Olsen stepping down from Legislature

Andrew McKeever

GNAT-TV

LONDONDERRY — Rep. Oliver Olsen, I-Londonderry, Winhall, Stratton, Weston and Jamaica, has announced his intention to step down from office sometime between now and early January, 2018, when the state legislature is scheduled to reconvene. No specific date for his departure has been set yet.

Olsen cited personal and professional comittments as factors driving his decision to step down before the end of his current term, which would have run through 2018. He was last elected to the two-year post of state representative from his district last November.

“As many already know, I have been balancing my legislative responsibilities with a full time professional career, a family, and commitments to non-profit institutions in our region,” Olsen stated in a press announcement. “ I am fortunate to have found success in my professional career, but with increasing professional responsibility comes increasing burdens on my time. With responsibility at work that is now global in scope, I have already clocked more than 100,000 air miles this year, and have come to the realization that it would be a logistical impossibility for me to spend a meaningful amount of time in Montpelier this winter.”

Discussions have already started about possible successors who would fill out the remaining year on his term, he added, noting that there have been conversations with two area women “who have given serious thought to serving,” he stated.

“I know that at least one will come forward and seek an appointment from the Governor to fill the vacancy that my resignation will create,” he said in the announcement Olsen will have served, all told, six years as a state representative when he winds down his current term by next January. He was originally appointed by then-Gov. James Douglas in 2010 to fill the final year of a term originally won by Rep. Rick Hube, his predecessor, who passed away unexpectedly in December, 2009. He ran for the seat in his own right the following November, and won election. After serving one term, as a Republican, he stepped down in 2012, and Tim Goodwin, of Weston, won the seat in the 2012 election. Goodwin served one term before stepping down, and Olsen returned to the political fray, winning the seat in the election that year as an Independent. He was re-elected to the seat in 2016.

It will be up to Gov. Phil Scott to appoint a successor to Olsen. Traditionally, such appointments have gone to members of the same political party as the person leaving office, which implies the new appointee will also be an Independent.

His departure opens the door to an election which would probably have seen Olsen easily re-elected, as he was in 2016. This development is likely to change that.

Olsen served on the Jamaica Planning Commission from 2003 to 2006 and the Jamaica Selectboard from 2006 to 2010 (Chair, 2008-2010). He has also served on a variety of nonprofit boards in Vermont and the UK. Until this past year he was also a member of the board of trustees of Burr and Burton Academy, but has also stepped down from that post. He will, however, be taking on the post of chairman of the board  

“Additionally, I want to work on initiatives that help connect local students with the skills and experiences related to careers in the technology industry,” Olsen stated. “And finally, I will remain active in the ongoing fight to preserve and protect school choice from the persistent ideological threats to this unique and life-changing opportunity that students in many of our towns benefit from. I want to ensure that future generations of students continue to have the opportunity to choose a school – public or independent – that best fits their unique needs and allows them to live up to their full potential.”