Governor Scott's remarks begin at about the 37:00 mark.
by Timothy McQuiston, Vermont Business Magazine Governor Phil Scott began his media briefing Monday by speaking about the “heartbreaking tragedy” of the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis at the hands of police. Protests and riots have engulfed the nation since his death on May 25, one police officer has been arrested. Scott called on the other three officers to be charged and said, “enough is enough.”
Scott then announced that he had formed a Racial Equity Task Force, chaired by the Executive Director of Racial Equity Xusana Davis.
He also quoted Dr Martin Luther King Jr from a speech at Stanford in 1967: “A riot is the language of the unheard.”
Scott said he was proud of the peaceful way Vermonters have handled the situation, but acknowledged the underlying racism, “We are not immune to this in Vermont.”
The governor’s thrice-weekly media briefings began in response to the COVID-19 pandemic and the resultant emergency declaration and subsequent mitigation orders.
The first orders closed nursing homes and schools and then many other areas of the economy. Other businesses were directed to work-from-home. Only designated essential workers and businesses were allowed to continue, albeit under health guidance.
As the economy has reopened over the last month, there are still businesses somewhat or mostly closed.
The governor hopes to announce restricted reopening of indoor restaurant service as soon as Friday. Meanwhile gatherings are limited to 25 people, with continued health guidance (facial coverings, physical distancing, washing hands, etc), and inside business operations are limited to 25 percent capacity or 25, whichever is greater.
Big box stores, for instance, are generally large enough that they typically do not reach 25 percent capacity, but they have been counting customers.
However, events that require by their nature large crowds, like county fairs and the Quechee balloon festival, have all been canceled for this summer.
The good news Scott was able to deliver on Monday was the resumption of drivers examinations and permit tests. The permit tests are available online.
The drivers exams will include use of driving instructors, who must be qualified to administer a road test. This is intended to reduce the backlog of about 1,000 people seeking a drivers license. They will be administered on a first-come basis with those with already scheduled and canceled exams going first.
Road tests are expected to restart June 8. The current health guidance applies and drivers are not permitted to enter the DMV office. This does not include CDL or motorcycle exams.
Dr Mark Levine again presented at the press briefing an update on the health side of the COVID-19 pandemic in Vermont.
He reiterated again that the data in Vermont is very positive with very few new cases in the state. He said a “cluster” of seven cases in Winooski was being investigated and traced and was not linked to a single institution.
A free testing pop-up site has been established for everyone at the O’Brien Community Center in Winooski.
As of Tuesday, there are no recent deaths, which stand at 55, there are none hospitalized and the total cases statewide is 988 – an increase of five since Monday. Overall, more than 1,000 tests are administered daily in Vermont.
REPORTER Q&A MONDAY
Governor Scott was asked about the racial tensions, President Trump’s response and what is happening in Vermont.
During the press briefing the president was holding a conference call with governor’s and called them “weak” for not dealing with protesters and the riots with greater force.
Scott wasn’t of course on that call as he held his own briefing, but further indicated that Trump’s words were “unfortunate.”
Scott said of racism and the resultant problems, “We didn’t get here overnight and we’re not going to fix it overnight”
Xusana Davis said no one wants to be labeled. She said -- offering some levity -- she was not only a person of color, but a lawyer and a millennial so she had to deal with plenty of labels.
In response to a question about white supremacy, she said that “white privilege” does not mean a white person’s life isn’t hard. It means that their life isn’t hard simply because of the color of their skin.
Davis spoke about neutral complacency. Silence only adds to the problem.
When asked what a white person can do, she offered a long list, but finished it with the statement: “Do something.”
Health Commissioner Mark Levine, MD, was asked about the link between people of color and COVID-19.
He said the sample size is small in Vermont, but nationally, the infection rate among African Americans is twice as great than for whites and they represent 33 percent of deaths, even though they are only 13 percent of the population.
Scott was asked about policing in Vermont and a bill in the Legislature on the use of deadly force, he said he did not know the status of that bill but that his administration has been working over the years on how the police deal with the community and with confrontational situations.
Scott said he has tremendous respect for law enforcement.
Davis said everyone must respect the law and added that policing is a dangerous job. She said, however, that laws are applied differently to different people, which has been an ongoing problem, both on the street and in sentencing.
Public Safety Commissioner Michael Schirling, who also oversees the State Police, said policing starts with hiring.
He said the first measure of someone applying to be a police officer is whether they understand that the job is all about public service. If you’re not interested in that “look elsewhere,” Schirling said.
Out-of-Staters
While overnight summer camps for kids, including for out-of-state campers, will be allowed to resume under guidance, lodging is still only available to in-state guests or those who have quarantined in Vermont for 14 days (or 7 days if they’ve been tested).
Governor Scott suggested he will relax some of those rules, perhaps as early as this week, under conditions.
When asked about the plethora of out-of-state license plates coming into Vermont, he acknowledged that it appeared from border counts of plates that more are coming in than going out.
College students also are coming back as their rental leases in the Burlington area generally begin June 1.
He said he has no plans of using more stringent methods to keep those from out-of-state away because, as been seen in other states, confrontation has led to worse outcomes than mere education and guidance.
Scott said, however, that he remains very concerned by the COVID-19 case counts in the surrounding region. Modeling presented last Friday showed that there have been 60,000 deaths within in five-hour drive of Vermont and nearly 200,000 cases.
And even though counts in places like New York City and Boston have been going down, there are still thousands of new infections weekly.
He and Health Commissioner Levine both indicated their concern that the protests here and everywhere could lead to more infections as large crowds gather and physical distancing is nearly impossible.
Childcare Centers
Crucial to restarting the economy is the availability of childcare.
Human Services Secretary Mike Smith reiterated that the state has poured millions of dollars into the system to keep the system afloat during the pandemic. There is also $6 million available to help them cover new expenses, like for cleaning and PPE.
The Education Agency is working on a plan with school districts on how to bring schools safely back online to in-person education this fall. There is no guidance yet in that regard.
Scott was asked whether the current circumstances had created an opportunity to make landmark changes in the education system.
Specifically he was asked about perhaps rolling childcare into the public education system, which would allow for better pay, benefits and stability.
He said he continues to advocate for a "cradle to college" system.
The caveat there is that Scott does not want to spend more than we are spending now on pre-K through college. He has frequently said that we are spending more now than ever while educating fewer and fewer students as the population ages.
He said he believes there is plenty of money in the system for such a landmark change.
Mail-In Voting
Governor Scott was again asked about mail-in voting.
Again he gave the same, somewhat perplexed answer.
The Senate today passed a bill that would remove the governor from the decision-making on mail-in voting and give it solely to Secretary of State Jim Condos.
The issue involves whether the state should mail everyone a general election ballot. This differs from an absentee ballot that anyone can get in that everyone on the voter rolls would receive the ballot regardless.
This is all in case there is no in-person voting in November because of the COVID-19 crisis. The primary ballots all will be mailed.
Scott’s position has been referred to as the “opt-in” option, in which the state waits until after the primary to decide on whether it appears necessary to mail the ballots. They can’t be mailed before that because the general election candidates will not be known until after the primary in August.
Condos had taken an “opt-out” view of the process, in which the decision is made now to mail out the ballots, and if there was an “all clear” later in the summer than in-person elections could be held.
Condos said town clerks, and everyone else, needs to know how they will have to proceed for planning purposes.
Scott also wanted an unelected committee to decide whether to opt-in or opt-out when the time came, so two officials (Scott and Condos) who were on the ballots would not be the ones deciding.
But the Legislature, which gave the authority to Scott and Condos at the beginning of the crisis, did not give it to a committee.
Scott has basically punted on the process and said that he will go along with Condos’ plan.
Scott has said the process has been politicized and doesn’t understand the confusion in his position.
But, again, that is not what the Legislature intended. It appears that the Legislature will remove the governor from this process and Condos will make the decision to move forward with mail-in balloting.
The Legislature also could just decide to move forward with mail-in balloting and remove Condos also, but this seems unlikely. But the Senate voted 21-7 today in favor of S348, granting full authority to the Secretary of State.
On another political note, Scott was asked about debates and if not in-person, what about a Zoom or Skype debate?
He said the COVID-19 crisis and resulting economic fallout is taking all of his time.
He said the state of emergency is not keeping him from debating. He could not give a timeline of when he could get back to campaigning and he’s not waiting until we’re back to normal, but he has to be confident that the state is back on the path to recovery.