After more than five years as Chittenden County state’s attorney, Sarah George — a reform-minded prosecutor who has drawn praise and condemnation for her positions on criminal justice issues — could be facing a challenge.
Ted Kenney, Williston selectboard vice chair and a lawyer, is considering a run for the office, he told VTDigger on Tuesday in response to an inquiry, mounting a challenge to George in the Democratic primary Aug. 9.
Kenney declined to offer more information about his potential bid.
But any challenge to George could draw support from voters who believe the Democratic prosecutor’s progressive views have made the Burlington area less safe.
Since taking office in January 2017, George has used the tool of “prosecutorial discretion” to create new standards for what type of law-breaking gets a day in court.
In 2020, she ended cash bail for defendants awaiting a trial. As a result, defendants charged with a misdemeanor, such as retail theft, cannot be detained under Vermont law. The practice has angered local store owners, who say George’s decision has led to a spike in individuals repeatedly stealing from them without fear of consequences.
George has also tangled with elected officials for her decision not to prosecute individuals in certain high-profile incidents. Gov. Phil Scott questioned her in 2019 for dropping charges against three defendants accused of murder and attempted murder because they pleaded insanity, while Burlington Mayor Miro Weinberger criticized her decision not to prosecute a person connected to a 2018 shooting.
For as much blowback as she has received, though, George has been cheered on by supporters in Vermont and across the country, who see her as an integral part of a movement of prosecutors rethinking the justice system. Even Weinberger, who chastised her for not charging a person in the shooting incident, joined hands with George in supporting the non-prosecution of those found with unprescribed buprenorphine, an opioid withdrawal drug.
The support for George is not just verbal. The 38-year-old had more than $14,000 left over from her 2018 campaign for state’s attorney as of last month, according to disclosures she filed with the Vermont Secretary of State’s Office. She spent nearly $3,000 from those campaign funds in the first quarter of 2022, the records show.
George took on the state’s attorney role in 2017, when then-county prosecutor TJ Donovan was elected state attorney general. As governor, Scott picked George — who was then a deputy in Donovan’s office — from a list of three Democrats to fill the slot.
Also on the list of three Democrats? Kenney — who actually received more votes from the Chittenden County Democratic Committee than George did, according to the group’s then-chair, Cameron Russell.
At the time, Kenney was working at his own law firm in Colchester. In 2020, he followed Donovan to Montpelier, where he worked as an assistant attorney general for cases relating to the state Agency of Health and Human Services. Kenney left that job this month, according to his LinkedIn profile.
The state’s primary election will be held Aug. 9, and the general election on Nov. 8.
Read the story on VTDigger here: Williston lawyer exploring challenge to Sarah George for Chittenden prosecutor’s post.