On January 5th, 2023, Lt. Governor David Zuckerman delivered the following remarks after being sworn in as Vermont's 83rd Lieutenant Governor:
Welcome everyone to the 2023-24 Vermont Legislative session. It is with deep gratitude, excitement and a bit of trepidation, that I return to this podium as Vermont’s Lieutenant Governor.
First of all, I am extremely grateful for Vermonters for trusting me with the responsibility and the opportunity to serve again as your LG. I want to thank Vermonters for paying attention, for calling your representatives to alert them to your concerns and needs and for showing up to the polls and voting. In the past, when you engaged about stormwater run-off, cannabis reform, patient choices at the end of Life, or issues of inequality, or a woman’s right to choose, property taxes and more, your calls made a difference. Your votes make a difference. We need you. We cannot work for you without your input. Thanks for your good work. This is what democracy looks like.
I am also grateful for each of the candidates I faced: Kitty Toll, Patricia Preston, Charlie Kimball, and Joe Benning who also ran for this office. It was a pleasure to share the campaign trail with such dedicated, capable, thoughtful individuals. You gave Vermonters good choices and you showed everyone in this state and beyond that candidates can vie for the same position respectfully and with integrity.
I want to thank my family, and the families of all elected officials, who make it possible for us to do what we do. Campaigning and serving is hard and challenging. Yet what many folks don’t realize, is that it can also be hard on our loved ones and families. Mud slung at us is also slung at them. Their actions and behaviors can be viewed as appendages of ours. Late nights attending meetings are nights we are not there to read to our children, to tuck them into bed and to help them with their homework. We are not always there to eat dinner as a family, let alone to help clean up afterwards. We are not always there to massage our loved ones' neck and ask them how their day went. Service to our state and our communities requires sacrifice and work. – Work that we could never do without the love and sacrifices from those who hold us up and encourage us to keep fighting for others, even when it comes with a personal cost to them.
While I am sorry to lose the valuable assets of many of our past senators who have retired, I am grateful to each of you Senators before me today. Vermonters have spoken and they said they want you to bring your solutions to the table. I am excited for how new conversations and new combinations of insights and experiences will benefit our state.
On each of your desks is a jar of maple cream from Cary and Main in St. Johnsbury and North Danville. The company’s name pays homage to George Cary, the man widely recognized as the Maple King of Vermont. Although we actually owe the development of maple syrup production to the indigenous peoples of the area, Cary earned his title for his work early in the 20th century pioneering the expansion of maple from a local product to one prized across the country. I chose this gift to kick off the start of our new biennium, as a reminder of why we are here. Maple, in all its glorious forms, is a symbol of the beauty of Vermont. It’s a symbol of hard work, ingenuity, natural beauty and resilience. It’s a symbol of who we are, of all that we have, and also, all that we are on the precipice of losing.
I can think of nothing more iconic to Vermont than the maple tree. The Maple tree brings us together in sugar shacks every spring. Families, friends and neighbors flock together to boil sap, stoke the fire, or gather at their local ‘sugar on snow’ destination. We pour real maple syrup on pancakes, waffles and fried dough. A Vermont summer is not complete without indulging in a refreshing maple creemee. Yet we would have none of this sweetness without Vermonters working countless hours tapping trees, clearing sugar bushes, running lines, wading thigh-high in snow, gathering and then boiling the sap. The work of making something so delicious out of the sap of a tree, exemplifies the rugged, physical labor that so many Vermonters do regardless of weather, sore muscles, cold fingers or achy joints. The rugged spirit of Vermonters as well as the community energy around it, are epitomized in the sugaring season and all its products.
Fall foliage season, with the yellow, orange and red maples lighting up our hillsides and communities, is truly a beauty to behold. We have something very special here and folks notice that. Vermont and all its ‘mapleness’ shines as a beacon of hope to the rest of this country. Currently, folks are flocking here from all over the nation to experience what it is that we have. They come here seeking a better life. They come here looking for community, safety, the arts, good schools, local food, decency and outdoor adventures. And this is a great boon for our state and our workforce.
However, this better life they are seeking is ironically increasingly threatened. Increased population numbers lead to increased stresses on our housing options and costs, our roads, our waterways and our natural resources. This is why I return with trepidation; as Senators, the task before you, the task of steering this ship, of welcoming new families without forcing out the old, and of lessening these stressors on our institutions and our environment, can seem daunting indeed.
As we gather here today to begin a new biennium, we have many complicated issues before us:
Vermont has generational poverty.
Vermont has children who cannot learn well because they are hungry in their classrooms. Vermont has parents who go hungry so that their children can eat.
Vermont has a housing shortage that has reached a crisis for our residents and our employers and driven costs out of reach for too many.
Vermont's wages are not rising fast enough to keep up with inflation.
Vermonters face public safety concerns in both rural and urban communities.
Vermonters face a workforce shortage and a childcare crisis.
Vermont’s healthcare system is broken. Hospitals and staff are collapsing. Costs keep going up while emergency rooms are burdened by caring for many with a range of issues beyond acute triage.
Vermont has increased drug use, addiction and a record number of overdose deaths.
As if all that isn’t enough to contend with, the climate crisis is here now and it is only going to get worse. Our strong agricultural and forestry sectors are at risk, further threatening our vibrant, local food supplies. Right now, because of the warm spell we are experiencing, the sap has already run. It’s too early and it adds work and labor costs to our maple production. What’s worse, with earlier spring warming, our maple trees risk budding out too early, turning our precious sweet sap bitter.
In 50 short years, if we are not careful, the maple tree may not even be able to survive in our state any longer.
So with all these challenges before us, why are we here? Why do we even bother?
To answer that, I want to take a moment to acknowledge Sha’an Mouliert, the Vermonter who drove here today from St Johnsbury to swear me in. I am humbled that Sha’an agreed to be a part of this ceremony because in my eyes, Sha’an is herself real Vermont Maple Cream. Sha’an is resilient, hard-working, resourceful, creative and community minded. Since moving to Derby line in 1983, she has weathered many storms and yet remained a constant and vital ingredient in our Vermont community. As the coordinator and photographer of the “I am Vermont Too'' photo-story, she helped shine a light on the issue of microaggressions against people of color who live in and are contributors to our neighborhoods and communities. As a community organizer, inclusion consultant, artist and educator, she has used her artist’s eye and her big heart to creatively ‘tap into’ what is important or unique about whatever her chosen subject is and ‘boil it down’ to present it to the rest of us in a way we can understand and appreciate it in a new light.
It is folks like Sha’an, who Instead of giving up, create a way of moving up and through adversity, that make Vermont this special place we know and love.
As daunting as our task may seem at times, it’s time to roll up our sleeves and, like the Sha’ans in our state, get to work being real Vermont creative. Each and every one of you has been elected to serve and each and every one of you possesses some special experience or expertise to bring to the table. While here to serve as Senators, you are also individuals. You are educators, social workers, public safety officials, business owners, scientists, healthcare workers and town managers by trade. But you may also have personal experiences with applying for permits, dealing with damage from an environmental disaster, parenting a special-needs child, seeking help with ageing parents, or losing a loved-one to drug-addiction or suicide, etc that makes you unique and knowledgeable.
However, do not rely on just your own experiences. Recent technological improvements to the Statehouse have given you the opportunity to hear and listen to the voices from Vermonters who otherwise would not be able to show up in person for testimony. Take this opportunity. Our democracy can only be stronger when we include as many voices as possible.
The challenge before you is to not become stymied by what may look bleak but to instead, ‘tap into’ your wealth of hidden resources, your areas of expertise and your reserves and to 'boil your shared ideas down’ into solutions that will work for Vermonters. The people of Vermont have elected each and every one of us to represent and serve them. It’s time to do them proud. It’s time to get Vermont-creative, to roll up our sleeves and do the hard work, to be brave enough to let old, tired approaches fall by the wayside and daring enough to imagine and fund innovative new ideas to take their place.
For my part, I will work to make sure the process in this chamber is fair and that all voices are heard and respected in this chamber. We will follow the rules and my judgements will be guided by the principles set forth in the Senate rules. I look forward to working with you all and please know that my office is always open. Whether you want to discuss policy, or need a quiet place to gather your thoughts, please feel free to contact Lisa Gerlach, my Chief of Staff and utilize my space if you need it. Thank you. Let's get to work to tackle Vermonters struggles.