauer said he was aware that some Democratic committee members had raised concerns about his social media use but has been “confused” about the nature of their concerns.
He said he couldn’t recall the post about protesters well enough to comment on it, and hoped meeting with committee members Thursday would clear up any concerns.
Lauer added he would “absolutely” be committed to unbiased policing should he get elected. He pointed to a recent post he made on Facebook showing him buying campaign merchandise from a Black person as evidence that he does not hold racial biases.
“If I’m biased or had a problem, why would I post pictures of that, rather than just buy the product from them and walk away?” Lauer said.
Erickson argued the social media posts he has seen suggest Lauer does not share the values of the Democratic Party. He urged members to consider not endorsing anyone for sheriff at all.
“We could certainly sit back and let the Republicans endorse him and go forward with that,” Erickson said. “But if we endorse him, it means we’re signing on to a liability.”
Other members, including McCarthy, argued that it was more important for the party to back a write-in candidate who was palatable to the GOP — such as Lauer — with a goal of giving county voters a single, write-in alternative to Grismore this fall.
“I don’t think Mark Lauer is the ideal candidate for sheriff,” McCarthy said. “What I’ve heard is, he’s a competent leader and the deputies will support him.”
He added: “John Grismore cannot be the sheriff. He can’t get elected to that office — it would be just disastrous for Franklin County.”
Grismore did not respond to a request for comment Thursday afternoon.
