It was old home day at the Statehouse for the Democratic majority on Saturday. At the annual pre-session caucus, they caught up on political gossip and chewed the fat on issues in breakout sessions, but most importantly, 86 of the 94 Democratic House representatives who make up the 150-seat House nominated the Speaker of the House, the Majority Leader and the Assistant Majority Leader among others.
None of the results were unexpected and all of the “leadership” positions in the House were nominated by unanimous “acclamation” (or voice votes) with glowing speeches and little debate: Rep. Shap Smith, D-Morrisville, was nominated for Speaker; Lucy Leriche, D-Hardwick, was selected for Majority Leader; and Rep. Willem Jewett, D-Ripton, won the bid for Assistant Majority Leader. The House will vote on the nominations on Jan. 5.
They also bid adieu to Rep. Floyd Nease, D-Johnson, who stepped down as Majority Leader and is leaving the House to become the executive director of the Vermont Association for Mental Health.
In its first year in power, the leadership team of Smith, Nease and Leriche presided over two historic overrides of gubernatorial vetoes over gay marriage and a tax proposal that lowered income tax rates and raised capital gains and estate taxes.
Last year, Smith led the House in passing a balanced budget with no tax increases and, with Gov. Jim Douglas and then Senate President Pro Tem Peter Shumlin, negotiated compromises on salvaging the state’s bankrupt Unemployment Insurance Trust Fund and rolling back capital gains and estate taxes.
In a humorous retrospective of his early career in the House with Nease (the two were elected the same year, 2002), Smith gave credit for these accomplishments to the outgoing representative.
“I’m really going to miss Floyd,” Smith said. “We had two very difficult votes … in 2009 and most of the credit ended up in my lap, but it really wasn’t about what I had done, it was about what Floyd had done, it was about what Lucy had done, it was about what the caucus had done.”
Smith went on to describe the state’s fiscal crisis, and the role the House has played in helping to resolve the budget shortfalls.
“We have had to make very difficult decisions as a body and a caucus, and they have often called us to examine our most fundamental values and ask ourselves what we truly believe in and what we will, in the end, stand up and fight for and who we will stand up and fight for,” Smith said. “I’m proud to say that through the past two years we have shown our mettle, we have shown that our values are consistent with the people of Vermont.”
Those decisions didn’t alienate voters, Smith said. While the GOP swept into the state legislatures in New England, including Maine and New Hampshire, the Dems in Vermont held their overwhelming majority in the House.
Smith: “I’m proud to say that through the past two years we have shown our mettle, we have shown that our values are consistent with the people of Vermont.”
Smith attributed his party’s success in the last election cycle to a mutual understanding between representatives and constituents. He said House members made an effort to seek out advice from constituents “about how they felt we should get through this difficult time” and that communication paid off in the voting booth.
“They understood that we stood with them and for them,” Smith said. “And when it came time for them to decide whether they would stand with us and for us, they stood with us and for us. That’s a testament to all of you and what you have done.”
Gov.-elect Peter Shumlin paid a visit to the caucus and welcomed the old and new members with the half-joking injunction: “It’s going to be the most exciting session of your lives.”
“You ran in the toughest year for Democrats perhaps ever, and we’re proud of the work you did,” Shumlin said. “We just defied the rest of the nation. … Vermonters were extraordinarily generous to us to give us this opportunity to give us a House and Senate and governor who share a similar vision, a similar dream and understand that our primary responsibility is to put Vermonters back to work to give the middle class hope to return Vermont to a place that’s economically prosperous. We’re going to do it one job at a time. Let’s make sure we commit ourselves to care less about party and more about the job we were sent here to do.”
Shumlin gave the representatives a preview of his agenda, which will be laid out in more detail in his state of the state and budget addresses. He gave a brief outline of the difficult choices lawmakers and the governor’s office will have to make in order to find a way to make structural changes to the state’s $1.4 billion General Fund budget. The state faces a $112 million shortfall after three years of cutting, and tax revenues aren’t expected to rebound significantly anytime soon.
Shumlin said: “We’ve got to put Vermont on a sustainable fiscal spending course. We will together. It’s going to take courage; it’s going to take some tough decisions; it’s going to take some really hard work, but that’s our first responsibility.
“The first thing we have to do, unfortunately, is get our economic house in order,” Shumlin said. “It’s going to take some really tough decisions, I’ve been looking at the budget from a different lens perhaps than I did before, but I’m convinced that if we don’t put Vermont on a sustainable spending path this year we know we’ll be back next year making tougher decisions. We also know the most vulnerable Vermonters will not have our help if we keep nibbling around the edges, if we keep missing our projections, if we keep taking in less money than we’re spending. We’ve got to put Vermont on a sustainable fiscal spending course. We will together. It’s going to take courage; it’s going to take some tough decisions; it’s going to take some really hard work, but that’s our first responsibility and we’ll do it together. That’s not going to be the fun part.”
The fun part, according to Shumlin, will be job creation. The governor-elect said Vermont can ride the leading edge in the technology, manufacturing and agriculture sectors, and “get off foreign oil” by relying more on renewable energy.
Shumlin said Vermont can attract employers to the state by doing three things: adopting a single payer health care system; rolling out broadband across the state; and investing in workforce education.
“With every decision we make, the lens must be what does this do to meet our promise of creating jobs and giving hope to Vermonters,” Shumlin said. “If we deliver on the promise that we made over the last few months we have an opportunity to beat the rest of the country with the economic prosperity that I think we have ahead for us.”
The former leader of the Senate wasn’t all sober-sides. Shumlin scattered quips and jokes throughout his speech. The line that got the most applause was this: “If I’d asked you these two questions (at the end of the last session) … what’s more likely that Peter Shumlin will be the next governor yes or no; or that Michael Obuchowski finally reached the age of maturity and bring us Jack and Nora what would have you voted – I would have won!” (Obuchowski, the former Speaker, who has served in the House since 1973 recently became the father of twins.)
In his parting remarks, Shumlin urged lawmakers to work in a bipartisan manner, and he had a word of warning for upstart lawmakers who think they can promote separate agendas.
“It’s different to be in the majority,” Shumlin said. “I ask that we work together as a team. We will be judged as a team. I cannot get there without you and you cannot get there without me.”
In a what appeared to be a veiled reference to a proposal to raise a tax on sugar sweetened beverages (which he opposes), Shumlin said some years ago he and another lawmaker made headlines with a telecomm proposal that the governor at that time wasn’t enthusiastic about.
“We had a hard time getting much done with that governor,” Shumlin said. “All I’m suggesting is there is a distinction between disagreeing and being disagreeable.
“I will always be there if you want me,” he said. “So will the press. Come to me first.”
