Vt. budget negotiators struggle to resume talks

Gov. Phil Scott and leaders at the Vermont Legislature have less than two weeks to come up with a teacher health insurance plan they can all get behind.

So far, however, they can't even agree on a time to meet.

More:Gov. Scott vetoes budget, tax bills

Emails and text messages obtained by the Burlington Free Press through a public records request show lawmakers squabbling with the administration over scheduling.

The Legislature adjourned in the early morning hours of May 19 without an agreement with the governor on education savings from new school employee health plans, prompting Scott to veto the state budget and tax bills.

A special veto session is looming on June 21, and all parties would like to have a deal on the budget and tax bills before that date.

Leading Democrats traveled to Montpelier on May 30, and again on June 1, hoping to reboot negotiations, but the Scott administration said no meetings had been scheduled, public records show.

Communication between the administration and legislative leaders has become focused on how and when discussions will happen.

“The frustrating piece is having to trade memos back and forth about basically terms of engagement," said House Speaker Mitzi Johnson, D-South Hero. "I would much prefer to just schedule a time when we can all sit down and talk. I think we’re perfectly capable of that."

Read the full set of emails and text messages below.

Senate President Pro Tempore Tim Ashe, D/P-Chittenden, called the scheduling problems "water under the bridge" and said he hoped to schedule a meeting early next week.

"Our goal is to sit down in a rather cordial informal environment to talk through the possible ways to break through this logjam," Ashe said in an interview.

Schedules are difficult, in part, because of the number of people involved.

Ashe and Johnson are hoping to include the six members of the conference committee that worked on the tax bill, and Scott has requested the presence of the most senior members of the House and Senate, Sen. Dick Mazza, D-Grand Isle, and Rep. Alice Emmons, D-Springfield.

Peter Sterling, Ashe's chief of staff, attempted to set up two recent negotiating meetings.

"We are all gathering at 3:30 in the speakers office," Sterling wrote in a text message to Scott's legislative liaison Kendal Smith on Tuesday, May 30. "Please let me know who from the admin will be attending."

Smith responded that Secretary of Administration Susanne Young was "out until Thursday and we feel she needs to be part of these conversations for continuity." The meeting was off.

The next day, Young sent a letter to legislative leaders, outlining ground rules for negotiations. The administration asked Ashe and Johnson to propose a written counter-proposal in advance of another meeting.

"The Administration is available to meet as early as tomorrow and as often as necessary to reach resolution," Young wrote.

Around lunchtime the following day, Sterling texted the administration again. 

"Confirming we are on for 3pm in the speakers office," Sterling wrote to Smith. "From our end it's Ashe Mazza Cummings Sirotkin."

"No... said yesterday I would check Susanne's schedule," Smith replied. "I never confirmed with you because we were waiting for written response to letter."

There was no meeting. The governor's staff and the Legislature clashed over the misunderstandings. 

"We are disappointed that two meetings this week did not come to fruition," Ashe and Johnson wrote later that day. "However, if and when we receive the veto letter we look forward to productive meetings in advance of June 21st." 

The veto arrived, as expected, and will now serve as the basis for any future discussions as lawmakers work with Scott to avert a state government shutdown.

Contact April McCullum at 802-660-1863 or amccullum@freepressmedia.com. Follow her on Twitter at @April_McCullum. 
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