My friend and mentor, Phil Hoff, also a co-founder of our law firm, Hoff Curtis, was featured today on the front page of the Burlington Free Press.
The story, entitled “Biography Chronicles Former Gov. Phil Hoff’s Impact,” describes the background of a new biography, “Philip Hoff: How Red Turned Blue in the Green Mountain State” written by historian Samuel B. Hand and journalists Anthony Marro and Stephen C. Terry.
It tells the story of how nearly 50 years ago, the then 38 year old lawyer became the first Democrat to be elected Governor of Vermont in 109 years, and what he did with it once he got it. It’s fair to say that Phil’s election marked the beginning of sweeping political and social change that have created the modern Vermont so many of us love.
As the article notes, Phil’s “work as lawyer never excited him politics did.” Still, his skills as a lawyer indelibly marked his governorship, as well as his subsequent service as a state senator. And Phil remained active in his profession, among other things leading a study in the 1980′s that restructured the Vermont Bar Admissions process.
Although my political association with Phil Hoff goes back even further (I first met him at age 9 when he and his wife Joan came to my parent’s door in his campaign for Governor!), we’ve been associated in the practice of law for a very long time, since 1982! It’s been a great friendship, and one that I treasure.
I am delighted to see his political accomplishments, and even his honorable political failures, more firmly ensconced in Vermont history. Ironically one of those failures was his fight to prevent the construction of the Vermont Yankee Nuclear Power Plant. Today, our present Governor, Peter Shumlin, is fighting to close it!
Congratulations Phil!
Rich
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