Interview with Sen. Dick McCormack (D-Windsor)
Dick McCormack was appointed to the Vermont Senate to fill an unexpired term in 1989, and he was first elected to fill the seat in 1990.  He served as Senate Majority Leader from 1997-2000, and as chair of the Natural Resources and Energy Committee from January 2001.  McCormack responded to questions from DEMOCRACY IN ACTION in an August 25, 2002 letter.
McCORMACK:  I first met Howard Dean in the eighties when I and several neighbors were opposing the state's efforts to turn the scenic country highway through our little town [Bethel] into a major truck route, a fight that continues to this day.  Dean had made transportation excesses an issue in his Lt. Governor bid and he asked to meet with me.  Despite the grassroots nature of Vermont politics I was surprised so important a guy wanted a meeting. He was genuinely interested and very helpful.

A more rational transportation policy has continued to be a cornerstone of Dean's career.  Like other liberal initiatives we've had to compromise and often settle for partial victories.  Still we've had some success; two Amtrak routes into our state, commuter rail service to Burlington, etc.

Howard Dean is not ideologically driven.  He's a pragmatist who is task oriented.  This results in frustration among purists but it can be argued that purists don't accomplish much.  It can be argued that Dean's "moderate" approach is the best we can hope for.

An example is health care.  Single payer advocates, of which I am one, see Dean as having killed single payer in the early nineties.  Others argue that single payer was Dead on Arrival in any case and that the governor's more "moderate" approach was the best we could hope for.  Considering the fate of the Clinton initiative, this is not an unreasonable argument.

For all of his "moderate" pragmatism there have been several episodes in his career when Dean has taken a politically dangerous position on principle and stuck by it through very rough waters; community rating1, Act 60, Civil Unions, the E Board show down2, etc.  His fury over the U.S. Supreme Court's Webster Decision (which limited doctors' communications with patients regarding abortion) was principled and personal.

His leadership style is very personal.  He demands loyalty.  He is loyal to those who are loyal to him and even deferential to those to whom he delegates authority.  When crossed he fights fiercely.

I've carried water for him and I've locked horns with him.  I've enjoyed being on his side more than I've enjoyed fighting him.  He clearly enjoys the political battle and appreciates others, even adversaries, who fight well.  From time to time I speak with a frankness political experts consider ill advised.  It has gotten back to me that the governor enjoyed the story (less so when he was the object of my sarcasm.)

The story to which Freyne refers is this.  Early in his administration the governor told a gathering of Democrats that our entire agenda was unattainable as long as people didn't trust us with their money.  His fiscal conservatism has put pressures on programs I support and I haven't always supported him.  But after a decade there is no question that Vermont Democrats handle the public fisc far more responsibly than the Republicans ever did.  I have no qualms about stressing this, and all Democrats benefit as does our agenda which I believe benefits the state.  This is a Dean achievement.

He's a good guitar player; skilled, expressive and nuanced.4  He's a good father.  He'd bring his kids to the State House sometimes (he obviously respects his wife's career and professional responsibilities) and they'd read books or color by his feet at the Senate podium.
 

Notes.
1. This refers to certain insurance companies that set health insurance premiums to target young and healthy rather than spreading the risk over the entire population.

2. See interview with Elizabeth Courtney.

3. See interview with Peter Freyne.

4. Dean's musical ability was not widely known until recently.  McCormack, who has earned a living as performer (singer/songwriter), did not know about Dean's talent until the Governor set to work on a parody of Willie Nelson's "On the Road Again" which he performed at a legislative charity event in Spring 2002.  For an account of that event see Alexandra Marks.  "A presidential 'road not taken' ... yet," Christian Science Monitor, May 22, 2002.

Copyright © 2002  Eric M. Appleman/Democracy in Action