Gordon Paquette

Gordon H. Paquette (November 25, 1916 – March 15, 1995) was an American politician who served as the 36th Mayor of Burlington from 1971 to 1981, when he was defeated by future United States Senator and presidential candidate Bernie Sanders in his first electoral victory.

Paquette was born in Burlington, Vermont, on November 25, 1916. Paquette married Mary Hallihan on February 19, 1945. The couple had five children. He died on March 15, 1995, after a short illness in the Medical Center Hospital of Vermont.

In 1958 Paquette was elected as an alderman from Burlington's Second Ward after defeating four-term incumbent Gordon Perkins. During the 1968 presidential election Paquette supported Hubert Humphrey after Lyndon B. Johnson had dropped out following the New Hampshire primary and supported giving Humphrey the majority of Burlington's 82 delegates at the state's Democratic nominating convention. In 1971 Paquette defeated Frank Dion and was elected mayor and would not face any significant opposition for another decade. In 1972 Paquette spent two days lobbying Representatives and Senators to vote to approve federal revenue sharing which was successful. Following the defeat of a proposal to increase a tax rate by 48 cents in 1976 Paquette and the Finance Board extended a hiring freeze. The city's budget was under threat of not being funded after the federal government reduced its revenue sharing to Burlington by $700,000 despite calls to increase it to $1.3 million.

In 1981, incumbent Democratic Party mayor Gordon Paquette decided to run for re-election to a fifth term with his main opposition being independent socialist activist Bernie Sanders who had run for Senator and Governor twice before (losing all four elections), and businessman Richard Bove with both being independents as the Republican party saw Paquette was unobjectionable to them and chose to not run a candidate. Paquette's popularity declined due to his support of a 65 cent tax increase and opposition to a ballot vote on a fair housing committee. In a four-way race Paquette lost to Sanders by twenty two votes and a recount was ordered, after which was shrunk down to ten votes. Before 1981 Paquette had never lost a city election and had never lost a single ward while running for mayor. Following his defeat he announced that he would only govern as an acting mayor and would only take action when it was demanded.