10 The Colchester Sun • August 4, 2016
LOCAL DUNNE from page 1
it will take rethinking old approaches and investing in infrastructure. A multi-generational Vermonter, Dunne lives with his wife and three children in the same Hartland farmhouse where he grew up. Although he spent the last eight years as a Google executive with offices based in White River Junction, Dunne began his career in the House at the ripe old age of 22. After seven years, Dunne served as the director of AmeriCorps VISTA before being elected to the Senate in 2002. In 2006, he lost the race for lieutenant governor, followed by an unsuccessful bid for governor in 2010. Economy Dunne believes in developing the economy with Vermont values. He was a co-sponsor of the land recycling act, which allows abandoned industrial sites to be redeveloped. “At the time, people were saying, ‘It seems like a strange thing for you to focus on. It’s not that sexy,’” Dunne said. “But … we were in an economic downturn. There was huge pressure to develop farm and forestland, and yet there were millions of square feet of abandoned industrial sites.” His bill helped a developer convert an old factory in Bennington into a dam. Dunne said a distillery could be built there someday. Dunne said developers use the program to redevelop such locations into “vibrant centers.” “I don’t think it’s the most radical thing in the world, but its good Vermont common
GALBRAITH from page 1 Hussein’s crimes and chemical weapons in the late 1980s, years before the Gulf War. It could be his decades of diplomatic skill, honed during service as America’s first ambassador to Croatia, his time as advisor to Iraq’s Kurdish government and his career as the United Nations’ director for political, constitutional and electoral affairs in East Timor. But it’s not. In fact, Galbraith is talking his two terms as senator for Windham County and his reputation for being, as described by fellow senators, abrasive. It only seemed that way from a distance, he said. “It was not as tempestuous as it appears, and I wasn’t the lone wolf that I appeared,” he said. “Frankly, for someone who’s only served two terms, I have a fair number of legislative accomplishments.” His chief being a bill to ban fracking. Vermont became the first state to do so when the bill, introduced by Galbraith, passed. “I had a different view of what a senator should do than many,” he said, noting the “traditional model” is to support committee leadership. “That wasn’t my view,” Galbraith said. “I was elected to represent my constituents in what I thought was the best action for Vermont.” Doing so meant raising bigger questions. He cited one example regarding campaign finance when legislators denounced the U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling on corporate campaign contributions and then changed then tune, voting to keep them on a bill’s third reading. Banning big money is a familiar refrain for U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), who just ended his presidential bid. Galbraith maintains he’s held the same positions before the high profile campaign. “I know a few of my rivals have discovered Bernie Sanders,” Galbraith quipped. “Everything I’m talking about I did while I was in the senate.” Sanders, too, called for a $15 per hour minimum wage, although Galbraith might have a unique qualification to explore the idea: He comes from a family of internationally renowned economists. His father, John Kenneth Galbraith, was one of the foremost economists of the 20th century. Galbraith said raising the minimum wage would save taxpayers $18 million in earned income tax credits. He would raise the rate to $12.50 per hour immediately, gradually increasing to $15 by 2021. “It’s an issue of fairness, and it’s an issue of affordability,” Galbraith said. “Taxpayers now subsidize low-wage employers. The earned income tax credit is not taxpayers supporting low-wage workers; it’s taxpayers supporting their employers. It just doesn’t make sense to me.” It’s the only proposed tool for affordability that doesn’t come out of taxpayers’ pockets, Galbraith said, and also potentially the most effective. “When we talk about affordable housing, a few million dollars, how many
sense,” he said, “and it’s a way to make sure we’re making the most of the land that we have and ensure we’re not destroying what makes Vermont incredibly special.” Dunne also had a hand in the state’s “designated downtown” program, which directs state funds to revitalize village centers, create financial incentives and remove barriers for developers. His economic plan is focused on developing broadband infrastructure, innovation centers and a healthy environment for telecommuting. At Google, Dunne managed the rollout of high-speed internet in rural and urban communities across the U.S. With Vermont nestled between Montreal, Boston and New York City, Dunne said the state is strategically located to capitalize on telecommuting, as long as broadband is up and running. “It’s going to take that infrastructure,” he said. “It’s going to take that continued redevelopment of in downtowns.” Dunne proposed investing in mixed-use innovation centers funded through public and private partnerships. He also wants to help people start small businesses by micro-lending funds with corresponding support programs. At AmeriCorps VISTA, Dunne found this strategy “very effective at helping low-income people start and sustain local business.” Dunne has proposed a Vermont Service Scholarship Program to allow anyone who completes two years of national service in AmeriCorps or the military to graduate from any Vermont state college or the University of Vermont debt-free. He also thinks Vermont is perceived as a place to visit rather than to live. While on houses will that actually build?” he asked. “Ten, with extreme luck?” Galbraith says he entered the race because no other Democratic candidates were talking about the issue. He cited the first debate, during which Matt Dunne and Sue Minter both supported a $12.50 minimum wage. “Sue says she’s for $15 in stages, but that really means nothing,” Galbraith said. “Matt’s come along to say $15 by 2021, and I just hope that if he does win the primary, he’ll stick to it.” Galbraith is the only Dem who opposes “the destruction of our ridgelines with industrial wind turbines,” he said. As a senator in 2013, Galbraith proposed a bill requiring consent from affected towns before siting an industrial wind project, and prohibiting projects from being established in state parks or forests, the latter which was permitted in another bill. Galbraith said electing him is a chance to say this kind of industrial wind is not what Vermonters want. He also thinks the issue is directly related to cleaning up pollution in state waterways. “What starts at the top comes down,” he said. “The water quality and lake quality are actually very related to mountain quality and forest quality.” With this in mind, Galbraith created S.100, which, if it had passed, limited industrial wind to no closer than one-third of a mile from any house or road. Galbraith’s stance on Act 46, a controversial education law to merge school districts to achieve savings and equity, also sets him apart: He thinks Vermont has a property tax crisis, not an education funding one. “We have maybe 40 percent fewer students than we did in the 1970s, but we’re doing so much more for them,” he said. “The whole Act 46 issue is addressing a problem that doesn’t exist.” Health care, on the other hand, is a real problem for Galbraith, who recently announced his plan for universal primary health care. “I’ve been a diplomat,” he said. “The countries that have publicly financed health care have healthier societies at half the cost.” Galbraith said he’s especially precise in describing how to fund his proposal, something he said Dunne has failed to do. Most of the $174 million required for the plan would come from a 2 percent payroll tax, he said. Premiums would be lower for employers, since universal primary care would reduce their overall cost. Employers could list the payroll tax as a deductible business expense, “meaning the federal government picks up part of the cost,” he said. Galbraith has also proposed four years’ free tuition at state colleges for $28 million, which would come from cutting special interest tax breaks, which he estimate would net $26.5 million of his plan. “I’m running to give people a choice,” he said. “If they like what I’m saying, I hope they’ll vote for me. And if they don’t…” He shrugs agreeably. “Then they shouldn’t vote for me.”
the Senate Economic Development Committee, he urged lawmakers to refocus on innovation instead of Vermont’s rural character to attract young workers. Health care Dunne thinks the failed execution of Vermont Health Connect is a “huge setback” that challenges people’s trust in the state. Citing data from OneCare Vermont, Dunne noted health care costs in Vermont rise $650,000 a day. “There is nothing sustainable about that,” he said. Since leaving Google, Dunne pays $1,900 a month for coverage: “That used to be two mortgages,” he said. Dunne said serving on the Dartmouth Hitchcock Center board for three years reinforced his belief that the current health care system isn’t sustainable. Dunne thinks hospitals should receive incentives for moving toward health outcomes instead of fee-based services. He detailed a three-pronged approach to achieve this, starting with fixing the Vermont Health Connect website and ending at universal primary care. Act 46 Dunne also shared his views on education costs, another driver in state budget increases. As for Act 46, the state’s landmark education reform law that asks schools to merge into more cost-effective structures, Dunne said he believes “there is a pathway to better education quality and value without necessarily jumping to consolidation.” “I want to be clear that there are places where consolidation makes sense, and there are places where it doesn’t,” he said.
MINTER from page 1 managed a $600 million budget and 1,300 employees, is one of three contenders on next week’s primary ballot. “I’m not running because I’m a woman. I am running because I’m the most qualified for the job,” Minter said, citing her experience as a community volunteer, planning commission member and downtown revitalization planner, plus her time spent both in the state’s legislative and executive branches. As secretary, Minter said she focused on performance, innovation and efficiency. After discovering 20 percent of Vermont’s bridges were structurally deficient, Minter and her team passed an infrastructure bond to invest in bridges and make the design and construction process “faster, cheaper and safer.” The state went from taking eight years to design and build a bridge to an average of two and reduced the number of structurally deficient bridges from 20 to 7 percent. Minter also wants to expand the customer service model she began in VTrans to the rest of state government. That model prioritized reducing wait times at the department of motor vehicles – and it worked, allowing customers to get in and out within 30 minutes. Gun safety If elected, Minter said she would address gun safety within her first term. She first announced her position just weeks after the 2015 shooting at a Colorado Planned Parenthood. “It’s such an important issue nationally,” Minter said. “When people say, ‘We don’t have a problem in Vermont,’ I say, ‘Well, we do, but its often behind closed doors.’” She referred to the state’s rate of domestic violence, the eighth highest in the country in 2013. The majority of domestic homicides in Vermont are committed with a gun, she said. Minter’s plan requires criminal background checks for all gun sales, using the same standards as federally registered dealers. She also supports banning militarystyle assault rifles. Minter said states with
Dunne likes that Act 46 created incentives and resources for districts that want to move toward consolidation, but he’s less fond of the state’s 900-student minimum for an ideal K-12 structure. Dunne thinks the merger requirement is arbitrary and lacks research and scientific support. It also “doesn’t reflect the different mosaic of schools around the state,” he said. He thinks the state should take the same approach to school mergers as it did with Act 77 and personalized learning plans and treat each school uniquely. He does support consolidating payroll and student records systems for all school districts at the state level, he said. A standout Dunne said his blend of private and public sector experience, work in both the House and the Senate and his work in higher education makes him stand out in the Democratic primary – especially because he thinks there are issues the state must address in each of those categories. “It’s going to take moving us in a new and different direction,” Dunne said. “Bernie Sanders has changed politics in our country, but he’s also changed politics in Vermont by his running.” Dunne said Sanders’ campaign made people realize “they weren’t alone in believing that we can do right by all of our citizens,” including affordable housing, access to quality health care and a livable wage. “What I’m excited about is that in this moment in time, we have the chance to bring that same message and movement and agenda back here to Vermont,” he said.
universal background checks for handgun sales report 46 percent fewer women shot to death by their partners, 40 percent fewer suicides and almost 50 percent fewer police shot. “It’s going to be a hard conversation, we know, but I’m really ready,” she said. Economic growth Minter said her administration will have a fourpronged approach to grow economic opportunity. The first, termed InvestVT, is built on successful downtown revitalization efforts like in St. Albans and Barre, the latter where $19 million of federal, state and local money was invested in water, wastewater, sewer, stormwater, transportation, brownfields and a new Main Street. Over six years, Barre leveraged over $45 million in private investment, and St. Albans saw $30 million in grand list growth, Minter said. Her second strategy is supporting clean energy, farm and forest production, tech industry and manufacturing. Minter wants to form a taskforce of industry leaders for each sector within her first 90 days, which will brainstorm start-ups and scale-ups, which Minter said will lead to workforce development. “Our world is changing, and we have to be on the leading edge,” she said. Her third initiative, Vermont Promise, would pay for high school graduates to attend the Community College of Vermont or Vermont Technical College for two years for free. Though Vermont has the country’s second highest high school graduation rate, Minter said, it falls at the bottom when it comes to continuing education: Four out of 10 kids in Vermont don’t pursue education or training beyond high school, but 66 percent of jobs require that training, Minter said. By 2025, Minter wants to decrease this rate to 1 in 4, which will help alleviate generational poverty, what she views as one of Vermont’s biggest challenges along with domestic violence and the opiate epidemic. The plan will cost $6 million in its first year and $12 million thereafter Minter said. She proposed funding
through a bank franchise fee on the largest banks – with deposits of $750 million or more – and by expanding Vermont’s corporate income tax to the largest institutions. “Obviously, it’s going to be a conversation,” she said, “but banks, I think, can be asked to do more.” Her fourth strategy, VTOutdoors, would recruit outdoor businesses and explore expanding mountain biking trails across the state, similar to the Long Trail for hiking. As governor, Minter would also raise the minimum wage to $12.50 an hour in 2018, eventually graduating to $15. “The claim is that if you do it, we’re going to have to cut jobs. I want to know if that's true before we demand a step forward,” Minter said. “But I do think we have to increase wages, because … wages are not keeping up with the cost of living.” Health care Minter said the state’s first task in health care reform is making Vermont Health Connect work. “People deserve better than a $200 million roll out that hasn’t worked,” she said. Second is reigning in costs by thinking holistically, she said, noting the Green Mountain Care Board was the state’s first attempt at having hospitals and other health care providers work together. Cooperation and investment in community care and home-based services can save money and reduce costs, she said. Minter said these two tasks come first before considering single payer, which she is passionate about, but suggested should wait until costs are more controlled. She also wants to be on track for universal health care, which can be achieved by expanding Dr. Dynasaur to cover Vermonters up to age 26 or through publicly funded primary care. Minter said she will address the opiate epidemic by appointing a crisis manager in the governor’s office. Minter is also re-thinking public transportation. She proposes working with a digital transportation platform, similar to Uber, to pilot a shared ride unit at the end of fixed public transportation routes.
REMEMBER TO VOTE! VERMONT'S PRIMARY IS TUESDAY, AUG. 9