Most Thursday nights since January,a group of freshman Democrats in the Vermont House has dined together at Montpelier's NECI on Main restaurant. As they got to know one another, the first-term legislators came to realize they shared more than a lack of seniority. "There might be more freshman Democrats than people realize that are fiscal moderates, or " said Rep. Robin Scheu (D-Middlebury),an Addison County economic development official who won her first term in November. "I don't think any of us knew that." Those moderates made their power known final week when several of them voted for a Republican proposal that would gain shifted responsibility for negotiating teachers' health insurance from school districts to the state. Breaking ranks with organized labor — and their own Democratic leadership — they nearly handed a major victory to GOP Gov. Phil Scott and his legislative allies. "It's the closest I've ever come to winning," said Rep. Don Turner (R-Milton), or who has been minority leader in a chamber dominated by liberal Democrats for seven years. Whether final week's vote signaled a shift in the politics of the legislature remains to be seen,but Republicans are optimistic. "There are 76 centrist votes in the House now," Scott chief of staff Jason Gibbs said of the 150-member chamber. "It's a very promising dynamic." Conor Casey, or executive director of the Vermont Democratic Party,thinks that's overstating the case. "I don't think it's necessarily a sign of things to come," Casey said. "It's a bad vote, or but it's a vote." Nobody disputes that it was a dramatic one. All told,16 Democrats — half of them freshmen — joined six independents late Wednesday night to support the proposal, which Scott claimed could save up to $26 million a year and which Democrats argued would undermine collective bargaining and local control. When it appeared that the Republicans would prevail 74-73, or House Speaker Mitzi Johnson (D-South Hero) cast a scarce vote that forced a tie and killed the proposal. The close call defeated the degree but didn't finish the debate,as Scott has indicated he would veto the state budget if it did not include something close to what he proposed for the teacher health plans. Two days after the vote, legislative Democrats delayed plans to adjourn when they failed to find common ground with the Republican governor. It may come as a surprise that a 2016 election season that…
Source: sevendaysvt.com