A prominent Vermont Democrat who was mulling a race for lieutenant governor said Friday that he won’t seek the job. Former House speaker Shap Smith, a Morrisville Democrat, told Seven Days he would not run for statewide office this year.
“I don’t think it’s any secret that I have a great love for the state of Vermont and really enjoy public service, and I think that Vermont has incredibly difficult challenges in front of it,” Smith said.
But, he added “I am coaching nordic skiing, my kids are a senior and a freshman in high school and my wife has a very challenging job. It’s time for me to do my public service on the home front and at the local level.”
The news comes days after VTDigger reported that incumbent Lt. Gov. David Zuckerman, a Progressive-Democrat, would vacate the job to run for governor. That set off a scramble of potential candidates for what will almost certainly be an open seat. Smith initially said he was considering joining the field and would decide by the end of the week.
Smith spent 14 years in the Vermont House, including eight as speaker. He stepped down in 2016 to run for lieutenant governor but lost to Zuckerman in the Democratic primary.
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Shap who?
I totally forgot about that guy! Probably a good reason not to run.
Too bad. Shap’s a sharp guy and he’s NOT from Chittenden County.
“Too bad. Shap’s a sharp guy and he’s NOT from Chittenden County.”
And while he’s a little too liberal for my tastes, he has something almost no one under the Dome has: experience running a business. Imagine that — a Vermont politician with some private sector experience! Making payroll! Paying bills! Paying taxes! Employing people! Unheard of!
Shap Smith may be fine human being in his private life but as far as his public life, he will be interminably connected to disasters of Peter Shumlin gubernatorial years. Shap Smith was Shumlin’s legislative hand-maid on numerous disasters that hurt Vermont Democratic Party and its brand, perhaps permanently.
(1) The ill-fated exploration of universal health care that literally threw away well over $100 million of real taxpayer dollars. Pursuing something that numerous people said from the get-go was totally unrealistic and unfeasible for a small state like Vermont to go it alone. Think of the hours and hours worked by tens of thousands of Vermonters to pay that $100 million plus in taxes that this state will never see back. Think of the real good that money could have done for any number of priorities, whether cutting real estate taxes; investing in schools; given back to Vermonters so they can just have more money for their own health care; name-your-priority, it doesn’t matter.
(2) Basing of F35 fighter jet in Vermont’s most densely populated area, regardless of negative impact to health and home values of very demographics Democrats pretend to care about. Shap Smith shamefully suppressed and sidelined legislation proposed by his fellow Democrat, George Cross of Winooski. To examine true economic impact of F35, including negative impact.
Shap Smith legacy tied to Shumlin and voters know it too.