A crowded field vies for Wash. County Senate
Toolbox
By Louis Porter Vermont Press Bureau - Published: November 1, 2008
MONTPELIER – It is a crowded field – some might even say a melee – in the race for state Senate from Washington County, with eight candidates of four parties trying for three seats.
The winners will have a lot to work on.
An already tight state budget that is likely to get tougher still is the top issue that concerns both the incumbents who lived through the budget cuts of the last year, and their challengers. Add to that the perennial, important and still unsolved issues of rising health care costs and education financing. Then add some newer issues like the re-licensing of Vermont Yankee, which will be front and center in the next legislative session, and you've got a lot on the political plate.
So in alphabetical order, here are the candidates and some of their chief concerns and hopes.
"I am terribly frustrated with the lack of activity on some crucial issues," Bloch said. "I can sit by and curse the dark or I can light a candle."
Over the last six years, total combined health care spending in Vermont has doubled to $4.6 billion, a rate of growth three times inflation, he said.
Adding Catamount Health – the new program to cover those without health insurance – is simply layering complexity and cost on a broken system when what is needed is one single pool of Vermonters who are insured together, he said. Look no further for a model of how to do it than the decades long history of health insurance plan for Vermont's state workers or the Canadian system – with modifications – Bloch said.
"I have the guts and the backbone and the intellect to forge ahead," he said.
Add to that the fact that the state needs high speed Internet and mills to make wood heating pellets scattered around Vermont, Bloch said.
"We could meet all of our heating needs out of biomass, or very close," he said. "It is like sitting in Saudi Arabia and complaining you don't have any oil."
Bloch, 70, said he expects to raise and spend roughly $2,000 in all on his campaign.
"It is very hard to unseat incumbents," said the Democrat, a former state's attorney and Vermont Attorney General.
Cheney said he expects to raise about a third of the $12,000 or so he will spend on the campaign, providing the rest himself.
"Anybody selecting a senator wants to make sure whoever they vote for has the background and the ability to contribute to lawmaking," Cheney said. "Those things are demonstrated by people's prior involvement in public life."
The recent reduction in fuel prices is likely temporary, and the Legislature should concentrate on reducing how much it costs Vermonters to get energy and health care, Cheney said.
"If you can reduce Vermonters' expenses it is as good as cutting taxes," said Cheney, 72. "European models provide health care at about half the cost."
"You have to reorganize the whole health care delivery system," he concluded.
"I really like the work. I like making government work for people," said Cummings, a Democrat who works as a real estate agent and lives in Montpelier. But she adds, "We are going to have a very difficult year this year."
She says that's related broadly to the state's fiscal squeeze, although Vermont's situation is not nearly as severe as in some states.
The job of state government and of the Legislature is to make sure residents feel as little of a hit from that as possible.
"We know people are going to have a difficult time paying for food and fuel and gasoline," said Cummings, 62. "We know there have been some layoffs, we know the shelters are full."
"There will definitely be some belt tightening in the general fund budget," she said, and it may be time to tap into the state's reserve rainy day funds.
Cummings said she will raise and spend between $5,000 and $6,000 on the campaign when everything is said and done.
One is to increase scholarship and workforce training money, said Doyle, a Montpelier resident.
"It is unacceptable for Vermont students to graduate with $40,000 or $50,000 in debt," said Doyle, a professor at Johnson State College.
In addition, there are several things that could be done to make the state run as well or better for less money, Doyle said.
"There are a lot of things that we could be doing that would make the state run more efficiently," he said.
For instance the legislative session could be trimmed by a week or more as it was this last year.
"In my judgment it was one of the best legislative sessions in recent years," Doyle said.
Doyle added that he was encouraged to see the number of Vermonters who came out to workshops on energy efficiency, canning and other skills organized by the state and local agencies.
"Thousands and thousands of Vermonters around the state have gone to these workshops," he said.
Doyle, 82, said he expects to raise and spend a little less than $19,000 during the campaign.
"I am tired of professional politicians," said Duke, 65. "It was supposed to be a sacrifice. You went to Montpelier or Washington, D.C. one or maybe two terms and then you went on with your life."
Now too many lawmakers spend their time "coming up with laws that we don't need, and wasting our taxpayer money on things they can't do anything about," and worrying about climate change, which he called "junk science."
"First I would like to get authorization to drill for natural gas in the northwest corner of the state," Duke said. And there should be three or four new small nuclear plants built around Vermont, he added.
Finally legislators should be paid $100 a year, he said.
"I do not think a job for the government should be worth thousands of dollars to get," he added.
So Gilligan, 67, is making his first run for state Senate.
"I don't think anyone means to do harm to the state of Vermont," he said. "But we have managed to tax and spend ourselves into a giant hole."
"There is this attitude that Vermont has to be out on the cutting edge," Gilligan said. "It is so detached from reality."
For instance, the state seems to try to be on the forefront of expensive new technologies and regulations, he said.
Sometimes what seems like a good idea – for instance transporting road salt shipments by rail – end up being inefficient and expensive when the salt sheds are not close to the train lines.
"I am very much against taking federal money, knowing we are going to have to come up with the match, whether it is 30 percent or 50 percent," Gilligan said.
"You have to be cognizant of your resources. We are not," said the fifth generation Vermonter who plans on raising and spending $500 or less on his campaign.
"All my ancestors are here. I would like to leave it better than I found it," he said.
"The economy is certainly front and center," Moore said. "Along with that I anticipate a discussion about energy policy."
A Barre Town resident, Moore is on the school board and is chair of the supervisory union board. The controversial legislative provision that subjects some higher spending school district budgets to two votes is a mistake, said Moore.
"I think it is an insult to local control. I think it is an insult to the very hardworking members of school boards," she said. "I would have voted no without a question."
Moore, 45, said she is not any happier than anyone else about property taxes, but that the schools should not be "a dumping ground" for those angry taxpayers.
"I think the discussion should be about finding better ways to provide education rather than cutting education," she said.
Moore said she will raise and spend roughly $25,000 or so on her campaign. Some have objected to the amount of money she raised outside the state early in her campaign, but like most candidates she began raising money among family and friends – some of whom were out of Vermont – she said.
"As a first-time candidate I have to work harder and I think I am working harder," she said.
"I think we are heading for difficult times and I feel like I shouldn't abandon the ship, so to speak," Scott said. "It is not rosy."
But the tightening state budget does have a bright side. Just as in his business, Dubois Construction, it will mean a chance to find operating efficiencies, said Scott, who as head of the Senate Institutions Committee is one of only two Republican committee chairmen in the Senate.
"There are some positives out there we can make into a reality. It forces you to be more efficient," he said. "There may be approaches that we could take so we could rebound and actually be stronger than we were a couple years ago."
Just as the state is struggling with how to fund road and bridge repair – Scott also sits on the Transportation Committee – so must if figure out how to pay for other infrastructure like a replacement for the Vermont State Hospital and the Bennington state office building, which had a highly publicized air quality problem.
"There are maintenance issues we are coming to grips with after a long time in terms of our state buildings," he said. "We have to try to extend the life cycle of everything we have got."
He is not against using the state's reserves if the economic slide is nearing its end, Scott said.
"I would like to be sure we have hit bottom before we use the rainy day fund," he said. "I think we are getting close."
"The bipartisanship is something I enjoy in the Senate," said Scott, who is 50. "I work well with almost everyone. We are there to do a job and there are a lot of people who get that."
Scott said he expects to raise and spend between $15,000 and $20,000 on his campaign.
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