by Anne Galloway vtdigger.org With hours left before the end of the legislative session, lawmakers’nerves are frayed from lack of sleep, and the formal cadences of the House and Senate sometimes give way to intemperate speech.
As any Statehouse maven knows, however, one angry outburst can generate a frenzy in the fishbowl that is the Golden Bubble, and sometimes itâ s hard to separate the emotions that surface in the heat of the moment from substance.
Don Turner. VTD/Josh Larkin
Such was the scene Thursday night when House Democratic majority leader Lucy Leriche in a fit of pique called her GOP counterpart House minority leader Don Turner a â terrorist.â
Leriche told members of the Democratic caucus that Turner had refused to suspend the rules in order to allow about a dozen bills lawmakers had been working on for the last four months to reach final passage. She accused Turner of holding the bills hostage in exchange for meeting a list of demands regarding GOP legislative priorities.
Vermont Press Bureau reporter Peter Hirschfeldwas on the scene and quoted Leriche saying, â As far as Iâ m concerned we donâ t negotiate with terrorists.’Later, in a formal statement on the floor of the House, Leriche apologized to lawmakers for getting â carried away.â
On Friday, Leriche said her comments were â unfortunate.’She compared the disagreement with a family fight. â Weâ re talking now and we might be at a place where weâ re moving forward in a productive way,’Leriche said.
The catalyst for Lericheâ s moment of chagrin was Turnerâ s insistence that the House Speaker Shap Smith accede to a list of about 10 demands in exchange for the GOP leaderâ s permission to suspend the rules.
Under normal House rules, all bills, regardless of where they are in the process of passage, take 24 hours to be sent to the other body. If the usual waiting periods arenâ t suspended in the waning hours of the session, it can cause adjournment to be delayed. The Speaker must defer to the minority party for rule suspension permission.
At the beginning of the biennium, in January 2011, Turner sent a letter to the Speaker advising him that the Republican caucus â will not vote to suspend rules on any bill with which we have concerns unless all members have had a full 24 hours to read the bill before itâ s brought up for a vote.â
In practice, Turner has suspended rules on a frequent basis, though he has made it clear that his caucus would need more time on all money bills and any bill that is particularly complicated.
Turner reissued the letter to the Speaker two days ago, after warning the Democrats for several weeks that he might not be willing to suspend rules as the session came to an end.
â I never guaranteed Iâ d do it,’Turner said.
The GOP leader said he was particularly perturbed by Smithâ s decision to pass over Republicans on the gas fracking conference committee. His caucus believes the state should have gone with the House proposal for a three-year moratorium on fracking instead of the ban the Senate wanted and that point of view was not represented by any of the conferees on the committee.
Turnerâ s list of demands include: a permanent ban on sales taxes for software accessed from the computing â cloud,’the elimination of a proposal to charge union fees for non-union teachers, workers compensation for volunteer emergency workers in the line of duty (Turner is a volunteer firefighter), special allowances for Beaverwood energy, and an electric ratepayer protection clause.
Democrats complain that Turner is suspending rules arbitrarily.
Turner said in an interview that he is using rule suspension to push the Democratic majority to give in on policy points he feels the Vermont GOP hasnâ t had a say in.
â Itâ s the only leverage I have,’Turner said. â At this point, itâ s a negotiating thing.â
Speaker Smith said he and Turner have had a good relationship. â Iâ ve considered him to be a man of his word,’the Speaker said.
Smith said he was disappointed about the recent turn of events: â I believe the rules of the game changed yesterday.â
The tiff between the two parties could have real consequences: About a dozen bills including could languish, many of which simply need to be â messaged’or carried from the House Clerkâ s office to the Secretary of the Senate.
Some of the legislation that could be affected includes S. 200, a bill that would require insurance companies to disclose information about claim denials and political contributions, and a bill that would allow family members of service men and women killed in action to obtain gold star plates.
There is also an outside chance the disagreement could lead to a delay in adjournment.
Smith and Turner are meeting at 3 p.m. on Friday to see if they can settle the dispute.
May 4, 2012 vtdigger.org