Jon Margolis is a VTDigger political columnist.
Gov. Phil Scott is running and he’s not running. He’s a candidate, but he won’t campaign because, he said earlier this week, “we’re not there yet.”
And made a good case that we are not, “we” in this case being the state of Vermont and “there” being sufficiently recovered from the Covid-19 pandemic.
“We don’t have any restaurants open for in-house dining,” he said. “We’re still seeing an escalation of cases throughout the Northeast.”
Until more progress is made suppressing the virus, the governor said, “I feel as though we’re still in the state of emergency. There’s a lot of things to do. It takes all of my attention to focus on that, to put things back to normal.”
Makes sense. The pandemic is a once-in-a-lifetime crisis, the responsibility for which the federal government has abandoned to the states and their governors. This Republican governor, even according to Democrats, is handling that responsibility rather well. Isn’t it more important for him to continue devoting his energies to that responsibility than to be making a lot of speeches and answering the same questions over and over again at candidate debates?
No doubt. But there is a complication. Gov. Phil Scott declared the “state of emergency” by issuing – as only he was empowered to do – Executive order 01-20 on March 13, and has extended it by issuing 16 “addendums,” the most recent on May 29.
As only the governor has the power to issue executive orders declaring states of emergency, only the governor has the power to end them.
Meaning Phil Scott has the sole power to determine when Phil Scott is obligated to start campaigning.
In fairness to Scott, he did not say that he wouldn’t start campaigning until he officially ended the emergency.
“It’s not the declaration,” he said “It’s not the piece of paper. It’s whether we are in a state of emergency or not. … If we’re on a path to where we’re getting back to normal, even if the state of emergency is still in place. I would, I would then feel comfortable in going out to campaign.”
Again, that makes sense. But it’s still just up to him.
This is not an outrage. It may not even be a problem. To begin with, Scott only has the power to determine when he himself will start campaigning. Nobody else has to wait for him. Not his two Republican challengers: John Klar of Brookfield and Bernard Peters of Irasburg. Not news organizations, advocacy groups, or civil societies. Any one of them can host an event or a forum (virtual these days), either inviting Scott or ignoring him.
The reason it’s safe to assume that it’s not too early for campaign events is that there have already been at least three – one among candidates for governor, two for the lieutenant governor contenders. But these were the Democrats. There are no Republican events scheduled yet.
The primary is Aug. 11. Not exactly around the corner, but not that far away, either, close enough that it would not be unusual for political or news organizations to schedule debates. But whoever wants to schedule one among the GOP candidates for governor will have to expect no response from the Phil Scott campaign.
If there is a Phil Scott campaign. Something with that name filed the required financial disclosure statement in March with the Secretary of State’s Office, reporting more than $72,000 in contributions and more than $82,000 in expenses since September.
But there is no campaign website, physical office, telephone number or email address. Asked for a comment on Scott’s refusal to campaign, Rebecca Kelley, the governor’s communications director, said she couldn’t say anything because she worked for the governor’s office, not the campaign.
So who works for the campaign?
Nobody. Not only is there no office, phone number, or website, there are no employees. Five months before Election Day, and the incumbent’s campaign has no staff.
At this point, it may not need one. Scott’s primary opponents (Klar and Peters, for those who’ve already forgotten, having never heard the names before) are hardly a threat. Klar filed a financial disclosure, too. He’s raised $6,925. Peters did not file.
Besides, no one need doubt that there is a Scott staff – if not a small but potent Scott army – ready to emerge at the governor’s pleasure, leaving positons in business, politics and government to create an imposing campaign organization.
What’s interesting here – if, again, not at all outrageous – is first that the situation illustrates that campaigns have no authoritative opening day. No official with a starter’s pistol makes sure that all the contenders get going at the same time. It’s up to the candidates, perhaps with some pressure from pressure groups and the press.
It’s also another reason to keep in mind that once the pandemic ends it will be vital to take back the special powers granted to government officials.
Scott is not abusing his power by staying off the campaign trail. There’s no law that says candidates have to start making speeches and appearing alongside their competitors at a certain date. He’s just taking advantage of a peculiar set of circumstances, because dealing with the pandemic is his first responsibility, but perhaps also because it’s in his immediate political interest.
The less often it’s in anyone’s political interest to have the sole authority to make decisions, the better.