 Young Meaning Television invited all 13 candidates in the Democratic Primary for Chittin State Senate to answer from a series of questions. Let us introduce you to the candidates. Hello. My name is Adam Roof and I'm running for Vermont State Senate. Hi. My name is Chris Pearson. I'm one of the Chittin County Senators and I'm running for re-election hoping to have a third term in the Senate. My name is David Cher. I'm running for Chittin County State Senate. Greetings. My name is Erhard Montgaughn. I'm running for Chittin County Senate. Hello. My name is June Heston and I'm running for Chittin County State Senate. Hi. I'm Keisha Rahm and I am running for State Senate for Chittin County in the August 11th Democratic Primary. I'm Lewis Myers and I'm a Democratic candidate for the State Senate in Chittin County. I live in South Burlington and I'm a physician. Hey everyone. This is Phil Baruth. I'm one of your Chittin County State Senators and I'm running for re-election. Hi. I'm Thomas Chittenden and I'm running for Vermont State Senate. Hi. I'm Danny Lyons running for re-election to represent the people and towns of Chittin County and the Vermont Senate. So today I want to use our short time together to share some of what I believe qualifies me to serve you in the Vermont State Senate. I also want to talk a little bit about the priorities that the campaign has set and share what I think would be different for you if I'm lucky enough to earn your support on the ballot. When I make decisions about who I'm going to vote for, I like to look for their track record and I ask that you consider my track record both as an elected official at the local level, also as a nonprofit leader and as a small local business owner as well. First I want to start off by saying I've been a long time advocate for environmental sustainability in our communities. I've led policy discussions to fund sustainable transportation systems and expanded green transportation, including bike lanes and walking routes. I also helped launch Vermont's first electric buses. I've helped pass a $30 million bond to protect our Lake Champlain and local watershed surrounding her from contaminated stone water and wastewater runoff as well. I've expanded local sustainability efforts through home weatherization initiatives and increasing energy efficiency standards in our buildings. I'm also proud to have a track record for you to consider on economic development and frankly taking your tax dollars seriously, which is important now more than ever with the economic fallout of this pandemic. I've had a hand in helping balance multiple hundred plus million dollar public budgets, prioritizing and ensuring efficient spending and effective services without unnecessary tax increases. My nonprofit work has been focused for a long time on new job growth and progressive economic development, specifically focused on small businesses and workers who have historically been left behind by those sorts of, by that sort of support funding. I have to move on here quickly, but I also ask that you consider my track record on justice reform. I've chaired the Burlington Public Safety Committee of the City Council, where I led reform efforts and this time last year established the special committee on police and policy reform. I've also been an advocate for and secured funding for improving the processes for expungement, for nonviolent drug crimes, for Vermonters and also introduced policy to employ what I call community ambassadors and to increase the work of social workers on the streets as alternatives to patrolling policemen. If elected, my priorities will in many ways be in line with my track record, but also be informed by the thousands of phone calls and conversations that I've had throughout this campaign over the last several months. Some of those priorities, certainly Vermont needs to be the national leader in economic, excuse me, environmental action by investing in our green economy, investing in green trade work, excuse me, and protecting access to clean air and clean water, essential for not just the neighborhoods that we live in, but also for our local agriculture. We need to prioritize investments in our public schools and ensure that the most dollars possible are getting directly to our teachers and in the classrooms and also being very focused as part of our education pipeline, being very cognizant and focused on new job training, especially in the trades. I come from a family of tradespeople. I'm the first to go to college and not enter the trades work. I know from experience that it is a fulfilling and fruitful profession to get into the trades. It should be considered a legitimate alternative to the four-year degree, which too often saddles people with unwielding debt. We need to drive forward on criminal justice reform from our policing to our prisons and everything in between, including how we prosecute and thought deeply about to ensure that we have equitable justice under the law for all. I would champion expedient and equitable economic recovery certainly for our small businesses, but also their workers by creating a Vermont small business recovery council and establishing and growing a small business and workforce recovery fund to help those who have been disproportionately impacted. Anyone that keeps up with the Burlington City Council, which I served on for five years or even just knows a little bit about it, knows that it's not a glamorous position. In order to do right by our constituents, you can't be passive. You must be active. And I think that's what I learned most from serving at the local level, needing to get your hands in the dirt to get outcomes for people in your neighbors. You have to be an active public servant. And I think being a public servant and not a politician is more important than ever. And I think that's what Vermonters are looking for here, not just in this election, but in others as well. Over the last several months, I've made personally close to 2000 phone calls. My team has made thousands more. And what we've heard time and time again is that folks do not feel connected to their elected representatives. And my pledge to you is that I will strive to be the most active and engaged public servant I can be. Together, I believe we can completely reinvent and reimagine what constituent services here in Vermont. And that's why I'm promising to open and planning on opening a what I'm calling a constituent service portal on my website, which will allow people to get direct access to me through the website. I'll make my public my number, my direct phone number publicly accessible, something I've done for a long time when I was elected at the local level. And also I want to employ new and innovative technologies that help us track all the things that I'm doing as a public servant and in line with my constituent service requests. I think that if we have a tool that's transparent that people can go to, similar to a C-click fix, if any of you out there know that tool, we should have a C-click fix for public servants to see what they're working on and how often and effectively they're following up with constituent service requests. I think if we're able to do that, then we would have an easy and reliable way for folks to get useful answers on all things government and community. And I think that is one thing that we can do much better here in the state. And in line with that, lastly, I'll close with a commitment to you all, the viewers of Channel 17, that if elected, if I'm lucky enough to get elected, I will come here every month and hopefully be able to do this live, but do a monthly live program to share updates but to also hear directly from you and to listen to members of the community on the issues that matter most to them. I'm hopeful that we'll be able to do that together. So thank you again for your interest in this election. And if you lend me your support, I would be truly honored and grateful for the opportunity to serve you. Thanks so much. I'm one of the Chittin County Senators and I'm running for re-election, hoping to have a third term in the Senate. For that, I serve for eight years in the House. I have a 100% pro-choice voting record, 100% pro-climate, and 100% pro-labor voting record. So that gives me, it gives you a little indication of what I've been about from people who watch the legislature closely. I'm going to start off with the question about priorities. What are your priorities for the next biennium? What is the most important piece of legislation for Vermont in the next two years and why? Well, legislators don't have to only pick one bill, and thank goodness because we have a host of challenges ahead. But if I could only pick one thing, I would say it's rebuilding our economy in a sustainable way that promotes green jobs. We have got to address climate change and we've got to stabilize our economy for so many working families that are close to the edge living paycheck to paycheck. And that has never been more apparent than now that we're dealing with the COVID pandemic. We need fair wages. We need to rebuild infrastructure in a climate-friendly way, whether that's broadband, sustainable transportation options, bike and pedestrian options, on and on and on. We have a lot of work to do. We need good paying jobs and we have got to get our people back to work and we've got to enhance our climate response. The question about impact, what will be different for the people of your district or the state as a whole because you've been elected to this position, to the state senate? I think this is a great question. This is central about why we run elections so that candidates can come forward and say, this is what I stand for and voters can pick people that match their priorities. So what will be different? What will what do I stand for? My history in Montpelier is about stretching the debate, stretching the kinds of conversations we can have. In many cases, pushing my colleagues to answer questions they'd rather avoid. We do that very well. Put questions on the table, force hard conversations. That's what I try to do, whether it's about climate, whether it's pushing when we were debating the $10 and $10 minimum wage. I put a $15 minimum wage bill on the table. We have just got to deal with these ongoing challenges, whether it's climate change, income inequality, low wages, on and on and on. So hopefully my impact will be pushing hard questions on the legislature and forcing people to come up with solutions. There's a question here about agriculture. What is the future for agriculture in Vermont? What legislative action is required? This is another great question. I serve as the vice chair of the Senate Ag Committee and I have found that to be a fascinating assignment. I've been learning a lot and I am more convinced than ever that a robust rural economy for Vermont depends on a strong ag sector. We depend on ag to keep our land open, to keep our land a working landscape, and to keep our robust economy moving. But there is no question that our ag economy has suffered. We have too much concentration on dairy. We are more than any other state dependent on a single commodity. At the same time, we have dairy farmers who are aging out and looking to pass along the farm. And many cases, the younger generation of that family doesn't want to take on a dairy operation. That's very different than our past. Fortunately, we also have young people getting into farming who want to bring forward a regenerative animal and vegetable practice. And so we've got to do a better job of matching the people that are retiring and trying to get out with people who are looking for the opportunity. When it comes to agriculture, one of the exciting things that I've been learning about and hope to keep working on is the opportunity for a robust ag economy to correspond to strong, smart climate responses. What does that mean? So if we have regenerative practices that build healthy soil on our open lands, that does a few things. One, immediately it sequesters carbon. That helps us reduce our emissions. That's fantastic. Secondly, it builds soil in a way that means your crop production goes up. And it stores runoff. It means that we're more resilient for floods and we're seeing more rain. On average, about seven inches more rain in Vermont per year. This is one of the impacts of climate change. That's why we got to get aggressive. So if we do a good job connecting regenerative ag to our economy and to our potential for our priorities for solving climate crisis, we have the chance to have a strong rural economy that is forward-looking and will honor the traditions in Vermont and really uphold the values that we have, keep our land working, keep us as a desirable destination for recreators, for tourists. There's so many opportunities that seem to intersect when we look at Vermont agriculture. It's very exciting. So that's a quick rundown from me. I appreciate CCTV giving us its opportunity. I'm Chris Pearson and I would be grateful to have your support. Thank you. I'm running for Chittenden County State Senate in my campaign centers on three priorities. One is criminal justice reform. Two is affordability in Chittenden County. And three is making sure that we as a state invest in economic recovery as we emerge from a difficult time. With respect to criminal justice reform, we need to make sure that we have a criminal system that addresses the underlying reasons why people get involved in that system in the first place, including poverty, mental health issues, and substance use disorder. With criminal justice reform, we also need to make sure that we're addressing the significant racial disparities that we see in Vermont's prisons. With respect to affordability in Chittenden County, we have an extremely expensive county to live in with a high percentage of our homeowners and renters considered cost burdened according to common metrics. And with respect to economic recovery, we need to resist the urge to go to an austerity sort of governments just because the times are difficult. To the contrary, we need to invest in our small businesses, our schools, and our families in child care in order to make sure that we emerge from this crisis as quickly as we can and with the most robust recovery that we can create. I'm a lifelong Vermonter who spent years working as a public defender here in Chittenden County and all over Vermont serving people in the most difficult circumstances. In recent years, I've served as an assistant attorney general working to reform our criminal justice system to make sure it's actually addressing the underlying reasons why people get involved in the system and in doing so keeping us all safe. I believe that in a time like this, when we are entering a challenging economic situation, we need this kind of experience more than ever, experience working with the most vulnerable Vermonters, experience working with people who need government to work for them. And we need people like that serving in our legislature in order to find the solutions that we need to the challenges we face in Chittenden County and around Vermont. Ultimately, a lot of criminal justice reform work at bottom is anti-poverty work. And I understand that the latter opportunity, the bridge out of the most challenging circumstances comes down to economic justice and economic opportunity. And I've worked on the affordability issues that are such a big part of that. I've served on the Chittenden County Regional Planning Commission and I've served on the Vermont Community Development Board. And in those roles, I have gained real expertise on the policy challenges that face us with respect to housing affordability in the county. I'm the grandson and great grandson of immigrants to this nation whose lives were saved by their ability to come to America. I couldn't stand more strongly against the Trump immigration policies. I believe they're cruel and I believe they're against the spirit and history of this nation. As Vermonters, we need to do everything we can to welcome immigrants to this state. We need to support immigrant families with kids in school and make sure that schools are making them a part of the school community. We need to make sure that public services are available to and are easily accessible to all immigrant families regardless of any language barriers or anything that might stand in the way of their participation. And we also need to make sure that law enforcement in Vermont never becomes a de facto branch of federal immigration authorities. We need to make sure that our public safety system is available to keep everybody in Vermont safe regardless of their immigration status. Here in Vermont, we have one of the most disparate rates of incarceration for black people in the nation. This is unacceptable and we need to do better. Leaders of color here in Vermont have already done extraordinary work to address this issue including setting up a racial disparities panel to address disparities in the criminal and juvenile justice systems, passing an ethnic studies bill to expand Vermont's curriculum to be more inclusive and collecting police data to make sure that we understand what's really happening in policing in Vermont. I've been proud to support some of this work and my role as an assistant attorney general but I know that we need to do more. One area that we really need to work on is increasing the scrutiny on the lawyers in the criminal system including prosecutors, defense attorneys, and judges. We need to understand more about how these disparities are arising and we can only do that by scrutinizing and collecting data about what's happening in the courtrooms and in the decision making rooms in terms of the legal system. And finally, we need to shrink the footprint of law enforcement and increase community supports. A lot of the issues that police are called on to deal with are not really law enforcement issues. They are issues of mental health, substance use disorder, and we need to make sure that we have professionals responding to those issues who are expert in them and you can provide the services that those individuals need. One of the biggest impacts of the COVID-19 crisis has been the impact on child care and on families. Early educators have done an amazing job of caring for the children of our essential workers and we need to make sure that we do whatever we can to support them. We need to have stronger and better state support for the child care industry. We need to end a system that's propped up by enormously high costs for parents and incredibly low pay for early educators. We need to make sure that early educators have access to healthcare and we need to make sure that the child care industry has the resources to reopen safely. We need to make sure that they're able to weather this crisis so that parents and children have a good child care system to come back to. The question is impact. What will be different for the people of your district or the state as a whole because you have been elected to this position? I'm very proud of my record as a state representative. Since winning election in 2016, I've tried to be someone who is available to my constituents. That's my number one priority. In Essex Junction, we have two state reps, so I share the district. I've worked collaboratively with my seatmate, Laurie Houghton, and we've held literally hundreds of forums and opportunities to connect with us. We've done this more recently with our colleagues from other parties because we think it's important for folks to be able to access their government. And you know what we found? Is that not only when we first ran for reelection in 2018, but also throughout the COVID crisis, we found that our constituents, our neighbors, really appreciated having access to their elected leaders. That's what I try to bring to the table. And I think in this particular position as a state senator, I want to see more of that, more opportunities to me, more opportunities to connect, forums on issues, and ways that we can actually share ideas. Because it's not just about my voice at the state house, it's about lifting up all of your voices as constituents and neighbors in the community. The question is qualifications. What qualifies you to make those changes happen? Well, I'm someone who has a strong resume in serving in public leadership roles in the state already. I'm concluding my second term in the Vermont House of Representatives, where I've represented Chittenden 8-2 House District in Essex Junction. And in my community, I'm someone who's tried to work across lines to ensure that we have opportunities to meet with state reps, to meet with community members, and to ensure that we are bringing your voices to Montpelier. But it's also as someone who has a background such as mine. You see, I'm not someone who had a straight path to a career or to success. That wasn't me. I was a kid who struggled. I faced some trauma. I was truing from school a lot. I ended up dropping out at 16. And in those years that followed, I really struggled to find a way or a trade. I bring this up because it's so critical that we have people in Montpelier who have had those experiences, who have faced adversity, who knows what it's like to be down and out and to work alongside people who aren't making enough money to put food on the table or who are balancing competing needs. That is a special qualification that is unique to my candidacy. Not only have I lived it, but as an adult and as a state representative, I've tried to represent the values that I learn in those tough experiences. I believe that makes me a qualified candidate and I hope it will earn me your support for State Senate on August 11th. What are your priorities for the next biennium? What is the most important piece of legislation for Vermont in the next two years and why? Well, we all know that COVID-19 has caused incredible stress on our communities, on community members, on our small businesses, on Main Street. This is something that I'm very aware of and that I'm very concerned about. As a state representative, I've had to feel those calls having someone on the other end of the phone who can't get their unemployment insurance, who doesn't know what they're going to do for childcare or for school. These are things that impact Vermonters daily. The most important thing that we're going to be focused on is rebuilding our state from the aftermath of COVID-19. That means both addressing the current needs as the crisis continues and as we see escalating cases, which I expect we will in the coming year, but also it means reinventing, reshaping the Vermont that will be left. Because if there's one thing I know, it's that we can't shrink from this moment. We need bold transformational leaders. And I'm not talking talking points here, folks. I'm talking about people who are willing to see the moment for what it is. This is a historical moment. And we're going to have more federal money to provide stimulus, to provide investment in key areas. That means leveraging those dollars to invest now. For me, that means investing in critical care, our safety net, our healthcare system, but also in infrastructure. Things like broadband, because we've seen the digital divide play out where people can't access services because they can't get online. It means things like our schools. We have a higher education system that's been underfunded for three decades. It's time for Vermont to get serious and to provide supports. It also means things like childcare, essential needs, and really reevaluating what we do for low or moderate wage workers. Because so many of them have been on the front lines throughout this crisis. And I believe we now need to look at their compensation and figure out how we raise the minimum wage. These are the types of things I'm going to be thinking about. And through it all, I am here to bring the voices of neighbors and constituents to Montpelier to make sure you have a say in the future decisions. The question is budget. Given the mounting expense challenges Vermont faces, how would you approach balancing the Vermont state budget next year? COVID-19 has decimated our budget and our revenues are looking to be down about $400 million coming up here. That's a huge challenge for a small state. But here's my approach on budgeting. You see, in Vermont, we always balance our budget, but there's another thing we do in Vermont. We take care of one another. First and foremost, a budget is a values document. It's about what we support, what we prioritize, and who needs it the most. And in a crisis, in a global pandemic, I don't think it's a time for belt tightening. I don't think it's a time for austerity. I think it's a time to take care of one another. So when it comes to my approach on the budget, yeah, we need to look at what we're spending money on and prioritize things to ensure that people have what they need. But we also need to look at our revenue makeup. If revenues are down, it's a time to examine what we do and how we do it. And for too long, if you look at our tax expenditure report, we have been exempting corporate giveaways through our tax code. That's not how we should do it in Vermont. It's not going to solve everything. But taken in whole, here's my approach. You need to look at your values. You need to find the way to fund it. And in a crisis, no one in Vermont should be hurting for housing, food, or any of the necessities they need to stay safe and stay healthy. That's what I will prioritize in the coming budget session and as a state Senate leader, I hope to bring others with me to ensure that no one in Vermont is left behind. I want to start by thanking CCTV for this opportunity to tell you a little bit more about myself and why I'm running. And also I want to thank you for taking the time to listen and to learn more about me and my campaign. So again, my name is Erhard Manka. I have lived in Vermont for over 40 years. My wife, Sidney, and I raised two children here, now adults, living out of state, very successful, but unfortunately, living out of state like so many young Vermonters. We're also blessed to have two wonderful young grandchildren. I have dedicated almost 40 years of my professional life in public service. I've worked in municipal government for the city of Winooski. I've been a city counselor in Burlington, back in the Bernie Sanders, mayoral years I've worked in community development and for the last 20 plus years I've worked in affordable housing 20 years with the Vermont Affordable Housing Coalition where I've been an advocate during the winter at the State House. So I've learned firsthand how the legislative process works very experienced in that and I feel I can bring that experience and my broad background in a number of different policy areas to bear in this unique and trying time to help Vermont get beyond the pandemic and the economic devastation that it has caused. So, CCTV is asking us a bunch of really great questions. I'll try the first one. What will be different for the people of Chittenden County and the state as a whole if I'm elected to the Senate? Well, first off, I want to say that we've been blessed by great representation in the Senate from Chittenden County and I plan to carry on in that tradition. I plan to be a strong progressive and democratic voice in the Senate in the tradition of our junior Senator Bernie Sanders who has inspired me for many, many years ever since I was a city counselor in Burlington and served when Bernie was mayor and also my friend Chris Pearson and Senator Tim Ash, the current pro tem of the Senate. These have been great voices in the Senate I plan to carry on in their tradition. I have a broad array of experience and a broad array of policy background. I've been a state house advocate for 20 years so I know how the legislature works and I have forged good relationships with many of the folks that are currently serving. So I will be ready to serve Chittenden County in the state of Vermont on day one. I will not need on the job training which is especially important in this time of challenges from COVID-19. I also plan to make sure that voices of everyday Vermonters are clearly heard and brought into the process especially folks from traditionally marginalized communities like New Americans, people of color, people with disabilities. The state house is truly the people's house. It is unique in the country and its accessibility to elected officials and I want to make sure that folks are engaged and that voices of everyday Vermonters are heard when public policy is made. As an example, I was a charter member of Burlington's neighborhood planning assemblies which is a great tradition of participatory democracy where neighbors get together and discuss important policy issues and have an impact on city policies and decisions that are made at the city council level. So plan to reach out and listen to all voters in Chippin County and use social media, email, all the standard methods of communication to be open. And also want to talk to folks on the phone. It's a little old school but sometimes just getting on the phone with somebody is the best way to hear them and hear their concerns. So the next question is about my qualifications which I've already talked about a little bit but let me elaborate. As mentioned, I was the Burlington City Councilor back in the 80s when Bernie Sanders was mayor and Peter Clavel after him. And we helped lay the groundwork for the changes in Burlington that have helped to make it the thriving and inclusive community that it is today. I also served for 11 years as the legislative liaison for the city of Burlington at the State House. I have a broad array of non-profit experience through my work with the Vermont Affordable Housing Coalition. I was a founding board member of the Champlain Housing Trust which is now the largest community-based land trust in the country with over 2,000 rental units and affordable rental units in Northwestern Vermont and over 600 shared equity homes. Through my coalition work I've come into contact with folks in a broad array of different sectors from conservation to early childhood to climate change to environmentalists and so have learned how to forge compromises in coalition with diverse voices and diverse perspectives and to help forge positive policy solutions and make them happen through legislation in my advocacy work. I've also been a longtime board member of the Northgate residents ownership corporation where I've helped low-income residents find their voices and give voice to their concerns and needs and I've also worked at the national level working closely for over 20 years with congressional delegation which is especially important in this challenging time where the state of Vermont is going to rely has already relied on federal relief and federal stimulus dollars and will continue to need to rely on that. So those skills will come in good in good stead as I serve the residents of Chittenden County and the state of Vermont. So the next question is about my priorities for the next legislative session. Clearly, Vermonters are hurting and our economy has been devastated by the pandemic. So first and foremost we need to continue to chart course to economic recovery. We've already worked with legislative leaders with partners in the housing world and in state agencies to help make the best use of federal CARES Act dollars that have come to Vermont to help folks with recovery. Clearly though, stepping back we are in a pivotal moment and we cannot return to business as usual. We need to chart a new course forward a course that focuses on three major areas and those will be my priorities going forward. On number one, economic justice number two, racial and social justice and number three, climate change and environmental justice. On the economic justice front we need to resist calls for austerity. We need to make sure that Vermonters basic needs are met and we do not further shred the social safety net. On racial justice the protests and the horrific murders that we have seen over the last several months have changed through discussion and changed the conversation. We need to move forward with criminal justice reform and build on the work of the legislature this past session we need to look at all state policies and all laws through a racial justice lens and make sure that communities of color are at the table when policy decisions are made and that we elevate communities of color through economic investments in minority owned businesses. Lastly on climate change two years ago the United Nations a pivotal report told us that we had 12 years to prevent irreversible harm to the planet. Now we have 10 want to build on the work of the current session which passed the global warming solutions act which I support and will hopefully soon pass a transportation climate initiative. We need to focus on thermal efficiency of our housing which is the second largest component of our state's carbon footprint so that we need to invest in weatherization we need to invest in renewables and we need a comprehensive green new deal that provides good paying new jobs in the renewables and in the energy efficiency sector with that we will be able to chart a course forward to a strong economy and be leaders both in the region and in the nation. I want to start by telling you why I think I could have an impact among players. I am a native remonter I grew up in rural Vermont in Graniteville and was raised by parents who were both World War II veterans. They got married in New Guinea during the war moved back here and raised their family on the farm that my father grew up on. Although we were poor they taught us the lessons of hard work and giving back to the community. My parents were very involved in the Democratic Party and I remember at age six making signs for Governor Hoff when he was running for his third term. I also remember my parents being involved with the March of Dimes. They lost their oldest son when he was eight years old to polio about six months before the polio vaccine came out. So that was my foundation to what would be a career in service. I worked my way through college I went to Vermont College of Norwich University and then St. Michael's College and then started my career in higher education administration. So I understand the struggles of higher ed. I then went to the Make-A-Wish Foundation in Vermont as the CEO then Vermont Family Network as CEO and then to the Chill Foundation as executive director. I worked with kids and families who were struggling to make ends meet. Children who were trying to navigate the health care system with their parents because they were sick. Children who weren't homeless and participating in the Chill Foundation. In addition, my family has had to navigate the education system when my son was diagnosed early on with low muscle tone and a learning disability. And we needed to work with the different agencies to ensure that he had what he needed to succeed. My husband had to navigate the health care system when he was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer as a result of his exposure to toxins from the burn pits when he was deployed to Afghanistan with the Vermont Army National Guard. I bring not only the experience of my family and those families I've worked with to the legislature as a pragmatic leader, a collaborator and a listener. I believe that our top priority is going to have to be economic recovery from COVID-19. That is going to have to be the priority because it has had such an impact on every aspect of our lives. We know that our small businesses make up almost 60% of our private workforce. Some of them have benefited by the money that's been made available through the CARES Act. Some of them have not. We need to start asking questions on how we can help all of those to ensure that they stay in business. We also know that we have deficiencies in our healthcare system and the pandemic has emphasized that. How are we going to ensure that our families get the healthcare that they need, that it is accessible and that it is affordable in order to ensure that they don't have to make choices between other family needs and their health? In addition, COVID-19 showed us that broadband is imperative in order to ensure that our kids are educated equally because we now know that that did not happen for our students across the board in Vermont. Lastly, I want to focus on equity The last few months has made it very clear that we have a racial bias issue that is systemic. The incidents at the hands of the police, the brutality that we have seen is unacceptable and most police officers would say the same. If we work in collaboration we can make a change. It is going to take the community to work together. Our community leaders in addition to community members and our police departments to ensure that we have top priority diversity and inclusivity at the forefront. One of the things that the legislature has done is passed Act 219 and that is focusing on racial bias and excessive use of force. That is a good start but we all have to be part of this conversation. It is no longer okay to be not racist. We must be anti-racist. It is no longer okay to be just an ally. We need to be co-conspirators in this conversation. One of the things we need to look at on the police reform is the fact that we have only two police departments in the state of Vermont that have national accreditation standards. Why can't we do that for all of our police officers? We're a small state. So I ask you to vote for me on August 11th and let me be a voice for the voices. Thank you. I believe what sets me apart as a candidate has a lot to do with the eight years I have already spent in the state house on behalf of Burlington. I was elected at the age of 22 right out of UVM as a graduating senior. I knocked on everyone's door in the district so I've talked to a lot of you in the community already. I understood your hopes, dreams, fears, aspirations and took those with me to Montpelier and really spent my entire 20s there. I served on the House General Housing and Military Affairs Committee and understood a range of issues around housing, supporting our veterans and all kinds of labor issues. I served on the House Ways and Means Committee which is really rare for someone in their 20s to be understanding our state finances and how we raise revenue. And I was vice chair of House Natural Resources and Energy where I worked hard on bipartisan legislation to increase renewable energy siting in the state. Through all of that I really tried to be brave in building consensus with conviction. I introduced legislation that took a long time to pass time that after I left the legislature such as independent investigation into use of force by the police reducing the use of suspension and expulsion as behavioral tools for young people and even making the state holiday that was Columbus Day into Indigenous People's Day. I think a lot changed after 2016 and people started to wake up to the realities of other Americans and think differently about the legislation I had tried to introduce. I think a lot of my perspective has come from being a young woman of color in the legislature which is a pretty rare perspective to have. You know, I would be the only candidate who's already spent my entire 20s in the legislature going back with a refreshed perspective to the state Senate and I take being the first woman of color in the state Senate very seriously as this would be an incredible responsibility to bring other voices with me. Immigration is on a lot of people's minds nowadays. Chittenden County is an incredibly culturally and racially diverse place and we've seen some recent, you know, continuation of the frightening policies out of Washington most recently ICE threatening to deport international students. We have a lot of international students at our institutions in Vermont and we have a lot of new Americans who make up the backbone of our economy whether they are working in our higher ed institutions or serving as the backbone of our dairy industry. So immigration is a really important topic to me not only because of who we have in the state but because I myself am the daughter of an immigrant from India. I think it's really important that we do more to support immigrants in Vermont and show that we're a welcoming state for a demographic future. That includes earmarking economic support in our COVID relief for immigrants who are otherwise getting no relief. It includes language access and making sure that people have materials especially about health and economic recovery right now in their own languages. And it includes making sure that our health programs and our social services still benefit new Americans. We've really seen that in a public health crisis if people can't access health care it hurts all of us. As someone who would potentially become the first woman of color in the state Senate I take that responsibility very seriously and have long been an activist and practitioner of racial justice in the state. It's my professional work as well working with school districts, communities and nonprofits to be a more welcoming place as our demographics shift. 90% of our population growth in the state has been from people of color so we need to continue to welcome them not have them feel reflected in who's arrested or who's incarcerated at higher rates. What we see when it comes to work we can do to advance racial justice is that you have police officers and chiefs of police who are agreeing that too much has been placed on the police to manage too many crises too many public safety issues that are better handled through social services through education through mental health support and other ways of addressing issues before they become a tool of over incarceration. So I hope to work with law enforcement and with communities on investing more funding into community safety and how communities want to see themselves governed and become more safe. We have a lot of work to do to advance racial justice in the state and I look forward to doing that with Black and Brown Vermonters. What we've seen in the face of this pandemic and the uneven economic recovery since the pandemic began is that Vermonters really need support in particular areas to make sure that their families stabilize and can think about growing and thriving once again. For small businesses a lot of that relief has come and yet information is not in other languages unless you're really well organized to get access to those state grants you might get left behind. So I constantly want to be a voice for people who are struggling to access those resources and otherwise feel like they don't have the tools and supports to access small business grants and other economic grants. Child care is another incredibly important area where we've seen how valuable it is and how important it is that we support our early childhood educators and our educators in general and the important work that they do to make sure our young ones are taken care of and are able to have a positive future at a head start. I was the interim head start advocate when I started my political career at Burlington Children's Space and even in that moment you know when we were just coming out of the Great Recession I was able to help families access rent supports and make sure they could stabilize so that their child could stay in early childhood education which is the best investment we can make in our future. So as institutions like UVM for example think about cutting their child care program to save money it sends the wrong message in the state we need greater access to early childhood education not to put it on the chopping block and I will be an advocate for increased funding increased access to early childhood education when I get to the state senate. I'm Keisha Rahm this is my dog Miso who some of you have may seen with me on the campaign trail and I hope I can earn your vote in the state senate race in the democratic primary on August 11th so thanks so much for listening and hope to be in touch. My website is www.kesham.com and you can learn more and get in touch. The question has been posed what will be different for the people of our district and our state if I am elected? The answer is that you will have an experienced physician in the senate for the first time since 1983 and with the COVID crisis and the far reaching problems with our health care system that is critically important at this time. I have been a physician for over 25 years working in both primary care and hospital based medicine and I know what good health care is supposed to be. I have the knowledge and background to protect your health care rather than the well-being of the University of Vermont medical system or the Green Mountain Care Board. I am less likely to be impressed by their glossy press releases or their high priced lobbyists. Question what are my priorities for the next two years of the legislative session? I will focus on the one care program which is the giant for-profit HMO established by former Governor Peter Shumlin and passed by the legislature in the Green Mountain Care Board. It is up for its five-year renewal in 2022 and all evidence today indicates that it is failing to reach any of its main goals and in the processes costing Vermonters hundreds of millions of dollars. I will oppose its renewal. I will also examine the Green Mountain Care Board which is our health care regulatory body in the state, one of the only two such bodies in the country. Its five members are all appointed by the governor, several are businessmen and none of them are physicians. It has come to serve more as a cheerleader rather than a regulator for the one care program and it has routinely ignored one care's failing status. It has also clearly not held the line on rising health care costs. I believe it should be disbanded and replaced with a more truly independent overseer such as, for example, our elected state auditor. Question. What is next for health care in Vermont? I absolutely believe that independent hospitals and medical practices in our small state provide better and less expensive care than the huge centralized monopoly of the University of Vermont Medical Center. We need to go back to basics in health care which means allowing you and your doctor or other health care provider to make the decisions which are best for you rather than what are best for the system. You are not a widget to be fit into the University of Vermont's computerized algorithms. I believe that we need to explore a truly public non-profit option for health insurance one which would be well run and which would support independent medicine and would not be driven to make huge profits such as our commercial insurers are. Too many people now are struggling with terribly expensive premiums, copays and deductibles which ultimately mean that their insurance is used only for hospitalizations and major surgeries and not for prevention and routine care. Finally a word on COVID-19 this is clearly the health care and community crisis of our lifetimes and in Vermont we should take comfort and pride that our sacrifice and efforts have saved many many lives. However the next steps will be crucial. This virus is like a huge forest fire. Firefighters know that you cannot simply stamp out such a monster. The damage is contained by evacuating people from its path and cutting fire breaks and eventually either rain will end it or it will run out of things to burn. Our best hope is a vaccine which I very much think is possible and likely within the next 12 months. In the meantime we are going to need to adapt to this virus as we resume schooling our children and rebuilding our economy and our lives. But we cannot at the same time be fighting each other. The best firefighters know that they need to work as a cohesive team and we are all firefighters now. Thank you. Everything we've done in the legislature for the last four or five months has been built around that emergency response. It was a long session. It was a tough session. I know your family finances got stretched. The state's finances got stretched. We did everything we humanly could to respond to the emergency in your name and I'm proud of that work. But in one sense the impact of sending me back is simply to continue that for the near term. So for instance I'm the chair of the Senate Education Committee and on that committee we've been doing oversight of the Agency of Education making sure that when kids went home this past March they were actually learning that there was a plan in place and especially if you were a special needs child that there was a plan for your education and a plan to compensate you when the emergency is over because there are federal requirements that will make it necessary to provide special ed students with compensatory education once we're on the other side of this emergency. So that's the kind of thing we've been doing responding to constituents conducting oversight of agencies within the government and also passing necessary legislation to move money from the federal government to your specific needs. So let me just mention a couple of things that we passed that I will need to oversee in the next two years. One of those we wanted to make sure that sending kids back to school was as safe an environment as it could possibly be. And so we asked all the experts of all stripes what do you think would be the most bang for our buck given that we have 1.2 billion dollars but we can only spend it to mitigate the emergency and that money has to be spent completely by December 31st of this year. And all of them said the same thing ventilation systems and HVAC systems in the school. So my committee with the help of a great new senator we have Andy Perchlich we put together a $6.5 million grant program that will pay for work in your school system whether it's in Burlington or in South Burlington or any of the Chittenden districts you're going to get work done on your schools through that program which is administered by Efficiency Vermont at no cost to your district and that's to deliver on the promise of moving federal money into your district in an immediate way to keep your kids safe. So overseeing just that program will take a lot of work but when kids return there are questions about safety, testing personal protection equipment all of the things we've become used to are going to have to be overseen for the next at least year before we can begin to think about new legislation outside the emergency. My qualifications I would say that in the field of education I'm qualified by being a lifelong teacher but also I now chair the Senate Education Committee and I work at the University of Vermont so I think I have a really good idea about what's happening at all levels and that includes pre-K of the state and what's necessary in terms of protecting those students and the communities around them. One more example we realized just before the break that we took about three weeks ago that while we had moved a lot of money to the University of Vermont and the state college system the state had yet to move money to independent schools to allow them to test the wave of students that will return in the fall and so we made a push to move five million dollars to independent schools like St. Mike's like Middlebury and to try to make sure that those waves of students that come in are immediately tested quarantined if necessary and we protect the health and safety of all Vermonters. Priorities for the next session outside of COVID let me talk for just a minute or two about my work on the Judiciary Committee. I've been on that committee for the last two years. I like to think that I've been a force for good there a force for justice and as one example I sponsored a bill this past year called S219 which wound up becoming the legislature's primary vehicle for legislation around social justice ending racial disparities and scaling back as much as possible the use of excessive force by law enforcement. So what we eventually passed in S219 is a ban on choke holds and any other restraint that would restrict blood or oxygen to a suspect's brain. It also requires mandatory use of body cameras by the Vermont State Police and it lays down a path to pay for that and the other thing seems less dramatic but it's really very necessary. A long time ago we passed legislation saying that police agencies in the state had to report their traffic stop data in terms of race and that was designed to see whether or not there were racial disparities in how we were stopping people how we were interacting with people and what the eventual outcomes of those stops might be. So that was good legislation but in practice that data wasn't being provided by a large number of departments and when it was being provided it was being provided late too late to be of any use. So S219 also says that if you want to get grants from the state state funding you must provide that data on time otherwise you're ineligible. Now that puts real teeth in that piece of legislation and all three of those things the ban on choke holds the mandatory body cams and the the teeth for data on racial stops I think will have a big impact. With that said we're not done. When we go back in August we will be taking up the use of force bill and creating a statewide use of force policy. We'll also be looking at other ways to change the laws in the state of Vermont around racial equity. One more example as chair of senate education I helped shepherd what's now known as Act One through the legislature. Act One is sometimes called the Ethnic Studies Bill and what it does is set up a diverse commission to go through Title 16 the education law in Vermont and figure out are there places where systemic bias exists in our laws in our school systems and in our curriculums. If so those members of the community on that task force will recommend to the state board of education directly recommendations for changes in the law. As chair of senate education I have every intention of making sure that those recommendations do find their way into statute because I think we all agree at this point that our law does have bias and we want young people in the state of Vermont to grow up without that. So those are my qualifications my potential impact if you elect me and the things that I view as priorities coming up in the next session. My highest priority for the next session is universal basic income. I support UBI because I think fundamentally our relationship to work has changed. For many of us we're not working a 40 hour a week job. We're working two or three part-time jobs. We're working in the gig economy. A lot of people are at the edges of the economy. The breadcrumbs if you will. And right now our economy is just not working for the vast majority of us. The the majority of Vermonters are living a moonlighting in Vermont reality. And that's a fundamental failure for too many Vermonters. The truth is that universal basic income is the way that Vermonters are going to finally experience some equity some dignity. We can actually put an end to poverty through UBI. It is not the job of government to fix every problem. But through UBI Vermonters would be able to set the floor. And in setting the floor we can make it possible for it. Make it possible for every Vermonter to have access to a life free of poverty. And that's a life well lived. A life worth living. With regard to local control I intend to sponsor legislation that takes up ballot initiative. We need to give local voters more authority. And ballot initiative allows voters to petition the legislature to make change. Had had initiative been in place we would have been able to move from the the log jam around the marijuana marketplace bill. And the legislature would have broker to compromise or we would have gotten some kind of of legislation in place. We have a long tradition of of direct democracy. 250 years of town meeting. And this is an extension of that tradition. Government of for and by the people of Vermont. What qualifies me to be a state senator? I was a legislative fellow in the New York State Senate in the immediate aftermath of the 9-11 attacks. Working with people who lost people at ground zero. I've also served as the national director of state affairs for the Hemophilia Federation of America managing 44 chapter organizations and running their legislative policy shop. In addition I founded a nonprofit organization doing work around genetic bias issues. I've been the vice president of the Champlain Valley Central Labor Council and served as a member of the Vermont AFL-CIO Executive Board. Closer to home I've been a member of the school board in Bolton and I've served on the select board in Richmond where I make my home. When I'm elected state senator my highest priority in healthcare will be universal primary care. Universal primary care is humane and cost effective. Universal primary care means that patients can access routine care with their physicians and in the case of an emergency they can access urgent care without going broke. All Vermonters know that healthcare is a human right. Now it's our opportunity to make it a reality. I've been asked by Channel 17 to answer a few questions for their virtual video town meeting hall. The first question is what will be different for the people of your district or the state as a whole because you have been elected to this position? My goal is to keep Vermont green and to get us growing. We're national leaders in the fight against climate change but our young people are leaving the state at such high rates that we're likely to shrink in the upcoming census for the first time ever. With a shrinking population we have a smaller economic base to address the important issues like climate change, housing affordability, a clean lakeshamp plain, social justice and more. I will champion policies that are designed to encourage Vermonters to stay here and ensure that our future is even brighter than our storied past. What qualifies me to make these changes happen? I never really like to brag and it's the humble politicians that seem to get the most done in my mind. So I'll keep this brief. I'm a three term South Burlington City Councilor and I'm the UVM Faculty Senate President, twice elected by the University of Vermont faculty. So I like to think that evidence is an ability to create consensus in a diverse governing body. Most importantly though, I'm a husband, I'm a father, I'm a deep rooted Vermonter. Vermont's my home. This is where my family has lived for centuries and you can be certain that I'm going to work really hard to leave it better than I found it. What are your priorities for the next biennium? What is the most important piece of legislation for Vermont, Vermont in the next two years? I could say something like Act 76 to clean up Lake Champlain but as the world becomes more connected policy positions become less siloed. One single most important piece of legislation I'm not sure I could pick. Climate change is paramount but we can't do that without ensuring that we have the knowledge to do it. So we need to steady our state college system. We need to lower taxes on residents but we can't do that with people leaving the state and shrinking in the tax base. So I support more affordable housing and more affordable housing policies to increase our housing stock. I also want to ensure racial justice is had for all but we can't do that without examining the structures of government at every level. One most important piece of legislation now I can't pick and to do so would diminish the importance of so many other issues before us. Budget. Given the mounting expense challenges Vermont faces how would you approach balancing the Vermont state budget next year? So there are short-term and long-term solutions to our budgetary issues. The question asks about short-term but just really quick a long-term solution is to adopt policies that foster growth. I like to tell my friends would you rather have 10% taxes on a million dollars or 5% taxes on 10 million dollars. I want to grow the economy so that there are more opportunities for people to stay, live, work and thrive here in Vermont and so that we can have the economic base to support the initiatives and quality of life investment that we all want to make. But short-term options to the question I would include regionalization new technologies like toll by plate and other use-based assessment. We can achieve better outcomes at lower costs if we regionalize more of our public services services like emergency dispatch stormwater services road maintenance and more. Too many of our architectures are designed along imaginary lines imaginary town lines that were drawn 100 years ago before the automobile age instead of around population centers adopting new technologies that are available today. Another fair a method of assessment that is used by all of our neighboring states and used to be used in Vermont. There's a technology available today called toll by plate. It's now used in Massachusetts and southern states. It requires almost no physical infrastructure and what's very important about toll by plate as opposed to a gas tax is it can be inconsensitized because it's assigned to those the car registration based on the license plate. So out of staters who use our roadways including Canadians can help contribute and pay for these very expensive roadways freeing up resources limited resources scarce resources in our budgetary dollars. I think the last one I have time to answer I'd love to answer all of them but we were told to answer as many as we can in six minutes. The last one is immigration. What is your opinion on U.S. immigration policies and its impact on Vermont? What action do you think the legislature should take if any? I just watched Hamilton and immigrants get the job done is a quote from there. We are a nation of immigrants and beacon and end we are a beacon of light for all those yearning to be free. I see America as a shining city on the hill and not as a fenced in police state. We ask the world for their tired their poor their huddled masses yearning to be breathe free and I truly stand by that. Immigrants make us better and I want to see our state policies that to welcome more new Americans to become new Vermonters and to do that we need permit reform to attract more private investment to build more housing stock more industry and more greener public infrastructure. If you want to see more of my answers to these questions I'm going to post a response to all of them on thomaschittenden.com probably in the issues section. Please reach out as well I'm at thomas.chittenden at gmail.com my phone number is 802-233-1913 and my website is thomaschittenden.com I hope to hear from you and I hope you get out and vote on August 11th or before via absentee ballot. Thank you so much for watching. I chair the senate health and welfare committee and serve on other legislative health and environmental oversight committees. As a college biology professor I bring a unique scientific perspective to the senate including research and work in environmental healthcare and public health policy. I served as chair of the wilson select board for 14 years. We need continuity in the vermont senate for work on healthcare and economic recovery from COVID-19 and to build unique solutions to the climate crisis facing us. Expanding a renewable energy economy joining a regional transportation climate initiative building resilience to changing weather and disease patterns our next steps. My scientific perspective and experiences are important to taking such steps. As for many retail restaurant and small businesses the COVID pandemic exposed the precarious nature of healthcare business in our state. I led the passage of legislation giving healthcare providers flexibility expanding telemedicine appointments for vulnerable patients and I'll continue to work on workforce broadband access for patients and providers lower cost prescription drugs and others including recovery from a financial stability for long-term care nursing homes and residential care facilities. We cannot survive without our hospital system. Many vermont hospitals were pushed into the financial red zone as a result of COVID. Longer-term global budget planning can improve hospital stability and I'll work on legislation to assess how value-based global budgeting might stabilize hospitals. Hospitals in Maryland and Pennsylvania with global budgeting systems were able to weather the COVID storm more effectively than in states where global budgeting wasn't in place. The ACO is part of Vermont's healthcare reform. We must assess how improved quality outcomes can be achieved even during a pandemic and how value-based payments can reduce increased healthcare costs critically important. Independent medical providers have not been equitably reimbursed by any of our insurance programs private or public when compared with hospital-affiliated providers. Closure of independent providers and financial stress for many others has resulted and I'll continue work to increase equity for these providers so that patients have these local medical services available to them. The pandemic exacerbated needs for integrated system of community-based mental health, substance use disorder and recovery programs. Legislation to expand payment reform for many providers is needed to improve patient outcomes and stabilize healthcare provider businesses. Municipal programs that integrate social workers to help those with mental health or substance use disorder service models for other municipalities and I know how hard Burlington South Burlington, Shelburne, Williston, Essex and others have worked to service those models. I will continue my work on prescription drug costs. The next biennium could give Vermont an opportunity to work more effectively with the federal government to gain easier access to drug importation from Canada and reduce costs for chronically ill and lower income Vermonters. Much of what is needed in the healthcare environment is improved federal funding to help people. The business of childcare is important to both businesses and the economy. After school, parent child center and childcare programs each build a culture of prevention. I'll work on legislation on trauma informed programs including public safety, school, correctional and within the judicial system. Senate health and welfare began work on legislation during the COVID epidemic that would address future public health responses and resilience to these types of events. This should include responses to climate-induced public health crises such as tick-borne illnesses, Lyme disease. We are at the epicenter of tick-borne disease in this part of the country but our overall healthcare response is inadequate. Finally, we must improve our response to racial disparity. In August, we should consider and pass an inclusive Equal Rights Amendment to the Vermont Constitution. My bill was signed by 29 senators and is in the Judiciary Committee. It will add equal protection for people regardless of race, ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation or other protected categories. This bill must pass this year to be considered by voters for addition to the state Constitution. A dysfunctional federal administration and the courts can change judicial history. Vermont should build racial, gender and ethnic equity beginning with the Constitution the same way that we are doing with reproductive rights and the slavery amendment proposals. We all face a financial crisis. We're living in unprecedented financial instability in the midst of a public health crisis. Vermont families, vulnerable individuals, healthcare providers, nonprofit organizations and others continue to suffer. It's time to stabilize our healthcare and human services system and direct aid to those who are most in need as a result of the COVID-19 epidemic. We none, no one has escaped. I look forward to working on these and other challenges in the Vermont Senate. I am Ginny Lyons and I ask for your vote on or before August 11th. Thank you very much for tuning in and thank you Channel 17 for allowing us this opportunity.