Vermont has very few laws about qualifications for elected office

Right now there is no requirement that a States Attorney (prosecutor) pass the bar, and Sherriffs don't need to be certified law enforcement officers or pass any kind of background check (deputies do but the head Sherriff doesn't). Felons can also vote and run for office from prison, so in theory a murdercel who dropped out of high school could be elected to either of these offices

Previous schizoeffortpost on this (only got 17 sorens pls upsoren)

[Effortpost] 14 Year Old Middle School Student from Marshall, Minnesota Suspends Campaign for Vermont Secretary of State

Unlike Secretary of State, the Governorship requires one to be a resident of Vermont, but there are no age requirements

14-year-old boy uses legal quirk to run for Vermont governor

Apparently some of our lawmakers are !nooticers and they are tryna propose a constitutional amendment to add in some basic requirements.

https://vtdigger.org/2023/03/27/lawmakers-propose-qualifications-for-elected-county-prosecutors-and-judges-through-constitutional-amendment/

Lawmakers are considering qualifications that include a Level III law enforcement certification for sheriffs, a law license for state’s attorneys, as well as residency for both positions in the counties they serve. Those do not currently exist.

John Campbell, director of the Department of State’s Attorneys and Sheriffs, broached the topic when he urged the committee to set specific rules that would safeguard current lawmakers’ intent to promote oversight and accountability for elected county offices.

He said this approach would also prevent the qualifications from being used by future lawmakers — such as those with ultraconservative ideologies — to potentially sideline certain people from those county positions.

“It facially would not be biased, but certainly you could end up getting there if you were creative enough,” Campbell said. He gave as examples a possible law allowing only Vermont-born people to hold the office of state’s attorney, or one that required a 20-year residency.

Any Vermont constitutional amendment must first be approved by the Senate and House in two successive biennia, meaning a general election is held in between, before the proposed amendment goes before voters.

Sheriff's here are elected at the county level, The sheriff hires deputies, and signs contracts with anyone who needs a rent a cop - most of what the deputies do is sit on the side of the road next to construction projects and write tickets for people speeding in a construction zone. The sheriff's office is basically a private business, they're allowed to keep 5% of the revenue their office earns.

Some sneed has been generated in recent years with sheriffs doing much unneedfulness

https://vtdigger.org/2023/01/31/not-enough-oversight-scandals-in-vermont-sheriffs-departments-spur-legislative-action/

Eight of Vermont’s 14 counties are poised to swear in new sheriffs on Wednesday, including Franklin County’s John Grismore, a former deputy who has been charged with assaulting a man under his department’s custody last August.

The outgoing sheriffs include Peter Newton of Addison County, who was arrested in June on charges of sexually assaulting and unlawfully restraining a woman, and Chad Schmidt of Bennington County, who has acknowledged spending a third of the year in Tennessee since the Covid-19 pandemic reached Vermont in 2020.

Previous schizopost related to this: :gigachad2: Vermont Sheriff Chad Schmidt moves 800 miles away, refuses too elaborate, spends 2 years "working remotely" :gigachad2:

Perhaps because of this unneedfulness, we have a position called "High Balliff" whose main job is to arrest the sheriff and fill in for him if he's charged with a crime:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/High_bailiff_(Vermont)

A high bailiff in the United States state of Vermont is an elected public official whose office is unique to local government in Vermont. High bailiffs are elected in each of Vermont's fourteen counties.

The duties of high bailiff are to serve writs which the sheriff is incapable of serving, such as the writ of arrest of the sheriff, and to temporarily succeed to the office of the sheriff in the event of the sheriff's incarceration or incapacity.

States Attorney's are prosecutors, also elected at the county level.

Some sneed has been generated with the Chittenden County States Attorney, Sarah George, an absolute drama queen who basically refuses to prosecute anyone for anything. She also refuses to hold people on bail, even murdercels. She went to law school so this amendment have no impact on her, just wanted to plug my previous effortposts about some sneed she's generated

See previous schizoposts on Sarah George (I voted for her btw, cope and seethe !chuds )

She is on the board of an organization that wants to abolish prisons

Vermonters :chadseethecapy: after convicted felon, high on cocaine, pops off rounds in Downtown Burlington, refuses to elaborate, and is released without bail

Vermonters sneed after person of interest in recent shooting is released on $300 bail, despite having 11 felony and 37 misdemeanor convictions, and 24 currently open criminal cases

The Caledonia County State's Attorney requested to hold him without bail but the judge denied the request. The judge is engaged to Sarah George, Chittenden County States Attorney

The judge was a former assistant prosecutor in Chittenden county. A few years ago his parents were in the news after they got arrested in Nebraska for trafficking 60 pounds of marijuana, which they claimed was for "Christmas gifts"

@JoeBiden !soren !schizomaxxxers !effortposters !lurkers !merari discuss