Session begins: Governor delivers distanced address with pandemic, D.C. riot as a backdrop
January 8, 2020 | By Lisa Scagliotti
Vermont Supreme Court Chief Justice Pail L. Reiber (center) administers the oath of office to Gov. Phil Scott (left) outside at the Vermont State House. Vermont First Lady Diana McTeague Scott is to the right of the governor. Lt. Gov. Molly Gray (far right) looks on. Courtesy photo.
Gov. Phil Scott on Thursday delivered his third inaugural address with a heavy focus on the impact COVID-19 has had on the state during much of the past year and a look ahead to how the state will recover.
The third-term Republican executive gave credit to Vermonters for their resilience during the pandemic and thanked the state’s residents for their sacrifices in following health guidance. “As Governor, I thank each of you for doing your part. I know it’s been difficult, frustrating and at times felt impossible,” he said. “We need to keep looking forward, stay focused and committed, because our work is far from over.”
Scott offered a message of hope for emerging from the public health crisis with a focus on strengthening economic opportunities, growing the state’s population, and improving public education “from cradle to career.”
Not the usual opening
Waterbury lawyer BetsyAnn Wrask is sworn in as Clerk of the House of Representatives on Wednesday. Screenshot.
The governor spoke from an empty auditorium in the Pavilion office building in Montpelier where he for much of the past year has delivered twice-weekly press briefings on the COVID-19 response. The address is typically given before a joint session of the Legislature.
The House and Senate convened mostly virtually on Wednesday to open the 2021-22 biennium with ceremonies to swear in and seat newly elected lawmakers. For the first time, both chambers have women leaders at the helm as Burlington Democrat, Rep. Jill Krowinski, was elected Speaker of the House and Sen. Rebecca Balint, D-Windham, takes over as Senate President Pro Tempore.
Returning Waterbury Democrats Tom Stevens and Theresa Wood were sworn in as representatives in the Washington-Chittenden House district that includes Waterbury, Bolton, Huntington and Buel’s Gore. In addition, Waterbury lawyer BetsyAnn Wrask was elected Clerk of the House of Representatives.
On Thursday, Gov. Phil Scott took his oath of office in a ceremony in front of the State House. Also sworn in outside the state capitol were four of Vermont’s other constitutional officers: Attorney General T.J. Donovan, Auditor Doug Hoffer, Secretary of State Jim Condos and Treasurer Beth Pearce. All four Democrats were re-elected in November.
Lt. Gov. Molly Gray, a Democrat, was sworn in during a ceremony in the Senate chamber on Thursday. Administering her oath was Judge Peter W. Hall of the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals for whom Gray worked as a law clerk.
Gray delivered her inaugural address to the Senate with most members attending via videoconference. She began recognizing the Vermonters who have died from COVID-19 and rebuking the attack on the nation’s capitol the day before.
Judge Peter W. Hall of the 2nd U.S. Court of Appeals administers the oath of office to Lt. Gov. Molly Gray on Thursday. A former assistant attorney general, Gray worked as a law clerk for Hall earlier in her career. Courtesy photo.
Her address touched on issues including the pandemic in Vermont, the economic well-being of families, the lack of reliable broadband access and the threat of climate change on Vermont’s environment. She said progress is needed toward social, racial, and economic justice in Vermont, issues underscored by the Black Lives Matter movement and social unrest last year.
She called for Vermont elected officials to set a positive example. “From our communities to this chamber, let us set a tone of civility, cooperation and productivity, and do our part to restore and strengthen faith in good government.”
Scott begins with D.C., then turns to Vermont
Scott opened his address Thursday evening with remarks about the tumultuous events in Washington D.C. the day before where a pro-President Trump rally turned into a riot and attack on the U.S. Capitol while the House and Senate were meeting to certify the Electoral College votes in the November presidential election. Scott was direct in laying blame for the violence at the feet of the president. “It was a shocking attack on our democracy and make no mistake: President Trump is responsible for fanning these flames,” said Scott who soon after the attack called for the president to resign or be removed from office by his cabinet or the Congress.
As he turned to focus on Vermont, Scott painted a broad-brush picture of priorities for the coming year and legislative session in particular. Regarding the pandemic, the governor said he hopes to see state officials work with local school districts to return all Vermont students to in-person studies before the school year is over, hopefully after the April break. He also speculated that the current vaccine roll-out could inoculate up to 120,000 Vermonters by the end of the winter with the elderly, health-care workers and first responders in the early group.
Other topics included a proposal to streamline government operations that focus on children now spread across multiple agencies, investments to revitalize downtowns and village centers, and a focus on recruiting and retaining working families in the state’s population. He called for caps on annual increases in the cost of health insurance premiums and reforms to Act 250, the state’s main land-use law.
Scott closed with an anecdote about the 1918 Spanish flu pandemic comparing it to the current COVID-19 crisis. “As Vermonters have each and every time history has demanded, we rise. With that stubborn sense of duty and concern for one another, we rise to meet this challenge and seize the opportunities ahead,” Scott said. “My fellow Vermonters, we will get through this. We’ll have scars to show and stories to tell but that will only make us stronger. And once more, together, we will rise.”
Scott’s address was carried by broadcast media and various internet sites including Vermont PBS and on the governor’s Facebook page. He will deliver another address later this month to the Legislature to lay out specific details on his proposed budget.
Speaker Krowinski and Senate President Balint each made televised remarks from the State House following Scott’s speech. The Democratic lawmakers struck a tone of cooperation regarding their work ahead.
Krowinski referenced the riot in Washington D.C., noting that the House that day had passed a joint resolution calling for President Trump’s removal or resignation. The Senate on Friday approved the same resolution.
Looking closer to home, Balint suggested a much less tumultuous road ahead: “Here in Vermont, we still have a healthy democracy. We can show the nation and those who seek to undermine our ideals just how the people’s work gets done,” she said.
With the Legislature meeting remotely, Gov. Phil Scott could not deliver his inaugural address to a joint session in person on Thursday. Press pool photo by Glenn Russell, VTDigger.