BRATTLEBORO-Serving in the Legislature with Brattleboro’s Rep. Mollie Burke, D-Windham-8, has been “a lesson in grace,” said her colleague, Emilie Kornheiser, who represents the town’s Windham-7 district.
When her term ends, Burke, a nine-term lawmaker, will retire after serving for 18 years.
“Mollie is connected to so many people in our community,” Kornheiser said. “She helps folks access government and navigate tough times with a singular energy and focus. In the Statehouse, she makes quiet lasting friendships and navigates tough issues with curiosity.”
Sen. Alison Clarkson, D-Windsor, chair of the Senate Committee on Economic Development, Housing, and General Affairs, also used the word “grace” when talking about Burke. She also praised her vision and her “big heart” in describing Burke as “a passionate advocate for the environment” who co-chaired the Climate Solutions Caucus and the Women’s Caucus.
“Mollie has championed a range of efforts designed to reduce climate change, from investing in our transition to electric vehicles, public transportation, and walkable downtowns and village centers, to reducing our dependence on fossil fuels,” Clarkson said.
“The Legislature is richer for having had Mollie as a member, and her creative voice and sensibility and her gift for building community will be sorely missed,” she said.
Making room for new, younger lawmakers
Burke said her decision to leave was not made lightly.
“I have been thinking about it for a while,” she said. “I pretty much knew that this would be my last session, just because there are other things I want to do. And I want to go out when I still feel really energetic and present. I wouldn’t want to be hanging on forever.”
Burke said that her open seat would “give other people an opportunity to serve” and believes it’s “especially important to have younger people in the Legislature.”
But she’s worried that it’s difficult for many of those same people to serve during what she called their “prime earning years.”
“A few young women are leaving the Legislature because they can’t afford it,” she said. “And somebody who left a few years ago said to me, ‘If they’d only pay my health insurance, I could stay.’”
Legislators are paid $897.29 per week, plus a per diem for meals, $167 per night for lodging, and mileage reimbursement. The Legislature is in session from January through mid-May or early June.
In theory and by design — including the part-time lawmaking — the Legislature is meant to encourage democracy by “citizen legislators,” not professional politicians. In practice, “unless you have another job that’s going to pay you enough, and give you the time off, it’s very hard,” Burke said.
“As I leave the Legislature, I’m thinking of what things could be improved, and one thing would be pay,” she said. “But, of course, we tried to raise legislative pay a few years ago, and the governor vetoed it.”
More complexity
Burke said that during her tenure in office, issues have become much more complex —“and there’s certainly less money, especially now with the federal withdrawal of support in many areas.”
One important change in the Statehouse — a “sign of the times,” she said —has been security.
“It used to be that anybody could just walk in the door without going through a metal detector or anything else,” Burke said. “And now they’ve instituted a single point of entry.”
She described the measure as sad but necessary “in these times of angry people and people who get upset about things they see on social media.”
Burke said the Statehouse itself is what she will miss most of all.
“What I love is just sitting in the Chamber and looking around at the beautiful room,” Burke said of the “very vibrant place.”
“Then also walking in in the morning, when they have this beehive of activity. There’s school groups coming, and advocates coming for this or that cause, and you see somebody and you have a connection somehow,” she added.
“There’s a group of us who work in the lounge at night. And sometimes I’m just one of two or three people still in the Statehouse. At night, it’s really like: This is your house.”
Burke will also miss many of the people she has worked with.
“There’s a lot to lose, having friendships with people I didn’t ordinarily interact with,” she said. “Getting to know people from other parts of the state, other parties, other ideas. It’s a very rich environment.”
Outside influences
A sign of the times changing is that right-wing political organizations, such as the Campaign for Vermont, funded in part by the Koch family, are now trying to influence elections in Vermont.
“They are trying to discredit a lot of Democratic priorities,” Burke said. “Last year during the elections, Gov. Phil Scott (a Republican) went around the state saying that the Legislature raised the property taxes, which was not accurate at all. That’s not the way the education funding works. But Democrats lost a lot of seats because of that.”
Scott’s vision for Vermont is extremely limited, Burke said.
“For example, the last session when we had a supermajority, Phil Scott vetoed the child care bill,” Burke said. “We overcame that veto, thankfully.”
He vetoed the bill “because there was a very small payroll tax added to fund that,” she said.
She defended the bill, now law, which “gives more subsidies to people. More people can afford child care. It’s helped child care workers get more pay, which has been a big issue, and it’s helped child care centers open more spaces. It’s been an economic benefit. More people are able to go to work.”
Scott’s veto demonstrates “a very narrow way of looking at things,” she said: “‘Well, we can’t do that because we’re trying to make Vermont more affordable, so we can’t tax anybody anymore.’ But if this tax is leading to economic growth, better pay for child care workers, and the ability of anybody who used to stay at home with a child and can now go to work, then that is a plus.
“We need a wider vision for how to improve the lives of Vermonters without just saying, ‘No, no, no, no taxes, no taxes, no, nothing!’” Burke said.
Going green
Burke first ran for office because she was concerned about climate change and desired to cut Vermont’s greenhouse gas emissions, a concern that has only deepened with time. She was elected in 2008. She asked for and received a seat on the Transportation Committee when she arrived in Montpelier.
She has served on that committee ever since.
“Her singular focus on climate change and transportation means that she’s been able to make a sizable and lasting impact in her time in the House,” Kornheiser said.
She sponsored the first safe passing law for bicyclists in 2010 and the first “Complete Streets” law in 2011. “Complete Streets” means that a transportation project needs to take into account all the users of the transportation system, not just automobiles.
“That was a milestone bill that has been expanded in the years since, but, at the time, it was quite revolutionary,” Burke said.
In 2013, she became the lead House sponsor of a bill that would allow undocumented residents to obtain a driving privilege card. An analogous bill in the Senate ultimately made its way into law.
“The immigrant farmworkers who keep Vermont’s dairy industry alive were strong advocates for this law, and they needed a sponsor to guide the legislation through,” Burke said. “The law gave them the legal right to drive and acknowledged their vital role in Vermont’s economy.”
A host of accomplishments
Of special interest to Windham County, Burke’s committee oversaw the multiyear construction of the Interstate 91 bridge over the West River in Brattleboro. She was also an official stakeholder in conversations with Amtrak over the decision to build a new, now mostly-completed, train station.
Burke served on the two-state committee designing the now-operational General John Stark Memorial Bridge over the Connecticut River, connecting Brattleboro and Hinsdale. She advocated on behalf of the town of Brattleboro for several paving projects and for a reduced speed limit on Route 30.
She also worked with fellow committee members to set up incentive programs to help low-and-moderate-income Vermonters purchase electric vehicles and electric bicycles, or more fuel-efficient gas-powered vehicles.
Also, Burke was one of the original sponsors of the Working Lands Bill, Act 142, which was designed to stimulate economic development in Vermont’s agricultural and forest products sectors through entrepreneurism, business development, and job creation.
She recently co-sponsored a bill in the House that establishes a farm-and-forestry special fund to help with recovery from weather-related disasters. The Senate has just passed its version of the bill.
Burke is also the co-chair of the Climate Solutions Caucus and the House appointee to the Public Transit Advisory Council.
An art-full life
In 2025 and 2026, Burke brought her skills as an artist and art teacher to the Statehouse to direct a community art project for her legislative colleagues and staff.
This spring, her own work received a solo show there, “Realism and Magical Realism.” As she described in a news release promoting the event, her paintings and drawings “bring the viewer into a dreamlike world filled with richly colored environments that present a sense of place and home, surrounded by nature.” Her work will be on display until Friday, April 24.
One reason Burke is leaving the Legislature is because she wants to spend more time in her studio and with her nonprofit organization, Art in the Neighborhood, which she founded before she entered state politics.
“I had been teaching art in various schools and places and on summer programs,” she said. “I realized that there were a whole lot of enrichment programs for kids in Brattleboro, but there’s a whole group of kids whose parents could not afford some of the enrichment activities. So I wanted to found a place where I could provide tuition-free art classes to kids in affordable housing communities in Brattleboro.”
The nonprofit now operates in four locations. Burke is the administrator and fundraiser of the program, and she hires artists to teach.
She also has other priorities on her mind.
“There are also grandchildren to visit, and the opportunity for more time on Nordic ski trails,” Burke said. “I plan to continue working on environmental issues and affordable, accessible transportation.”
Tristan Toleno, who represented District 9 for 12 years, called working with Burke “an easy and joyful experience.”
While Burke has gained a reputation for environmentalism and transportation, she has applied her “focused excellence” to other interests —like the arts, he said.
“Her commitment to the arts and the economic value of the arts was early and influential in reshaping the perception of the arts economy,” Toleno said.
“She was, and is, a great champion for Brattleboro and our community,” he said. “She sees it so clearly and deeply cares. She has been skillful in using her role to support our most vulnerable and to build on, and support, our strengths as a community.”
Above all, Toleno said, Burke is “a wonderful, thoughtful and kind person.”
“We all have been enriched by her service and contributions,” he said.
This News item by Joyce Marcel was written for The Commons.