by Paul Olsen

       Southern Vermont voters made history in November when they elected Sheila Prue the new Sheriff of Windham County, but they may be having second thoughts. As we’ve reported, Prue, a Democrat, will become the nation’s second openly lesbian sheriff when she takes office early next year.
      Prue and her partner of eight years, Kris Gaudinier, jointly ran the Upper Crust Bakery in Brattleboro until Prue won her election. That business is one source of recent controversy over the disclosure that Prue owed significant sums in taxes to both the town and the state. She recently paid $3,676 in back property taxes, interest, fines, and utilities on her home to the town of Brattleboro. At press time Prue owed an additional $9,000 in delinquent property, rooms and meals, and withholding taxes to the town and to the state of Vermont. According to a report in the Barre-Montpelier Times Argus, Prue and Gaudiniere at press time were still in arrears on their property taxes for 2002. The disclosure of the tax arrears was reported in the Rutland Herald, the Times Argus, and other newspapers.
      The Rutland Herald also reported that Prue declared personal bankruptcy ten years ago and is trying to sell the Upper Crust Bakery.
      The budget for the Sheriff’s Department comes from three major sources: the Windham County budget, state funds, and private contracts.
      The tax controversy, Prue told the Rutland Herald, would not adversely impact her job. “I’m confident in my ability to manage the budget,” she said. “The people of Windham County will be pleased with my performance. Any taxes I owe will be taken care of in the [bakery] sale.”
      Prue defeated incumbent Republican Henry Farnum by 298 votes on November 5. Farnum challenged the outcome and called for a recount. The recount gave Prue an additional 92 votes, increasing her margin of victory to 382 votes, while Farnum also picked up eight votes. “It wasn’t in the cards, was it?” Farnum was quoted in The Advocate, a national gay newsmagazine, after the recount was completed. In the revised count, Prue received 7,562 votes to Farnum’s 7,180 votes, according to County Court Clerk Lawrence Robinson.
      Sheriff-elect Prue’s four-year term begins February 1, 2003 and she will earn $55,000 annually.
      According to The Advocate, Farnum invited Prue to the department’s staff meeting in early December to answer people’s questions. “I’m sheriff until February 1, 2003,” he said. In a statement that did not bode well for communications during the transition, Farnum was quoted as saying, “I don’t think she has any questions. It appears to me she knows it all, and you can quote me.”
      The election of a lesbian sheriff has attracted national attention. In a recent interview in The Advocate, Prue says her sexual orientation will not adversely impact her role as the leader of Windham County’s 55-person Sheriff Department. “I suspect there may be some grumbling, but I don’t anticipate any major problems that we won’t be able to deal with together,” she said.

Paul Olsen also writes for In Newsweekly.