[F]ormer chief executives of the state of Vermont agree on one thing: Policy-making has become much more complex in the last few decades.
But they don’t agree that extending the governor’s term from two years to four would fix that problem.
Vermont and New Hampshire are the only states in the nation that still have a two-year term for governor.
“If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it,” said former Vermont Gov. Howard Dean, who was interviewed with former Gov. Madeleine Kunin about the issue Friday on Vermont Public Radio’s “Vermont Edition” program. Dean, who served as governor from 1991 to 2003, said switching to a four-year term “is the most dangerous thing we could do.
“Why in the age of Trump would you want less responsive government?” Dean said.
Kunin, who was governor from 1985 to 1991, said lobbyists gain too much power when the governor is busy trying to run for re-election all the time.
The issue has come up because Senate President Pro Tem Tim Ashe, P/D-Chittenden, is seeking a constitutional amendment that would change the governor’s term from two years to four. The amendment would require two rounds of legislative approval and a voter referendum. Ashe got the process started with legislation he introduced this year.
Ashe used Vermont’s Dr. Dynasaur, a low-cost health coverage program for children, as an example of the new demands of the job. When Dr. Dynasaur was passed in 1989, he said, Vermont was smaller, and state programs were not as deeply enmeshed with federal policy.
“To implement something significant with all of the intricate connections to the federal government and private sector, these are longer-term things to enact,” Ashe said. “They don’t have a two-year life cycle. The scale of health care as part of Vermont’s economy was much different than it would be today.”
And “no matter who the governor is,” he said, “the feedback loop is so fast they’re almost running for office again right after the election night.”
With a governor’s race every two years, “there are some who tune out the politics, and it can lead to apathy,” said Gov. Phil Scott, who supports Ashe’s proposal.
Vermont sitting governors are very unlikely to serve a single two-year term. The only one in modern history who has was Ray Keyser Jr., who was unseated after two years in 1962 by former Gov. Phil Hoff.
Dean said politicians can handle the complexity of modern times if they focus. In fact, he said, a two-year term would force them to do so.
“Politicians are just like everybody else, they just take four years to do the stuff you could do in two years,” he said.
Proponents of the switch say a four-year term would make it easier for governors to hire staff. Kunin said the term forces governors to spend too much time and money campaigning.
“Campaign funding has become an industry for television, for hundreds of different careers,” she said. “It’s an industry that we should try to control.”
The two-year term is a throwback to the days when governing was a part-time job, she added.
“It’s a nice sentimental idea, but it’s out of touch with reality, to tell you the truth,” Kunin said. “How government functions these days isn’t like when governors came to Montpelier for a few months in the early days and then went home and lived their lives.”
Also, Kunin said, voters get more attention when the governor doesn’t have to campaign or fundraise throughout the term.
“Raising money for these campaigns, whether you like it or not, does give you some responsibility to the people who give you money if only you listen to them,” she said. “If we can diminish the power of money in politics, we’ll have a strong democratic system.”
Former Gov. Peter Shumlin, who served from 2011 to 2017, is another supporter of the two-year term. Four years is too short to get the job done, he said, and eight years is too long. Six years is ideal, he said.
“If you had said to me, ‘You have to commit to serving eight years as governor,’ I would have said, ‘That’s two years too many,’” Shumlin said. “As I watched my fellow governors around the country, in their last two years of two four-year terms, in their seventh and eighth year of service, they were tired, worn out, and devoid of new ideas.”
Ashe, who has 10 co-sponsors, is prepared to hear from lawmakers who would like to see their terms lengthened from two years to four years too. He said the governor’s job is a starting point.
“The argument for including at least the Senate if not both the Senate and the House is to make sure we don’t rebalance the power structure in Montpelier in a lopsided way in favor of the executive branch,” he said.
But given the small size of Vermont’s legislative districts, especially in the House, campaign requirements are slight, said former Gov. Jim Douglas, who also supports the move to a four-year term.
The most common structure around the country is a four-year term for state Senate and a two-year term for state House, said Douglas, who served from 2003 to 2011. He has proposed putting three amendments on the ballot, one for the governor’s term and then separate ones for the House and Senate.
“Let the people of Vermont make that decision,” he said.
For Dean, the issue comes down to accountability for both politicians and voters.
“Voters like the idea of not having those ads all the time,” said Dean. But “voters have an obligation to fully participate in a democracy. If you want the democracy we have in Vermont, you have to put up with elections; that’s just the way it is.”
