Former Blue Dog Democrat Flaherty dies at 74

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Former Vermont State Representative Michael Flaherty of South Burlington has died. He was 74.

Flaherty was known as one of the state’s "Blue Dog" Democrats who helped temper the party’s liberal agenda in the late 1990s.

The House observed a minute of silence Tuesday morning after Flaherty’s successor, Representative Sonny Audette announced the former lawmaker’s death on Monday from pancreatic cancer.

Flaherty served three terms in the Legislature. He was a Democrat with a fiscal conservative streak that earned him and four colleagues the moniker Blue Dog Democrats.

Flaherty spent a career in sales and marketing and 24 years as a city councilor, skills that helped in back-room negotiations.

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