Well-Known Vermont Editor Loses AP Job, Suddenly

By: E&P Staff Chris Graff, the well-known Associated Press bureau chief in Montpelier, Vt., is out of a job, he told E&P Monday evening.

The Web site of the weekly Vermont Guardian reported earlier today that Graff was "dismissed without warning" this morning, under mysterious circumstances. Graff would not comment beyond confirming that he no longer works for AP.

Jack Stokes, AP spokesman in New York, told E&P: "I can confirm that Chris Graff is no longer with the company but we routinely do not talk about personnel issues."

The news came as a shock in Vermont. Graff has covered Vermont and its politics for more than 20 years and is the regular host of Vermont Public Television?s Vermont This Week.

He told the Rutland Herald for its Tuesday edition: "I'm trying to figure it out myself."

The Herald noted that Graff "has briefly tangled with national political and journalistic leaders, most recently during the controversy surrounding Chittenden Superior Court Judge Edward Cashman and his sentencing of a child sexual offender. Graff wrote a story based on the actual sentencing transcript that fueled the ire of Fox News talk show host Bill O'Reilly for several days."

Writing in the Guardian, Shay Totten said the news was delivered to Graff during a morning meeting. Larry Laughlin, the AP?s northern New England bureau chief and Graff?s boss, delivered the news personally, in this account. Reached by E&P, Laughlin would not comment.

Laughlin declined to say what prompted Graff?s removal, Totten wrote. Totten said "Graff?s departure spread quickly through Vermont," afte first being and was first reported on Hall Monitor, the blog penned by Darren Allen, the bureau chief for the Vermont Press Bureau of the Rutland Herald and Times Argus newspapers.

Joe Merone, the executive producer of Vermont This Week, told Totten that Graff would remain the host and managing editor of Vermont This Week.

Gov. Jim Douglas, who has known Graff for years, was bewildered by the news, a spokesman told Totten: ?Gov. Douglas has a great deal of respect for Chris. He has contributed a great deal to the state and to the profession of journalism. His transition from AP will be a real loss for that organization.

A top aide to U.S. Sen. Patrick Leahy said: "Chris Graff is the gold standard in Vermont journalism."