Editor’s note: This commentary is by Rep. Zachariah Ralph, of Hartland, a Progressive who represents the Windsor-1 district in the Vermont House.
I am a new member of the House of Representatives. I have a degree in political science and have worked with eight different advocacy groups over the last 10 years in five states working with federal, state, and local governments to promote social and environmental policies. I had a pretty good idea of “how things worked” before I joined the Vermont Legislature, but admit that I was naive in thinking that Vermont was somehow different or exempt from the traditional power structures that exist at the federal level and in other states across the country. I had hoped that people power was more powerful here, and recognized as it is, the most powerful form of power.
I write this as a means of educating the public about how our system currently works so that we may one day change it. I have no intention at all in putting down or attacking any of my legislative colleagues. I truly do believe that we are all there for the same purpose. In the words of Ice-T: “Don’t hate the player, hate the game.”
The structures to which lawmakers are beholden are, for the most part, determined by the existing institutions. If someone wants to be a “successful” legislator he or she is obliged to maintain a hierarchy of loyalty. This would be surprising to constituents, primarily because the constituents come in third place for even the most well-intentioned lawmaker.
There is a commonly held belief, which ultimately is based on good intentions, that if it is not “me,” the current legislator, then it will be someone worse! However, to be in a position within the Legislature powerful enough to actually pass legislation, a legislator is ironically often times put in the position of appeasing existing power structures at the detriment of his or her own constituents. In other words, legislators will vote against the best interest of their constituents with the hope that they will eventually make it to a position of power from which they can do good things.
Despite that, every legislator is equal to all of his/her peers in that they are elected through a democratic process, all must climb the “political ladder” to get to a position where their bills not only make it off “the wall” of committee but also to a vote on the floor; they must play the game. The game is that you are first loyal to your party and leadership, second to your committee, and only after these institutions are appeased, can you be loyal to the people that elected you.
Party and Leadership
A fellow legislator once told me that he asked a former speaker of the House if he was at all frustrated that he never got to vote on bills. (The speaker of the House rarely votes on bills.) The speaker responded by saying, “I voted by allowing the bill to come to the House floor.” This statement reflects the reality, which is that nothing comes to a vote on the floor without the approval of the leadership. Leadership — i.e., the speaker, the whip, the majority leader and committee chairs — decides which bills will get discussed in committee, and then which bills come out of committee to the floor for a vote. (I admittedly have never been part of these discussions so cannot say for certain what takes place in these meetings.) The speaker doesn’t want a bill to come to a vote that they know will be voted down because this reflects a loss of control and power.
Floor amendments to bills are common but they almost never succeed. This past session when the fee on heating fuels for low-income weatherization came to the floor and an amendment to create an exemption for farmers passed, this was perceived by the speaker as an embarrassment. Behind closed doors, leadership told leaders of the climate caucus that they didn’t have their act together and that there would be no more major climate legislation coming to the House floor because of the successful amendment.
In all my interactions with members of leadership, I never had the impression that any of them had ulterior motives or were in the pockets of climate change deniers. They, just like all legislators, want to do the best thing for Vermonters and the best way they think they can do that is by staying in power. Losing control of the House would not look good for leadership and might cost them their positions in leadership and, at worst, their seats in the House.
To avoid the embarrassment of a vote not passing in the affirmative or floor amendments being passed, leadership determines which bills come “off the wall” of committee and which bills come out of committee for a vote. For controversial bills, leadership oftentimes sends out the whip to conduct a count of those in favor and those opposed. For bills which the leadership and the party have determined to be a priority, the whip will try to convince legislators to vote the “right” way. They can pressure legislators through several means, and no surprise, it is either a carrot or a stick. The carrot is that if they continue to vote the “right” way they can get a seat at the leadership table in future sessions as a committee chair, vice chair, or senior member in committee.
They can also sponsor/present key and popular bills, they can be part of the discussion with the speaker about which bills come to the floor, or, in the most deplorable situation, they can receive favorable jobs within the state government where they are in a better position for higher office like Senate or governor.
The “stick” is, of course, the opposite. Their bills never see the light of day, they will never join leadership, they are shunned, isolated and are the brunt of negative rumors in the Legislature, i.e. bullied, or they will not have the support of the party in the next election.
For all of the above reasons, a legislator who wants to be effective is beholden to the will of leadership and the party first and foremost. If you want to be an effective legislator in our current system, you must vote the way leadership tells you. One Democratic House member voted against the ban on high capacity magazines in 2018 and was punished for his vote by being left on his own this past session, groveling for whatever scraps leadership would throw him, making him their mercenary, willing to burn bridges and betray everyone around him just so they would think more favorably of him.
These are the flaws of institutional hierarchy, and even the most honest people become beholden to the system. A single legislator without the favor of leadership is almost completely powerless because to do anything effective they need at least 76 legislators to agree with them, and 100 if they want to override the governor’s veto. And this is almost impossible without the support of leadership, who in positions of power, are threatened by those who seek to challenge that authority. Fulfilling the prophecy that absolute power corrupts absolutely.
