Lt. Governor - Brian Dubie
As Lieutenant Governor, Brian Dubie has cast only one vote in four years. He is quick to point out the limitations of the office, including few opportunities to weigh in on the official legislative process, and having just one staff person (as compared with 33 in Illinois or 12 in Rhode island, for example). But he called the Green Valley Initiative (GVI) a perfect example of what a lieutenant governor can do.
“The project illustrates that a lieutenant governor, with a humble budget, who can’t say ‘you are going to pass a law’, can, just by energizing an idea, highlighting an idea, can [bring people together] to champion an idea,” he said. But placing GVI in the center of his campaign seems odd given that the initiative seems to exist only on paper.
Green Valley Initiative
Conceived in conversation with Vermont business and educational leaders on the flight home from a trip to China in 2004, Dubie described the goals of the initiative thus: “to be a champion and help bring institutions of higher learning together to help coordinate the math and science curriculums in K-12 schools and energize a sector of our economy where Vermont already enjoys a brand of environmental stewardship.”
But although he was effusive in his praise of collaborators on the project (the Vermont Environmental Consortium, UVM President Dan Fogel, Governor Douglas, Secretary of Commerce Kevin Noran, and Commissioner of Economic Development Mike Quinn, among others), Dubie could not provide any examples of what the Green Valley Initiative has accomplished in the past two years, or even name specific goals or targets underway.
Energy and Environment
Dubie’s vote in the Legislature broke a tie on an amendment to a bill prohibiting the use of mercury, a potent neurotoxin, in certain consumer products. His vote allowed button-cell batteries, produced at an Energizer factory in Bennington County, to be excluded from the ban. Dubie’s explanation of that vote is that the legislation had a window of several years before full implementation and that he preferred working with the plant manager to phase out mercury in the interim to using that bill to send a message. “Why do we want to send a message? I’m going to Bennington tomorrow, why don’t I talk to the plant manager, have a dialogue and create a conversation,” Dubie recalled saying at the time. “If we need to make this law at that later date we can do that, but why don’t we use this as an opportunity to build a relationship?”
Since then, according to Dubie, researchers at Norwich University have collaborated with the Worcester Polytechnic Institute to try to create equivalently sized batteries (often used in hearing aids) without mercury. “It’s a perfect example of not passing laws and feeling smug in Montpelier, but trying to roll up our sleeves with people in Vermont and say, is there a better way?” he said. “In the meantime, people need these [batteries].”
On commercial scale wind power generated in Vermont, Dubie sees his personal feeling about the technology – he supports the idea – as distinct from concerns about local control of siting and aesthetic arguments against the turbines. “It’s my dream that we would derive 10 [to] 15 percent of our energy from wind,” he said. “How we get [there] from where we are today [is] going to take holding each other’s hand, listening to one another, affirming fears and anxieties and saying, ‘Let’s go together, let’s work in that direction.’”
“I’ve had people in my office who have broken down in tears about the impact of the East Haven wind project and I have said, ‘with all due respect, I don’t see it that way.’ But who am I to say stick it in your backyard?” he added. “Rather than a heavy hand of government that says, ‘Thou shalt have wind power on every ridge’, I think it would be better to start with small wind.”
The East Haven project was rejected by the Public Service Board (PSB), which said that because the turbines would be visible from the Champion Lands, the proposal would not be in keeping with the expectation of the land. Although the PSB ultimately turned down the proposal due to concerns about the impacts on birds and bats, the aesthetic arguments concerned Dubie, who noted that the Champion Lands are not a legally designated wilderness area. “One thing we need to do more of is to deal with our energy and our sustainability in a more holistic way and we should be brave enough to say where it would make sense to site a wind turbine in a national forest, like Searsburg. How many Searsburg sites are being taken off the table by the wilderness designation or by the ‘perceived’ wilderness designation?” he asked.
Dubie also sees an increase in fuel efficiency, the use of alternative fuels, and improved efficiency standards for new homes as keys to reducing Vermont’s energy needs. “There are no simple solutions, but on a personal level it’s one of the reasons I traded a great Ford F-150 pickup and bought a smaller Saturn View, because ultimately we are going to have to drive, in my opinion, smaller vehicles,” he said. “Biodiesel is almost cost competitive. It’s a little disappointing that we haven’t been able to figure out a Vermont incentive for it.”
As for home building, Dubie noted that he just finished building a new, more efficient home with help from his contractor and Efficiency Vermont. “We can do things now with insulation and weatherproofing that we used to do with furnaces and air conditioners,” he said, noting that one-third of Vermont’s electricity is consumed by homes.
Choice and Gender
Dubie supported Governor Douglas’ veto of the gender identity bill, citing concerns about the potential impacts of the legislation on school board district hiring practices. “On the question of gender identity, I have a high degree of confidence I know what that is, because doctors and lawyers have legal descriptions. I’ve flown next to people who have had gender identity issues, had a prescription from a doctor, who have had surgical procedures that addressed their concerns, and I am more comfortable [when] there’s a legal description,” he said. “Gender expression is more difficult. How does that play out in a small business or on a school board? […] I think there are clear legal questions that need to be asked, [like] how can we accommodate and tolerate certain individuals in a public setting that could add confusion to children?”
Although he has previously been candid about his religious beliefs and anti-abortion stance, Dubie said only that we need to approach public policy in a way that respects life. “We talk about a woman’s ‘right to choose’, but what I have heard from women who have chosen to have an abortion is they felt like they had no choice. They felt trapped by financial situations or family situations,” he said. When asked if the recent attempt to ban access in South Dakota made choice more relevant to his campaign, Dubie answered, “There are a thousand hypothetical [situations] and what I learned early in my running for political office is that if Roe v. Wade was overturned tomorrow, access to abortion would still be legal in the state of Vermont.”
He does support parental notification and equivocates on over-the-counter access to emergency contraception, noting that the Legislature passed a bill supporting it this session. “I would still say there are some concerns about how a doctor could be involved in an over-the-counter situation with a minor woman,” he said. Dubie also pointed out his work this session on the Safe Havens bill, which allows parents of newborns to leave babies at designated sites without fear of legal repercussion.
However, in a follow-up interview by email, Dubie declined to answer if his vision of government acting to protect life included broad access to contraception and family planning and opposition to the death penalty. He also refused to comment on the recently passed Child Custody Protection Act, which makes it illegal for anyone other than a parent or legal guardian to transport a minor across state lines to access abortion services if the minor’s state of residence has a parental notification law.
In the last election, the Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom, the Vermont Network Against Domestic Abuse and Sexual Assault, the UVM Women’s Center, Planned Parenthood of Northern New England, and other organizations sponsored a gubernatorial and lieutenant governor’s debate focusing specifically on women’s issues. Dubie did not attend that debate and refused to explain why or commit to a similar event this year. He also declined to answer two questions from the debate he skipped, so we do not know his position on sending incarcerated women out of state if their numbers increase beyond our capacity, maintaining welfare eligibility requirements of 30 hours per week, or allowing skill-building and educational components to be part of that requirement.
Conclusion
“The one thing I try to be really clear with people about is that […] a presidency of four years can’t really hurt or help a country,” said Dubie. And his four years have likewise made little tangible impact on the lives of most Vermonters. He is also correct in saying that abortion would still be legal in Vermont in a post-Roe world. But it wasn’t so long ago that a lieutenant governor took the reins of power unexpectedly, and then held them for more than a decade. Even in a state as blue as Vermont, having an anti-choice leader one heartbeat from signing bills is worrisome.
