Franklin County Courier
Written by Ethan Dezotelle
Thursday, 18 May 2006
Gov. Jim Douglas, with Agriculture Secretary Steve Kerr, speaks at the Harold
Howrigan farm in Fairfield before vetoing S.18, the GE seed bill that would
place liability for genetic drift on seed manufacturers.
Photographs by Ethan Dezotelle
FAIRFIELD: Barring a successful effort on Thursday, June 1 from legislative
proponents to overturn a veto from Gov. Jim Douglas – something even the
bill’s staunchest supporters say is unlikely – S.18, the controversial
genetically engineered (GE) seed bill, will not become State law.
Over 100 opponents of S.18, which would have placed liability for damage
stemming from the drift of GE seed squarely on the shoulders of the seed
manufacturer, gathered at the Harold Howrigan farm in Fairfield Monday, May 15
to watch Douglas veto one of the most hotly contested bills of the legislative
session. Along with Franklin County farmers were other farmers from across the
state, some brought in from the southern part of the state by a charter bus,
paid for in part by GE manufacturer Monsanto, according to two sources who
spoke on condition of anonymity.
The GE seed bill passed the House, 77-73, and the Senate, 19-8. Legislators
will return to Montpelier June 1 for an override vote, in which a two-thirds
majority is needed to override the Governor’s veto.
“It is with regret that I veto this bill,” Douglas said before putting his
signature to the paperwork in front of him. He said the bill was divisive,
returning to the phrase he and S.18 opponents repeated throughout the session,
saying that the bill “would pit farmer against farmer.”
“We choose coexistence,” Douglas went on. “We choose dialogue over division.
That’s the Vermont way.”
As the Governor made his veto official, applause rang out from the crowd as a
handful of S.18 supporters looked on.
Following the veto, Vermont Agriculture Secretary Steve Kerr spoke to the
crowd, saying the debate over S.18 was unlike anything he has experienced in
Montpelier.
“I’ve never run into anything quite as tough as this issue,” he said before
adding that he felt it is still possible to find common ground on the issue.
“We have a thriving organic agriculture in Vermont,” Kerr said. “We have a
thriving traditional agriculture in Vermont … and compromise is possible.”
Hyde Park dairy farmer Judy Clark, with Rep. Dexter Randall, left, speaks in
support of the GE seed bill Gov. Jim Douglas vetoed Monday, May 15. Clark and
others say such a bill would protect all farmers.
Following the veto ceremony, supporters of the GE seed bill gathered at
another Fairfield residence to stand their ground and vow to keep pushing for
legislation like S.18.
“Gov. Douglas has chosen hypocrisy over democracy by siding with the chemical
giants and not listening to the farmers,” said Rep. Dexter Randall (P,
Orleans/Franklin-1, Jay, Lowell, Montgomery, Troy, Westfield), one of S.18′s
main sponsors and an organic dairy farmer in North Troy. “He is pitting farmer
against farmer more than any bill could do.”
Randall was joined by some 50 organic farmers and other supporters of the GE
seed bill, including Steve Pratt, a Whiting farmer. Pratt said Douglas’ veto
of S.18 “… showed a real lack of respect for the people of this state who
worked so hard to protect this bill.”
Judy Clark, a dairy and poultry farmer in Hyde Park, echoed those sentiments,
saying, “The Governor has ignored a majority of legislators and Vermonters …
and put Vermont farmers at great risk … of lawsuits against each other and
lawsuits by multinational corporations.”
The S.18 supporters’ frustration was punctuated by calls from a handful of
farmers, including Westfield’s Lyle Edwards and Mike Eastman of Addision, for
Agriculture Secretary Steve Kerr’s resignation. Kerr was referred to at times
as “deceptive” and “an industry man.”
Looking to what the future may bring for the issue, Westfield farmer Jack
Lazor summed it up thusly: “Go home, keep doing our work, and keep talking
about it, and hopefully things are going to change.”
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