T. Garry Buckley

Thomas Garry Buckley (* September 13, 1922 in Albany, New York, † 23 May, 2012 Stowe, Vermont ) was an American politician of the Republican Party. From 1977 to 1979 he was the 72nd Lieutenant Governor of Vermont.

Biography

Buckley grew up in Albany along with three brothers and a sister. His father owned several movie theaters. Buckley attended the Albany Academy for Boys. Later the family moved to Bennington in Vermont and ran the General Stark Theatre there. He went to the Cranwell Preparatory School and then attended Brown University. However, he left the latter to 1942 in the United States Army Air Forces enter. There he served as a pilot of a load sailor, in whose society he trained other pilots. 1945, Buckley was still in the service, he married his first wife. After the war he worked as a real estate agent in Bennington County.

In addition, since the 1950s, Buckley was very active in the community life of Bennington, among other things, he was the Village of Old Bennington Trustee and member of the Highway Commission, and was also active in local politics as an Independent. 1952 ran as an independent candidate for a seat in the House of Representatives from Vermont, but was defeated John Hart, who has been supported by both Democrats and Republicans. 1954 Buckley was, now Republican, first elected to the Senate from Vermont and this was one of several legislative periods on. During this period he was also Chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee.

In the early 1960s he founded together with A. Luke Crispe, a lawyer from Brattleboro, Vermont Independent Party, which opposed the re-election of Republican Governor F. Ray Keyser. Buckley took Keyser whose decision in awarding the license to operate the racecourse Green Mountain Racetrack in Pownal to interested parties from Rhode Iceland evil. Buckley, who was also interested along with Crispe for the operating license would have favored at least the award to interested parties from Vermont. The commencement of the Vermont Independent Party in the 1962 gubernatorial elections were sometimes a reason why Keyser missed the re-election and was elected with Philip H. Hoff, the first Democrat since 1854 to the Governor. The fact that Hoff was also the candidate of Vermont Independent Party, it was otherwise traditionally Republican voters possible for Hoff to vote, to cast their vote without the Democratic Party.

Buckley left in 1976 to the election of the Vice- Governor of Vermont and was 47.6 % of the vote second behind his Democratic opponent John Alden. Since no candidate reached the required absolute majority, it fell under the Constitution of the State to the Parliament, ie, the Vermont General Assembly to elect a new Vice- Governor. Buckley won in the next election on January 6, 1977 90 votes, while Alden was able to unite 87 votes. The third candidate, John Franco from the Liberty Union, received one vote. Alden later complained unsuccessfully in court against this result. Buckley held the post of vice- governor of 1977 until 1979. As lieutenant governor, he came often with his party colleague Richard A. Snelling, who held the office of the governor, together. So he decided in 1978 tied vote in the Senate to leave the State Health Department in Burlington and supported a tax relief plan for Green Mountain Racetrack, whereas Snelling later be vetoed. With the Republican primaries in 1978 for the nomination as Vice- Governor, he defeated Peter Plympton Smith, who scored a lead of 15 % before Buckley.

1980 Buckley ran unsuccessfully for his nomination as a candidate in elections to the Senate of the United States. Buckley now retired and moved to Florida. During the summer, he often stayed in Vermont, and finally returned in 2010 entirely in the state, where he settled with his fourth wife in Stowe. Buckley had four sons and a daughter.