Longtime VT GOP leader and media host Linda Kirker (left) and former Rep. Lee Zeldin will be honored at GOP dinners this week in Chittenden County.

by Guy Page

A prominent national leader and a beloved longtime Vermont GOP lawmaker, leader and volunteer will be honored at Republican dinners this week.

Lee Zeldin, Thursday April 20 – The former New York Congressman and 2022 nominee for governor will be the guest of honor at the Chittenden County GOP dinner 6-9 pm Thursday, April 20 at the Delta Hotel, 1117 Williston Road, South Burlington. 

According to his Wikepedia bio, Zeldin (born January 30, 1980) is also an attorney and an officer in the United States Army Reserve. Zeldin received an Army ROTC commission as a second lieutenant, and served in the United States Army from 2003 to 2007, first in the Military Intelligence Corps. In 2007, he transitioned from active duty to the Army Reserve, where he achieved the rank of lieutenant colonel.

He represented New York’s 1st congressional district (⅔ of Suffolk County) in the U.S. House from 2015 to 2023. Zeldin lost the election to incumbent Governor Kathy Hochul while receiving the highest percentage of the vote for a Republican gubernatorial nominee since 2002 and the highest raw vote total for a Republican gubernatorial nominee since 1970. After his defeat, he considered a campaign for chair of the Republican National Committee in 2023, but decided against it.

Tickets $75 per person, general seating. Order them online at www.ccgopvt.org, or contact janetmetz5@icloud.com.

Honoring Linda Kirker, Saturday April 22 – The Vermont Republican Women’s Coalition will honor Linda Kirker at a dinner at the American Legion Hall #91 on 3650 Roosevelt Ave., Rte. 15 in Colchester, 5-7:30 pm Saturday, April 22.

“Linda is a former state legislator and longtime center right voice in Vermont who has introduced young people to our Constitution and produces a local access show to discuss current events with a center-right focus,” Women’s Coalition leader Wendy Wilton said. “If we only had 10 Linda Kirkers!”

Indeed, Kirker’s resume reflects a life lived on the principles of family, community service, self-reliance and self-improvement, and an abiding love for our country and Constitution.

Some years ago (she won’t say how many!), Linda was a single mother raising a daughter following a painful divorce. She worked fulltime and studied nursing because she wanted a real future, and because she wanted to set an example about what young women can achieve if they set their minds to it. Later happily remarried, she is now a widow and living in Georgia.

For 15 years she worked with the American Red Cross, beginning in 1988. In November 2000, she was elected to the Vermont Legislature as a member from Essex, serving four years on the House Health and Welfare Committee. She has also held GOP leadership positions in Chittenden and Franklin counties.

Since September 2007, she has hosted the weekly ‘Sound-Off’ public affairs program on cable access television in St. Albans. And since 2010, she has served as president of American Conservative Women in Action. 

ACWA’s mission is to preserve our country’s founding documents for future generations through education. ACWA sponsors an annual Constitution Day Celebration in St. Albans, VT, in September. This year’s event is Saturday, September 14. All are welcome. ACWA also hosts an annual Constitution Tea in the spring. 

In particular, Kirker loves to talk to groups of young people, including students, about the Constitution and the need to set goals, get a good education and work hard. She has said many times on ‘Sound Off’ that many children today don’t hear this message often enough in school and at home, and that it’s up to people who passionately believe in the American Dream to tell them their own stories. 

Cash bar and hors d’oeurves begin at 5, dinner at 6 pm, Tickets are $50/person and $85/couple. To RSVP, email Carol Gross at carol.gross@uvm.edu.