(HOST) Lawmakers are back in Montpelier on Wednesday for a special veto session. Longtime political observer Chris Graff says the divisive rhetoric around the two vetoed bills are a disservice to the process:
(GRAFF) Howard Dean reveled in hyperbole. His loose lips were too often his own worst enemy.
He once questioned a decision of the state Supreme Court by asking, “Who appointed them God?” and he once likened the Legislature to a zoo.
Such comments, though, can carry a destructive power: They breed the cynicism that is too commonplace in our view of public life today.
Lawmakers are back in Montpelier today for the veto session, and again we’re hearing language that is far too extreme.
Peter Shumlin, the president pro tem of the Senate, is quoted as saying that Governor Jim Douglas is a “cross between George Bush and Dick Cheney in the public’s eyes.”
Those are damning words. Bush and Cheney are in a league of their own. But too often in the past year we have seen the governor and legislative leaders move too quickly to Washington-type rhetorical excesses, in which the focus is on the politics of personal destruction.
But that is not Vermont. And that’s not what Vermonters want.
They want a government that works – and leaders who work together.
I think most Vermonters are incredibly proud that our state’s U.S. House race last year was the only contest for an open congressional seat in which not a single negative advertisement was aired. Not one.
Yes, our state government is divided – but it doesn’t have to be divisive.
There are legitimate differences of opinion over the energy and campaign finance bills. A good starting point for both sides would have been to recognize that – and respect each other’s opinion. Instead we’ve had two months of increasingly bitter back and forth, to the point that no matter what happens today, everyone will be left with a bad taste in their mouths.
The sense we have been getting over the past two months is that both the governor and the Democratic leaders gave up on each other – and have focused instead on getting in position for next year’s elections.
And that’s not good for anyone.
Chris Graff is a former journalist and still closely observes of Statehouse politics.