By Guy Page
The Vermont House and Senate today voted to elect John Rodgers (R-Glover) as lieutenant governor. The Democrat-ruled General Assembly now must contend with a Republican governor and lieutenant governor.
Without a majority vote in the November 5 general election, the election of Vermont’s next lieutenant governor fell to the joint Legislature. In a special session vote this morning, they gave Rodgers 158 votes, incumbent David Zuckerman (D/P – Hinesburg) 18 votes, and Peace and Justice candidate Ian Diamondstone 0 votes.
In the general election, Rodgers received 171,854 votes, Zuckerman 155,876, Diamondstone 13K-and-change votes, and others a relative handful of votes.
Zuckerman was not in attendance. He informed VDC yesterday he was scheduled to begin a stint as co-host of Vermont Viewpoint, WDEV’s 9-11 AM public policy radio call-in show.
Minutes after his election, VDC caught up with Rodgers at the threshold of the Senate chambers – a room in which he served for many years, but never in the gavel-swinging capacity as Lt. Governor. He was asked whether he’s ready for the gavel.
“I’ve been swinging a hammer for a lot of years,” laughed the lifelong farmer/contractor. “I think I can handle a gavel.”
Rodgers said he wasn’t surprised that 18 senators voted for Zuckerman. He speculated that they were mostly Progressives, many of whom had supported an early campaign to win re-election for Zuckerman in the Legislature.