But enlarged House GOP caucus holding their cards close as columnist urges a GOP candidate
By Guy Page
Independent candidate for Speaker of the House Rep. Laura Sibilia (Dover) claims she has the votes to defeat incumbent Democrat Jill Krowinski – if only the newly expanded caucus of Republicans will vote en masse for her.
However, most Republicans are holding their cards close to the chest pending the Wednesday, January 8 election in the House chambers. VDC polled a dozen incumbent GOP lawmakers, and only one responded – saying he hadn’t decided yet. Neither has the GOP House caucus advanced its own candidate, to the consternation of former GOP Chair and current Behind The Lines columnist Rob Roper, who wrote today that “as of this writing no such Republican has stepped up to run for Speaker of the House. The two candidates for that post are the current Speaker, Representative Jill Krowinski (D-Burlington) and Representative Laura Sibilia (I-Dover). Neither is an appealing prospect.
‘In Krowinski we have the backroom architect of the horrible policies that have led to the unaffordability crisis we now face on so many fronts, and in Sibilia we have the field commander who shepherded those policies into law.” Instead, Roper urged House Republicans to put forth their own candidate – even if he or she might not win.
The only GOP lawmaker to go on record (yet) about a Speaker vote is Rep. Ashley Bartley (Georgia), who is backing Krowinski.
A weekend press release issued by her campaign manager, former Rep. Lucy Rogers of Waterville, stated that ‘as Vermont’s legislative session nears, twenty-one Democratic, Progressive, and independent lawmakers have pledged support for Rep. Laura Sibilia’s candidacy to become Speaker of the Vermont House.
“Our numbers tell us that if the Republicans join their Democratic, independent, and Progressive colleagues who are voting for change, I’m going to win.”
Krowinski’s speakership became vulnerable after the Democrats lost their supermajority in the November 5 election, due in part to House leadership’s determination to push forward with the unpopular Clean Heat Standard carbon tax scheme and double-digit property taxes to fund public schools through a confusing state education formula.
The House will convene at 10 AM, Wednesday January 8. VDC will cover the Speaker election, which should be the first major order of business. The election can be seen at the House YouTube site.
