Whatever your politics, you have to admit Vermont Governor Jim Douglas is a good man.
I've had several encounters with him as a member of the media and as the owner of my photography business and every time he has impressed as a true gentleman and willing to do all he can to make those who come in contact with him feel at ease, important and respected.
The first time I met The Guv was when the BFA-St. Albans boys and girls hockey teams were feted at the Statehouse, where a proclamation was read honoring them for winning state championships on successive days.
After the ceremony on the floor of the House, the teams were given a tour and met with The Guv in his office. He was presented with gifts, including a BFA jersey. Although he is from Middlebury, which lost to the BFA girls in the finals, he gamely donned the apparel and I snapped a few pics in my role as the then-Sports Editor of the St. Albans Messenger.
Over the years, our paths have crossed maybe a half-dozen times and each time I've left the encounter impressed with his gentle grace and indomitable enthusiasm for meeting with his constituents.
This trait is often mocked, but to suggest it's a facade is off the mark.
Saturday night was a perfect example.
I was hired to take photos - posed and candids - of the 100th anniversary of the Buffalo Soldiers first arrival at Fort Ethan Allen in Colchester. The event coincided with the national convention of the group, which was founded 143 years ago.
The Guv, I later learned, thought the event would end around 8:30 p.m. (which is what I was told, as well.) Instead, it stretched to nearly 11 p.m.
The Guv, whose day started in Southern Vermont after leaving his house at around 6 a.m. - I'd tell you how I know this, but then I'd have to kill you - ended with his trip to the dinner honoring the memory of this illustrious group of black soldiers.
A lesser man would have been miffed (Howard Dean) or even thrown a fit of pique (Dean!), but not our Guv. He sat through the long dinner (attended by and mostly for the benefit of out-of-state [read non-voting] people) and at the last minute accepted an invitation to preside over the installation of the national group's newly-elected officers.
At one point the head of the association - which held last year's national convention in Las Vegas and which will have next year's convention in Washington, D.C., - remarked that The Guv was the first head of a state to attend their function.
Finally, around 10:30, the event seemed ready to close.
But The Guv's night was not over.
While I'm sure another governor I encountered (the damnable Dean) would have bolted for the door, our Guv hung around to let every one with a digital camera - and that's everyone these days - take a photo with, or of, him.
He even relented - with typical aplomb and a understandably weary smile - to allow me to take a group shot (not at my urging!) with the officers of the association. (see photo at the top of this post)
This must have been a particularly tiresome endeavor. He was scrunched into a bench alongside other proud men while more fine people were posed around him. It must have took five minutes to set up the shot - during which a studio light was toppled and camera malfunction occurred, slightly delaying his departure further.
I apologized, but he could not have been more gracious.
Finally, the photographs were taken and he was on his way home. I'm guessing he opened his front door at around midnight and I was told he needed to be back on the road for a 9 a.m. event back in Southern Vermont.
I remarked to his driver/body guard that I'd never want his job, if only for the travel, and he assured me The Guv keeps a schedule like this on a continual basis.
Talk about above and beyond the call of duty.
(On a side note, the officer I spoke with related that he resides in Chittenden County and after dropping off The Guv back in Middlebury he still had a trip back home ahead of him. He was also on duty on Sunday. If he got four good hours of sleep, I'd be shocked.)
But I digress, as usual.
The final point I'd like to make is a quick one.
I can't imagine Howard Dean - a man I truly dislike on a very personal level and it has nothing to do with politics - being remotely as gracious.
My run-ins with Dean - a pompous, arrogant jerk of the first order - were limited, but revealing.
As a cub reporter back in the day I broke a story about a factory egg farm opening in Highgate. It was big news at the time and I wrote extensively on the subject.
One fateful Dean was making the rounds in Franklin County and visited a Fairfield farm - the Howrigan farm, if my memory serves.
I used the forum to ask a technical question about the egg farm and was basically called a fraud who made up facts and printed them to scare people.
I was aghast; embarassed to the core.
I went back to the office, called my sources in the state Ag. Dept. and was told that everything I had printed was indeed true.
I was incensed.
Dean had purposely lied to people about my reporting ability and used his bully pulpit to bring into question any further reporting I might do on the subject.
In hindsight, it was brilliant politics.
On a personal level, it was a sleazy thing to do.
When Dean ran for president I told everyone who would listen that he was a bully and would eventually display the temper that he directed at me in the barn that day.
History proved me right.
Again, I'm not saying you have to like The Guv's politics (for the record, I do, but I also voted for Dean before I got to know him) but you have to be proud that we have a man in that office we can be proud of and who represents Vermont in the best possible way.
Wednesday, August 12, 2009 at 1:58PM 