(Host)When the Legislature convenes next month, the Vermont House will have the biggest Democratic majority in its history.
Morrisville Representative Shap Smith is the Democrats’ choice for House Speaker. He says those numbers should place his party in a stronger negotiating position with Governor Jim Douglas and his Republican Administration.
Smith says he believes Vermonters want the administration and lawmakers to work together, especially in the face of a worsening budget crisis.
(Smith) But if the concept of working together is that we do what we’re told, well I have a problem with that. And the other thing I would say is that I think that it’s healthy also to air our differences and that’s part of what our democracy is about. As long as we can get to a place where we could move forward at the end, there should be a vigorous discussion about the direction that we’re going in.
(Host) Smith predicts that current and projected revenue shortfalls will take up much of the legislature’s attention. But he says it’s important that solutions to those problems aren’t just short term, but will benefit the state in the long run.
(Smith) And I think that it’s our telecommunications infrastructure, I think it’s our transportation infrastructure and I think it’s energy issues. I think those are sort of the building blocks for a strong Vermont. So I would expect that we’ll be dealing with the transportation finance issues as well as the allocation of resources that we’ll be seeing coming out of Washington. We know that they’re going to be sending a fair amount of money to address transportation infrastructure. So I look forward to working with the administration as well as the Congressional delegation to make sure that we’re doing what we should do there.
(Host) Smith is expected to easily win approval as Speaker of the House when the legislature convenes.