MONTPELIER, Vt.—Lt. Gov. Brian Dubie declared in a recent campaign news release that "Vermonters work hard for their money, and they deserve a governor who will work hard for them."
But a check of legislative records by The Associated Press finds that the Republican gubernatorial candidate was absent for the first fall of the gavel on a third of the days the Senate met this year. Presiding over the Senate is the first duty listed for a lieutenant governor under the Vermont Constitution.
His opponent, Democrat Peter Shumlin, the Senate's president pro tempore, was absent for two of the Senate's 62 roll calls -- both on the same day -- for an absenteeism rate of about 3 percent, the AP review found.
Dubie said in an interview that he's proud of his attendance record, saying his Senate work is something "I take pretty seriously." His other job -- as a pilot for American Airlines -- caused him to miss only two days of Senate business during his eight years as lieutenant governor.
Alexandra MacLean, Shumlin's campaign manager, said it was "telling that he was not there doing the business of the people... I really do think this should be an issue of concern for Vermonters."
As president pro tempore (translation from Latin: for the time being), Shumlin mainly worked from the Senate floor but was called on to substitute when Dubie was not on the podium.
Dubie actually missed the opening gavel on 25 of the 60 days the Senate met, according to the daily Senate Journals for the 2010 session. But five of those instances overlapped with times Gov. Jim Douglas was out of state, according to Douglas travel records obtained by the AP on a public records request. The state Constitution bars a lieutenant governor from presiding over the Senate when acting as governor.
Dubie also said he had a deployment as a colonel in the Air Force Reserve earlier this year. His campaign later acknowledged that the deployment came during the Legislature's Town Meeting break, and didn't interfere with his Senate service.
Opinions differ as to how much Dubie's absences mattered. Some senators and lobbyists said the chamber ran more smoothly when Shumlin filled in for Dubie as presiding officer. Others said it hurt the Senate's business, because when Shumlin or another Senator was pulled from the floor to preside, he or she couldn't participate in debates.
Sen. Phil Scott, a Republican running for lieutenant governor, said it is "essential" for the lieutenant governor to be in the Senate as much as possible when it is meeting. "It's something I have an interest in because I've served there," he said.
Besides the two roll calls he missed because he was absent, Shumlin did not participate in 22 others, because he was substituting for Dubie, the Journals showed. The presiding officer votes only to break ties.
Sen. Jeanette White, a Democrat and chair of the Senate Government Operations Committee said Dubie this year "was gone much more than he had been over the past years." The Senate doesn't keep formal attendance, but Senate Journals -- the formal, daily record of activities in the chamber -- allow a picture of the comings and goings of both its president and president pro tempore. On some days, they showed Dubie being absent for the first gavel, but present later; other days, it was the opposite.
Either Dubie or Shumlin would see a big increase in his public salary if elected governor. The part-time lieutenant governor job pays about $60,000 a year. The Senate president pro tem makes $704 a week for as long as the Legislature is in session; this year that was 18 weeks, for $12,700. Douglas currently makes about $142,000 a year, said his spokesman, David Coriell.
Several members of the Senate talked among themselves about Dubie's absences during the past session, according to White, other Democrats, legislative aides and one of Dubie's fellow Republicans, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he did not want to be seen criticizing the nominee of his party. "It was definitely a topic of conversation," the Republican senator said.
One feature of Dubie's role during the 2010 legislative session was his much discussed "jobs tour," in which he visited a city or town, usually the shire town of various counties, meeting with local business leaders and often announcing his visit at the beginning of the day with a visit and on-air appearance at the local radio station.
"All the jobs tour activities were scheduled on days when we did not have a planned legislative session," Dubie said in an interview.
But a check of press releases issued by the lieutenant governor's office showed that at least one leg of the jobs tour -- to Dubie's home area of Chittenden County -- came Feb. 4, a day when the Senate was in session and debated a bill to ban texting while driving.
MacLean called the jobs tour "a campaign gimmick," as Dubie got his bid for governor under way. As to the lieutenant governor's duties listed in the Constitution, White, Shumlin's Windham County district mate, said, "I don't think it says anything about going on a jobs tour."
Dubie said he believed that some of the times he missed the first gavel of the day in the Senate chamber on the second floor of the Statehouse, he may have been in meetings with constituents in his office on the first floor.
That didn't get much sympathy from White, either. She said most senators excuse themselves from constituent meetings to attend the Senate's sessions. "If he was there (at the Statehouse) and he was not upstairs, then he should have been upstairs," White said. "It's his job. The only thing he has to do is preside over us under the Constitution," she said.
That's not completely true. When a governor leaves the state or is otherwise incapacitated, the lieutenant governor steps in as acting governor and is ineligible to preside over the Senate.
But on at least one occasion, according to the Senate Journals, Dubie did not resume his Senate duties when Gov. Jim Douglas returned to the state from an overnight trip at 9:30 a.m. On the agenda that day: votes on reappointments for three judges and a bill, which passed, calling for the use of "ignition interlocks" -- special devices that require people convicted of drunken driving to breathe into them before starting the car.
The Senate did not have an especially heavy schedule for floor action in 2010. The full body met on 60 of the 90 business days from the beginning of its session on Jan. 5 to adjournment on May 12. It met two or three days a week for much of January through March, with Wednesday sessions usually starting at 1 p.m.
"It should have been very easy to preside, because we didn't meet every day," White said.
