Vermont

:This article is about the U.S. state. For other meanings, see Vermont (disambiguation).

Law and government

Politics

Vermonters are known for their political independence and liberal views. The Vermont government maintains a proactive stance with regards to the environment, social services and prevention of urbanization. For example, facing severe pressures from out-of-state real estate developers, the state passed the Land Use and Development Law (Act 250) in 1970. The law, which was the first like it in the nation, created nine District Environmental Commissions consisting of private citizens who have the power to approve/disapprove land development and subdivision plans that would have a significant impact on the state's environment and many small communities. Another case involves the recent controversy over the adoption of civil unions, an institution which grants same-sex couples nearly all the rights and privileges of marriage. In Baker v. Vermont (1999) the Vermont Supreme Court ruled that, under the Constitution of Vermont, the state must either allow same-sex marriage or provide a separate but equal status for them. The state legislature chose the second option by creating the institution of civil union; the bill was passed by the legislature and signed into law by Governor Howard Dean.

Related Topics:
Liberal - Urbanization - Act 250 - Civil union - Marriage - Baker v. Vermont - 1999 - Constitution of Vermont - Same-sex marriage - Separate but equal - Howard Dean

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Vermont is the home state of the only two current members of the United States Congress who do not associate themselves with a political party: Representative Bernie Sanders and Senator Jim Jeffords.

Related Topics:
Representative - Bernie Sanders - Senator - Jim Jeffords

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Attempts by out-of-state candidates (so called "flatlanders") to win a seat in Vermont have often been thwarted by locals. In 1998, a 79-year-old local man named Fred Tuttle won national attention by defeating a Massachusetts multimillionaire in the Republican Primary for Senate. With a campaign budget of $201, Tuttle garnered 55 percent of the primary vote. He was heavily defeated by Democratic incumbent Patrick Leahy in November.

Related Topics:
1998 - Fred Tuttle - Massachusetts - Republican - Primary - Democratic - Patrick Leahy

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Republicans dominated Vermont politics from the party's founding in 1854 until the 1980s. Vermont was one of two states (with Maine) to vote for Republican Alf Landon over President Franklin Roosevelt in 1936. In the early 1960s many progressive Vermont Republicans and newcomers to the state helped bolster the State's then-small Democratic Party. Until 1992, Vermont had only supported a Democrat for president once since the Civil War—in Lyndon Johnson's 1964 landslide victory. In 1992, it supported Democrat Bill Clinton for president and has voted for Democrats in every presidential election since then. Vermont gave John Kerry his fourth largest margin of victory in 2004. He won the state's popular vote by 20 percentage points over incumbent George W. Bush, taking almost 59 percent of the vote. Essex County in the state's northeastern section was the only county to vote for Bush.

Related Topics:
1854 - Alf Landon - Franklin Roosevelt - 1960s - Progressive - 1992 - Lyndon Johnson - 1964 - Bill Clinton - 2004 - George W. Bush - Essex County

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The Vermont Progressive Party is a small, left-wing political party created in the early 1980s and has held a handful of seats in the Vermont legislature for two decades and is affiliated with Vermont's lone congressman, Bernie Sanders; it has had official recognition as a political party by the state government since 1999.

Related Topics:
Progressive Party - 1980s - Political party

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Vermont is the birthplace of former presidents Calvin Coolidge and Chester A. Arthur. The age of consent in Vermont is 16.

Related Topics:
Calvin Coolidge - Chester A. Arthur - Age of consent

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Vermont abolished the death penalty in 1964. The last state execution was carried out in 1954.

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A major political issue for some years has been taxation and education funding. The town of Killington is currently trying to leave Vermont and join New Hampshire due to what the locals say is an unfair tax burden.

Related Topics:
Killington - New Hampshire

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State government

State Constitution

Provision is made for the following governing institutions under the Constitution of the State of Vermont:

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Executive branch

Vermonters independently elect a state Governor and Lieutenant Governor every two years (as opposed to every four years, which is the most common term length for a governor of a U.S. state). The current governor of Vermont is Jim Douglas, who assumed office in 2003.

Related Topics:
Governor - Jim Douglas - 2003

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Unlike other states, Vermont does not have a term limit for the governor.

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Legislative branch

The Vermont's state legislature is the Vermont General Assembly, a bicameral body composed of the Vermont House of Representatives (the lower house) and the Vermont Senate (the upper house). The Senate is composed of 30 state senators, while the House of Representatives has 150 members. Like the governor, members of the General Assembly serve two-year terms.

Related Topics:
State legislature - Vermont General Assembly - Bicameral body - Lower house - Upper house

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Judicial branch

The Vermont Supreme Court is the state supreme court, made up of five justices who served six year terms. Superior courts in the state are made up of eight judges serving a term of six years. Appointments to the state supreme court, superior court, and district courts are made by the governor and approved by the General Assembly. Judges on lower courts are elected on a partisan ballot.

Related Topics:
Supreme court - Superior court - District court

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Federal representation

In the U.S. Senate, Vermont is represented by Senator Patrick Leahy, a Democrat, and Senator James Jeffords, an independent. Jeffords was a former Republican but left the party in 2001 as a result of political disagreements and now caucuses with the Democrats. Unusually, like its neighbor New Hampshire, Vermont tends to elect more independents than other states; in the U.S. House of Representatives, Vermont's single at-large congressional district is represented by Bernard Sanders, an independent representative and socialist who served as the mayor of Burlington.

Related Topics:
U.S. Senate - Patrick Leahy - Democrat - James Jeffords - Republican - 2001 - Caucuses - U.S. House of Representatives - Congressional district - Bernard Sanders - Socialist

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