M ou nta i n T i m e s
Volume 47, Number 44
FREE range news — authentic community reflections, no coinage necessary.
Oct. 31-Nov. 6, 2018
YOUR LOCAL
ELECTION DAY DIGEST By Curt Perterson
YOUR GUIDE TO RUTLAND AND WINDSOR COUNTY RACES Learn what the candidates have to say on seven hot-button issues facing Vermont this session. Be informed, then vote! Sentate Races: Rutland County: page 2B Windsor County: page 8-9B House Races: Rut 5-1: page 2B Rut 5-4: page 2-3B Rut-Wdr-3: page 4B Rut-6: page 4-5B Rut-Wdr-2: page 6B Wdr-Rut- page 7B Wdr-1 page 9B
VOTE! Don’t forget to vote in the Nov. 6 mid-term election. Polls close at 7 p.m. Your local polling place can be found by calling or visiting your town clerk’s office or the Vermont Secretary of State’s website at www.sec.state.vt.us.
Mounta in Times is a community newspaper covering Central Vermont that aims to engage and inform as well as empower community members to have a voice.
mountaintimes.info
Questions with Windsor County candidates
By Curt Peterson
We asked the candidates for the three state senate seats and two state representative positions in Windsor County to share their thoughts on five issues a recent Castleton University voters’ poll indicated were most important to Vermonters. For the Senate, we contacted incumbent Democratic senators Alison Clarkson, Dick McCormack and Alice Nitka, Republican challengers Randy Gray, Wayne Townsend and Jack Williams as wll as Independent Mason “Cloud” Wade. Wade, Williams and Gray failed to respond formally, but we did receive some input from them. For the Vermont House, we contacted Incumbent John Bartholomew and newcomer Zachariah Ralph, Democrats, as well as Republican Wesley Raney, who are vying for two seats. We asked about education, specifically Act 46 School Consolidation and “forced mergers”, about progressive education taxation, about climate change and renewable energy, about jobs and the economy, about single-payor, universal healthcare, and we asked what issue drives the candidates run for office. Here is a synopsis of their responses: On education Wesley Raney stated simply, “I oppose Act 46.” Wayne Townsend agreed: “I am against Act 46 – control of schools should remain in local hands.” Dick McCormack voted against Act 46, but feels it is the law, adding, “Repeal would be
destabilizing.” He cites Barnard, which the Board of Education voted last week to force to merge with the Windsor Central consolidated district as a town that “doesn’t fit the Act 46 model.” The BoE should extend the deadline for compliance and clarify terms for flexibility,” McCormack said. John Bartholomew “didn’t support Act 46,” he said. He’s in favor of local control for schools, and against “forced merger,” he said.
“THE CURRENT SYSTEM IS COMPLICATED AND OFTEN MISUNDERSTOOD,” BARTHOLOMEW SAID. Alison Clarkson supported Act 46 as the response to a shrinking student population. “Fifty years ago we had too many students,” she said, “so we expanded the system. Now we have the opposite problem, and we have to react accordingly.” She said the key benefit of pooling resources is increased educational opportunities. However, closing schools isn’t necessary. She suggests using facilities for “very early education” – ages 0-3. Alice Nitka believes Act 46 prohibits “forced mergers,” and Barnard is doing the right thing by joining a suit to appeal the BoE merger decisions. How should education be financed?
Wayne Townsend would consider any proposal that doesn’t raise taxes for anyone. John Bartholomew would look favorably at a progressive, income-based education tax. “The current system is complicated and often misunderstood,” Bartholomew said. McCormack said, “Simply shifting funding to an income tax makes logical sense.” Wesley Raney said, “I oppose raising taxes.” On the environment McCormack sees climate change as an existential crisis. He sees conserving fuel and electricity, more efficient cleaner vehicles, roads that accommodate walking and biking, expanded mass transit, expanded solar and wind and a carbon pricing system, as remedies. Zachariah Ralph favors a carbon tax, “combined with efforts to create more public transportation, increase telecommuting, and promote electric vehicle infrastructure.” Randy Gray opposes a carbon tax. A carbon tax will only hurt low-income Vermonters and put border businesses at a disadvantage. Clarkson feels a market price on carbon will “unleash market forces on carbon production” and protect climate-sensitive Vermont industries: Skiing, maple products, forestry, wood furniture manufActuring and tourism. For Wesley Raney “nuclear energy is the future.” John Bartholomew believes in “incentives”: supporting weatherization, solar installations, Windsor candidates, page 11B