The Statehouse in Montpelier, October 16, 2025. Photo by Glenn Russell/VTDigger Gov. Phil Scott has appointed a new lawmaker to fill a vacant Burlington House seat.  But Democrats say the governor ignored their local committee’s recommendations about who should fill it.  The new Democr atic Rep. Kevin Scully, who will represent Burlington’s New North End, was appointed Thursday to serve the rest of former Rep. Bob Hooper’s term.  Hooper, also a Democrat, resigned in March after the House’s Sexual Harassment Prevention Panel found that he violated the Legislature’s sexual harassment rules. After his resignation, multiple women, including two Vermont legislators, detailed sexual harassment allegations against Hooper in a Vermont Public story.  While Hooper acknowledged after the panel’s finding that his actions were inappropriate, he said he did not think they constituted sexual harassment. He denied most of the allegations in the Vermont Public story and referred to one as “innocent.” House Democrats said in a press release Thursday afternoon that Scully was not one of the names on a three-person list of prospective appointees for the seat that a local party committee provided to Scott. In fact, Democrats allege, Scott did not interview any of the people on the list before appointing Scully.  “The local district committee did their job, meeting and putting forward three qualified members of the community in a timely manner,” Liam O’Sullivan, House campaign director for the Vermont Democratic Party, said in the release. “The Governor chose to ignore them.”   The governor has authority to fill legislative vacancies. When a vacancy opens, the local party of the resigning lawmaker presents the governor with recommended replacements. Traditionally, the governor selects a replacement from the same party as the resigning lawmaker, though that is not legally required. And often, though not always, the governor selects a candidate from the list of recommendations. In its statement, the Vermont Democratic Party also said that Scott had repeatedly dragged his feet in appointing other replacements for vacant Democratic seats, even after local Democrats provided recommendations.  For example, when Democratic Rep. Mari Cordes resigned in July 2025, a replacement was not appointed until mid-October. Cordes announced her intention to resign in mid-June 2025. At the same time, the press release said, Scott more quickly appointed replacements for some vacant Republican seats.   Many of the seats that took longer to fill were vacancies that occurred outside of the annual legislative sessions, though Hooper’s seat was left vacant for a month during the session after his March resignation. Scott’s office did not immediately respond to a request for comment Thursday afternoon. Scully also did not respond to a request for comment Thursday. Scully will now represent the district, which covers Burlington’s New North End, alongside Democratic Rep. Carol Ode, the district’s other representative. Scully was chief of the Burlington Police Department from 1986 to 1998, according to a press release announcing his appointment. After his retirement from the department, he managed a funeral home and directed abuse prevention programs for the Roman Catholic Diocese of Burlington from 2005 to 2017, according to the governor’s press release and the Diocese. “While this is a short appointment, there are many important issues that will come before the House in the next few weeks, and I look forward to representing the district,” Scully said in a statement released Thursday morning.  Scully will serve the rest of Hooper’s two-year term.  Read the story on VTDigger here: Governor appoints Burlington rep, bypassing Dems’ recommendations. ...read more read less