Q & A: Brian Dubie, Lieutenant Governor

Brian E Dubie of Essex Junction, was born in Burlington on March 9, 1959. He is married to Penny Bolio Dubie, and they have four children, one a freshman in college and three in high school.

He is the 2004 recipient of the New England/Canada Business Council's Annual Leadership Award, and the Vermont Chiefs of Police Association's Martin Award. His website is www.ltgov.state.vt.us.

Robert Smith interviewed Lieutenant Governor Dubie in his office at the State House in Montpelier.

VBM: I'd like to begin by asking just what is it that the lieutenant governor does? What are the responsibilities of your office?

Dubie: The Constitution of the State of Vermont really gives two simple responsibilities to the Lieutenant governor. To preside over the Senate and to serve as the Governor in the Governor's absence. In the day and age of Blackberries, cell phones and fax machines, that second responsibility is diminished. From a legal standpoint, when the Governor is out of state, especially in a time of floods or there are other emergencies or disasters, I take that responsibility very seriously. That's pretty much it as far as the Constitution.

VBM: So if something happened to Governor Douglas, you'd step into his chair?

Dubie: Yes. Just as when Howard Dean was Lieutenant governor and Governor Snelling died. You get asked by editorial boards about that, but I always make it clear that I'm running for the office of Lieutenant governor, though you have to accept the fact that part of the job is preparing yourself for the possible scenario where you could conceivably serve as Governor.

So the job responsibility in my mind includes everyday to prepare yourself to be Governor. When I met in this office with then Lieutenant Governor Doug Racine, when I had a changeover brief, Doug looked at me and said, "Brian, I'd like to give you some advice. Take your responsibility of successor-ship very seriously." That was from one Vermonter to another Vermonter. I appreciated his advice, and part of that was to build a positive, synergistic relationship with the Governor. That's a relationship built on trust and trying to serve Vermonters and being a member of his cabinet.

That's not always the case. A Lieutenant governor is independently elected, and it's really an affirmation of a relationship that's developed over the years between the Governor and me that I am a member of his cabinet and I meet with them formally. It has also resulted in other responsibilities much greater than what the Constitution ascribes to the office.

VBM: So what is your background? Did you grow up here in Vermont?

Dubie: Yes. I was the chair of my hometown school board, and I always looked for new people that maybe didn't come from the community or the state or even the country. I appreciate new people who come to Vermont. I'm a person who, on both sides of my family, grew up in Vermont. My grandfather was Jerry McKenzie. I don't know if you ever had a McKenzie hot dog or a McKenzie ham, well that's my mother's Irish side of the family.

My father is French and he worked in the woolen mills in Winooski. My grandfather grew up there, and he became a security guard there. I like to say that my grandfather turned the lights off for the last time in the woolen mills. So when we talk about needing to change with changing technology, I know that from a first hand experience. When people talk about an IBM, or predict what a change in the marketplace could mean, I've seen that. It's part of our family history. Listening to stories from my grandfather before he passed away really made an impact on me.

I grew up in Essex Junction, and I live in Essex Junction. I have four children in the public schools. My wife is from Underhill, Vermont. Her mother was the town clerk, and listening to my mother-in-law, Zilda, well, she's never been bashful in sharing the wisdom she's learned from being a town clerk for 25 years. That's all part of the experience of the perspective that I bring to the job.

I attended local schools, and went to the Air Force Academy. I was there two and a half years, and then came back to the University of Vermont where I graduated with a degree in mechanical engineering. While I was at University of Vermont, I joined the Air National Guard and flew F-4s and then F-16s. In those days, after I came back from my military training, after a couple of years, you're really part-time in the Guard. So simultaneous with my time in the Guard I started at Goodrich Aerospace where I worked as a mechanical engineer and then as a manager in the aerospace fuel management side, commercial and military, right there in Vergennes. Eight years into that job I decided to change careers, and I pursued a job with American Airlines. That was in 1989. Since then I've been a pilot with American, which I still do today.

VBM: What's your schedule with them?

Dubie: A lot of people ask me how I can be Lieutenant governor and a pilot. In the 1990s I was a Commander in the Air National Guard flying F-16s and an instructor for an F-16 squadron, juggling a lot of responsibility for deployments, and I was also chairman of the school board. So for six years I balanced all that.

Now that I'm Lieutenant governor, it really hasn't changed much except for the job titles. Now I serve as a Colonel in the Air Force Reserves in a non-flying job. I work in disaster response. I served after Hurricane Katrina in Mississippi, in New York City after 9/11, at the Winter Olympics. I was deployed to Iraq in September. I still fly for American Airlines, and I serve as Lieutenant governor. And I'm a dad with four children.

The experience that I bring from all of those areas, in my opinion, has allowed me to have a different perspective, possibly from even our Governor. He's served in elected office for 32 years, and he's got a really long look back at state government, but I've got a whole different life experience that causes me to have a different perspective. He has a lot that he shares with me, and I've been able to make contributions in other ways.

VBM: You have a schedule that allows you pretty flexible use of your time?

Dubie: I've been juggling schedules for a long time. The Legislature meets Tuesday through Friday. What I'll typically do is either on a Saturday, Sunday or Monday, I'll fly for a day. I'll fly to Dallas and back. I've got 2,500 hours flying military aircraft, military fighters, and I probably have over 10,000 hours in commercial aircraft. I've got 18 years of flying commercial planes. I try to limit my flying to just keep my currency, especially during the legislative session. I can fly a weekend or a little more a month, and as we get to the end of a legislative session, I'll try to fly a little less.

It gets pretty intense around here. When we're out of the legislative session, it gives me more flexibility for my schedule. Howard Dean was the Lieutenant governor before Doug Racine. I talked to the State Troopers, and I picked up some things from previous Lieutenant governors. When Howard was Lieutenant governor, the troopers told me that he ate breakfast with his family every morning, and that he really made an effort to go to their sporting events. I think that's a pretty good example for me. I try to do that. Howard Dean also made it a point to get out and visit schools. If you get an invitation, even if it causes you to miss a day every week or two at the beginning of the session, I try to do that. I was asked to speak at Twin Fields Junior High School today. Their eighth grade class was talking about a myriad of issues that we're struggling with here in the Legislature. It never ends. It goes on 24 hours a day. Especially with a Blackberry and the two phones that I carry.

My Chief of Staff, and only staff, is Martha Hanson. Unlike other offices, it is just the two of us. Martha serves in the office and keeps me connected, and I try to serve wherever I can and wherever I'm asked to represent our state. There are a lot of responsibilities that don't necessarily happen in the office. I love meeting Vermonters.

VBM: You and I have actually met before. You were at a community event in Chester, and I was covering it for my paper.

Dubie: Yeah, I remember that. It was like a community Thanksgiving dinner.

VBM: That was it.

Dubie: There's a lot that I've learned from commercial aviation that helps me in state government. I shared many of those ideas with the youngsters I talked with today. One example is that we have a program in the airline industry called a CAT III Approach. Every nine months I have to take a check ride. You're a licensed pilot, so you're familiar with check rides. I have to demonstrate to the FAA that I'm safe and proficient to fly for another nine months. It's a pretty big deal. It's a two hour oral exam asking you about aircraft systems and emergency procedures, and then it turns into a four hour simulator, where they are failing engines or going through mechanical or low weather or other situations. They are going to really evaluate how you fly the aircraft and how you interact as a crew. Are you able to work together as a crew? It's not a solo sport. You have to cooperate as a crew and solve complex problems in a timely fashion.

One of the things that I had to demonstrate to the FAA is that I could fly a CAT III Approach. A CAT III Approach is when you have zero visibility and zero ceiling. So you're literally landing an aircraft in a fog bank or in a cloud. As a result of demonstrating that I could do that, the FAA gave me my CAT III Certification. My co-pilot has to be CAT III certified, and the equipment that I fly has to be certified for Cat III.

As I told our new Secretary of the Agency of Natural Resources, George Crombie, whom we're lucky enough to have just hired in our state, is when I'm sitting over Chicago on a dark and stormy night, and the weather presents a scenario that I'm going to have to land a Cat III, I don't have to call up FAA headquarters and ask for a permit to fly the approach because I've already been certified to fly that approach. My equipment is certified and I've got a ticket from the FAA that demonstrates that I can. The FAA's job in this is to periodically spot check me in an aircraft to demonstrate that I can fly a CAT III, and if I can't, they'll pull my ticket.

So as we address issues like storm water run off, or septic design, or other areas where you traditionally have to apply to state government to get a permit, it's my belief that we can move in a direction that, if we've granted an Act 250 permit to go forward with a project and we've got engineers trained and certified to design and build that, that we'll move away from the world of where we have people issuing permits, and instead share the best practices and develop standards for that. We'll do periodic spot checks for enforcement and if there are deficiencies we'll take some action. State resources are limited, and we have to find better ways to do things, and I think that's an example where the aviation community might have something to share with the way we manage our storm water or other systems. The Agency of Natural Resources is looking into that.

VBM: How and when did you decide to run for Lieutenant governor? Were you already involved in state politics?

Dubie: No, I really wasn't. Our current Secretary of Commerce, I think you've already interviewed him - Kevin Dorn?

VBM: Yes.

Dubie: Kevin was my vice-chair on my school board. Our current Commissioner of Economic Development, Mike Quinn, chaired my budget advisory committee. When I reached my sixth year on the board, the president of the Vermont Homebuilders Association was Kevin Dorn, and he said, you ought to run for state government. I said I could think of a lot of things I'd like to do, but I'm not sure that was one of them. But in consultation with my wife and really reflecting on it, I said, what a privilege it would be to run. So, we decided as a family that I'd run. The first time that I ran I like to say that I wasn't successful in meeting enough people and convincing them that I would serve as a good Lieutenant governor.

But, I ran two years later, and in Vermont, with two year terms, things can happen pretty quickly. The first time I ran, Lieutenant governor Racine had been in office for some time and was pretty well known. Two years later I ran for an open seat.

VBM: That was when Doug ran for governor?

Dubie: Yes.

VBM: That year I interviewed him, Jim Douglas and Con Hogan, all three candidates. You were in a three way race as well. That was interesting, what happened that year. Maybe you could explain about that.

Dubie: Yes. I built up some expertise. I haven't spent a lifetime in politics and running for office. For someone who was chairing a local school board, running for Lieutenant governor is a big step. But I had a lot of friends and I learned a lot about running for office. The dynamic of running in a two-way race is quite different than when you're running in a three-way race.

So the second time I ran it was a three-way race and it was a different climate. Peter Shumlin had been in the Senate for some time and Anthony Pollina had run for governor. Because I had run two years previously, we kind of all started out equally.

VBM: You all had some name recognition.

Dubie: Yes. Certainly both those other gentleman had a lot of experience either running for office or serving. It was a long campaign. I enjoy campaigning, Robert. I like meeting Vermonters. I grew up delivering meat all over the state, and as a candidate running for office I was going to some of the fairs that I used to work at selling hotdogs. I love country stores, I love going to diners. I said on the campaign trail that, "My name is Brian Dubie and I'm running for Lieutenant governor. I've been in every country store, restaurant and diner in the state. I used to go in the backdoor delivering meat for my grandpa, John McKenzie, and now I go in the front door running for office."

A campaign is physically and emotionally draining. It's tough on a family. But, it's a once in a lifetime experience. To meet maybe someone who's trying to produce wine on a mountaintop in Halifax, or go to a sawmill in Canaan, or meeting a small business owner in Saint Johnsbury, or to go to the Barton Fair - well some people would pay money to have those experiences. Although I've had a lot of experiences as a pilot and in the military and working for private industry, the opportunity to meet people in different areas is a real privilege. I enjoy that aspect of a campaign.

VBM: That's my favorite part of being a journalist. If you've got an interest in something, you can go and find someone who does that and do a story. There are like, no boundaries that limit what you can do. In politics you have the same opportunity of meeting a diverse group of people and hearing their stories.

Dubie: Absolutely. Some people have accused me of not having a strong agenda of my own. Well, it's the Governor who has to lay out a legislative agenda, and the Governor has to lay out a budget. I have my thoughts, but as Lieutenant governor, my definition of this job is to serve. To serve Vermonters. Each time I start out on a campaign, I share my thoughts and opinions about the issues and how I would address them. I'm passionate about doing that. But, I also have a capacity so that when people walk through this door or reach out to me with an e-mail, I'm ready to serve people who have issues. The Governor has a saying, that "good policy makes good politics." I have a saying as Lieutenant governor, "good projects make good politics."

So if five farmers from across this state run into a road block trying to figure out how to run 3-phase power to their farms because they want to put bio-digesters in, I can work with the Commissioner of Public Service, David O'Brien, and the Secretary of Agriculture, Roger Allbee, and some of his people and figure out how to run the Act 248 process to get that done. We did that with the Saint Pierre Farm in Enosburg and with Green Mountain Dairy in Shelburne. It made it possible for a farmer's desire to produce new energy and new revenue, and that's pretty good duty. Those are examples of the types of projects that are really exciting and how you can leverage the title of Lieutenant governor to serve people that are looking for direction and assistance.

VBM: What are some of the other projects you have going? I know you're working with commerce and energy, and I'd like to hear about some of those.

Dubie: As I said, Robert, the office of Lieutenant governor is Martha Hanson and myself. The Governor has 8,000 people that work for him. Part of my job as Lieutenant governor is building relationships with the secretaries and the commissioners and his leadership team so that I can better serve Vermont.

One of the portfolios that I'm most challenged by and most motivated to serve in is one that you don't see in the newspapers very often. I chair the Governor's Commission on Healthy Aging. When you look at our state and the demographics of our state, there are some really compelling changes in our state, our region and to a lesser extent, our country, which we're going to be confronted with.

You and I are at the tail end of this Baby Boomer issue. The over-65 population is going to double in the next 20 years in our state. That's either the glass is half empty or half full, but it is a major shift. Part of our job on the Commission for Healthy Aging is to help prepare for the demographic tsunami that we're going to experience.

We have, I'm pleased to say, secured a small investment for the creation of The Center for Aging at the University of Vermont. It's $100,000 to help prepare our geriatric nursing and geriatric doctors program to help be prepared in at least one aspect for the change. The implications are quite profound about how we can help prepare for that.

I read with great interest that the nation of Japan, and Italy and countries in Western Europe are in some ways ahead of Vermont in terms of their aging demographics. I'd like to say, Robert, that as we changed our paradigm of women entering the workforce, we're going to have to figure out ways to change our retirement systems and some of our laws and certainly some of our policies to become more flexible to accommodate workers that want to work later in life but who are going to have to have some accommodations to do that. Some flexibility, some disincentives for retiring. Some workers might want to stay working, but because of the compensation system or the retirement system, they really have no choice but to retire, because it wouldn't make financial sense not to.

And, we're trying to recruit and train a workforce of nurses to help prepare for the healthcare workers that are going to be needed to care for those aging people. The work on that commission is important and exciting to me. As the son of a father who is dealing with some of these issues, who's been healthy his whole life but is now confronted with some age-related health issues, on a personal level I really am motivated to address these.

VBM: How old is your dad?

Dubie: He's 75.

VBM: The New York Times today had an article, and it was discussed on National Public Radio as well, on the latest figures on Alzheimer's, and how the Baby Boomer generation, if things continue as they are, we'll see a substantial jump in the number of people with Alzheimer's.

Dubie: I was a delegate to the White House Conference on Aging that was conducted by the Congress and the White House a couple of years ago. I was one of the five delegates from Vermont. There was a slide that was shown as part of a PowerPoint presentation on Alzheimer's. Apart from the family impact and the physical impact, it showed the financial impact of what you just mentioned. What is forecast to happen from just that one disease is profound.

Randy Brock, our former state auditor, is actually on the National Alzheimer's Board and the Governor was asked to address the board at a conference in Washington. I know the Governor understands this issue, and the challenges are compelling.

VBM: I've been interested in this idea of aging, seeing how there's no way to avoid it! The New York Times has been running a series of articles on this for several months, and one of the things that consistently is revealed in research, is that much of what is commonly considered just the normal results of aging are really the result of a lack of use. It is more that we become physically de-conditioned, out of shape, rather than just what happens automatically with age. Of course, we live in a culture where it is easy to get de-conditioned, but it seems that people who are in a regular, strenuous exercise program can slow the aging process dramatically, well into really advanced years.

Dubie: Right.

VBM: Much of the Baby Boomer generation has not particularly aged well. For instance, there is more obesity than previous generations. And while some really exercise well, many don't. Do you see any incentives, maybe from the insurance industry, from healthcare or the government, to really get this aging population into rigorous exercise programs? To not get de-conditioned? I know that insurance companies or employers are rewarding employees for stopping smoking, losing weight, taking up regular exercise, because of the economic benefits.

Dubie: Yes, but we need to do more. The Governor has his Fit and Healthy Kids initiative, and is trying to bring an awareness of what you've described quite nicely. There are a couple of slides that come to mind. One is from our presentations with the Health Department. It is about diabetes. In this presentation they show the treatment of diabetes. The first slide is what happens to the incidence of diabetes if you have the care of a doctor, and the incidence went down. The next slide was what happens if you treat it with medication, and the treatment goes down about the same rate. Then it showed what happens if you treat diabetes with diet and exercise, and the chart just plummeted.

What that shows is, well, we talk a lot about if we only had more doctors involved, or if we only had better drugs involved, but in fact what the data shows with this one disease is that if you really want to see a change, you have to change the lifestyle of the patient. People have to eat better and exercise more. As you've said, there are insurance programs that encourage people to stop smoking, to drink responsibly, to exercise and to have a proper diet. Well it's going to be incumbent upon us as a state to address these same issues.

An AARP executive gave a presentation to us. He came from Hawaii, and he said that there they had an initiative called social marketing. When you think of all the messages that come across the media - print, television, news - that are really encouraging us to do things that are not that healthy, then think about how much money is invested to encourage us to do things that are not healthy. Well, what if we had social marketing campaigns to encourage exercise and eating healthy? It's something that we're going to have to discuss and work at.

In December we had our first awards night where the Commission on Healthy Aging gave awards for people that had demonstrated healthy aging lifestyles. There must have been 150 people there from all across the state, and it was really to bring awareness and try to elevate some role models. To educate and to hold some people up for others to emulate.

How do you not be big brother, but at the same time try to share best practices and ways that government can help? These are all questions, Robert, that we're discussing. In addition to the Commission on Healthy Aging, I chair the Governor's Homeland Security Advisory Council. My job for the Air Force Reserve is that I work for the National Security Emergency Preparedness Agency. What I do is make sure that there is good communication between the Air Force and the Governor, and I advise the Governor and the Adjutant General if there ever was an emergency here, and in other states, like in New York City and down south after Hurricane Katrina. I work on the ground, and I talk with whoever I have to as a liaison between the military and the state government. If the Air Force has something that a governor needs, it's my job to get it for them. Because of my experience as the chair of the Governor's Homeland Security Advisory Council, and because of my experience in my military job, there's quite a bit of overlap there. There's a real good mesh there. I have a lot of experience from working two weeks for the Mayor of New York City after 9/11.

VBM: That must have been some experience.

Dubie: Yes. My friend, John Ogonowski, was the captain of Flight 11. I was his co-pilot for a decade. One of the saddest days of my life was when I was sitting next to a dumpster and a Department of Sanitation worker picked my friend's landing gear up and threw it into the dumpster. We know it was the landing gear because it was iron, and most of the other parts of the plane were aluminum and melted.

I bring that experience to my responsibilities as Lieutenant governor. My job as chair of the Governor's Homeland Security Advisory Council is to allow the first responder community direct access and direct input to the governor as we prepare our policy agenda or our budgetary agenda or the training agenda. We're making sure our state is prepared for the avian flu or a manmade or natural disaster. It's a responsibility that I know the Governor takes seriously and I take it seriously and the Commissioner of Public Safety, Kerry Sleeper, takes seriously. It's a privilege to work with the first responder community - our firefighters, EMTs, the hospital community.

VBM: I belong to the Southern Vermont Wilderness Search and Rescue, and we're a part of all that as well.

Dubie: Good. The other area that I really try to focus on is staking out ground on economic development for the state. It's been my privilege to be a champion for an idea that we call - and I didn't coin this idea but I was glad to put my wind behind the sails - the Green Valley Concept. Vermont Business Magazine has written about it before. It's about trying to leverage our brand that we enjoy, that we've earned over generations. A brand for commitment to environmental stewardship. It's a reputation that generations of Vermont farmers have built. It's like surfing a wave, taking the Green Valley reputation, our brand for environmental stewardship, and leveraging that to create more and better jobs in our state. The Governor has supercharged this by his leadership on The Vermont Way Forward, and he's added to that initiative his vision of an E-state. That is, Vermont being a leader in deploying communication infrastructure to be the first state with full wireless Internet access.

VBM: How close to that are we?

Dubie: Well the first answer is we're not close enough and we need to do a better job. Tom Murray, the director of Information and Innovation, has the responsibility for the project, and I met with him this morning. I asked that very same question. The Governor has put together an impressive plan to make sure that the capital is acquired using a credit authority and leveraging public dollars to reach out for private dollars. To provide leadership so that private companies are working in harmony with the state government toward that goal. Tom said we have some permitting issues in trying to resolve wireless and cell towers and how that relates to providing this communication backbone statewide.

We're trying to work collaboratively with the State Police and the National Guard, which have current capabilities, and use multiple applications on the same towers. We hope to be able to work that out. We're working on some proposed legislative reforms that would allow for a reasonable way to address legitimate permitting questions but also move on that vision to be the first state in the country with full wireless access. It's just that when you're in a rural state, and you're not in New York City, the economics are challenging.

VBM: Could you talk some more on the Green Valley Concept?

Dubie: It's been my privilege to champion the Green Valley idea in our state, in our nation and around the world. One of the first events that I was asked to be part of was a trade delegation to Taiwan, Singapore and Hong Kong. We had 17 Vermont companies, and we engaged with more than that who had reps or did business in Asia that we met with while on the trip. One of the Vermont companies that really helped me to get the idea was called Clean Earth Technologies. I used to work at Goodrich Aerospace. Part of our job was to develop fuel gauging equipment, and one of the most challenging things in doing that is allowing for changes. When you're sitting on the ramp in Phoenix and its 120 degrees, and then you go up to 35,000 feet its 50 degrees below zero - during that process you're going to get condensation in your fuel tank and over time you'll get water in the fuel.

Well, it's difficult to give an accurate fuel reading to the pilot if you've got water sloshing around in your tanks. Goodrich Aerospace knows how to do that. Now, some smart Vermonters took that same technology and instead of dealing with water in fuel tanks, they designed equipment from the same basic technology looking for fuel in ground water. When they find it, Clean Earth Technologies cleans it up.

On this trip we met with some of their customers in Taiwan. As a result of that, we were able to open some doors. When you have the Lieutenant governor as part of your delegation, you have access to certain government officials and companies that resulted in more sales for this Vermont company that is doing this green thing.

Probably some of the best feedback I've received as Lieutenant governor is from a mom after I spoke to a Boy Scout troop. The mother said, "My son wants to work in the Green Valley. Where is it?" And I said, "Well, ma'am, the Green Valley is in the mind of your son."

We can help paint a dream into the mind of a young man or woman about the need to either learn a foreign language so they can communicate in the world, or the need to study science, technology, engineering and mathematics so that they can take a commitment to make a better world with the skills that they can learn in high school, tech school or college. This might sound a little like a grandiose dream, but there are Vermont companies like Clean Earth or Northern Power, that are already doing this. There are Vermont designed and built wind systems that are generating power, cleaner and more cost effectively than diesel generators, on the North Shore in Alaska. There's a Vermont company in Ferrisburgh that has a hand driven generator system coupled with a battery that they sell in Siberia.

There's a company in Wilder called Concepts NREC. We met with their reps in Shanghai. They produce software in engineering to produce state of the art turbochargers. This one facility that we toured in Shanghai produces 400,000 turbochargers in a year, and 90 percent stay in China. When you put a turbocharger on a diesel engine, you have a more efficient engine that produces less pollution, and that is a huge issue for the Chinese people. They have huge pollution challenges facing them, and this Vermont company is providing solutions in China.

When we were in China on that first trip, the day we landed, there was a picture of an astronaut and the prime minister on the frontpage of the Shanghai Daily, and they were doing a hi-five because China had joined the space club with the United States and Russia. It was a big deal to the Chinese people, a matter of national pride. On page 17 of the same newspaper there was a poll question that I'd asked the Chinese people: Would you rather be a leader in space or have a clean environment? Seven out of 10 said they'd rather have a clean environment. That's an economic opportunity for Vermont companies.

VBM: I interviewed Chris Barbieri just before he left the state Chamber to work on trade with China full time.

Dubie: Chris has done a great job. When you look at the numbers, the little state of Vermont depends more on export than any other state in the nation. Obviously IBM is a huge component of that, but so is General Electric. Every turbine and compressor blade made by GE for aircraft engines, except for one, comes from Rutland. When you look at our exports, the Province of Quebec is our largest trading partner, and Vermont is Quebec's second largest trading partner. We're a bigger trading partner with Quebec than China is, or Japan. Our next largest trading partner is China, and it is the fastest growing source of our exports. We have issues to resolve with China. There are questions of human rights and social justice, but it is my belief that engagement and dialogue are the way to build a better world.

VBM: It seems strange to me that, at times we're a country - and now is one of those times - that refuses to talk with the people who are the ones we should be trying hardest to create a dialogue with.

Dubie: Relationships are important. Relationships within the Vermont Senate, within the administration, with our trading partners, with our neighbors and with other countries.

Another area that I've really committed some time to is the aerospace sector. We've created in Vermont the Vermont Aerospace and Aviation Association. When you look at our state, it's counterintuitive that a state that produces some of the finest dairy products in the country and some of the finest maple syrup in the world, also does over two billion dollars worth of work in commercial aviation, general aviation and aerospace manufacturing. We have General Electric, General Dynamics, Goodrich Aerospace and Lucas Industries in Springfield. Then there's the machine industry that supports the aerospace sector. Twenty-seven Vermont companies supply in excess of $35 million a year as suppliers to Boeing alone. I didn't know that when I first started serving as Lieutenant governor. It was only by learning and talking with the aerospace sector, and it is going to be the Vermont Aerospace and Aviation Association's objective to grow that sector.

I met with Goodrich Aerospace in Vergennes today. They have 55 vacancies. They're looking for engineers and other technical professionals. If we can encourage our young Vermonters to study science, engineering, technology and mathematics, there are great opportunities. GE Rutland, 10 years ago, had 2,200 employees. Today, they have 1,126. They put out twice as much product with half the employees, and that's why they can compete with low cost manufacturers like China. They're more productive, and they do it in a safer work environment. The challenge or the opportunity is that 10 years from now, 67 percent of the workers in that plant are going to retire. That statistic, if you look at the building trades, our farmers, our nurses and even our educators, is true in a lot of fields. There is going to be a real opportunity for young Vermonters. There used to be concern about unemployment rates when I first ran for office. Now we're hearing about employers who are worried that they don't have enough workers to expand or to fill the jobs that we have.

Sonnax in Rockingham is the perfect example. I remember last year being on the factory floor, and the plant manager saying to me, "Brian, we've got great jobs that are paying in excess of $20 an hour, and we can't find the workers." And they can't find the workers because that area has had a hard time with the Precision Valley machine tool industry. Now they have to have education to get the word out that there are great, good paying jobs again in the machine tool field.

VBM: Do you have any other political plans? You're in your fifth year as Lieutenant governor. Will you run again? Would you consider running for another office?

Dubie: What I have right now is a two-year renewable contract, a contract between the voters and my wife. I have four children and a wife, and every time we make those decisions, we make them together. Everyone has a blackball, and one veto means we don't go forward.

As a result of going through this last campaign, and I've generally done this, I don't answer that question for at least a year. I don't ask those questions of myself for a year. Going through a political campaign, I love meeting the people, but there are some aspects of the campaign that I'd rather be doing something else. Volunteering at school, coaching Little League, or coaching football. Life's about making choices, and there are a lot of ways to serve. So, Robert, in a number of months I'll be prepared to answer that question. But for right now, the best thing that I can do is just work as hard and productively as I can as Lieutenant governor.

VBM: How do you feel about the two year term? It was to your advantage in getting elected, but now that you're serving and have a chance to look at it from the inside, how do you feel about it?

Dubie: I don't know if it was advantageous for me in getting elected. It was advantageous for me in saying, "Why not step up? It's just a two year term." My wife and I specifically talked about it. We said, hey, it's a two year term. You step up, you run, you see how it is on the family, and if you don't like it then you just keep on being a dad and making a living. I have mixed feelings, Robert. Vermont and New Hampshire are the only two states in the nation that have two year terms. As the Lieutenant governor, I'm somewhat open minded. As a Vermonter, who looks at a governor, I have a little different feeling. The Governor has to go out and recruit a whole staff, and he has to encourage people who have other experiences in the private sector, and try to get them to come work with him in state government.

Maybe this person is a mother or a father, and maybe they have kids in college, and the question is how long the job is. And the answer is, well, I can guarantee it'll be something less than two years. Not everybody can say, sure, I'll drop my career and come work for you for what may be something less than two years. So I'm concerned about that. I'm also concerned about the amount of money that's spent.

VBM: I remember the first time that I interviewed Jim Douglas after he was elected. It was at the end of his first year in office, and we were talking about this very issue, of two year terms. He said, "I haven't been in office a year, and I've already got a declared opponent."

Dubie: Part of the discussion of my last race was how much time I spent behind my desk. Well, why would I spend a lot of time behind my desk? I think the expectation of a two year election cycle is that you're out of this office because you're basically running for office all the time. If you don't have a bunch of money, which I don't have - I'm typically outspent by my opponents - then you better have a pretty good connection with the people of Vermont. Unless you can bring in a whole bunch of money, which I'm not particularly interested in. I think a campaign is run on ideas and shoe leather. It's a lot of work.

If I've been successful, and I guess being elected three times indicates some success, it's that Vermonters have bought into the work that I've done. In the military, if you fly a good jet and you do your job, things will work out. The thing that is a little difficult in the world of elected office is, you've got to do what you think is the right work, you've got to do a good job, and you've got to also be a little bit concerned about saying, hey, I did this work. Reasonable people are going to ask the question, what have you done for me lately?

VBM: So you have to, to use the phrase, toot your own horn a little bit.

Dubie: Yeah. My campaigns have been simple. I have what is in front of you, The Lieutenant Governor's Logbook, and I say, "This is the portfolio of my work." If you remember the Wendy's ad, "Where's the beef?" Well this is the beef. This is what I've done. When I meet with people I tell them about this, that it's at my website, and if you like the work that I've done I pledge to continue working just as hard as I have in the past. Thus far, it's been successful. That's the way I approach the job.

One of the other pieces of advice Doug Racine gave me is that he said, "Brian, the Lieutenant governor's job is not going to be in the newspapers. If you want to get in the papers, when the Governor says A, all you have to do is say B. Then you'll be in the newspapers." When I've spoken out in support of big wind, it's a big deal in the newspapers. I'm not doing that to get into the papers; I'm doing it because that's my belief. So, I'll continue to share my beliefs. The fact is, the Governor and I agree on 95 percent of the issues.

There is something that I learned a long time ago - one plus one equals three. Working collaboratively with the Governor, I can get a lot more done than if I'm working solo in this office. If there is another reason I've been successful as Lieutenant governor, it's because the feedback I receive from Vermonters is that they like to see someone who is working together with the Governor. It's not about me, it's about us. It's about working to serve.

Robert Smith is the editor of The Message for the Week, a weekly paper in Chester, and a freelance writer and photographer living in Westminster.