The governor's right-hand man, Mike Smith, is retiring at the end of August. Smith has been by the side of Gov. Jim Douglas since they were young legislators still getting acquainted with shaving (slight exaggeration intended).
Smith will be replaced as Administration secretary by Neale Lunderville, the Agency of Transportation secretary who probably also learned to shave while he was helping the governor win election.
“Mike is an invaluable member of my team and a close personal friend. I cannot thank him enough for the top-quality work he has done for Vermont,” Douglas said in a statement.
Douglas spokesman Jason Gibbs joked that he will probably still be getting 5:30 a.m. calls from Smith with complaints about the misguided news coverage Gibbs allowed to happen. On those occasions when Smith's discontent boiled beyond the usual, we in the media were apt to get a 5:35 a.m. e-mail from him.
Lunderville, who's old enough now not to be called the boy wonder, will take over the job that oversees the state's budget.
Deputy Secretary of Transportation David Dill will take over the task of overseeing the patching of the state's roads.
In other transactions, Health Commissioner Sharon Moffatt, whom the Legislature had just given the right to the full-fledged commissioner title even though she's not a doctor, will be stepping down for family reasons.
Are those a lot of changes all at once with an election pending? Well, that was what Jill Krowinski, campaign manager for Democratic gubernatorial candidate Gaye Symington, was suggesting.
The bigger question is what impact the change will have on Douglas because Mike Smith has been a key player in everything Douglas has done.
- Terri Hallenbeck
