Symington: Forget fears for 'positive social change'

Democratic gubernatorial candidate and Vermont House Speaker Gaye Symington's campaign revolves around an automobile motif. Her campaign likes to argue that Vermont is "stuck in neutral" and needs to "get in gear." She's sponsored a "Symington for Governor" racecar at Thunder Road and energy reform and improving the state's transportation infrastructure are on the list of her top issues.

And the car theme makes sense. The woman has drive.

Symington, a resident of Jericho, has the drive to bring about "positive social change" in the Green Mountain State, regardless of her own personal inhibitions.

"I never planned to be involved in politics," Symington told PolitickerVT.com on Thursday. "It was quite actively on my list of things I didn't want to do." The House Speaker was prompted to run for office by her interest in education reform, saying that she believed there was an imbalance in children's access to a quality education, depending on where they lived.

Although Symington said she initially feared public speaking, she found that she could overcome her phobia by "focusing on what I want to accomplish." Since 1996 when she was first elected to state's legislature, that focus has been on creating legislation that ultimately improves the life of Vermonters.

After serving four terms in the state House, Symington was unanimously elected speaker in 2005, and again in 2007. As speaker, she advocated a "tri-partisan" approach to forming legislation, including Democrats, Republicans and Progressives, even though House Democrats held a super-majority of 93 seats last year.

"I enjoy working with people across the aisle," she said. "That's the best way to actually get things done." Symington also emphasized the importance of "listening to a number of different view points" and involving as many people as possible.

Her consideration for the diversity of ideas presented in the state legislature and throughout Vermont reflects a stark contrast to where she grew up: a gated community in Upstate New York called Tuxedo Park where residents had a "pretty limited view of the world."

Although she grew up in a small community, Symington is enjoying her first statewide campaign experience, where she hears constituents' concerns and ideas firsthand. "I do an awful lot of listening," she said.

And this year's gubernatorial bid, like her first race to represent the Chittenden-8 District, was not planned. Even as late as December of last year, Symington dismissed the idea of running for governor. But in early May, Symington announced that she would indeed pursue the state's top executive spot.

"It's very clear to me that our current governor's record has been a failure," she said.

Symington passionately added that if she's elected in November, she would bring "vision and ideas and creativity" to the governor's office, and would "pull Vermonters together and get Vermont out of being stuck in neutral."