Who is Mark Snelling?

Mark Snelling is a Vermont business and community leader, with deep roots in Vermont government, politics, and history. The eldest son of former Governor Richard A. Snelling and Lieutenant Governor Barbara W. Snelling, he was raised in Shelburne and has lived in Starksboro for 31 years. He is a candidate for the office of Vermont Lieutenant Governor in 2010.

Richard and Barbara Snelling came to Vermont in 1953 with nothing other than hopes and dreams for their young family. They saw Vermont as a place of opportunity; opportunity to raise their children in a safe environment, opportunity to participate in local government and opportunity to achieve success if one worked hard.

Mark grew up debating governance and politics at the dinner table. From his earliest years he was captivated by the energy and character of his parents, and their causes. He campaigned with them, counseled them, and from them learned the responsibility of every citizen to participate in government. One of four children of Dick and Barbara, Mark quickly showed an irrepressible spirit and a sense of humor mature beyond his years. In such a family, you learn who you are early and how to defend yourself. 

Mark attended Shelburne Elementary School and South Burlington High School, then Phillips Academy before college. He graduated from Harvard University in 1974 with a degree in Government. 

Mark was raised in his father’s world. He knew the Shelburne factory from the inside out, and he learned the art of politics by watching and listening to the people who regularly visited his home. His mother’s early work on the school board taught him to see that the most important decisions are made locally, where the impact is greatest, and success or failure immediately seen by those who care the most.

After college, Mark resisted working for his father, but when the economy slid into recession in 1974 his family needed him, and he returned to Shelburne, to the factory where he had spent many summers and weekends. He had worked his way through every kind of job there was in that building, learning from his co-workers and earning their friendship.

Gradually taking over management of the business, Mark was counseled by men and women of great insight and experience, and he listened and learned from them the responsibility of a manager to his employees and his customers. He learned how to meet a budget, expand business into new markets, and adapt to changing markets. By the time he was 28, Mark had responsibility for a business that grossed tens of millions of dollars in sales and employed 225 people in two states. Later, he became owner and operator of businesses in the ski, bike, and hardware industries, and today is President of the Shelburne Corporation, a manufacturer of brass wire products.

Business thrives when government gets out of the way. Business suffers when government complicates the marketplace. Mark knows that from personal experience.  What happens in Montpelier or Washington cannot be ignored by anyone, but the impact is often heaviest on business. For Mark, as a business owner, involvement in the public arena became imperative.

Although he has not held elective office, Mark has a long history of public service. He has worked with the last five Vermont Governors on economic and environmental issues. He presently serves as Chair of Governor Douglas’ Council of Environmental Advisors. He was a founding director and board chair of Housing Vermont, a non-profit company that has built over 4,000 units of permanently affordable housing in Vermont. He was chair of The Vermont Youth Conservation Corps, a member of the Board of the Vermont Land Trust, a Trustee on the Board of the Medical Center Hospital of Vermont, among other positions.

Mark is married to the former Linda Falco, and has three adult children, who are his pride and joy.

When Mark’s father said good-by to the legislature in 1985, at the end of his fourth two-year term as Governor, Dick Snelling said, “History is not destiny.” No more perfect sentence describes that man’s principles.

Mark Snelling is more than the son of his father and mother, but that idea resonates within him. He knows we can only reap what we sow. His experience teaches him that nothing is foreordained except change, and change can be managed, if done with care, understanding, and luck.

Mark wants to be the next Lieutenant-Governor. That job is principally managerial, keeping order and leading the Vermont Senate through its daily calendar, ensuring that the process of making laws is done right. That duty is found in Chapter II, Section 19 of the Vermont Constitution, where the Lieutenant-Governor is named “President of the Senate,” and given a casting, but no other vote.

The Senate is a public board meeting. Its character and effectiveness are directly affected by who stands at the podium. First comes dignity, order, and respect for tradition. Next is a firm hand on procedure and precedent. The setting is intimate and disarming, but in that oval chamber the most important decisions affecting Vermont are made.

No one holding the office of Lieutenant-Governor can be anything less than qualified to hold the office of Governor. Three times in Vermont history a Governor has died in office, and the Lieutenant-Governor assumed the office.

George Aiken once held the office of Lieutenant-Governor. Bob Stafford, Consuelo Bailey, Madeleine Kunin, Howard Dean, – they too made that rostrum their office, as did Barbara Snelling, and the incumbent Brian Dubie. Mark Snelling would be Vermont’s 78th Lieutenant-Governor.

What makes him fit to hold that constitutional office? His character, his history, and his experience, for a start. Those qualities are obvious as soon as you meet Mark Snelling.