Feature Articles

The Speaker and The Freshman
by Jim Ryan, Supervisor, Profiling Unit

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The joy of our work at YBP is often uncovering simply great books that appeal to our concerns or interests. Former Vermont Speaker of the House, Ralph G. Wright, recently published such a book. Inside the Statehouse: Lessons from the Speaker (CQ Press, ISBN 1568029497) is a joy to read and full of information about the work of State Legislatures. I was drawn to the book by a special curiosity. Last November, I was elected to the New Hampshire House of Representatives and have developed a keen interest in State Government. Consequently, advice about State Government from a seasoned practitioner is always valuable to a freshman legislator and I carefully considered the former Speaker's counsel sprinkled throughout the book. I am glad I did. The book is not a work of theory about the relevance of State Government or the policies of comity by and between the States and Congress. It is, rather, a series of good stories culled from a celebrated sixteen year career in the Vermont General Assembly. It is, as politics often should be, a tale of people trying the tricky business of governing. It is essential reading for any who want to learn about the practical side of politics and how the public business is conducted. I thoroughly enjoyed the book and sought out the former Speaker, now living in retirement in Florida, and asked for an interview. The Speaker cheerfully obliged and the interview follows. And, for those of you who believe politicians speak in measured, time-tested phrases, you will enjoy the wit and candor of this interview as much as you will the book.

Everyone has a book in them. Most think their story is so mundane and common they're convinced it can neither inform nor entertain. Nothing could be further from the truth. People are curious. That's why we have libraries and, I might add, gossip. If I had spent my life loading trucks at a fish market, I most probably would have been tempted to tell others. That I spent sixteen years in one of the most dynamic institutions created by free man was just frosting on the cake. I enjoyed every (well, almost every) moment of my tenure. I thought others might, also. Now if I had set out to sugar coat my experience it wouldn't have worked, as it could have been written by anyone afraid of the truth. I told the story as I remembered it. 

Hey! The sports pages are not filled with minor league box scores. That doesn't mean people aren't sweating on dust filled diamonds to perform to the best of their ability. The members of Congress probably wish that the Press would do less scrutinizing but they're the Big Leagues. I look at it a little differently. I think research would verify my long held belief that state legislatures are the laboratories of innovation. It is where the rubber meets the road. The Age of Democracy came out of the hills of Tennessee; the Populist Movement swept east from the dusty Plains; Progressivism from the upper Mid West; Civil Rights from the bayous of Mississippi. These ideas for a better life for the American people were tried and tested in the state houses of America and only then did Congress feel it safe enough to act.

State legislatures have other advantages that Congress doesn't. The majority of members in a state house never expected to be where they were, thus it's easier for them to get down to business. It wasn't a calling. Most were dynamic individuals in their communities and were flattered to be asked to serve. When they arrive at the State House they are ready to go to work. In Vermont we had no personal staff and for most of us we were taking a pay cut to be there. And the Press couldn't care less what they're doing. My time was spent reading bills, working in committee, and trying to convince enough of my colleagues to help me with my causes. I had little time for worrying over my next election or raising money for the same. Actually, reelection began the day after Labor Day and ended at 7 PM on Election Day in even years. It worked for me.

It is important that these courses introduce students to their government on a national level. But it's not enough if the purpose is to introduce them to democratic government. I don't mean to imply that those in Congress aren't participating in democracy, but we have to reach beyond the distant text and pictures. There is no Political Science classroom that is not within reach of a local state representative or senator. In a lot of states the State House is but a bus ride away.  We have to make it human; recognize that we are their bosses; that to make it all work we have to participate. It works best on a local level.

Yes.

It was easy in one regard as I didn't have to fight to maintain the integrity of the legislature. With the other two Governors I had to constantly reassert my belief that we were an equal branch. Governors have difficulty remembering that there are three separate and equal. They are the "boss" and they don't have to negotiate with another 149 members in their office. Cars are chauffeured and doors are opened. Dean, having served as my Whip, knew how strongly I felt about treating the legislature as an equal.

That doesn't mean that he didn't use some creative ways to run my end. Consequently, I found it difficult to establish a mutual trust (unlike with Governor Snelling). My biggest complaint was that he never seemed willing to utilize all the chips of goodwill that he had accumulated. Politics always appeared to come before policy. Maybe it was my inability to understand the demands and pressures of the executive, but the distrust was always in the background. For better or worse, it kept us from being partners. Had we been, I believe Vermont would have been the first state to enact universal health care for all its citizens and the first to eliminate the property tax for the operation of the public schools. I am not blameless.

I learned a long time ago not to underestimate Howard Dean. He'll do what he has to do to keep from embarrassing himself. He keeps fooling me, but I believe he has a serious flaw--he doesn't believe all that he espouses. It doesn't seem to overly bother him, but I learned a long time ago that when you give a speech you had better adhere to the following maxims: get your facts straight and believe in them. He's bright and seldom fails to do his homework, but I was never convinced that he believed all that he was championing. I once told someone that I believed Howard Dean was a "library liberal"--he had read about poverty, hardship, and the commonality, but he had never lived with it.

As I understand the job its fundamental purpose is to energize the grass roots political movers and shakers. This is a pretty confined responsibility and not the same as running for president where one can appeal to large groups of people who yearn to hear the truth. The folks who make up the infrastructure of the party are not novices. They have been shot at. They don't want to hear how to get out of  Iraq; they want to hear how to get in the Oval Office. What's right is important; what works is vital. Perhaps he gets it.

Being a Liberal is like being a Catholic you're not sure why you are one but like a pair of old shoes you're comfortable with them.  I guess I was born both. It seemed inevitable as I was born and raised in the 8th Congressional District of Boston. I remember my mother mentioning with reverence James Michael Curly. My first memory of a campaign was at the age of 10 or 11 when I collected, at a polling precinct across the street from my house, more John F. Kennedy leaflets than my buddies. My first meeting of someone of political importance was with my Dad when he stopped to do business with Tip O'Neil in Davis Square, Somerville (Dad was the local bookie). So I guess I just grew up with the idea of neighborhood: that neighbors help neighbors. All these dopy do-gooder habits got an intellectual foundation at Boston University. I had always been a reader, but it was at B.U. that I discovered learning. So if being a liberal is believing that God's greatest gift was allowing freedom of choice (even a wrong choice) then I'm a liberal. If believing that expanding people's right to this freedom is liberal--I'm a liberal. If believing that no government should get in the business of killing its citizenry--well what can I say?

No. Not that I don't miss being in the arena, or being a player, but politics takes a high degree of energy and focus and it takes its toll. To be effective it requires long days. It's not for sissies. Being young doesn't make one braver, but it does make one more tenacious.

I wrote the book as I remembered the experience. Students will find themselves in the committee room and the Well of the House. It is not a text, but a political experience as seen through the eyes of a half dozen characters who were living and breathing legislators. You can't clone the Murphys, Corcorans, Deans, Harrises, and the other characters that were who they were. The reader can form their own opinion as to who are the good guys, and be assured that they can be found in every legislature across the country.   

That's a question that is difficult to answer in any specific way. I don't know your personality or the environment in which you operate. The best advice I ever received was:

Be who you are. No games, no phoniness, no pretending. I often told people that I was the same at the podium as I was at the blackboard-- just a bigger classroom.

Keep your sense of humor. Most of my memories bring a smile to my face.

Don't prejudge people, but pay heed to what motivates them. A legislature is like any other organization: its structure, character, and ultimately its results are an aggregate of its participants. You make a study of its people; you come to understand its why's and how's.  

 Oh, and never forget where you came from: the folks back home put you there and they can call you home. Trust me.