By Guy Page
WCAX reports that Rep. Bob Hooper (D-Burlington) is resigning from the Legislature following his expulsion from the House Government Operations and Military Affairs Committee last week, as reported first by Vermont Daily Chronicle on Friday.
Shortly after Friday’s announcement, virtually every House Democrat (all but three) signed a letter calling on Hooper, a Vietnam veteran and lawmaker representing North Burlington since 2019, to resign his seat in the Legislature, the Vermont Political Observer reported Friday.
The House Sexual Harrassment Prevention Panel – not the chamber’s ethics panel – investigated and found Hooper had engaged in sexual harassment against another (unidentified) member of the Legislature.
Sources close to the incident, as well as one media report, say the incident involved a photoshopped photo of a female colleague in the 150-seat House of Representatives. If so, this would fit comments made by Hooper to Vermont Public reporter Lola Duffort Friday, March 13:
“‘I don’t think I’m a serial sexual harasser,’ Hooper said. He said he just sometimes acted in ways that might be perceived as inappropriate for more formal settings, like the Legislature. ‘I make no bones about being sarcastic and a jokester and I come from a family that’s, you know, touchy. It’s kind of like ‘This is not the place.’ And sometimes that’s lost,’ he said.”
In a letter to WCAX published this weekend, Hooper expressed dissatisfaction with the lengthy process and the sexual harassment panel oversight. “I maintain that this matter should have been directed to the ethics panel. It didn’t and over the 8 months it has been cooking (since before last session….) the complaintant and I have probably both been stuck in a process that was for some reason mired there also.”
The bi-partisan sexual harassment panel is chaired by Rep. Mollie Burke (D-Brattleboro) and includes these lawmakers: Rep. Carolyn Branagan, Rep. Troy Headrick, Rep. Michael Mrowicki and Rep. Beth Quimby.
VDC emailed back and forth with Hooper this weekend but was unable to acquire more information.