This commentary is by Ralph W. Wright, a Democrat from Bennington who was speaker of the Vermont House of Representatives for 10 years. His book is titled “Inside the Statehouse: Lessons from the Speaker.”
— An introduction: I have written a small tribute to Phil Hoff. Perhaps you would consider publishing it. I knew Phil for better than half a century and marveled at his unfailing and unflinching commitment to those less fortunate. His concern for the poor, the elderly, and the sick among us never got knocked aside by peripheral considerations (read here: politics). I just thought folks should be aware of just how important he was in creating the Vermont we all love.
There ought to be a statue for Phil Hoff, sitting right next to Ethan Allen on the Capitol steps — or better still, maybe on Church Street in Burlington.
Going back over his six-year record as governor, it’s amazing what he accomplished. Just mentioning that he was the first Democrat elected to the governor’s office since old John Robinson rode his steed to the Capitol in 1853 sets you back, wondering, “Who was this guy?”
The answer to that pretty much should place him among the most brazen of the 81 Vermonters who ran and won the office.
His upset of the “kid governor,” Ray Keyser, came in the early morning hours when Winooski finally filed its results. The small enclave of Democratic Vermonters had given Hoff all but 188 of it over 2,000 votes. Winooski, the town with the funny-sounding name, had crowned a king — “King Philip.”
Vermonters had never seen anything like it. This one-term House legislator had defeated not just any random or ordinary opponent, not just any embalmed incumbent, but the youngest governor ever to serve in Vermont. And, my Lord, this so-called “King Philip” — well, he wasn’t just a Democrat. He was one of those fuzzy-headed, downcountry, dopey do-gooder liberal-type Democrats.
And mind you, Hoff was no “library liberal.” He was for real — and to their (you know who I’m referring to) chagrin, they would realize too late that they had shockingly underestimated the young and handsome man who had acquired the disparaging tag of “flatlander.”
He was a “flatlander” all right — one who had been a hometown football hero down in little Turner Falls, Mass.; served two years in the Pacific in a submarine, chasing and more than often hiding from Japanese destroyers (think about that for a moment); came out and worked his way through Williams College, later getting a law degree.
So, flatlander, or not, he had brains, brawn and brass, and that’s a winning combo in almost any field — especially government.
What Hoff accomplished
So here’s a not-quite-complete list of legislative accomplishments Gov. Hoff oversaw during his six years in Montpelier. You be the judge.
- Created the Vermont Student Assistance Corp.
- Abolished the poll tax.
- Made the Fish & Game Department independent.
- Began the process of regionalizing public schools.
- Reapportioned the House of Representatives (reduced in size from 246 to 150, and that had to be all-out war).
- Created the Legislative Council.
- Eliminated the death penalty (except for the killing of a cop) long before anyone.
- Uttered “Blue Lives Matter.”
- Revised the court system, regional airports and libraries.
- Created the Vermont Council on the Arts.
- Revised the welfare system, shifting 246 town overseers of the poor to the state.
- Joined with Mayor John Lindsay in creating the New York /Vermont Youth program — a summer exchange program that brought 600 Black students from New York City. It nearly doubled the black population in Vermont and in so doing ripped the scab off the underlying racism that existed, causing everlasting damage to the young governor’s political prestige. (Disclosure: I was director of an Upward Bound program at St. Johnsbury Academy at the time and the governor talked me into taking 30 of the kids from the Bronx. One still has my watch.)
- Condemned the state police conduct in the Irasburg Affair.
- Signed into law the Human Rights Commission.
- Appointed a Governor’s Commission on Women.
- Created Vermont’s ETV.
- Transformed the state college “normal” schools in the State College system.
- Signed into law two bills that would render false the Vermont reputation of having more cows than people — the refrigerated tank/cement floor bills.
- Was the first governor to come out against the war in Vietnam.
- Was the first governor to publicly oppose the reelection of Lyndon Johnson.
He had his failures and flaws.
His effort to create a nonprofit corporation to import and sell Canadian hydropower never passed. (Still hasn’t.)
He lost to Winston Prouty in 1970, mainly for the inability to overcome the racial backlash over the New York/Vermont Youth Program — but not solely, as he admitted publicly smack in the middle of his campaign that he had a drinking problem (and raise your hand if you think that’s a good idea politically); which, by the way, he dealt with successfully the last five decades of his life.
No matter where you land party-wise, it’s a reach denying he was special.
A brief story
Just a brief story that tells you all you need to know about just how committed Phil Hoff was to those less advantaged.
While attending the annual potluck supper for Bennington’s low-income advocacy group back in the 1980s, I was more than a little surprised to see Phil Hoff walk through the door of the sparsely attended event — unannounced.
It was a long way from Burlington, especially on a weekday night, and I assumed he had been invited.
“Are you the guest speaker, Phil?”
“No, not that I am aware.”
“Then what on earth are you doing here?”
“Well, they were by my side when I needed them and I haven’t forgotten.”