Vermont Veto Override Within Reach

The final vote on marriage equality in Vermont was ninety-four to fifty-two. Four absentees and a non-vote make up the rest. House Speaker Shapleigh Smith did not vote by tradition. As the one at the podium, he does not usually vote. Now the bill heads back to the Senate where it will likely approve the changes made to the bill by the House.

While the final vote is six short of the critical hundred needed to override Governor Jim Douglas’ promised veto, that may not be an unobtainable goal. Speaker Smith is expected to vote for the override as he is a supporter of same-sex marriage. Two of the absent Representatives are also in favor of the bill, and two Democrats who have stated their opposition to the bill itself have announced that they will vote to override the veto. Their stated grounds are that Governor Douglas showed little respect for the legislative process when he made the decision to announce publically his intention to veto the bill even before it was put up for consideration.

Governor Douglas may want to consider the political ramifications of his veto on this bill. Overall, Vermonters are less worried about the definition of marriage than they are about having jobs at the end of April, or about the fact that the Governor has a tendency to sound a little too heavy handed and dictatorial rather than being willing to work with the legislature. Making his situation increasingly tenuous is the appearance of him being too interested in the opinion of people like RNC Chairman Michael Steele or de-facto Republican “leader” Rush Limbaugh. Signing this bill would put many Vermonters at ease and reduce the tensions that are now evident between him and the Democratic majority in the House and Senate. By vetoing it, and having that veto overridden, he not only confirms the worst that many Vermonters are thinking about him, but he empowers the Democratic Party in the state and especially Speaker Smith.

Meanwhile, the attempt to filter out the non-Vermonter emails are becoming problematic as many out of staters try to influence the vote. Vermonters, as a whole, are very proud of their state, and believe that outside influence on the politics of this state should be kept to a minimum. Indeed, the attempts to influence by the outside may be having the opposite effect and may mean that the vote to override Douglas’ veto will be all that much larger as Vermont Representatives look at the possibility of having to deal with a years worth of this kind of intrusion into their lives. Indeed, it was brought up repeatedly in the debate that the reason for not holding a state wide referendum was because of the battle in California over Prop 8. Indeed, it may become that much harder for those kinds of votes to occur in the future because of the zealous, malicious intrusion of outside influences on the debate in California. Iowa is unlikely to hold a vote on a state Constitutional ban on civil marriage in large part because of the zeal with which the Mormon, Catholic, and Baptists churches went about their campaign to prevent same-sex marriage from being the law in California.

Vermont is an unusually proud, defensive state. It is small. Indeed, only one state, Wyoming, has less people than Vermont does. Yet, Vermont has a concentrated population. Just over a third of all Vermonters live in sixteen locations. That state is approaching eighty percent forest, and it is not unusual to drive down the road, come to a town in the middle of the woods, and be back in the deep forest in under five minutes. There are almost no suburbs outside of Rutland and Burlington. Vermont is, in essence, small town America. It is not like Wasilla, Alaska with its four lane divided highway cornered by box stores. Instead, it is a state that still holds town hall meetings, and everyone knows everyone else’s business. Politics is polite and remarkably free from corruption thanks to how many people actually meet their Congressional delegation.

Thus, it is with that background of pride in what is theirs, Vermonters are more than willing to tell the outside groups to bugger off and let the legislature decide what is best for their constituents. And, what is best for their constituents is to pass this bill over Governor Douglas’ veto pen and put an end to this debate once and for all.

Pictured is House Speaker Shap Smith

Bridget “Sei” McBride is a trans-lesbian who lives in Vermont and has a strong passion for LGBTI rights. She has a BA in History and her hobbies include sci-fi, anime, fantasy, action movies, video games, and more. Currently, she is working on her MA in Individualized Studies at Goddard College. Her specialization is in cultural history and cultural comparison.