 Good evening and welcome to channel 17 town meeting television for our continuing coverage of general election 2018 this evening. We have Gino Sullivan with us. She is running unopposed in District 6 to District 6 to and that is in Burlington's new north end welcome Jean so great to see you Thank you new and old north end. I have the best district. That's right. I believe in the state I go I have a full spectrum economically. I Have I go from the old north end to the new north end? I go all the way down to the waterfront with all of the various different condos, which I find are hilarious, you know Between the metal condo Sarah Harry's condos and Barry Mossman's with the faux French chateau. So it's all great It's a wonderful district And you have been serving for four and a half terms. Yes, I have so why are you running for reelection? well, I have of course a plan I am ranking member on House Commerce and We have done for the past four years a lot of work on Tech Ed 3000 actually this is a Frank coffee number 3000 young people graduate from our 86% graduation rate with no job skills No pathway to a middle-class job No idea what a middle-class job is when the retail association came to our committee and said we need workforce ready people And I said for the record to find that and they said able to add and subtract and show up for work That's terrifying Now let's segue to we also have in the state Champlain College and Norwich Which are two of the five top ranking in the world? cybersecurity educational facilities in the world We have tech in this state that is amazing We have we are brilliant in this state of Starting small businesses. We are our challenges going from small to to actually sizing up That's where we really need to work with our small business community But what I know is is that I've been in for four years That's 12,000 young people who've graduated with no job skills And a lot of that has to do with the fact that Tech Ed when we say career technical education We're talking about Burlington Tech Essex Tech and all of that When you look at the funding mechanism, it cost a sending school money to send a kid to tech So you got a barrier there to our world is changing the world of work is changing The talents you use are changing one of the things Google figured out years ago was that the people who do Automotive Tech are brilliant at 3d computer-aided design so All of these different levels of how we the the nature of work the type of jobs We have are changing and the traditional K through 12 hard, you know Line and then you have quote technical education that when I go into my district and I talk about this Wonderful well well in people tension people say I really want to help those kids Those kids are their kids. Those kids are my kids. My kids went to the Burlington school system Both of them would have loved to apply to you know academics both of them would have loved to have something They can put their hands on I was talking to a graduate from VHS one of my son's best friends They're all 40-somethings and Noah was saying I love video Production but it was the tech center and there there was a stigma to being in the tech center So we've got to knock all of that town and we've got to look at the European models We've got to give certain we've been doing a lot of work in our committee for the past four years on Looking hard at what are the certification programs that are world that are recognized there is a construction certification you can get post High school or in high school that is recognized in all of the construction industry So then you know that if I am construction company and I'm hiring that person they've got that certificate They've got certain skillsets on board Jillian from whose last name escapes me, but she's brilliant in Burlington It's Edo is doing this and training up. I think it's 50 People that the city council is supporting So what we need to do is break down the barriers change the entire funding mechanism and and and get a free Flow and word what we've done in this legislature now is is we've created four pilot projects that are driving Tech Ed down or applied education which I should talk about it down into grade seven And we're saying to your K through 12 schools come up with something There was a reason why woodshop was brilliant in schools back in the day as was music we We have different skill sets we need and we need to do that so I so the the table is laid We had a workforce development bill. We passed that Next this first session we're getting a report on adult education Which people think of as adult basic ed getting your GED, but that can also be workforce development We are not utilizing our facilities to train up working people Everyone knows that people we've got a low unemployment rate and we've got people who are working in two and three jobs But the jobs aren't paying them enough. We could take some of those people and train them in adult workforce education So if we do that the first year in commerce The Commerce Committee because we took that funding out of the education funded to the general fund So commerce gets to do that if commerce and education can join together in the second half the biennium Because now the Commerce Committee has had a fairly good training in this Reaching out to the Education Committee we could form some sort of a special committee. However, they form it where we could really redesign the funding model the training models everything that we've got So that it is a freer flow from I would say an artist and a well and a pipe fitter both want to learn how to weld Well, it sounds like And we can do it in two years. So that's why I'm running for reelection. Okay It sounds like What we're lacking in the educational system is a well-rounded Education where people are learning with their head and their hands Completely right and so you know music is going to help you be better in math and right woodwork is going to be better Help you be better at pretty much anything including the exercise of your will to stick to whatever job you're going to do And education should give every student a pathway to a middle-class Income earning put potential and I was talking to a young man. He wants to be a physical therapist. That's a PhD program now and In I said to him well, why don't you get a personal care attendance certification while you're a junior? And he said why would I do that? And I said because that would allow you to work in a nursing home where they do rehab So you'd be on the ground doing that. That's why connecting work to students the K through 12 students and the tech students We're not kids don't do summer jobs anymore So they don't have any of those job skills as we need as a as an educational facility is to bring Well-rounded we need to bring our students in so they really have Ladders that same kid who could get a personal care attendancy. So they'll get killer recommendations for college Now let's talk about the kid who really cares about people Really hate school for whatever reason just wants to get out get on their own and have their own apartment And they care about people that same kid in a sophomore year get a personal care attendant That would be the summer after-school job If you do that and and or care about it visiting nurse association will pay full bore all the way up to BS in nursing So there are all of these ladders that we need to connect from the workforce and the workforce needs To our students. So that's what keeps kids home. That's what builds a community And how do you think that this ties into one of the questions we have here about Vermont's? Sustainable economy for Vermont. I think there's probably a straight line. Yeah, you're right. Right. It's right. We are we Someone said I was at a actually I was on at the Tech Alliance they have they have a wonderful boat cruise I always fall into to go on but also you meet interesting people with great brains And one guy said yes, you've got to stop paying for student tourism in the state of Vermont. What's that mean? Everyone comes and goes to school loves it and leaves. Mm-hmm. That's not a sustainable model and and we we are Well, one of the really cool models we've got now is we now put in full full scholarships for the National Guard One to make us more competitive my other day job is I'm state chair of the ESG are which is employer support for the Garden Reserve which is a Department of Defense grouping in every state that is the liaison between Garden Reserve members and their civilian careers because when we got rid of the draft We hung everyone out to dry We said, oh great will save millions of dollars in just-in-time inventory for defense and actually does work But at any given moment 54% of our deployed troops are Garden Reserve people now Let's figure out how well how that impacts the small employer in Vermont So instead of being honest and actually taking a lot of those billions of savings in the Department of Defense and Putting it towards supporting Garden Reserve members in their civilian careers because they're gonna go off on drills and they're gonna get deployed and all of that And that has an impact instead of doing that to support them. They basically do nothing and Buy more boy, you know choice for boys, which is really probably the worst thing I should say, but I don't care So that's the piece. So what I do that what I do there is I'm working with employers To bridge and get our particularly our mountain troops, which are infantry our air the airborne are They've got all stem jobs, but the infantry don't so I'm they've got a lot of people like who are Landscapers and things and if they get deployed they lose their business. So what we're trying to do is build up a better bridge for Guard members and their civilian jobs So let me ask you about the climate economy and how Vermont can take advantage of the opportunity that climate change presents We need to do a carbon tax We need to understand that if we can do it red regionally we should but we absolutely have to do that. We need to just work as diligently and as Conscientiously as we can the other thing we need to do is clean our water It not just because it's for tourism. It would not just because we want clean water and it's good for tourism That estimated 20 million dollars a year is economic development. Those are construction jobs That's money. We're investing in building Vermont. That's where the sustainability comes in You got a we've got to start thinking about that. We're gonna clean up our waters then we invest in and and we train Burling to Vermonters for those jobs So where is the money going to come from to clean up the lake to clean up with the waterways in general? Honestly, I like I like the treasurer's original plan which was the plot It was it was based in there was a there was a surcharge on every on every plot We're gonna have to figure it out. I don't know what's gonna happen with the federal government, but We need to think of it not as a tax that disappears we need we need to quantify that as Economic development for construction in our in our state I think that actually Paul Ralston was talking about this down in the Addison is saying but we should invest in the state should pay for the the buffers on the edges of the river and That's I think we should I think we should look at that and say to do that to make those riparian buffers I think this phrase That takes workers people have to do it those are Vermont jobs and those can be very skilled Vermont jobs So I want to read I want to rephrase a lot of those the sustainability economy is looking at reinvesting in ourselves If we have if we are putting guard members for your scholarships in Vermont schools Then why don't we make sure that we have really good jobs for them when they come back when they're when they're here So they stay here so Being in the district that you represent six two It's probably one of the more diverse districts in the state would be my guess in terms of population, right? It is and so What do you see as the challenges to? Institutional racism. I mean now how can we as a state dismantle that? systemic Racism that is contained in how we do business. I remember in the legislature when we started talking about driving while black and And this is before we had the wonderful study for UVM and People were standing up and saying no no no this can't be true. This can't be true and to have Objective fact-based discussions Helps a tremendous amount one of the first things I ever did in the legislature was created was actually to first the nation bill We the National Guard now reports every year on sexual harassment sexual assault and Discrimination in the Guard instance that were complained and now we added another stream, which is women being recruited How many have re-upped and and how are and how are they being how are you? Elevating them in the force because the only way you're really going to take care of that situation is to get a better 5050 mix gender-wise well That's about quantify quantify quantify and part of the thing we have to do is look at the numbers. It's we are Incarcerating I believe the highest number of Black young men in the country in Vermont. Yes, and if not if we're not the highest we're damn close and We're sending them to Mississippi to a for-profit prison in a state that flies a flag that has the Confederate battle flag in it. I Was a civil rights worker for SNCC in Mississippi for a year I know that state and I visit that state. It hasn't changed. I don't I worry about our population so We just have to look at it recognize it and embrace it England in the 40s Went through this a similar situation. It was an island population. They're all white all of a sudden the Empire came home and that's when the Teddy boys were there and all of that and And eventually it's still not fabulous, but eventually Communities got absorbed culture got absorbed so tiki masala is probably chicken masala is probably everyone's favorite Friday night dish and one thing So we have to do the same thing and and the state has a challenge because we have Burlington with our fabulous diversity and then we have Maybe I don't know Springfield so It's it's bringing it along. I keep saying things like Whenever I look at anything that did travel and tourism puts out any brochures I got to be a joke in my committee because Bill Botzel my chair was wonderful Would give me whatever brochure and I would flip through it and I'd start counting the black or brown faces I'd see and If we're selling Vermont sell a multicultural Vermont, but what if we're not really hospitable the multicultural Vermont? We need to make people aware and that's how you do it. You have multicultural brochures advertising your state you recognize Institutional racism with with driver stops you look at discipline problems in schools You start you start? Cole just objectively looking at facts I Think most people Are well-meaning I Think people are unaware if you were if you were part of them if you unaware of if you look like me You wander blissfully through the world and you don't there's no moment because I'm in the majority all the time It's only when you're in the minority that you get a different take and so It's conversation. It's talking. It's making but it's also Hard-nosed looking at traffic stops looking at incarceration figures looking at who chooses to prosecute Looking at housing looking at economic diversity Look at who are we we who are we recruiting? so let me ask you about the economics of our educational system and how we maintain a quality of education with a declining Population of school-age students. Oh dear God Well, you know the standard the standard statement is if you got off the proper it doesn't make sense for property owners To function to pay for education. Yes, we have by definition We get a benefit Because you know we it may keep my property keeps my housing value up But that's really not the way to to fund things If you did it on Akonai if you did it on income, we all know it would work better That's just so you spread the you spread that Are there states where education is financed based on income dear God? I don't know did I ever say that burning bamboo shoots under my fingernails is more preferable than being on the education committee honestly, I that I Have so much respect for the people in the education committee. That is a very arcane and tough world. I Do blockchain and commerce my other deepweeds world, but that I I willingly I You know Janet Ansel Has an encyclopedic knowledge of taxes and how they affect people and she's ways and means yes, right? and we have The education committee and Dave Sharp is retired and everyone on that committee is stellar so It's a tough place. I just you know my I know that I know I'm a retired stock program I know the dollars and cents the dollars and cents are if it's on income it works out better, but so Agriculture the dairy farms in our state are really having a very difficult time Because of the way the financing of milk has been structured and for other reasons so how important is is agriculture and in In general dairy farming in particular how important does it remain for our state and what could we do to support it? Well, I had a wonderful experience actually with a constituent Our farm to plate and our What we're doing in agriculture is pretty impressive and it's about diversity. It's about getting getting our egg particular a dairy Farmers to to to find more profitable sidelines and to diversify their product in order to survive That being said I I have a constituent who makes an amazing dip That is now in Hanifords and she has an opportunity to go from 70 Hanifords to a thousand and also cost Costco's talking to her so she she's a startup and she needs to ramp up So I called the Agriculture Department of Agriculture to see you know what they've got going and they've got a specialist in there Who knows every dairy license in the state? Absolutely on point right there knows how to scale people up Immediately said there are various distributors of refrigerated trucks. That was one of her challenges. And so they're doing an excellent job on that It's it's tough, you know if if you go organic you get out of the dairy compact Which means you can charge Yes, more latitude about what you charge for your milk. Yes, you have you're out of the compact you you're no longer priced There's there's a cost involved in that and there's a time lag It's a challenge and it's and it is and the backbone of a vast number of our dairy farms are undaunted documented folks So what's your view on? This isn't a question, but just You know the ice strategy and its impact on the state just in the light of what you've just said Well, we had it was funny that the defender general came to the judiciary last year and said look we've got the money We're doing it anyway We're defending undocumented people at local in the local level and then they go to immigration court down in Boston And you know they assured you just sort of they thought it'd be good come to the floor. No problem the It was it was like the poison from the national World was coming into our some of the things that people said about those people In the legislative arena. Yeah, it passed and so our defender generals are doing it But what they're talking about we're not they were talking about our undocumented people who are keeping the backbone of our state and our dairy farms afloat but this Poisonous venomous thought process is even coming to Vermont. I'm granted. It's in small doses and I am wildly proud of our legislature I think we really we pride ourselves in being as like especially in commerce. You're really are nonpartisan But we pride ourselves in in collegiality and respect so that was pretty awful So we're just about to wrap up. Do you have any closing comments? I want everyone to vote We are all look out for front porch forum We are going to be on front porch for a form telling district six one Which is the far new north end and district six to who's most who's coming out to vote more? We're going to give you statistics. We're going to tell you how to do early voting The one thing you can tell the world is join us in this onslaught of voting Vote your conscious vote for who you want, but just get out and vote. This is the saving grace to democracy Wonderful. Thank you. Geno Sullivan. Geno Sullivan is running unopposed for the district six two in Burlington That covers the old north end part of the old north end and part of the new north end And we hope that you will stay tuned here for continuing coverage of channel 17 town meeting television general election 2018 we'll be back