Modern Vermont Governors DEANE DAVIS
Wholly Subjective Ratings & Evaluations & Brief Comments on Their Respective Contributions According to
MICHAEL J. BADAMO
vermont voters seemed to take a schizophrenic leap into the past by electing Deane Davis in 1968, a 67-year-old Republican lawyer and chairman of a big insurance company. He was genuine old Vermont, born in Barre and raised on the farm in backwoods Corinth, the only native-born governor of the modern era.
You would think with that kind of background Davis would have tried to undo all those liberal programs started by Hoff. Not so. Deane Davis not only funded all the new programs with politically difficult new taxes but went farther, becoming, arguably, the most progressive governor in the state's history since one-eyed Tom Chittenden helped launch the independent Republic in 1777.
That rock-solid, old-fashioned Republican crafted Vermont's powerful development control law, Act 250, and drove it through the legislature with comfortable majorities along with a host of other environmental measures like the bottle bill and surface water clean up. He worked for state-wide land use planning, strict lake-shore zoning, and banning the use of DDT and other pesticides. Davis began the annual Green Up Day tradition. By the time Deane Davis left office, Vermont had earned nation wide respect as an environmental leader, a reputation we've traded on ever since.
And that's not all. Davis supported the new welfare and poverty programs although he would not tolerate waste, fraud, and abuse, either by bureaucrats or recipients. State government kept growing and Davis handled it with administrative reorganizational improvements.
Finally, more than 25 years ago, Deane Davis proposed a public education financing system remarkably similar to the recently passed Act 60. A state wide property tax would fund a basic minimum per student cost. Years later he wrote, "In 1972 support was just not there for such a far-reaching reorganization. It still isn't..."
Deane Davis built on what Phil Hoff started and went far beyond, especially on environmental issues. He was a governor of integrity, wit, vision, and political skill. It's been downhill for Vermont Republicans ever since. |
