 Welcome to our next candidate forum tonight for Channel 17's Town Meeting Television. We're very lucky tonight to have representatives from South Burlington. I'd like to introduce Anne Pugh and Made of Townsend. They are running unopposed in their districts and they're here to just remind everyone why they are running. And we'll get into a nice discussion about some of the issues that are affecting South Burlington, especially from a state level. There is a number you can call anyone out there that's watching right now. It's the 862-3966 and we'd love to get a question from someone. But I'll start off. Let me start with Anne. Let's see. Why don't you do remind your constituents why you're running and the things that you are important to you. Thank you. And I really want to start first to say thank you to Channel 17 for hosting this. This is the 14th time that I have come before this camera and I think this is a very incredibly important function that Channel 17 does in terms of bringing candidates to the public and asking us these questions. So thank you. And I want to thank the voters of South Burlington who have given me the best job I could ever ask for. It is a huge honor and privilege to represent you and I've been representing you since 1993. This is the first time that I am running without an opponent and I appreciate that. It doesn't mean that I'm not coming to your home and thank you for welcoming me into your home and sharing your joys, your ideas and your concerns about how to make South Burlington and how to make Vermont more welcoming and to be the state that we all know and love. And I'm running, as I have always run, to build on Vermont's strengths. Vermont has a lot to offer. We are a wonderful state. We have an incredible workforce. We have an incredible waterways and natural environment and we are, for the most part, a welcoming community and I'm running to make sure that every Vermonter has a solid chance to become the person that they want and to live and play in Vermont. Thank you. Mayda, this is your chance. Yes. Well, thank you very much. I am running for my fourth term to the House, representing the generally known as the airport district of South Burlington. I feel very intensely my relationship with and my responsibility to my constituents and I believe I still have a great deal of energy to provide to them in terms of my experience now over the last six years, the last two of which I was chair of my committee, Government Operations in the House, my work ethic, which my folks know is pretty much nonstop, and my fairly highly intense level of constituent outreach and service. I would deeply want to continue that on behalf of my people, my constituents. The other reason that I'm running is that in service, in House Government Operations, the committee on which I've served all six years and hope to serve these next two years again, I'm all about transparency and accountability in government and I know a ton more about all of that with all the ins and outs and the different layers and all of that, having given the six years so far immersed in matters related to transparency and accountability in state government and I believe I have something to offer. Let's start there a little bit, maybe if I can get you to expand a little bit and I want you to answer this as well too. Let's talk about that government effectiveness and transparency. Now that you both have been in the system for a while, what do you see are the things that we can do to make things more effective or more transparent? How do you see that? Can I ask you a question? What is ineffective? What is not working from your... The question assumes that there is a problem. So what is the problem? I would say that generally people feel like there's a general kind of... and it may be wrong, but that things are not as efficient, you know, monetarily or financially or communication and those types of things that they feel like they're not as quite connected to their state government and maybe that they're not connected, maybe they're on fault, but that's one of the reasons why I think that getting that out on the table is a good thing. So since you've clarified, and I happen to be the co-chair of the Government Accountability Committee, which is separate from the House Government Operations Committee, personally, when I want to check in on... let's make darn sure as to how well we're doing or not, I look at the data. First of all, I go online and for all of the departments and agencies in state government, you can find for most of them, if not all at this point, they have a so-called report card right there on their website and it's framed in terms of results-based accountability answering three questions. What are we doing? How well are we doing it? And has it made any difference in anybody's life? And the departments and agencies are responsible for posting and keeping up to date that report card. The other place I look for data is on the state's website that's entitled spotlight.vermont.gov spotlight.vermont.gov and there you can find the annual performance reports which are focused on the 10 state outcomes that are written into statute that we are supposed to be targeting everything toward. For instance, the very first state outcomes is Vermont has a prosperous economy. Second one is Vermonters are healthy. They're big issues that are pretty much motherhood and apple pie kinds of things. And there are indicators for each of these outcomes. For instance, just a couple for the outcome that Vermont has a prosperous economy. There is the number of children and adults there is the percentage of children living at or below excuse me, at or above 200% of the federal poverty level. Things like this. And there is a narrative and there are a series of charts showing over time, over the years whether we're going like this or whether we're going... It's all right there. Now being involved with the Government Accountability Committee the mantra of which is you cannot improve something if you cannot measure it and you cannot measure it if you don't have data. So we push, push, push for the data in House Government Operations it has become perhaps annoying to witnesses. Sooner or later we're always asking so what's the data that backs up what you want us to do for you data, data, data. The other data that I personally do to get a sense of how we are doing in terms of State Government I talk to my people I talk to my constituents because as you have inferred the... sometimes perception can be... not sometimes, most often perception becomes reality at least as one goes through one's daily toil. So I talk to my folks and I get a sense of where they're coming from and the opportunity that if there is mistaken information gives me the opportunity to say but it's this here's the real story. So what's your experience and part of this is how do we answer the person out there that says I think Government is too big or I just don't feel like it's serving me I... you ask lots of questions and I feel like I should... I feel like I should preface this by saying A, I'm a social worker and B I'm a college professor at this point in time and so I listen and I ask questions I try to find it what do you mean it's too big? Tell me okay what part is too big what do you think we shouldn't be doing and who should be doing it and because blanket statements like that are hard to respond to and on some level I mean I ask you the question what do you mean by Government not being effective and some of that is it's not effective because you're not addressing my problems or you're not addressing my priorities or the way I mean I think all Vermonters want want Vermont to be prosperous want Vermont to be welcoming want our waters to be clean want our economy to be strong want everyone to succeed we have different ideas on how to get there and so it takes too long it takes way too long why just do it well my idea and your idea about how to make the economy stronger may have a similar thread but may be all different and away from my perspective that makes that continues to make our Government work is one forums like this two a real free press and three Government outreach for which Mada is the poster child she goes around to her district at least three door to door three times a year election year, off election years she goes out there but in terms of she calls it our people but in terms of Vermonters participating voting sharing what's not working that is how we can be more effective we're not going to be effective if we only hear one voice you're both so passionate I feel great about that let's talk about a specific issue like the opioid crisis specifically we know in our county that it's an issue and it's affecting people right across the economic strata and all different types of families from a state level how can you work with the state to help the statewide problem as well as the things that are happening in south Burlington and if I could it's most appropriate for Ann to start because she's the chair of human services this is her bailiwick thank you and NCSL's national council and state legislators I'm an opioid fellow and I have I asked the right question and I have had the distinct privilege of speaking at a national conference because Vermont is actually a leader in addressing this issue and so I got to not speak about me but speak about what Vermont is doing I want to say I want to go back to Governor Shumlin who in his state of the state address said this is a problem he focused only on that and he said this is a public health problem and that began to change the conversation and that was very important we have what the state does is the state on some level provides resources money and people and they've set up a structure and are what is in the vernacular known as hub and spoke which is well the while there is disagreement the most evidence based treatment for opioid addiction is medication assisted treatment also known as MAT and Vermont's model of delivering it which is having a clinic a methadone clinic which is more than just giving the medication but also the therapy and the case management and the social supports for housing or job training or whatever and it now dispersed across the state so I can say in Chittenden County I just heard from the Howard Center that there is not a waiting list to get into the hub and then when and then there are an increasing number of physicians who are able to prescribe buprenorphine which is another of the medications in their and they have social workers and case aides and nurses to assist with the other aspects that's a national model and the fact that we have that across the state in their pockets their areas where we need it more and Bennington is getting some soon and things like that so on that level the hospital UVM MC momentarily going to be able to provide when someone comes in if they have overdosed in the emergency room to be able to provide them with not only the Narcan the reversal but also when they leave to provide them with buprenorphine in their hand as well as an appointment so you know those kinds of things are really important what state legislation did was we set the stage for limits on prescribing because at one point in time and this has you know there's lots of reasons the federal government and others but if there was pain we prescribed opiates lots of opiates and more than what was perhaps needed and so what state law does is state law you know what we have done in Vermont is we set the parameters for the Department of Health to work with physicians and the medical society to to adopt appropriate guidance around prescribing we can work with insurance companies to say hey you know why don't you start reimbursing for non-pharmacological responses to pain we've done studies to show that things like acupuncture does work so talking about being effective Medicaid did something yes there is it can work those are all things we're closing the barn door after the horse has left and what we now need to do is one continue to sort of look at what's working and then how is that how is the implementation going out but okay what is the barn need why is there why is this continuing to happen and what we are learning is that it has to do a lot with feeling of hopelessness and helplessness and a lack of connection to people around them or a lack of connection in the community and so some of what we can do is start to do that kind of work so that there is not as much of a take up and for instance I want to give me a chance sorry okay so I'll stop right there I'm sorry but Anne is the expert on this topic I would only add in that another way in which the state has been helping to address these issues is that we provide a modicum of financial support to entities such as the turning point we have one here in Chittenden County and I believe there are 16 of them dotting the state and the state does give some support not as much as we would like but it's what we can do just not to keep going on it too long but so from a regulation standpoint is the state working on implementing rules and regulations to limit we have limits you mean with regard to the prescriptions or treatment or any of those things so you're feeling good about where they're going with that direction feeling good and to circle back to your question about effectiveness just because something's working now doesn't mean it will work in two years so part of our job as legislators is to ask questions and part of the community's job and the provider's job is to provide us with information and let us know when this is no longer working we need to do something different and I'll just and part of that goes back to made this whole idea about achieving those goals and the direction maybe the goals have to be changed at this point to grab data and being willing to try new things being willing to look outside of our borders to other states and other countries what are they doing that's working are we at a place where we can try those things or not you ask about the opiate crisis and on some level what is as much of a crisis as if not more is fentanyl and that's a whole and at one point in time it was like let's get strips out to everyone so they can test so they can test if there's fentanyl someone said to me a bit sarcastically but not really give out strips because 90% of the heroin now is laced with fentanyl so what we need to be doing is not spending money on providing strips but rather doing education on like if you're going to be doing this be prepared and then how do you not I think we could go on a long time if I could another piece which we don't want to leave out here is kind of old fashioned the importance at the family level community level for people to talk to one another to reach out to one another to never close off a conversation to not be afraid of opening a conversation and certainly in the schools there's a lot of work done with the youngsters in school at lots of ages not just the high school that piece cannot be forgotten going right back to parents really not being afraid to talk about these kinds of things with their kids also to not leave medications in the medicine cabinet where people can think oh if grandma can take it it must be okay for me to take it because that has been part of this bigger picture and something as simple as taking medications once one is done with it any extra going to one's local police department put it in there it's destroyed and in libraries now too that's great well let's talk a little bit I think this topic by the way I think is worthy of its own form at some point that I think that gathering people like yourself to come out and be and communicate on what's going on I think that's very important maybe I want to ask because we're getting close to where our time is going to run out yet what are the big issues or the issues that you want to really focus on in this next legislative session and beyond that you think you're going to put your energies to at this point well it goes back to what I said at the beginning the transparency and accountability piece as it relates to state government I already know that we're going to be looking at campaign finance the whole question of corporate money in politics do we want to move to an honest to goodness full blown public financing of campaigns is that the only way because there is a school of thought and we're doing some research with some other states that think they've passed legislation to successfully remove corporate money from the process but then it just goes into dark money and that doesn't cure a thing so maybe public a real public financing system is the route to go but this is going to take a lot of study a lot of discussion with witnesses and all of that but that's one piece another piece which was brought to our attention at the very end of the last session was the matter of oversight for our sheriffs there's mystery surrounding mystery as to how some things are done who's accountable to whom we're not trying to cause anyone to have heartburn but it's part of our responsibility public safety all of the law enforcement issues are part of our responsibility and if we don't do the broad look then we're not doing what we should there's also the matter of the sheriffs because the list gets longer once we're in session but there will be a miscellaneous elections bill because all of the elections law is within our purview also some tweaking of things that could perhaps stand to make things a little more efficient straight forward there's there's also the matter of trying to we need to look back at the beginning of the session at our vital records we discovered vital records looks at the birth and death records and the major focus of the work we did during this last biennium was to close the door such that people from a mountaintop somewhere could not get their hands on our birth and death records which they could it was totally open door which we thought was outrageous so we did a lot of work on that and part of closing the door was establishing the statewide registration system computerizing and setting the rules as to are the only people who can have access etc etc so the system was supposed to be up and running for the beginning of July this year and we got the word might have even been during the special session that it wasn't ready which created a very unhappy situation and one of the first things people on notice put people on notice that when we go back in January they're going to be invited in and they're going to have to explain themselves what went wrong and how is it being fixed because we extended the date for the statewide registration system to this coming July but maybe it can be ready sooner than that so we have to revisit that also questions that need to be revisited with regard to the ethics bill that we passed last session one of the pieces of that statute is that people running for office are expected to disclose certain pieces of financial information well this person was not terribly happy when she heard that some persons wanting to run for office didn't think it applied to them because and why not just continue to think it doesn't apply to a person if there are no consequences because built into the law brand new law brand new concepts and all we had not put any consequences so we need to have there are some of us who believe at least we need to have a conversation about consequences I will confess that my knee jerk reaction well if you can't go along with the law as stated that candidates need to provide x y and z financial disclosure if you're not willing to do that well then your name is not on the ballot I have no idea if that's constitutional or not we'll find out or barring that can there be a little fine I don't know if that's constitutional but you see the fact that some people the vast majority followed the law and our thinking was not to put consequences in because people would be law abiding but that some people thumb their noses at the law we cannot just turn a blind eye on that and do you have things you want to focus on this coming session I have been chair of the house human services committee and I want to say that it's big I want to say so what I want to what I believe that we will continue to focus on is how to invest in people how to shore up people how to remove any barriers so that every single Vermont or whether they're over 65 whether they're a person with disability whether they're a child whether they're you know a person living or family living in poverty that whatever barriers that we are able to to address or remove so that they can succeed because I believe that improving our economy means investing in people so the let's just follow through with that so from an economic standpoint to help the economy and the state to make it more prosperous because there's all these predictions that if people are living in poverty right if people aren't able to get out of their house because of barriers we won't buy things and there are jobs that are not being left unfilled because people don't have the training we have a phone do we have a phone call I mean you know there are jobs that are unfilled because and we have people who want to do them we have young people who want to come here or young people who want to stay in young families who are not going to be able or say a barrier to them staying is not having access to childcare or not having access to paid family leave if we are going to support the economy we need to support families because workers are members of families and when I'm at my job I do my job but when my family is in disarray I'm not going to be doing my job as well as I could and if I need to leave my job for a bit of time to take care of my sister, my mother, my father my new child my new baby how can I do it in a way that I can then return to the workforce we have we can guess just a few more seconds Mita do you want to finish off by just you know with anything you'd like to make sure you didn't get a chance to say well it has it does not pertain directly to my committee I would want to call everyone's attention to two reports that came out this week well one is was one of the Nobel awards in economy and the key message from the gentleman at Yale whose work was honored linked climate and economy and if economic development he said if economic development is thriving that's liable to be hurting the climate because of all the fossil fuels and all of that being used up as you know economics are however he also said if the climate is not cared for if climate change is not addressed then that's bad for economic development there's also the fact that there was the report from the UN this week the Intergovernmental Committee on Climate Change they pointed out we've got to do something around the world fast because the goal is to cap the greenhouse gas warming at 1.5 degrees celsius we have already gotten 1 degree celsius one half of the degree is left to get to that cap and circling back to government effectiveness across the world someone did the top 100 things you can do one is educating women and the other is family planning and those are in the top 10 to deal with climate change I want to thank you both not only do I feel confident about South Burlington and their representatives but I feel better you've educated me quite a bit here tonight as well we have to wrap it up unfortunately I wish we could keep going but folks thank you for tuning in tonight and you can find us on the internet and we'll see you again at channel 17 town meeting television thank you ladies