New Governor, Lawmakers Mix Enthusiasm with Humility at Start of New Legislative Session

Author: Kelsey Rinehart

At 10 a.m. on Jan. 8, a crowd gathered in Montpelier to witness the beginning of the next chapter in Vermont's governmental history. On Wednesday, the 2003 legislative session officially began as 180 Vermont lawmakers who will serve for the next two years took the oath of office at the Statehouse.
Because neither James Douglas nor Brian Dubie amassed 50 percent of the vote in the gubernatorial race in November, one of the legislature's first orders of business was to officially elect these two as governor and lieutenant governor, respectively.
Governor Douglas and Lieutenant Governor Dubie took their oaths on Thursday afternoon.
Even before Douglas, a Middlebury resident, was sworn in, the new legislators had to choose the president pro tempore of the Senate and the Speaker of the House. Holding 19 out of 30 Senate seats, Democrats elected Peter Welch of Windsor as president pro tempore in an uncontested race. Welsh, who held the position in the 1980s, celebrated his victory, but said modestly, "The last thing we ever want to project to any Vermonter is that any of us has the delusion that by taking this oath of office we're important.
What we do is important. How we do it, and do it together, is what is so fundamentally important to maintaining the democratic tradition of this wonderful state that all of us call home."
The Speaker of the House, besides managing the House's daily affairs, has the power to appoint representatives to the various House committees, which have a significant effect on legislation.
The highly contested race for this position, decided by secret ballot, was close until the wire, with Republicans holding 74, Democrats, 69, progressives, four and independents, three seats in the House.
The House elected Republican Walter Freed of Dorset to a second term as Speaker, a coveted position for which he and Democrat John Tracy of Burlington had been campaigning for months.
Douglas, Dubie and Freed's elections mark the end of an era in Vermont politics.
Middlebury College Professor of Political Science and Secretary of the College Eric Davis remarked, "The inauguration of Governor Jim Douglas represents the first transition in political power in Montpelier in more than 11 years. With the Republican governor, the House with a Republican Speaker but not a Republican majority, and the Senate with a large Democratic majority, bipartisan cooperation will be essential if major legislation is to be enacted in 2003-2004."
One man who has garnered support from both sides of the aisle is Freed. Freed, 51, returns for his sixth term since his first election in 1993.
A graduate of Dartmouth College, the Speaker is the president of a fuel business. While his supporters praise his honesty and his management of committees last term, critics such as Rep. Margaret Hummel, D-Underhill, say that the past legislature's committees were "based on the spoils system."
Many, however, insist that Freed discourages a divided, highly political system and opts for more middle-of-the-road policies. Upon his election, Freed said, "It is time to put politics behind us. This House is politically and philosophically close to evenly divided."
As for the actual makeup of the legislature, November's election ushered a younger crowd into the Statehouse, particularly in the Senate, as several older members retired and Matt Dunne, R-Windsor, 33, was elected.
This changed the average age in that body from 59.3 to 57.6. There were, however, 41 retirees sworn in as senators and representatives last Wednesday, eight more than the 33 who described themselves as retired last year.
A more significant change, however, is the increase in the number of women in both the Senate and the House. During the last legislative session 53 women held seats, while there are now 57 women who make up 32 percent of the legislature.
Many believe this change will reverberate considerably in the next year. "In the political texts, the rule of thumb is that for women to be more than just tokens they have to be more than 15 percent [of the body]," Davis commented. "When you have that, you'll have more than just one woman on the major committees, and women in leadership posts."
One woman who will head a Senate committee is Sen. Susan Bartlett, D-Lamoille, who will continue as the head of the Appropriations Committee. Due to the Democratic majority, Bartlett's fellow party members will head seven more of the 11 committees in the Senate.
As for the committees, Welch insists that party loyalty was not a major factor in selecting leaders.
Welch said, "Some people were arguing that we should take advantage of the majority we have. I understood it, but the prize here is getting things done, and I think we need Republican cooperation in order to do that. If we mean that, we've got to act consistently with that, not just talk about it. And maintaining the Republican representation on committee chairs I think was an important statement of good faith on our part."

Rethinking Act 60

This year, Bartlett's committee will likely contend with the acerbic issue of altering Act 60, Vermont's education funding law. Under Act 60, $1.10 per $100 of assessed property value is collected as a statewide tax, which is pooled and then distributed among local districts as a $5,566 "block grant" for each of their students.
Last year, only 95 out of 111 potential "senders" (higher-value property towns that can send money to a "sharing pool") contributed. With the release of new figures on Vermont's property values, the numbers have changed, but the effect that the Act has on residents in each town has not.
"Everyone is feeling the effects of the drivers of school costs. School taxes are painful in all communities, whether they're receiving or sending," said Rep. Gaye Symington, D-Jericho, top House Democrat. With the statewide rise in property taxes, she favors a system in which the amount property owners pay in education tax relies on their income rather than their property.
Many of last year's plans for reform, proposed by former Senate President Pro Tempore Peter Shumlin and Rep. Richard Marron, R-Stowe, involve eliminating the sharing pool and raising the block grant. These plans may be resurrected this year as the legislature reaches for a way to untangle the messy web that education finance under Act 60 has become. Freed wants to ask questions before offering answers to the Act 60 issue. "... The solutions here are to look at first and foremost, why is the cost of education still skyrocketing under Act 60? ... The greatest challenge will be reaching consensus on what action the legislative body wants to take," Freed said.
But Act 60 is not the only concern. There are other issues that will likely come to the foreground in the upcoming months. Davis noted, "While the Douglas administration will be able to accomplish some of its goals through administrative action, major policy changes will require the agreement of both the executive and legislative branches.
Key issues before the legislature in 2003 will be the 2003-2004 state budget, ... reforms to the permit process and reducing the spread of hard drugs in Vermont."
Two goals legislators have named are decreasing layoffs and expanding the job base to include new occupations.
One man who promised to work for this cause was Lieutenant Governor Dubie, 43, of Essex.
Dubie, who will preside in the Senate and break ties, advised senators to cooperate to help generate jobs, improve education and fight drug abuse among young adults.
Dubie plans to accompany Education Commissioner Raymond McNulty on a tour of Vermont's schools to seek solutions to the education problem.
In his remarks after taking the oath, Dubie pledged to work closely with Governor Douglas, and said humbly that he was not above accepting advice from anyone. "If someone offers me help, I'm going to take it. I'm even going to ask for it," Dubie remarked.
<
br />Douglas' Vision

Governor Douglas took the oath on Thursday with enthusiasm and optimism for the coming term.
In his inaugural address, he stated, "My message to the people of Vermont is 'Change begins today' -- not change for the sake of change, but change for the sake of progress ... I will seek to change the culture of government from one that is so attached to the status quo it resists -- even those that will move us forward -- to one that embraces positive change."
Many have confidence in Douglas, who has made his presence felt in Montpelier for quite some time. "Governor Douglas is an experienced player in Montpelier, having been around the Statehouse for 30 years.
His extensive experience in state government should make it relatively easy for him to get off to a smooth start as governor," Davis said.
In his speech, Douglas thanked his family and former Governor Howard Dean, a Democrat, who held the position for the past 11 years and recently decided to run for the presidency in 2004.
Douglas said, "He will be remembered as a competent, compassionate and forthright leader who always sought to do right by the people. On behalf of a grateful state, thank you, Howard Dean, for your two decades of service to Vermont."