On The Issues

Common Values
I believe we must work together to bridge political, economic, and demographic subdivisions, and to establish a government based on shared values. I believe we have a duty to care for one another, while empowering individuals through the advancement of civil liberties and personal privacy. We must recognize that in the wealthiest nation on earth our neighbors shouldn’t starve for lack of food; freeze for lack of heat; or get sick and die for lack of medical care. A strong and vibrant economy provides the engine that makes it possible for all of us to get ahead, and that helps build a strong foundation for future growth.

Property Taxes
Property taxes are too high, especially in towns like ours where so many of the homes are owned as vacation properties. We need a tax system that is manageable and fair, and that complies with the landmark 1996 Vermont Supreme Court case in Brigham v. State. Major changes should focus on making property taxes more directly related to income for all Vermonters, and should protect the privacy of personal income.

We should recognize that property taxes pay for both school costs and municipal costs, so anything that helps reduce those expenses will have a direct impact on our property taxes. On the school side we need to reorganize from the top down, and shrink the number of supervisory unions. That will cut some costs, and will directly benefit students. As districts combine we can expect further cost efficiencies, and will probably be pleasantly surprised by new opportunities for educational enrichment.

We also need to find solutions to the growing cost of special education dictated by No Child Left Behind. We must find more efficient ways of delivering critical services to our needy children without overburdening local property owners, and must protect small schools from the uncertainties of special education expenses.

Both municipal and school costs are also driven by energy and health care. It’s critical that our state government invest in energy efficiencies for all of our public buildings, and we must work to hold the line on ever escalating health care costs. When we control these costs there is a direct benefit in our property tax bills.

Energy
The energy crisis we are facing today should not have caught us by surprise. We desperately need a long range state energy plan that helps us set objectives, and that lays out the means to reach them. I Chair the Energy Committee of the Windham Regional Commission (WRC) serving 27 towns in southeastern Vermont, and am ever mindful of the impact rising energy costs are having on our residents, and the stresses that growing carbon releases are placing on our planet.

Right away we need to help our residents and municipalities to insulate their homes and buildings, and to convert to lower costs fuels whenever practical and cost effective. We need to help entrepreneurs build the infrastructure to support alternative fuels, including wood chips and pellets, solar collectors, and other energy sources.

Our towns desperately need public transportation so we can reduce the fuel demands of private vehicles. The Wilmington area has The Moover, and Killington has The Bus. Our tourist based economy needs a similar public transportation system for guests and workers.

Electrical use must be reduced through aggressive efficiency programs like the very successful Efficiency Vermont. The towns in this district have been targeted for sizable demand side reductions, and we now lead much of the state in reduced electrical use. These gains must be protected, and not squandered or easily surrendered.

Vermont Yankee
The current Certificate of Public Good that allows the Entergy Vermont Yankee nuclear plant to operate is set to expire in March, 2012. If the plant is to continue beyond that date the legislature and the Vermont Public Service Board (PSB) will need to find it is in the public good. The PSB process is now underway, and the legislature will probably tackle the issue in 2009 or 2010. I believe that in order for Vermont Yankee to keep operating it must be safe and reliable, Entergy must agree to fully decommission the plant as soon as it closes, and there must be a substantial financial benefit to Vermont ratepayers.

The legislature must also address a property tax loophole that allows Vermont Yankee to stop paying property taxes once it shuts down. Closing this tax loophole could net the state well over 100 million dollars, and can be used as an incentive to drive Entergy to rapidly decommission the plant rather than allow it to sit idle for as long as 60 years. There is simply no excuse for Vermonters to be facing ever larger property taxes while we allow a mothballed nuclear plant to be tax free

Health Care
The cost of health insurance has become a drag on our economy, and a terrible burden on every Vermonter. Our state has done a good job of making health insurance available for our working poor, but the middleclass is facing skyrocketing premiums, elevated deductibles, and ever larger co-pays. These folks are being squeezed out of their insurance policies, and often can’t afford to see a doctor even if they do have high priced insurance. One of the biggest worries is the inability of small businesses to provide insurance for their employees, and the shrinking pool of workers who can afford their own coverage. The system is just not sustainable.

We must work to provide everybody in Vermont with access to quality health care, and not just promote unaffordable health insurance. The first part of the solution is to close the cost shift created when state programs underpay medical providers, and we need the federal government to help with that by fully funding their part of the programs. We must also consolidate our coverages and move toward a single risk pool. Vermont is a small state that can take the lead in these changes. When we look at available data it becomes clear that we are already paying roughly twice as much for health care as any other industrialized nation, so the money for quality care is being spent, it’s just not being spent wisely.

Business Development
We can’t expect to build sustainable communities or tackle big issues like health care or tax reform unless we support Vermont businesses. We must advance growth opportunities without imposing unwanted hardship on our communities or sacrificing the protection of our environment.

Enterprise zones and tax incentives are two ways we can encourage businesses to prosper here. We should also make a stronger effort to assist local entrepreneurs to grow their businesses by assisting with the improved availability of capital. And when communities support large scale sustainable development, some of the new property tax money should be returned to the municipality as a means of offsetting the impact and encouraging growth.

Sustainable Communities
The pioneers who settled our lands were tough people who relied on each other and built tight knit village centers for self sufficiency, and developed local agriculture and working forests to support a growing population. Our state government must remember the value of livable communities that include businesses, homes, and other essential services as part of a diverse and interconnected economy.

We can help build sustainable communities by using incentives to protect traditional land use and encourage development in village centers, while retaining the open spaces, and working forests that make Vermont unique. One impediment to this approach is the limited availability of traditional septic and sewer solutions in many of our small towns. The northern part of the state is wrestling with septic impacts upon Lake Champlain, and drawing significant state dollars to fund solutions. The southern communities need to work together to secure the same funding advantages for our very different but equally important septic issues

Prisons and Punishment
Vermont spends more on our prisons than we spend on higher education. This staggering statistic makes it abundantly clear that our future depends on reordering our priorities.

We must identify violent and dangerous criminals and keep them locked up, while applying different resources and innovative programs to help change the behaviors of those non-violent offenders who should not require lock-up.

Campaign Finance Reform
The success of our democratic process depends on recruiting the best possible candidates for elected office. When one candidate can raise and spend vast sums of money it discourages other worthy citizens from stepping forward as opponents. And, if those funds are obtained from out of state entities or in large payments, there might well be the appearance of a conflict of interest.

Vermont needs Campaign Finance Reform that limits what each candidate can raise, and that is narrowly tailored to meet the 2006 United States Supreme Court decision in Randall v. Sorrell. Any such legislation must be fair to incumbents and challengers, as well as major party and Independent candidates. Vermont should establish a transparent process that gives the public easy access to detail about the finances of each campaign, and how contributions are spent.

Our local democratic system is too important to be sold to wealthy investors seeking political favor. It is time for all political parties to agree to strong campaign finance reform.