Powerhouses of the Legislature

Gaye Symington’s role as Speaker of the House has received much attention. But a large number of women are wielding the gavel in important legislative committees, overseeing millions of dollars in taxpayer money, and regulating some of the hottest issues in Montpelier.

Senator Susan Bartlett (D-Lamoille County)

Vermont Woman

Susan Bartlett

I was elected 13 years ago to the Senate and had not held elected office prior to that, but was always involved in the community. I was tired of being represented by Republican men and the incumbent from Stowe was retiring so it was an open seat. I have a background in special education and was aware of the growing discrepancies between communities. I was concerned about property tax reform and economic development for the rural part of the state, that it not be limited to just tourism for Lamoille County.

Vermont Woman

Susan Bartlett

I think the Democratic Party represents my belief that there are appropriate places for government to help people that need assistance without making them dependant. I believe we can set a bar of saying, yes we want clean water and clean air, and enforce the standards. Democrats have a way of looking at issues of the greater good and I believe it is appropriate to teach people how to help themselves.

Vermont Woman

Susan Bartlett

Trying to figure out how to keep taking care of folks in need with a federal government making drastic reductions that involve the core fabric of people’s lives, while still continuing to support a growing economy and helping people to help themselves.

Vermont Woman

Susan Bartlett

I am really looking at how we move the money around. In Appropriations, the temptation is to cut when money is tight and sometimes the unintended consequences can cost you more money than you save. Government does not do particularly well looking at issues in a comprehensive manner rather than piecemeal, but we are a whole society made up of lots of little parts — if you yank out two pieces over here you may make eight other pieces fall off. We need to exhale, look at the whole picture and make difficult choices, to set priorities when money is tight, but only after you have all the information.

Vermont Woman

Susan Bartlett

Eleanor Roosevelt was one of the most wonderful people that ever lived, talk about a lady that was ahead of her times, wow! And Martin Luther King, they were both willing to put everything on the line for what they believed.

Vermont Woman

Susan Bartlett

Right now I am reading Buffalo Soldier by Chris Bohjalian. During the session my reading tends to be fiction, I have to read too much heavy stuff. I like mysteries by Elizabeth George, and also just finished a wonderful book called The Crimson Petal and the White by Michael Faber.

Vermont Woman

Susan Bartlett

It is really important for women to become more involved. We have this sense of “I can’t do this, everyone else is smarter than me” and that absolutely positively isn’t true. When you get involved you don’t need all the answers first, you need that desire to listen to other sides, reach across boundary lines and get good solutions for the community. One interesting thing is that over the years as more women become involved in government, folks see a difference. Where men tend to take care of the immediate, women tend to ask, where do I want to be in five or six years. Women are also much more willing to cross political boundaries to form coalitions and that brings a very different dynamic to the process at any level.

Senator Ann Cummings

Vermont Woman

Ann Cummings

I ran for the school board in1984 when my children were in school — I’ve always been interested in politics — I ran and lost, but I lost by seven votes so I thought that was a triumph. Less than a year later I was appointed to the city council and went on through Montpelier city government. I was mayor for six years and then ran for the Senate — I lost the first time — and have been there for five terms.

Vermont Woman

Ann Cummings

I’m Irish. And I always felt that Democrats had the place on social responsibility — we do have a responsibility to make the world better for ourselves and our neighbors and the Democratic Party does that.

Vermont Woman

Ann Cummings

Health care — my committee does insurance regulation and we are actively looking at how we are delivering service in the state, exploring different and more cost effective ways.

Vermont Woman

Ann Cummings

Right now there is a single-payer bill being developed, but there is no simple answer. We are just working our way through it to find something that Vermont can do, looking more at a movement toward universal care and for a stepped plan to get there.

Vermont Woman

Ann Cummings

I grew up during the Kennedy Era when the best and brightest went to government.

Vermont Woman

Ann Cummings

Right now I am reading for relaxation, but I read Cry the Beloved Country by Alan Paton in college and remember that was very inspiring to me. Right now, I would also recommend just about any political book.

Vermont Woman

Ann Cummings

Start local, it’s a wonderful training ground and don’t get discouraged if you lose. It’s like falling off your bike, once you’ve done it and survived you realize it won’t kill you.

Rep. Margaret Flory

Vermont Woman

Margaret Flory

Before running for the Legislature I was on the Board of Selectmen in my town and got involved originally over a local issue, a solid waste issue. Some of the things that I had seen the town facing, primarily transportation and funding issues, demands from Montpelier that negatively impacted on the town, frustrated me, and I thought that if I was going to complain I needed to be willing to run.

Vermont Woman

Margaret Flory

When I first decided to run I didn’t have a clue if I was a Republican or Democrat — my maiden name was Kennedy so I thought I was probably a Democrat. But I looked at local voting records and found I agreed more often with the Republicans. It is also that the Jeffersonian idea about the least-governed people goes along with my basic philosophy.

Vermont Woman

Margaret Flory

Health care obviously, balancing the budget, no new taxes, getting our roads into a more sustainable system of funding, and looking at better ways to do affordable housing, which impacts us in so many areas from the job market to corrections.

Vermont Woman

Margaret Flory

We’ve started trying to put some amendments on some of the bills through the committee process, doing research. On the transportation issues there are new suggestions for reorganizing the Department to spend less money on middle management and more on people actually working on the roads. Some housing bills have been introduced, but they need a lot more work than what is in there now, and we’ll be following the budget very closely.

Vermont Woman

Margaret Flory

It isn’t political, but my parents are my role models because regardless of my success in the Legislature, my most important impact is to raise mature, responsible kids. That’s been my number one goal and they are all grown and out of the house and working and productive. Beyond that I am also an attorney and I’ve been fascinated by the legal system and I admire Judge Mahady, a Vermont Superior Court judge who died a number of years ago, for his analytical ability and fairness. Politically, it would be George Aiken because he was a good moderate, he fought the issues through and did what I’ve always been told as part of the Republican Party: vote your constituents first, your state second, and your party third.

Vermont Woman

Margaret Flory

Right now, I’ve got in front of me a David Brinkley book but my reading tends to be fun fiction during the session. I read Agatha Christie right now because it needs to be something I can read five pages at a time before I can fall asleep. That’s the hard thing about being in the Legislature, is finding time to read for enjoyment.

Vermont Woman

Margaret Flory

The same advice I’d give men: if you are interested in it then do it, I don’t see any gender difference in that area. I don’t think you need any extra help — or any less help — because you are a woman.

Senator Sara Kittell

Vermont Woman

Sara Kittell

My family was very involved, my grandfather ran twice in the 1950s and my father was senator in 1972 and 1974, so I kind of came by it naturally, almost as a rite of passage. I just joined the town and county committees wherever I lived, first in Burlington, which is where I met Howard Dean, and then Fairfield. I thought someday I would run for public office, but was busy running a bakery and catering company, but our senator got appointed to another position in 1995 and Howard Dean appointed me to serve the remainder of the term and I have been there ever since.

Vermont Woman

Sara Kittell

Because I grew up in a Democratic family and also believe in the values and their platform. They feel strongly about empowering people rather than just focusing on corporations or business. We need to make sure that we support businesses that employ people, but I think if you empower individuals, they will take care of themselves. Also with women’s issues, I support the Democratic Party’s platform on choice.

Vermont Woman

Sara Kittell

I am working on agriculture issues as the chair of that committee, including water quality, working with farmers making sure they have resources they need for regulation on farms, education, working with the department of labor to give youths experience on farms and food production and natural resources, and making sure that our institutions and schools are hooked up to a local food system. Also health care restructuring, getting a broader look at the system in Vermont and how we can move toward restructuring it and empowering people to take care of themselves. We need to look at the cost of the health care system and find ways to control costs while ensuring that Vermonters have basic health care. And finally energy is also a big issue.

Vermont Woman

Sara Kittell

My committee wants to have hearings on net metering and biomass energy production on farms, possibly as an amendment to the renewable portfolio standards bill. The Farmer Protection Act, which ensures that consumers have the right to know if their food is grown with genetically modified seeds or GMOs and that farmers are not suing each other over cross-contamination, already passed my committee and is now in Senate Judiciary. And we always work on local economic development issues so that businesses are competing on a fair playing ground, and helping our farm businesses to diversify.

Vermont Woman

Sara Kittell

Madeleine Kunin of course, Amelia Earhart, I have always been very intrigued by her and Eleanor Roosevelt, she was quite something. They all took risks in their lives and were willing to make a difference.

Vermont Woman

Sara Kittell

The most recent book I finished was by [Brattleboro author] Archer Mayer, which was just such pleasure reading after reading all the legislative stuff. I also like mysteries, anything by Tony Hillerman.

Vermont Woman

Sara Kittell

Start with an issue that you care about, it is what keeps you involved and broadens you to other issues. You have to start with something you are passionate about and many times it has to do with your family. All politics is local, whether it is a family issue or your employment or health or what is happening in your community.

Senator Ginny Lyons

Vermont Woman

Ginny Lyons

I have been on, or chair of, the Williston Select Board since 1991. What drove me into politics was land use and planning/zoning issues — obviously, Williston has had a high growth rate. I think that we’ve done some pretty exciting things in terms of growth management policies and in conservation of land. Beyond that, I persisted because it is important to me that a diversity of values and perspectives are respected and represented in decision-making at the local and state level.

Vermont Woman

Ginny Lyons

When I first decided to run for the Senate, I was asked by both parties and at the time it was really clear to me that on women’s issues — particularly the right to choose — and on environmental and social issues, that the Democrats had more answers. I am a very strong fiscal conservative and we have always had a very solid budget in our community, but I’ve also felt very committed to social programs.

Vermont Woman

Ginny Lyons

As Chair of Natural Resources and Energy, the driving issue is energy planning. The people of this state need to be well represented in energy planning. The other issue is land use planning. I have a strong commitment to public health and disease prevention and have become engaged in a lot of different initiatives in the prevention of chronic diseases, nutrition, and healthy activities at every age level. I think there is a nice nexus between the environment and public health: if we keep our environment clean, we can better maintain the health of the citizens of this state.

Vermont Woman

Ginny Lyons

I am the lead sponsor on the mercury management bill, to keep mercury out of waste streams and clean waterways from toxins. I am also a sponsor of the phosphorus-free dishwasher detergent bill and I am putting together some other bills on public health.

On the energy side, we just finished doing a renewable portfolio standard that includes a strong set of efficiency standards for appliances. It is now in Senate Finance and I am confident that will become law. It will set Vermont on the path of generating clean and affordable renewable energy in state and commit us to the sustainable generation of energy.

Vermont Woman

Ginny Lyons

One of my role models recently died and that was Ginny Cochran. She was full of energy and life and just said what she thought, but always had good common sense. I admire a lot of strong women, like Madeleine Kunin, who are very outspoken about what they think is right, concerned about social justice in their own unique way and very articulate about the issues.

Vermont Woman

Ginny Lyons

I have finished biographies of John Adams, Benedict Arnold, am in the middle of George Washington and Thomas Jefferson, and then will be starting Alexander Hamilton and James Madison. I’m also reading Don’t Think of an Elephant by George Lakoff. For pleasure reading I just finished Bel Canto by Ann Patchett.

Vermont Woman

Ginny Lyons

Just do it. Seriously, I think that women bring a different perspective to politics. I think they bring a lot of energy and I encourage any woman who wants to be involved to do so. Follow the issues that you feel strongly about, but know that sometimes it is the littlest thing that will have significant meaning to a lot of people, something very small that you feel is personal but a lot of other people can relate to it.

Rep. Carolyn Partridge

Vermont Woman

Carolyn Partridge

Back in 1988, my oldest son, who was 8 at the time, suffered a ruptured appendix during mud season and was in the hospital two weeks. I lived on a road with 18-inch ruts and we didn’t have four-wheel drive, so I would leave my car on the road and walk about a mile every day with my six-week-old baby in a snuggly and a pack basket. We had lived in Windham for three years and I wasn’t really involved with the community at that point, but my neighbors really rallied around our family, giving me rides back and forth and almost every night when I came back from the hospital somebody had left dinner on the table. It was an incredible experience and I sort of made a deal with God that if my son lived, I would give everything I could back to this community. I served as auditor in town, ran for school board, ran for select board and what I realized was that the health care system in this state and county was the most pressing issue for me. I thought that I could best address that by running for state legislature. I ran my first campaign in 1998.

Vermont Woman

Carolyn Partridge

I’ve felt for a long, long time that the Democratic Party most closely, especially in Vermont, represented my core values — taking care of the most vulnerable people in our society, offering people opportunity for advancement in a compassionate way.

Vermont Woman

Carolyn Partridge

Health care, health care, health care — I have seen the issue change for the worse in the last three years. We have additional 13,000 Vermonters without health insurance and a large number of under-insured. Now, I hear businesses crying out for a solution and that wasn’t true a few years ago. It was a problem in 1998 and it has gotten significantly worse.

Vermont Woman

Carolyn Partridge

I’m the majority leader and while I can’t sponsor legislation, I can be a part of the process behind the scenes. I am working very hard to make sure that legislation either gets passed or that we have a plan in place to guarantee that all Vermonters will have affordable health care, whether it can be achieved this year or biennium. I am hopeful, but it is a huge undertaking and we may need to lay out a longer plan.

Vermont Woman

Carolyn Partridge

Madeleine Kunin —as a woman in politics she had to deal with many of the same issues I face. And Mike Obuchowski — he has shown me that one can make a difference for everyday Vermonters, average Vermonters by working hard and advocating for them.

Vermont Woman

Carolyn Partridge

I’m reading two books actually, Don’t Think of an Elephant by George Lakoff and A People’s History of the United States by Howard Zinn.

Vermont Woman

Carolyn Partridge

A good way to get involved is to start local and work your way towards your comfort zone, but push beyond the comfort zone and don’t take no for an answer. Don’t be discouraged, men are likely to feel that they have a right to run for office, that they deserve it and I would encourage women to have that same frame of mind.

Rising Stars – from Unexpected Horizons

These women may not be running the Legislature, but each has won her seat against the odds and the expectations of pollsters. Senator Diane Snelling is the only Republican senator from Chittenden County; Senator Jane Kitchel is the only Democratic senator hailing from the Northeast Kingdom; Representative Sarah Edwards was the first Progressive woman elected to the Legislature and the first to win outside of Chittenden County. We’ve only just begun to see the full impact of these women on the state’s political landscape.

Rep. Sarah Edwards

Vermont Woman

Sarah Edwards

I’ve always been involved as an activist, I was quoted in the newspaper at twelve protesting against anti-ballistic missile systems, but become more formally involved five years ago. People were encouraging me to run as a progressive for the legislature, so I did and I lost. So I ran for the select board and was elected to the legislature three years ago.

Vermont Woman

Sarah Edwards

I feel that the Progressive Party platform is very clear on where it stands on working Vermonters, the environment, agricultural issues, and health care and I think it does a good job of representing a voice for regular people. There are actually many values that progressives share with democrats, but I think that we provide more emphasis on certain issues. There is a difference, but the lines are not antithetical. I was the first Progressive legislator outside of Chittenden County and I feel that is significant, it shows that we do need a third or more voices in the legislature. At one point I was also the only Progressive woman, but happily that is no longer the case.

Vermont Woman

Sarah Edwards

Energy and natural resources because I am very concerned about Vermont’s energy future, and happily am on that committee.

Vermont Woman

Sarah Edwards

I am educating myself on a deeper level and plan to be a strong advocate for energy efficiency and conservation. I also feel that utilities are currently regulated based on a principle of “the more you sell, the more you make” and I think we need to change regulation to encourage utilities to increase efficiency and conservation. We need to introduce in the systems a profit motive for them to encourage that, while developing a much more diverse selection of energy resources, because we will be losing two major contracts (HydroQuebec and Vermont Yankee) and need to look right now ensuring Vermont’s energy future.

Vermont Woman

Sarah Edwards

The usual lineup of suspects — Gandhi, Martin Luther King Jr. for sure, those are my role models early on. Also Francis Moore Lappe, who wrote Diet for a Small Planet, which made me realize that everything is political

Vermont Woman

Sarah Edwards

I just finished a finished a wonderful novel Sick Puppy by Carl Hiaasen and would recommend any of his books. Also Don’t Think of the Elephant by George Lakoff with a foreword by Howard Dean; it’s only $10 and very short, so I recommend that.

Vermont Woman

Sarah Edwards

I definitely encourage women to become more involved, it is vital and I would like to make a special appeal to the 20-35year olds to please throw their hat in the ring, we need their perspective. Women are underrepresented and key to balancing out how we operate in the statehouse as well as select boards. We have a different way of asking questions and involving people, there is a lack of that in the way we do government right now. I also encourage people to learn at local levels like school board and select board, because you need to know what is going on at the local level in order to be effective in the legislature.

Senator Jane Kitchel

Vermont Woman

Jane Kitchel

I grew up in a political family that was always very much involved in government. My father served on the select board and my mother was a member of the state legislature in the early 60s. Also, Congressman Ralph Flanders was a family friend and served during the censure of McCarthy, so there were secret service agents in Danville, so really just a wonderful richness of the political environment. I retired after 35 years in government service, the last as Howard Dean’s secretary of the Agency of Human Resources and was really recruited to run for the senate because of my background.

Vermont Woman

Jane Kitchel

I grew up in a Democratic family that really emphasized social responsibility and spent my career in human services helping people who were less fortunate, so the Democrats felt like a natural extension of those values.

Vermont Woman

Jane Kitchel

I want to make real inroads on health care and the costs of providing health care in this state. It is a hugely complex topic, but an area of spending that permeates everyone’s lives and I hope that we can move forward on it.

Vermont Woman

Jane Kitchel

I am a member of the joint House/Senate committee on Medicaid, which is really an innovative idea to have these cross-chamber committees and get the discussion going early. We are working on putting out the best ideas on the table.

Vermont Woman

Jane Kitchel

My grandmother was a very forceful presence, who instilled in each of us a real sense of who were we and believed that the only limits are those we place on ourselves. She had a great sense of human and also great common sense.

Vermont Woman

Jane Kitchel

I just finished Imperial Hubris by Anonymous, a CIA agent [Editor’s note: Michael Scheuer] and it really deals with the mindset and why we are having such difficulties in the Middle East. I also enjoy mysteries, which another member of the legislature has termed our “brain candy”, and am now reading Seymour Hirsch’s Road to Abu Ghraib.

Vermont Woman

Jane Kitchel

My advice is that they should not feel constrained by their gender, the key is getting people with that commitment to the state that are willing to work hard and have a sense of duty. I grew up in a very female-dominated family, my mother operated the farm, and I have never had to break out of a mold of what a woman ought, or ought not, to do.

Senator Diane Snelling

Vermont Woman

Diane Snelling

From my earliest memory, both of my parents were very involved in the community and ‘political’ in the best sense of the word. It is their commitment to the public good that has inspired me in my own political career. In 1985, I ran for the Select board in Hinesburg and served two three-year terms. In 2002, due to illness, my mother was unable to return to the Senate and Gov. Howard Dean appointed me to serve the remainder of her term. In November of 2002 I ran for the Senate and was elected, and re-elected in 2004.

Vermont Woman

Diane Snelling

In the most basic terms, I am a Republican because I believe that government should serve the people. However, I must also so that to belong to any party seems more like a necessity of the election process than a particular philosophy. My views are shaped by the issues and not by a ‘party’ perspective.

Vermont Woman

Diane Snelling

As a member of the Appropriations committee with responsibility for recommendations in Human Services, my biggest concern is trying to make the best use of very limited dollars. I am particularly disturbed about recent changes in the Division of Mental Health. On other issues, I have submitted legislation to begin looking at statewide land use planning and another bill that would give state recognition to the Abenaki.

Vermont Woman

Diane Snelling

We are still early in the process, having just passed the budget adjustment bill for 2005. We will be taking testimony for the 2006 budget this week. Both the land use and Abenaki bills are in the first phase of discussion, but I believe there is substantial support for their passage.

Vermont Woman

Diane Snelling

My parents continue to inspire me with how much they accomplished in such a short time. I would also include my grandmother Hazel, because she always reminded us to ‘count our blessing’ and that kindness matters.

Vermont Woman

Diane Snelling

Vermont Woman

Diane Snelling

My advice is to jump in and participate in things you feel strongly about and the rest will follow.

Mary Fratini is a freelance writer and photographer living in Montpelier. She would like to thank these nine legislators for their patience and help with this article during a very busy start to the biennium.