WHITE RIVER JUNCTION — Gov. Phil Scott has appointed Ward Goodenough to take over as Windsor County state’s attorney, according to an announcement from the governor’s office.
“Ward made clear he would hold criminals fully accountable. His experience as a deputy state’s attorney, perspective as a volunteer fire fighter and relationships with local law enforcement will also serve him well,” Scott said in a statement Wednesday.
Goodenough, who replaces former State’s Attorney David Cahill, graduated from Vermont Law School in 2015.
He worked for Cahill as a deputy state’s attorney in the Windsor County office since 2016, according to his LinkedIn page. He also served as a deputy state’s attorney in the Rutland County office in 2015.
The Windsor County state’s attorney position has an annual salary of $116,500.
According to the release, Goodenough has covered over 300 active criminal cases. He said Wednesday that since being hired by the state he has covered 10 trials, with three resulting in convictions and seven in acquittals.
He has a background in politics as well, having worked as a campaign manager for “Rose Kennedy for State’s Attorney” in Rutland in 2014, a deputy field director on TJ Donovan’s campaign for Attorney General in 2012 and an assistant on Matt Dunne’s 2010 campaign for governor, according to his LinkedIn page.
Goodenough also volunteered on the victorious 2016 state Senate campaign of his mother, Alison Clarkson.
“I’m very honored by the governor’s appointment,” Goodenough said in an interview Wednesday, adding that his first interest is public safety. “I have a responsibility to the residents of Windsor County.”
In his cover letter submitted last year with his application for the position, Goodenough wrote that his chief concern in office would be the county’s “most violent” cases, with an emphasis on domestic abuse.
Most recently, Goodenough handled the case of Amanda Zanis, who was sentenced in early January to at least one year in prison after she admitted to stabbing her boyfriend in the shoulder in Norwich. Goodenough wrote that he would aim to achieve outcomes in those cases that “protect victims” and “curb the cycle of violence.”
“Should I be given (the opportunity), I will actively collaborate with your administration in our shared mission of protecting the public,” Goodenough said.
Cahill, who served as the lead prosecutor in the county for four years, announced in October he would be stepping down to spend more time with his family.
By early December, Windsor County Democrats sent a list of three suggestions to the governor’s office, including Goodenough and two other Windsor County deputy state’s attorneys: Heidi Remick and Karen Oelschlaeger.
When a decision hadn’t been announced by early last week, Cahill wrote a letter to the governor’s office announcing that he was leaving the position on Jan. 22 and appointing Meghan Place, the office’s victim’s advocate, as a temporary replacement until a decision was made.
Goodenough, who lives in Woodstock, is the son of Clarkson and Oliver Goodenough, a professor at Vermont Law School since 1992.
Anna Merriman can be reached at amerriman@vnews.com or 603-727-3216.
Clarification
Sarah Callander managed Woodstock Democrat Alison Clarkson’s victorious 2016 state Senate campaign after the lawmaker’s son, Ward Goodenough, helped oversee its launch in the spring. An earlier version of this story misstated Goodenough’s role in the campaign.