Editor’s note: This commentary is by John Freitag, of Strafford, a self-described “passionate moderate” long active in many ways in his community.
At a time when our nation is so divided on so much, it is discouraging that legislative leadership chose not to work with Gov. Phil Scott on their Global Warming Solutions bill. Had they been willing to address his concerns that the bill not allow “any citizen” to sue the state if the mandates were not met and that the Legislature approve of what the unelected council would require to meet these mandates, a veto and override would have been avoided. If they had worked with Scott, as they did on gun control and legalizing the sale of marijuana, this climate legislation would have had the broad bipartisan support that will be necessary when it comes to making the hard choices and sacrifice required to meet these stringent goals.
Instead the Vermont Democratic/Progressive leadership chose to try to make climate change a partisan issue. Their decision not to compromise with the governor was made not out of a concern for the environment or crafting the best legislation, but on how to create an election year issue against a popular and extremely competent governor whose leadership on the Covid-19 pandemic has been the best in the nation.
The fact is Democrats and Progressives have dominated both houses in the Legislature for the last 20 years and have had plenty of time to address global warming. To now throw up their hands and pass a climate bill that says we as legislators cannot find any solutions and need to have mandates forced upon us by an unelected council, is to admit to an inability to lead and take responsibility. To then attempt to blame the governor for their own failure is shameful.
The Vermont legislative leadership had the opportunity to show a divided nation how a Republican governor and Democratic Legislature could work together to practically address climate change on a state level. Sadly, our legislative leadership threw away the opportunity to set a badly needed example for others on how bipartisanship can work to make long-term positive change. Instead in an attempt to gain some short-term political advantage they have ended up creating a seriously flawed law without the usual checks and balances that will have many unintended consequences. We can and must do better than this.
