T. J. Donovan

Early life and family

Donovan was born in Burlington, Vermont in 1974. He is one of six children born to attorney Thomas J. Donovan (deceased) and Johannah Leddy Donovan, a member of the Vermont House of Representatives. He is the grandson of Bernard Joseph Leddy (March 18, 1910 – January 9, 1972) a United States federal judge. Donovan graduated from Burlington High School in 1992 and attended Merrimack College, graduating with a degree in political science in 1996. He graduated from Suffolk Law School in 2000. Donovan is married to Jessica McCloud. The couple has two children.

During his 2012 campaign for Vermont Attorney General, Donovan acknowledged his arrest for assault as a teenager. In a plea bargain, the charge was reduced to a misdemeanor, and Donovan received a deferred sentence. His record was expunged after he completed the terms of his plea agreement. Donovan pointed to this experience as a critical moment in his personal development, when began to act more maturely and think about his future. He also detailed the advantages he had in dealing with the criminal justice system as the son of an attorney, which might not have been available to a similarly situated teenager living in poverty with fewer personal, professional, and political connections. He described this incident as instructive, stating that it guided him to a sense of empathy and obligation to help others navigate the criminal justice system and receive a second chance when circumstances warrant.

Career

Donovan began his legal career in the District Attorney's Office of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, as a criminal prosecutor. Donovan returned to Vermont in 2002, working as a Deputy State's Attorney in Chittenden County. He left to become an associate at the Burlington law firm of Jarvis & Kaplan, where he focused on criminal defense, civil litigation, and family matters. In 2006, after winning a three-way Democratic primary, Donovan was elected Chittenden County State's Attorney. The Chittenden County State's Attorney's Office is the busiest county prosecutor's office in the state of Vermont, handling over 5000 criminal cases and 300 Family Court cases annually. Donovan leads a staff of 28, including, attorneys, victim advocates, and administrative assistants. Donovan was re-elected in 2010 and 2014.

In 2010, Donovan started the Rapid Intervention Community Court ("RICC"), an award-winning criminal justice program made available to non-violent offenders whose crimes have been driven by addiction or mental illness. He is co-chair of former Vermont governor Peter Shumlin's Criminal Justice and Substance Abuse Cabinet.

Political career

In 2012, Donovan challenged incumbent Vermont Attorney General William Sorrell in the Democratic Party primary. Donovan campaigned, among other things, for access under the Access to Public Records Act to police investigations and the decriminalization of small amounts of marijuana. One of his focuses in the campaign was to highlight the opioid epidemic afflicting Vermont communities. Donovan lost the hotly contested primary by 714 votes, with Sorrell receiving 21,124 votes to Donovan's 20,410. During the last weeks of the primary, a super PAC with unknown donors ran advertisements for the incumbent narrated by former Governor Howard Dean.

Several of the principal issues that Donovan advocated in the 2012 campaign were enacted into law in the next Legislative session, including access to records of police investigations, a Good Samaritan law to help prevent fatal opiate overdoses and decriminalization of small amounts of marijuana. In March 2014, Donovan was reelected as Chittenden County State's Attorney, running unopposed. While his office has prosecuted many violent felonies, he has also worked to reduce recidivism and, where appropriate, has utilized a collaborative approach to addressing criminality. In February 2015, Donovan announced a traffic-ticket amnesty program to allow persons with suspended licenses to pay each unpaid traffic ticket for $20 in a one-day trial. On March 20, 2015, more than a thousand people lined up outside the Edward Costello Courthouse in Burlington to recover their driver's licenses. A similar program was offered in other counties and in 2016, the legislature passed a law to allow such programs statewide.

On October 15, 2015, Donovan announced his candidacy for Vermont Attorney General in the 2016 election. He won the November 2016 general election by defeating Republican nominee Deborah Bucknam.

Political positions

While Donovan has focused on prosecuting serious crime, and particularly violent crime, he has attempted an innovative approach to persons struggling with addiction and poverty who end up in the criminal justice system. Donovan has focused on ultimate outcomes not only for the victims of crime but for the perpetrators in order to reduce recidivism and rehabilitate offenders. Donovan often summarized his approach by stating he believes that "the best form of public safety is a good job."

In his October 2015 announcement for the Democratic Party nomination for Vermont Attorney General, Donovan called for the abolition of the use of private prisons in Vermont. He stated, "No more private prisons. End the contracts with the for-profit companies ... and bring the Vermonters home. This is a moral test of our generation in this state." As of the time, approximately 271 male incarcerated persons from Vermont were housed in a private prison in Baldwin, Michigan, operated by GEO, Inc. A month later, the Vermont Commissioner of Corrections Lisa Menard said that she wants to "substantially reduce, hopefully eliminate, usage of out-of-state beds. That keeps Vermont inmates and Vermont dollars in Vermont."

Donovan has worked to reduce recidivism on lesser crimes by trying to address the causes of criminality, prevention and collaborative solutions. For Vermonters struggling with drug addiction, he has sought alternatives to incarceration, noting that Vermont spends more on incarceration than on higher education, and that housing is a major problem. His efforts include advocating for medical treatment on demand for drug addiction, alternatives to incarceration and vigorous enforcement coupled with meaningful intervention and effective prevention strategies.

Donovan has also sought to enhance communication among law enforcement and the mental health community. He advocated for passage of "ban the box" legislation to prevent employers from inquiring about criminal history on initial job applications. After passing the legislature with overwhelming support, Vermont governor Peter Shumlin signed the bill into law on May 3, 2016.