Phil Scott has been a denizen of the Statehouse for almost a quarter century. He was first elected to the state Senate in 2000, taking office in January 2001. He was a senator for 10 years, and served as vice chair of one committee and chair of another*. He then served three terms as lieutenant governor, whose duties include presiding over the Senate. Then he became governor, where he’s been ever since.

*His Wikipedia bio mentions, as the signature achievement of his time as chair of the Senate Institutions Committee, that he “redesigned the Vermont Statehouse cafeteria to increase efficiency.” Really? Is that the biggest thing he accomplished as a committee chair? Huh.

So it’s safe to say that if anyone knows how the Statehouse works, it’s Phil Scott. He has seen and done it all. He knows how stuff gets done, and how stuff doesn’t get done.

Which makes it all the more curious, or downright stinky if you prefer, that one of his top officials tried to blow up a legislative debate at the last possible minute. It was a thouroughly counterproductive tactic, unless the goal was to deliver a killshot to the bill in question.

The top official is one Jenney Samuelson, Secretary of the Agency of Human Services. On Friday, May 17 she delivered a memo seemingly aimed at derailing H.91, which would create a replacement to the oft-maligned General Assistance Emergency Housing program, a.k.a. the motel voucher system. For those just tuning in, that’s the system Scott and Samuelson have been criticizing nonstop for years without ever proposing an alternative of their own. This year, the House’s patience finally came to an end. It put forward a plan of its own in the form of H.91.

The bill was introduced way back on January 21 as a top priority of the House majority. It has since wended its way, with full deliberation and debate, through the lawmaking process. It was vetted by two House committees, approved by the full House and sent to the Senate; when Samuelson weighed in, H.91 was on the agenda of the Senate Health & Welfare Committee.

Need I remind that this is a very late stage in the legislative session. More often than not, the Legislature has adjourned by mid-May.

So why in bloody hell would Samuelson wait until May 17 to make the administration’s case? With a memo that thoroughly trashed H.91 and insisted on a version that emphasized cost above all else and retained all the mean-spirited and needlessly complicated features of the current system?

Samuelson could have written this memo on January 22 or anytime thereafter. Her memo would have given lawmakers a solid indication of what the administration would accept in a new emergency housing program, at a time when its input could have been taken into account.

But it ‘s clear that the May 17 memo had no impact at all. The bill moved quickly through two Senate committees and was approved by the full Senate five days later, on May 22. The House and Senate versions of H.91 are now before a committee of conference, whose membership clearly tilts to the left. The Senate’s three members include Ginny Lyons, chair of Senate Health & Welfare (and chief recipient of the Samuelson grenade) plus two staunch liberals, Sens. Martine Laroque Gulick and Tanya Vyhovsky. The House’s contingent includes Rep. Theresa Wood, chair of the House Human Services Committee and perhaps the single most influential advocate for sheltering the homeless, H.91’s lead sponsor Rep. Jubilee McGill, and Rep. Eric Maguire, the sole Republican appointee.

That’s a committee designed to be hostile to the administration’s position on emergency housing. Its composition could be interpreted as slamming the door firmly on Samuelson’s input.

Phil Scott, from his 24-plus years in and around the Statehouse, could have expected no other outcome. He continues to talk endlessly about “coming to the table” and working together to achieve bipartisan solutions to Vermont’s problems. This is perhaps the clearest example of Scott failing to live up to his own words. To put it another way, he is a damn hypocrite.

Postscript. This story was reported by Carly Berlin, the Report for America journalist who walks the emergency housing beat on behalf of VTDigger and Vermont Public. The headline of her story indicated that the Scott administration’s position on H.91 was “unclear.” I should note here that reporters almost never write their headlines. That’s customarily the editors’ job.

In this case, the headline is factually correct but deeply misleading. It’s based on deliberately opaque statements made by the governor at a recent press conference. Technically it’s true, he didn’t firmly commit to a veto. But that’s what he always does. In truth, his administration’s position was articulated quite clearly in the Samuelson memo. Nothing “unclear’ about it. At all.