Anne Donahue

Last updated
Anne Donahue
AnneDonahue.png
Member of the VermontHouseofRepresentatives
from the Washington-1 district
Washington-2 (2003–2013)
Assumed office
January 2003
Personal details
Born (1956-03-20) March 20, 1956 (age 68)
Burlington, Vermont, U.S.
Political party Republican
Residence(s) Northfield, Vermont, U.S.
Alma mater Boston College (BA)
Georgetown University (JD)
Website http://annedonahue.blogspot.com

Anne de la Blanchetai Donahue is an American politician from the state of Vermont. She has served as a Republican member of the Vermont House of Representatives since 2003, representing the Washington-1 district, which includes the Washington County towns of Berlin and Northfield. Donohue represented Washington-2 until 2013, when she was redistricted. She is also editor of Counterpoint, a quarterly mental health publication distributed for free throughout Vermont.

Contents

Education and early career

Anne Donahue was born on March 20, 1956, in Burlington, Vermont. She attended the Cours de Civilisation Française de la Sorbonne in Paris in 1976. Donahue earned a bachelor's degree in political science and philosophy from Boston College in 1978, and received a Juris Doctor degree at Georgetown University Law Center in 1981. [1] [2]

Starting in 1981, Donahue worked as a program director for the New York City location of Covenant House, the largest privately funded childcare agency in the United States providing shelter and service to homeless and runaway youths. She served as senior staff attorney for the New York location until 1986 and stayed on as program director until 1988, [3] when she left to become executive director of the Covenant Center location in Los Angeles. Whereas in New York the youths she helped consisted largely of urban poor street youths, the young people she served in California came originally from middle- and upper-middle-class homes from all around the country, but who had been living in the California streets for as many as three years and become exposed to psychological damage and AIDS. [4] Donahue served as the California location's executive director until 1990. [3] That year, she received the Jefferson Lifetime Achievement Award for Greatest Public Service by an Individual 35 Years or Younger. [5]

In 1990, Donahue moved to Northfield, Vermont, where her family has roots going back five generations. [5] From 1991 to 1996, Donahue worked as a junior high school teacher in Winooski, Vermont. In 1998, she became editor of Counterpoint, [3] a quarterly mental health publication published by Vermont Psychiatric Survivors, Inc., which is distributed free throughout Vermont and has a circulation of about 7,000. [6] As of 2009, [3] Donahue continues to serve as editor of the publication. [6]

Donahue has served on a number of non-legislative committees, including the Act 129 Parity Committee (2000–2004); the State Standing Committee for Adult Mental Health (2000–2004); the Fletcher Allen Health Care Mental Health Task Force (2001–2004); the State Hospital Futures Committee (2004); and the Corrections Stakeholder Mental Health Committee (2004). [3] She has also served on the U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services Advisory Committee on Human Research Protections, [2] and was a member of Rotary International from 2003 to 2004. [3]

Vermont House

Anne Donahue, a Republican, has been serving as a representative on the Vermont House of Representatives since 2003. She represents the Washington-2 district, which includes the Washington County towns of Moretown, Northfield, and Roxbury. Donahue has been serving on the Mental Health Oversight Committee since 2003, [2] as has been described in the Rutland Herald as "one of the Legislature's strongest mental health advocates". [7] Donahue was also the ranking minority member of the Human Services Committee. [3]

On April 2, 2009, Donahue was one of five Vermont House Republicans who voted in favor of a bill allowing same-sex marriages in the state; the bill passed with an overall vote of 95–52. [8] Donahue was instrumental in amending the bill to clarify a distinction between civil and religious marriage. [8] The Log Cabin Republicans, a gay and lesbian political organization, awarded their annual Uncommon Courage Award in April 2009 to Donahue and seven other Vermont Republican lawmakers for their votes in favor of gay marriage. [9]

Personal life

Donahue is a single mother of an adopted adult son. [2] She is Roman Catholic, and is a member, lector and extraordinary minister of Holy Communion at the St. John the Evangelist RC Church in Northfield. [3] Her favorite movies are Life is Beautiful and Romero , and her favorite books are The Yearling by Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings, Little Men by Louisa May Alcott and To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee. [5]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jim Jeffords</span> American politician (1934–2014)

James Merrill Jeffords was an American lawyer and politician who served as a U.S. senator from Vermont. Sworn into the Senate in 1989, he served as a Republican until 2001, when he left the party to become an independent and began caucusing with the Democrats. Jeffords retired from the Senate in 2007. Prior to serving in the Senate, he served as the U.S. representative for Vermont's at-large congressional district from 1975 to 1989.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Robert Stafford</span> American politician (1913–2006)

Robert Theodore Stafford was an American politician from Vermont. In his lengthy political career, he served as the 71st governor of Vermont, a United States representative, and a U.S. Senator. A Republican, Stafford was generally considered a liberal, or "Rockefeller Republican".

Same-sex marriage has been legal in Vermont since September 1, 2009. Vermont was the first U.S. state to introduce civil unions on July 1, 2000, and the first to introduce same-sex marriage by enacting a statute without being required to do so by a court decision. Vermont was the fourth state to legalize same-sex marriage after Massachusetts, Connecticut, and Iowa.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bill Lippert</span> American politician

William J. Lippert, Jr., commonly known as Bill Lippert, is a former legislator and gay rights activist from the U.S. state of Vermont. He served 28 years in the Vermont House of Representatives as state representative of the Town of Hinesburg, from 1994-2022. He served as chair of the House Judiciary Committee for ten years, and then served as chair of the House Health Care Committee.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">David Zuckerman (politician)</span> American politician from Vermont

David E. Zuckerman is an American politician who is currently serving as the 84th lieutenant governor of Vermont since 2023. He previously served two terms as the 82nd lieutenant governor of Vermont, from 2017 to 2021. A member of the Vermont Progressive Party, he previously served in the Vermont House of Representatives for seven terms (1997–2011), and the Vermont Senate for two (2013–2017). In 2020, Zuckerman was a candidate for governor of Vermont. He ran with the support of both the Progressive Party and the Democratic Party, but lost to incumbent governor Phil Scott in the general election.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Peter Welch</span> American lawyer and politician (born 1947)

Peter Francis Welch is an American lawyer and politician serving since 2023 as the junior United States senator from Vermont. A member of the Democratic Party, he was the U.S. representative for Vermont's at-large congressional district from 2007 to 2023. He has been a major figure in Vermont politics for over four decades, and is only the second Democrat to be elected a senator from the state.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">William T. Doyle</span> American politician (1926–2024)

William T. Doyle was an American politician, academic, and author who served as a Republican member of the Vermont Senate. As a senator from the Washington Vermont Senate District from 1969 to 2017, he is the longest-serving state legislator in Vermont history.

Herbert A. Font-Russell was an American politician from Rutland City, Vermont. A member of the Democratic Party, he was elected to the Vermont House of Representatives in 2010, representing the Rutland-5-3 district. He took office on January 5, 2011.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Beth Robinson</span> American judge (born 1965)

Beth Robinson is an American lawyer and judge from Vermont. She is a United States circuit judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit and is the first openly lesbian judge to serve on any federal court of appeals. Robinson served as an associate justice of the Vermont Supreme Court from 2011 to 2021.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">2016 Vermont gubernatorial election</span>

The 2016 Vermont gubernatorial election took place on November 8, 2016, and elected the governor of Vermont, concurrently with the 2016 U.S. presidential election, as well as elections to the United States Senate in other states and elections to the United States House of Representatives and various state and local elections. Incumbent Democratic Governor Peter Shumlin was eligible to run for re-election to a fourth term in office, but opted to retire instead.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sarah Copeland Hanzas</span> American politician

Sarah L. Copeland Hanzas is an American Democratic Party politician who is currently serving as the Secretary of State of Vermont. She previously served in the Vermont House of Representatives from Orange County's 2nd district, having been first elected in 2004.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">1996 United States House of Representatives election in Vermont</span>

The 1996 United States House of Representatives election in Vermont was held on Tuesday, November 5, 1996, to elect the U.S. representative from the state's at-large congressional district. The election coincided with the elections of other federal and state offices, including a quadrennial presidential election.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Becca Balint</span> American politician (born 1968)

Rebecca A. Balint is an American politician who is a member of the United States House of Representatives from Vermont's at-large congressional district as a member of the Democratic Party. She served as a member of the Vermont Senate from Windham County from 2015 to 2023, as majority leader from 2017 to 2021, and as president pro tempore from 2021 to 2023.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Christina Nolan</span> American attorney and politician (born 1979)

Christina Elizabeth Nolan is an American attorney and politician who served as the United States Attorney for the District of Vermont from 2017 to 2021. Prior to becoming the U.S. Attorney, she was an Assistant United States Attorney in the District of Vermont, where she prosecuted a variety of criminal cases. A member of the Republican Party, she was a candidate for the United States Senate in the 2022 election, losing the Republican primary. Nolan is considered a moderate Republican, and in her Senate campaign was endorsed by Governor Phil Scott.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">2018 Vermont House of Representatives election</span>

The 2018 Vermont House of Representatives elections took place as part of the biennial United States elections. Vermont voters will elect state representatives in all 150 seats. State representatives serve two-year terms in the Vermont House of Representatives. A primary election on August 14, 2018, determined which candidates appeared on the November 6 general election ballot.

Anne Lamy Mook is an American politician who served in the Vermont House of Representatives from 2005 to 2015. A Democrat, she defeated incumbent representative Albert Krawczyk, who had switched over to the Republican Party, in 2004 and in a rematch in 2006. She did not seek reelection in 2014.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Andrew Perchlik</span> American politician

Andrew John Perchlik is an American activist and politician from Vermont. A Democrat, in 2018 he was elected to the Vermont Senate from the three-member at-large Washington County Senate District.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mike Pieciak</span> American politician

Michael S. Pieciak is an American politician from Vermont. A member of the Democratic Party, Pieciak has served as Vermont State Treasurer since January 2023.

Mark Larson is an American politician from the state of Vermont. A member of the Democratic Party, he represented Chittenden County in the Vermont House of Representatives from 2001 to 2011.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">William B. Mayo (politician)</span> Medical doctor and politician from Vermont

William B. Mayo was an American medical doctor, businessman, and medical doctor from Vermont. A Democrat during the period when Republicans won all statewide elections, he served terms in both the Vermont Senate and Vermont House of Representatives. Mayo was the party's nominee in the 1922 U.S. Senate election and the 1916 and 1918 Vermont gubernatorial elections, and was its 1888 nominee for secretary of state.

References

  1. "Representative Anne B Donahue, Vermont (VT) House of Representatives. Biographic profile, district, educational data and political history from the state legislator database. -- Adam Brown, BYU Political Science". Archived from the original on 2010-08-21.
  2. 1 2 3 4 "Vermont General Assembly Members, 2007". Vermont Elections Division . Archived from the original on November 27, 2008. Retrieved May 5, 2009.
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 "Representative Anne B. Donahue (VT)". Project Vote Smart . Retrieved May 5, 2009.
  4. McNally, Karen (December 26, 1988). "Hollywood Journal; Promise of Sunshine, Reality of Night". The New York Times . Retrieved May 5, 2009.
  5. 1 2 3 "User Profile: Anne Donahue". Blogger (Official Site) . Retrieved May 5, 2009.
  6. 1 2 Anne Donahue (ed.). "[Various]". Counterpoint. Vermont Psychiatric Survivors, Inc.
  7. Zicconi, John (June 24, 2005). "Contract allows state hospital experiments". Rutland Herald . Retrieved May 5, 2009.
  8. 1 2 Hallenbeck, Terri (April 3, 2009). "House gives final OK on gay marriage". Burlington Free Press . p. 2.
  9. Johnson, Chris (April 24, 2009). "Conservative voices for marriage rights emerge". Washington Blade. Archived from the original on April 27, 2009. Retrieved May 5, 2009.