The Vermont Legislature made history last week when it swore in women to lead both of its chambers and lieutenant governor’s office, and more than 30 newly elected legislators took the oath of office remotely from their homes around the state.
But these elected officials aren’t the only new faces that will be working in the virtual Statehouse this year.
Accompanying the incoming leaders and legislators are three new chiefs of staff — advisers who play an essential role in supporting the most powerful members of the Legislature.
House Speaker Jill Krowinski, D-Burlington, has hired Conor Kennedy to serve as her chief of staff. Kennedy, 31, most recently worked as an aide for the secretary of the Vermont Agency of Human Services, and previously served as a deputy chief of staff to former Senate President Pro Tem John Campbell.
Sen. Becca Balint, D-Windham, hired Carolyn Wesley, 33, as her chief of staff. Before working in the Senate, Wesley was the network manager at the Energy Action Network, an organization dedicated to expanding renewable energy use in the state. She also worked as a member of Democratic Gov. Peter Shumlin’s administration.
And Lt. Gov. Molly Gray selected Hazel Brewster as her chief of staff. Brewster worked as an aide on Gray’s 2020 campaign for lieutenant governor.
The Vermont House also elected BetsyAnn Wrask as its new House clerk last week. Wrask, who has worked as an attorney with the Office of Legislative Counsel since 2010, is taking over the position after former clerk Bill MaGill stepped down last year.
Compared with other U.S. legislatures, the Vermont Statehouse has very few staff members. There are about 100 staffers — mostly members of the Joint Fiscal Office and the Office of Legislative Counsel.
Some states, including Massachusetts, Illinois and New Jersey, have more than or close to 1,000 staffers in their statehouses, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures.
The fact that there are relatively few staff members assisting the House speaker and Senate president in the Vermont Statehouse gives chiefs of staff an important role — and sway.
“There’s definitely an outsized influence that the staff for the legislative leadership can have, if they’re effective, because of the very limited staff that exist in the Vermont Legislature,” said Andrew Savage, who worked as chief of staff to U.S. Rep. Peter Welch, D-Vt., when he served as pro tem of the Vermont Senate.
Savage said chiefs of staff act as “eyes and ears” for their bosses, and help the leaders of the House and Senate advance their legislative priorities.
“That’s not saying you’re helping them draft legislation or all that, but you’re still a sounding board for them,” he said.
“You might be hearing their concerns and then conveying them over to the Senate president, or speaker or lieutenant governor, etc.,” Savage said.
An effective chief of staff is involved in policy strategy, communications, and helping legislative leaders manage their time strategically, he said.
Dylan Giambatista, who served as chief of staff to Shap Smith, a former House speaker, said that a good chief of staff has “the right blend of instinct, a knack for political intrigue and a level of commitment that is round-the-clock.”
He noted that some chiefs can be more involved than others in helping Statehouse leaders advance their political strategies.
“For some, a chief of staff is a confidant, and a person who moves the political agenda in tandem with them. For others, a chief of staff may be a more traditional administrative position,” Giambatista said.
“My recent experience has been that the chief of staff to the speaker is a central political figure to help the speaker achieve their goals for Vermont,” Giambatista said.
Many chiefs of staff come to the job early in their careers. When she was in her 20s, Krowinski, the House speaker, served as former House Speaker Gaye Symington’s top aide in the Statehouse.
Others take on the chief of staff role with years of public policy experience under their belt.
The new chiefs of staff in the House and Senate have both spent years working in Vermont state government, and within the public policy sphere.Â
Wesley, Balint’s chief of staff, previously worked for former Vermont Gov. Peter Shumlin, first as director of constituent services, and as the manager of a federal grant the state received to improve early learning programs in the state.
But Wesley got her first introduction to the Statehouse much earlier in life. When she was born, her mother, Julie Peterson, was a sitting representative in the House, and the first woman to represent her district in Brattleboro.
“I spent part of my childhood, my toddler years, coloring in corners of the Statehouse,” Wesley said.
“So it’s been a special place in my heart and she is certainly kind of front of mind for me as I am starting this work for Sen. Balint,” she added, referring to her mother.
Wesley said she sees her role as not only supporting Balint, but “the entire Senate, particularly across partisan lines,” whether that means helping senators connect with the pro tem, or distributing critical information.
“I think of my first responsibility to the people of Vermont and to having a background role in supporting legislation that is going to improve the lives of Vermonters in a really difficult time, in a pandemic context,” she said.
Kennedy, Krowinski’s chief of staff, is also no stranger to the Statehouse. He worked for John Campbell when he was pro tem, the Green Mountain Care Board, and most recently within the Agency of Human Services.
Kennedy said that he loved his position at AHS, but that the opportunity to serve as chief of staff in the Legislature is “the one job” that he would leave it for.
“I love the building, I love the process,” Kennedy said.
“I joke with people [that] on its face, it really shouldn’t work. You’re putting 180 people, many with no professional background in public policy, together for several months, asking them to tackle issues that are important to all Vermonters, pass a budget, and it works,” he added.
He said he views the purpose of his role as assisting the speaker in promoting transparency within the Vermont House, and making sure that as many “voices” are heard as possible in the legislative process.Â
“So that we can try to hear from all the corners of Vermont and people with different backgrounds and lived experiences,” Kennedy said. “Those are all really important things for me personally.”
Brewster, Gray’s chief of staff, worked as the scheduler and digital coordinator on the lieutenant governor’s 2020 campaign. She graduated from the University of Vermont in 2019, and previously interned for Gov. Phil Scott, U.S. Sen. Patrick Leahy and the Scottish Parliament in Edinburgh.
The only staffer in the lieutenant governor’s office, Brewster, 23, called her new job an “all-in-one position,” with duties ranging from constituent services, to communications, to policy advising.
“The title is chief of staff, but it’s inherently a bit funny because I am the entire staff,” Brewster said.
“And I don’t mean that to downplay myself in any way. It’s actually the opposite. I embody every facet of what a normal office would take. So again, that’s everything from the policy side, to the administration side, to the communications side and it’s kind of an all-in-one deal,” she said.Â
Rebecca Ramos, a lobbyist with the Necrason Group who previously worked as chief of staff for both Welch and Campbell, said her job involved helping the pro tem “keep the trains running on time.”
“And that means creating order, and predictability and helping resolve conflict, and helping provide planning and a road map so that the Senate could be successful,” she said.
Ramos said the chief of staff roles in the House and Senate are a “unique opportunity” because there are only two of them.
“You get to be a part of these conversations that can be exciting and thrilling,” Ramos said.
“At the same time, you’re not the elected person making the decision,” she said, “but you’re getting to participate and observe, and then try to help where you can.”
Correction: An earlier version of this story misstated Carolyn Wesley’s former title at the Energy Action Network. It was network manager.