“I’m becoming increasingly concerned,” Rep. Don Turner (R-Milton), the House minority leader, says of GOP governor-elect Phil Scott’s burgeoning administration. “I wanted to see a Republican governor who wanted to make changes.”
Turner is specifically “concerned” about the large number of extended cabinet members Scott has retained from the outgoing administration of Democratic Gov. Peter Shumlin. And Turner says he’s not alone.
“I’m hearing it from Republicans on the street,” he adds.
So far, the Shumlin holdovers include Department of Children and Families Commissioner Ken Schatz, Department of Aging, Disabilities and Independent Living Commissioner Monica Hutt, Department of Financial Regulation Commissioner Mike Pieciak and his four deputy commissioners, Department of Fish and Wildlife Commissioner Louis Porter and Department of Finance and Management Commissioner Andy Pallito.
Still more Shumlin officials are taking new jobs under Scott: Green Mountain Care Board Chair Al Gobeille will become Agency of Human Services secretary. Transportation Secretary Chris Cole will become commissioner of the Department of Buildings and General Services. Department of Public Safety Deputy Commissioner Joe Flynn will become transportation secretary. And Department of Finance and Management Deputy Commissioner Bradley Ferland will become deputy secretary of the Agency of Administration.
(Pallito and Ferland, it should be noted, have served under governors of both parties.)
The abundance of Shumlin alums leads Turner to worry that Scott is “rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic.” The GOP leader wonders “how the governor-elect will pursue his agenda with so many holdovers.”
Rob Roper, president of the free-market Ethan Allen Institute, is generally more sanguine. But as a critic of Shumlin’s health care reforms, he is specifically concerned about Scott’s appointment of Gobeille, who Roper notes has “been a proponent of the all-payer waiver.”
“Does that mean that Phil Scott will want to pursue it?” Roper asks, referring to the agreement the Shumlin and Obama administrations signed in October to pursue health care payment reform in Vermont. “Phil said during the campaign that he’s not a big fan of Vermont Health Connect. Will Gobeille help find an alternative? Or will he talk Phil into continuing with Vermont Health Connect?”
“I don’t have a particular problem with anyone Phil Scott has appointed so far,” says Mike Smith, host of WDEV Radio’s “Open Mike” and a cabinet official under former Republican governor Jim Douglas. But, the right-leaning radio host cautions, “Scott won because Vermonters want change. If Vermonters get the sense that Scott is keeping many of the people on that made the Shumlin administration so unpopular, then that will be a problem for him.”
Smith adds that the reappointees “must fully embrace changes the new governor wishes to make, especially when it runs counter to how they have done things in the past.”
That’s precisely the plan, according to Scott spokesperson Rebecca Kelley.
“The change will come from the governor-elect himself,” she says. “All his appointees have expressed interest in making that change and putting his vision forward.”
While Scott’s picks might rub Turner and his Republican colleagues the wrong way, they could reassure skeptical Democrats and independents that the governor-elect’s centrist campaign promises weren’t just blather.
Beyond the Shumlin holdovers, several more Scott appointees come with identifiable Democratic affiliations: His pick for deputy commerce secretary, Ted Brady, has spent his career working for Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) and the Obama administration. Scott’s deputy natural resources secretary, Peter Walke, comes from the administration of New York’s Democratic governor, Andrew Cuomo. And his legal counsel, Jaye Pershing Johnson, has been an assistant attorney general under Democratic Attorney General Bill Sorrell.
There are others with no obvious partisan markers: Scott’s choice for deputy secretary of human services, Martha Maksym, currently runs the United Way of Northwest Vermont. His public safety commissioner-designee, Thomas Anderson, works for the U.S. Department of Justice. His choice for commerce secretary, Michael Schirling, heads BTVIgnite and served as Burlington police chief. And his deputy agriculture secretary, Alyson Eastman, is an independent state representative from Orwell.
Kelley argues that partisanship was not a consideration in the assembly of Team Scott. “It wasn’t about looking for political affiliation,” but a matter of three key components: “Character, commitment and chemistry.”
That might be cold comfort to Republicans, who’ve been out of power in Montpelier for six long years. “There are still appointments to be made,” Turner says. “I’d hope there will be a stronger Republican presence.”
Turner says he plans to have “a discussion with the governor-elect and express my concerns.”
Oh, to be a fly on that wall.
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One might ask why Rep Don Turner didn’t already consult with fellow GOP legislatures and have a deep list of possible cabinet appointees. Scott is also working in a very tight timeline to get these completed. It almost seems the Vt. Republican party does not have organization, focus or a strong voice in the legislature. So here’s what you end up with. If they wanted to send a message of immediate change, they shouldn’t have waited this long to play Monday morning quarterback.
Here’s hoping he can find one to head the DOC who really believes in “Corrections” and comes from a jurisdiction with a record of rehabilitation and getting prisoners ready to hold a job and be productive citizens in other ways.
Sadly, the Republican bench is pretty thin and it seems like Turner’s criticism comes awfully late in the game. That being said, it is beyond belief that Phil Scott has chosen Al Gobeille to head up anything, let alone the largest department in Vermont State government with a budget of over $3,616,179,557.00 (2016). I guess the Vermont Health Connect fiasco wasn’t enough to demonstrate that Al’s restaurant management skills didn’t translate well to the governmental environment. Vermont will see little change with the same crew in charge that got the state into this mess in the first place.
Gobeille shouldn’t even be in charge of a paper clip at this point, but keeping Mr. Porter on as F&W Commissioner was a solid, bipartisan appointment. The man understands the social, political, and biological aspects of the department’s work; and is dedicated to the welfare of the resource.
“Here’s hoping he can find one to head the DOC who really believes in “Corrections” and comes from a jurisdiction with a record of rehabilitation and getting prisoners ready to hold a job and be productive citizens in other ways.”
Shumlin had 6 years to do this.
Turner is angry because Scott isn’t appointing extreme right wingers that support the hate filled agenda of the national party. He might look around and ask himself why it is that there aren’t more republicans elected to office in Vermont. Might it be that most Vermonters don’t support such an agenda?
Scott spent too long with Shumlin, he thinks like a liberal democrat, he sure isn’t thinking like a Republican. Should have gotten rid of all of them that were under Shummy.