There’s a story in this week’s Seven Days about State Treasurer Beth Pearce. Pretty good story, actually. But the headline is just annoying as hell.
Treasurer Beth Pearce Fell Into the Job — Can She Win an Election to Keep It?
Don’t blame reporter Paul Heintz, because reporters don’t write the headlines. Someone further up the chain does that. And in this case, s/he did a tooth-grindingly tone-deaf job of it. Beth Pearce did not in any sense “fall into the job,” and to imply that she did is condescending and offensive.
In actual fact, as you would know if you read the article, Beth Pearce may be the most qualified person in the entire state of Vermont to hold the job of Treasurer. She’s been Deputy Treasurer of two states, Vermont and Massachusetts. She’s spent most of her career as a financial professional in local and state government.
Admittedly, she did become Treasurer by being appointed to replace Jeb Spaulding when he became Governor Shumlin’s Secretary of Administration. But to say that she “fell into the job” makes it sound like she was a bartender when she got the call. It’s an insult to her experience and her qualifications for the position.
Now, if you want to say that a top state official “fell into the job,” there’s someone practically right next door who qualifies…
…good old Bill Sorrell, the long-serving Attorney General of Vermont. As the story goes, Sorrell’s mother Esther was Howard Dean’s political mentor. Dean and Bill Sorrell got to be good friends. In 1992, Dean appointed Sorrell as his Secretary of Administration. And in 1997, he tried to slide his buddy onto the Vermont Supreme Court.
Problem. Sorrell was an attorney, but he had no judicial experience whatsoever. When Dean pushed Sorrell for the high court, the state’s judicial nominating board didn’t bite; it returned a list of nominees for Dean to choose from, and it didn’t include Sorrell.
This went back and forth for a while: Dean pushing Sorrell, the board refusing to nominate an unqualified person.
Finally, to get around the roadblock, Dean chose the incumbent Attorney General, Jeff Amestoy, to the Supreme Court. No problemo; his nomination was approved.
And now there was a handy vacancy in the AG’s office. To which Howard Dean appointed good old Bill Sorrell.
Now, there’s a guy who really “fell into the job.” Not Beth Pearce.
Okay, Sorrell had no judicial experience, and I, for one, am extremely glad his potential nomination to the Vermont Supreme Court died aborning.
But, on that measure alone, Vermont’s newest Supreme Court Justice, Beth Robinson, had no judicial experience, either.
Of course, Robinson easily defeated Sorrell over state marriage discrimination before that same Supreme Court, with one of the dissenting opinions being from Justice Johnson who felt the decision tossing the remedy back to the legislature (which then came up with civil unions) didn’t go far enough.
Robinson’s other qualifications likewise easily outstrip Sorrell’s. She’s a lot smarter, shows no inclination to self-promotion, has more integrity in her little finger than Sorrell has shown in over two decades in state government, and has more energy in her left foot than Sorrell has ever shown in actual cases related to his job.
There’s more to a successful Supreme Court nomination than judicial experience (or lack thereof). A few things like character, integrity, intelligence, and energy.
NanuqFC
[N]o one in America should ever be afraid to walk down the street holding the hands of the person they love. No one in America should be forced to look over their shoulder because of who they are. ~ Barack Obama
Sorry, I got distracted.
As to your main point, which is that Beth Pearce is eminently qualified for State Treasurer: Yes, yes, a thousand times yes!
And the awkward, patronizing headline is just too-too evocative of Seven Days’ “post-feminist” coolness. Their publishers are women; their online media mavens/editors are women: what more could anyone want?
Vermont’s accounts are in good shape largely due to Beth Pearce’s efforts. As the second in command of the department, she knew the score and handled a lot of the decisions even before she got appointed to step up a notch. She’ll continue to make a great State Treasurer.
One of the things she said in a public meeting in Franklin County was that she intends to work hard to make it possible for Vermont to stick with defined benefit retirement plans for its employees. It is, she said, better for the employees, and keeps the state’s promises.
NanuqFC
In a Time of Universal Deceit, TELLING the TRUTH Is a Revolutionary Act. ~ George Orwell