Candidates for the VT House of Representatives: a Q&A

The Eagle Times focuses on the following Vermont Windsor districts that include our coverage area (not all towns included): WDR-1, WDR-2, WDR-3-1, WDR-3-2, and WDR-5.

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Candidates for the Vermont House of Representatives: a Q&A By JEFF EPSTEIN VTreporter@eagletimes.com Oct 22, 2018 0 Election 2018 The Eagle Times focuses on the following Vermont Windsor districts that include our coverage area (not all towns included): WDR-1, WDR-2, WDR-3-1, WDR-3-2, and WDR-5. The incumbent candidates are denoted with a (*) WDR-1 John Bartholomew (P, D)* Hometown: Hartland Zachariah Ralph (P, D) Hometown: Hartland Wesley Raney (R) Hometown: Hartland None of the three candidates has returned the Eagle Times’s questionnaire. WDR-2 Annmarie Christensen (D)* Running unopposed Hometown: Weathersfield Eagle Times: How has the majority status of your party in Vermont affected your campaign strategy? Annmarie Christen-sen:The Democrats hold the majority in the House and Senate. However, they do not hold a veto-proof majority in the House. This means that we cannot override the governor’s veto of such important bills as unpaid family leave, an increase in the minimum wage and the budget. I am working toward this veto proof majority so we can help vulnerable Vermonters. ET: How long have you been in office, and what are you most proud of achieving while in office? AC: I am running unopposed for my second term in the House, where I represent Weathersfield and Cavendish. As a member of the House Health Care Committee, I worked to find a clear path to quality, affordable health service, including access to mental health treatment, and transparency in drug pricing. I also worked to reduce the proliferation of prescription opioid drugs and heroin by getting treatment for those addicted and by sending dealers to jail. I voted for paid family leave and an increase in minimum wage. And, I worked toward reliable, affordable Internet access for rural Vermont. ET: What challenges face the House in the upcoming term? AC: Making Vermont work for all, not just a select few, will be on most legislators’ minds. With this as a priority, legislators will be discussing once again how to make school funding equitable to all. I anticipate that paid family leave and increasing the minimum wage will be reintroduced after the governor vetoed the bills last session. We also will be discussing how to pay to clean our lakes and rivers. ET: What particular issues affecting the Windsor-2 House district would you like to get state action on? AC: Our state roads are in terrible shape for the most part, especially in Cavendish. I will be delving into this issue again on my return to the legislature. I will also, as a member of the bipartisan rural caucus, continue to push for broadband internet connections to the last mile. And as a member of the House Health Care Committee, I will continue to push for more resources in our mental health community. ET: Do you have a particular issue you are focus on? What would you like to achieve in office in your next term? AC: Aside from the number of health care issues we face, such as affordability, I will be focusing on equal pay for women. In Vermont, women experience a wage gap of 16 cents on the dollar as compared to men. According to the Vermont Commission on Women, women make up 45 percent of Vermont’s full-time workforce, and 43 percent of women working full-time do not earn enough to meet basic expenses. WDR-3-1 Thomas Bock (D)* Running unopposed Hometown: Chester The candidate has not returned the Eagle Times’s questionnaire. WDR-3-2 Alice Emmons (D)* Hometown: Springfield The candidate has not returned the Eagle Times’s questionnaire. Robert “Bob” Forguites (D)* Hometown: Springfield The candidate has not returned the Eagle Times’s questionnaire Elizabeth Gray (R) Hometown: Springfield Eagle Times: How has the minority status of your party in Vermont affected your campaign strategy? Elizabeth Gray: I have always felt it is best to vote for the candidate best suited for the seat at hand. We are elected to represent the people —people, not party — to be their voice. ET: What special skills or experience do you have that makes you the best candidate for the office? EG: I have management and government experience. I have a B.S. in psychology with a focus on substance abuse counseling and domestic violence. My government experience is working for immigration. I had to work my way up through the ranks by starting as a visa processing specialist (data entry), becoming a team leader and helping write procedures, correcting/implementing new procedures, helping create improved data entry procedures to help create consistency between the NVC, embassies and consulates. I became a manager over four units, written correspondence, telephone inquiry, the Congressional unit and the SIV Unit. The SIV Unit is short for Special Immigrant Unit and this help Iraqi and Afghan people that translated and assisted the U.S. armed forces. I have assisted my mother and stepfather in running and managing their small business (at one time they had two) over the years. I am up to date on the protocol with new processing fees for EBT cards (which could have the potential for price hikes in businesses). I have a commercial driver’s license. I am up to date with the new Federal laws for the difficult expectations of truck drivers and the companies they work for. ET: What challenges face the House in the upcoming term? EG: I am going to start with there will be unfinished business. With new people being elected into office, there are going to be many people trying to get caught up quickly and learning exactly where things are. The issues at hand can all tie in together and create a circle. For example, ACT 250 and ACT 46 both discourage young people and families from wanting to move or stay in Vermont. ET: What particular issues affecting the Windsor House district would you like to get state action on? EG: The opioid epidemic, get regulated transitional housing. I know from previous employment that transitional housing with the proper set of rules can be very successful. Look at economic development, farming and forestry. Regulate ACT 250 and ACT 46. Lower the business tax rate. Let’s become business friendly again. Re-review the minimum wage recommendation. We all want to have a higher and more “livable wage” but, $15 an hour will drown and push out small businesses/mom and pop stores. Not to mention once you start increasing wages, the cost of living is going to increase as well. This is going to need to be a carefully reviewed and thought about process. These are all things that can be changed and corrected to make Springfield successful. ET: Do you have a particular issue you are focused on? What would you like to achieve in office? EG: I can’t focus on one particular issue. We have many things to look at. Some of these are tied together simultaneously. I want to work together as a team and look at things as a whole. Why does it appear some of the northwestern counties get the majority of the money versus the southern half of the state’s counties? If the money was divided more equally we could create a stronger economy and improved education system. I would like to create and advocacy group made up of the counties that do not receive the same financial help as say Chittenden and Franklin counties. Let’s work together to get Vermont equal and prosperous. If Vermont does not become more business friendly we are losing potential businesses or current businesses due to our high tax rate ( we are the 42nd highest business-taxed state), in turn that could deter people from wanting to buy homes here, raise and educate their children. These are the types of issues I want to help correct and resolve while in office. I hope voters remember these things cannot happen overnight despite our desire for that to happen. George T. McNaughton (P) Hometown: Springfield McNaughton is a former member of the Springfield Select Board and the Springfield School Board. Eagle Times: How has the minority status of your party in Vermont affected your campaign strategy? George McNaughton:Although the Vermont Progressive Party is considered a major party under Vermont law, third-party candidates and independent candidates are always at a disadvantage when it comes to campaigns in Vermont. Having said that, I have never supported partisan politics and do not in this election. I agree with the Town of Springfield’s Progressive Committee platform . ET: What special skills or experience do you have that make you the best candidate for the office? GM: (1) I am familiar with what is going on in Springfield and what the state is doing to help and what the state is doing to hinder the town’s progress. (2) I am able to see opportunities when they arise to help Springfield, and to advocate against things that would hurt Springfield — my focus will be on helping Springfield and supporting the policies that will help Springfield and its citizens, not on party ideologies or national politics. I believe we need an advocate not someone that follows party lines or simply caucuses with others. (3) I have been a negotiator for all my adult life, and professional life of 42 years most of which was spent working on issues important to rural towns making the transition to industrial towns, and one of the skills I brought to the table was being able to come up with language that made propositions acceptable various adversaries at the table and on boards and commissions. And I have written countless ordinances, and two state statutes (not in Vermont). ET: What challenges face the House in the upcoming term? GM: (1) Coming up with a sensible plan for to stem and reverse the opioid epidemic and its consequences. (2) Education funding getting past the partisan politics currently gridlocking beneficial change. (3) Economic development and how to stimulate it, and fending off well intended but ineffective legislation that will place Springfield at a competitive disadvantage. ET: What particular issues affecting the Windsor House district would you like to get state action on? GM: (1) Repeal Act 46 and stop the bullying that the State Board of Education is applying to force Weathersfield to consolidate with Windsor, which will have a dramatic adverse affect on the Springfield School District. (2) Force a more flexible approach to the regulation of the Black River buffer and corridor zones as the Black River flows through Springfield (3) Support the TIF District when Springfield applies for it. (4) Support Springfield economic development projects. ET: Do you have a particular issue you are focused on? What would you like to achieve in office? GM: I would say that probably the most important state issue affecting Springfield right now the opioid epidemic. The epidemic and the failed State hub and spoke system which basically winds up concentrating the region’s heroin addict population in the poorer neighborhoods in Springfield, has to be changed. We need a system which does three things: 1) treats addicts humanely while rehabilitating them and getting them off all of the addictive substances; 2) gets the using addicts out of the neighborhoods and into an area relatively isolated from the neighborhoods where they can be monitored, treated, and if necessary restrained so they are not causing havoc in the neighborhoods; and 3) assists the schools, towns, and DCF in dealing with the tsunami of children with special needs being created by the families destroyed by the epidemic. Somehow we have to break up the echo chambers which are supporting a failed bipartisan program. WDR-5 Charlie Kimbell (D)* Running unopposed Eagle Times: How has the majority status of your party in Vermont affected your campaign strategy? Charlie Kimbell: It hasn’t. I am running unopposed and that has affected my strategy the most. ET: How long have you served in office, and what are you most proud of achieving while in office? CK: I have served just one term in the House. I am most proud of the work that I have done on the House Commerce and Economic Development Committee, focusing on the economic health of the state, particularly the workforce development bill we passed in 2018, to solve this conundrum: Employers can’t find the workers they need, while individuals can’t find the jobs they want. And, as part of the Rural Economic Development Working Group, I was able to push legislation to help the forestry industry, provide funding for community wastewater projects, and fund the expansion of broadband service. ET: What challenges face the House in the upcoming term? CK: Balancing the state budget: Not increasing the tax burden while meeting the most pressing needs of Vermonters, including mental health services, drug addiction prevention, clean water restoration, childcare supports and public education. Reconsidering past initiatives — raising the minimum wage to $15, establishing paid family medical leave insurance, establishing a tax and regulate market for the sale and use of recreational marijuana. Economic Development — The current Act 250 Commission will be making recommendations in December based on its statewide listening tour. The state has many financing incentives to establish and retain businesses in Vermont: do they work? Should they be expanded? Right-sizing the prison system — To stop sending inmates out of state, the state needs to reduce the number of individuals in the criminal justice system through restorative justice practices and other holistic approaches. Addressing climate change through meaningful actions. Vermont contributes less than 0.1 percent of total GHG emissions in the U.S. To have any real impact, Vermont must work together with other states to reduce emissions from transportation and home heating. ET: What particular issues affecting the Windsor House district would you like to get state action on? CK: Education financing. The current statewide system is hard to understand, difficult to administer and long-time homeowners can get taxed out of their homes despite property tax adjustments. Modernizing Act 250 to make it easier to manage, particularly in establishing recreation trails that are important to our outdoor economy and our quality of life. Clean Water Funding, including funds for the establishment and improvement of community wastewater and potable water systems. ET: Do you have a particular issue you are focused on? What would you like to achieve in office in your next term? CK: Answered above, I believe.