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July 2008
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Eyes of Ceres:
The Do Nothing State House
Governor Jim Douglas is touring the state inviting Vermonters to speak with him about how the Democratic-controlled Legislature isn't listening to him. His "Accountability Forums" have seemingly only been scheduled in districts he carried by wide margins (except for Springfield, which is the closest to Brattleboro it seems that he likes to go). These events could be dismissed as naked political posturing - on cue, some Democrats have responded by sniping that Douglas shouldn't run for office on taxpayer dollars, which is what they say every time the governor kicks them in the teeth, and they beg him not to do it anymore - except for the part where Douglas' accusations of a do-nothing Assembly happen to be true.
The single largest issue about which the Democrats made a hoopla at start of session, on which they promised to do much and have delivered nothing, is global warming. The Democrats, you may remember, were the party that insisted, over strong gubernatorial and some public objection, to hold four consecutive weeks of hearings just on the theory of global warming so they could really understand just what needed to be done.
Apparently, what the Dems concluded was necessary was a launch party for the Shumlin-for-Governor campaign, with ceremonial backing from media darling and climate change scholar Bill McKibben. What did not need to happen, it seems, was any legislation making significant investments in renewable energy or in energy efficiency. Those bills - H.520 and S.94 respectively - remain mired in the three money committees, two of which are chaired by powerful women, namely Senators Susan Bartlett (D-Lamoille) and Ann Cummings (D-Washington). Bartlett has gone from last year's showdown with Douglas to a détente almost as abrupt as President Bush's policy turnaround on North Korea: both oppose a one percent gross receipts tax on the state's oil and propane companies. In private, dealers are clear that they couldn't care less about a one percent tax. They object to being forced to pay someone else to teach their customers how to use less of their product, which is the same argument electric utilities made
when Efficiency Vermont was created in 2000.
S.94 would create a first-in-the-nation utility for improving the thermal efficiency of commercial and residential buildings by expanding the purview of Efficiency Vermont beyond electricity. But, at just a word of displeasure from the governor, Senate leadership (include Cummings, who was an original sponsor of the bill) stands ready to cut all funding for the program, reducing it to a glorified study overseen by the already-toothless-in-this-area Public Service Board (PSB). Toothless, because the board is set up expressly to oversee Vermont's regulated utilities - telecom and electricity, whereas heating fuel suppliers remain completely unregulated. Which means that the PSB, as a judicial body only allowed to regulate that which is already regulated, cannot possibly tax fuel. The Board made this point to the Legislature, which is ignoring that minor detail out of what appears a terminal fear of the governor.
As for H.520 - which has already been neutered from the initial proposal to get 40 percent of the state's electricity from renewable sources by 2018, to a mere 25 percent by 2025 (only 10 percent more than now) - it just can't seem to snag the attention of House Ways and Means Chairman Michael Obuchowski (D-Rockingham) enough for a day or so of testimony on his party's so-called number one priority.
Another issue that readers may remember as a favorite soapbox topic of Democratic leadership over the past few years is healthcare reform. The governor, ever wilier than the haplessly process-prone Democrats, swiped victory on healthcare last year - complete with full page cow field photo courtesy of AARP, which included Douglas in a group of ten, "extraordinary people who have made the world a better place through their innovative thinking, passion and perseverance" on the issue of healthcare reform, for signing a bill he fought vociferously to destroy for two years.
But after swearing up/down/left/right to advocates that last year's bill was only a first step, the Democrats so far have managed to pass nothing. The House Health Care Committee has spent an enormous amount of time debating a series of technical amendments to Catamount that have decided nothing significantly more complicated than that uninsured people are, in fact, without insurance and that insuring them will, in fact, require someone to offer them insurance. Ye of the multi-thousand dollar deductibles may rest assured, this does not include you.
The Senate, meanwhile, has managed to pass a bold and daring prescription drug bill, courtesy of Senator Doug Racine (D-Chittenden), and written predominantly by large pharmaceutical companies. Not surprisingly, Big Pharma (via Racine's committee, Senate Health and Welfare) chose to exclude such shocking and controversial elements as a ban on pharmaceutical companies buying individual prescription drug histories from physicians, and then selling those records to other pharmaceutical companies in order to better market their wares to you and your doctor.
And finally, since we don't want the governor holding any accountability forums about us, it does bear mentioning that many voters stressed both property taxes and school funding in the last campaign and both have received substantial legislative interest, if not yet firm action, so far this year. It is on this point that the governor scores the most points for honesty. The Democrats' own actions on education spending have been marked by meek listlessness at best and a determined attempt to do nothing at worst. Their current line seems to go something like, "Well, we passed school budgets this year, so what's the problem?"
The truth is, only a handful more school budgets passed this March than in the previous two, and many of them continue to pass by just slim margins. The problem for Democrats is that, while (rightfully) blaming No Child Left Behind and unfunded federal mandates makes for good sound bites, neither are problems they can actually fix. Nor are they issues that our brave and newly elected Democratic majority in Congress is likely to take up soon, what with their being distracted by equally toothless resolutions promising that they might, one day, really, swear to god, stop paying for the war, maybe, if people don't get too mad at them.
The refrain in the State House by Democrats is that bold action will draw vetoes from the governor, which will make them look foolish and unelectable, meaning that they might lose their veto-proof majority. As Alanis Morrisette once sang, Isn't it ironic, don't you think? And as every grammarian has grumbled since, No, actually, it isn't.
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Vermont Woman is a forum for news, issues, features, arts and entertainment from the perspective, experience, and voices of Vermont women. Vermont Woman is a monthly newspaper published in South Burlington, Vermont and is excerpted here on this site. All content ©Copyright 2006, Vermont Woman Publishing |
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