by Guy Page
A House member appointed to the panel to investigating the possible impeachment of Franklin County Sheriff John Grismore had previously sent him a letter advising him to pull out of the 2022 race.
As reported yesterday in the Vermont Daily Chronicle, House Speaker Jill Krowinski this week appointed a panel of lawmakers to conduct a “comprehensive and unbiased investigation” of alleged impeachable offenses committed by two Franklin County elected officials.
One appointee, Rep. Mike McCarthy (D-St. Albans), chair of the House Government Operations Committee, wrote Grismore a letter this summer after photos emerged of Grismore pushing or kicking a handcuffed suspect August 7 at the sheriff’s office, the Rutland Herald reported today.
Unless Grismore withdraws from the race, “the next two months will be all about why you shouldn’t be the sheriff,” McCarthy warned Grismore in the letter Grismore shared with the Herald.
“So no, I don’t think this is an unbiased group, I don’t think this is a fair and impartial committee,” Grismore told the Herald.
He also said the Franklin County GOP urged him to drop out. Rep. Carolyn Branagan (R-Georgia) was appointed to the impeachment probe panel.
McCarthy reportedly told the Herald that asking someone to drop out of a campaign and possibly impeaching them are two different matters. He promised he will be impartial.
Grismore won election despite the bad publicity surrounding the jailhouse incident. Earlier this month House Speaker Jill Krowinski announced the beginning of impeachment investigations of Grismore and Franklin County State’s Attorney John Lavoie, who allegedly has made inappropriate statements to staff and had engaged in inappropriate non-sexual touching.
If the Legislature impeaches either Grismore or Lavoie, it won’t be the first time an elected Franklin County official has been censured by Vermont lawmakers. In 2016, Franklin County Republican Sen. Norm McAllister was suspended from exercising the duties of his office by the Senate after he was charged with a prostitution-related crime. He was eventually cleared of all charges.