 So welcome, everyone, to Council President Karen Paul's campaign march. I'm Phil Baruth, and I'm the Senate President Pro Tem, and I'm here today to endorse Karen Paul as enthusiastically as humanly possible. I'm not telling any of you anything you don't already know when I say that Burlington is at an inflection point. The crises the city faces are mostly national in scope, but their effects on us here, in this place, are deeply personal and undeniably complex. Homelessness, opiate misuse, a fraying in the fabric of public safety. Our next Mayor will confront all of these interlocking emergencies and more. The coronavirus epidemic and the recent flooding show us that the problems we know we face are not the only problems we will have to face. I mentioned that most of these problems are shared by other cities and states, but we are all but unique here in Burlington in one way. We have three healthy major parties who need to work together in order to make any kind of progress on any kind of issue. What that means to me is that the Mayor of the Queen City of Burlington must be someone with a tact and a diplomacy to speak in a meaningful way to Democrats and progressives and Republicans. I believe that Karen Paul is that woman. As City Council President, she has handled tough issues in a human way, and she's brought along a coalition for change at every turn. Karen is a bridge builder, not a bridge burner. And in this particular moment, we're very lucky to have her step up for this race. I've admired the work Karen has done in many areas, but I'm going to point to one on this day in particular, and that's gun safety. If you've seen what is going on in the state of Maine, it is insanity, writ large, and it has to stop. It's an issue that I have been working on for the last 10 or 12 years. It's close to my heart, and I watch very closely what politicians say and do on this issue. To his credit, our outgoing Mayor has been a champion in that policy area, and he's worked with and brought together mayors from around the state to support gun safety legislation. Karen will continue that work, and I know that because I've talked to her about these issues, and I've seen her passion for gun safety. The shootings this city has experienced over the last several years are not Second Amendment freedom incidents. They are local signs of a national plague of gun violence that must be ended. Just a year ago, Karen sponsored a resolution that labeled gun violence a public health emergency and called on the legislature to go further in creating sensible gun laws. I heard that plea in Montpelier, and it helped those of us in the legislature to make major sensible changes this past year in our Vermont gun laws. Karen was helping to lead that charge from Burlington, something that I won't soon forget. Karen Paul is the woman of this particular moment. I trust her to lead the city I love, and where she leads, I will follow. So now it is my distinct honor to bring up one of my longtime heroes, former Governor Howard Dean. I would say thank you, Mr. President, because he's the President of the Senate, but might be confused with somebody else. Let me tell you why I'm here to support Karen. First of all, Karen goes back a very, very long way in Burlington, and her nephews used to be one of my, or is still one of my son's best friends. They all went to school together. So she understands the city the way I understand the city. That is, it needs to be a place where kids can go to the public school system, to can flourish and can succeed in local sports. That's the kind of place we want. We want a community where we all care about each other. And I think in the last few years, for a variety of reasons, not necessarily blaming any political people, but for the last two years, or three or four or five years, this city has struggled, and I've watched it struggle. Gun violence, drug addiction, homelessness, and these are problems that the city can't solve by itself. We need the help from the state and the federal government, but these are problems that can't be solved unless you have somebody who can pull the city together. Now, this city, I've been living in this city for a long time. When I first moved here, Gordon Paquette was the mayor. It's been divided. It's been divided along political lines, and sometimes among the political fights we have, we forget that what's at stake is not who's going to be mayor and who's going to be whatever. What's at stake is an incredible community where we all know each other, we care about each other, and we respect each other. That is why I am supporting Karen Paul, because she is somebody, and there haven't been too many, that can bring people together. And at least if they vote differently, they're going to end up respecting each other after the vote. We desperately need somebody in charge, and I would be a fool if I didn't mention that it means a lot to me that we are about to elect the first woman mayor in the city of Rowan's and Pistone. So, Karen, you're going to have your hands full, or I have full confidence in your ability to bring this city back together because we are not going to solve these big problems unless we understand there's something greater than ourselves and greater than our politics. Some of the things I'm proud about in seeing some of the things that are going on in the legislature, and I thank Phil for part of this, for his role in this, is the people who are willing to compromise on stuff they care a lot about that's something good done. And that's how you're getting these things done. I think family leave is incredibly important. I think that work that's been done on childcare is unbelievably important. These are core issues that we're not going to survive as a state if we don't treat working people the same way that most middle class people can be treated. So I want somebody in Burlington in the mayorship to be able to do that, and that person is Karen Paul. Now, it is my honor to introduce the person who got me to make this endorsement, somebody whose father I served with in the legislature as well as Alderman, that's what I thought. He was a nominally Republican, but you never could tell that from his voting record. And so it is my enormous pleasure to introduce Sarah Carpenter. Exciting. Get myself organized here. I'm Sarah Carpenter, and right at the minute, I happened to be the city councillor for Ward 4 in the north end of Burlington. For many years, I served as the executive director of the Ron Housing Finance Agency and actually started that when Governor Dean was governor. But here today to endorse my wonderful colleague, Karen Paul. As you may know, Karen and I both grew up in Burlington. We had moderate conservative fathers who served as Alderman for many years, and that certainly at growing up gave us lots of perspective on the city. When I retired, I decided to run for city council thinking, oh, I could just do a little something, right? Well, I was sort of like a deer in headlights. I did not know how to manage that. I had worked as I mentioned for many years at VHFA. I had worked with state government, the state legislature. But when I decided to put my service in Burlington, I did not know how to manage my own hometown politics. And it was Karen who really was there for me. She encouraged me to run. She helped me figure it all out. She gave me the early foundations for what it was like to be a successful city councilor, which is not an easy job. In fact, it's probably one of the hardest jobs I've had in my entire career. But she showed me the importance of being there for our constituents, doing the work on follow-through, which is key as a councilor, and getting things done. That's certainly a key. And Karen of all my colleagues is the epitome of all of that. She works every day for us. Her skill at working with city departments, with council colleagues, of all political persuasions has really been her strength. And we need her in the mayor's office to help that happen. She has a way of getting us to yes for the greater good. And she's the woman that we need to lead us into the future. I am so... I know everyone in this crowd knows that about Karen, but I also want to convey a message from another woman that I had worked for and have great support for, and really adore, is Madeline Keenan, former Governor Madeline Keenan. She could not be joining us today, but she also wanted to send our remarks. And she writes that she is so happy to endorse Berlin City Council President Karen Paul to be the next mayor and the first woman mayor of Burlington. Karen has the vision and professional and political capabilities to be a new, effective leader for our Queen City. She was unanimously elected, council president, proving her ability to work with all parties. I have known Karen for many years and know she will follow through on her promises. We all know that, and we're here today to start the work to get Karen into the mayor's office. So thank you all for being here and supporting Karen. As I think I mentioned, we're both local yokels, and one of the keys to... I think our service is our families and our roots here, and I want to introduce Karen's son, Mark. Oh, no, next to you. Her son, Andrew. Well, thank you, and good afternoon, and thank you all for being here. It's truly a very exciting day. I'm so glad to be able to speak on behalf of the family. Well, generally, I'm not the spokesperson by any means for the family. I'm excited to introduce someone that I've come to know very well for 28 years, my mother, Karen Paul. My brother and sister and myself basically spent our childhood with our mom and the city council. We learned from a young age the importance of community, public service, and to remember that it is our responsibility to give back to a city that has been so good to our family for generations. As many of you know, politics is not exactly critical to my personal life. However, my mom certainly is. We've grown up seeing firsthand how she works every single day. No constitutional request too small, and many of those constitutional requests were outside of Ward 6. And there's never been a project too large. It all gets her full attention because she knows that we're all Berlin Tonians, and we need to look out for one another. My mother has a unique ability to seek out options and opinions and perspectives from those of all backgrounds and utilize them all to move Rowington forward. It is through this collaboration and tireless passion for community that I know my mother will make for a wonderful mayor. It is seen in the way that she approaches challenges, the high standards that she has in the way she speaks to neighbors across our great city. My mother is a mayor for Rowington in the present and a mayor for Rowington's future. So please join me in welcoming and introducing the next mayor of Rowington, my mom, Karen Paul. Thank you so much. Thank you to Senate Pro Tem Philip Ruth. Thank you, Governor Dean. Thank you so much to my dear friend, Sarah Carpenter, and of course to my son, Adam. And as well to the speech that he just gave was a group effort by my other son, Adam, Andrew, and our daughter, Caroline, who are all here with us today. And of course my husband as well. Thank you for being here. So my dear community members, fellow Burlingtonians, family, and friends, thank you all so much for taking the time out of your busy day to be here with us this afternoon. Where we stand today is the center of our town with businesses, shops, restaurants that cover our downtown, connecting us to the waterfront, our wonderful colleges, the vibrant communities and the neighborhoods across our great city. When we see the Green Mountains and we see our beloved lake, that's when we really know that we're home. Burlington has always been my home. I was born here at the Mary Fletcher Hospital, what is today the University of Vermont Medical Center. For those who have been here for a while, we still refer to it as the Mary Fletcher Hospital. My mother, who I am so happy to say is here with us today, sitting right over here, was also born here, as was my grandmother before her. My great-grandparents immigrated to Burlington to escape the Russian programs. My great-grandparents settled in Burlington in what became known as Little Jerusalem, a small, close-knit community in the heart of the Old North End. When I was a little kid, my father served on what was then the Board of Aldermen, what is today our city council. And my father would come home on Monday evenings from work, have dinner with us, and then disappear after dinner. And when I asked him where he was going, he would always say, I'm going to do my part for Burlington. My father passed away a year and a half ago. I proudly stand in front of you today, a joyful recipient of my parents' enduring legacy, with a decade and a half of public service behind me. As the current city council president, it is with a humble heart that I today announce my candidacy for Mayor of Burlington. So let's get to the chase. Here's why I'm running, and here's why I'm running now. Amidst much that we have to be proud of in our amazing city, we are faced with serious challenges. And serious challenges call for serious solutions. At a recent city council meeting, I introduced a resolution proclaiming the drug crisis to be our top public safety and public health priority. And that evening, I said, we all want those suffering from substance use disorder to get well and to be safe. My record on harm reduction is unequivocal, having written not one but two resolutions on the issue of public health and my broad support for public health. We also want our greater community to be safe. And right now, we know that many of the people who live in our city do not feel that sense of safety. We are witnessing an unprecedented increase in crime. Every day, I hear from families who are weathering the psychological erosion that comes from feeling unsafe in one's home and neighborhood. Businesses are feeling the economic impacts, which are alarming. It is well understood that if the public behavior we are seeing today is allowed to continue, it will become the norm. And that is quite simply unacceptable. So I am running for mayor to change that. I am running for mayor to ensure that what we see in our city is consistent with our values as a community. I am running for mayor because Burlington deserves a mayor who has a track record of saying what she will do and then doing it. I will be that mayor. I am the only candidate with the professional experience that truly a mayor must have, as well as the political acumen to hit the ground running with a plan that is bold, actionable, and effective. And a plan that galvanizes our whole community to action because after all, we have to do this together. I have a track record of bridging divides, not in words, but in actions. As city council president, I inherited a city council that was fraught with contentiousness. And today, I have cultivated working relationships and real genuine esteem for each of my colleagues across the political spectrum. We are united in our sincere love of this city. We have respect for the democratic process and our dedication to the offices we hold. I know that I can bring that same integrity to the office of mayor. That's because that's what our city values and that's what our city deserves, a government with integrity, a government that does the good, hard work of collaboration and make no mistake, collaboration is extremely hard work to find common ground with those you disagree with, to painstakingly cultivate trust by listening and delivering time and again. The solution that emerges from the hard work of collaboration will always be stronger than any one person's opinion, even my own. Tackling our challenges will require new and visionary solutions, many solutions, which will only emerge if we hear from each and every voice across the city. This will take relationships at all levels of government, private industry and within our community. Burlington deserves a mayor who can make that collaboration happen. I am that mayor. I have never been more optimistic that we can overcome our challenges than I am in this very moment. I know it. I feel it in my heart, I feel it in my being and I am fired up and ready to take on all of our challenges at this pivotal time in our city's history. My parents raised me to never run from who I am, to claim it, to celebrate it. Burlington is who I am. Burlington is my home, my family. And whether you've been here for four months, for years or for generations, as your mayor, as your first woman mayor, I will go to bathe for you every day. On that you have my word. Because this is our time. The future of our amazing city is in our hands. I ask you to please be part of this moment. Please join me in this journey. There is room for everyone under this big tent. Together, there is nothing we can't do. No problem we can't solve. Nothing we can't overcome. If we can see it, imagine it, we can make it happen. And we have a moment to spare. This is our time. This is our moment. Let's get it done. I feel now that you've announced your candidacy for mayor. It feels good. It feels good. I feel, as I said in my speech, I'm fired up, I'm ready to go. And I'm excited for the future and excited to be able to lead the city, hopefully to be leading the city during our most, what may very well be one of the most pivotal times in our city's history. And you said, you know, it's basically time to let this behavior, to have this behavior stop, the bad behavior downtown. You know, is that a message for public safety during face public safety down here? Well, I think it's a message for public safety. I mean, people are, I hear this from people every day, who are, you know, who want to be able to walk downtown and be able to see a community that's consistent with their values. And I don't think that I have not spoken with one person who doesn't support harm reduction, that doesn't support helping people that are suffering with substance use disorder. I think what most people are saying is that yes, they want, they want for everyone to be safe. They want everyone in the city to be safe. And that is going to take a concerted effort. But I think that there is a way to address it. And as I said in, as I said in the comments, it's not, it is something that goes beyond what any one person, any one group can do. But I think together we can address this. What specific policies would you be introducing to, either in the public safety realm or, I mean, that's what we talked about a lot today. So maybe start there. Yeah, I mean, I think what, what the plan that I will be coming forward with is one that is, the way that we can approach this, this challenge is not all at one time. We, there are going to be some shorter term solutions. There are going to be longer term solutions. And you know, I think a lot of what we have to look forward to over the next three to five years is really exciting and will help us in being able to, you know, in being able to address the crisis long term. So I do not see this as an insurmountable issue. I see it as something that if we can work together, we can address. And I've seen that with other things that, you know, when I first became council president, we were, we're very, it was a very contentious council. We had gone through three years of COVID. We had wrestled with a lot of very difficult issues. And I tried even from the very beginning to get us all in a place where there was, there was an environment for, for mutual understanding and for respect for one another. And I have, as I said, I, I, what I said today was not something to just, it was not an election catchphrase. I, I really do value and admire the diversity of opinions on the council. And I like each of my colleagues as, as, as people. And I try to, I try to reflect that in the way that I, in the way that I interact with them. What do you expect to face in the democratic process? And how do you plan to sort of distinguish yourself in the field in that, in that first step? Well, I don't, I don't know the answer to that because I don't know what the democratic field will look like. All I know is that I will approach this race as I have approached every race that I have run. And that is, I'm a positive person. I'm going to talk about the things that I've done. I'm going to talk about the record that I have. And it's going to be issues based. And, you know, that's the only way I really know how to run. And that's what I'm going to do. How, if you are elected mayor, how would you govern differently than Mayor Whiteburner? Well, you know, I think what, you know, I think the important thing for me, at least in the question that you're asking me, is really my, what I feel is my ability to lead. And that has been shown, as I say, as I said, not in words, but in actions, you know, taking a city council that was really contentious on when people really weren't really talking with each other. And, you know, I've said it, I said it one time at the council retreat that we had. And I actually forgot that it had been captured on camera, but I said at the time, I said, you know, you're all, you're all really good people. I know each one of you, you are caring good people. Let's figure it out. And what has happened since that time is that, and you certainly know, is that we have council meetings that when I start public forum, I say that what we are, before I talk, when we talk about the rules of public forum, and I say, I speak on everyone's behalf. Well, that was everyone saying to me, Karen, we're with you. And I think that says a lot about how we work together as a council. Of course, we're never going to agree all the time on everything, but there's a level of respect that we walk out of the room when we're still friends. That's a good question. Can I get back to you on that? Can I get through tonight? I will, I will have to come up with that, won't I? Yes. You're welcome also to come down and tell me to be an adult. I mean, you know, I think it's just being in the community, but certainly there will be, I will need many more opportunities to connect with voters. And to be honest with you, as far as I'm concerned, that's the best part. I'm a bit of a door-to-door warrior. I actually love that, even when it's cold. And to me, that's the best part of it. I mean, I grew up here, I love this city, and I'm always amazed at the number of people that, you know, I don't know. As many people as I do know, there's plenty that I don't know. And that's why I was saying in my speech, is that whether you've lived here, you know, four months, four years, or in my case, four generations, this is your home. And I'm excited to get to know the voters, particularly the ones that I don't know, but certainly connect with the ones that I do know and see what else is out there. So that's... Thank you.