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McNaughton: we should keep it local By STEPHEN SEITZ Special to the Eagle Times 23 hrs ago https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=6627533061631749534#editor George McNaughton STEPHEN SEITZ SPRINGFIELD, Vt. — Progressive candidate and former Springfield selectman George McNaughton is running for the Windsor 3-2 district House seat because he wants to see better representation for Springfield in the legislature. McNaughton said Spring-field’s two current Represent-atives, Rep. Alice Emmons and Rep. Bob Forguites, are not doing enough for the town. “They aren’t focusing on local issues,” McNaughton said. “Bob works very hard. If someone wants to make a change, he’ll work for it. But Alice just gives lip service and takes the credit. She’ll follow the Democratic leadership, and unless Bob is motivated, he’ll follow her. I will say she’s an excellent campaigner.” One reason McNaughton joined the Progressive Caucus, he said, was to see if they couldn’t force the major parties to pay more attention to Springfield. “Eventually, the Republicans responded,” he said. “I don’t agree with them on a lot, but at least they’re campaigning on local issues.” McNaughton cited Emmons’ and Forguites’ support of Act 46 as an example of what he sees has gone wrong. “Both Alice and Bob voted for it,” he said. “When the Weathersfield kids join Windsor, it’ll cost our school system $1 million in revenue. But they were told that Springfield wouldn’t have to consolidate, and the Speaker wanted it. Someone should have stood up. But out of our entire delegation, only (state Sen.) Dick McCormack said it was a bad idea.” McNaughton said he’d like to see better communication between the selectmen and the school board. As things stand now, school board member Steve Karaffa liaison to the selectmen, and he attends those meetings. He believes that Act 46 undermines the sense of local community. “As the churches dwindle, the schools become the heart of the community,” he said. “The towns don’t like consolidation.” McNaughton said he’d like to see a more effective approach to solving the opioid crisis. “Governor Scott set up a committee, but that committee has become a joke,” he said. “Their solution is to throw more money at it. The current approach is to wean addicts using either methadone or Suboxone. Initially, it works. But Suboxone only works at higher doses, and the medication is decreased, and that’s when relapses occur.” McNaughton said addicts tend not to have jobs and no way to pay for treatment. “Medicaid will only pay for two weeks,” he said. “But that’s the system they’re pouring money into.” McNaughton said he sees the problem as having a social side. advertisement “The drugs are found in the less affluent neighborhoods,” he said. “What you really have to do is get the addicts out of those neighborhoods. There has to be a better way than what we’re doing.” McNaughton also responded to questionnaires sent him by the Eagle Times. In one, he wrote that if elected, he would focus on Springfield. “Economic development is entwined with two other elements, namely the the opioid epidemic and luring back young middle class families,” he wrote.” In order to do that, we have to clean up the less affluent neighborhoods, and create a downtown that is attractive to the young middle class — in addition to creating careers in Springfield that pay sufficiently to sustain a prosperous young middle class.” McNaughton wrote the he supports using renewable resources, but not if it will put Springfield at an economic disadvantage. “I oppose the carbon tax, but support properly sited wind and solar projects,” he wrote “I also support loosening the restrictions which are preventing the development of new hydroelectric projects in Springfield. I believe that hydroelectric has the greatest amount of support in Springfield of all the renewable energy sources.” McNaughton is a partner of the law firm Lamb and McNaughton.
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