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Former chief of staff to Vermont Attorney General announces run for AG’s office

Charity Clark announces her campaign for Vermont Attorney General
Pat Bradley
/
WAMC
Charity Clark announces her campaign for Vermont Attorney General

With Vermont Attorney General T.J. Donovan not running for re-election, his former chief of staff said Monday she will seek the position.

Four days after Donovan announced his retirement from the state’s top legal position, the Democrat announced that his Chief of Staff Charity Clark was stepping down to “explore new opportunities.” On Monday morning Clark was in Winooski to unveil her campaign plans.

“I am excited to announce that I am running to be your Attorney General.”

Clark is a native Vermonter who graduated from the University of Vermont and the Boston College Law School. She began her legal career working as an associate at law firms in Burlington and New York City. In 2014 she was hired as an assistant Attorney General by then-Vermont Attorney General Bill Sorrell and was named chief of staff by T.J. Donovan in 2018.

“As an Assistant Attorney General and Chief of Staff at the Attorney General’s office I have seen firsthand what our communities are facing and I know how to utilize leverage the office of Attorney General for the best results," said Clark. "I will be ready on day one to fight to protect Vermonters and the state we love. Consumer issues will always feel personal to me and I believe that public safety is paramount and that reforms are needed to align our criminal justice system with Vermont’s values.”

In her initial four years as an assistant Attorney General, Clark worked in the consumer unit of the public protection division. She also grew up working in her family’s general store.

“And so I have that background of consumer issues that are really going to be a focus. For the past four years I have supervised the Consumer Assistance Program which receives thousands of calls and emails from Vermonters every year dealing with scams, identity theft issues, problems with deception in the marketplace and those kinds of issues. So that’s something I’m really passionate about and all of us in Vermont are consumers so it really does affect all of us.”

Clark would be the first woman elected as Vermont Attorney General.

“As Attorney General I will bring for the first time a woman’s perspective to issues like violence against women. No Attorney General in Vermont’s history has known what it’s like to walk to your car in a dark parking lot holding your keys in that special way that all women know. I will bring renewed focus to the issue of domestic violence." Clark adds, "With our reproductive freedoms in danger I will do everything in my power to ensure for all people reproductive liberty.”

While Clark says she has prepared many cases for trial they have for the most part settled and she has not gone to trial.

“The Attorney General’s office runs a huge variety of divisions: environmental, civil rights, consumer, civil, criminal, human services and of course the administrative law, general counsel, appellate. So for some of those they go to trial and some do not. Some are courtroom litigators and some are not." Clark notes, "My background is as a litigator. I think that will be useful but I think more important is my background as a manager of the Attorney General’s office.”

So far, Clark faces Washington County State’s Attorney Rory Thibault in a Democratic primary. No Republicans have yet entered the race.

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