Illustration When Vermont lawmakers left the Statehouse last March amid the worsening pandemic, they weren t the only ones evicted from their stately digs. The army of lobbyists who work to influence the legislative process was also driven from those corridors of power. Unable to buttonhole senators in the halls or grab lunch with committee chairs in the cafeteria, lobbyists found their working lives disrupted by the pandemic as profoundly as any bartender s or bed-and-breakfast owner s. And yet even as their stock-in-trade access to lawmakers has been curtailed, demand for their influence has remained as strong as ever. Decisions made in Montpelier, from sweeping executive lockdown orders to legislative spats over who should receive relief funds, have taken on existential import, raising the stakes for lobbyists and their clients.
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Vermont State Sen. Becca Balint, D-Windham, takes the oath of office for a new term at the State House, in Montpelier, on Wednesday, Jan. 6, 2021. Balint is the first woman and first openly gay person to be elected as the Vermont Senate president pro tempore.
Kristopher Radder Brattleboro Reformer
Outgoing Vermont Lt. Gov. David Zuckerman talks with a member of the Vermont Legislature at the State House in Montpelier, Vt., during the first day of the new session on Wednesday, Jan. 6, 2021.
Kristopher Radder Brattleboro Reformer
A nearly empty Vermont House of Representatives chambers at the State House, in Montpelier, because of the COVID-19 pandemic during the first day of the new session on Wednesday, Jan. 6, 2021.
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This file photo combo shows Vermont incumbent Republican Gov. Phil Scott, left, and Democrat Lt. Gov. David Zuckerman, candidates for Vermont governor in the Nov. 3, 2020, general election.
AP file photo
VERMONT JOINT FISCAL OFFICE
Molly Gray, a Democratic candidate for Lieutenant Governor, holds a rally at the Common in Brattleboro on Friday, July 24. Gray was elected to the post and will become the fourth woman in state history to hold the office.
KRISTOPHER RADDER â BRATTLEBORO REFORMER
Balint
KRISTOPHER RADDER â BRATTLEBORO REFORMER
Gov. Phil Scott was reelected to a third two-year term in 2020 after guiding Vermont through the COVID-19 pandemic.
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