My 0% CPAC score, and Phil Scott's churn problem
2024-03-16
Dear friend,
"CPAC Releases Vermont Legislative Scorecard, Illuminating the Left’s Plan to Undermine America’s Elections," said the email in my inbox on Thursday. We were on a House recess when the email came in, and several of us gathered around to get our CPAC report card.
Newflash: in my first ever legislative rating by Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC), I scored 0%.
If you take your queues from CPAC, it seems I'm not your guy. But I guess you already knew that...
You also knew about my devious agenda, because I revealed it to you last year. But CPAC thinks they're onto something bigger. They report:
“If you thought ballot harvesting was bad, Democrats in Vermont used last session to begin allowing cities to let illegal immigrants and minors vote,” said CPAC Chairman Matt Schlapp. “If that was not offensive enough, Vermont also passed legislation allowing businesses to get sued if they misgender an employee.”
As you know, I'm fascinated by the Gell-Mann Amnesia Effect. When you see a topic in the news that you know in and out, you see all the flaws in the reporters' coverage. But then you read an article in your media outlet of choice about a topic you don't have firsthand knowledge of, and you believe every word. I do it all the time!
Based on this, I was not surprised to read the obvious inaccuracies right in CPAC's opening paragraph.
Let's fact-check:
"Ballot-harvesting": Pure fear-mongering. I'm not sure what this even means in relation to the Legislature's work this session. I've heard grumbling about paper ballots being mailed to everyone, but it has increased participation and Vermont's elections have been pretty universally praised as well-run (thank you Secretary of State Sarah Copeland-Hanzas). I've spoken with election doubters and even they have only raised concerns about other states -- not Vermont.
"Being to let illegal immigrants vote": What now? This muddies the waters of civil discussion of immigration issues, and I find it distasteful. I voted "Yes" to support the City of Burlington, which by a large margin wanted to grant legal residents who are not U.S. citizens the right to vote in municipal elections. If someone is legally residing in Burlington, Vermont, likely paying taxes and supporting the vitality of the community legally, and city voters want to extend their sacred right to these folks -- who am I in Halifax to say they shouldn't? I don't see how this "begins" to do anything more than supporting the will of the voters of Burlington. Back off, CPAC!
"get sued if they misgender an employee": CPAC and I have a difference of opinion. I would say that you shouldn't fire someone or harass them in the workplace if they identify as transgender. We already have a law, the Fair Employment Practices Act, that prohibits discrimination based on sex. I was a proud "Yes" on S.103 last year to expand that to gender identity. To raise fear that "misgendering" someone will be a "crime" is fearmongering. I try to remember people's preferred pronouns, but sometimes I don't get it right. When corrected, I'm happy to apologize and try to remember next time. I'm with Glennon Doyle on having a culture of "rupture and repair." Making mistakes is easy, and how you follow up should be what matters. Just.... don't create a hostile work environment! Is that too much to ask for CPAC?
Any other questions on my CPAC report? Let me know and I'll address 'em.
Although I'm disappointed in CPAC's un-called-for divisiveness, I don't mind that they call balls and strikes as they see them. I think government could use more honesty.
I've already been criticized for what you are about to read, and I don't mind that. A voter in Barre called me out for the headline being divisive, and I feel that's fair. I chose to be provocative in the headline in order to try to shed light on what I view as an under-discussed issue in Vermont: the massive stress among State employees across agencies, and the difficulties in serving Vermonters, due to high vacancies.
Here's the op-ed that ran last week in VT Digger...
Why don’t Vermonters want to work for Phil Scott? (read on VT Digger, or my website)
By Rep. Tristan Roberts
Does it bother me that constituents sometimes confuse me, Rep. Tristan Roberts of Halifax (not the one in Canada), for Rep. Tristan Toleno of nearby Brattleboro?
It does not.
Toleno is a veteran six-term Rep who sits on House Appropriations and brings an eagle eye on the workforce crisis embedded in Vermont’s 2025 budget. I’m up in House Corrections and Institutions trying to sleuth out what’s working and what’s not working in the Department of Corrections.
When the “Tristan Caucus” huddles in the State House hallway to share essential gleanings, it’s like we both got to be in two places at once.
Rep. Tristan Toleno of Brattleboro (left) and Rep. Tristan Roberts of Halifax (right) on January 4, 2023.
Photo: Kelly Fletcher
Comparing notes the other day, Rep. Toleno asked me this.
“Why don’t Vermonters want to work for Phil Scott?”
The question stopped me in my tracks. Surely Rep. Toleno was being hyperbolic, making a political dig on America’s Most Popular Governor®.
Or was he? We dove into the data.
At the mid-point of 2022, the Department of Corrections (DOC) faced a 30.4% vacancy rate and an alarming morale issue, with 30% of workers reporting suicidality. “The stress levels are putting people over the edge,” one officer reported to UVM researchers.
Now down to only 16.6% vacant, DOC has steadily filled positions after implementing its “Stability and Sustainability Plan,” a grab-bag including increased pay, recruitment incentives, and a still-controversial restructuring of shifts relying on draining 16-hour stints. With the current labor contract expiring this June, taxpayers might wonder how much they will have to pony up to continue to fill vacancies.
A tight labor market is traditionally hard for corrections, but they’re not alone. Unique applications for State jobs are down from 18,778 in 2019 to 12,690 in 2023. Almost three-quarters of all openings had fewer than 10 applicants.
Once an offer had been made, only 75.8% of applicants accepted.
Once hired, 10% of State workers don’t make it beyond 30 days at their new job, according to Gov. Scott’s most recent Workforce Report. Over 26% don’t make it to the six-month mark and 40% don’t make their first anniversary.
The overall job turnover rate for State employees is 13%—a higher rate than any year since 1998, even counting years with retirement incentives!
“Churn and burn” is how Rep. Toleno sums up what I’m calling our retention death spiral.
To compensate, Gov. Scott has shifted the entire salary distribution of State workers over the past five fiscal years. “The number of employees decreased in the lower pay ranges and increased in the higher pay ranges,” states the Workforce report. Through raises, hiring at higher salaries, and reclassifications, the average salary for a full-time employee jumped 4.5% in 2023, up to $69,699, plus benefits.
Even with those increases, vacancies in agencies like the Department of Labor illustrate the ongoing challenge. As it stands today, 54 of 264 positions there are open, or 20%.
As a legislator often asked by constituents for help when their unemployment claim gets hung up, Labor’s leadership and staff have been responsive. They’re doing their best to cope with years of deferred maintenance on their IT system. Labor’s mainframe computer system is in the midst of a $40 million overhaul that will take up to four years to complete. In the meantime, when it glitches, staff are forced to work overtime to process requests manually.
The Department of Mental Health has 116 open positions out of 308—mostly nurses. Vermont Veterans Home has 64 vacancies out of 195—also mostly nurses. The Department of Children and Families is short on almost 10% of positions. Vermont State Police has 17% of positions vacant.
Shortages like these have real impacts on Vermonters. For example, there’s a months-long waiting list for the Veterans Home, with 25 beds offline due to lack of staff.
The nursing shortage shifts essential shifts to “travelers”—temporary contract nurses who command higher hourly wages, draining budgets while not sticking around long enough to build a stronger workplace culture.
One of the reasons this crisis isn’t more evident to Vermonters is that Scott’s proposed budget books $57 million in savings from the staff vacancies. Another boost was an increase in federal Medicare money that came through because we became poorer relative to surrounding states.
Understandably, Scott didn’t highlight these points in his budget address.
As viewed from seat 26, Gov. Phil Scott delivers his Fiscal Year 2025 Budget Address on January 23, 2024.
Either Scott or Vermont’s next Governor is going to need a more visionary statewide employment strategy.
We can’t pay our way out of this crisis. Take it from Nikki Fuller, Deputy Commissioner in Scott’s Department of Human Resources.
The State’s recruitment focus has been “how much more money can we give you,” Fuller told House Appropriations this month, but she says that employees are thinking differently since COVID.
“I’ve worked in government all my life,” said Fuller. “Everything in government is about getting the job done, but sometimes we forget about—How does it impact the individual?”
“People will no longer tolerate a work environment where they do not feel comfortable,” Fuller reports.
Is Phil Scott listening?
***
Thanks for reading! I'd love your feedback and thoughts.
One piece of feedback I've gotten since writing this is that I'm blaming a demographic issue on Phil Scott. It's a fair criticism, but I feel it cements my point. I recognize that the job market from the perspective of the Scott Administration is a huge challenge. I'm trying to name that challenge and ask -- is Phil Scott confronting this? If not, why not?
What is the vision for a culture in State agencies that would make it a more attractive workplace without ever-increasing taxpayer burden?
Do you work for the State? How do you like your job? What's working/not working? I'd love to learn more.
warm regards,
Rep. Tristan Roberts
Vermont House of Representatives