vt.Buzz ~ a political blog

Political notes from Free Press staff writers Terri Hallenbeck, Sam Hemingway and Nancy Remsen

3.22.2007

Death vote

It was an interesting vote on the physician-assisted death bill yesterday, as somebody noted in the comments on the last item.

It was clear that early on in the roll call that the bill was doomed. Ancel, Botzow, Consejo, Donovan, Evans - all solid Democrats toward the beginning of the alphabet who voted against it.

Proponents said they sensed in the last couple weeks that the votes were slipping to the other side. There was heavy pressure from churches, particularly the Catholic Church, on their parishioners, who were told to call their reps. Whether it was entirely that pressure that tipped the scales is hard to say.

Was the bill the victim of misinformation? One Catholic parishioner said the parish was told this bill was part of an effort to destroy families and then the church.

Or was the bill the victim an idea the public's not really comfortable with?

- Terri Hallenbeck

posted by vt.Buzz | 11:49 AM |

Comments:

Since the Catholic church wants to inject itself into politics all the time now, why don't Americans demand that the Catholic church (and all churches for that matter) be taxed. Vermont would be out of its spending hole in a matter of a few years. I used to believe that money truly was the root of all evil, but these days, religion seems to have risen to the top.

# Posted by:

Anonymous | 12:39 PM, March 22, 2007

# Posted by:

Anonymous | 12:39 PM, March 22, 2007

Big part missing from this post: the fact that the House leadership backed this bill, and it went down by a (very) wide margin on the floor. When is the last time that a bill backed by leadership made it to the floor and went down in flames like this? Previous Speakers would never allow themselves to be embarrassed by a lopsided defeat of a bill they backed . . . they would not allow it out of committee if it didn't have at least a chance of passage.

A more important question: does the defeat of this leadership-backed bill foreshadow more votes in which Democrats will break with their leadership? My o my, how things can change in a single year . . .

# Posted by:

Anonymous | 12:48 PM, March 22, 2007

Symington was never comfortable with this bill. She wasn't a huge supporter of it. She didn't want to alocate time to it.

She alowed a vote out of deference to the bill's supporters.

Gaye isn't like "previous speakers" -- she isn't afraid to let people think for themselves.

She wasn't going to twist arms on an issue like this.

# Posted by:

Anonymous | 1:27 PM, March 22, 2007

Well, we can see that Symington is
something else!

# Posted by:

Anonymous | 1:47 PM, March 22, 2007

Where are the Progressives on this issue?

# Posted by:

Anonymous | 1:53 PM, March 22, 2007

Catholic Church responsible for all evil. Shouldn't this be from Sam's
blog? Or is it pervasive at the Free
Press? Truth is a lot of people
regardless of religious affiliation
or lack of same had real misgivings
about this bill and the vote is an
indication of this, nothing more.

# Posted by:

Anonymous | 2:15 PM, March 22, 2007

While I don't agree with the Catholic Church's position on abortion, at least they are consistent - against the death penalty, physician-assisted suicide, and the Iraq War - which is more than can be said for a lot of politicians.

# Posted by:

Anonymous | 2:25 PM, March 22, 2007

Catholics are such lemmings. I think the earlier post is right. Tax the churches! Seperation of church and state is another American ideal gone terribly wrong.

# Posted by:

Anonymous | 2:43 PM, March 22, 2007

I never realized just how bloodthirsty lefties can be. You'd think they'd be satisfied with being able to suck the brains out of babies, but I guess they want to kill on the other end, too! They seem comfortable with killing as long as it is innocents - and certainly not "insurgents" (i.e., terrorists)because as we all know, we made them do all of those terrible things!

# Posted by:

Anonymous | 3:01 PM, March 22, 2007

"While I don't agree with the Catholic Church's position on abortion, at least they are consistent - against the death penalty, physician-assisted suicide, and the Iraq War - which is more than can be said for a lot of politicians."

This is a good point. It can extended further to things like Darfur, education, minimum wage, and health care (I believe St. Joseph's in Burlington hosted an interfaith rally on this a couple years ago that was attended by people like Welch, and I think Leahy - don't remember the specifics).

Opposition to the bill isn't simply based on "the Bible says life is sacred." There are significant reasons to believe that PAS (that's what it really is) isn't good PUBLIC POLICY. It seems to me almost immoral that the legislature has spent so much time on a bill that they acknowledge would affect around 10 people a year, which ignoring the needs of the rest of the people. They did nothing to try to improve palliative care and more importantly they did nothing to help out the thousands of uninsured Vermonters. A great point was made during the public hearing several weeks ago that not all Vermonters would be able to make an informed choice without universal health care. Let's focus on helping all Vermonters, not just 10.

# Posted by:

Anonymous | 3:05 PM, March 22, 2007

It's one bill. It would have applied to all Vermonters for many many years to come.

And there will are other bills and other areas that are being focused on.

The Legislature does not work on one issue at a time.

# Posted by:

Anonymous | 4:07 PM, March 22, 2007

this was a very controversial bill with the potential to hurt many and help 6-10 a year.

# Posted by:

Anonymous | 4:43 PM, March 22, 2007

I am a regular citizen with no dedication to the Catholic Church and actually a loathing of Republicans. Yet it was clear to me that this bill was a bad idea.

Need a drink to deal with the concept of my new bedfellows....

# Posted by:

Anonymous | 6:55 PM, March 22, 2007

Let's just see what actually gets done in this session - what have we seen so far?

# Posted by:

Anonymous | 8:12 AM, March 23, 2007

As usual, we get nothing but hyperbole. People were told if they took their mother to the emergency room for a broken him she'd be put to death. HOw about a little truth-telling?

So, it would have only affected 6-10 people a year? Pretty important if you're one of them. Shouldn't they be represented?

# Posted by:

Anonymous | 12:42 PM, March 23, 2007

not at the expense of everyone else.

What has the legislature done with regard to the health insurance crisis in this state?

Also, data in Oregon shows that these people were not dealing with physical pain but rather concerns about losing autonomy and not being able to do things that "make life enjoyable". Sounds a lot like depression to me.

# Posted by:

Anonymous | 1:18 PM, March 23, 2007

Depression is what sets in when the legislative session in Vermont is over.

# Posted by:

Anonymous | 4:45 PM, March 23, 2007

Whose expense? Tell another tale like they do at the Catholic church.

# Posted by:

Anonymous | 4:46 PM, March 23, 2007

Good to see Catholic-bashing by the secular jews is still alive and well in Vermont!

# Posted by:

Anonymous | 5:44 PM, March 23, 2007

Interesting that when the "quality of life" issue involves a polar bear,
people are up in arms about death with dignity but when it concerns elderly(or by extension disabled) human beings it's a different story.

# Posted by:

Anonymous | 10:02 AM, March 24, 2007

Yes, let's just blame the jews. That's a time tested antic.

# Posted by:

Anonymous | 9:28 PM, March 24, 2007

The Progressives in the House were mixed on this bill.

Four voted yes.
One voted no.
One was sick at home and missed the vote.

# Posted by:

Anonymous | 11:58 AM, March 25, 2007

Blame the Mason's!

# Posted by:

Anonymous | 2:17 PM, March 25, 2007

So how about that "progressive"
label that Vermont is given.

# Posted by:

Anonymous | 10:00 PM, March 25, 2007

If you voted against H.44, plain and simple, your ethics are lagging.

That's what Prog. Rep. Susan Davis said in that characteristically holier-than-thou-ness typical of Progs. And I quote:

"Yesterday, after hours of debate, the House decided the fate of bill H.44 (Patient choice and care at end of living). We now know that death with dignity will not become an end-of-life option for Vermonters, in the legal sense, until the issue is taken up yet again. Though the two issues are non-related, as I was working on the Telecommunications Bill to expand broadband I couldn’t help from thinking; 'just as our communications infrastructure is lagging behind our technologies, our ethics are lagging behind our sciences.' "

I'm for separation of church and state, and frankly, I'm sick of being preached to by the Progs.

# Posted by:

Anonymous | 9:13 PM, March 26, 2007

I am just sick of the progs in general - and I am a liberal.

# Posted by:

Anonymous | 5:23 PM, March 27, 2007