Progressive to Step Down from Burlington City Council

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Progressive Emma Mulvaney-Stanak (Ward 2) will step down from her seat on the 14-member Burlington City Council on December 15, the first-term councilor announced late today.

Mulvaney-Stanak, who has been renting in Ward 2, recently purchased a home in Ward 3. She'll occupy the home as of December 15, and according to the city charter will need to resign immediately.

She was elected to the two-year post in March, besting Democrat Nicole Pelletier by a 447-173 margin.  Her seat was previously held by longtime Progressive councilor Jane Knodell.

"The charter is really clear about residency requirements, as soon as you move you're no longer on the council.There's no grace period, and no clause to even stay on to fill out your term," said Mulvaney-Stanak.

Because her resignation comes less than 90 days before the next election, the charter doesn't require a special election to fill the remaining year of Mulvaney-Stanak's term, she said. Instead, her seat will be up for grabs in March.

That means on Town Meeting Day in 2010, two Ward 2 council seats will be up for grabs — one currently held by Democrat David Berezniak and the one held by Mulvaney-Stanak.

At this point, Mulvaney-Stanak said she wants to stay involved in city politics, but is unsure if that means running for elective office.

Progressives Clarence Davis and Marrisa Caldwell currently represent Ward 3 on the council. Caldwell was elected this March, also. Davis is up for reelection this coming March and says he intends to run for office, despite rumors to the contrary.

"The rumors of my pending demise are greatly exaggerated. My plan is to run for re-election pending any unforeseen changes in my life," Davis told Seven Days.

Mulvaney-Stanak's departure means the Progressives will have only two seats on the council. Democrats have the greatest number of councilors with seven. There are also two Republicans and two independents.

Comments

[Haik Bedrosian]

This give the Dems a majority for a couple of months.

[dale]

not to steal an old song but does the music start to play, JANE,JANE,JANE?

[Jess Wilson]

Mulvaney-Stanak made a statement on Channel 17 this morning. Watch it here: http://www.cctv.org/welcome

[Jimmy]

"Mulvaney-Stanak's departure means the Progressives will have only two seats on the council."

Doesn't matter, she can't really hurt a party that's almost dead anyway.

[dimmy]

awesome Jimmy. the progs are going to be brought down. why was it necessary to bring down a publicly owned utility? Isn't it just plain stupid? Kiss has more integrity than the entire city council put together, but he won't lower himself to your level and wallow in the muck. So that's your opportunity to run the progs out? And it's at the expense of BT? Burlington Dems are a pitiful lot, to be sure.

[sean]

"Kiss has more integrity than the entire city council put together . . ."

Huh? Dimwit Kiss has covered up for a lying, conniving, arrogant, authoritarian, anti-democratic CAO who broke the law, won't admit he broke the law, and now scolds the Council for not immediately signing off on his rescue plan even though he refuses to give them all the details about it? That's "integrity"?

And then your Mr. Integrity schedules another dimwit to stand-in for him in front of a crowd of veterans and insult them, without even bothering to have the slightest clue in advance as to what his stand-in was going to say? That's "integrity"? And now that the stand-in has soiled himself and the Mayor's office, the Mayor refuses to apologize, so a Prog councilor has to do it for him?

This is your Mr. Integrity?

And by the way, does your statement that Kiss has more integrity than the whole council put together include the Prog councilors?

[Jimmy]

"awesome Jimmy. the progs are going to be brought down. why was it necessary to bring down a publicly owned utility?"

Aren't we off of this ridiculous "Dems killed BT to bring down the Progs" thing yet? BT was the Progs' baby, it was a stupid idea from the beginning, they handled it like a bunch of little kids trying to fly the space shuttle and, predictably, it's now crashed. You're really going to blame those who are skeptical of borrowing another $20m without a business plan in place? Really?

[Jimmy]

BTW Kiss continues to look into the cameras and say "taxpayer money is not at risk," even while Leopold admits publicly that it has always been at risk. Either he is knowingly, unflinchingly lying, or he's the stupidest man ever to hold public office.

[webber]

"Either he is knowingly, unflinchingly lying, or he's the stupidest man ever to hold public office."

I think it's possible to be both.

[sean]

I'm sure that the rule requiring a councilor to actually live in the district he/she represents is some sort of Dem/Repub conspiracy against Progs, isn't it?

[Ita]

And how about that Emma Mulvaney-Stanak?

We were so lucky to have someone on the Council dedicated to dismantling oppression and speaking up for justice. Thank you Emma for you public service, we hope to see you again.

[Schmogs]

Yeah, she's so dedicated to public service that she chose to move to a different ward rather than serve out the electoral commitment she made to the voters who chose her over someone else just a year ago. I mean, it's not like her employer moved her job to Texas. She voluntarily chose to move a few blocks and abandon the district she was elected to just a very short time ago.

"Dismantling oppression"? In Burlington, VT? Exactly who's oppressed? And assuming there's some oppressed soul out there, how did Ms. Mulvaney-Stanak fix that in the one short year before she quit her job?