[D]emocrats in the Legislature continue to feud with Republican Gov. Phil Scott over his proposal for a statewide teacher health care deal.
Senate Democrats, who have a veto-proof majority in the upper chamber, have disputed the merits of Scott’s proposed changes to teacher health care through news releases, Facebook, and opinion pages in local newspapers.
They argue against claims Scott himself and his campaign make at weekly news conferences and claims from the Scott for Governor campaign, which has been sending out email blasts promoting his teacher health care plan since May 3.
Meanwhile, Scott, at his weekly news conference Wednesday, announced that his administration wanted to set negotiating terms so his administration and the Legislature can reach a deal in time for the June 21-22 veto session.
Scott proposed in the latter part of the legislative session to negotiate a statewide contract for teacher health insurance and said it would save taxpayers up to $26 million a year. Democrats say Scott’s plan would upend labor rights for teachers and that the Legislature did not have enough time to vet the proposal.
The Legislature has now adjourned with the understanding that Scott would veto its budget bill, H.518, and property tax bill, H.509, very soon. Lawmakers have scheduled a special session for June 21 and 22 to reach a resolution on the legislation.
Eric Davis, a retired political science professor at Middlebury College, says a few legislators and activists are “basically getting into the business of dueling press releases, Facebook, tweets, et cetera.”
“I think at this point this is very much an ‘inside the Golden Bubble’ issue,” Davis said. “I just don’t think that the bulk of the public, especially those who are not members of teachers or public employees unions, care about the details very much.”
“I think Scott probably is (winning the public debate) as long as he can portray himself as the taxpayer’s friend here,” Davis said. “I don’t think, in spite of the rhetoric in some Democratic quarters, that Scott is out to get public employee unions in the way Scott Walker certainly is.”
Scott at his press conference Wednesday insisted that he has no interest in using a statewide health insurance contract as a step toward taking over all collective bargaining for teachers. The governor says he sees the insurance deal as a one-time event that would save taxpayer money.
Meanwhile, Democrats are going straight to constituents in an attempt to counterbalance the governor’s message.
On May 17, Senate Majority Leader Becca Balint, D-Windham, contacted reporters to say the Scott for governor campaign had sent out incomplete information about the actuarial values of the teacher health care plans that are on the table.
On May 23, just days after Scott issued a timeline describing how and when his administration presented the teacher health care issue to lawmakers, Senate President Pro Tempore Tim Ashe, D/P-Chittenden, sent out a press release disputing the information.
Ashe gave reporters an alternative chronology of how the Senate became familiar with the governor’s proposal. The pro tem says Scott’s administration had “no communication” with the Legislature between Jan. 30 and April 13 regarding changes to teacher contracts.
(Scott said at a press conference Wednesday he is confident that the information in his timeline is accurate.)
On Sunday, Sen. Anthony Pollina, P/D-Washington, penned an opinion piece in the Burlington Free Press saying Scott was “playing politics” with teachers, and that the health care plan would hurt lower-income school workers such as para-educators.
“It also sets a bad precedent to threaten a budget veto over something that is not really part of the budget process,” Pollina wrote. “What happens next time the governor with two weeks left in the next legislative session, says, “I am introducing a proposal to eliminate some important policy and if the Legislature doesn’t pass it, I will veto the budget’?”
Scott said Wednesday he is does not think his plan would hurt lower-income school workers. He said, if the plan would, then stakeholders could reach a deal to increase wages of those workers to make up for any increases in out-of-pocket costs.
Also on Sunday, Ashe wrote on Facebook that teacher health care is not part of the budget bill, H.518, and, therefore, Scott’s promise to veto the bill over teacher health care “is not the right way to govern.”
“If this or any governor wants to propose a major policy change, then he or she should do it the right way, not by trying to jam it through with no time for proper consideration,” Ashe wrote. He called the legislative process “frustrating and slow” but a way to ensure “that all sides have their say” and a “fairly contested debate.”
On Tuesday, Ashe wrote two nearly identical posts saying that the budget Scott has promised to veto ensures that frontline workers at quasi-public mental health agencies make at least $14 an hour. He listed more than a dozen mental health agencies that will benefit.
Ashe, who has been cagy with reporters about the negotiations with Scott, declined to comment Wednesday on why he had decided to use social media as a platform for his views. “Facebook posts aren’t news,” he said.
Scott said Wednesday that lawmakers should be discussing teacher health care, not procedural issues. “Politics has unfortunately taken over, and legislative discussion have focused more on process than on substance,” he said.
Scott also announced his administration would send a memo to Ashe and House Speaker Mitzi Johnson, D-South Hero, outlining the process the administration would like to use for future negotiations.
In the memo, Susanne Young, the secretary of the Agency of Administration, asks the Legislature to appoint one negotiating committee for both the House and the Senate, instead of separate committees for each chamber.
Young also asks to include the deans of the House and Senate — the most senior members of each chamber — in the negotiations. They are Sen. Dick Mazza, D-Grand Isle, and Rep. Alice Emmons, D-Springfield.
Mazza is a longtime ally of Scott and endorsed him in the governor’s race.
Scott said he wants Mazza and Emmons at the table because they have years of experience. “Senator Mazza has been a voice of reason as well as Representative Emmons,” he said.
The administration and two chambers of the Legislature were close to reaching a deal on the night they adjourned. Mazza and Emmons were part of the negotiations. Scott credits their collective experience in the Legislature as helping them get close to a deal.
Johnson blasted the memo in an interview Wednesday night.
“I think this is Vermont, and given that the governor, the pro tem and the speaker have all been working in the Statehouse for quite a long time, I don’t think that a three page document outlining … negotiating terms is necessary,” Johnson said. “I think we’re perfectly capable of acting like Vermont adults.”
Johnson said the House has not held any discussions on H.518 or H.509 since adjournment. She said Scott canceled a meeting they had scheduled for Tuesday, and she’s hoping to have another meeting later this week.
She said: “We need to be addressing the bigger issue, which is, ‘How do we help our school districts move forward with negotiations that are underway, and how do we make sure we have a budget that was supported by nearly everybody who was in the Statehouse, including the governor, take effect?’”
(VTDigger’s Elizabeth Hewitt contributed to this report.)
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Secretary of Administration’s Memo
