Burlington City Council President Kurt Wright has been in politics for 25 years and is currently the only Republican on the 12 member panel. But he will not run for reelection. Wright tells WAMC North Country Bureau Chief Pat Bradley he made his decision despite reservations about the direction of the council.
“Basically what it boiled down to was I co-host a radio show here in Burlington, Vermont area and there's FCC guidelines or rules that made it such that I was really going to have to leave the show that I do, which is my job, for basically two months. For January and February I would have to be off the show, off the air. And this show is still relatively new. It's only been on the air for, you know, about nine months. So I had to make a decision. And it was a tough call because I really had planned on running for reelection and wanted to run for election. I really didn't want to leave the council and I also didn't want to leave the show. But ultimately, my full time job required more than, more than I could give on the other end. And so I'm reluctantly make the..made the decision to not seek reelection.”
All of Burlington’s city council ward seats are on the March 2020 Town Meeting Day ballot.
