Meub throws hat in ring for Senate seat
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By STEPHANIE M. PETERS STAFF WRITER - Published: November 24, 2009
The Rutland County Republicans will have at least two candidates from which to choose when they caucus next week to recommend to the governor a replacement for Sen. Hull Maynard.
Rutland attorney Bill Meub formally delcared his interest Monday in the state senate seat Maynard announced this month he would resign. Meub joins fellow Rutland attorney and Pittsford Rep. Peg Flory on the caucus ticket.
"I'm sort of getting at that point in my life where I want to do something for the state and I thought this would be an appropriate way for me to do something to represent the community I love and care about," said Meub, 62, when asked about his interest in the seat.
An attorney for more than 30 years, Meub has been based in Rutland since 1986. He's also lived in the city since the early 1980s. Currently, he heads the firm of Meub, Gallivan, Carter & Larson, located on Grove Street, which he founded in 2002.
Before becoming an attorney, Meub's exepriences included operating a beef and dairy farm in Middlbury and working as a contractor, carpenter and mason.
"The broader your persepctive, the more you're able to understand all the different interests that there are," Meub said of his experience. "Being a lawyer, I have a lot of experience arguging from different standpoints… I'm also fairly verbal and vocal and I think I can represent and give a strong voice to the people of Rutland County."
Meub's is likely a familiar name to both Rutland County and state voters. Most recently, he challenged then-U.S. Rep. Bernard Sanders, an independent, in 2002. Despite losing, Meub said he was encouraged by a strong showing in Rutland County.
Prior to that, Meub ran in 2000 for the Republican gubernatorial primary and in 1990 for state senate, he said.
Meub served in several capacities within the city, including on the Rutland City School Board for six years in the late 1980s and early 1990s, and as the founding president of the Friends of the Rutland Free Library. For the past 10 years, Meub's also served as the Rutland City School District's attorney.
If appointed, Meub said he'd like to work as part of a problem-solving group – and said believes he can work with anybody, regardless of party – in the Statehouse.
"I believe that the extent of partisanship (that currently exists) doesn't help anybody," he said. "We have too many hard problems that we have to solve."
Meub said education is one of his long-held interests, but if appointed would also like to continue Maynard's advocacy for the county's transportation needs, address budget and economic issues and work on the state's energy and environmental concerns – particularly the question of how the state should generate alternative energy.
With only a week until the Dec. 1 caucus, which will be held at 6:30 p.m. at the Franklin Conference Center, it appears the ballot may be set, according to Rutland County Republican Committee Chairman Bradford Broyles.
"Right now it looks like a two-person race, so to say, for the caucus," Broyles said.
Two people who'd previously expressed interest in the position revoked their candidacies on Monday, while another person is still mulling over a run, he said.
At the caucus, members of the the Republican committee and county delegates from each town will vote for their preference. On Dec. 2, the committee will then submit up to three names, ranked by the outcome of the vote, to the governor for consideration.
stephanie.peters@rutlandherald.com
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