 Where's your, uh, where's Dr. Casey? Yeah, he's right over there. See the woman in the turquoise? Yes. Right next to her. Good afternoon, everyone. Thank you all so much for coming today. My name is Carrie Brown. I'm the executive director of the Vermont Commission on Women. We're an independent, non-partisan state commission dedicated to advancing rights and responsibilities for women in Vermont. And I'd like to welcome you all here today on behalf of the commission and also our co-hosts for today's event, the League of Women Voters, which is an organization of, uh, non-partisan political organization encouraging full participation in, in government, as well as the Vermont Federation of Business and Professional Women, which works to promote participation, equity, and economic self-sufficiency for working women. To the candidates who are here today, thank you so much for joining us. I'm so glad that you've taken the time today to share your thoughts and your views and your plans on issues that concern women and girls in Vermont. We know that when women do well, all of Vermont does well. And we really appreciate your taking your time today to come and address these issues with us. Thanks also to our advisory council and to the many organizations and individuals who contributed questions for today's event. And thanks to Orca Media, who has a live video stream going online right now. And there are also people who are listening online on the VPR house stream. We have a little overflow space downstairs in Room 11 if there are people who couldn't fit in here and they can watch on video down there. I'd also like to thank the Sergeant at Arms Office for all the help with the logistics of today. I have just a couple of requests for you before we get started. I'd like to ask you all to please hold your applause until the end of the entire event. That way we can spend as much time as possible listening to the candidates answer questions. And then if you're on Twitter, please feel free to tweet. We have a hashtag right up there, vtwomenask. We'd love to see you tweet that. So now I'd like to introduce our moderator for today. It's my great pleasure to introduce Ann Galloway. Ann Galloway is the founder of vtdigger.org, a statewide news website that publishes watchdog reports on state government, politics, consumer affairs, business, and public policy. She's worked as a reporter and editor in Vermont for 20 years. She's the former editor of the Sunday Rutland Herald and Times Argus. And she spent many years as a contributing writer for seven days and as a visual arts reviewer for the Times Argus. Her reporting has appeared in, among other places, The New York Times, The New York Daily News, and Vermont Life. Thank you so much for being here, Ann. And I turn the reins over to you now. Thank you so much, Carrie. Well, thank you all for joining us. I'm going to introduce the candidates now. We start on our right with Bill Spaceman Lee. He's from Craftsbury. He's a retired left-hand pitcher for the Boston Red Sox and Montreal Expos, and he's a Liberty Union candidate. In the middle, we have Sue Minter. She's a Democrat from Waterbury. She's the former secretary of the Agency of Transportation, and she served for many years in the House of Representatives. And on the left, we have Republican Phil Scott. He's a Lieutenant Governor, and he's a former state senator, and he owns a company called DuBois Construction. Thank you all for joining us. I'm going to talk about the questions now. They've been submitted by the public, by experts, and by the organizations that have sponsored this event. Our timekeeper will have flashcards showing... Well, first of all, each candidate has two minutes to respond to the questions. And for follow-up questions, they have one minute, and the timekeeper will let them know when they have one minute remaining and then 30 seconds and then a stop card. Candidates will address questions in alphabetical order, and we're going to start with Mr. Lee, then with Sue Minter, and then with Phil Scott. And finally, audience questions will be taken at 12.45. You'll have cards to fill out, and people will come around and collect the cards at the end of your aisle, so if you could just pass them down, that would be helpful. And at 1 o'clock, we'll start the audience questions. And if we have time, there will be a two-minute closing remark period for each of the candidates. So without further ado, let's get started. So this is the first question, and we're starting again with Mr. Lee, and then followed by Sue Minter and then Phil Scott. In the month, the median annual income for women who work full-time is $37,000, compared to $44,000 for men. This translates to a wage gap of $16,000. What will you do to eliminate this wage gap, Mr. Lee? Bring it up to $44,000. $37,000 is a good number. I work my whole career. You know, I come from a group of strong women. My great-grandmother would have all of her ex-husbands over for Thanksgiving. This is back in the 1800s. You know, I'm a Burbank boy. I was a little north of Hollywood. But six generations before that, all my relatives came from Wyndham County. And I didn't know it. And I ended up settling in Vermont. So, you know, women's rights supersedes. There's inequity in here in a gender gap that was created a long time ago. And it's based on an economic system that's unfair. And you have to eliminate that. That's what it is. There's no such thing as trickle-down economy. Everything goes up. That's why the 2% have it all. Bernie was right. If the big short had one picture of the year instead of spotlight, Bernie Sanders would be president of the United States. And I'm kind of fed up with all this foundational. One minute? Thank you. I don't own a watch. I don't own a cell phone. I don't use a computer. And I don't have a TV anymore. That died about a month ago. And I don't really see... There's anything on it. I can get the Red Sox on radio. I can sit back. I am, I believe, the right guy for the job right now because of a few people before me. The name was Arbuck Mr. Fuller. The Meadows. Don Al and Dennis. The Rome Club. I was with them back in 69. I was one of the few people. I started fair share, common cause. I was also head of the bottle bill. You have recycling in Vermont because of me and Dukakis. Budweiser used to throw stuff at me. Pepsi Cola threw stuff at me. Guess what? I can field anything. I throw strikes. I keep the ball down. I don't alibi. And I will bring equal rights to women in this state. Our postmistress spends $400 a week on childcare for two children. She brings in $400 a week. She makes nothing. We got to stop that. Thank you, Sue. Good afternoon everyone and thank you for being here. Bill, especially thank you for being here. And Phil, you know, I don't have to again debate an empty chair. It was an interesting experience and I guess I've had a little bit of practice raising two teenagers but I'm glad we're all here together. So I am really glad to be at a forum where we are talking about issues that are so important to women. But issues aren't just important to women. They're important to our families and they're important to our economy because if we are going to make Vermont affordable to the middle class, we have to conquer the pay gap. You know, like a majority of Vermont women, I've lived this. I've worked hard and probably harder than many of my male counterparts and known that I was probably earning less. But, you know, for many women this means bringing back adequate resources to meet their families' needs. Right now in Vermont we know that 43% of women who work full time still can't meet their basic needs. And at the current rate the wage gap will not close for 30 years. We need to change this story. It will be better. The gap exists for a number of reasons. Women are predominantly employed in low wage jobs like child care providers, elder care providers and that's why we need to raise the minimum wage to a living wage. We also know that women are generally clustered into few careers and we're not tapping our greatest talent and assets. As Secretary of Transportation I worked very hard to make sure more women came into the workforce. In fact we doubled the number of women in our workforce in our maintenance workforce making sure we opened up non-traditional careers for women. That's what I will continue to do as governor. Thank you Phil. Well I want to thank you as well for having all of us here today. We have nine more opportunities for you to hear us over the next seven weeks. There's stark differences between the candidates and I'm happy to be here to get our views out. I want to start out today by putting this right on the table because despite what you'll hear from my opponents party and my opponents at large I'm pro-choice, I support marriage equality and I support equal pay for equal work and social people in my life have been strong independent women. My dad was a World War II vet he passed away when I was 11 leaving my mom he died of his war-connected injuries as a result of the D-Day invasion he was a double amputee spent two years in Walter Reed Hospital he met my mom my mom grew up on a farm in Plainfield but she left her as a single mom with three rather rambunctious boys at that point and I reflect on how difficult that must have been for her how strong she had to be in order to protect us and take care of us. My aunt Mary from Lake Elmore she was an inspiration to me as well she took care of us a great deal she was an RN a nursing home administrator one of the first select board women in Vermont and she started the Morale Area Cancer Network she started that program and inspired me to start the Wheels for War program I also have daughters it's impossible to be a dad today and not see that they still work to do and I look forward to working with all of you to make sure our daughters have every opportunity equal opportunity as we move forward in the future more specifically in my first term in the Vermont Senate Act 81 which required equal pay for equal work regardless of gender this was furthered in 2007 with Act 41 which prohibited employers from discriminating based on gender identity one challenge we should address is that women more often than men make difficult choices that result in less pay in addition to equal pay protections, flexible work schedules telecommunicating and more affordable child care these initiatives could help reduce these barriers but I'm sure they will have a lot of opportunity over the next hour or so to discuss these priorities thank you next question some homeowners have paid leave to help with family matters such as the birth of a child or an ill loved one many do not and the question is do you support as state administered insurance program that would provide paid family and medical leave to all Vermonters if not are there other means you would use to fund such a benefit and the order this time is soon fill and then bill yes I do support paid family leave and Vermonters should not have to choose between their work and what they love and need I know this when I was pregnant with my first child Arielle I was in a new job I was afraid to tell them about my pregnancy and I had no security of whether I would have a job to get back for now I fought hard and in fact did have a job to come back to but I know not a lot of women are not so lucky when I had my second child I had a job to take leave and a secure job to go back to now it shouldn't have to be luck to make sure that you have a job to go back to we need to make sure that we work to guarantee that families can have take leave have a job to go back to so that they can actually go to work earn a living and have a clear job to go back to whether or not it is a new child or a new member and that is why I'm going to be working with Vermont businesses and employees to create a state administered insurance program that everyone can have access to paid family leave we always need to think about how we can make it easier for Vermont families to live here now my opponent Phil Scott does not support paid leave I want to make it easier for families to live here to have time with their babies to allow them to have time with their loved ones as governor I am going to work to make this happen I'm sorry, Phil you're next well thank you Sue for answering part of my question and I appreciate some of your answer I look forward to seeing how you're anticipating to paying for all of that and I'm very sympathetic to the challenges here and I agree no one should have to choose between caring for their family and making a living to provide for them we also have to acknowledge that we have a shrinking workforce and our economy needs every worker we can in order to grow to expand that middle class and lift wages we also have to the legislature took great steps towards providing paid leave for employees and I would not support any steps to reverse this but businesses do need time to adjust and absorb these new costs so I would not support an expansion of these mandates so soon I think the idea of a new insurance option has merit as long as it's voluntary and helps make Vermont more I've said all along that my approach to every proposal will be very clear if an idea makes Vermont more affordable for families and businesses I'll support it if it makes Vermont less affordable I'm not going to support it so I'm open to a discussion as long as we're focused on reducing the costs of living here in Vermont and doing business here as well because I know if we focus on making Vermont affordable and growing the economy there will be more opportunities to achieve the goals that we have in this area and many many others but we first first have to live within our means we're going to have to get control of this economy we're going to have to focus on the economy in order for us to have a much more prosperous Vermont thank you Bill on the first question I think we all agreed on this question it's the one Sue and I against Phil it all goes back to our economics it's it's based on a false foundation it's based on a guy named Thomas Malthus the Malthusian quotient says that there's not enough to go around that goods and services grow arithmetically and population grows exponentially well I was head of the radio population growth in Massachusetts and when I had that third child I was thrown out but then I remarried and only had one kid so I'm back to square one so I believe I can answer this question why we're going to have a way of finding out how to do it my wife's Canadian she wakes up in the morning and loves Vermont but she can't listen to the radio it drives her crazy she goes well we do it this way I go well they don't do it this way down here why don't they do it this way down here well Thomas Malthus who's Thomas Malthus so all of a sudden if there's not enough to go around and a guy named Adam Smith who did Wealth of Nations he comes out and then a guy named March Engel and I can't think of the third guy who comes out and says well if the workers are going to do everything they should be the ones to benefit from it first I think that's a great idea I'm head of a union too I was head of the players association I am responsible for more millionaires than anyone in this room how did I do that I took it away from billionaires money is like manure it's only good when they spread it around and in Vermont we spread a lot of manure so we got to take care of our environment first if you take care of the environment first and clean up everything your foundation then you can start working on things like paid leave and everything else it starts with the environment if you don't fix that and don't clean up your rivers and don't clean up your water and don't clean up your air none of the other stuff is going to happen thank you thank you this time the order is Phil, Bill and Sue and the question is will you change or limit the way women and girls currently access reproductive health care including abortion the simple answer is no as I said earlier despite what you'll hear from others I'm pro-choice I support marriage equality and I support equal pay for equal work that's because again my life has been strong independent women including my two daughters I fully support a woman's right to choose and have access to quality care I may also be one of the only Republicans in the country to have spoken up against the calls to defund Planned Parenthood when that was a debate was going on in Washington not too long ago and I think it's an important reminder that I'm always going to do what is right for Vermonters and regardless of what my party might say so the basic answer is no thank you Bill? you see all these shootings happening and stuff down in Pensacola and you see everything happening we've got a problem in this country between there's a lot of problems but I support a woman's right to make a choice I've always done that you know I'm I don't like abortion but if it harms the mother or anything else you know we go back to Tumbridge Fair I was driving down the road and I heard that poor Sue was sitting there by herself because Phil didn't show up because I wasn't allowed there you know what I could have taken a right turn and got there and I could have debated that too but I'm not out here to take away Sue's votes I'm out here after Phil's votes I'm a gun toter my mother's name is Hunt all the hunts live in southern Vermont and what do we do? we hunt I'm not afraid of killing things and putting meat on the table I eat roadkill I'm about as conservative as they come you know Sue, she didn't even go to the northeast kingdom she didn't go to that debate I was going to throw my cowboy hat in the ring up there in Irisburg and there was no one to throw it at except all those other Democrats up there and Galbraith, I like Galbraith I read his books his father's book, Money, Where It Comes and When's It Goes and I am an economics major at the University of Southern California I was a minor actually but my professor he called it economics for the first year I thought I was in an economics class because he was from India that's globalization global lives network we have to come together and we have to give women's rights first I may not believe in what you say but I'll defend your right to say it with my life that's the principle of democracy I sound like Mr. Smith goes to Washington I kind of feel like it it's the first time I've ever been in here I like round things I'm a geodesic dome guy I want to live in a geodesic dome I want to save this planet and I think being governor is a good start thank you thank you Sue so bringing the topic back to the issue of choice I want to say that absolutely not I will not restrict a woman's right to choose this must remain a decision between a woman and her doctor without exception you know Vermont is one of only a handful of states where women's health care is actually paramount we have no restrictions at this time on access to abortion services we have also expanded coverage for contraceptives what's in this Bill we even have passed a law requiring that vasectomies be added to the insurance policy I got one of them I'm a part of Zero Growth yeah but I had a reversal too and I got a daughter out of it so I'm ahead of them and need to be a part of this conversation too I agree I agree with everything you say but we've also expanded criminal penalties for threatening social workers or health care workers at Planned Parenthood Equimics and this is important because we are having harassment all around this country and let's just face it Republicans across this country right now are waging a war on women over 400 pieces of legislation have been introduced across this state last year alone to restrict women's right to abortion and health care this cannot happen in Vermont now listen I know Phil says he's pro choice but he has been recommended by the Vermont right to life committee he has supported restrictions that would reduce a woman's right to choose in the state of Vermont we cannot let Vermont go backwards and under my leadership it will not thank you next question we're going to be starting with Bill Lee then Sue then Phil and the question is women are breadwinners one out of three households and working moms struggle to find affordable quality child care what are you hearing about the challenges Vermont's working mothers are facing what will you do to address them we're starting with Bill one out of three ain't bad you go to the Hall of Fame if you hit one for three but in jobs and everything else that's not good I'd like to say something about Republicans they're on the way out they're dinosaurs they're like Tyrannosaurus rex they got little short arms and they can't get to their pockets so they can't get to their pockets and that's where all the money is because they already got it all wrapped up wealth is anti-entropic it does not wear out it does not wear out they're living on their interest and Bernie was right but he didn't go far enough and I'm going to go further than that and women are going to be fine in my utopian environment they're going to run the show because a lion sits on his ass and licks himself it's the females that go out and hunt so I'm basically I just want to sit back I'm not an atheist I believe in God she's black and her name is Lucy and that's where it starts from I'm a paternalist I'm a conservative but I believe I am so far left that I'm right and I'll always be that way and I'll always think that way and I may be out of the box but out of the box is good when you're out of the box you can see the ridges you can see the trees which are alive you can see everything that's alive out there monotheism everything is dead it's a paternalistic guy named Abraham that started it all and we got to do away with that thank you Sue I'm a working mom I have two kids and I truly understand the challenges that women and families face balancing work and childcare and I know that it is especially critical for young parents to have access to affordable quality early childhood care and learning it allows them to get back to work it's important for women and families to make ends meet and I'll tell you I hear these challenges constantly on the trail women unable to find quality care unable to afford that care unable to make ends meet and it is particularly women and we have to look at the demographic changes happening more and more we have single headed households and female headed households right now 30% of the female headed households with children are living under the poverty line so this issue of women and economic security is so critically important as is access to early childhood care and after school care I am going to be focusing on this throughout my tenure it is part of my economic development strategy to make sure we are getting more people access to livable wage jobs and economic security and that includes women now some people don't get how women's economic security and the economy are linked Phil put out his economic development plan last week I think it was 40 pages and it did not mention the issues of women in work I am a candidate who gets this whose leadership is needed to make sure we are thinking across all the spectrums of need that we're thinking about women and children we're thinking about how critically important their needs and their economic security are for our economy I am the leader with the experience to bring people together to lead us forward so that we can have more families who can afford to live in Vermont and stay here thank you first of all thank you for bringing up the economic development plan that I put out last week it is a 12 point plan for those of you who are interested you can look at it at philscott.org see for yourself what it includes what it doesn't I think it's a great blueprint something to start with because we need to focus on economic development in this state access to reliable high quality affordable childcare is a very real challenge throughout Vermont many families throughout our state many of the young moms I speak with talk about the lack of options and how nearly half of their monthly income goes to childcare and I want to be very clear about something else you might have heard regardless of what you see on TV from my opponent's surrogates I believe in the science I believe early education is essential and we should do more to expand our efforts but having said that I don't see the need to increase taxes to do so I knew no we can do this by restructuring we can reform our education system as a whole in order to find savings through there the legislature's own consultants have indicated in this pikes report to see what savings we could find they found more than $150 million of efficiency savings in the pikes report alone and just imagine if we had $150 million more we could dedicate $25 more million to early education we could take another $25 million and put it towards STEM science, technology, engineering and math and then we could take the rest of it, the $100 million left over and we could return that to some taxpayers that are in desperate need they're overburdened as it is and I think this would be an enormous step in the right direction in both strengthening education and reducing our property tax burden one of the major expenses for childcare centers is the building itself and maintenance as well and if communities could partner with childcare providers to provide space for those childcare folks we could make this more affordable and I'm thinking those empty rooms in the schools the empty rooms in the libraries the empty rooms in the community rooms could be used, utilized as for the infrastructure for childcare centers as well we just have to think outside the box look for areas of opportunity thank you ran a red light I know the next question is about human trafficking traffickers exploit economic vulnerability and addiction using violence threats, deception, debt bondage and other manipulative tactics to force people to engage in commercial sex or provide labor or services against their will what will you do as governor to assist victims and hold perpetrators responsible in human trafficking cases and we're going to start here with Sue well, human trafficking is a despicable predatory criminal activity that traps vulnerable people into bondage it's like modern day slavery and it exists here in Vermont we do have in Vermont some of the toughest laws on the books with respect to human trafficking I appreciate the work done by the legislature victim services and protections are crucial if we want to make it safe for women and children and other vulnerable populations to step out of the shadows and this is also needed for victims of domestic violence which is a silent epidemic happening throughout this state that I have become more and more conscious and exposed to protecting those victims and enable them to have security when they tell their stories now there are many in this room who are working hard to be their advocate and I want to be their advocate too it's one of the reasons I am supporting gun safety now let me tell you Bill because I know that you are concerned about this as well as I am we do have a challenge in Vermont and it is often behind closed doors right now the majority of gun homicides sorry the majority of homicides in Vermont are domestic violence related and most of them are with a gun and in states where we have background checks on all handguns 46% fewer women are shot to death by their intimate partner so I do want to stand up for common sense gun safety background checks for all gun safety protocols I support the Second Amendment I support Hunter's rights I don't want to take guns away from law abiding citizens but I do want to keep people safe behind those closed doors and I hope you'll stand with me thank you Phil well I agree human trafficking is a despicable act and it's something that I will not tolerate nor should any of us tolerate the top priority is public safety when I was in the Vermont State Senate I co-sponsored the Safe Communities Act which increased the scope of the stalking laws I also supported Act 58 of 2009 which added sex trafficking to the internet sex offender registry and Act 85 of 2010 which established a human trafficking task force so in part to identify those resources for victims and I think that's important that we keep that moving forward and so as governor I will continue to look for ways to hold perpetrators accountable and to assist victims of human trafficking and other egregious acts against women in particular thank you Bill well I work in prisons and traffickers don't do well in prison so I'm the longest continuous person in a prison called San Quentin started playing ball there in 1960 and I've been back and I talk to prisoners and stuff most of the people I know that commit crimes are not crimes of passions well there are a few of those too and there are a lot of guns involved in that too but it all boils back to economics you take away the economic problem people are happy to go to work they're not into trafficking you got to start with a foundation we're doing is attacking symptoms of the problem you attack symptoms you're not going to get anywhere you got to attack problems not symptoms and what we're discussing right now are symptoms of problems guns don't kill people bullets kill people as Chris Rock said if you made a bullet $7,500 there's a feeling going on so clip registration I shoot ducks I have a Browning Auto 5 I have a Browning 410 I have a 28 gauge I have an Ithaca 16 gauge yeah I got too many guns but you need a different caliber for everything you're going to shoot and I think that's what it is you eliminate the clips in guns the handgun things I don't believe in handguns Colt conversion Jesse James gun I couldn't hit Jack Diddley with that thing you know but it will kill close range you just if you're afraid go out and get two gray geese put them on your front steps and I guarantee you no one's going to come up to your front door without you knowing about it you don't need guns we need more geese thank you okay this is the last call for audience questions so people will be coming around to collect them and we'll be reading audience questions at one o'clock so thanks very much the next question has to do with workplace accommodations for pregnant workers and we're going to start with Phil we're going to move on to Bill and then with Sue would you support a state law requiring reasonable workplace accommodations for pregnant workers such as access to water, seating and more frequent restroom breaks absolutely in 2007 as a matter of fact I supported Act 144 which required employers to extend accommodations to nursing moms in the workplace and I think we can extend other protections as well to pregnant workers I understand that some occupations might not be perfectly suited for these situations but I believe we can work with businesses in order to meet these needs in their workplace as well for their workforce we're struggling here in Vermont to with the size of our workforce there's less people working today than there were seven years ago and that's a problem that's part of the issue that I see facing us today the economic challenges we face because we have less people working particularly in our youth so we need to be as flexible as possible in order to attract and retain all workers and I will continue to seek ways of doing that and again my priority is the economy and if we can focus on the economy I'll pull in the same direction and we can have a much more prosperous Vermont and we can put more people to work and we could be attractive to many to come to our state and live here and enjoy what we enjoy as Vermonters Thank you Yes, I believe in all of those it's a no brainer I mean people need more breaks I've had a lot of pregnant wives I've got all my kids they've all graduated, they've all done well I've got my youngest is in graduate school down in Georgia I just don't understand why they all go south but I believe in the workplace I've always been that way I'm just I'm a renaissance guy in that respect I believe in every woman's right that's out there and I've never worked against it my aunt is in the Hall of Fame my aunt was the greatest left handed pitcher in the history of the League of their Own Annabelle Lee's got a poem written to her and Hazel Broker Leger mother at the age of 47 sliding into second base you know Imogene, my other grandmother she was a walker, she married Paul Adams Hunt she was a flower ranger my new nickname is Imogene because I'm a flower ranger I arrange flowers I do that and I think that's it's a credit to you know doing the right thing at the right time I'm a pragmatic guy and the thing about me is I'm neither a democrat nor a republican I believe they're both obsolete terms and that's the problem we got to do away with two things in this planet cortisol and citizens united with cortisol if you have no cortisol you're a Zen Buddhist you're a samurai warrior you're a Nikito master cortisol is fear we got to do away with fear you do away with fear this planet will be a lot better place I'm even beyond that I believe in rubbing out borders I want to rub out the border between Quebec and here because I can get an X-ray in Quebec for $18 how much does it cost down here I got hit with a line drive last winter knocked out one of my teeth and then about four months later the other two started dying so I've got three implants Dr. Dosti up in Quebec with the crowns and everything for 7,000 Canadian how much does it cost down here thanks Bill sorry time's up alright now we're going to move on to trades and technical programs oh I'm sorry Sue I apologize please go ahead I absolutely also support having listen I know what it feels like to be working pregnant I know how it needs to be not just near a bathroom and have access to water but lactation facilities when I had my first job in the state where we were supposed to have lactation facilities I had to sneak away to work in the office in the corner of the office actually Tina who works down in the sergeant of arms office was the nice lawyer who allowed me to go into her space to pump so when I got to be secretary of transportation I was so glad to have the opportunity to make sure that all of our young women employees had access to lactation facilities and I want to make sure that all young women have access to lactation facilities throughout state government we've got a great company here in Vermont who's making that possible around the world this is what we need to do to keep young people into the workforce we want to keep young people in Vermont state to be the employer of choice we need to make accommodations but we need to be thinking about our next generation in so many ways and it's why I want to support not just early childhood education but education after high school because we are doing a great job in Vermont getting kids through high school the highest high school graduation rates in the country but when it comes beyond high school we are actually at the bottom of the country so while two thirds of the jobs in the 21st century require education and training beyond high school we're not giving it to them and that's why I'm proposing two years tuition free at Vermont technical college or the community college of Vermont and I am going to require everyone to give public service and have a volunteer mentor we're going to make sure that every community college campus has childcare available so that adult learners can go back to school we need people to get qualified for livable wage jobs businesses cannot grow today because they can't find qualified workers we need to connect the dots to make our economy grow and make sure we have economic prosperity for the next generation thank you now we're going to talk about trades and technical programs so good segue there we're going to start with Bill Lee and then Sue and then Phil about 5% of students completing trades and technical programs at Vermont high schools future labor demands for skilled workers in these higher paying occupations will be unmet if we continue to fail to recruit and retain young women what is your plan to attract and retain more of them in these programs starting with you Bill you got to have jobs first you got to have something that you're going to go to and you got to train towards that job you can't just have education first and then come down and have no jobs people are leaving the state Phil mentioned that I saw the Republican debates that was one of the good points he made that people are leaving the state we got to keep them in this state and I believe that the future is good here because global warming is forcing more people to look for water and Vermont's got all the water you know we are I picked my house on the ridge where I did on the reed farm because there was a spring there you always have your spring above your house then you have your house and then you have your leech field you don't do it in the opposite direction something you learn really early here in the building side of it so you know it's education I believe that I work with a lot of educators down in the state of Connecticut and they're having a big thing right now you know about they're going to the Supreme Court and the thing is you have to have the jobs so we're going to create jobs that we will educate towards and I think everything will go a lot better I think we've done it backwards we have Khan Academy we have tons of available stuff out there that we can educate a lot differently, a lot cheaper and it's going to trickle down yeah I don't can't use the word trickle down that's a Reagan thing Ronald Reagan was a swim instructor from Illinois that was born in valley poor potatoes Ireland and everybody thinks he was the great you know orator and everything else he was an actor he was bonzo goes to Hollywood you know I couldn't stand him I used to quail hunt up on his ridge in Verdugo in California and finally he put his estate up there and I couldn't shoot mountain quail anymore and I was really didn't like him after that but back to jobs back to edgy back to education you gotta do it first you gotta have the jobs at the end of the line places you can go and then educate towards it that's what I believe thank you Sue yes we have to have the jobs and we have to have the education and we have to get more women out of the lowest paying wage jobs 50% of the women who work full time are employed in the fields where the median annual salary is $35,000 that is the crux of this wage gap I'm gonna tell you it does take education it does take training but it takes recruitment and retention when I came to be secretary of transportation the federal government was threatening to take our federal dollars away because the republican administration that preceded us or at least during their tenure so few many fewer women were and people of color were employed at the agency that we have to establish and I did this it was such a task force on affirmative action so it took intention on recruiting mentoring we had wonderful women in our workforce that went out to schools and tech centers to actually recruit and be role models I'm so proud of the two women who won two years ago engineer of the year and young engineer of the year they just both happened to be women working at the agency of transportation but they saw it as their mission to bring more women in because we need to make sure that women have role models you've got to see it to be it so yes my tuition free education at ccv and vtc is gonna help women get access to the education and training they need we're also gonna match every student with a volunteer mentor to be that champion to help them see what's possible because right now four out of ten kids are graduating high school in vermont and they're not going beyond and they can't make ends meet we have a lost generation if we don't bring them forward and give them hope and aspiration and an opportunity for a career and economic security our future will be bleak so yes we're gonna bring women into the workforce at higher wage jobs we're gonna recruit them we're gonna be role models for them we're gonna make it happen in our state we have to thank you phil the reality is 33.6% of those working in vermont in stem fields science technology engineering and math are women and that's compared to about 28% nationwide and I think that's something to be very proud of and vermont is ahead of the curve in this area of work to do to further that you may not know this about me but I went to UVM to be a tech ed teacher I really love to create things build things problem solve and I thought I wanted to be a teacher I did my student teaching at U32 and decided at that point maybe not for me I'm gonna go into business at that point but that's one reason I've always supported good educational programs and opportunities for young women such as Rosie's girls and I think it's important to give young women that hands-on access in these fields and that's one way we'll get the results we're looking for last week as Sue had mentioned before I released a comprehensive blueprint for economic growth which includes my ideas for investing in our workforce in the last six years alone as I mentioned before the state of vermont has lost nearly 16,000 workers from his workforce and I propose partnering with our state colleges and universities regional development corporations and others so that we retain at least 50% of the 10,000 students that graduate every single year from our colleges and universities it's fertile ground there we just have to provide opportunities for them to stay it has to be affordable they have to have opportunities they have to have affordable housing so we have to focus on the economy in order for us to be better it's also important to acknowledge that because of the unsustainable property tax rates many schools can't offer tech ed programs anymore and if we're going to have more young women access these skills we have to recognize that having those programs in the schools is going to be essential so that we can have that creative mind working so that they can experiment in those areas so as governor I'll bring tech ed back into the schools so that we can have a more creative economy thank you very much alright this question has to do with legal representation and we're going to start with Sue and then move to Phil and then with Bill too many Vermonters involved in custody and relief from abuse proceedings cannot afford an attorney and proceed without representation without legal representation they lack the expertise to best present their case and many enter into legally binding agreements regarding their safety their children and their finances that do not protect their interests what steps would you take as governor to ensure that Vermonters have access to legal services when they can't afford to hire a lawyer thank you Sue well I think access to justice should and must be available to all Vermonters particularly those facing challenges of domestic abuse and where they cannot afford their own lawyer of course that's the work of our legal aid but we aren't doing enough and we should be thinking about how more low income Vermonters especially domestic violence those who are at financial disadvantage can actually access a lawyer one of the things that I would like to do as governor is actually establish a commission in order to really convene I guess the VAR association to investigate what it takes to expand access to justice and how we can pay for it this isn't a simple question it's going to take real strategies I will tell you that we have to have a leader who actually faces challenges head on that's the kind of leader I am I'm someone who sets goals and achieves goals this is one of many areas of access to justice and criminal justice reform that we need to be thinking about if we are going to actually move into the 21st century and make sure among many things that we are not allowing recidivism to make more people incarcerated I say less incarceration more education we are spending $82,000 a year putting people behind bars it would cost $35,000 a year to put them into a seat an empty seat right now at our state college that's the way we need to be thinking differently about criminal justice reform making sure we have greater access to justice and greater representation especially for victims of domestic violence thank you thank you Phil? well if there are Vermonters being forced to navigate our legal system without counsel it seems to me that the judiciary Vermont's lawyers should help us understand how we can make sure this is never the case as governor I'll partner with all of you the judiciary the defender general and all stakeholders to ensure that representation is given to the Vermonters who are unable to afford it it's something that we have to it's a basic premise of our constitution basic premise of who we are Vermont law help our two existing resources that provide legal services to Vermonters struggling to find legal representation they can't afford and this is another reminder of why we need to really focus on the economy and make affordability one of the prime issues of this campaign we need to make sure our economy and wages are growing and that the costs of living aren't exceeding our ability to pay we need to make sure the budgets aren't growing faster than our wages and that's what's happening here in Vermont and if we can do that we can reduce the size of this challenge and many others but it's going to take all of us pulling in the same direction focusing on the economy to make the affordability this crisis of affordability that we're facing here in Vermont something that can be solved but we're all going to have to recognize that this is the biggest issue that's facing us as Vermonters thank you Bill? you're right you need more pro bono lawyers out there helping the people that don't have access to it I'm dealing with it right now in my neighborhood people come to me they're advocates they're getting run out of their houses and they have no voice I have no voice but I must speak it's a Richard Ellison it's not just health with sound shut it just builds up pressure inside you and it drives you nuts and I have access to lawyers I play with Downs-Rackland and Martin I play basketball on Wednesdays in St. John'sbury Mirole Weinberger is my catcher I have my outlets I go out there laws are like spiderwebs they entrap the weak and are broken by the strong so you have to have the weakest you know you got to get the person it usually involves land it usually involves someone wanting someone else's stuff and as Thomas Naylor wrote in Affloenza we have too much stuff first thing I'm going to do I'm going to ban mini storage then you don't have so much stuff you don't need that stuff we got too much stuff and then I'm going to add a 20% ban on a Bud Light every skidoo trail around here there's nothing but Bud Light cans on it you go in the spring you can make a fortune just walk in the skidoo in the northeast kingdom and take in Bud Light cans if Bud Light wants to stay in the state they got to increase their revenue to 20% on the can and McDonald's trash it's all over the place the problem was we don't eat right we don't eat right on this planet and I think Vermont is going to be the bastion of eating right in the northeast kingdom is we have the best cheese we got the best beer we got peach greens we all eat within 5 miles of our house when you do that all these other problems will evaporate what we're discussing is symptoms of the problem you got to attack the big problems and all these other things will dry up like California thank you thanks I'm not quite sure what food has to do with legal representation but let's move on so how would you address racism and racial bias in policing and other public systems and we're going to start with Phil move on to Bill and then Sue well we don't have to go very far just to turn on the TV or turn on the radio to see what an incredible difficult frustrating issue this is across our country and we're seeing it right now we're I think that we have to first of all respect each other I've made it my mission in life whether it's on the racetrack or in business or in political life to treat others the way I expect to be treated and I think across across the government across law enforcement we need to make sure that our law enforcement are trained appropriately there's no bias in any sense of the word that we shouldn't tolerate it and I would be an advocate for doing so again treating each other with respect that we all deserve that we all expect and then we deliver as well so it comes from the top it's leadership and we just have to make sure that it trickles down and make sure that our law enforcement and others have the proper training to make sure that there is no racial bias no implications of that sort whatsoever it won't be tolerated thanks Bill you know I stuck up for Bernie Carbo in Boston and I got deported to Canada and then I stuck up for Rodney Scott who was being abused up in the Montreal area and I got kicked out of Montreal you know and but I do racial profile if I'm in the kingdom and I see a black guy in a vehicle I find out when he stops I go up and the first thing I ask him is are you over 35 and then I ask what position do you play because I still play baseball in other words I ask questions I go out there and that's what's wrong in our society we have gotten so afraid and so fearful that we've created gated communities we've got a police forces out there that's trigger happy not so much up here but you look at Burlington and look at that black people get pulled over more than white people you know and it's just in the nature and we created this problem a long time ago and if you do the economic things I think we've got to quit seeing in black and white I'm looking can you throw strikes can you hit the ball you know what position do you play and that's the life and that's the way I look at law enforcement it's a tough job you know everybody out there is turning into Barney Fife you know and they're scared and they're fumbling with their guns and they're shooting people at the wrong time this is terrible and this is what's going to happen this was predicted this was predicted by the Meadows in 1969 and limits to growth they showed the graph restrictive and fuel prices go up they showed what was going to happen and we're a civilization that is on the brink of becoming extinct thank you Sue well I really thank you for the question because racial bias and I will add gender bias requires us all to truly look at ourselves because we all carry our own biases based on our life experience and there is tremendous racial tension and violence going around in this country that we're all aware of but we cannot think for a minute that we are immune from that in Vermont I know family members who have been pulled over because of the color of their skin not because of their driving habits I know that we have a challenge in Vermont look at what's happening in Rutland I want to be a governor that will always keep my borders open to refugees fleeing war and persecution and we have tremendous fear of those with different cultural backgrounds the only way we're going to address these fears is by welcoming diversity to our state that's why it was so important that we doubled the number of women in our maintenance workforce and tripled the people of color I don't usually talk about that because it went from two to six but we have to continue to focus on diversity I am going to have a cabinet that has diversity at its center I am going to work on hiring practices we are going to welcome our people from outside our borders into our homes I housed a refugee family six years ago we never had a word that we understood between us this was a family fleeing persecution from Russia a Muslim family it did create some stir in our community but you know what we didn't have a language we learned to communicate together through making food our whole community has benefited from this diversity and this family who are now active parts of our local economy time thank you so this is the last question and we're going to start with Bill and then move on to Sue and then Phil I love last question recess then we have closing remarks Vermont's whole prison for women has aging infrastructure lacks programming space houses majority nonviolent offenders and costs $80,000 a year to house an inmate what are your plans to address the disproportionate costs to house low risk offenders as well as the lack of parity in programming between men and women in the state and again we're starting with Bill me that would be you I do have a problem with hearing oh sorry as Eugene Jeb said if there's a lesser class I am of it if there's a person incarcerated I am not free and we're throwing people in prison because of economic problems and stuff so we've got to let them out I believe in building trails I believe in getting people working out I believe in the opioid addiction in our state is brought on by the designated hitter you I knew you were going to bring that one because it's specialization bridge extinction in red china in 1976 I was there I was at the funeral of Jo and Lai and I went to all the elementary schools and I watched the little bundled up people it was like 10 degrees above zero it was cold they ran them for 45 minutes they ran all their children you wonder why they have all the jobs and why all our manufacturers in China because they're in shape and that's where your opioid comes from your addiction we're fat, we're out of shape, we're lazy we're round and we do not exercise enough if you stop and get that problem out you don't you secrete your own endorphins which are stronger than the opioids and you don't have to go out and find anything this is the problem these women that are in jail are in there from abuse and economic disasters and bad relationships it's not their fault they're a victim, they're all victims I'm a Eugene Debs guy Peter Diamondstone anointed me he came to me and said you have to run I said I don't want to run he says you have to run, you go home you read Plato's Republic again which I had read and I read that little part in there and in there in the Art of Governing it said as young Plato was sitting on Socrates' lap he said the worst thing you can do is when asked is to not run so Peter told me to and that's why I'm here and all these other problems will melt away when you get rid of Democrats and Republicans left and right and all this subterfuge we have I am neither I'm the guy that'll lead you out of the wilderness time, thanks Sue? I agree with Bill that it all comes down to the economy and that's why I want to grow jobs and economic opportunity for Vermonters help make sure we have vibrant communities to keep young people here and to give people more hope I agree that the women's prison and low risk offenders need alternative models we have to be thinking differently when we are a country that has the highest rate of incarceration in the world and we are spending more and more dollars and not getting results it is about giving people economic opportunity but for those people who are in custody we have to be able to think of alternatives especially for women and their children to be together we need those kinds of ideas to move us not just to helping reduce recidivism but to lower costs so we can spend more on educating people I want to just speak because Bill brought it up and it's true more and more people affected by opiates I want to address the opiate epidemic head on when I was the Irene recovery officer after the worst natural disaster in nearly a century I was a special appointee in the governor's office I intend when I'm governor to have this crisis manager who like I was able to do after Irene is thinking 24-7 about this crisis because it is affecting every community of this state every aspect of our state and if we don't have a strategy working forward together we need to bring together the folks from the enforcement community from the treatment and prevention we have to look at prescribing habits we have to call upon the pharmaceutical industry to come to bat to find out how we can look at pain management that doesn't make people addicts for life we need to think very differently and strategically and I will have a task force pulling together all of those different pieces setting markers and goals where we are now and where we need to get that's how we recovered successfully after Irene we had an interagency team we set goals and we achieved goals we have to be doing that this crisis of opiate epidemic is actually more intense and devastating than Irene was thank you Phil well this may surprise some of you but I don't agree with everything Governor Shumlin has said or done over the last few years but I do remember being in this chamber and it was one of the state and state addresses and I remember saying it was a profound statement I thought at the time and he said you know we have to figure out who we're afraid of and who we're mad at and differentiate between the two and I thought that that was so profound when you think about that it's such a simple statement but it's so true and something that we have to address in this state we have a high incarceration rate we have a crisis of affordability on our hands and part of it is the high cost of incarceration in itself and it appears I put out a 10-point opiate plan about a month ago and many of the things I think Sue must have read it because many of the things that she talked about are in that plan and one of the issues it is about looking at Rutland for instance they've done a great job with Project Vision there and I'm saying that we should bring that out we should all get together and talk about the different to this crisis that we're facing as well with addiction issues and as well Gloucester, Massachusetts for instance has been utilizing a concept where they're giving flexibility to their law enforcement so that they aren't in violation if they're caught in violation of an addiction issue they're giving some latitude to put them in treatment and I think that that's really really important that they see it on the ground they have boots on the ground they understand it, they see it and feel it so they're giving that latitude to put them in treatment instead of putting them in prison so we have many many debates in the future but the incarceration rates in this state are a problem but we have to look at some of the out of state incarceration as well as in state and how do we afford to continue to move forward in this state while facing this crisis of affordability that we have thank you okay now we're on to the final two minute remarks and we're going to start with Sue Minter followed by Phil Scott and last up will be Bill Lee so thank you very much Sue I'm usually a starter I only close bars well thanks everybody for coming thank you Anne for moderating I am so glad we had this chance to talk about issues that are so important to women you know I'm not running because I am a woman I'm running because I'm the most qualified to be the next governor of this state but I think today we laid out some issues about why diversity in leadership matters women today are making $0.84 to every dollar earned by men 43% of women in Vermont who work full time still can't make ends meet economic security for women matters for families and for our state and we need a leader who is going to understand these problems who's going to know what it's like to be pregnant and going to work who's going to know the struggles and the need for quality affordable child care who's going to be thinking about our next generation and the need for post secondary education and what's going to happen to the next generation the importance of paid family and of raising the minimum wage the importance of having livable wage jobs and the opportunity for training and education for women and men so that we can grow the economy so that we can have the workforce for our businesses to grow I'm asking for your vote for governor so that we can ensure that we do have early childhood education and tuition free college for technical and community college to make our communities stronger by investing in our downtowns and villages supporting entrepreneurs creating livable wage jobs and to make sure that we protect our environment fighting for clean water clean energy and a green energy economy you know whether it was working with thousands of Vermonters to rebuild roads homes, businesses and communities after Irene or whether it's been making our bridges and roads safer as your transportation secretary I've had the extraordinary privilege of helping to bring people together to move Vermont forward and that's what I want to do as your governor in 225 years of history we've only had one woman governor time it's time thank you let's hold our applause to the end please Phil Scott well again thank you very much for having us all here today I'm running for governor to make the economy the most important issue that we face I think making Vermont more affordable and restoring faith and trust in government is something that has been missing for a number of years we see it across the nation and people just don't have any faith and trust left and we need to act appropriately in order to restore that in some way I think this election is all about the economy serves a renewed focus on making Vermont more affordable growing the economy and keeping jobs here in the state and this is something I've been talking about for the last five years and the lack of focus and action in this area is why I've decided to step up to run myself from taxes and fees to household bills increasing costs or undermining the economic vitality of the state for families and businesses and our state's economy as a whole as I talk with working Vermonters every single day they're struggling to make ends meet I did my Vermont everyday jobs where I work a day in someone else's shoes and they're working two and three jobs just to get by and they're not getting there they can't pay their property taxes they need to make their rent payments their mortgage payments and they're just not getting by and I believe if we we're clear about our goals and what we want to achieve I know we can make Vermont the best state in the nation to start a small business and to raise a family and that will be my goal as governor focus on the economy make this more affordable so everyday Vermonters families can come here and really benefit from what we all know exists here in Vermont it's a special place and I think it can be even better if we play our cards right I thank you again for having us here today thank you let's hold our applause to the end please you're the closer thank you you only get one first impression in life you only meet someone for the first time I'm different I'm different than both the other candidates I did not create the problems that you're in right now I believe Vermont is perfect Vermont is not a state it's a state of mind I came here a long time ago because I was asked to by John Savage the Red Sox Foundation by the Sox Exchange WDEV brought me in Don Martin from WCAX they put me up in a little sex notch in a small cabin and it snowed on October 8 and the rock in there had a little spring through it and it froze up on us and I ended up in the Demex Cabin over in Greensboro Band and if it wasn't for Lonesome Dove coming out that year I'd have frozen to death you know and I said and I learned to cross country ski I learned to snowshoe I got back in shape of course licked my wounds and stayed here and stayed out of people's business but I believe I have a mouth and I must speak out and we've got to change things and I think you need a new direction and I believe you will need me you know it's a I buried four of my ball players I buried Floyd Brown who started the senior league I buried Ralph Bingham my catcher Bob Elliott hanging out nine guys hitting a home run up in North Troy you know I'm a kingdom guy I'm a conservative I dig my own potatoes by hand I weed my garden by hand I built my house with my own hands you know I built that house and I'm proud of it I'm proud to be in Vermont and I hope to stay and I'll do the right job for you I guarantee it because I have my own pockets I've only taken twenty dollars for this job and that was from a guy from Wisconsin and I said I don't want your money I don't believe in Wisconsin I believe they set the price of cheese and that's why we have to dump milk I don't like Wisconsin he says don't worry I've already sold the sign check for forty dollars to another guy from Wisconsin Rapids I said amazing that's when I pitched in Wisconsin Rapids the big leagues with the Red Sox time thank you okay a big hand of applause for the candidates and thank you audience this is a great event thank you for coming and I hope you'll go out to vote on November 8th hey now Robert Mitchell Thunder Road thank you I think I would have done a little better if I had some