[T]he vote on teacher health care benefits last week divided the Democratic majority in the House and gave Republican Gov. Phil Scott the upper hand.
Sixteen Democrats supported the Beck amendment, which was backed by the governor. And momentarily, a coalition of Republicans, independents and blue dog Democrats won last Wednesday night.
Until House Speaker Mitzi Johnson cast a tie vote to kill the amendment.
At issue is whether the Scott administration can achieve $26 million in savings by taking over statewide negotiations for teacher health care benefits. Democrats in the House and Senate say local school boards should continue to bargain with teachers over the benefit. Both the governor and Democratic leaders say they want to “maximize savings” and reduce the property tax burden.
The Vermont School Boards Association backs the governor’s plan because a statewide contract for health care would eliminate variability in negotiations district by district.
Statehouse wags say the vote on teacher health care benefits last Wednesday shows Johnson, who is in her first term as speaker, doesn’t have control of her caucus.
They say her leadership style has consequences.
The weakness of the House position is the primary reason why the Democratic leadership was “boxed in” on Friday and had to delay adjournment. Her peer, Senate President Pro Tem Tim Ashe says it isn’t not clear how the Democrats will move forward.
More to the point, Johnson won’t have the votes she needs to override a veto of the budget, which Scott has more or less promised if the House and Senate don’t go along with a statewide contract.
The night of the vote, House Republican leader Don Turner and the Scott administration gloated that they have the votes to sustain a veto because two members who supported the Beck amendment — Reps. Jim Condon, D-Colchester, and Marcia Martel, R-Waterford — were absent.
“We have proven we can stick together, proven this is an issue important to Vermonters,” Turner said.
Johnson chalked up the defection of members of her party to an open dialog in which Democrats felt free to vote their consciences. She pointed to the fact that Democrats voted for both the Beck amendment and the Webb amendment (a grant program that returns teacher health care savings to local districts), as evidence that her democratic style works.
“I think you just continue to see a theme in the House of people taking every possible step to reduce pressure on property taxes,” Johnson said.
The House Speaker sees her perceived weakness as a leader as a strength.
“I’m not interested in the kind of leadership, you know, not what we’ve seen in the recent past, but there are past speakers with reputations for serious arm twisting and that isn’t democracy,” Johnson says.
“I want people to be able to have an open conversation,” she continued. “I want people to be able to represent their constituents, and, most of all, I want people to not just listen to the yes or no and what they want from leadership, I want them to understand the issue and work on progress on a difficult problem.”
Critics say the speaker has created an environment in which the minority party has become emboldened and Democrats feel safe voting with Republicans.
Several House members who voted for the Beck amendment staunchly defended Johnson. Rep. Kathleen Keenan, D-St. Albans, said she supported the statewide teacher health care contract because she didn’t want the state to lose an opportunity to save money going forward.
Keenan praised Johnson for her openness and willingness to listen.
“We need to give someone who is doing this for the first time some slack,” Keenan said.
Another longtime representative, Matt Trieber, D-Rockingham, voted for the Beck amendment because he believes it is “an opportunity to save money while maintaining benefits for teachers.” Trieber also supported the Webb amendment.
Trieber said Johnson is not the leader you want if you want the place to run like “a well-oiled machine with nothing left to chance.”
He sees Johnson’s style as a good thing for the body as a whole because “she allows democracy to play out.”
“It speaks to Mitzi Johnson’s strengths as a speaker,” Trieber said. “People are happy we had a debate and that is her style. She believes in compromise and inclusiveness and that’s why I’m proud to serve with her as speaker.
“I believe Vermonters are better served by having an inclusive process,” he said.
Here is the vote on the Beck amendment from Wednesday, May 3:
Yeas, 74. Nays, 74.
Those who voted in the affirmative are:
Ainsworth of Royalton
Bancroft of Westford
Baser of Bristol
Batchelor of Derby
Beck of St. Johnsbury
Beyor of Highgate
Bissonnette of Winooski
Bock of Chester
Brennan of Colchester
Browning of Arlington
Brumsted of Shelburne
Burditt of West Rutland
Canfield of Fair Haven
Conlon of Cornwall
Connor of Fairfield
Corcoran of Bennington
Cupoli of Rutland City
Dakin of Colchester
Devereux of Mount Holly
Dickinson of St. Albans
Town
Donahue of Northfield
Fagan of Rutland City
Feltus of Lyndon
Frenier of Chelsea
Gage of Rutland City
Gamache of Swanton
Gannon of Wilmington
Graham of Williamstown
Greshin of Warren
Harrison of Chittenden
Hebert of Vernon
Helm of Fair Haven
Higley of Lowell
Hooper of Brookfield
Hubert of Milton
Jickling of Brookfield
Juskiewicz of Cambridge
Keefe of Manchester
Keenan of St. Albans City
Kimbell of Woodstock
LaClair of Barre Town
Lawrence of Lyndon
Lefebvre of Newark
Lewis of Berlin
Marcotte of Coventry
McCoy of Poultney
McFaun of Barre Town
Morrissey of Bennington
Murphy of Fairfax
Myers of Essex
Nolan of Morristown
Norris of Shoreham
Olsen of Londonderry
Parent of St. Albans Town
Pearce of Richford
Quimby of Concord
Rosenquist of Georgia
Savage of Swanton
Scheuermann of Stowe
Shaw of Pittsford
Sibilia of Dover
Smith of Derby
Smith of New Haven
Strong of Albany
Sullivan of Dorset
Taylor of Colchester
Terenzini of Rutland Town
Trieber of Rockingham
Turner of Milton
Van Wyck of Ferrisburgh
Viens of Newport City
Willhoit of St. Johnsbury
Wood of Waterbury
Wright of Burlington
Those who voted in the negative are:
Ancel of Calais
Bartholomew of Hartland
Belaski of Windsor
Botzow of Pownal
Briglin of Thetford
Buckholz of Hartford
Burke of Brattleboro
Carr of Brandon
Chesnut-Tangerman of
Middletown Springs
Christensen of Weathersfield
Christie of Hartford
Cina of Burlington
Colburn of Burlington
Conquest of Newbury
Copeland-Hanzas of
Bradford
Deen of Westminster
Donovan of Burlington
Dunn of Essex
Emmons of Springfield
Fields of Bennington
Forguites of Springfield
Gardner of Richmond
Giambatista of Essex
Gonzalez of Winooski
Grad of Moretown
Haas of Rochester
Head of South Burlington
Hill of Wolcott
Hooper of Montpelier
Houghton of Essex
Howard of Rutland City
Jessup of Middlesex
Johnson of South Hero
Joseph of North Hero
Kitzmiller of Montpelier
Krowinski of Burlington
Lalonde of South Burlington
Lanpher of Vergennes
Lippert of Hinesburg
Long of Newfane
Lucke of Hartford
Macaig of Williston
Masland of Thetford
McCormack of Burlington
McCullough of Williston
Miller of Shaftsbury
Morris of Bennington
Mrowicki of Putney
Noyes of Wolcott
Ode of Burlington
O’Sullivan of Burlington
Partridge of Windham
Poirier of Barre City
Potter of Clarendon
Pugh of South Burlington
Rachelson of Burlington
Scheu of Middlebury
Sharpe of Bristol
Sheldon of Middlebury
Squirrell of Underhill
Stevens of Waterbury
Stuart of Brattleboro
Sullivan of Burlington
Till of Jericho
Toleno of Brattleboro
Toll of Danville
Townsend of South
Burlington
Troiano of Stannard
Walz of Barre City
Webb of Shelburne
Weed of Enosburgh
Yacovone of Morristown
Yantachka of Charlotte
Young of Glover
Editor’s note: The original listing of lawmakers who voted against the Beck amendment inadvertently left off 17 lawmakers. We apologize for the error.
