The first thing you notice outside Vermont’s Capitol Building is that it’s beautiful, set back on a hill, built in the classical style, and topped with a golden dome. And the first thing you notice inside is that it’s small. Walk around and it only gets smaller.
The members have no personal offices and no personal staff. Neither do the party caucuses. Each committee has a room with a table in it. Legislators work either from their slice of that table or from their desk in the House or Senate chamber (or in the cafeteria or the hall). And everything is as open as could be, so long as you’re not claustrophobic.
It was a beautiful thing, in my opinion, to see legislators really working, working themselves rather than relying on personal or caucus staff. In truth, the reliance on professional staff is a threat to representative government. It has also undermined limited government as legislatures hire staff to do what they would not otherwise have the time to do.
Now if we can only figure out how to bring some of the spirit of Montpelier back to Olympia….
And remember, there’s more about my trip over at Save Our States: Protecting Federalism and the Electoral College.
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