Hillary Clinton joins Shumlin in tackling drug abuse

LACONIA, N.H. Vermont Gov. Peter Shumlin settled into a folding chair next to presidential candidate Hillary Rodham Clinton, close enough to lean in and whisper, as the two Democrats held their first campaign appearance together Thursday afternoon.

The tone was collegial, while the topic was deadly serious: Shumlin had been invited to speak on a panel with Clinton about heroin and substance abuse.

Shumlin drew national attention in January 2014 when he largely devoted his State of the State address to heroin and other addiction issues.

“I remember noticing that and wondering what was going on in Vermont, that that was such a big problem,” Clinton told a crowd of several hundred people at the Boys and Girls Club of the Lakes Region in Laconia.

This summer, surprised on the campaign trail by voters’ stories about substance abuse, Clinton called Shumlin.

“And she listened,” Shumlin recalled in an interview.

Clinton has since unveiled a $10 billion, 10-year plan to fight substance abuse. The program would emphasize treating addiction as a disease, ramp up federal funds for prevention, and provide the anti-overdose drug naloxone for first responders.

“The bulk of it goes to try to incentivize states and communities to do more, following the example of Vermont and others,” Clinton said.

Like many Democratic leaders in Vermont, Shumlin endorsed Clinton this year and has spoken in support of her campaign at events in Burlington and in New Hampshire, while steering clear of criticizing her main rival, Vermont’s own independent U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders.

The governor joined Clinton on stage a few minutes late, just in time for his introduction.

He had been delayed, he explained in an interview later, by a phone call about a Vermont state trooper who had collapsed during training.

Shumlin walked out with a smile, hugged Clinton, took the microphone and played up his proximity to New Hampshire, which boasts an early presidential primary.

“I’m the first governor from Vermont in 50 years who can see my house from New Hampshire” — Shumlin said, pausing as the crowd laughed — “and it doesn’t look like Russia.”

Standing in front of a giant New Hampshire flag, Shumlin said the two states are bound together by low crime rates and good overall quality of life, both of which are threatened by addiction.

The event lasted nearly two hours, including comments from substance-abuse-recovery experts, law-enforcement officials and members of the audience. Some people left early as mid-September heat made the air heavy.

Shumlin was full of praise after spending time with Clinton.

“When you actually get to spend time with her, you see someone with a huge heart,” Shumlin said in an interview, “incredibly smart, cares deeply about fighting for kids, fighting for kids who weren’t born with mountains of opportunity. She’s what I’d call a pragmatic progressive.”

Shumlin’s endorsement holds little sway with New Hampshire voters, said Ian Raymond of Sanbornton, a business owner and former legislator who carried his grandson in his arms. But liberals in New Hampshire, he added, sometimes look to Vermont — which they consider their further-left-leaning neighbor — for leadership on the issues.

Amy Beaudoin of Gilford, New Hampshire, was among several people in the crowd who wore red shirts for the grassroots anti-drug organization Stand Up Laconia. She said she’d seen family members and friends die of heroin overdoses.

Beaudoin knew little about Shumlin or about Clinton’s plan to address substance abuse.

Standing among the folding chairs after the event, Beaudoin said she loved what she heard from Shumlin and was “hoping that we can learn from what Vermont does.”

This article was first published online Thursday, Sept. 17, 2015. Contact April Burbank at 802-660-1863 or aburbank@freepressmedia.com. Follow her on Twitter at www.twitter.com/AprilBurbank.