In his famous essay and book, "On Bowling Alone," Robert Putnam explains how social capital improves public life. Social capital includes social trust. Unfortunately, Vermont's Governor Jim Douglas consistently undermines social trust, and by doing so, he makes it more difficult for Vermonters to work together to improve our state.

Douglas undermines trust by making misleading statements rather than forthrightly discussing disagreements, by keeping public documents secret, and by taking credit for things others have done. Fortunately, Douglas' tendency to claim credit for others' work, even work he initially opposed, has been in the spotlight lately.

Douglas spoke on June 12 in Randolph, where he unveiled his "Food and Fuel Partnership." He claimed a number of initiatives to help Vermonters in a time of rapidly rising food and fuel prices.

One of the initiatives Douglas claimed credit for was an additional $1 million for weatherizing homes. In a letter published in Saturday's Times Argus, Elizabeth Chant, Weatherization Director of the Champlain Valley Office of Economic Opportunity, points out that Douglas' original FY09 budget proposal had no increase for weatherization. She said the legislature added $500,000, and later another $500,000 "as part of their economic recovery revisions to Douglas' stimulus package." (The Times Argus web site doesn't have Saturday's letters up yet, unfortunately, so there's no link.)

In today's Times Argus / Rutland Herald, I describe how Jean Hamilton at NOFA (Northeast Organic Farming Association) was none to pleased to learn that Douglas was claiming credit for work she was doing through NOFA to bring EBT card readers to farmers' markets, so that people on food stamps and using debit cards could buy food there. (The story, a sidebar to my Energy Matters column about Brian Dubie's fuel emergency declaration, did not make it to the TA/RH web pages, but I archived a copy at the Vermont Peak Oil Network web site.) When the governor takes credit for a private, non-profit organization's work, it can be discouraging for all non-profits working to make Vermont a better place to live.

Finally, today's Times Argus / Rutland Herald editorial, entitled "Credit or debit?", describes Douglas' list of "his" initiatives in the Randolph speech as "the kind of list designed to show that the governor is on top of the major crises Vermonters are now facing. It is also the kind of list that is bound to infuriate Democrats. That's because the Democratic Legislature was out in front pushing some of these issues in the face of Douglas' opposition."

Unfortunately, the editorial continues, "But that is politics." I'd say the editorial writer has succumbed to the "soft bigotry of low expectations." I'm looking to political leaders to give us an honest assessment of where they stand on issues, and have the courage to say that they disagree with their opponents, rather than take credit for others' work. Do we often see the opposite? Yes. But the job of the media is to hold politicians accountable, not to shrug their shoulders and say, "That's politics."

We saw what happened with the Iraq war when the media let dishonest politicians off the hook, shrugging their shoulders at George Bush's untruths and explaining, "That's just the President being the President." At least the Times Argus / Rutland Herald did debunk Douglas' false claims in their editorial. I hope they continue to do so in their editorials and reporting, rather than ignore them, silently thinking, "That's just politics." The media, too, have a role in safeguarding social trust.