There’s a “magnetic” charisma in some politicians that’s similar to that of a movie star, said Rep. John O’Brien, D-Tunbridge, between meetings of the House Agriculture Committee Thursday.
“Fred Tuttle had that,” he said.
This week marks the 30th anniversary of the 1996 Vermont cult classic “Man With a Plan,” a film that chronicles the fictional adventures of real-life Orange County dairy farmer Fred Tuttle, who in the film wins an unlikely bid for U.S. Congress by a single vote.
“Vermont’s the kind of place where anybody could win a race,” O’Brien said.
In an astounding turn of events, Tuttle joined and won an actual U.S. Senate primary two years later at O’Brien’s urging, defeating Republican millionaire Jack McMullen in a financially unbalanced contest. The result followed a famous Vermont Public Radio debate in which Tuttle challenged his adversary to pronounce “Calais,” and state the number of teats on a Holstein. He later campaigned on behalf of his nominal opponent in the general election, former U.S. Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt.
But as intended, the audacious political maneuver brought new eyes to O’Brien’s project.
“Man With a Plan” garnered national media attention and late-night TV appearances, in addition to becoming what O’Brien called a “cult hit” locally.
Senate President Pro Tempore Sen. Phil Baruth, D/P-Chittenden Central, has taught about both the film and Tuttle’s win over McMullen in his classes at the University of Vermont. A biographer of Leahy, Baruth published a standalone piece on Tuttle’s Senate race against — or alongside — Vermont’s longest-serving senator in VTDigger a decade ago.
“They were an unmatched combination,” Baruth said of Tuttle and O’Brien in an interview on Thursday, adding that it’s one of the state’s best-selling films.
He called the movie a “signal moment” for political perceptions of Vermont.
“We are respectful of the land, we love our farmers, we can’t be bought, and we produce great art,” Baruth said.
It’s not lost on O’Brien that the film’s themes are painfully familiar to today’s lawmakers. In “Man With a Plan,” Tuttle, who died at 84 in 2003, initially eyes a job in Congress primarily for its salary, which would pay for his father’s hip replacement.
“You can’t afford health care, dairy farms are going out of business … Fred’s taking care of his 98-year-old father,” O’Brien said. “All those issues are very relevant today.”
A generational gap is beginning to show in Vermonters’ awareness of the film, but demand for O’Brien’s work continues nonetheless. Several Vermont organizations and theaters have been in touch recently about screening “Man With a Plan,” particularly in view of the upcoming election season, he said.
“At the same time, if I asked every page,” he said, “I bet none of them would know who Fred Tuttle is.”
— Theo Wells-Spackman
In the know
Gov. Phil Scott announced Thursday he was officially appointing Jon Murad as commissioner of the Vermont Department of Corrections. Murad, the former top cop in Burlington, has been serving as interim corrections commissioner since this summer.
“In his time as interim commissioner, Jon has shown a strong commitment to making improvements at the Department of Corrections,” Scott said in a press release.
— Ethan Weinstein
Testimony grew contentious Thursday in the House Health Care Committee as legislators heard from Department of Mental Health Commissioner Emily Hawes on a bill that would expand which health care providers can certify a patient as needing an emergency mental health evaluation in a hospital.
Currently, a physician or an advanced practice registered nurse can evaluate a patient and sign the paperwork needed to keep a patient in the hospital for a second evaluation by a psychiatrist. The psychiatrist’s evaluation can then move the patient along to voluntary treatment or the longer, formal court process required for involuntary treatment.
Proponents of the bill, H.573, say the limited types of professionals who can certify these first examinations causes a bottleneck, and they want to add physician assistants to the list of those eligible to do a first evaluation.
In a Feb. 18 email to the Health Care Committee, Hawes wrote that the department “would support including (physician assistants) as eligible,” adding that the department would make sure that the PAs have adequate knowledge to complete the first evaluations.
Thursday, however, Hawes voiced opposition, saying the department “respectfully urges the committee to reconsider.” The department “does not support this expansion,” she added.
Hawes cited concerns that the change could drive further disparity between how hospitals treat mental health conditions and physical health care needs. She voiced a concern about infringing on a patient’s rights by subjecting them to an involuntary stay without approval from the most qualified professionals.
“I’m confounded,” said Rep. Alyssa Black, D-Essex Town, who chairs the committee.
“You and I have had this conversation before,” she added, saying that patients deserve access and immediacy in care. “I find it cruel that we would make someone sit in an emergency department through a night shift waiting for a physician to get in.”
Rep. Daisy Berbeco, D-Winooski, who sponsored the bill, joined Black in expressing her frustration at the department’s pivot: “To receive testimony like you just gave to me is incredibly insulting,” she said to Hawes.
— Olivia Gieger
Education Secretary Zoie Saunders spoke to the House Commerce and Economic Development Committee Thursday about her agency’s plan for modernizing and centralizing oversight of the state’s technical education center network.
“Too many students miss that early exposure” to career and technical curricula, she said.
Transportation issues have limited participation at many centers, Saunders said, and high schools have not always treated such programs consistently when awarding credit toward graduation. Some districts have also reported long waitlists, she added, while others have space available.
Saunders’ plan would seek to rectify those access issues and facilitate better cooperation, she said, among other reforms.
Under the Scott administration’s proposal, a new Career Technical Education Education Service Agency would govern and operate the state’s tech centers, financing them through a new appropriation. The agency could also use a per-student formula model of the kind described in last year’s education transformation law, Saunders added.
Lawmakers agreed that the system needed adjustments, but several expressed concerns about maintaining local control over tech centers and making the most of the current regional advisory structure.
“I could imagine other ways of achieving some of the goals that you have,” said Rep. Herb Olson, D-Starksboro.
Committee chair Rep. Michael Marcotte, R-Coventry, also said after the meeting that he was “struggling” to make progress with an initiative focused on tech centers given ongoing uncertainty surrounding the state’s education finance reforms.
— Theo Wells-Spackman
More than a dozen state attorneys general filed a lawsuit Tuesday against the federal Department of Health and Human Services, over its loosened vaccine recommendations. Vermont’s attorney general was not among them, though not without careful consideration and consultation with the Vermont Department of Health, said Amelia Vath, a spokesperson for Attorney General Charity Clark.
Vermont is already working to insulate itself from shifts in the availability and cost of vaccinations, Vath said in a statement. “Given the uncertainty regarding direct harm to Vermont from the changes, we decided it would be most prudent to not join the lawsuit.”
— Olivia Gieger
On the move
The Senate advanced a bill Thursday that would pilot a regional government council in Windham County tasked with bolstering police and other emergency response services there. The council would be made up of local officials from no fewer than five towns and have the power to levy assessments on those communities — proportional to their populations — to pay for services. Policing would be provided by the Windham County Sheriff’s Office, according to the bill, S.255.
The chamber’s Windham County delegation, who sponsored the bill, said on the floor that vast swaths of the county have little reliable police service today, in part because the Vermont State Police is stretched thin in the area. The council would use its resources, drawn from the group of participating towns, to figure out how best to plug the gaps, they said. Plans are for the council to sunset by the end of 2033.
At least one senator, Addison County Democrat Ruth Hardy, had concerns that the proposal would shift more power into the sheriff’s hands without imposing additional accountability measures. Hardy proposed an amendment that would have created new reporting requirements for sheriffs across the state and some new stipulations on how they can do their jobs, designed to build on the sheriff reforms enacted in 2023, she said.
Her proposal was voted down, however. The underlying bill advanced to third reading, and it’s now set for senators’ final approval on Friday. After that, it would head to the House.
— Shaun Robinson
Department of corrections
Due to an editing error, yesterday’s newsletter included an incorrect photo caption. It was a picture of a posted sign.
