BROOKFIELD — Richard Mallary, the farmer-legislator who climbed Vermont’s political ranks all the way to the U.S. House of Representatives, died at his home Tuesday after a battle with cancer. He was 82.
During a political career that spanned four decades, Mallary came to personify a Yankee Republicanism that straddled ideologies.
Colleagues and friends on Wednesday remembered Mallary as a fiscal conservative whose party loyalties during the Watergate scandal cost him political capital back home.
But arguably his most enduring legacy, they say, is as the socially liberal Republican whose vote for civil unions in 2000 helped lead the controversial measure through the Statehouse.
“He was a man who put the interests of this state and all Vermonters ahead of party politics, a commitment reflected in his support of civil unions that was key to passage of the important legislation,” Gov. Peter Shumlin said in a statement. “Dick’s passing is a loss for Vermont, and particularly for those of us who respected him and considered him a friend.”
A native of Springfield, Mass., Mallary left his Bradford dairy farm in 1961 to begin the first of what would be four terms in the Vermont House of Representatives. He became a key figure in the “Young Turks,” an alliance of liberal Republicans and conservative Democrats who spearheaded a progressive legislative agenda that included the abolition of the poll tax.
“Dick was a problem solver who had the needs of Vermonters at his very core,” said House Speaker Shap Smith. “He was someone who would put aside partisan politics to do the right thing, and he will be missed.”
In 1966, Mallary took over as speaker of the House, where he oversaw the first reapportioned Legislature. In 1971, he won a special election to fill the remainder of the U.S. House term that opened up when Robert Stafford resigned the position.
Mallary won reelection to a second term in the U.S. House before running unsuccessfully against Patrick Leahy for U.S. Senate in 1974.
Mallary was more dovish on the Vietnam War than many of his congressional Republican colleagues, and at one point indicated his willingness to vote to impeach Richard Nixon over Watergate. The taint of Republican scandal, however, cost him at the ballot box back home.
Known for his shrewd analytical mind, Mallary is remembered more for his policy acumen than his political skills. Howard Coffin, who covered Mallary’s race for the U.S. House for this newspaper, recalled a campaign event at a fish-and-game club packed with sportsmen.
“Dick tried to circulate and shake hands, but he was just so bad at that, and ended up in a corner standing by himself, not talking to anybody,” Coffin says. “Dick was a very likeable person, but he was not a natural born politician.”
Mallary’s nephew, Peter Mallary, also a former legislator, confirmed his uncle’s distaste for retail politics.
“He didn’t want to go into restaurants during campaign stops because he said he didn’t like to bother people while they were having lunch,” Mallary said.
However, Mallary was a prized adviser to Republican governors. He served as the state’s first secretary of administration under Gov. Deane C. Davis, where he oversaw the establishment of landmark environmental protection laws, including Act 250.
From 1977 until 1980, Mallary worked in the administration of Gov. Richard Snelling. He served as commissioner of taxes under Gov. James Douglas.
“He has been kind of the go-to person for big administrative jobs for Republican governors,” said Steve Terry, who covered the Statehouse for this publication during the 1960s and 1970s before taking a job as an aide to Sen. George Aiken. “I think he was a person of immense common sense.”
Mallary also had extensive experience in the private sector, where he was chief executive at VELCO — the state’s transmission utility company — for eight years during the 1980s and ’90s.
“Dick Mallary was one of the outstanding public servants in recent Vermont history and I was very sad to learn of his passing,” Sen. Bernard Sanders said in a statement. “The last time I saw Dick he was still serving his community as member of the board of trustees of Gifford Medical Center in Randolph. Dick was a wonderful human being who represented the best of Vermont.”
Mallary returned to Vermont politics as a Bradford representative in 1999 and in 2000 became a prominent voice in favor of civil union legislation that had caused heavy partisan divide.
Political observers say his vote almost certainly cost him another term in office.
“In the model of George Aiken and Bob Stafford, he was a humble statesman who put party differences aside for the good of our state,” Rep. Peter Welch said in a statement. “Whether as a select board member, state legislator, state official, member of Congress, or corporate leader, he selflessly served our state well and will be missed by his family and all whose lives he touched.”
Mallary is survived by his wife, Jean, four children and three stepchildren.
Peter Mallary said his uncle’s family is grieving the loss.
“He conducted himself in his private life as he did in his public life — with wisdom, straightforward style and dry wit,” Mallary said.
-Peter Hirschfeld
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