 I mean by that I won't explain it. Oh yeah, no I do. Welcome to the Washington Four Vermont State House of Representatives Candidate Forum. This program is presented by Orca Media and The Bridge to help voters get to know their candidates. I'm Cassandra Hemingway, I'm the editor of The Bridge and tonight's moderator. The forums are intended to give the candidates an opportunity to share their views and to explain why they're running or why you should vote for them. It's not a debate so candidates won't be asking each other questions. And we have invited all the candidates running for this office, not just the major parties. Before I introduce the five candidates who are here tonight, I'll review the format. We ask the public for questions in advance and then we use those questions to help us develop our list of questions that these folks will hear tonight. During the program, we will also take call in questions and a volunteer will write down the questions and send them to me in writing. We will ask as many questions as we can fit in in the next hour. The candidates were not given any of these questions in advance. And if you would like to suggest a question, call the studio at 802-224-9901. Each candidate will have two minutes for an opening statement to explain why they're running. And after that, they'll each have a minute and a half to answer the questions that I'll be asking them. The moderator has the discretion to make adjustments if that's needed. We do have a timer in the studio so to help the candidates keep track of how much time they have. For their opening statements, I'll be calling on the candidates in alphabetical order by last name. And after that, I'll vary the order. So each candidate has the opportunity to go first and that they won't always be before after the same people. And when I introduce the candidates, they'll be introduced by their name and their party. And then we'll hear their statements. So I would like to introduce Donna Bate. Donna Bate, she is here, she's running as an independent. Connor Casey is running as a Democrat. Kate McCann running as a Democrat. Glenny Fitzgerald-Sewell running as a progressive. And Jean Leon running as a Republican. Donna, go ahead with your opening statement. Your voice is your vote. And your vote is your voice and I want both. I want you to vote to elect me. Donna Bate for the Montpellier-Vermont House representative. But I also urgently need your voices now. We need to demand that the state of Vermont start treating the housing crisis with an immediacy of the health and safety crisis it is. It's just like the pandemic or the flood from the hurricane Irene. We cannot continue just to put band-aids on this crisis. The extreme toll to those without shelter, without hygiene and cooking facilities. To those housing organizations that are working overtime, the mental health workers and the police who provide services and protection. And to our community at large who struggles to find new social services for these unmet needs. It's a new role for the city. And we have to handle the conflicts of unusually shared public spaces. I ask all of us to support this action without judgment because the water is rising. More individuals are finding themselves and will find themselves on the deep end. At the same time, we need to work at long-term housing shortage. We need to make coalitions with private, public and nonprofits. And we have a great example in the valley where with nine employers working with the community, they're going to have 260 new rental units in the next two to three years. So I ask you to please use your voice. Housing crisis is important. And I can go on about mental health is the other one. The state has been really neglecting. And these are roles that overlap in my roles as city counselor, but really the state has the muscle and the money to take these on and to help the municipals work with these issues. Please use your voice now to the administration, to legislators to support housing. Thank you. Connor. All right, good evening everybody. Thanks so much, Cassandra, Bridge, Orca and everybody here tonight. My name's Connor Casey. I'm a 17-year resident of Montpelier here. I've served on the city council. I'm into my third term now. And I'm the executive director of a nonprofit called Gunsense Vermont. Our job is to reduce gun violence in the state. We have over 80 gun deaths a year. So that's my full-time job, trying to pass common sense, general legislation and educating people about the laws we have on the books. I have a long history in Vermont politics. I did run the Vermont Democratic Party for three years. And I worked for both Vermont NEA and the Vermont State Employees Association. Overall, I have over a decade of experience lobbying and advocating for progressive causes in the Vermont State House. I passed some of the strongest whistleblower protection policy and anti-privatization policy while being in the building. I know how it works and I know how to get the job done. Politics is extremely personal for me. I grew up on the border of Northern Ireland in the 80s. And I remember having British soldiers harass my family, having barracks up just a mile down from my house here. I saw what happened with the Good Friday Agreement in 1998 when George Mitchell and Bill Clinton worked during the peace process. And I saw those barracks come down and all the soldiers leave. So politics can have a very real and immediate difference in people's lives. I believe in that. I'm an idealist. And I'd like to apply that to state government. I really enjoyed serving on City Council. My running mate and I came again, knocked on 2,500 doors in the primary. And we feel like we're getting the pulse of the town here. So ready to hit the ground, Robin? And yep, again, a pleasure to be here tonight. So thanks very much. Bless you. Hi, first, thank you for allowing for this opportunity to introduce myself and explain why I'm running. I teach math at U32. I'm a nationally board certified teacher and Vermont's 2017 Vermont State Teacher of the Year. In 2018, 2019, I took a leave of absence from school and went to Washington, D.C. to work with Congresswoman Marsha Fudge at the time who's now the Secretary of Housing and Urban Development under the Biden administration. And in that office, I had the opportunity to work with her constituents. I take meetings, support her in education, legislation and also in sewer water and transportation issues as well. We worked with other Congress people from both sides of the aisle. And I think the reason I'm running as a mother, lifelong educator and small business owner is that I know how important it is to support and strengthen our public schools. And at the same time, make it easier for small local businesses to thrive. Safe and Healthy Schools has been my top priority since we started knocking on those 2,500 doors. And they start with clean air and water, LGBTQIA plus rights, anti-racist values and policies, tighter common sense gun legislation and universal healthcare. We need to provide students nourishing food. So I'm really excited that we have funded free breakfast and lunch for our students. Physical activity is really important and opportunity to make healthy choices and also an opportunity for an honest history. So I'm excited to be here tonight and I'm ready to leave the classroom where I have been leading with courage, dedication and integrity. And if elected, I look forward to bringing my leadership to the state house to fight for young people in their future. Thank you. Glenny. I appreciate everyone being here tonight and me being back after all these, this time with Orca. Thank you. Running, of course, in Washington for Glenny. So it was a progressive. What really got me into this originally was housing issues with fair housing issues in 2011. And that's why I really got into this. But what really has increased my concerns is ethnic and intersectional violence in our culture. And that, of course, happens here in Vermont as well. And that can really be an issue for me. I think that if we don't control this idea of violence and being able to make sure no one else has a word and even people that we don't agree with, if we keep that division going, then we can't claim ourselves to be a democracy and to have freedom. Because really, we do it at the cost of oppressing others. And then that's not democracy or freedom. It's not even a shadow of it. So the whole idea is that we need to get these larger issues under control in order to help out with housing, with fair health care, with child care. My profession, I've been teaching for eight of the, eight of the 12 years or 11 years I've been here. I've been teaching in higher education, CCV Norwich University, those places. And even though I teach now online, and I still do my work, I still pay taxes for the state and I live here in Montpelier, and I'm still in higher education, those things are also inextricably connected to being able to get our ideas of democracy and freedoms under control in order to be able to put more money to it, to put more ideas to child care, to getting gun violence under control. And these are the ideas that I focus on now, but it did start with housing and I still go back to housing and health care. And again, none of those things are useful unless we get the primary base factors under control. Jean. Hi. I would like to thank The Bridge and Orca Media and all those who are watching on the forum. Well, yes, housing is definitely a crisis and I hope we get to talk about that later further on. I'm not a politician and I don't have PAC money nor corporate interests. I'm running a grassroots campaign knowing we need new leadership and a balanced government and diversity for this district. I'm community-involved, independent and open-minded. I'm a dedicated father of two young girls, a local business owner, independent contractor. I've been a volunteer for most of my life as well as an environmentalist. I was proactive in starting several recycling programs during my scouting years in Florida and I was involved with some social justice programs for immigrants as well as hurricane relief when I lived in Florida. I've been in Vermont over 20 years. I started some recycling programs in two counties, recycling the upcycle programs here in Vermont. I try to live a healthy and positive life. I've been promoting peace and love and want to bring people together to solve the problems and the pressing, the most pressing issues that we currently have. This campaign has been interesting, a good positive experience, although respect, inclusivity and kindness is essential in order to be united and not so divided. I feel like this is a call for public service and if elected, I will do my best and work hard to get most of the realistic challenges accomplished with bipartisanship. And to learn more, you could check out my website, geneforhouse.com and check out the community and projects page and you can see some of the stuff I'm doing. Thank you. Thank you everybody. Okay, so our first question is about the district you plan to serve. What do you see as the most pressing issue in this district, which is Montpelier and how are you going to use your role in the legislature to improve things in this district? And we'll start with Connor. All right, thanks very much for your question. I've served on city council for five years now. So I really had a ringside seat as far as some of the pressing issues facing our community. Along with my fellow councilors, we established the Social and Economic Justice Committee, the homelessness task force and these committees have been doing really good work and we've been a key part of it. But we are facing, as others have said, a crisis in housing. The average rental cost in Montpelier today is $1,600 and keep in mind, 40% of our residents are renters here. Our housing stock is incredibly small for what we need. We're selling less than 100 homes a year and there's an expression, you're busy growing or you're busy dying and I worry about the implications if we can include it, increase that housing stock. I've had at least three friends priced out of their apartments here. So I think the council and Statewide, we need to look at some sort of rent stabilization to prevent predatory behavior. Those experiencing homelessness are very visible in our community and I don't think it's something you can ignore that goes away. You have to address the root causes of this. So the homelessness task force has been doing some great work but we don't have a winter shelter coming up here. The state has fallen down on their obligation to take care of some of these essential services and it's limited to what we could do in city government. So I would be very eager to hold this administration accountable to make sure this community gets the funds they need and make sure Montpelier is getting the support to grow and prosper in the future. Thank you, Connor. Thank you. Kate. Okay. Well, Connor and I knocked on those doors together. So the top two issues that we heard, one was homelessness, which Connor has responded to and the other is reproductive rights. I think with the overturn of Roe v. Wade, that decision happened before I was born and so to see that overturned in recent years with the more conservative court, I think has really sent sort of shockwaves through the nation and I believe that reproductive care is healthcare and a woman's right to choose is important. Maybe the most important for me and my community right now and the folks that I talk to. When the rights are under attack, that's the time to make some really good choices and some good put forth, some good legislation and I'm really excited to see the reproductive liberty amendment on the ballot and I just voted yes tonight as I sealed my envelope. So thank you. Thank you, Kate. Glennie. I noticed that we're repeating, I mean, we're repeating as a local town, we're repeating the same issues with the homelessness. I was looking, I was walking from GMT just yesterday and I'd noticed that there's still the same issue with the homelessness being here and there's such, the question is what to do with so many people who are homeless with the extreme mess, do we leave them outside which is unconscionable, I can't even imagine that in the summer, much less winter and my thought goes to what do we have, do we have open parking lot space for temporary housing, enclosed sealed housing trailers, whatever we might have, something that we can do in the most immediate time in order to get people into shelter. And also the thoughts, again, on expansive healthcare, I read up on reproductive rights being added, you know, I believe it to our constitution, to our state constitution, I read up on that and the decision of Roe v. Wade happened after I was born and it still shocks me today that that could still be turned over. So much needs to be done about reproductive rights, reproductive healthcare, but again, so much of that needs to be added in along with getting people off the streets, women and children and so many others who are single and homeless. Thank you. Jean. Most pressing issues, that was the question. In your district, yes. Well, I think in the state for the most part, including our district, is the demographics, affordability, housing, I mean, all these kind of come into play together because we need to attract and keep our workforce in order to grow an economy. We need incentives for people to stay and come to Vermont. In order to achieve this, then we need to make Vermont affordable and have affordable housing. A strategic plan is necessary for emergency and transitional housing. Housing shortages in an inflated economy increases building costs. So it's definitely very challenging at this time. In some of my interviews, some Vermont towns have taken initiative actions with zoning reform, buyer and rental incentives and coordinating innovative construction projects. Morrisville is a pretty good example of that. I will work around the clock and hard to create rebates and other incentive to support eligible applicants and new homeowners to alleviate some of these housing issues and work closely with towns, builders and committees. The average age of many construction workers is 54. We are short plumbers, contractors and electricians, builders, masons, excavators and including people in the medical field and state jobs. Millions of dollars have gone to affordable housing projects and 4,000 new homes are expected to be up by 2026. Permitting infrastructure, repair, construction, all this stuff with a shortage of workforce takes time. So, thank you, yeah. Thank you, Gene, Donna. I'm really gonna talk about three top ones. I've covered a bit about housing, but I'd also like to talk about infrastructure and I'd also like to talk about the regional public safety issues with dispatching communication. And with housing, yes, we need definitely to get people into buildings. We have a lot of empty buildings, underutilized buildings. We could repurpose to get temporary housing there that was centralized services. And housing gives you the things you take for granted that you have a bathroom, you have a shower. You can have a cooking, even know how small it is. It's something you have a space to do that in. And so that's really primary, but it's also the long-term housing. But along with that is our infrastructure that we have very aging infrastructure. And Montpelier is not unlike the rest of Vermont. And that's where the state has not taken the lead, has not increased funding, especially on roads and utilities. And so we also like the public to help us educate. I would love Vermont-Pillier residents to really understand why this road gets done and that one doesn't. And that's because there's a real science to it, but the extreme weather makes it very difficult for the surface of repaving. It also freezes and thaws, and our asphalt is of less quality. So those are issues that I feel the district faces that the state could really help in. I didn't have time for short shortage of workers, but Leon touched on that a little bit. Well, I'm gonna move on. Actually, I had a question prepared about housing and most of you have already mentioned that. So maybe we can dig a little deeper into that topic. I know many of you have already said quite a bit, but I did wanna ask you how you think the Vermont legislature, what should the legislature do to support affordable housing? And along with affordable housing, also housing for what I'm hearing called the missing middle, the folks who maybe don't qualify for affordable housing, but are still being pushed out of the housing market. What are some actions you would take in the legislature? And we're gonna start with Kate. All right, as far as affordable home ownership, I would say we should be thinking about increased funding initiatives designed to increase home availability and affordability, especially for first-time home buyers. Re-examine current land use policies to ensure they aren't undermining any of the current initiatives. And check out the limits on density and see if those are unnecessarily restricting housing development. And also, I would wanna make sure that we ensure real estate professionals, builders, investors, and even financial institutions have a seat at our table and allow local government to drive their own initiatives from start to finish. Thank you. Glenny? Yes, there is an event that, not event per se, I was helping out friends who were, one was a de-forcing mother and her family member that was with her. And she noticed that trying to get into housing as a divorcee or someone going through a divorce was extremely difficult, just as a woman. And they had written to the state to try and figure out how to, because they were being pushed into housing and to hotels, their money was being taken. And then they were being taken advantage of, told they didn't have enough, they didn't fill out the forms, right? And being excised from their hotel room a day after actually paying rent on the room. And it seemed to be a cycle event that was occurring. And that, the state needs to take a great deal more control over the paperwork of these kind of things over making sure that's not done by people running these hotel services or motel, whatever you wanna call it, services for folks. The other thing is that I'd written on a while back was that we need to have a council of landlords, ethical landlords who aren't in it for the whole money that can help repurpose the housing, repurpose fair housing in regards to actually bringing on council landlords and a council of tenants who are ethical. And I know quite a few and who can help repurpose fair housing, not just leaving those voices out but making sure they're all in. Thank you. Jim. Yeah. So, again, I'm gonna repeat as bipartisan solutions to come up with a strategic plan is necessary for the emergency and transitional housing, dialogue with the private sectors, look at all the potential areas. And for instance, in Montpelier, and this is more of a city, there are many areas that were developed and never got finished in development. And the potential is there while at the same time preserving our environment. I've wanted to build some and have had designs for building geodesic homes, off grid, very energy efficient that right now the current costs of these materials and of the shortage of workforce is making it difficult. We need to look at abandoned properties, state and federal buildings that are just not being used. I remember years ago in Stowe, 20 years ago, before Vale bought this property up, there was state or locally run hostels that would accommodate and house some of those seasonal workers, very inexpensive, very reasonable. What happened to those? I have to cut you off, Jean, that's the time. Thank you. I had four seconds, sorry. Oh, I apologize. No, it's quite a right. I apologize. You were right. So sorry. Okay, I'm gonna switch gears here. Oh my goodness. You wanted an expansion of what the state could do. Yes, I could. Thank you, Donna. I apologize. I'm flustered now. No, no, no. We're all just here just doing our thing and trying to be polite. Thanks for understanding. So I feel the state can really lead the way in encouraging not only like changing the tax code for tax credit for multi dwellings, and that's the issue with most municipals with their zoning. Montpelier is ahead of that. Montpelier changed some of its density, changed some of its zoning. Now, its zoning is old fashioned in some ways. We still have some of that economic injustice there, but we're getting there and we're aware of it and we're trying to keep moving it. But I think, again, the state could do a lot of leadership on zoning. It also can help the fact that it only funds 25% of the current lead for section eight housing vouchers. And section eight is a way for people with lower incomes can get subsidy for housing. 25%, 75% of the people who qualify for and go through all the steps to qualify aren't getting any subsidy. They're a part of the people that are on the street and that's really, really sad. And I would just like to emphasize that there is a November 16th conference being held, statewide conference on housing. And I'm hoping that some of the calls that everybody's gonna do to get theirs. The administration and their legislators, they're at that conference and concerned about housing now is that that conference will be followed up by the real serious task force to action. We need action now. Thank you. Thank you. Where is that conference? Hilton in Burlington. Go online, you'll find it. Google is great. No. On there. Go ahead, Carter. You are not just elaborate a little bit on what I said before because, Kate and I knocked one door. I don't think I'm, we'll do any confidentiality here. Woman in her eighties just had her rent hiked up 33%. She had lived there for over a decade, disability. Her entire world was in this epicenter of her apartment building in Montpelier. And because of the predatory behavior, she has to move. And she didn't know where she was gonna go or what she was gonna do. And if you look at the basic, basic, like core functions of government, should we protect somebody like that? So that's why I think the state really needs to look at a just cause eviction bill that would incorporate some rent stability in it too. I think we really have to have this off and take care of the people who are living there now. I don't wanna live in a town where people come to Montpelier and they can wait tables, they can work somewhere else in the service industry, but they can't afford to live in our town. They have to leave at the end of the day. That's not right. You know, that's becoming an elitist town and that's something I think we wanna avoid. And it's gonna take some solutions at the state level to make that happen there. Look, we have some opportunities here. VCFA obviously was a very big blow to the city moving out. Could some of these spaces be converted? Could some state investments be applied to that? And the same with the Elks Club, we need housing at all levels, affordable housing, mobile level housing. We could have some new neighborhoods and that would actually help our tax base too. Rather than make cuts, let's increase the tax base. Thanks a lot. Thank you, Connor. And I apologize for the snafus earlier. Let's move on to, I wanna ask you all about elections. Do you believe that the Vermont legislature needs to focus more attention on election security? And this question comes out of people throughout the state have been recounting votes even just last month from the 2020 election. There have been an uptick in requests for voting machine data from the secretary of state's office. So I would like to hear from each of you what your thoughts are on election security and we'll start with Glenny. This idea of election security when there is little evidence of there being an upturned election in our state or in virtually any of the other states, it's not so much a waste of time but there is so little, there's so much resource being spent on this. There's a tiny chance, if any, that someone's going to end up voting twice. You have to, there's certain amounts of information you have to register for in order to even get your name on the list. And although I'm not bothered by picture IDs if that becomes useful, I'm not bothered without having it either. We go to our town, we go to our registrar, we tell them what our names are, what street we live on, our last name. And I have no, I've heard of no event where there's been someone saying, oh, someone claimed that name twice. I've heard no such thing. So it's still a one to one vote. There's so little effort going towards cheating and those few that are is so negligible and they're often caught under the system we have right now. Like I said, I'm not bothered one way or the other where we have IDs or we don't have IDs but don't force someone to use one if they don't even know how to get one. If they're already registered and they're at the address they're located at and they have a piece of mail, so be it, then let them vote. But with so little evidence of there being election fraud, there's too many resources being wasted on this effort. Thank you, Glenny. Jean. Actually, I think there's a lot of evidence on potential voter fraud and ballots that weren't sent in or censorship regarding such evidence. But in my perspective, look, I mean, receiving mail-in ballots over one month before voting just doesn't seem safe to me. And I'm gonna quote someone. Maybe you could guess who this was. Mail-in absentee ballots remain the largest source of potential voter fraud. You know who said that? Jimmy Carter. People have voted already without knowing the candidates. It favors incumbents and insiders and limits the chance for newcomers to get their name and word out. And early voting before debates such as this without debates being held, it's just very unfair and it's not inclusive. Thank you. Thanks, Jean. Donna. You brought in some interesting points, Jean, in that just to talk about election security, I feel that our Secretary of State has done a good job. The recent debates in the primaries, they're very educational. And I think the new incumbent Secretary of State learned a lot. I mean, John Odom, our Montpelier city clerk is really right there about lots of wonderful ideas. I don't think, I mean, we had this recount in Montpelier. There was no big discrepancy. So I feel secure in that. I do think that sometimes we are voting maybe too early. I think Jean's right that you're getting ahead of the actual activities around it. The one thing I noticed with the primary being so intense, it's like everybody was so overloaded with politics. I don't want to talk to you. They didn't want to interview you. I mean, it was like they needed to rest and I really respected that. And so the general election, particularly right now, isn't as intense for us. Maybe that's certainly not true all over the country. But it just makes it, I mean, maybe too much time spent with it. Maybe a more compacted, more focused, I think could be advantageous. But that's about the election in general, about security. I think we're doing a good job. And when Jimmy Carter was here, we were way behind. We are so much more electronically savvy. We've got to stay on top of it absolutely and always be looking for the way to protect the integrity of the elections. And I just have to give a salutation to all the volunteers. They're just there that won't make it. The volunteers, and that's what's got to stay healthy, is that we have that integrity through our volunteers and not through politics. Thank you. Thank you, Donna. Connor. I think there can be some pretty dangerous rhetoric around this when people try to erode confidence in one of our most sacred institutions and our government here. And I think it's true. If you look at Vermont, there's very little evidence that I don't think there's any evidence that voter fraud has ever shifted in election. You might see individual instances, but to make broad statements about how it's rampant or something, people are saying that that is patently false. I would go the other direction. I think elections need to be more accessible, more inclusive. I think that mail-in ballots increases voter participation Colorado for a long time, has been doing all mail-in ballots, and it's been a great result there. Early voting's fantastic that you can go in at your leisure if you're working election day, which many people are this town, and vote. But yeah, I was proud on city council that we actually took the lead to expand elections to non-U.S. citizens. And I was proud of the voters of Montpelier who voted overwhelmingly for this charter change, which did pass in the state legislature here, allowing some of our new Americans to participate in municipal elections. So again, I think it's dangerous to say that elections are apparently unfair. I think Secretary of State Jim Condos has done a fantastic job in his term there, making it more accessible, more transparent, more inclusive. Thank you. Thank you. Kate, I would agree with Connor that Secretary of State has done a wonderful job over the past few years. I would also like to see voting rights expanded. I applaud the state for sending ballots to everyone for this general election. I think it makes it so much easier for the aged, the infirm, the busy single parent who's working more than one job to be able to vote. I think I agree with Glenny that we are wasting a lot of resources on this topic. And I think that we just need to, I think it's important that we pay attention and cybersecurity is a real thing. And so we just need to, you know, but we elect the right people for the job and they do their job and we need to allow them to just keep doing it. Thank you. Let's talk about Article 22. A couple of you did mention that in your opening statements. I'd like to hear from each one of you where you stand on Article 22, which finalizes a four-year process where two of Vermont's legislatures passed the constitutional amendment that we, I believe we used to call Prop 5 that would guarantee reproductive autonomy for pregnant people. We'll start with Jean. Sure. Well, at first I want to encourage voters. There was a pretty very good segment. I think everyone should watch. It was recently on a local channel 22, NBC. Is that the right channel, 22 is NBC? And it was regarding this topic and it was very informative. They had a UVM doctor, medical, from the medical center, speaking about how they do abortions and they had two representatives on both sides of the issue. And the segment concluded with an attorney's legal analysis of the whole thing. So it's very intuitive and I encourage voters to watch it. Vermont already has an extensive protection on women's right to choose and I will always defend and protect those rights. I also support saving as many lives as possible and that's not arguable. I want to ensure that all women have available options. Many families in this country will love to adopt a baby and that process should not be so complicated and costly. I support laws that provide protection for patients and healthcare providers without the interference of legislators and I would ensure that no unethical providers come into the state. Thank you, Jean. Donna. I support Article 22, 100%. I started back in the 1970s. It tells you how much older I am than everybody. Supporting the ERA, that never happened. And it's very disappointing to me that equal rights amendment never happened. So I'm for anything that just solidifies absolutely the right for women to govern their bodies, absolutely. And there are safety norms within the medical profession. I mean, they look at the full, I mean, the full range of the situation when it's over 22 weeks. And I'm not a doctor, I'm not gonna get into technicalities, but it's so rare in Vermont to ever have that and it's all about if there's severe anomalies with the fetus or a severe threatening the mother's life. It just isn't abused. And so I just, again, I just solidify it. And I have to mention, you know, it gets sort of short changed is the other proposition, Proposition 2, that's all about the fact that we've left language hanging around and we need to clarify that language so that we make sure that we have prohibition of slavery and any sort of certitude is really removed from our constitution. So Proposition 2 and 5 have my 100% support. Thank you, Donna. Connor. I haven't even known until like the century we're living in these days when you see these Supreme Court justices go up in the hearing and one by one say, this is settled law. I'm not gonna do anything about it. It's reprehensible. And then they get up and these activists just do the exact opposite, trying to send people back into like the dark ages here. So I'm very proud to live in a state that had the foresight to get ahead of this before that decision was even made and go through the motions. It's not easy to get a constitutional amendment on the ballot. Go through a couple bienniums there. But they did the hard work, they did it. And now Vermont can be a leader in this. So of course, like abortion, reproductive access should be safe, legal, easily accessible here. And one thing I think we're gonna be dealing with is I think refugee would be the appropriate word for folks coming from other states that have banned abortion. I think it's up to like 22 at this point have some sort of sweeping law banning abortions. So Vermont very well may be that oasis for folks to come here and we need to make sure we take care of them when they get here. I'm very proud, Kate and I were endorsed by Planned Parenthood Vermont. We sent out a mailing citywide recently supporting this constitutional amendment. And as a guy, I have no business when I get into that building. Taking away women's reproductive freedom, I would stand by that. Okay, thank you, Connor. Kate. I'm very proud to have just marked yes and voted for the reproductive liberty amendment. I have two daughters and I will do everything, everything I possibly can to protect their choice, protect their autonomy and protect their access to healthcare. The decision to have an abortion should be between the patient and the provider and no one should interfere with that decision. I'm horrified by the states that are turning their backs on women. And I'm proud to live in a state that will not turn their back on women and children and girls and will continue to fight for their autonomy, their decision, their choices for the kind of healthcare that they seek. Thank you, Kate. Lenny. I can actually, it never occurred to me to be involved in the reproductive actions of women who are having children, not having children, what have you? It's never been an issue for me. The fact that we have to have a 22 is a shock and it needs to be done. A mimic two in regards to race language, considering everything that Connor had mentioned, which was absolutely correct and that Donna had mentioned, if this is how we are as a society that we're going to start trying to go back in time, then we need to be ahead of all of that language. All of these rights link us inextricably. There's also, there's something I've watched. I can't remember the drug and someone here might know. Can't remember if it's methotroxola with something. There's a young girl who had a medical condition where she needed that medicine to actually make her body function. It's also a medicine used to do early abortions as well. And she had to leave her state to go and get the medication because she was denied it. She was 14 years old. She wasn't taking it medical papers. She wasn't taking it for an abortion. It didn't matter. She needed it for another medical condition which would kill her within a matter of months or weeks if she didn't have it. And all of these people are being roped, also being roped into these anti-abortion rules, these anti-abortion states that don't care about life of mother, life of anybody else who needs those medications or anything else. So we're all linked inextricably to all of these decisions. And we need to go forward on 22 and on two. Thank you, Glenny. And I'm glad you brought up Prop 2 because my next question actually relates to a comment you made, Glenny, before we went live about how you don't knock on doors. And I would like to ask the candidates, we've talked about Prop 2, but do you see the need for any other policy or legislation that addresses systemic racism in Vermont? And we'll start with Jean. I could talk about this. And again, I talk about, there's a column that I wrote in February 28th, 2022 regarding my experiences with racial injustice and discrimination. So I mean, I would lead by example, and be a strong voice to always fight to end racism and discrimination. And of course, certainly to educate and reform. I'm Cuban American. So I've been there. And in another platform of discrimination, discouraging and prohibiting diversity of opinion and political dissent is a form of discrimination. And it's causing a great deal of division in our country right now. What makes our country unique is our diversity. And what makes our country united is the inclusivity already in the melting pot that is the United States. So we do need to ensure equal opportunities, continued equal opportunities, positive ethical practices and fairness in our state. Thank you. Glenny. My comment, and it's only fair to state what I had said. I had said I don't go knock on doors because there's too many chances of people looking at me and immediately thinking the wrong thing. It really doesn't matter whether I'm a college professor or on a PhD program, any of those things that are true. It doesn't really matter because what people see is this. And no matter how well it was dressed or moderate, a lot of people, maybe 30, 40% see this and that's quite enough to not be able to knock on doors. I'd rather go to public events, meet and greets, zoom, what have you. Plus I have lower back issues, so walking up and down the hills is another thing. But that's always been a concerning thought for me. Has nothing to do with being lazy. I walk everywhere, I don't even have a car. But yeah, it's important for me to try and draw line at my own personal safety and meet people in a public space where it's useful for all of us, where they won't get these different ideas. Some of them might still have them and that's okay. But it's not okay if I'm by myself and they've got their dog or their weapon or what have you. And it's not safe for me. It's horrible to say that. It's horrible to even think that. But I'm being realistic as an educated person, as a person who has family who are unrelated and on all sides of the spectrum, of the ethnic spectrum, it's safe for me to be able to know where to draw the line and hope that we can find the way around this kind of issue. I'll walk with you then. Appreciate that. Thank you for clarifying that. Yes. Kate. I'm really proud of the school systems in this state who have chosen to raise the Black Lives Matter flag. I think it's important to listen to the voices of the students and that's where those flags are coming from. They're coming from student activists. I'm reminded of a young mom, a mom of two young children that I met on Elm Street while knocking on doors and she had put up the pride flag and also the Black Lives Matter flag in support of her children and in support of her children's friends. And recently, before I knocked on the door, she had taken those flags down and was nearly in tears as she was telling the story about how people drive by and holler out nasty things. And she and her husband decided to take those flags down to protect their children from hearing those awful things being said from the cars. We need to continue to listen to our young people. We need the schools to continue the conversation. We need amendments like those that we voted yes on and we need to continue to be civil. I think we've lost some civility in the last few years and we need to bring it back and we need to take care of our neighbors. Thank you. Connor. Yeah, now, again, Gladdy's words hit hard and I'm sorry we still live in a place where that's a reality that he deals with every day. I think there's sort of a misconception in Vermont sometimes because we're not a very diverse state that racism doesn't exist at the same level as other places. We did paint Black Lives Matter on State Street. You know, it's not worth the paint that's written on unless you do something to back that up, right? It's just words. But even those words were so offensive to some people in our state that they couldn't let it exist without proposing that we paint liberty and justice for all next to that. We were sent pictures of nooses. It was discussed in some of the behavior. But I think one thing that really hit is institutional racism. We talk about it a lot in the criminal justice system. It impacts every institution in government, education, as paid saying, healthcare, and housing, and housing as well. So we need to do a better job. We need implicit bias training I think at every level of government because we still have driving well Black is still a thing, right? You can look down in Bennington County to see some of those numbers that are like through the roof. And we've had ourselves on the back a lot but look how we've treated like migrant workers. Look how we've treated folks from the Abinac community. Vermont has a lot to answer for on some of this stuff. And I think this amendment is a largely symbolic but a step in the right direction to acknowledge, okay, look indentured servitude and slavery under certain age still exists in our contribution and is only trumped by the federal law at this point. So yeah, we have a lot to do. Thank you, Donna. So much has been said. The one thing that would be different than what was said is that I really feel that the state again needs to have leadership and develop diversity, equity, and inclusion department, DEI, I see it on all the literature. And this includes anti-racist principles but that we need a professional group that's there and all state employees, all contracted vendors, all legislators, all elected officials would need to go through this training, literally. And then they would be working with the schools, with the Vermont League of Cities in town so it got out into the municipals and the community. The one thing when we way back when established for Montpellier, the social justice economic committee, the goal was to have workshops for the community. And they've done a great job that this one piece hasn't happened as much as we would like and that is reaching to the community and having exchanges among the diversity we now have immigrants of all type and people who've lived here, born here and still aren't accepted. So I think that's really important and particularly because as adults, we tend not to go after training all of us. And so it's a way to have a way to spread the attitude because unless you bump yourself out of your habits, you don't change them. And because we may not see a lot of different people on the street, it doesn't come out but it doesn't change your interior attitude. And that's what we need to work on, our interior attitude. Thank you, Donna. I'm looking at the time, it looks like we have time for one more question and then we'll ask for your closing statements. Climate change. The effects of climate change are already being felt all over the world. In Florida, Florida has been under water this week. Do you believe Vermont should take additional steps to limit carbon emissions or any other additional steps around what we can do here in Vermont? And part of that question is also speaking to that refugee, I believe it was Glenny, who said we may see people coming, no, sorry, it was Connor. We may see people coming to the state for abortion. We may and we may already have seen people moving to the state fleeing places that are affected by climate change. Starting with Glenny. Yeah, there's a thought that I had during the summer in regards to climate issues and there was something that I had a few years ago during a running season where I heard students say, we should prevent climate change. And I said to the student, I said, climate change is something that has occurred ever since Earth has been around as it is not something you can just stop. It's something we must adapt to. It's not something we can, it's not something we need to make worse, which is what we've done, is that we've taken something that normally happens and we've made it so much worse, we've increased it, we've made it so much faster. We need to find sustainable solutions to climate change, not simply repeating the greed, the lobbying, the arrogance of the past. Biofuels are unsustainable. They really are because they take up arable land, they take up land for food. And it really becomes a waste. We need to work together to go beyond just windmills. They work great for the temporary, but to make those things, and it's fine to have them, but to make them, we still end up needing oil in order to make the parts that do it. This was mentioned by Tom Hartman many years ago in the last days of ancient sunlight, and I think he's done a second edition to that book now. But we need to actually start thinking about geothermal. I mean, I know it would take quite a distance to get down to it from our part on the Earth's surface, but still we need to figure these things out and there has to be a way. We can't just say, oh, we just can't do that. We're not like Iceland. I'm like, and then we need to dig deeper and find that way. So yes. Thanks, Clintie. Kate. Science is real as a school teacher. We're not listening to the science and I think we need to pay more attention. We need some incentives for more solar. We need some incentives for more hybrid and electric vehicles. We do need to be more resilient to the fact that climate change is already upon us and so what are we gonna do about it? Hurricane Irene was a wake-up call for me. To see those rivers just bend back to the way they were before we engineered them to go in the direction we wanted them to go in. We need to pay more attention to the infrastructure. I was listening most recently in Florida. They were talking about how the new zoning building materials, the garages that were just built, the porches that were just built, those are the parts that remain and the rest has gone. So we need to think about what building supplies and what sort of engineering needs to happen in order to withstand the stronger storms that are upon us. Thank you, Connor. Might be the biggest issue we're talking about tonight because you're talking extinction, right? Climate change is the biggest threat to humanity. Right now 90% of all carbon dioxide emissions come from fossil fuels and yet it makes up 80% of our power here. When renewables are cheap and they're plentiful, it's kind of a farce where this administration says we're gonna reach 90% renewables by 2050 because they're not doing anything to get there. It's gonna take more than a band-aid approach. It's gonna take a comprehensive look and really like a green new deal at the state level. We need to look at weatherization. We need to look at electric vehicles. We need to look at better public transportation because the more cars we can get out the road, the biggest dent we're gonna make in this. So I think we need to maybe look at some third rail issues like a carbon tax as long as there are subsidies for low-income families that don't break the bank there. We don't want to penalize working families on this. But I think wind is an option. A single windmill can power 1,000 homes in Vermont. And having the moratorium on that right now, we need to lift that. So is it gonna be an uncomfortable conversation? Is it gonna be contentious? Yeah, it is, but that's like our job. But we need big changes in the legislature because what we're doing right now isn't working. Thanks, Connor. Donna. Okay. I think the state can start off with making sure some incentives we had we took away. So I think we need to make sure that we have incentives for renewable energy and that solar wind, bio-fields. We need to regulate the sales of gas, fuel, oil and propane and a carbon tax for polluting gases and oil-fired power systems I think is really essential. And we need to encourage remote working to reduce transportation pollution as well as the wear and tear on the roads. More construction. It's very expensive to pave a road. And we need a campaign to go back to really that incentive to insulate homes and buildings but also to make sure we're using the right materials that will hold up in the severe weather. Vermont has a climate action plan and it says to reach the greenhouse gas reductions by 2030 we need to weatherize 90,000 houses, 112,000 heat pumps need to be installed and we need 160 light electrical vehicles and 12,500 industrial vehicles. Now those vehicles are replacements. We take the gas ones off and we put these on. I mean, it's a real good action plan. It needs funding, it needs action. And so that's really important because this climate change is about our health. It's our quality of our air, our water, our soil and we also have to really simultaneously control and ban toxins like peace offs, et cetera. It's really important. Thank you. Jean. This is a very passionate topic of mine. And yes, in Florida, those developments in that region, when I lived in Florida, those communities that were built were prefab homes, just really, yeah. And so that's why they took this massive hit. So infrastructure in that sense is important. But we can't do this. We can't destroy our planet to save the planet. I am very optimistic and believe we will slowly get to where we need to be and balance our energy needs. And while protecting our environment and slow climate change, I am proactive with a coalition to stop, not regulate, but completely abolish forever chemicals, including PFAPs. And I would like to pass a bill, but if I get elected to ban pesticides and chemical companies coming here and doing business, we currently have many resources and agencies that have supported the development of alternative energy resources. And certainly with more resources available, the cost of energy can be significantly reduced, saving customers' money. Although right now, currently the price of energy in this inflated economy has increased a great deal. So we must do all we can to keep costs lower and affordable. I lost time, but I mean, I could go on on this topic for have a lot of great ideas regarding this issue. Thanks. Thank you, Jean. There's another whole page of questions I wanted to ask you on. We're not gonna get to it tonight. But I'd like to ask to have you go through and give us your closing statement, anything you wished you'd said earlier that you didn't get a chance to. And we'll start with Kate for the closing statements. As far as safe and healthy public schools go, I think one of the big issues is that we need to secure, elevate LGBTQIA plus rights. We've done a really great job at U32, renovating a couple of bathrooms upstairs to be all gender. And I think that's one small move that we can make. And statewide, it makes some people uncomfortable upfront. It certainly did when we opened our school doors this school year. But now most people don't think anything of it. And yet the people who have been uncomfortable for years now have an opportunity to use a restroom where they feel included. So I'm grateful for the work that we've done at schools. And I'd like to see that continue. And again, it takes lifting the voices of young people. And I aim to do that. Thank you. Connor. All right, Montoya voters, you have some great choices at this table. Gene is a fantastic community activist. He got the speed limit lowered on Berlin Street and was a great advocate of council. Donna Bates, one of the best public servants this town's ever had here. I've learned a ton from her and the dedication she shows is incredible. Glenny, I've only got to meet recently, but at a farmer's market, I was actually being kind of accosted by somebody. And Glenny, even though I'm his opponent, took me side afterwards and checked if I was okay. He leads through kindness. He leads through kindness. Kate is my rock. Kate and I have been through it together in the primary. And she inspires me every day on the trail. There's not one person we talk to where she doesn't hold that conversation dear and want to act on it. My mother died election day. Kate dragged me over the finish line here. She's something else. We've been endorsed by every major labor union in the state, Planned Parenthood, rights and democracy. Let's grow kids. I think I have the experience to get in that building and hit the ground running, not like the usual freshman. I've done it before and I'm ready to do it for Montpelier. Thanks very much. Thanks Connor. Donna. Well, I'm back to your voice and your vote. I want both. I want you to vote for me and I want you to talk to me. And I really will work to be financially and socially responsible while striving to make our laws and treatment of everyone more fair, more respectful and more equitable. And I want to serve Montpelier in another capacity. I thoroughly enjoyed my near, I'm going to my fifth term on city council and it's been wonderful. And it's a great place because our residents are involved. And so I'm back to asking everyone to use that involvement, use their voice to call the administration, call their legislators about housing. We really need to act on this now. We can't just keep passing the buck. It's right out there in our backyard. We need to act on it. So please vote for me on November 8th. Thank you very much. Thanks Donna. Jean. Thanks Connor. My condolences to your mom. Oh, thanks very much. I hope to win your votes in this election. And I think most importantly, win your trust and confidence. It's been a challenge to run as the underdog. It's been a learning experience and we need to be united. Have empathy and kindness towards each other regardless of our differences. If elected, I will work hard to address all the pressing issues. Your concerns are my concerns. This is not about me. This is about all of us. And I will represent all the people in our district to the best of their interests. I don't have any personal or political agendas. I simply want to serve for the good of all the people and to help solve the problems with real solutions. There are many challenges and it will take dedication, commitment, participation from all those who are willing to help. And I will always listen and take suggestions and never forget that this is a for the people, by the people, democracy. Your support is needed. And with much care and love, I am here to serve the public. Check out my website, geneforhouse.com. Thank you. Thanks, Gene. All events and people are connected to all other events and people. So the environmental, societal, political upheaval, it's all connected, that energy governs are all of our spiritual levels of awakening. So if anything, these energies feed into each other. So remember that spiritual, in this context, merely means a wider connection to, you know, a wider connection, an infinitely larger connection, which is with each other, sorry about that. So everyone needs to have a voice that is heard. That includes hearing the voices of those who don't necessarily agree with us. I think I mentioned this earlier. Either we include all the voices at the table and analyze those voices for their best attributes or nothing we try to do or to change, nothing that we've said tonight. And any of those things will matter if we don't, if we don't, on any layer of society, if we don't hear those voices. So be people behaving at the table, that means being well and good to each other when I say behaving, that's what matters in hearing those voices and getting this work done. Thank you. I'd like to thank all the candidates who are here. Thank you, Glenny, Kate, Connor, Donna, Gene. I appreciate that all of you are running for office. We didn't really talk about this earlier, but this is kind of an interesting time in this specific district with two long-term incumbents, no longer running and unfortunately, the passing of Warren Kitts Miller. Thank you all for running and for being here tonight. And for the folks who are viewing, you should have received your ballot for the November 8th election already in the mail. If you have not, please contact your town clerk. Thank you for joining us. The best you can do to protect the democratic process is to vote, so we encourage you to do that. Good night.