[B]usiness advice guru Stephen Covey wrote about creating “win-win” outcomes when resolving professional or personal disputes.
In Montpelier this week, Gov. Peter Shumlin and State Treasurer Beth Pearce appeared to follow the wisdom of “The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People.” With the help of the Legislature, they found a path to resolve their quarrel over dumping coal-related stocks and shares in Exxon Mobil.
In the end, both believed they proved their point, without turning the other into the loser.
Meanwhile, Sen. Norm McAllister’s request his Senate suspension be reconsidered will not see a similar “win-win” face-saving fate. Four of the five members of the Senate Rules Committee said they will reject his plea when they meet next Wednesday, including Sen. Richard Mazza, D-Grand Isle, who voted against suspending the Republican Franklin County senator in January.
Gov. Shumlin and others were appalled that McAllister, criminally charged with sexual assault, filed for reconsideration the same week a civil suit was made public that included allegations of behavior Shumlin called “horrific and unspeakably cruel” by the Highgate farmer.
The allegations, and even more the timing of the request, Shumlin said, “shows how truly disturbed he is.”
Supporters of paid sick leave and Bernie Sanders — with a huge upset win in Michigan — were among the other political winners this week. In the losing column, trust between the Shumlin administration and hospitals, as well as state regulators, took a hit when Medicaid payments rates were changed and too many were caught by surprise.
As Covey also suggests, let’s “Seek First to Understand” the opposing views on the divestment issue and why Pearce and Shumlin are both satisfied with the outcome, each feeling in their own different way — one low-key, the other more easily expressed — that they came out the winner, but the other didn’t lose.
On the one hand, the state treasurer is happy there is not a Legislative directive to sell the state pension fund holdings in coal and Exxon Mobil. The board that decides on investments, she said, will duly consider a study that was requested. The House passed a resolution encouraging divestment; the Senate is writing a letter, but no bill was passed.
Pearce says she loves numbers but dislikes politics. She stood her ground because she believes investment decisions require a deliberative process and shouldn’t be tackled through loaded, oversimplified “sound bites” — some inaccurate, she added.
“I don’t see any poisoned wells. For me, this is about moving forward. I’m going to do that and I’m sure that the governor will as well,” Pearce said. “For me this is about doing the right thing and moving forward. I don’t put things into the win-loss category.”
Gov. Shumlin cares less about exact numbers and thinks politics is more important than Pearce. He thinks it’s a big deal the investment board is actively considering dumping the holdings. Even if, as one estimate put it, the state’s coal investment is really only worth $600. Even if a claim of big losses in coal made at one of his press conferences was completely inaccurate, it was, Shumlin said, still worth the fight. At the end of the day, the governor said, look how far he moved the debate.
“Listen, this a huge victory for us. We have done more to move the (issue), for Vermont,” Shumlin said. “Listen, this thing sat still for years.”
There will be little debate when the Senate Rules Committee meets next week to respond to McAllister. Only Sen. Peg Flory, R-Rutland, McAllister’s biggest supporter in the Senate, said she would support his request. She thinks the suspension was wrong and effectively “expelled” McAllister.
Sen. Mazza, a Rules Committee member, voted “No” on McAllister’s suspension when it came to the Senate floor, but he said Friday that he would not support the request for reconsideration. He said there’s no reason to reopen the issue.
“I don’t know why we would take it up again,” Mazza said. “Nothing has changed from the original resolution.”
The other three members of the committee, including Chair Sen. John Campbell, D-Windsor, said they would also say no to reconsideration.
Sen. Philip Baruth, D-Chittenden, said McAllister was out of touch.
“What you’ve seen from Sen. McAllister, you might have originally called tone deaf, but at this point, it doesn’t seem tone deaf, it really begins to go into another category where it’s really difficult to understand what he’s doing,” Baruth said.
Sen. Joe Benning, R-Caledonia, said it was part of a continuing pattern by McAllister.
Another principle Covey promoted is to “Synergize.” From comments made by the business community and supporters of paid sick leave legislation, working together produced a bill that most felt was better than duking it out.
Shumlin signed the legislation this week. He said the original bill was poorly crafted, including unnecessary mandates on employers already offering help. He came on board, he said, after the collaborative process took hold.
In between the swearing-in of two judges in Burlington, the governor shared his views between bites of a BLT, a selection made on the advice of a journalist, not Covey. During the talk, the governor gave a ringing defense of Vermont Health Connect, the state’s health care website, and said he was frustrated with many of its critics. Lawmakers have called for a review but Shumlin said it makes no sense to switch now.
He also defended voting for Hillary Clinton when he goes to the Democratic National Convention in July, despite Sanders’ landslide in Vermont. Shumlin put it simply. The role of the superdelegate is different than those representing the will of the popular vote.
“The superdelegates job (is) to insure we nominate someone that can win,” Shumlin said, echoing the comments of former Gov. Howard Dean. Look at the Republicans, Shumlin said, “They may well be nominating someone who can’t win. That’s not smart.”
Lawmakers returned after the Town Meeting break to temperatures that even hit 70 at the Burlington airport and cars got stuck in the muddy back roads, including the Speaker of the House Shap Smith, rescued by a kind stranger.
Perhaps given the warmer weather, the Legislature will heed another piece of Covey’s advice:
“Seek Adjournment by the First of May.”
Just kidding.
PS: Covey also talks of the need to “Sharpen the Saw,” making meaningful connections with others, enjoying nature, reading, and the arts.
Sen. Campbell gave this charcoal drawing to friend Cathy Voyer Lamberton, a former lawmaker who lost a son, Logan, to suicide.
“I’m so moved that his heart is as big as it is,” Lamberton said about Campbell, who sketched the drawing from a photo. He worried whether he’d accurately captured Logan’s image and spirit, but knew he had from Lamberton’s reaction.
