Vermont’s Senate Democratic caucus unanimously nominated Sen. Tim Ashe (D/P-Chittenden) to serve as president pro tempore Monday evening, all but ensuring his election in January as the next leader of the state Senate.
The 39-year-old economics instructor from Burlington is set to succeed Sen. John Campbell (D-Windsor), who is retiring after six years at the helm. If the full Senate affirms the caucus’ choice, Ashe and lieutenant governor-elect David Zuckerman will become the highest-ranking members of the Vermont Progressive Party since it was founded in the late 1990s.
“One of the reasons we all run for office in the first place, I think and I hope, is that we really want to change the world. I mean, that’s really what this is about,” Ashe told his colleagues at the Statehouse meeting, adding that a successful tenure would involve “really improving the lives of people and changing the world.”
Ashe had been quietly campaigning for the job since last April, when Campbell announced he would not be seeking a ninth term. Other early contenders included Sens. Claire Ayer (D-Addison), Phil Baruth (D-Chittenden), Chris Bray (D-Addison) and Ann Cummings (D-Washington). The field eventually winnowed to just Ashe and Ayer, who both spent the fall courting colleagues in their home districts.
At Monday’s meeting, Ayer told her fellow Democrats that she had decided to drop out of the race “because it was clear I wasn’t going to win tonight.”
“I really wanted to give Tim a run for his money, but when I looked at the final numbers yesterday at three in the afternoon, I knew it wasn’t going to happen,” she said.
Ayer noted that if Mazza, a Colchester resident, kept the job, all three members of the Committee on Committees would be men from Chittenden County.
“I could offer diversity, and I really think it’s important,” she said. “I think it’s time for a change. I think it’s time to have another voice, another way of looking at things, another perspective in the Senate.”
Mazza, a conservative Democrat who supported Republican governor-elect Phil Scott’s campaign, said that he had always sought to represent “the whole Senate” in his role as the third member.
“It boils down to, I’ve worked with both parties on the Committee on Committees, and I’d like to feel that I’ve done a good job in listening to those concerns and being fair,” he said.
Voting by secret ballot, senators seemed somewhat more willing to buck Mazza — but they still voted 14 to 8 in his favor.
Ashe’s and Mazza’s appointments will require majority votes in the 30-member Senate come January. But because Democrats and Progressives are slated to control 23 seats — and both are supported by at least some Republicans — those votes are likely to be a formality.
At the Monday night caucus, the Democrats decided to postpone a decision about who would serve as their next majority leader. The incumbent, Sen. Phil Baruth (D-Chittenden), won reelection last week but does not plan to seek the leadership position next year.
Disclosure: Tim Ashe is the domestic partner of Seven Days publisher and coeditor Paula Routly.
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Ashe and Mazza? Seriously? The Democrats couldnt choose an actual Democrat to fill those positions? Mazza is, for all intents and purposes a republican and Ashe is an extreme left-wing prog. Sigh…
Only the far right would call Ashe “an extreme left-wing prog.” Ashe has worked well across the aisle for most of his years in the Senate, and it is disingenuous to assume that it would be possible if he were so left wing. In fact, like most progressives I know, he is primarily concerned about the people who have been left behind in the alleged recovery from the crash of 2008. People who complain about taxes should be aware that the progressives have a very good plan to even the playing field on property taxes in a way that will help most Vermonters. But maybe you’re one of the wealthy ones who’s afraid to be hit in the pocketbook, rather than paying your fair share.
Ashe and Zuckerman, and even Baruth, are the future of the Democratic party. They are grass-roots type of organizers who try to get things done, and will cross party lines to do so. They also listen to their constituents, which is what representative democracy is supposed to be about. One doesn’t always agree with their stance on all the issues, but they will hear you out.
Recent Democratic leadership has been the opposite…a top-down approach to governing with apparent heavy influence from lobbyists…and the Minter campaign showed more of the same. Hence her sound defeat.
It’s important to recognize that Mazza, while, yes, on the conservative side, also is thought of as a get-things-done type who has constituents on the right side of the political spectrum. Like it or not, it’s who he represents.
Glad the author got Senator Ayer’s age correct. I wonder how old all the “menfolk” are?
So glad the author got Senator Ayer’s age right. I wonder how old all the Montpelier Menfolk mentioned in this article are…