The former lieutenant governor, the only Republican holding statewide office, pledged to continue fighting the opiate epidemic in Vermont, overhaul economic development efforts and transform the education system.
Some Democrats and Progressives panned his inaugural speech as unrealistic and lacking in detail, while others said they would wait until Scott unveils his proposed budget in three weeks before criticizing his plans.
Scott told lawmakers and observers packed in the House chambers that the state faces a budget deficit of at least $70 million and Vermonters are tapped out. He repeated what he told voters on the campaign trail: that he would not support a budget that grew more than the Vermont economy or people’s wages.
“The process will be difficult, but we are in this together. Vermonters need us to pass budgets that help them get ahead,” Scott said after being sworn in at 1:58 p.m. by Chief Justice Paul Reiber.
Scott, who did not support Donald Trump for president, acknowledged the political divide nationally, which he said “feels as deep and as personal as it ever has, a time when uncertainty and anxiety cloud our view of the future.”
The new governor’s vow of fiscal restraint extended to the cleanup of Lake Champlain, for which he and lawmakers must find tens of millions of dollars each year. Scott said the state’s share would be paid for through “existing resources” and that taxes and fees would not be raised to fill the gap.
The state’s estimated share of the cleanup has been put at $68 million a year. Lawmakers passed a temporary increase in the property transfer tax, but that increase is set to expire.
Unlike his predecessor, Scott did not mention climate change in his speech or the environment more broadly.
Scott signed an executive order Thursday instructing all departments to focus on policies that strengthen the economy, make Vermont more affordable and protect the vulnerable. He also said he would establish a modernization and efficiency team and ask state workers to suggest savings ideas. The orders, he said in an interview, were designed to help his administration and the government bureaucracy put his vision on the front burner. “We need to look at things through the lens of economic development,” Scott said. “I want them to ask themselves, does this help the economy and keep Vermont affordable?”
As he had on the campaign trail, Scott promised again to appoint an official to lead the efforts against opiate addiction and said he would call for a statewide summit on the issue this year.
The governor said he would outline in several days how he wants to change the way the state does economic development. After his speech, he said some departments would be consolidated. He promised to provide options for affordable health insurance when he gives his budget address Jan. 26.
Reaction was mixed.
Sen. Philip Baruth, D-Chittenden, said the speech lacked detail.
Progressive/Democrat Anthony Pollina, of Washington County, also spoke of a lack of specifics but criticized the speech for being “darker than I would have preferred.”
Pollina said Scott talked about making Vermont “a place to be proud to live. I’m already proud to live in Vermont, painting a picture a bit bleaker than I would have liked it to have been. I’m a little more optimistic and have a more positive view than what I heard.”
Tim Ashe, the newly elected Senate President Pro Tem, said that the Legislature has already made progress in the areas Scott has identified as priorities.
“It felt like a recognition of work that’s already being done,” Ashe said.
House Speaker Mitzi Johnson said the speech launched “a good opening conversation” about the state’s budget priorities.
“We may have different ideas about where those resources should go, but just having that core of re-evaluation of where we’re going, I think we’ll work very, very well there and I think there are ways the Democratic House for a while has struggled with affordability,” Johnson said.
The speaker said the House, for example, has worked on giving more Vermonters access to health care and higher education. “If the governor wants to help us with that, that’s fantastic,” she said.
Ashe is skeptical of Scott’s interest in tying the state budget to wage growth.
“It sounds intuitive and wise, but imagine if in the recession we had lived by that premise,” Ashe said. “We would have slashed spending while wage growth was going down, just at the moment when people needed more investment.”
Republican Rep. Kurt Wright, of Burlington, applauded Scott for his “refreshing honesty” and for “telling it like it is.”
“Affordability in my district is by far what I hear repeatedly over and over,” Wright said. “I’m glad he’s focused like a laser on that issue.”
“The contrast from what we heard today and yesterday was striking,” Wright said, alluding to Democratic Gov. Peter Shumlin’s farewell address Wednesday. “What I heard yesterday, my constituents must be wrong about what’s affordable. It isn’t, and we heard a much more clear picture about that today.”
After the speech, Shumlin and his wife turned to the left out of the House chambers and departed, while all the other dignitaries turned right to attend a function in the governor’s ceremonial office.
“He talked a lot about schools, which is important, but unfortunately money has to do with those fixes, and he’s determined not to raise taxes, so that will be his biggest challenge is to try to make some progress without raising taxes,” said Dean, a Democrat who served 11 years.
Scott called on education leaders and Vermonters to “overcome this fear of change” in the education system and said an overhaul had to happen from early education to graduate programs. Too much, he said, is spent on K-through-12 education. In an interview after the speech, Scott said he is not interested in a new education formula.
“Until we address spending, I don’t think that will solve the problem,” Scott said. “The revenue will just come out of another pocket.”
The governor offered no specific proposal on how to rein in education spending, but raised what could be an idea objectionable to teachers unions, challenging teachers to envision being “promoted on merit instead of seniority.”
Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker, a Republican who provoked protests by curbing the power of public employee unions, congratulated Scott on Facebook Thursday morning.
Rep. Janet Ancel, D-Calais, chair of the House Ways and Means Committee, said the speech was consistent with Scott’s campaign pledges and that his budget proposal would “tell the story.” She questioned whether it would be possible to finance the lake cleanup without raising taxes or fees.
“It’s not fair to criticize until I’ve seen an actual proposal,” she said.
Brian Shupe, executive director of the Vermont Natural Resources Council, criticized Scott’s comments on the lake cleanup and said “it remains unclear how we will realistically” pay for the cleanup. Shupe also expressed disappointment that Scott did not mention climate change but gave him praise for pledging to help those in the Bennington area affected by polluted groundwater.
The Trump administration’s “idle talk” about eliminating the EPA and along with discretionary money for Lake Champlain and Great Lake cleanup complicates the way forward for Vermont, Ashe said.
“Not only is it about our own dollars, but also what happens to the money (Sen. Patrick) Leahy might bring in in appropriations — that might also be diminished — so if there’s a way to do it that will meaningfully solve the problem, then we’re all ears,” Ashe said.
House Majority Leader Jill Krowinski, D-Burlington, praised Scott for continuing programs supported by Democrats including fighting the opiate addiction epidemic and pushing for more affordable housing. She said the speech lacked any discussion about a “strategic immigration policy” and how to get more affordable broadband services and child care.
“I look forward to the specific recommendations that will flow from the priorities and the principles he articulated today,” Kitchel said.
House Minority Leader Don Turner, R-Milton, was upbeat after the speech.
“We’ve been talking for six years about the overspending, taxes and fees. I’m happy with most of the speech,” Turner said. He expressed disappointment that Scott didn’t talk about what he wanted to do on siting renewable energy projects. Some opponents of industrial wind projects were in the audience, and Scott has said he opposed ridgeline developments.
Among those attending the speech was Scott’s mother, Marian, his wife and two daughters. A native of Barre, Scott was 11 years old when his father died because of injuries he received in World War II. Scott, 58, said the flag that had been draped on his father’s coffin was flown outside the Capitol on Thursday.
Earlier in the day, Progressive/Democrat David Zuckerman was sworn in as lieutenant governor. After taking the oath from Supreme Court Justice Beth Robinson, Zuckerman spoke of the importance of family and raised concerns about “the division, the mistrust, and fears of what this recent federal election represents for our values, our differences and our democracy.”
Zuckerman, a Hinesburg farmer, left a bean on each senator’s desk, to show the similarities they share and to highlight each member’s unique qualities.
Editor’s note: Anne Galloway contributed to this report.
