By Paul Bean
Speaking to about 50 Republicans last Saturday in Rutland, former Gov. Jim Douglas reflected on his hopes for Vermont’s future, drawing on the lessons of his own political career.
“Even with a Democratic Governor Tom Salmon, we were able to prevail on a lot of issues and votes and work with the Governor to find common ground,” said Douglas, who was first elected to the House of Representatives in 1973, a “half century ago” he joked. “It was a time when everyone respected one another and fraternized in the evenings across party lines and got to know one another,” Douglas said to the crowd of Rutland County Republicans.
Speaking in reference to the Democratic Supermajority, Douglas said, “It seems to me this legislative session it has not been just a drift, it’s been a very dramatic shift. We seem to have taken a quantum leap in a direction that is not positive for the people of our state. I think we have to confront that.”
Following the Governor, Orange County Republican Committee Chair Bill Huff spoke on G.E.T. R.E.A.L, a platform that he believes all Vermont Republicans should adopt as part of their campaign to be elected to the Vermont Statehouse.
After Huff gave his presentation to the crowd and I asked him to summarize his slogan/acronym:
Global Warming Solutions Act reform, recalibrating the law to reflect realistic and affordable goals;
Education reform, refocusing our schools’ mission back to excellence in core subjects;
Transportation and infrastructure with a priority for fixing our roads;
Regulatory reform to lower the cost of housing;
Environmental protection initiatives focused on protecting and preserving our natural resources and landscapes;
Affordability and tax reform to lower costs for working Vermonters; and restoring
Law and order in our communities.
Bill told the crowd, “I was just up one morning at 2 AM and I couldn’t sleep. And I got up and started typing.”
In a State that has increasingly been dominated by one political party, it seems there is an increasing demand for an alternative choice. The question remains – can the VTGOP pull it off? As Governor Douglas pointed out, the party has struggled to maintain seats for the larger half of the last 50 years. “There’s no question that things have been drifting in one particular direction during that time” [the last 50 years].
“The problem we’ve been facing as all party is an issue of identity,” said Huff. “The problem with the Vermont Republican Party is we haven’t really even given a way for voters to know what we stand for. So we are defined by our opposition, and that’s just… that’s not right.”
In a commentary last week, Huff wrote about GET REAL and some of the issues he believes are being caused at the root by bad policy making. “Crime in our once uniquely safe state is now a top issue because of the supermajority’s unrealistic belief that defunding our police, allowing criminals to shoplift and commit other crimes without consequence, and fostering a permissive drug culture would somehow make our communities safer. The opposite is true.”
Paul Bean is the Social Media Director for the Vermont Daily Chronicle and was a candidate for State Senator in 2022