For months, Carroll said he could not figure out how the bag he brought to the State House ended up soaked until Morrissey was caught on camera a few weeks ago pouring water out of a clear cup into his tote. Morrissey said Monday that she was “truly ashamed,” adding that she had apologized to Carroll directly. Carroll said during the House session that he could “hear the sincerity” in his district mate’s apology, but remained upset about his work bag being repeatedly drenched over five months and struggled to understand why Morrissey did not “choose to either drop it” or confront him.
“It was torment,” Carroll said.
Morrissey did not immediately respond to requests for comment from The Washington Post on Tuesday evening.
She is no longer eligible to be appointed to conference committees, House Speaker Jill Krowinski (D) said in a statement from her office, dated June 11, adding that Carroll should file an ethics complaint. A spokesperson for Krowinski confirmed to The Post on Tuesday that Carroll submitted a complaint, and that an investigation was ongoing.
“This is a truly disturbing situation that is at odds with our legislative practices,” Krowinski said.
Two to three times a week, starting in January, Carroll found his tote soaked, he told The Post. When his footage appeared to show Morrissey pouring the water, he said he felt “profoundly sad,” especially as he thought about the fallout.
“It was going to be humiliating, it was just going to be awful,” Carroll said. “And it was, and it has been.”
Carroll and Morrissey took their House seats in January 2023, representing the Bennington-5 district, one of Vermont’s 46 two-member districts. They have known each other from a young age, Carroll told The Post. Their families attended the same church and knew of one another, he said, though they ran in different social circles.
As they interacted over the years at political events, their relationship had always been cordial.
But, he said, it began to take a different turn after he was elected, particularly because they were split over key issues, including abortion.
In January, he started noticing that his bag was soaked when he took it off the coat rack outside the rooms where his House committee meetings were held. At first, he thought it could have been from snow that fell on it on his way into the State House or an accidental spill. But as the incidents continued, he concluded they must be deliberate.
“I just remember thinking, ‘Somebody doesn’t like me, and who could it be, and why?’” he told The Post.
Neither representative addressed possible motivations behind the water-pouring incidents in their Monday remarks.
Carroll first told Krowinski about the “potentially harassing behavior” a few weeks later, according to the speaker’s June 11 statement. Weeks after that, he told her he had video evidence.
According to Seven Days, a Vermont-based alt weekly that first reported the news, Carroll set up a camera in front of the rack where he hung his tote bag. In one video obtained by Seven Days, Carroll checks his bag before a person whose face cannot be seen is shown walking toward the bag seconds later and pouring a cup of clear liquid into it.
After Carroll told Krowinski about that clip and other video evidence, she held a meeting with him and Morrissey “to address the documented harassment,” according to her statement.
Krowinski then told Morrissey she was not allowed to serve on conference committees and recommended that Carroll file an ethics complaint, according to Krowinski’s statement.
“The integrity and decorum of our legislative proceedings and of legislators are of paramount importance, and any actions or behaviors that compromise these values will be thoroughly investigated and addressed,” Krowinski said. “I want to assure everyone that the matter is being taken seriously.”
In her apology Monday, Morrissey said she would work toward “resolution and restoration through our legislative process.”
“I hope Jim, my legislative colleagues, all of our State House staff and those who work in this building, and the citizens of Vermont can forgive me for my poor judgment and actions, and allow me to take the necessary steps to repair what I have done,” she said.
In his remarks, Carroll said the first time he and Morrissey would sit down to work together again would be “awkward.”
“But we have to start somewhere,” he said. “So, thank you.”
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