Runnion’s View to Montpelier

MONTPELIER—Consider the politics of Rep. Sandy Haas, P-Rochester. That’s a P, not an R as in Republican, or D as in Democrat. P is for Progressive, and there are now six of them in Montpelier, and that is a unique story in Vermont. We’ve had our share of third parties, but usually they don’t win elections.

The Progressives, or "Progs" as they are sometimes somewhat derisively called, are a looming shadow on the Vermont political horizon. For the first time ever, one of their own, David Zuckerman, an organic farmer by trade, has been picked to be a committee chairman, which gives him and his party real clout. He’s the new Agriculture Committee chairman. He’s not only a Progressive, but he’s not a dairy farmer, which is the tradition in Vermont agricultural politics. But Zuckerman said the other day that he knows how to milk cows and hopes to demonstrate his skills at the Barre Farm Show.

Then there’s newly elected Rep. Dexter Randal, who is 59 years old and an honest-to-God dairy farmer in Troy in the Northeast Kingdom. Joining him from the Kingdom is Winston Dowland of Holland, who is 62, a native Vermonter, and a Navy veteran who is currently commander of the Vermont Chapter of the Disabled American Veterans.

Adding to the Progessive Power (or pop! at this point) are veterans Bob Kiss, a 57 year old private consultant from Burlington; Sarah Edwards. 51, an "organizational consultant" and grant writer from Brattleboro, who is in her second term; and Sandy Haas, 58, a practicing attorney and innkeeper in Rochester.

Ag chairman Zuckerman is the youngest of the group at 33. He wears his hair in a ponytail which makes him the only hippie-looking member of the Progs, although he also is one of the best dressed men in the House.

Four of the Progressives are in their 50s, one is in his 60s, and one in his 30s. They don’t fit stereotypes of the Left. There’s not a bomb-thrower in the lot. They are
solidly middle class, worried about wages, medical costs, the environment and the health of family farms. That doesn’t make them too different from the Republicans and majority Democrats, but their solutions to problems are considered more "liberal" ranging from a single-payer health system to increases in the minimum wage.

What will their impact be on the Legislature?

"They’re how you move the middle," said one Democratic Senator.

Both Sandy Haas and Winston Dowland surprised a lot of people by their election victories, Dowland in particular. He defeated Nancy Sheltra, a longtime Republican from Derby who has been the most conservative politician in the statehouse, particularly on social issues such as civil unions and "the homosexual agenda." For her to lose a race to a Progressive was a shocker, although it says a lot about the populist politics of the rural Northeast Kingdom.

But then Haas was anything but a shoo-in in her district which includes Bethel, home of her GOP opponent Henry Holmes, who is very well known in his part of the world.

Haas, like other members of her party, was encouraged to run by Anthony Pollina, the guru of the Progressives, who was a candidate for lieutenant governor and actually won the town of Rochester, which showed Haas that the votes might be there for her.

"Anthony made a lot of sense for a lot of people," she said.

She was also well known in Rochester ("all politics is local") through her law practice, which was general including real estate, and her work in community theater. She and her partner David Marmor have run a bed and breakfast, "The New Homestead," in Rochester since the 1980s.

"I have a lot of friends who are Democrats," she said. "I also have a lot of Republican neighbors who would never call themselves Progressives but they voted for me. They know I listen."

Why is she a Progressive? After 30 years practicing law, she said, she felt increasingly uncomfortable about the growing disparity between rich and poor in America.. "I felt bad that an hour of my time should be worth 10 times that of someone else," she said.

She also is driven by her interest in such issues as health care. She wants universal health care to pass. "Our system is totally broken," she said.

Haas will be in a position to do some work on the problem. House Speaker Gaye Symington appointed her to the House Human Services Committee, along with Rep. Patsy French, D-Randolph, who is Clerk of the committee. This week the committee sat through a couple of hours of discussion on a health care issue that the American Cancer Society said was its priority for this year

At issue was a bill to renew the legislative life of a law, about to expire, that would require insurance companies to cover routine costs of clinical trials for cancer patients. The fear was that some patients might lose out if they had to pick up the costs themselves.

The committee approved the bill unanimously, after determining that the costs would not be substantial and that the state’s largest health insurance carrier, Blue Cross Blue Shield had no objections.

The committee chair called the measure a "simple bill," prompting Sandy Haas to ask, "If this is simple, what’s complicated?"

The answer from around the committee room was, "You’ll see."

Welcome to the Legislature.

By Norman Runnion