Norman H. McAllister
| Norm McAllister | |
|---|---|
| Member of the Vermont Senate from the 21st district |
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Assumed office January, 2013 |
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| Preceded by | Randy Brock |
| Personal details | |
| Born |
September 3, 1951 Windsor, Vermont, U.S. |
| Political party | Republican |
| Spouse(s) | Lena Mae McAllister (1951-2013) |
| Children | Norman Jr., Heath, Tara |
| Residence | Franklin, Vermont, U.S. |
| Alma mater | AS in Agricultural Studies Vermont Technical College |
| Website | McAllister's Senate website |
Norman H. McAllister (born 1951) is an American politician who is a suspended member of the Vermont Senate. He represents the Alburgh-Franklin district in Northwest Vermont. He was elected to the state legislature in 2002, and suspended in 2015 after being arrested on sexual assault charges.
McAllister was elected to the Vermont House in 2002 and to the Senate in 2012, attracting little media attention as a legislator. In the House, McAllister sat on the Health and Human Services Committee, and was instrumental in reforming Vermont's child custody laws to make it easier for at-risk children to be placed in the custody of their relatives, rather than the state. A lifelong dairy farmer, Mcallister was one of only two senators to oppose Vermont's bill to require labeling of genetically modified food in 2014. He was appointed assistant minority leader of the Senate Republican caucus in 2014.
In May 2015, McAllister was accused of three felony counts of sexual assault and three misdemeanors of prohibited acts, the charges arising from what police describe as a sex-for-rent scheme involving several unwilling tenants. On June 1, 2015, one of the three women listed as victims in the sex crime cases was reported dead of natural causes.
McAllister initially confessed to a reporter that he had had sex with two of his accusers, but later recanted. According to a police affidavit, in a phone conversation to one accuser McAllister stated that "I was forcing you to do something you didn't want to do". McAllister maintained that he was innocent and that the relationships were consensual. After McAllister refused repeated calls to resign from the legislature, he was suspended by a 20-10 vote of the Senate Rules Committee, and his subsequent request for reinstatement was rejected. McAllister's family and other longtime tenant defended him, saying the allegations were false.
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