 So this time it's going to be even tougher unfortunately because we have four of you excellent candidates giving up a Sunday afternoon in Magnificent July. Though the first question will be, why is it important that you be elected this year to be Vermont's Lieutenant Governor? How do we start with you Patricia? Great. Well first of all I just want to say thank you to Dawn and to the Orange County Democratic Committee and to all of you for being here on this very hot day. I'm the right candidate right now for many reasons but I want to first start by introducing myself a little bit to you. I grew up on a fourth generation dairy farm here in Orange County and I was instilled with a deep respect of the land, our communities and the work ethic that built this state. I'm also a product of our public school system. I went to the Little Red Schoolhouse just down the road like my grandparents, father and sisters before me and I'm deeply aware that Vermont is at a critical turning point and we need leadership in Montpelier now that understands how to address these issues and engage future generations so that we can all thrive. For almost a decade I've been the president of the Vermont Council on World Affairs, a statewide organization and in this role I have built coalitions across the state and I have been able to address affordable housing and look at stable costs. Is that time up or is it time almost up? A couple more seconds. So I'll leave it on. Together I believe that we can build a future that protects our quality of life with stable costs and affordable housing where women have equal rights and Vermont remains at the forefront of climate action and as Lieutenant Governor I will bring new energy to Montpelier now is the time for the era of new leadership that will deliver the results for Vermont. Thank you. Thank you Patricia Preston, Kitty Toll. Thank you Don and thank you to the Orange County Democrats for having us today and for all of you attending. I am Kitty Toll, I grew up in the Northeast Kingdom of Vermont in Dampo on our dairy farm as well and I'm really proud to say that the farm is still in existence and the farmhouse has the seventh generation of children and I really look forward to that continuing. I was a public school teacher in the Northeast Kingdom in the towns of Charleston and Gilman if you've ever been to Gilman and also in St. Johnsbury. I served in the legislature for 12 years. My first term I served on the Ag Committee which was very important because I feel agriculture is a very foundation of the state. My last 10 years I served on appropriations and the last four I was chair of the Appropriations Committee. The office of Lieutenant Governor I would bring strong budgeting skills and with my advocacy I know that I just can't talk about those, you know the areas that are so important to me. How do we fund them? How do we make them sustainable? And it's this work that I would bring to the office of Lieutenant Governor. I built strong coalitions, my budgets went out on unanimous votes from committee and I know it's important to compromise and work across the aisle. Thank you. Thanks Kitty. Dr. David Zuckerman. Well thank you everyone for being here today and I want to say there was a sentence and an email we got in preparing for this debate that said why would you want to squander a summer pushing for votes for the pickling cucumbers and going to the state parks? And the reason why me right now is because while I actually do harvest vegetables pretty regularly I'm thinking about the thousands and thousands of her honors that barely even get to go to state parks because they're working 60 hours a week to pay their bills. I'm thinking about my daughter who asked me to run even though she knew what it would mean as a sacrifice for our family because our planet is on fire. The reason that I would like you to think that I'm the most preferential candidate is because I have a sense of urgency as you've seen with the work I've done in the past as well with respect to the climate, economic injustice, and social injustice and I have the experience of having been Lieutenant Governor to where I can hit the ground day one and work with their monitors across the state as I have for years to tackle these issues with the legislature. Thank you. Charlie Kimball. Yes, thank you for that question and thank you for coming out today. Unlike my opponents, I'm not in agriculture. I was born and raised on Molly Grey's dairy farm. You also said it'd be funny. I think at this time, based on the experience that I have, it's a lot more broad than my opponents in this race. I was actually raised in St. Albans and have lived all over the states including in Brownsville, Woodstock, and Dunkspin and I've worked in the private sector for 25 years with a lot of experience working for businesses large and small and I've been in local and state government for as long as I can remember and I've been in the legislature for the past six years. I'm still in that legislature now and dealing with the crisis of the COVID crisis that we've been dealing with in the legislature. It's a very recent real experience dealing with that and I think that really qualifies me in terms of being lieutenant governor and bringing people together to say how can we recover from this pandemic because we are certainly not out of it now. So there's a lot more that we need to do and I'm prepared to do that. Thank you very much. Thank you, Charlie Kimball. Dick McCormick, senator from Windsor County has joined us. Thank you, Dick. What life experience or event was the most influential to who you are, the work you do, and your motivation to make the world better? Charlie, let's start with you. It's a singular life event. So many, so I'm the youngest of eight kids, so there's a lot of experience and learning in the hands of your brothers and sisters. So I would say it's probably the tutelage I gained from one of my oldest brothers and taking me to the ski area for early training but shoving me in the back of a VW Volkswagen Bug while as other four buddies were in the car. I mean, I say that just because there's a commitment that brothers and sisters show to one another and that you really just have to kind of roll with the punches a little bit. So that's, my personality is really to listen, to adapt to the situation and to use that information that I get when asking questions to make decisions. So that's enabled me really to be a moderate and to consider issues and consider our opinions from both sides of the aisle. And that has for me been very formative in what I've done in politics and what I've done in life. Thanks. David? Well, I guess as a singular experience it would be the death of my father when I was just 13. But to go beyond that it was the 13 years I had with him. I used to go to the hospital with him regularly and he was visiting his patients after surgeries on the weekend and see how he cared for people and took time with him as a doctor who had more than six minutes of a patient. When I went to the stores with him and he would talk with random strangers in the aisles and a trip to get butter would take an hour, learning the gift of God which happens to be particularly good in politics. And as a Jew, knowing that he stood up for the KKK's right to march in Skokie, Illinois because of the right to speak free speech and that we have to be able to have the conversations and not shut anyone down. So there's a lot of other things to that. Thanks, Kitty. Thank you for that question. I really think it has to be the experience my mother allowed me to have by going to work with her and working with her often was on the farm but she was a legislator and I was only five, there was no kindergarten and I quite often went to the state house with my mother for the one year she was in for the redistricting in 1965. What she taught me, she planted the seed first of politics but she also taught me that there were struggles with women in Vermont moving forward in politics. There has been no other female legislator from my district between my mother when she ran in 1965 and when I ran in 2008 and there was only one other Democrat during that time and she showed me that perseverance, being independent, speaking your voice and being taken seriously was key and those are the things that I think have certainly crafted the person that I am today. Moderator's crew, Rogan, tell us your mom's name. My mother's name was Catherine Beatty and she was a real force of nature. We had roll reversal in our home before there was even the term. She ran the farm, she did taxes, she was in charge. Maybe pies. Then pies. Thank you. If I had to choose one singular moment it would actually be watching my grandfather Warren Preston who some people in this room may know. He's a farmer here in Orange County and I would go to tell me in days with him starting at five years old and he was classically known for at the end of a lot of discussion putting one hand down and the other hand down and taking the slow stand and walking to the podium and having the most prolific words advocating for the agricultural community. Excuse me. That would be if I had to pick one moment. After that time, I spent the next several years I've lived in or worked in over 45 countries and I've worked with minority groups and disenfranchised and marginalized people and each time I've traveled and worked in a different group and setting and I've been deeply impacted and that has also affected the work. Once I came home and returned to Vermont and worked as the president of the Vermont Council on World Affairs traveling to every corner of this state meeting with Vermonters and understanding how there's beauty and success but there is struggle in this state and I'm deeply impacted by that every single time I travel around this state and meet with Vermonters. Thank you. Thank you, Patricia. John Lance Gardner was Franklin Delano Roosevelt's first vice president and he famously said the vice presidency isn't worth a long bucket of spit. Many believe the same holds true for lieutenant governor. Convince us otherwise. If you argue that it's a bully pulpit give an example of a former Vermont lieutenant governor achieving an important public policy win by using this alleged bully pulpit. Let's start with you, Kitty. Thank you for that question. I'm running for this office because it is an office and it's an important office and I believe that I can bring more purpose to this office especially with my budget experience and also with the relationships that I have made in Montpelier. Knowing that you could be governor in no time as what happened with Howard Dean when Governor Snelling died this is a very important office that you are prepared to step in in the state if it is needed. Howard Dean was able to do that and he also made great purpose out of that office but the person that I do want to highlight is Madeline Cunin when she was lieutenant governor of the state of Vermont. She was the trailblazer for women. She was the voice for women and she created the path for us. She never had a quiet office holder whether she was in the House of Representatives or when she was governor or when she was lieutenant governor or when she was an ambassador and we could always count on that strong voice to help women move forward. Thanks, Patricia. Yeah, thank you. Could you repeat the question some more time? I'm sorry. Oh, I should know. There are two primary roles to the office of lieutenant governor. I'm sure many of you seen in this video that one is to preside over the Senate and one is to step in if need be for the governor. When it comes to stepping in for the governor I have led an organization in this state for 10 years where I have increased the budget by 130%. I've allocated federal funding very effectively and on the other side presiding over the Senate breaking a tie supporting the senators and passing legislation of course is very important. Outside of that the real question is and then what do you do? What's the rest? I see myself as uniquely qualified but I think the rest of this office can be is exactly what I've been doing for the last 10 years. I've been mobilizing communities around the state I've been elevating the voices of the monitors and I've been bringing people together using civil discourse as a tool to consensus build and move forward in progress. I would use these skills that I've built over the last 10 years and apply them to the office of the lieutenant governor. Thanks, David. A couple things I will say as lieutenant governor some of the work I did I will describe and I will continue to do that with even more vigor and in particular what that work was besides presiding over the Senate and being prepared to be governor is one, they're also on the committee on committees which controls the committee of silence and with the climate being a paramount issue of our day one of the areas I'd really like to look at is the Senate transportation committee considering 40% of our energy fossil fuel energy is through transportation historically sort of used that committee as a traditional paving kind of committee and I think we need a little more energy a lot more energy looking at climate issues on the transportation committee. Secondly, the way I use the office most was traveling the state much as I did as a legislator building constituent support all over the state to help the legislature be more forward thinking on policy and I can give an example when I first got to the lieutenant governor's office in 2016 I emailed newsletters out regularly the first email I sent out was about some issues and said, your voice matters contact your senator and within one day of my sending that letter out three senators came to my office and said so I hear you're asking people to give us phone calls now it wasn't given with the most loving presentation but it meant folks were going to listen to what I had to say and work to influence the process which is what I think we need to do in the process. Great, thanks. Charlie, give us some more humor if I can. When I decided to run for lieutenant governor it was really to take one issue that I've been working on in the legislature for the last six years and that's on more force development this is an area of focus that I've been working on in my committee in the legislature and often falls in between different agencies and departments and non-profit organizations in the state so I want to use the office of lieutenant governor to really bring that kind of focus across the state to say how can we make meaningful careers for individuals that not only sustains them but also fulfills them so that's really my main issue but you can do that as a lieutenant governor because you have a statewide office and people actually return your phone calls and you can try to shape the policy and government between what the executive branch is doing what the legislative branch is doing and then what those institutions are doing so that's how I really envisioned using it as a particular person I just referred to Brian Duby when he was lieutenant governor that took it on to be an ambassador for the state he focused on the aerospace industry and how to strengthen that across the state for the businesses that are involved in that particular industry so working as a mouthpiece not a mouthpiece hopefully that was funny a mouthpiece for the state government to really try to build that industry and I think he did a good job as a person who taught you leadership 30 seconds well I think I'll name my other parent my mom who was on the school board for 18 years and was chair of the school board and I learned both good things and bad things from her leadership because in part when she was walking around people were a little nervous because she just took it over she also got a lot of good things done so I learned having a sense of force and passion for it was important but frankly I thought I had a very good balance between the alphamon that's similar to your household with respect to that comfort and that listening and that understanding that you need to also bring into the conversation thanks Kitty I really had to think about this and I think I would go to my high school science teacher Mrs. Rosa a teacher has to be a leader in the classroom but they also have to bring the classroom along with them in order to have a successful learning experience and she was able to do that I remember her teaching style being very unique and it was more hands on, lots more conversation and in all that she taught us a lot of science and I can remember dissecting frogs which was just awful but she also taught us how to communicate and she taught us life skills that were so important and so she had to have incredible leadership skills to do that thanks Charlie for me fairly recently it would be Paul Costello from the block council on world development because he really emphasized how to become a servant leader and really it's not about you, it's about what the organization is able to accomplish and I've really embraced that and he always thought that the most influential person was the clerk and if the clerk is actually doing a great job he can get a lot done so it's the person who's looking for the headlines who's getting the work done, so let's say Paul and another person detail oriented a guy named David Chaffee who was the founder of the Company Bridges South Marathon I took over the race to organize it and he said just don't forget the details Patricia It's not just one singular person it is my father who taught me about hard work on the farm, it is Mrs. Petrica in the kindergarten class, the little red school house it is my current staff and team at the Vermont Council on World Affairs it is every teacher I have ever had it is the other candidates on this stage I am constantly inspired by people that I'm interacting with in my life and learning from them and growing from them and I think that's an important piece of life and looking to mentors and other leaders in your life is to accept them from all places and all people Thanks What is Vermont's biggest threat one minute Billy biggest threat and biggest opportunity let's start with you Charlie Vermont's biggest threat I got Yeah, biggest threat for Vermont and biggest opportunity for Vermont How long do I have? Less than that I would say if there was one thing we could address in the state of Vermont it is the lack of affordable housing for people, for working families and that is the biggest threat because we are having people move out because they can't afford a place to live we have people that can't go to work and just sustain themselves based on the salary they can earn and the cost of housing so I think that is the greatest threat we have an opportunity to use a lot of the funds we've already allocated through federal funds through ARPA and the CARES Act money and that money is going to be put to work over the next five years you can see a lot of new housing projects a lot of new housing units throughout the state and that's our biggest opportunity it's also the biggest threat Thank you, David I would say the climate crisis I'm talking a lot of farmers who are dry right now I'm looking at changing our sugar in season I'm looking at changing our skiing season so from a life perspective from an economy perspective things that we rely on in the state without a healthy planet to live on healthy landscape to be on nothing else is going to actually happen so how long are we looking? Yes, short term housing job training for people to fill the technical jobs we need but the hill is so much bigger when it comes to climate and opportunity I think in some ways broadband helps a lot with opportunity with respect to allowing people to not have to drive as far as work or are people to make a better income and rebuild our world communities so we can have a more focused village centers and town centers which is also a better climate way Patricia Yeah, we are facing a lot of crises in this state it's actually quite hard to pick one and I think that one that strikes me is affordability because it touches on many of these things one is the affordability of housing the affordability of childcare the gas prices that are rising and I think that all these issues are intersectional and will only be exacerbated by the climate crisis as well when I think about getting people back into the workforce I think about how women were disproportionately impacted during COVID-19 and taken out of the workforce and not able to re-enter so we have a lot on our hands to take care of all of this and I think that an opportunity point is having some fresh perspectives in Montpelier we are going to have over the legislature turning over this year and I think having new voices as a part of this conversation is going to help everything I would say an economic crisis because I really see the economy propped up by three legs on a stool housing, broadband and childcare and you really can't improve the Vermont economy without addressing all three and what we have been doing is living along and matching where we can because we have been in a recession for the time that I was in the legislature in 2008 until the pandemic came we were really working our way through the recession and at this time we really have to look at how we are going to fund childcare and I think that could set us apart from all other states we have to have broadband in every corner to keep Vermonters here young families here and to attract and keep businesses here and housing housing is an issue and we need to look at more downtown walkable areas for housing and regenerating and rejuvenating historic buildings in our downtowns and creating more cluster housing to protect our environment and the climate crisis is all depends on the actions that we take in all areas of our economy and we have to address the climate crisis there is no question and interesting do you consider war WAR to be a Vermont state business we lost more national guardsmen in Iraq than any other state Patricia I can only say yes or no it's impossible you can embellish it a little bit I mean I think that if we are going to have to go to war and it's a federal decision Vermont plays a role in that and we are part of the discussion so yes it doesn't mean that we should respond to every single thing it's a much bigger conversation but yes, I think we are a part of that conversation I never want to look at war as a business I just see it as a conflict and where the United States has to play such a pivotal role as we see what's happening in Ukraine but we should never look at it as a business no Vermont is giving great sacrifices more by population dying in civil war than any other state and we've given a lot in treasure and blood but we cannot make those decisions like that no for many of the reasons stated but I would also say that that was an outspoken I think probably the most outspoken politician in the state is against the F-35s which is fundamentally part of the war machine and the war economy and if we're truly going to move away from war as a part of our economy then we have to be honest about it in our own backyard as well thank you the asker of this question asked me to bring it back for this round yes or no do you support a Vermont constitutional amendment that gives the earth rights the trees the rivers so on David given that we failed to do it on our own I think we should Charlie I would say no we are definitely stewards of the environment stewards of the land but I would say no Patricia I think I'd have to understand it a little bit better what it would mean and what it would entail to be honest I'd be open to the idea but my gut instinct is to say no I think we just have to be better stewards and do a better job of taking care of the earth and its land and it's our responsibility what we're doing to this land thanks Kitty I would certainly be open to it but with any major policy decision it's much more complicated than a yes or no answer and that's when you bring all the information to the table and really make an informed decision really 30 seconds David renewable energy is most easily accessed by the elites as we transition to clean energy how do we best protect low and moderate income customers I really appreciate this question because as a candidate who in the past has been probably most maligned by the fact that I'll talk about taxes and the fact that since ravenomics and the wealthiest have paid less and less taxes and certainly people have paid more because of progressive taxation I would say that we need to talk about progressive taxation to come up with the resources for weatherization for incentivizing solar and wind for everyday people for helping everyday folks with getting renewable energy vehicles when right now it is still primarily a middle and upper middle class thanks thank you and I do agree with David and I think that the Vermont government legislature needs to continue with incentives and they are targeted at the lower income individuals in Vermont for purchasing new or now pre-owned electric vehicles and making charging stations more available and weatherization activities and on top of what Vermont is doing communities are also helping with these activities for people who cannot afford them we need to continue with more incentives to get as many electric vehicles on the road and to weatherize as many homes as we can which we now have 80 million in the budget to do so Vermont has committed to reducing their greenhouse gas emissions by 26% by 2030 and this is critical especially because climate change impacts disproportionately by pop and low income communities and we can do this through as two others have now just said on the stage through incentives and I think those need to be toward weatherizing the 90,000 homes needed to meet this goal it's toward the 112,000 additional heat pumps the state needs and it's through more PV friendly parks and so I would support all of those initiatives and making them accessible to all Vermonters Thanks Well thank you you might not be surprised I think it comes down to workforce weatherization we have this goal of 90,000 homes but our current rate is 1,500 homes per year so it's only going to take 60 years to reach that goal so we really need to invest in a workforce that can do the work necessary to really weatherize homes and make it meaningful a second thing that we talk about is just a source of funds fuel efficiency tax might be the right thing to do electricity and electrical efficiency tax to really help to provide some of the heat transfer of different heat sources used getting away from fossil fuels we do have a lot of federal money that's in there but that's, thank you for the red flag Thanks can you do this it really is can you do this in 30 seconds brag about an issue, win or public policy success that you led to fruition brag about something that you led the charge on that was a winner that won Katie Sure well I was serving as the chair of appropriations the global warming solutions act there was a decision about how to get that to the floor and the committee had worked the energy committee had worked on the bill but the bill came to appropriations and I moved that bill through appropriations and got it to the floor ahead of the budget which was very unusual you usually do not pass a major bill with an appropriation way ahead of the budget because it sets it as a priority and I moved that bill early on and fortunately I did because I did not know a pandemic was coming which really could have complicated the passage of that bill but I'm very proud of the fact of moving that as a priority Thanks Well it's no secret that I am coming in from the outside on politics so I don't have a specific piece of legislation I move forward but I do have an incredible amount of background and experience in advocating and working for for monitors and I've done this on topics such as climate action workforce every topic that faces the state I've addressed it one that I'm particularly proud of that our refugee crisis when everything happened in Ukraine we were one of the first organizations to address it by pulling together a day long event that focused on the history how we got here, how it impacts for monitors we brought in the former US ambassador to Ukraine to discuss this issue with for monitors so that we become a more hospitable state to welcome refugees inside these coming here to be a part of our workforce Thank you Charlie I'd say there's two from this very recent session because I'm still in the state legislature one is we brought together from the Royal Caucus a Royal Economic Development Omnibus built and had several different components and it worked its way into a number of different bills some is looking at the force products industry and how to make it easier to do business there some is about the future of the force products industry and putting together a strategic plan some of my colleagues here were part of that and the second is just a really large economic recovery and workforce development package we did this year allocating substantial amount of money into programs to really address some underlying economic issues and workforce development issues Thanks, David It's a really hard question for me because I was fortunate enough to stick my neck out on a few issues for many years I spent 14 years getting our JVO legislation passed I was the lead sponsor on medically and dying it took us nine years and one of the most impactful moments that I've had in all the years is when a family comes to me and thanks me for my work on that because they were with their loved one when they were in control of the end of their life and I choose marriage equality in 2005 before the people were ready to do so and I was the type who came from 100th vote to override government of this is veto on marriage equality and so those two bills as far as the individual impact of people's lives are most impactful That's great. Charlie let's start with you. These are going to be four rapid fire questions Interesting ones Ferdy Sanders is the most destructive force in the Democratic Party This is a question from the Republican The most what force? Destructive That sounds rhetorical So is the question I'm sorry That really didn't belong in this lightning round Let's say that for longer If Biden were not to run for re-election President Biden whom would you prefer If both are a choice or is it with Charlie? If Joe Biden was not to run for re-election who would you like to run instead? Wow I haven't put a lot of thought into that to be honest with you but I would look to the rank of the Democratic Party to bench the Democratic Party so I would look to his vice president Good. David Who is that warrior? Kitty I would look toward Pete Buttigieg and also to the Governor of Michigan Kamala Harris I think that she has been Yeah, Kamala Harris I missed who you said Kamala Harris Thank you Divestment from fossil fuels Does any of you not support the Vermont state pension funds and teacher retirement funds being divested from fossil fuels? Do any of you I'm sort of a double negative question but I think the answer is no I don't go They're getting rid of fossil fuels If that makes any sense Raise your hand if you're in favor of divesting from fossil fuels I think that's easier So I'd put a qualifier Alright Because it's the Vermont Pension Investment Committee that actually makes that decision So they have an obligation to make that decision on behalf of the retirees So if you're looking for it, would you be in favor of it? Yes, if it aligns with what they're trying to achieve for the pensioners they have to make that tough decision every time May I put a qualifier on? I'd like to put a qualifier on this one Of course we want to move in that direction but I also think that we need to have the guidance and leadership of the state treasurer that comes to Mike Pichek it will probably be our new state treasurer because there's nobody running against him and so I think in fairness I would like to hear from Mike Pichek Anyone else want to water this one down? Can I raise my hand on all the other mics? Patricia No, no, I'm just saying I agree My answer is yes, I want them to That doesn't mean I have the power to make them as Charlie said So the answer is still yes Thank you We got it, everybody got it When are you planning to get your electric vehicle, Charlie? Well I've been looking at the Ford F-150 a lightning but I don't have it and I'm actually going to be buying my son's pickup truck because he's moving to New York City so probably in two years because that's when that truck will be not viable Thanks, David Well I made the decision to invest in 64 solar panels for cooling vegetables on the farm so I was limited in where I could put the resources but I would like to sell part of our vehicles and get an electric vehicle It's also about a year or two to wait to get one Thanks, Kitty? It's a little bit like the cobbler's son I am in a family that owns car dealerships and they are sold to customers and if I were to have one and a customer wanted it it goes to the customer and we know you can't get one right now so I do not have one Wow, interesting What a privilege to be able to say I mean I talk about it with my husband all of the time but we can't afford that We can't afford that like many Vermonters can't afford that and so I think the more important question is what are we going to do as a state to make them affordable When do you think climate migration will begin to occur one minute and in what ways do you think it will change Vermont what effect will climate migration will begin when and how will it change Vermont I would say it already has at the Farmers Market in Burlington this summer I have been blown away at the number of new Vermonters and they are coming here for three reasons Number one is climate I have met many people from Florida, Texas, Arizona and Mississippi you just said it is too damn hot now there they are worried about the winter but too hot Two is democracy in general Number two, do I need to say more Three had to do with how well we did with COVID and they looked at Vermont as a reasonable and sane place where people who do have different opinions seem to still come together relatively speaking compared to everyone else in the country but the migration is now, it's happening and it's going to accelerate Thanks, Kitty Thank you, this is a great question I've been riding across the state meeting people and I've talked to several realtors and as David said it is happening now people are coming to Vermont buying pieces of land some are moving here, some are buying them and renting out properties and some are leaving them dark and it's their security for when they want to leave their area and it's really putting pressure on our housing prices so we have climate refugees already in the state there was a recent study and several of Vermont's counties made it in the top 10 places to live in the country with Lemoyle County being the best place to live when you're considering the climate crisis and people across the country, they don't have water, Vermont has water we don't have fires like across the country and we do not have the continuing storms people are going to flock here and we must plan for it Charlie? Absolutely the climate refugees are here and what's happened is that a lot of them have their jobs from away where they're earning substantially more than the average monitor is earning so that's increased our housing prices our rent prices short of John Lowe's availabilities so we've had that issue happen we have to look for longer term solutions for housing shared equity propositions, shared equity structures which are now happening throughout Vermont but we need to expand that to make sure that housing stays affordable so it is happening now broadband and remote work is wonderful except that it means that we do have a lot of folks that their income is not tied to what they're doing in state and I can speak to that because family members are in that boat right now and they're able to afford the place that they want to call home but they're doing it with their salaries that they're bringing from out of state so it is definitely impacting us now we need to welcome these people say great to have you here love you, pay your taxes Patricia? Yeah like my fellow candidates have said it's not if it will happen it's they're here, they're here and they're continuing to come and it's not going to stop and it's going to impact the state and the number of ways that all of my fellow candidates have addressed here today so as it was just said housing of course we're in a crisis and it's only going to be exacerbated so the real question is we have this window in a moment and an opportunity to say how do we prepare for this and for me that's how we're investing our dollars right now that's on addressing the housing crisis and that's on addressing our infrastructure issues as well as wastewater and sewer and we need to be prepared we need to have our cities and towns ready to welcome the arrival of these people that are not only here but more coming Great Kitty can you think of three or four core values one minute you believe are essential to leaving a fulfilling life three or four values that you really hold high and dear I would say the number one is kindness we do not see enough kindness in this world growing up on a family farm I'd say hard work and enjoy your work so hard working, kindness having a respect for others we don't always all agree but we need to respect one another and work out our differences so kindness, hard work, respect and joy if you don't find joy in life you're probably bringing others down with you and very critical so I would say joy Patricia integrity, inclusivity and empathy those are the three and I think to be a good leader empathy is the most important and I don't want to be an exotic other Thank you Charlie I've thought about a lot I would say be kind, be generous and live with intent make sure that you are doing what motivates you what gives you joy but to live with intent not to just float Thanks David Compassion for everybody around us in different circumstances justice, grace for people we all make mistakes and resiliency I missed the third one grace giving grace to individuals as we all make mistakes we all live for us houses What wonderfully answers that What's the hardest question you've been asked on the campaign and how would you answer the one that I've gotten the most difficult response from was what party you're running in and I was in St. Alvin instead of parade and when I said I'm running the Democratic Party the gentleman did not like my response and responded how there was the rowing of the nation and everything else so it wasn't a difficult question to answer it was a difficult question to deal with so it's just a moment just trying to listen why was he so angry his grandson I thought that might have tempered his enthusiasm a little bit but it didn't and just to try to understand where people are is really what I'm trying to do is in my campaign you're angry about that well tell me a little bit more and try to get that out in a civil way so that it's not just a matter of Patricia I think one of the hardest questions I get asked is surrounding the idea that I have to have been a former legislator to be eligible for the office of Lieutenant Governor and to explain myself around that and I answer it in that I think I'm uniquely qualified I know that I'm uniquely qualified for this position and I think that there are many paths to office I think there are many qualifications that will make you a good leader especially in the whole of Lieutenant Governor and that's it for me Thanks, Kitty I think the questions that have been most difficult for me to answer are those that are rooted in misinformation because no matter what you say they're not going to see the other side and so misinformation has created so much of this divide in this country and there's no longer any conversation you're just wrong if you try to respond there's just no listening or any belief into any other side so I would say misinformation is creating the biggest challenge for our lives probably I think it comes down to what the definition of the hardest question is because I've faced a lot of questions over many years running to say why and they're usually about policies so I usually have an answer for a lot of those the hardest question is from friends or others who I've known over the years who ask why are you doing it again you've given so much and the time from your family that it takes to do this and it's a very hard question because I'm incredibly torn between the mission of public service that I was embedded with by my parents and the urgency of the challenges that we face today and the time that does take away like this morning my daughter asked right after noon before she goes back to camp that's three weeks and that's the hardest one thank you how will you use your unique public position to facilitate awareness and deal with mental health in the moment this question comes from an elementary school educator Patricia yeah so I'm going to start by saying how I do it and it's the raising the awareness piece so as I've mentioned a few times here today is that my organization is focused around building an awareness of the world and its people so I'm uniquely qualified to do that and host educational programs and forums to raise awareness on topics as far as how and the true mechanics just the other day I was at Jen's promise to discuss this exact thing mental health, the opioid addiction and it was part of a community conversation and it was one of the most powerful things that I've ever done in my life and it was bringing people together to talk about addiction mental health, community issues and it was a safe space where everyone was able to come together to discuss solutions even when they disagreed even when they thought that there should be a different way forward so for me I think that's destigmatizing, raising awareness and then putting funding behind initiatives that support mental health thank you where are we in the morning we have seen the mental health crisis just explode in this state especially with COVID children that have had to stay at home and have not been able to go to school and socialize parents who have been forced to stay at home but the numbers are huge and we're going to see a huge impact on our schools with our school children especially those that were in the pre-K through the early elementary years that just needed that growth and did not experience that growth by having school available to them except remotely it's going to take money it's going to take best practices we have to have best practices and we have to know the right direction to go we can throw money at a problem but unless we bring professionals to the table and not politicians you need professionals that can guide politicians on what programs need to be in place and do more prevention prevention is the key you've got to keep the money here the crisis that we're in and provide the money for prevention and identification activities and bring everybody to the table to help solve this issue thank you David one area that I've tried to work on a few years ago the governor which unfortunately didn't work out was I said to him we spent our largest budget in government department of health or agencies and human services and the second largest is education and they are in silos in some places the schools work well with mental health and human services and others not well at all and I think we really need to tackle those siloing of our state resources because we can both become more efficient with your tax dollars and free up dollars and provide better services with more service providers at the front lines in our schools with our youth as was said earlier tackling the issue early on but all too often we work on a two year cycle which is basically a one year cycle we don't do long term thinking it's true with mental health it's been true with weatherization we've had many balanced but I would say conservative budgets where we do not put enough money what was it 1500 houses a year weatherization where we've known the goal was 5000 we need to be willing to raise the revenue to put into these and save money through those agency savings to put into these areas I was talking to you yesterday with the people from Hannah's house which is doing a lot of mental health and social systems and the Madeline Reveille and they talk about the stresses they encounter and the fundraising goals and their necessity to rely on public giving and they do incredible work and it's just the the admission that there is not going to go away any kind of mental stress we still have a huge opioid crisis which you hear about most every day talking to people that is an outgrowth somewhat of mental stress as well and again to say it's I'm not okay and you're not okay but that's okay and trying to admit that people with stresses in their life they're not alone and to continue to bring that home to people we've had mental stress in our own family and it's not that they're ill it's not that you can see but it's something you have to deal with and it's okay to admit that you've got an issue and you need to get help and thank you two final questions and then your closing statements and you people have been so patient decent really are they doing okay on time okay what's that give us a final word of hope and closing statement hope hope in your closing statements what's that Charlie do you want to start this off sure yeah I really trust Vermont when we talk about the threat to democracy in Vermont we have to remember that we have the most accessible floating system in the country and we do have a great depth of experience we have a great commitment to the principles that make us a strong state now in my closing statement now we'll give you a full minute okay politics today can be very discouraging I mean the shouting from the extremes just rounds out the voices in the middle and that's where the work gets done in the middle and I'm a moderate Democrat working towards those practical and pragmatic solutions to Vermont's biggest issues I see them as workforce development housing child care and then rural vitality so unlike my opponents in this race I'm still in the legislature I've been working on solutions through COVID over the past three years and this year even delivering on a large economic recovery and workforce development package I think I've worked hard enough to earn your consideration and I hope that on August 9th you'll vote for Charlie Kimball for Lieutenant Governor and my information is at Charlie4fromont.com so I want to thank you for this opportunity to meet with you today on a beautiful day and it's been great to meet with you thank you David? I have a question first as I've gone around and in the parade I saw this a lot the energy and enthusiasm from young people has grown through the Supreme Court decisions which is the opposite of hope but the engagement has increased and the engagement of the rest of us who are older than young people has also increased and I've seen numbers around the country particularly in suburban areas that some vote directions may be shifting more in our direction because really the bigger picture ultimately is national and I've got a little bit of hope there that we will finally make some change in going against with respect to my closing statement I've come to you with the most experience in legislative and statewide office and I look forward to returning to the office of Lieutenant Governor because I hear from Vermonters who are feeling so many heavy issues as you are in this room from the planet to the economy COVID, democracy lack of childcare I have received the endorsements of every union that is endorsed so far I have received the endorsement of every environmental organization that is endorsed so far because they recognize that I am a leader on these issues and that I will continue to do that and won't hold back in the office of Lieutenant Governor I've successfully tackled very big issues as I mentioned earlier from marriage equality and of life choices cannabis and others and tackle a lot of climate work and day to day work as a farmer I've worked collaboratively with tens of thousands of Vermonters through my newsletter and I will continue to do that to bring more people into the process thank you thank you when I think about hope I think about a younger generation and I have two young daughters in their 20s and they are still hopeful even amid all of this chaos and confusion in this world they are not on democracy yet but they know there's a fight ahead of them and I see within Molly who's working on my campaign she's 22 years old she has a hopeful future but she knows it's going to take work we need to lead the way but we also need to give room and to really bolster and bring the next generation along and to listen to them for my closing statement I would say and I know it's up to every one of us to leave this state and leave this world better than we found it because if we don't we're not doing our job and that's truly what I want to do during my time in Montpelier as the time that I was chair of the house appropriations committee we had to make very difficult decisions prior to all these federal dollars coming in we always had more expenses than we had revenues to pay for them and they were difficult decisions but in 2020 we balanced a $7.1 billion budget and we provided many services to to Vermonters who were struggling with the COVID pandemic and that is the work that I would like to continue to do I would like to bring some purpose and some real meaning to the office of Lieutenant Governor use it as an office that is open to Vermonters to come in on policy well so I actually agree with Kitty I find hope in the next generation and it's why I'm running I'm running to represent the next generation and I too think that it's time to allow the next generation to step up and step in and have a role like the office of Lieutenant Governor as for a very long time the same voices have been holding the same positions of power in Montpelier we have reached a pivotal moment in our state's history wages are stagnant families can't afford to live here and they cannot afford to have their children here either and women's rights are under threat and we cannot so leave a lie on the path for solutions now is the time for the new era of leadership that will modernize and build upon the good work and accomplishments of previous generations of Vermont legislators as a leader of a statewide organization I am in a unique position to deliver those results and incorporate the voices of all Vermonters and I am hopeful and I am running because I believe in the promise of Vermont truly and deeply from the bottom of my heart and I know that together we will make child care and housing affordable and build a green economy and strengthen our rural communities like Orange County that I love so much we are in the midst of a sea change in Vermont politics an unprecedented number of legislators are retiring this election cycle making way for new faces and fresh ideas the Lieutenant Governor's Office should reflect that change we need leadership that moves our state forward and builds a future that belongs to everyone so I am asking you to join our campaign today and fulfill the promise of Vermont by visiting patriciaforvermont.com and getting involved in democracy today thank you