Shumlin’s the best choice for governor

Republican Scott Milne is the quiet candidate; beneath his low-key exterior is an excellent student of Vermont politics, a middle-of-the-roader who thinks state government is leaning further to the left than is wise. Elements of his campaign — particularly a fondness for fact-based analysis and strategic planning — would help bring a reality to state government that is sometimes missing. He may be a victim of bad timing. The Vermont Republican Party is at a historically low moment, and can give him little money and even less emotional support.

In many ways, Shumlin has been an excellent governor. He was an inspirational, reassuring leader through the traumatic aftermath of Tropical Storm Irene. His policies helped the state recover from the Great Recession, and again make Vermont’s unemployment rate among the lowest in the nation. He has pushed for educational improvements and efficiencies, for change in the approach to opiate drug addiction, and for revival of ailing downtowns. All that work continued through his second term. He also signed an anti-fracking bill, and yet, demonstrating his pragmatic politics, supports a natural gas pipeline down the western flank of Vermont. The project, though fiercely opposed by environmentalists and fracking opponents, is a boon to an economically struggling region and promises to deliver lower-cost energy with a smaller carbon footprint than heating with oil or coal.

But Shumlin has faltered over problems with his signature initiative, a state-run health insurance system. Green Mountain Care, designed to help all Vermonters obtain health insurance they can afford, has succeeded in insuring 160,000 Vermonters, despite a series of missteps. We’re on the road to a single-payer system, but the key issue — how the state will pay for it — is still being worked out.

Vermont Health Connect, the state website where people are supposed to manage their health care, has been a disaster, pure and simple. The state had to take down the website to fix problems that, to this point, have made it virtually useless. Plus, the website failed to meet federal security standards.

Voters have a right to fault Shumlin’s role in this debacle. He leads the charge for a state-run system, and bears the burden of producing on his promises. The state-run system is a hugely complicated effort, and missteps are probable, but not of the dimensions we have endured.

Big missteps raise legitimate questions of management and oversight. They shake public confidence in the state’s pioneering health efforts, and in the governor who proposed them.

The next governor has a lot to do. The recession’s effects still linger. State school taxes keep rising, even as enrollment shrinks. The information technology problems that plague the state government need fixing. More progress is needed toward open government. Weak state support of higher education makes college far too expensive.

Focus may be part of Shumlin’s faltering. He’s in his second year as chairman of the Democratic Governors Association, and has a major role in the Democratic Party’s national agenda — including fundraising. Republicans say he’s been out of state 25 percent of the time since he was elected to head the association. He may be spending more time than he should on out-of-state issues.

Arrogance may also be an issue. Shumlin piled up some major first-term accomplishments, he has an exciting national leadership role, and this fall’s re-election campaign looks like a walk in the park. Shumlin is a smart, shrewd politician, but in these circumstances, it’s easy to feel a little self-important.

What we want is the first-term Shumlin, who had a laser focus on Vermont’s challenges and opportunities, and applied his considerable charm and persuasive powers to make things better. He did it before. He can do it again.