( – promoted by odum)
UPDATE: Rutland Herald today reports on Auditor Tom Salmon's continuing military service in “Vt. auditor's Iraq service hampers re-election bid.”
I've deferred posting this piece until it was publised in the Times Argus. In case you don't read the Sunday Rutland Herald/Times Argus, here's the piece in whole orignally written in early September. – Nate Freeman
Let's face it: No Vermonter serves America more often than Brian Dubie does.
As you may recall, Vermont's Lieutenant Governor has been called to duty three times in the last four years and each time he has served in important capacities. In September 2005 he responded as a relief coordinator in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. In September 2006, he was called to Iraq and stood beside commanding generals on the rooftops of Baghdad. And now in September of 2008, Brian Dubie has been called to coordinate airlifts of personnel and supplies from Panama City, Florida to support relief efforts in Galveston, Texas.
There is no question that each of these three tours of service were critical for both American relief and military efforts. As a reservist in Vermont's Air National Guard, Brian Dubie has the same commitments as any other Vermont reservist. No Vermonter questions Brian Dubie's patriotism as he serves our country selflessly. No Vermonter questions his love for America, mom and apple pie.
But Brian Dubie isn't just a soldier. He's also a statewide politician serving three terms as Vermont's Lieutenant Governor following his sudden rise in public service from a prior position on a local school board. Politicians can be a breed of their own, especially those who succumb to the temptations of public glory through the esteem of their office and the ability to create headlines with little more than symbolic gestures and front page photo opportunities. Despite the fact that Brian Dubie is a reservist, his public life is not immune to these kinds of political temptations. In fact, in being called to active duty for the third time in the last three years, there seems to be a trend which suggests that the Lieutenant Governor isn't serving America as much as he is staging a political show.
The rest below the fold.
The political veil between public service and show-making can be lifted toward the truth if we ask one simple question: “Why are Brian Dubie's tours of duty so much shorter than any other Vermonter reservist?”
The need to activate Vermont reservists for hurricanes Katrina and Ike are easily understood as critical support for humanitarian relief. The need to activate Vermont reservists to serve in Iraq or Afghanistan is also understood as necessary military support for our full-time service men and women. We all understand that a soldier's duty is to serve whenever he or she is called to active service.
But it's becoming politically curious why so many Vermont reservists serve considerably longer tours than the Brian Dubie.
In September 2005, Brian Dubie served for only two weeks while 115 members of the Vermont Guard remained in New Orleans until the work was complete. Many of these soldiers had just returned from several months in Iraq. Brian Dubie's initial duty was to coordinate air lifting equipment and supplies from Florida to Louisiana and Mississippi but his second week consisted of making face-time with such folk as the Governor of Mississippi and the Lieutenant Governor of Louisiana. Meanwhile, 115 members of the Vermont Guard were mucking out a school in Jefferson Parrish. Interestingly, while Vermont's soldiers remained in New Orleans, Brian Dubie came home and immediately created an exploratory committee for a possible 2006 U.S. Senate campaign. His explanation at the time was that he returned home “with a heightened motivation to serve the people of Vermont at a higher level.”
As we recall, Brian Dubie's exploratory committee didn't green light his ambition to serve in Washington. However, for the trouble of his two-week tour, the Lieutenant Governor earned a second Meritorious Service Medal. This is no small honor, since such a medal is one of the highest awarded for non-combat service. In most cases, soldiers similarly recognized earn this medal after three years in a full-time military career. One soldier earned the Meritorious Service Medal after three years of service including relief aid in response to Hurricane Ivan.
In September 2006, Brian Dubie served a two week tour in Baghdad. Hundreds of Vermonter reservists were called to active service almost two years earlier on lengthy tours, taxing their family's financial and emotional resources, such is the nature of military service. Brian Dubie, keeping his job as a commercial airline pilot while serving minimally as Vermont's Lieutenant Governor, was called to active service on a largely unspecified mission. He flew off once again, only this time Dubie dismissed his responsibility to Vermont's chain of command by failing to inform House Speaker Gaye Symington, the next in command, of his absence. Once again, it seems as if the objective of his mission was to make face-time with military leaders. And once again, upon his return, Brian Dubie came forward with another bold proposal in form of a vow: to move Vermont and the United States away from foreign oil. In his own words:
It was a mid-September evening. I stood on a rooftop with one of the three Commanding Generals, overlooking the city of Baghdad. The city was beautiful at night, but it was not peaceful.
“Brian,” he said, “America has to declare its freedom from oil that comes from dangerous parts of the world.”
Late that same night, in a Blackhawk helicopter flying at very low altitude, the team I was part of left Baghdad for northern Iraq. I looked down as we passed over sleeping Iraqi villages, and I thought about the general's words. I vowed, “When I get home to Vermont, I will make it a priority to find a way to move our state and our nation away from foreign oil.”
Now here we are in September 2008, and once again Brian Dubie is called to service in the midst of an electoral season. As with his first week of service in response to Hurricane Katrina, he is coordinating air lifts of personnel and supplies from Tyndell Air Force Base in Florida in response to Hurricane Ike. Unlike the prior tours of duty, this time he's projected to spend only seven days, scheduled to return on September 19th. We can't predict what new ambition or vow he will come home with this time, but we can be confident that the political storyline will be considerably less compelling than Dubie's return home in 2005 and 2006. The situation is different this time. As a nation, our fears invoked by the war on terrorism and the intensity of storms have been tempered with political fatigue and a shift of concern toward the recession, our national debt and the continuing mortgage crisis meltdown. Closer to home Brian Dubie's seven day trip to Florida will be received in a different way than it has been before. This time, any reception of the Lieutenant Governor in the headlines or front page photos will stand in stark contrast to another call to active duty.
Vermont reservist and current State Auditor, Thomas Salmon, was deployed to the Middle East a full two months ago with no estimated time of arrival back home any time soon. The difference between Salmon's open-ended commitment and Dubie's one or two-week stints begs a comparison between national service and political showmanship. The difference is almost embarrassing. Vermont's Auditor of Accounts and Lieutenant Governor are statesman and servicemen both. Yet Salmon has been deployed for an undetermined length of time while making the assumed sacrifices in family life and job security widely known among soldiers during a time of war. Meanwhile, Dubie jets out and back in a matter of days in what appears to be little more than a symbolic reminder of his strong military connections.
In full disclosure, I challenged Brian Dubie on this issue in June, at the outset of my recent primary campaign for Lieutenant Governor. In the full text of my announcement letter I referred to Dubie's two-week trip to Baghdad as a “tour of glory” and I continue to stand behind my words since, now that the Lieutenant Governor has been called to serve on three occasions, each time serving no more than 14 days, the pattern of glory soldiering seems to be confirmed.
Brian Dubie is unquestionably a good and decent man. He is a family man and there seems to be no doubt of his commitment to the safety of children. He is a patriot and his interest in green energy and technology and green valleys are admirable. He has a high standard of personal integrity and deep roots in his community.
But as I mentioned to him in a quick sit-down conversation at an endorsement event taking place at the Quechee Inn in July, as parents of children, as school board members and fellow Vermonters, we must respect each other's personal qualities and private life at the beginning of the day and at the end of the day. However, in public life and in politics it is our job to challenge each other to the best of our ability as we bring voice to the question Vemonters are asking in more private spaces. One of the responsibilities of leadership in a democracy is to ask the obvious questions and offer a vigorous, informed challenge against our opponents as we strive for success.
Why are Brian Dubie's tours of duty so much shorter than any other Vermonter reservist? What kind of reception will he expect from Vermonters this third time should he announce interest in another public position or make a glorious vow against the ills of our time? And what should Vermonters begin to expect from any Lieutenant Governor in the question of commitment to service?
