The Deeper Dig is a biweekly podcast from the VTDigger newsroom, hosted and produced by Sam Gale Rosen. Listen below, and subscribe on Apple Podcasts, Google Play, Spotify or anywhere you listen to podcasts.
If you’re on this website, you’ve probably read a lot of the work of reporter Sarah Mearhoff. She covers politics for VTDigger, and, especially when the Legislature is in session, is a close watcher of every aspect of state government.
That means that she spends a lot of time in the Vermont Statehouse, the home of the state Legislature and the backdrop for an enormous amount of highly consequential sausage-making.
In this episode of Deeper Dig podcast, Sarah took me and photographer Glenn Russell — another Statehouse expert — on a tour of the Capitol. We talked about architecture, operations, the job of a reporter and — most of all — carpet patterns.
Below is a partial transcript, edited for length and clarity.
Sarah Mearhoff: My name is Sarah. I cover politics for VTDigger. I’ve been in this job since October of 2021. And I’ve covered politics in Pennsylvania, New York, Mississippi, South Dakota, Minnesota, a brief stint covering Congress as an intern and … here!
Sam Gale Rosen: How much of your job takes place in this building?
Sarah: During session, I mean, really all of it, right? They’re typically in this building from Tuesday through Friday, and that’s when I’m here for the most part. Unless I can’t drive here because of the snow. I call my car a tin can on wheels and it doesn’t handle snow … very well.
Sam: The building Sarah is talking about is the Vermont Statehouse, where she expertly covers state politics. We decided to tap into her knowledge about the building and its operations, and she was kind enough to give me a tour recently. We journeyed into the Statehouse after the legislative session ended, so you won’t hear as much activity as you typically would.
Sarah: So we’re here right now in the Vermont House chamber. On the ground, you can see this very ornate red and gold and chocolate brown carpeting. The carpeting throughout the building was painstakingly replicated from historic originals during a Statehouse renovation numerous years ago. And so the carpets, you’ll notice they’re all different patterns, are all very ornate and lovely. I think my favorite is in the governor’s ceremonial office. We’ll get there. It’s a very loud print.
Sam: One thing you’re going to pick up on here is that Sarah really likes carpets.
Sarah: But here in the House chamber — I’m trying to describe it — you’ve got like this incredible carved ceiling, this amazing floral medallion up at the top, huge chandelier. Behind the speaker’s dais is a gimongous portrait of George Washington. And during a fire that took one of the old renditions of the Vermont Statehouse — there have been multiple fires, there have been multiple statehouses — the people of Montpelier saved that giant George Washington portrait. They deemed that worthy of saving. So here it is, above the speaker’s dais. The House has 150 members. And so in this room, you see all of these wooden desks in orderly lines, and at the front of the room you’ll see these tufted crimson chairs, and that is where, when there is a joint session, 30 senators, there’s so much pomp and circumstance, you know. They walk in in an orderly line before a joint session, and that’s where the senators sit. Because it’s the upper chamber. They’re important. And that’s the House.
Sam: If you’re covering something that’s going on here, where are you?
Sarah: OK, so I would be up in the gallery where anyone can watch a House session — I mean, it’s open — including the press. There’s a little press area that’s been kind of designated just by some literal 8-by-11 printout sheets of paper that say “media.” And so that’s like the media box. But it’s kind of a self-fulfilled prophecy. That’s our little hangout area where we tend to be. We don’t have a press filing room in this Statehouse. This is actually the hill that I will die on; I think we should have a filing room.
Sam: Are there rules you have to follow while you’re up in your little box?
Sarah: You’re not supposed to eat or drink. This rule has been tested. I have personally — you know, during some of the very long floor sessions — I’ve been known to bring in some Cheez-Its or trail mix, perhaps a protein bar and coffee. I probably shouldn’t be saying this on the record. Really testing my luck here. Now the House is a little bit more lax. In the Senate, we have Senate Secretary John Bloomer, who is a stickler for the rules. He’s a man of tradition, and he cares a lot. You could just end the sentence there. John Bloomer cares a lot. He really cares about the rules of the Senate, one of them being no food or drink, including water. You can’t drink water in the Senate chamber unless you have a doctor’s note saying why you need to drink water.
They also use specific cups. Because they need to be small enough that if there’s a spill, it won’t, you know, you can’t have like a 32-ounce Nalgene going on in there, in case there is spillage, so they have these tiny little cups and the cups can’t have any logos on them because you can’t have any logos in the Senate chamber. So no logos, no stickers, no electronics. That’s another biggie. Technically, reporters are able to take notes on our laptops and we can record.
Sam: It’s a good thing I’m not using any electronics right now.
Sarah: We’re in the House, chill. We’re good. We’re just hanging in the House right now.
Glenn Russell: The secretary’s desk is covered in technology. Some of the clerks have up to five screens in front of them during the Senate’s business … but no electronics.
Sarah: The hypocrisy of government.
Sam: That’s Glenn Russell, VTDigger’s master photographer and himself an old Statehouse hand. You can see some of the pictures he took during our tour on VTDigger.org.
Sarah: When you walk out of that House chamber, you’re in this hall with really tall ceilings, giant windows, red velvet curtains. And this tends to be where lobbyists hang around because they can catch them when legislators are coming out of the House chamber or the Senate chamber. And also reporters too, we lurk, you know, we try to pounce when necessary.
We should talk about this. So this is a portrait of Gov. Peter Shumlin, Democrat, ’11 to ’17. And for those familiar with political portraits, this is actually modeled after a very famous portrait of John F. Kennedy, and the whole Capitol’s filled with portraits of the governors. And they actually commissioned them themselves and, you know, they’re part of the design process, if you will. And I’ve heard from more than a couple people that there are some capital ‘F’ feelings about Shumlin modeling his portrait after John F. Kennedy.
Sam: And that’s the sort of characteristic arms crossed, head slightly bowed …
Sarah: Contemplative, deep in thought. Yeah. He was thinking about something all right.
OK, so now we’re at the governor’s ceremonial office. This is where the governor will have his weekly press conferences during the legislative session. It’s also where he’ll hold signing ceremonies, sign bills, all that sort of thing. It’s kind of like, I mean, technically the governor’s office is mainly located in the pavilion building down the street from the Capitol, but this is the fancy office, right? I mean, you can see it’s very ornate again, with the carved ceilings, the crown molding. This is my favorite carpet, this carpet.
I like how you point the microphone …
Sam: I just pointed the microphone so the listeners could hear the carpet.
Sarah: It is loud! Visually.
It’s like this bright scarlet red with almost this like folksy pattern of different medallions with blue and white florals. It’s great. I’m into it. I would buy a throw pillow with this pattern, wouldn’t you?
Also, it’s kind of hard to see for listeners, we’re outside of the office looking in. It’s like a metaphor. It’s roped off right now. We can’t go inside. But on the governor’s big lovely desk is a lamp with a nude woman. And apparently this has been controversial over the years. Some governors have put like little doll clothes on the nude lady. Because it offends their sensibilities.
Sam: Which seems so much worse.
Sarah: Yeah, right. It can’t just like vibe and exists there. Like you have to … kind of shows that you’re thinking about it. You know? If anyone’s curious. The lady is not clothed right now. There she is in the buff. Au natural. Proud. And that’s the governor’s ceremonial office.
Oh, another fun fact. Actually, that I forgot. It’s really hard to see. There’s a secret door. See it back there? It’s like flush with the wall. And that supposedly was like a secret exit. Used in years past if the governor wanted to boogie out in a jiffy.
Glenn: Do you know where the other door is?
Sarah: I thought it’s a bathroom now, am I wrong?
Glenn: We’re in the Cedar Creek room now. Which backs into the governor’s office.
Sarah: And the Cedar Creek room is — I think Glenn, would you agree, that a lot of people would call this like the pride and joy of the Statehouse? It’s done very historically accurately. Again, with the ornate carpets, we’ve got pinks and cobalt blues and sage greens and hunter greens and Burgundies like going on in this very intense pattern. Great rug. Again, really into the rugs if you can’t tell. Dark green, olive green velvet curtains. We’ve got this mauve paint on the walls with this very, very ornate stenciling that was painstakingly done to replicate the original. And then we’ve got the stained glass in the ceiling with the gold foil.
Now, the mainstay is this absolutely enormous painting of the battle at Cedar Creek, which is a Civil War battle that the Vermont brigade fought in and it was considered kind of a turning point of the war.
And the Cedar Creek room is a big hub of activity also, during the legislative session, there are press conferences that happen here, mingling, sometimes there’s food in here.
Sam: Where would you say is — maybe there’s more than one place — where a lot of dealmaking goes on?
Sarah: Oh, the cafeteria, obviously. We can go there.
We can walk through a hallway
So now we’re in the cafeteria, where the action really happens, you know. It’s the cafeteria. It’s new-ish, compared to the rest of the building for sure. I don’t remember exactly what year that it was built. This is where the sausage gets made — literally and figuratively, you know?
Sam: Do you have recommendations of what to order?
Sarah: I tend to do a sandwich because you can customize it, you know, they’ll make what you want. Nothing against the daily specials, but I’m a big sandwich girl, especially for lunchtime, I want something light. And a Diet Coke is my beverage of choice in this building. What about you, Glenn? What do you order for lunch?
Glenn: I have recently been drinking switchel. Switchel is maple sap. A little bit of ginger, a little bit of vinegar and a little bit of what else is in there? So it’s an old-timey farmhands drink.
Sam: Like old-timey haymaking.
Glenn: Haymaking drink, yeah, so they have that here.
Sarah: And they sell it in cans?
Bryant Palmer: It’s super refreshing.
Sarah: Is it?
Bryant: Oh yeah.
Sarah: Is it bubbly?
Bryant: Oh yeah. It’s a long New England tradition.
Bryant: Like, have you ever done a shot of maple syrup?
Sarah: Not to quench thirst! Unless it’s a thirst for maple syrup! You know? Am I wrong?
Bryant: We just wanted to know where you were coming from, you know?
Unidentified: Leaves you wanting more!
Sarah: I feel like I’m going to be ousted as a Vermonter after this. This is the unraveling of my career.
Bryant: They are very refreshing. I encourage you to try one, maybe not here, but certainly at a local store, maybe the co-op if they carry it. Really refreshing.
Sarah: That was Chef Bryant. Of the cafeteria. He’s the chef. He makes the food.
Glenn: Sorry, I was just moving because there’s nothing for me to take pictures of, so naturally I lose interest.
Sarah: That’s visual man.
Glenn: Do you wanna poke into a committee room?
Sarah: We can poke.
Glenn: I don’t know if they’re locked or not. Hello?
Sarah: Wouldn’t be very open to the public if it were locked.
Glenn: This is the House Judiciary Committee. Notice the pictures on the walls? You know, so all these change every year.
Sarah: I spent a lot of time in this room, House Judiciary Committee. We’ve got like a, you wouldn’t call this a mint blue on the walls. What would you call this? Colonial blue? Perhaps?
Sam: So this is not a huge room. And there’s a pretty big table in the middle. So if the committee is meeting here, and there are a bunch of journalists, are they all just sort of pressed up against the wall all around?
Sarah: Pretty much, yeah.
Glenn: With big bills, standing room only. Many lobbyists just spend a lot of time in the committee rooms just keeping track of their clients’ bills.
Sarah: And from what I hear it was even more crowded pre-pandemic, now they started streaming online. And so a lot of lobbyists, actually that’s how they tune in, but you still see them lurking around for sure.
Sam: I asked you before about where deals get made, is the answer the same if you’re talking about where journalists sort of accost lawmakers, or try to pin them down?
Sarah: I guess that depends on the time of day, and it depends on the lawmaker because you have to learn the patterns of these 180 individuals’ habits and behaviors. So some lawmakers are reliably hanging out in the cafeteria. Some lawmakers go out to lunch, so you gotta kind of know that. Some lawmakers you got to get them right when they’re coming off the floor — stick the recorder right in their face. Some of them, you lurk in their committee rooms until they have a break. For the few that have offices — like the Senate President Pro Tem has his own office, so does the speaker — you can hang out outside their office. So it kind of depends on the individual.
Sam: This is all mental, I assume. Like you don’t have a chart or …
Sarah: I keep it all up here. Yeah, I don’t have a chart.
This is another great portrait here.
This is former Gov. Howard Dean, former presidential candidate Howard Dean. I’m really gonna paint this picture for you all. We’ve got Howard Dean in what looks like an L.L. Bean chamois shirt, if we’re being specific about it, buttoned down, double pocket in a mid-tone blue color, which actually matches almost perfectly with the lake behind him. And he’s got these hiking boots on, and the Vermont fall foliage behind him. He’s sitting on the shore of a rocking lake with his canoe by his side.
I so wish I came up with this, but I cannot take credit. This portrait has been nicknamed L.L. Dean. It’s pretty great.
Sam: Sarah showed me a lot more than I can fit in this podcast, but before we left, I asked her if she had any closing thoughts about the Statehouse and what she does there.
Sarah: To have a job where you get to work in a building like this on a daily basis is just neat. My first foray into state politics coverage was an internship that I had in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, which is where I’m from. And, again, sounds so cheesy, but one day, one of the reporters for the Allentown Morning Call told me my assignment for the afternoon was just to go sit in in the halls and like, look up and walk around and look at the paintings and look at the ornate architecture and furnishings and everything. It’s just something very cool and something to be grateful for and is a lovely living history. This building’s also used and abused — I mean, people are obviously careful, no water in the Senate, etc. But it’s not like it’s here and sterile and just sitting here. Hundreds of people are in and out of this building at a time. So it’s cool.
