ANALYSIS:

What Was Gov. Douglas's

Speech All About?

By M. D. Drysdale

ov. Jim Douglas' "State of the State" speech to the legislature last Thursday was a bit of an odd one.

Douglas, a Republican, was facing a legislature that is the most Democratic the state has ever had after a campaign that had identified the key issues of the next two years as school funding, affordability, and energy.

In all three of these issues, the governor and the legislature are expected to hold widely divergent views, and because of this, not much important legislation is expected in this first year.

In his "State of the State" speech, Douglas was expected to lay out his position on school funding and energy and to continue to stress his "affordability agenda" that has proven so popular in Vermont—at least as a slogan.

Douglas, however, spoke hardly at all about school funding, to which he gave three paragraphs, or affordability, offering only two paragraphs devoted to housing. He said virtually nothing about the big energy choices that confront the state. Nor did he once mention the phrase "Promise Scholarship" which was his Big Idea in 2006, over which he threatened to hold up legislative action last May.

Instead, Gov. Douglas devoted most of his speech to a glossy vision of a newly technological Vermont. He described a package of ideas he called the "Vermont Way Forward," certainly not the catchiest of titles.

Douglas’ dream was of a Vermont as "the nation’s first true e-state," where broadband and cellular coverage will be available as a matter of course in every nook and cranny of our multi-crannied state, where every time and every place you switch on a computer or cell phone, the riches of 21^st century technology will flow to you unimpeded.

This would be an obvious draw to technologically advanced companies and people, and as second part of Douglas’ dream is a state bursting with technologically advanced companies. Especially, he foresees vigorous companies clustered in the field of environmental leadership and engineering. Vermont’s environmental record, which Douglas pledged to enhance (minimally) by encouraging bio-fuels and hybrid cars—would attract firms and entrepreneurs hankering to develop and manufacture products to fight air pollution, hazardous materials, and water contamination, an economic field where the "global demand … is large and growing," he assured the legislature.

To help Vermonters take advantage of these companies, Douglas envisioned more high-tech and science oriented education.

What's Up?

What’s going on here? Why such a high-falutin’ and utopian speech from our low-key, details-oriented governor? Why so little mention of the nitty-gritty issues that the legislature is expected to take up? Several reasons come to mind.

• The vision thing. Like last year’s Promise Scholarships, the Vermont Way Forward may be an attempt to show that Jim Douglas has what the elder President Bush once famously called "the vision thing." Any ambitious politician wants to be remembered for more than producing balanced budgets, efficient government and good working conditions for his minions. Douglas is no exception.

• The political thing. Douglas, canny as ever, confounded Democrats and got great press for a speech in which he talked about global warming, hybrid cars, universal broadband access, exciting new jobs in sectors, and making an economic asset of Vermont’s environmental traditions. None of the Democrats’ prepared rebuttals were of any use. Douglas wasn’t talking like an obstructionist, he was talking like a leader, and on such unexpected topics that no critical rejoinders were at the ready.

• The progress thing. Good politics may also be good policy. While it was politically wise for Douglas not to wade into the most contentious issues of the day, it was also good for the Vermont dialogue. Those contentious issues will surely come up, over and over again, and some familiar battle lines will be formed— school costs, taxes and tax equity, affordable housing, alternative power sources, utility regulation, land use regulation, and the rest of it. Because of the huge political divide between the governor and the legislature, stalemate may be a frequent result.

A Constructive Road

Thus, Gov. Douglas, who is politically sharp but not cynical, may have thought it useful to have a discussion about issues where political positions are not hardened and where a progressive consensus can be formed, for the betterment of Vermont and its people. It may be the only chance for both the governor and the legislature to work together and achieve something worth bragging about in 2007.

After all, The Vermont Way, despite its sloganistic title, is an attractive vision—or a set of visions which fit together pretty well. A highly educated state empowered by the most modern communications, with an identifiable economic specialty (comparable to California's Silicon Valley), that is linked to its own magnificent and well-cared for environment, would both benefit its own citizens and also attract bright, energetic people from elsewhere. It’s a dream worth dreaming.

It’s an advantage that Douglas unveiled a set of proposals, not a single proposal like the Challenge scholarships, that can either be voted up or down. This time Democrats, if they and the governor are willing, can take equal ownership of the vision, and truly work together to round up a variety of initiatives that point in the same direction.

If they can do this, despite the huge political divide in Montpelier, there will be political benefits for all the pols, and economic and social benefits for the rest of us.