by Erynn Hazlett
Every morning, I type into my phone “Vermont News.” Yesterday morning, the first several articles appeared with headlines about Governor Scott calling for Orleans County Senator to resign. Woah, I thought to myself, that guy must have done something terrible. I dug into the articles, and it took quite a bit of digging to get to the Politico article with the screen shots and descriptions of the Telegraph chat.
Boy o boy, am I sure glad Orleans County Senator Douglass is not on the long list of people whose comments were so vile and disgusting and hateful that I stopped reading them to stop giving them life. Instead, Senator Douglass’s comment seems to be more appropriately described in the last three letters of the Senators own last name, followed by a synonym to pit.
What surprised me most, was how quickly the list of Republicans grew calling for this first time senator’s resignation. From top, Governor Scott, to bottom, the GOP Executive Committee – more on them later – everyone has called for this young man to commit political suicide before giving him 48 hours to breathe, consult an attorney, and begin processing the shock of becoming a national headline. Not one person – oh wait, one person did, more on him later – encouraged an investigation to determine how these messages were leaked to a leftist propaganda media machine. And no one waited to hear what Senator Douglass’s response was to his… er… “joke.”
This bothers me, not the, at best to be described as a tasteless joke, but the immediate rally cry against this 27-year-old, first time, senator. I’m a 38-year-old Vermonter, in many professional groups, I’m considered young, though my aching body and grey- silver- hair, seem to remind me otherwise. Often, I’m called out at Rutland County GOP meetings for being the youngest person in the room. I’m often asked when I will run for office, and until I announced my current pregnancy, my age came with an expectation that I know everything about social media, I have endless energy for volunteering, and I know exactly what to say and do to attract young Republicans to volunteer and become civically engaged.
Sure, I’ve been serving the public since my early 20’s, first in the Vermont Army National Guard for a dozen years, and through non-profit and volunteer groups for most of my adult life. Sure, I recruited, possibly, the youngest Republican delegate for my towns GOP Committee. Sure, I ran a gubernatorial campaign in 2020 hoping to bring light to the Vermont National Guards rampant sexual assault and harassment culture, which I lost electorally, but won internally when an entire chain of command within the Vermont Army National Guard was removed after the next deployment because of the massive number of empowered Soldiers who filed SHARP and EO complaints against toxic command leadership.
But, here’s why I won’t run anytime soon for office. Six years ago I was wearing a “Feel the Bern” shirt and spending my lunch hours holding pro-choice signs at major street intersections. Then I bought a home. Then I had a child. Then I was thrust into the Vermont Family Court system. Then I found Jesus. Now, I’m remarried, settling into my small Vermont town, a three-time homeowner, a medically retired Guardswoman, and shelling out thousands of dollars a year in addition to my heavily burdensome property tax obligation, to send my son to an ”independent school” so he is protected from the public indoctrination of the woke agenda.
I chair my town’s GOP committee, a committee I started from grassroots effort and immense support from my County and State leaders. I attend Vermont State University and find myself a minority in the classrooms, voicing my sadness and pain at the assassination of Charlie Kirk, while surrounded by students who show the outcome of Vermont’s public school system when they express their joy and relief that Charlie was murdered. Through all of this change, I have made a ton of mistakes. Some big, and some small, but guaranteed, I’ve made mistakes.
So why won’t I run? I’m truly an incredible candidate. But why would I, when young Vermonters like Senator Douglass aren’t allowed to make a mistake? Why would I run when the only person who advocated for time for this situation to unfold, Vermont GOP Chair, Paul Dame, was backhanded by his Executive Committee? Why would I run, when in the midst of the greatest Republican gain of legislative seats in the Nation, led by Chair Paul Dame, Republicans are attempting a coup, right in the middle of the battle? This backhanded betrayal seems to me like Senator Ingalls is more interested in stealing the glory of Paul Dames efforts than steering the ship to victory.
Because what is Senator Ingalls doing so differently right in this Senator Douglass fiasco? Senator Ingalls is following the crowd- he’s following Governor Scott, he’s following the woke crowd, he’s following the hyped up aggressive liberal media that Vermont Republicans have become so used to cowering down to. Just the other day is oped was that he would lead us differently and to prioritize and focus on the future generation of Republicans. His claim to do things differently for the State, is hypocritical, because in the first opportunity Ingalls had to lead Vermont Republicans, he followed the woke crowd and steered us right back towards the projected shame and guilt Democrats and Progressives have been slamming Republicans with for the last two decades.
Let me be clear. We do not live in a State where extreme right Republicans and Christians get to call the shots. The Pro-Life community, in which I now identify with, has to place our efforts in non-profit and religious committees, praying that the Lord will grace more Vermonters with a change of their hearts and minds away from murdering babies, towards saving our children. We know there’s no life politically in the Pro-Life agenda in Vermont- 70% of Vermonters voted for Prop 5, now Article 22. Someday, but not today.
Certainly, there’s no way the people in that Telegram chat who laughs at gas chamber executions would ever be elected in Vermont. It’s not possible. And it’s doesn’t appear this is who Senator Douglass is. Vermonters are hearty, we have compassion and empathy because life here is hard enough. We welcome many. Diversity is plastered all over every State, business, and non-profit mission from the largest to the smallest. There are so many protected classes of citizen in Vermont, when reading the protected classes in the signature line of Vermont State University employee e-mails, you must take two breaths.
Maybe because I served in the military for 12 years, my skin is tougher than most, or I’ve become desensitized to rude jokes because, well, in war, I’ve heard- and said- far too many to remember or count. To me, not knowing Senator Douglass in anyway, I’ve never met him in person or via e-mail, he has terrible taste in jokes. As have I in my younger days. But that aside, he’s brave for serving his community as a State Senator and he’s successful in it- he won at 27 years old! And he’s not just a public servant who serves as an elected official, his career is in one of the most in demand and under supported populations in Vermont- the mental health community. Oh, and he’s an environmental steward- operating a farm… and he serves Meals on Wheels!
Come on people, if there’s a guy who is allowed to make a mistake- it’s this guy! He might be allowed to make a few mistakes along the way, not another tasteless bad joke, but I have room in my head and heart to allow Senator Douglass the chance to let Essex County voters decide if he’s worthy of another term in 2026. As a Republican I, and I imagine he, expect the Vermont GOP to afford Senator Douglass some level of patience and support as he navigates this upsetting event. Afterall, he’s gone up to bat for the Republicans in a State where we are constantly beat down.
And if you want to have an opinion on his wife’s comment, I think we all remember what Senator Bernie Sanders’ wife did to Burlington College. Yet, people still wear their “Feel the Bern” shirts, along with shirts calling for the murder of our President. What happened to my Bernie shirt? Well, with the rising cost of heat in Vermont, I tossed mine into the wood stove several years ago.