Updated at 6:49 p.m.
MONTPELIER — Rep. Bob Hooper, D-Burlington, said Friday afternoon he plans to resign from the House — hours after it was announced he had stepped down from his committee assignment “in response to a violation” of the chamber’s sexual harassment rules, according to a memo from House Speaker Jill Krowinski.
Hooper’s resignation from the Government Operations and Military Affairs Commitee came “after a thorough and diligent investigation by the House Sexual Harassment Prevention Panel,” Krowinski, who’s also a Democrat from Burlington, wrote. She sent the memo to all House members early Friday morning, and a copy was reviewed by VTDigger.
Then on Friday afternoon, Krowinski and many of Hooper’s other Democratic colleagues sent out a public letter calling on Hooper to resign his House seat, too. In an interview about an hour later, he said he’d already informed the speaker’s office he plans to submit his resignation from the Legislature on Monday.
“The House Democratic caucus is committed to providing a professional work environment and has zero tolerance for sexual harassment, discrimination, or any hostile behavior,” the caucus’s letter read. “We call on Representative Robert Hooper to resign from the legislature immediately.”
Hooper has served in the House since 2019. He is one of two representatives from the Chittenden-18 district, which spans Burlington’s New North End.
The speaker’s memo earlier in the day commended an “impacted member” of the House who filed a complaint to the harassment prevention panel, saying, “it was an extraordinarily courageous action to come forward and I’m asking that you give them privacy at this time.” It did not identify the legislator.
The memo also did not detail any specifics about the investigation or its findings. Krowinski wrote that a “confidential stipulation agreement” had been reached after the panel’s inquiry into Hooper.
A Vermont Public story on Friday, however, described the contents of that agreement. It referred to two inquiries into Hooper’s conduct. The most recent investigation started in 2025 after Hooper allegedly sent an edited photograph of someone who later filed a complaint against him to other committee members — without having the complainant’s consent. Hooper also “made inappropriate remarks” in the committee room, according to Vermont Public.
The outlet also reported, citing the harassment prevention panel’s agreement, that a report the panel commissioned about Hooper found “instances of alleged similar conduct” by Hooper that didn’t result in formal action but still “demonstrate a pattern of conduct.” The panel received one complaint about him in 2022, Vermont Public reported.
Hooper acknowledged in an interview Friday afternoon that he acted inappropriately but said he did not agree with the panel’s ultimate conclusion.
“Whether it falls clearly under the guise of sexual harassment, I think, was a reach. So I agree — and I had readily admitted — I had done something,” he said, however, “I never personally considered it to be sexual harassment in any way.”
Rep. Matt Birong, D-Vergennes, who chairs the Government Operations Committee, declined to comment on the investigation into Hooper on Friday and referred questions to Krowinski’s office.
