Fourth consecutive white male police chief in ‘progressive’ Burlington has mayor under fire

By Ted Cohen

The most leftist mayor since Bernie Sanders turned Vermont's largest city into a socialist petri dish has some serious splaining to do, according to her critics.

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Emma Mulvaney-Stanak has now overseen the fourth white guy since 2020 to take the reins of the city's police department.

Mulvaney-Stanak, who boasts of being the first female - and gay - Burlington mayor claims to be a member of the "progressive" party.

Yet when it came to recruiting a new police chief she came up with the same old same old.

No woman. No person of color. No immigrant.

Another white dude.

Burlington hasn't had an alternative to vanilla heading its police force since Jennifer Morrison six years ago, before Mulvaney-Stanak became the city's chief executive officer.

Morrison became the first female to run the Queen City's crime fighting team of blue, and she wasn't even a permanent chief.

So the best a diverse city can do for anything other than white men is a woman who had the top-cop job only on an interim basis.

Anthony Geraci won majority council approval Monday night to succeed Shawn Burke, previously a longtime local cop.

Geraci was one of 15 applicants - and not the mayor's first choice to head the department, according to Vermont News First.

"A high-ranking police woman from Florida reportedly was the top candidate for the Burlington post," VNF's Michael Donoghue has reported.

So the question is how hard did Mulvaney-Stanak try to match her avowed politics with actual results - which would have been accomplished by naming the Florida female cop.

Apparently not that hard.

Not only that but the mayor waved off as irrelevant concerns stated Monday night by two councilors about Geraci's alleged misogynistic behavior as a police chief in New York.

During his time as chief in Newburgh, NY, three women accused him of several workplace issues, including gender discrimination, retaliation and creating a hostile work environment, according to Donoghue.

Geraci was later cleared, and he maintained the leak of the claims after he left the department were designed to tarnish his character.

Burlington Councilor Becca Brown McKnight blasted Mulvaney-Stanak for brushing Geraci's alleged women issues under the table.

During Geraci's confirmation Monday night, McKnight questioned the mayor's commitment to protecting vulnerable populations - namely women claiming abuse at the hands of male bosses.

Mulvaney-Stanak in turn excoriated McKnight for having the temerity to question her judgment in selecting another white guy - one with a possible record of misogyny.

Evan Litwin joined his fellow councilor, McKnight, tearing down the mayor's appointment, saying it sorely lacked transparency.

Mulvaney-Stanak's record with women will be important politically if not in substance if she seeks a second mayoral term in March.

Ready to pick it apart with McKnight's help will be Ben Traverse, a Democrat currently serving as council president who last week announced for mayor.

In a close race between the two, the female vote could be pivotal in deciding whether Mulvaney-Stanak is a trusted voice for the populations she claims to champion - women, the LGBTQ crowd, people of color, immigrants.