 Hello and good evening. Welcome to Town Meeting Television, Channel 17. Tonight we are doing a little bit of a candidate forum for the U.S. House of Representatives for the Vermont Republican primary that's coming up. Our two candidates tonight are H. Brooke Page, he goes by Brooke, and Anya Tenu. I'm going to ask some questions as we go along and we'll do an opening statement. Everybody gets about two minutes of peace and we'll just go back and forth. It's hard to believe it's been two years since the last election period. Nothing's really happened in that two years, right? And so it's been kind of a boring time. So let's get started. Brooke, why don't you start off with just an opening statement. Tell us why you're running and what experience you bring to the position. Okay, well, I guess the main reason I'm running for this and a couple other positions is that I want to, especially in the U.S. Congress, I want to bring a little bit of bipartisanship back. Vermont's delegation, I'm sorry, has been exclusively Democratic for a long period of time. So long that the junior candidate in their delegation, Mr. Welch, is now kind of biding his time and taking safe positions so he doesn't just rock the boats, so to speak, anticipating that Mr. Leahy or Mr. Sanders will no longer be in office one way or the other and that he will ascend to the U.S. Senate position. And because of that, he hasn't taken any really strong positions for a number of years. Seems to be attempting to get a whole lot of FaceTime on television, as I guess they all do really, but not accomplishing that much for Vermont. He certainly addresses the issues occasionally, but doesn't come up with anything as far as solutions. Just the other day he was up in St. Albans Bay and they were taking him out on a can of Iran to see the algae bloom that suddenly hasn't developed. I don't know what that's all about, exactly. But he'll go back to Washington and really not provide any solutions or any real funding. The other day he was talking about taking the cap off of electric cars, electric vehicles, because the caps that were originally set for those are now being met. And electric vehicles really aren't the real end-game answer for climate change. It's really hydrogen and hydrogen cell technology that will resolve the pollution problems as far as transportation. I think I've run out of time. So that's my main thing, is that it would be nice if we had one or maybe two Republican who went down to Washington on behalf of the state of Vermont. Certainly Republicans at this moment at least would get a warmer reception from the White House than our all-democratic delegation who seem to want to poke the bear more than do anything to come to mutual agreements on solving some of the problems. On the same question, why do you want to run and what experience do you bring? I'd like to get to know you a little bit here. I would like to run while I am running for U.S. Congress because I believe that I'm in a unique position to bring the working class viewpoint to Washington. I work full-time. I live in the Northeast Kingdom. It's a very economically depressed area in many ways, but beautiful, and I choose to stay there. And I think that my particular experience and work experience and experience talking to the people of the state of Vermont can benefit me in taking over Peter Welsh's position. As Mr. Page here has said, Mr. Welsh has been in Washington for 12 years. We've not seen any major changes in that period of time for the state of Vermont. Many people that I talk to are dissatisfied with the performance that he has, and it is my hope and my belief that I can bring fresh ideas and a new perspective and certainly give the people a choice for a Republican candidate. As there has not been in some of the previous elections, there has not always been a choice for a Republican candidate, and I believe that I am a good choice for the state of Vermont. I work very hard for the people, and I feel that I can do very well in Washington. Well, let's talk a little bit about the state and its uniqueness. You know, we're generally an agricultural state, or at least known to be that way, and one of the questions we have is, what do you think about the future of Vermont's agricultural priorities and various things that go on with the economy? How are you going to keep that going? Why don't you start, Anya, and then we'll look at you. Well, I will say that my first job right out of high school was milk and cows, so I am uniquely positioned to understand the agricultural economy. I have many friends that are still in agriculture, and I believe that the state needs to continue to have farming and forestry to sustain its economy. We are a state with a lot of tourism base, and we have agriculture as well. There have been many talks about subsidizing agriculture in the past year or so, and definitely before that as well, but I believe that it's important to remember that farmers as a people are an independent people. They farm, it's a hard life, and they choose to do it for the independence that it can offer them, a good life to raise their families, and I don't believe that Vermont farmers want to be subsidized by the government. When you talk about our neighbors to the north who have subsidized agriculture, they do a lot of shopping in the United States for things like dairy products and cheese and milk and so forth, and it's important to note that when you're thinking about subsidizing farming that it has not really proven that successful in the places that have had it. That being said, I think there's disaster relief that needs to be in place for farmers. Certainly a bad year can really, really harm the economy and so forth, et cetera, but I don't believe that subsidizing is the way to go. Okay. Brooke, what do you think about our agricultural economy right now? I think agriculture generally and the dairy industry specifically is in dire straits. Much of the production has been taken over by what I call factory farms where they have thousands or thousand or more cows that are just basically kept in the barn all the time, and they're producing so much milk out of these industrial dairies that the smaller dairy farmer that has two, three, four hundred girls in the barn is really struggling. You know, Anuanya says that subsidies aren't the answer, but at the same time the government has so meddled in agriculture that it's almost impossible for the farmer to survive. As much as he may want to stay on the farm when he's running negative revenue month after month, sometimes year over year, it's impossible no matter how much you love it. You're not going to drive yourself into bankruptcy and take what value the farm has and run it into the ground and spoil whatever future your family has. Another good example is all of this carrying on with ethanol. Midwest farmers are so hooked on the corn going into ethanol production that they virtually can't get out. And all of this has had effects on the farmers here in Vermont throughout the northeast and the Midwest and that the corn prices have tripled basically since the beginning of all this ethanol program. And worst of all is that ethanol is not producing any better results as far as pollution. Let me follow up with you. Anuanya was pretty clear that she thought the subsidy program was not that beneficial. She saw a real negativity too. How do you feel about that? I think if we want farmers to survive, especially here in Vermont, and the agricultural community is really a showcase or a backdrop for our tourism. You know, people come here to see cows in the field and corn growing in rows. They don't come here to see black billboards papering over the countryside. And I think that farming is an essential part of Vermont's legacy and part of its history and part of its future. But it's only going to be a future if most of the farmers haven't planted what I call their last crop. And that's another subdivision or shopping center. And that's what's happening. We are losing, I think, eight to ten percent of our farms every year and have been for five or six or seven years and long before that, but in smaller numbers. And ten years from now, with those figures hold out, there won't be any farms left. Anuanya, what do you think? I mean, so Brooke has kind of taken us down this road now that the push of development versus, you know, the family farm type of thing, what do you think? It's definitely no secret that farming has been in a decline. However, whatever goes down must come up eventually. And that being said, as I've said before about subsidies, I won't repeat what I said. But part of it is economy. Part of it is opportunity for the youth to stay on the farm. A lot of the farms go out because they don't have anyone to take over. And that's a sad state of affairs when you've had a family farm that's been the same family for ten generations up to. And it's very important to remember that other economic factors play into this. Buying local, supporting local is very important, not just in dairy, but in vegetables and everything. That's one of the models of my campaign. Buy American, hire American, buy local, stay local. It's very important for us to maintain that viability in our local economy. Most people, I would say, if they look around, a friend or a neighbor has some connection to farming. And it is true that with agriculture and tourism, it is connected, and it is important to maintain that. People come to the state of Vermont to see farms. It's part of our history. It's part of our heritage. It's what people expect from us. So that being said, I believe that, like I said, disaster relief for farms that are in dire straits is important. But I do not agree with government oversight of farming. Granted, there is some. I think that it's probably led in a negative direction all in all. Well, that kind of leads us now, since we're talking about agriculture and it's all into the environmental type of thing. As a U.S. Congressperson, you may have some impact, or what would you say about the environmental issues that are affecting Vermont right now, and what kind of role could you play to help with any of those issues that are coming up? We'll start with Brooke here. I think that the farmers have been falsely identified or at least over-identified as being the main polluters here in the state. Like Lake Champlain. Lake Champlain, Lake Carmi, the Missikoi River, the Winooski. Everybody acts like the farmers want to be dumping all these phosphates into the water. That's the last thing they want to do. The phosphates have been developed in the soil and the manure has been retained to fertilize the fields to create additional crops to feed the cows. The last thing the farmer wants is that the valuable phosphates, the food for the crops to be swept downstream. And I think that the state has not been negligent. I think the federal government has been negligent in attempting to remediate these problems and help the farmer find a way to keep this valuable commodity on his property to be reused. And it's not just phosphates, it's topsoil and all the different nutrients that the farmer wants to keep on the farm in order to have a productive green stock to be feeding the cows or producing other crops. Anya, what do you think in terms of the environment? As far as agriculture relates to the environment, I agree that the farmer is not deliberately trying to pollute the waterways. It is difficult for a farm located near a lake or a waterway to maintain that. And erosion throughout history has always been a question of how best to contain it. And I believe that there should be studies into the best way of stopping pollution and the waterways by all means it needs to be addressed. But there's also other factors that play into that. For example, the wastewater spills into Lake Champlain, and it's not just agriculture that you have to look at. You have to look at it as a whole. There is human error as well. From what we hear, mechanical error. So all of those things need to be taken into account when you're thinking about pollution. And it is very important to remember that the environment always is changing. You would just have to maintain the right balance to have it change in the right direction to maintain a healthy ecosystem and so forth, etc. I want to encourage our viewers out there that if you'd like to call in a question, I'm not the only person that needs to ask questions. If you have a burning question, just give us a call at 862-3966. That's 862-3966. We'd love to have a question from the public out there as well. I have just a little bit of a follow-on from what Anya said. There's a discussion that was brought on about the cities and towns polluting. And this is a major problem. We have, especially here in Burlington, I know for a fact, we have ancient sewage systems where storm water and wastewater is commingled. And so every time that they have a big thunderstorm, you know, I hear Maro Weinberger blaming, oh my God, we had thunderstorms as if this was once in a lifetime event rather than once a month event. And, you know, we heard most recently, oh, somebody threw the valve the wrong way or the computer threw the valve the wrong way. And, you know, three million gallons of water gets dumped into Lake Champlain. Well, I got thinking about this. I said, well, how about just three million gallons? And so a standard milk tanker that you see going down the road carrying milk from the farm. The amount of spillage in just that one spill last, I think it was last Tuesday, represents 461 of those tractor trailer tankers going into the lake. And it carefully slips out through a pipe to about 100 feet offshore and then is dumped on the bottom of the lake so nobody sees it spilling out of pipes and things like that. And it just seems to me that the cities of Burlington, of Mount Peely or of Rutland, of St. Albans should be held accountable for this in some financial way. And financially punished, at least sufficiently to have them motivated to resolve the problem immediately rather than study the thing to death while people can't even go swimming or go out on the beach here in Burlington or up to St. Albans. Well, Anya, that's an interesting idea so that remediation may be the local, you know, local people may have to make up for those mistakes. We also have, for example, we know there are some water issues down south in the southern part of the state. What should the role of the Congress be as a Congressperson to address those things? I believe that Congress, in its main capacity, needs to be enacting legislation to protect the environment. Definitely that is important and that is the role that we play. Locally, on a local level, which is not the office that I'm running for, we need to be looking into upgrading the systems, protecting things like that, educating people really on the necessity for different ways of doing things. All of that's important. But as for a congressional role, it's definitely about enacting legislation that protects the environment. Thank you. Well, I want to talk a little bit about now. We've kind of talked about Vermont and some of the things that are affecting us. Let's look more at the federal level, at the nationwide level, because you could be either one of you or a representative there. So if we talk a little bit about the Supreme Court, what are your views? Everyone, I think, is more aware nowadays of what the issues are. But where do you stand on? I'll let you start on with that. Where do you stand on Supreme Court nominations and the future of those things? Well, the Supreme Court is very important to the country because ultimately they are making decisions on laws. They are interpreting the Constitution. And it's very important that we have judges that are constitutionally based judges, that they understand the Constitution. They take the time to look through it and make an assessment based on what they read and not their personal opinion. That is very important. That being said, the nominee Brett Kavanaugh that is now up before the board has said that is where he stands. I don't feel that he has any particular malice towards women or bias towards women. He seems to be a very reasonable man, more than qualified for the job. He's been serving in the court system for quite a few years, including under Justice Kennedy, whom he would be replacing. So he has some firsthand knowledge. And I think that that's important when you're going into something like that, that you have some knowledge going in. And I think that it will work out well if he is nominated. Brooke, what do you think? Well, I think a lot of people have lost perspective on all of this, that while Mr. Obama was in office, he made picks and while they were debated, they weren't hotly debated and there wasn't a lot of name calling and things of this nature. And now Mr. Trump is in office and he's making a couple of selections. And the two selections he made so far have been very conservative, but very right-headed also that they don't have a lot of agenda that they come to and things like that. Yet the folks on the other side of the aisle are going absolutely insane tearing these people apart unnecessarily. And I think a lot of that we've heard certainly Senator Sanders and Senator Leahy and to a little bit lesser degree Representative Welsh getting in on the cacophony that is being voiced. And it's just really sad that here's good people that are stepping up to take these positions and they're just being excoriated in the press and by at least our congressional delegation. I've been given kind of the ten minute thing, so I want to move along a little bit. So trade policy, which obviously I think gets us back to Vermont again because trade policy is going to have an impact in some way on Vermonters and on Vermont business. I'll let you start, Brooke. What do you think about the trade policies and the tariffs and various things that are out there? I'm certainly not in favor of laissez-faire policies where anything goes. I think we have to have a degree of protection for our consumers and for our workers in the United States. Part of trade is making sure that the products that are being brought into the country are safe to use and from children's toys to pharmaceuticals, at least the Chinese and some of the other Asian countries have had the laissez-faire attitude. Anything goes, send them anything and hope we don't get caught with the lead in the paint and the asbestos in the pharmaceuticals. And from that aspect I think we have to be very, very careful and I think as far as protecting our workers we have to be willing to put up tariffs where the other side is playing unfairly in steel, in automotive manufacture, in electronics, in so many different places. In these other countries, especially in Asia, the government is heavily subsidizing these industries so that the companies in the United States that are trying to compete with them aren't on a level playing field. The playing field is so radically tipped that the American workers are all but falling off and we have to find a balance and I think President Trump for all of his negative points certainly is spot on as far as trying to get this under control and at least with the threat of high tariffs bring these people to the table and negotiate some degree of equity in our trade with these countries. So what I hear you saying is that from, there needs to be protection in terms of safety but also in terms of trying to be fair about things. So Anja, pick up on that. What do you stand on like the trade policies and things that are out there? I think that the BLAST administration failed to protect the American workers and the American economy with unfair trade practices. I think that the President is spot on in trying to bring us back into a level playing field. Many people go here or there about he's too tough or whatever but at the end of the day you have to protect your country, you have to protect your economy and it's very important as I said part of my campaign, higher American by American with higher tariffs companies will think more about staying in America than sending out for more an expensive labor or whatever it causes them to go overseas and I think that it's very important to build up the American economy. We certainly have to be a player on the world stage as far as economics and trade goes but we will not be able to maintain that level of superiority if you will in the world stage if we do not have a strong economy of our own and I think that that is the ultimate goal of the tariffs and trade policy changes to strengthen America and I agree with that. I 100% agree with that. Do you see any negative impact right now on potential tariffs on Vermont? I think that whenever things are in the process of shifting they may be difficult. That being said the economy is better today than it was two years ago and certainly four, five, six years ago. So it is in a positive trend. It's not something that's very focused on but it is in a positive trend. What do you think, Brooke? Well I think accidentally that all of the mischief with China starting to impose tariffs on our agricultural goods may actually benefit Vermont in that soybean and corn prices and things may actually fall because of the lack of demand from China. So that's not exactly what we want to have as long term that other people are being punished to assist the Vermont farmers or any other field. The other field that's being damaged currently is solar installers and solar production because China was so heavily subsidizing their solar panels that they virtually put the domestic solar business out of business. One of those panels were produced here but the installers who are making money from digging holes and screwing things together and hooking up wires are certainly in a negative position right now because of that. But at the same time I don't see big solar as being part of the futures. I've already said this hundreds of acres of solar fields is not going to be long term productive for us and it's certainly going to have a negative impact on Vermont's tourism and lifestyle. I want to leave a couple of minutes for a closing statement from each of you but before we end at least on the topics on one that I think is near and dear to a lot of Vermonters has certainly been contrary to health care. I think it's a big issue for the residents in one way or another. Brooke, if you can keep it kind of short this time on both of you what are your general viewpoints on health care? Well I think this whole thing with health care as a right is somewhat problematic that everybody expects everything to be tended to without any cost or consequence. I think we lose track of the fact that the health care providers for them this isn't some sort of right it's in fact their job. It's a service that's being performed and they expect to be properly paid for, re-numerated for the services rendered and this part of this free health care for all thing flies in the face of that. I think everybody is entitled to a basic level of health care but as far as everybody being able to get everything without cost or loss is just foolishness like all other socialist ideas socialism is only good until you run out of somebody else's money. What do you think? Well I don't think that anybody doubts the fact that the health care system was definitely broken. I believe that it is on the right track to getting better changes slow and it's difficult to accomplish. That being said as far as the right to health care anybody who has emergency medicine that goes into a medical practice cannot be turned away for not having the funds to take care of it. But at the end of the day the federal government cannot pay for everybody without the money coming from somewhere. So ultimately the people are going to be paying for health care one way or another it's just whether it goes through the federal government or they purchase their own insurance. And there's a lot of back and forth about pre-existing conditions and things like that but ultimately a competitive market is needed in health insurance in order to ensure lower rates. So I want to give you both a chance to do a closing statement and look right at the camera and tell your fellow Vermonters why they should vote for you. You get to be the first one. Thank you very much. My fellow Vermonters should vote for me because I have a unique perspective on the state from the working class position that has not been represented for many many years now. Things that happened and worked 40 years ago 30 years ago even 10 years ago are no longer working today and I believe that I can bring a fresh voice to Washington. There's a lot being said about me being the first woman elected to go represent the state of Vermont in Washington and that would be an honor and I would be proud to be that person. However I would run whether that was the case or not. I am 100% for the people of the state. We'll run an honest campaign and I promise to be honest about the issues with the state of Vermont. Brooke. Yes. Tell Vermonters why you should be the one. I would like to go down to Washington to represent all of the people of Vermont. Not just the liberals, not just the conservatives but all of the people and fight for those things that benefit all of us, not special interests. I've been a citizen for many years, a voter, an employer, a historian and an advocate for the average person, the working stiff if you like and for those that are also employers and people that are employing the working stiffs as well. And Vermont is a small state. It has very small touch on the federal government but I think that what can be done is to properly put the Vermont values out down in Washington and to hope that that has some resolve at the end of the day. And importantly, at least as far as the U.S. House position the representatives are supposed to bring home the bacon to Vermont and we've seen very little of that going on with Peter Welch in recent years. Well, I want to thank our viewers for tuning in tonight and you can watch this again. It'll be replayed on town meeting television a number of times or you can find it on our internet site as well. I want to encourage everyone that's watching this to stay involved and vote. That's the most important thing here is that Republicans get out and vote, Democrats get out and vote during this primary. That's what this station and town meeting television is all about is keeping you informed so that you can get out there and make your vote. I want to thank both our candidates, H. Brooke Page and Anya Tenyo. Thank you so much. Thank you. It's a very much pleasure. Thank you for having me. You're absolutely welcome. My pleasure. Thank you very much. Thanks for tuning in, folks.