A push in the Vermont Senate to extend gubernatorial terms from two to four years won’t move forward this year.
Last year, at the beginning of the legislative biennium, Senate leader Tim Ashe, D/P Chittenden, said that passing a constitutional amendment extending terms for governors was a priority. But it has failed to gain support of key Senate colleagues.
The chair of the Senate Government Operations Committee, Sen. Jeanette White, D-Windham, said Friday that she opposes four-year gubernatorial terms, and will not be advancing the proposal this year.
White argues that if a governor had a four-year term, but lawmakers didn’t, he or she would be able to wield unfair influence in off-year elections. Governors would be able to work with interest groups and others on “influencing the vote” in legislative elections because “they don’t have to worry about their own election,” she said.
White added that because Vermonters typically re-elect governors after their first two years in office, “they really do have a four-year term.”
Vermont and New Hampshire are the only two states in the nation that hold gubernatorial elections every two years.
Ashe pushed for the amendment last year, arguing that the short terms make it challenging for governors to accomplish policy goals because they have to constantly worry about campaigning.
“Any governor struggles to offer bold solutions and to work well with the Legislature on big things because there is such a tight window between taking office and then having to face the voters again,” he said in an interview in late 2018.
Ashe acknowledged Friday that the government operations committee doesn’t have a “deep desire” to advance the amendment. White said she hasn’t been asked by Ashe or anyone else to move the amendment forward this year.
Past Vermont governors have been divided on the issue.
Former Democratic Gov. Howard Dean, who served from 1991 to 2003, told Vermont Public Radio last year the amendment was “the most dangerous thing we could do.”
“Why in the age of Trump would you want less responsive government?” Dean said.
Democrat Peter Shumlin, who was governor from 2011 to 2017, said he prefers two year terms, because two four-year terms would be too long to serve. “Six years is ideal,” he said in an interview last year.
Former Gov. Madeleine Kunin, a Democrat who served from 1985-1991, supports expanding the terms. She said lawmakers who oppose the measure are “displaying their self-interest” because “they don’t want the governor to have a four-year term unless they do.”
“I think it makes sense,” she said of the amendment in an interview Monday. “It takes four years to get anything major done, raising money every two years is very burdensome and not good for public policy.”
Kunin said that over the years, she has testified in favor of expanding gubernatorial terms in Montpelier five times. She is not optimistic the constitutional amendment will move forward.
Jim Douglas, a Republican who was governor between 2003 and 2011, said he favored extending gubernatorial terms.
“Campaigns are time-consuming and costly and if we can reduce the number of them in a responsible way, I think that’s good for the democratic process as well,” he said.
“There’s a real value in the stability of an administration that is not subject to uncertainty every couple of years,” he added.
In the last year, the Legislature has already passed two constitutional amendments: one protecting abortion rights in the state, and one that would clarify that slavery and indentured servitude are prohibited “in any form.”
Senators are also considering another amendment that would give Vermonters the right to “a clean environment.”
