Modern Vermont Governors PHILIP HOFF
Wholly Subjective Ratings & Evaluations & Brief Comments on Their Respective Contributions According to
MICHAEL J. BADAMO
phil hoff was our first modern governor and remains today the grand old man of the Democratic Party, although more worshipped than heeded. He was young in 1963, energetic and riding the coattails of the federal government's charge into social engineering. Hoff was the first big government progressive ever elected in Vermont. Vermonters clearly wanted change.
As journalist Chris Graff put it in 1989, "No aspect of Vermont life was left untouched by the six hyperactive years that Philip Henderson Hoff served as governor."
I don't really remember Phil Hoff's governorship. I was just a kid and was somewhere else for the most part. By the time I got back things really had changed a lot. Grampa's farm was sold off, superhighways and malls and the rest were fast a building, new people were pouring in and everything was starting to smell a little sour.
In terms of numbers, by the time Hoff got done, the state budget had grown by 116 percent, federal receipts grew by 191 percent, state bonding jumped 222 percent and the state had added 36 percent more employees. Hoff also left a 7 million dollar deficit and projected expenses above tax receipts of around 60 million.
The state had taken over welfare, bumped school funding, launched a myriad of reforms and new programs, and ignited a building and real estate boom. All sorts of new people started discovering this little place. A lot of old farmers licked their lips at the thought of how much money the city suckers were going to cough up for the run down old homestead.
Phil Hoff isn't a bad guy nor was he a bad governor, a lawyer, a liberal, idealistic but also a practical politician. The dust and cobwebs of old Vermont needed a good shaking and Hoff provided it. But I wonder if he's had some second thoughts about the forces he helped unleash. I wonder if he feels just a little bit guilty in his old age.
|
