Jim Douglas
James Holley Douglas (born June 21, 1951) is an American politician from the state of Vermont. A Republican, he served the 80th governor of Vermont from 2003 to 2011. On August 27, 2009, Douglas announced that he would not seek re-election for a fifth term in 2010. He left the office in January 2011.
On January 6, 2011, Douglas became an executive in residence at Middlebury College[1] where he taught a 24 student course titled Vermont Government and Politics.[2] Douglas is the interim director of the Vermont Historical Society.[3]
Douglas currently serves on the Governors’ Council of the Bipartisan Policy Center in Washington, DC.
Douglas was born in the city of Springfield, Massachusetts. In 1968, he graduated from East Longmeadow High School in the town of East Longmeadow, Massachusetts. He graduated with a Bachelor of Arts degree from Middlebury College in Middlebury, Vermont, where he had been active in the College Republicans, eventually becoming chairman.[4] At Middlebury College, Douglas was a Russian studies major. Vermont maintained a sister-state relationship with the Republic of Karelia, Russia until it was broken by Governor Phil Scott in March of 2022 as protest against the ongoing Russian invasion of Ukraine. While influenced by Douglas, this relationship was started in 1991 under the governorship of Madeline Kunin.[5]
In November 1972, Douglas was elected to the Vermont House of Representatives, where he became the House Majority Leader during his third two-year term at the age of 25. He left the Vermont General Assembly in 1979, afterwards serving as a top aide to Governor Richard A. Snelling. Douglas was elected Secretary of State in November 1980, a post which he held until 1992. That year he sought election to the U.S. Senate, but was defeated by Democratic incumbent Patrick Leahy.
During his tenure as Vermont State Treasurer, Democrat Paul W. Ruse Jr. was criticized for being too friendly with financial services firms that had an interest in matters handled by the state treasurer, including accepting campaign contributions from them, and appearing in an advertisement for one.[6] Because of the controversy, in 1994 Ruse decided not to run for reelection.[7] This decision was not widely known; Ruse stated that he withheld his decision not to run so that Ed Flanagan, the incumbent Vermont State Auditor, would not run for treasurer.[8] Flanagan and Ruse had been involved in a behind the scenes dispute over details of an auditor's report about the treasurer's office; Flanagan disclaimed any interest in the treasurer's post.[9]
