Commentary

Charlotte Democratic House Candidates to Debate,
Justices of the Peace to be Nominated at July 20 Meeting

The three Democratic candidates running for the Vermont House seat Chittenden 1–2 will debate at a meeting of the Charlotte Democratic Committee on Wednesday, July 20, at 7 p.m. at the Charlotte Senior Center on Ferry Road. Members will also nominate Democratic candidates for Justice of the Peace (JP) at this meeting.

Mike Kurt, Charles Russell and Mike Yantachka are vying for the House seat vacated by Scott Orr. At the primary election on August 24, voters will decide which of the three candidates will be the Democratic nominee in the general election on November 2. Chittenden district 1-2 comprises all of Charlotte and a small portion of Hinesburg.

Charlotte Democrats are fortunate to have a choice of three fine candidates running for the House seat. However, having a choice in the August 24 primary also imposes a responsibility to be informed. We encourage all Democrats to attend this special meeting to learn more about each of the candidates. There will be time for a question-and-answer period.

The nomination of Justice of the Peace candidates will be held after the session with the House candidates. Justices of the Peace serve on the Board of Civil Authority and the Board of Tax Abatement in their municipality. As members of these boards, along with the Board of Selectmen and the Town Clerks, JPs hear appeals of tax assessments and requests to abate or dismiss taxes for specific legal reasons, as well as oversee elections. JP’s also have the authority to preside over wedding ceremonies and civil unions.

Please contact me if you would like additional information.
Darrilyn Peters
425-6581
darrilynp@comcast.net

Letters

Thanks to All for Another Successful Town Party

Miraculously the weather cooperated for the 16th annual Town Party on the Green!! As in the past many people helped make this year’s party an enormous success. First, our sincere thanks to John Crabbe of Vermont Tent Company whose very generous donation toward the two large tents, tables and chairs makes this event possible. For the second year the Charlotte Selectboard shared the cost of providing tent space for town organizations.

Thank you to the Fire & Rescue Auxiliary for feeding the masses and staging the car extraction, to Josh Flore, Town Constable, and Fire & Rescue for traffic control, to the Children’s Center staff and volunteers for the great carnival, as well as to the Quinlan School for providing activities for kids, and to the many town organizations for sharing their information and enthusiasm. Thanks also to Carrie Spear of Spear’s Store for boxes, Linda Williamson for ad design, to the incredible library staff members for their help and their tremendous tolerance of the invasion of their space, and to all those whose donated books made the book sale a success.

As always a big thank you to all our volunteers who sorted books, set up, cashiered and cleaned up (with apologies to anyone we may have omitted inadvertently): Bonnie and Russ Ayer, Jeri and Dale Bergdahl, Joan and Ted Braun, Aileen Chutter, Vince Crockenberg, Bob and Paul Danyow, Sandi Detwiler, Jon Fairbank, Valerie Graham, Catherine Hughes, Kate Lampton, Sheila Mack, Jim and Jon Manchester, Ben Mason, Edd Merritt, Lenore Morse, Nigel Mucklow, Martine Richards, Tom Roland, John Rosenthal, Ellie Russell, Jan Schwarz and Mary Twitchell. And finally to the staff and friends of the Bixby Library for transporting the leftover books to Vergennes to add to the Bixby’s ongoing book sale.

The Friends of the Charlotte Library Board
Denise Danyow, Laura Cahners-Ford, Diane Cote, Louise Fairbank, Nan Mason, Beth Merritt and Nancy Rosenthal

Supporting Progressive Democrats

If you consider yourself progressive and want your voice heard in Montpelier, then it is imperative that you vote in the Democratic primary on August 24. Here’s why.

The Democratic “big tent” has widely divergent views on taxation and spending priorities. Progressive Democrats are more willing to support the kind of investments in education, information technology infrastructure, public works projects, job training and real incentives for green manufacturing that this state needs to move us out of this recession. They seek to create greater tax equity so that working Vermonters can keep more of their wages, send their kids to college and retire with dignity. They see health care as a human right, not a privilege, and hence seek universal affordable coverage. Progressive Democrats understand the need to invest in these things in order to foster long-term economic security.

We need to support candidates who will protect the interests of ordinary Vermonters against the interests of corporations such as Entergy and the Health Insurance lobby. We need to back candidates who support strategic investment in the green economy and who aren’t afraid to regulate the banking and insurance industries which drove us to this recession and which continue to profit at the taxpayer’s expense. With the US Supreme Court striking down campaign finance reform, we are going to see a huge amount of money going to the other side. A grass-roots effort is needed to insure that we don’t go back to Bush era policies. Please vote.

For me, Mike Yantachka, running to be our next representative, supports the kind of progressive ideals that are important, as do Philip Baruth and Tim Ashe running for Senate seats. Doug Racine, of all the candidates, has shown the greatest support for working Vermonters, and from my perspective shows the greatest promise in winning against Brian Dubie this fall. Please join me in endorsing Mike, Philip, Tim and Doug.

John Howe

From the Senate

One of my priorities when I was elected to the Senate was supporting Vermont’s vibrant and promising local food economy. I’m glad to say that in an otherwise difficult year in Montpelier, we made progress in this area.

The Legislature made the second of two $100,000 investments in the Farm-to-Plate initiative. This effort of the Vermont Sustainable Jobs Fund has included thousands of Vermonters in the agricultural sector in building a 10-year strategic plan for the state’s agricultural economy. With a near monopoly setting unfairly low dairy prices for farmers, it’s critical that Vermont continue to nurture farms that are diversifying, whether it be to livestock, produce or conversion to organic.

For the short-term, I co-authored legislation that will invest a modest portion of the stimulus dollars that came to Vermont in aggregation and distribution infrastructure so groups of farmers can sell their produce to Vermont’s hospitals, colleges and large businesses. Many farms are too small to create vendor relationships with, say, Fletcher Allen. With shared facilities, we’ll open up new markets for local farmers.

As you know, the mistreatment of animals at the Bushways slaughterhouse in Grand Isle made national news, threatening Vermont’s reputation as the producer of high-quality foods. As a result, we put in place new penalties for people who violate humane treatment laws. This includes, at the Secretary of Agriculture’s discretion, the placement of video cameras on the slaughterhouse floor. I successfully passed language that will re-direct $50,000 in existing training funds to train the employees of Vermont’s seven slaughterhouses in humane treatment of animals.

Finally, many of us were surprised to learn that the Vermont Seal of Quality program had been stripped of its resources over the years and had virtually no oversight by our Agriculture Agency. Rather than terminate the program as proposed by the Administration, the Senate Economic Development Committee on which I sit created a new third-party verification system for use while the agency creates a long-term plan to restore the integrity of the seal.

I can be reached at timashe@burlingtontelecom.net with any questions.

Tim Ashe
State Senator
Chittenden County