 Good evening and welcome so glad to have you join us here for continuing coverage of general election 2018 here at Channel 17 We are wrapping up a month of debates with legislative candidates And we are here with three candidates in Burlington's new north end. It is district 6 1 Which actually covers a couple different words words 4 and 7? So tonight we have Carol Odie who is an incumbent and she's running as a Democrat We have Bob Hooper who is a challenger and you are running as an independent Democrat the Democrat. Yes. Okay. I should have that right and then we have Kurt right who is an incumbent running as a Republican We're happy to take your calls. We already have the phone is ringing We have two calls from the outside world, but we are going to begin with opening statements Carol Odie Would you tell us why you are running and what qualifies you for the position in the House of Representatives in Vermont? Okay Well as I go door-to-door I hear that the economy taxes and Vermont's quality of life continue to be your priorities And we're making progress on those things. I voted for legislation to help with taxes and to help Vermont's economy grow I Cosponsored a bill to make property taxes fairer by requiring a study of the education tax formula to take into account Burlington's student population. I also Cosponsored and and although the bill didn't go as far as it was intended to it eliminated Vermont's income tax on Social Security for those filing Singly with up to forty five thousand dollars yearly income and for those filing jointly with up to sixty five thousand dollars yearly income. I voted to increase funding for Lake Champlain cleanup And I voted for legislation to improve health care quality introduced costs by passing a law to Allow Vermont to design a wholesale prescription drug importation program that the feds give us a waiver My experience prepares me because I've had two years now experience in the state house on the house natural resources fish and wildlife committee I've been ten years on the school board in Burlington seven as chair I was appointed by Governor Howard Dean to the State Board of Education was on that for six years and chaired that for a year I've been on the Lund Family Center Board United Way allocations UVM Alumni Council I've raised an enormous amount of money for Vermont legal aid through the Vermont bar foundation I'm a former teacher and I'm a lawyer and I was elected by my fellow lawyers in Chittenden County To be on the bar foundation board and I worked with banking credit union presidents to raise funds for the foundation and the major Don't grantee is Vermont legal aid and After just one year in the legislature. I was recognized as a toll fellow went to a whole training for that in Kentucky It's a nonpartisan group and I was recognized for an outstanding rising state government official Ten seconds. Thank you. Thank you Bob Hooper, would you prefer to be Robert? Well, my parents called me Robert then I generally am known as Hooper these days and I'm the guy that just put his microphone back on so The question was why am I running and I'm going to read this because I don't want to miss anything And after that it'll be rather extemporaneous I'm running the server want to try to make it a better place to live work and enjoy I think it's important that we recognize a significant position and Not to continue to the significance of the position and not to hear the continuous promises every two years That things are going to change these seats are important And it's it's really incumbent upon the people who do the voting to recognize We were the first state in the union to outlaw slavery We were the first state to give women the right to choose history has passed and now we're the first state to have done civil unions and marriage equality and our own version of net neutrality These things are important and it leads the country in a lot of ways We have to send serious people who have serious agendas downs as one pillar to get things done By experience. I have 30 years of working with the state as a child protection and probation officer I've been a small business owner. I'm a veteran of our armed services I served as the elective president of one of our largest state employee organizations and in that role I worked extensively to introduce and pass legislation that benefited working people I'm the chair of the Burlington retirement board. I was selected twice to the school board I serve on the board of the Vermont veterans home supporting veterans around our state And I'm the chair of the strategic planning committee there. I was appointed by governor Scott. I Continue to sit on the Vermont pension investment committee, which is where we managed the four point five billion dollars worth of investments that the state has in Retirement funds for the teachers the state employees and municipal workers and I am also recently appointed by the state treasurer to the Green Mountain secure retirement plan, which is a private entity for increasing retirement investment of the citizens our state I Know government. I know investments I know legislative process and I know how to get to the point of bringing people together where they can reach Consensus and a deal. I'm not the guy that's going to be not stratum with the guile I'm going to be the guides bringing people together to get legislation done. Thank you very much Kurt right. Why are you running for reelection and what qualifies you for the position? Thank you Lauren and first? I want to thank you and channel 17 for this format Incredible service to the people of Burlington and the people of our district in the new north end in district 6 1 And thank you to Bob and also thank you to Carol Odie I certainly will not have anything bad to say about my opponents. I don't even view them as opponents We have three people running that are very well-intentioned people and I think that the new north end is well served by this I've enjoyed very much serving with Carol Odie has two of the state reps for the last two years and so One more thing before I tell why I think I should be reelected or why I'm qualified I attended a event at the Heineberg senior center today, and I just want to say Congratulations to all the 90-year-old residents at Heineberg senior center They had a party for those people today, and it was great seeing old friends there and congratulations to all the folks there today Great. It was a great event. I am running and I've served the new north end for a number of years in different capacities It's been an honor to have served the new north end on the city council I've been elected as president by the only Republican on the city council, but I've been elected President which is an honor to me. It shows. I think that I work across party lines. I've been supported by progressives Democrats independence But I have I've managed a small business. I've been a realtor a number of things But I've also been involved in the community for many years even when I was on sabbatical from the city council I stayed involved. I went to the NPA meetings of which I served on the steering committee in the past I worked on a number of issues even when I wasn't an elected position. I never went away And I think people really respected and like that but I further and we'll get into the issues, but I Like so many new north-enders and a middle-class taxpayer And I know the struggle that middle-class taxpayers have in the new north end and I've worked on that We'll continue to work on that if we elected for two more years. Thank you Since we have five calls waiting I'm gonna just take their questions and then we'll get to them instead of making these people wait for the whole show Hi, do you have a question for the candidates? Hi, yes, I do. My name is Paco. I'm from Berlin. Yeah Um, and I'm wondering who each candidate is supporting for governor and why We're you know how they came up to that choice. Thank you very much. All right We're gonna go to the next question. Hi there. Do you have a question for the candidates? Yes, my question is what progress has been made with cleaning up Lake Champlain? Thank you so much This is these are great questions. Hi. Good evening. Do you have a question for the candidates? Hi, yeah, I was asking I was wondering what can the state do to help with improvements for brilliant in high school What can the state do with improvements for bhs? Okay. Thank you very much and do you have a question for the candidates? Yes, my my question involves Taxes and would you support programs spending increases which require raising vermont taxes on the middle class or the so-called millionaire surcharge tax And I've been told the vermont tax department has done a study that the millionaire Surcharge tax would actually bring in less revenue if just one high income family Left the state to avoid the new tax. All right. Thank you very much. We appreciate your calls. Good to hear from you And do you have a question for the candidates? Hi there All right. Good. Okay. So why don't we just start with um bob Why don't we start with you? Who are you supporting for governor and why? Um, I'm supporting christine hawkwest. Um, I'm a democrat. I am tending to support democrats. I've known phil scott for Decades a great guy. I don't necessarily think that he's moving vermont in the direction that it necessarily should be I think that the pledge of not raising any taxes or fees effectively in an In an economy where inflation is raised rising is effectively cutting services and Funds available for government. I think candidate hawkwest has Great ideas on what we need to do to move the state forward in areas of technology Certainly faces challenges that not many of us have faced in terms of social agenda items Um, I like the positions that she's taking. Thank you very much. Kurt right. Who are you supporting for governor? Um, I will be supporting governor scott's reelection. Um I'll go back to what I was finishing my opening statement with which is the affordability issue There is nothing that I hear more about when I go door-to-door nothing There's a plenty of issues that I hear about I hear about lake shamplain I hear about the potted plants downtown. I hear about all kinds of things but The issue that continues to be first in people's minds whether it's senior citizens Whether it is young families or or what have you is the affordability and the tough nature of living in this great state that we love And I think that the governor has has focused on that like a you know has had laser focus on that So I have great respect for his opponent and I certainly know Um christine hawkwest I certainly um Um have constituents who are big supporters of hers and I totally understand that Um, I am supporting governor scott. Thank you. Carol odi. Who are you supporting for governor? I'm supporting christine hawkwest I respect the job that our current governor is doing And I think we're lucky that we have two such good candidates who are willing to uh To rise to the challenge of serving as governor or to have who has served as governor I think uh hawkwest works collaboratively. She wants to connect vermont to the internet and and be able to grow rural communities and um Is very concerned about the lake which is uh cleaning up lake champlain, which is extremely important to the people in our area and uh Certainly understands how to run a business ran the um vermont electric cooperative for years and brought it from a From a um an organization that was not doing well at all financially to one that is nationally recognized Thank you very much. So let's go into the question about cleaning up lake champlain And in fact, I would like to expand that to the waterways of vermont And starting with you kurt How what progress have we made and how are we going to finance the cleaning up of lake champlain? Well, we haven't made as much progress as we would like we know that in lake champlain There's two fronts of it going on and one will be on the november ballot Which is the stormwater discharge charges in the lake from the city There'll be a bond that I think is going to be overwhelmingly supported that'll deal with the infrastructure in burlington But then we have the algae bloom issue and other issues in lake champlain and other waterways Of course, as you mentioned lake champlain is of course near and dear to us here and as one of our crown jewels, but um, I supported Uh a funding mechanism one of the one of them was ash cheats. It's called and that is the unclaimed bottle deposits Um that which brings in a few million dollars um We had we also it was proposed in my committee on the ways of means committee um the rooms and meals tax I'm not a big proponent of that the um Um Treasure has a huge report here the clean water report Which he has a ton of proposals for funding And we are going to need to settle on a funding proposal the next two years. I Did vote for s2 60 with funding proposals in it on the floor Um, it did that funding did get taken out in the senate So that was disappointing, but I hope that we are all committed to as I said to this crown jewel And I know all the waterways are important lauren. You're absolutely correct Uh lake champlain is is of particular importance to us here. It not only for um family recreation Our drinking supply, but is a critical to the economy of burlington Uh tourism if we let that lake go we begin to lose the tourist industry Which is is vital to the success of our city So in so many ways lake champlain is is along with a bike path one of the crown jewels and we Need to protect and nurture the lake. Thank you very much carol odi um I supported and the legislature passed um a budget that included 50 million dollars Bonded money over two years to clean up the lake um It is addressing phosphorus runoff And non-point and point source pollution uh The s cheats is um for the um The unreturned bottle deposits is going to hopefully bring in maybe six to seven million dollars a year and that's a non tax revenue source of funding that can go on for however many years it's it's um able to be Uh not taken for something else for lake cleanup. So that's money that That comes to this state because people don't return their bottles. That's right. Okay and then um Beth pierce's study does give a long list of places that we might look to for funding sources um One of those that we voted on this year was but it didn't go through was a two dollar increase in the rooms Tax when people are sleeping overnight in a room That would have raised millions of dollars And we are going to have to make a tough decision about how we're going to raise the money For lake cleanup because we need about 25 to 35 million dollars a year over 20 years And the state of vermont agreed in a memo of understanding with The federal government the epa that we would clean up the lake and if we do it our way That will allow us to use funds in the most cost effective way And if we fail to do that the federal government will impose upon us how we would do that Can I make one more comment on that? Can we let bob yeah, oh, i'm sorry. Yes Your approach to cleaning up the lake in the waterways of vermont. I had conversations with treasure pierce while the process was going on. I fully support the angles that she lays out I think it's it's a mistake to only look at this as an issue of the lake agricultural ties in Runoff all kinds of other things, but I think we need to view the problem as One that is not isolated just to cleaning up the lake itself I propose Doing a lot of environmental stuff that basically funds From everyday use of say single use plastic items where Nobody's going to take them away from you But if you want to use them as with many jurisdictions you pay a little extra for the privilege It's a behavior change issue. I think a lot of the things that are Ending up as problems with the lake are human behavior change Quite frankly for our city to have allowed our sewage problem to get to the point that it is Is sad at minimum We need to as a city address our contribution to that problem But as with a lot of problems, I think when we look at them in isolation We don't necessarily take the best approach at solving them. All right I'm going to keep going. Is that all right? I'm going to just take these. I'll find a way to circle back Do you have a question for the candidates? Thanks for holding Yeah, I do I'm ready Okay, I was wondering if the candidates could comment on the state of the state budget over the last two years Okay, thank you very much Good evening. Do you have a question for the candidates? Hi, yes, I do. Um the subject of safe injections sites in vermont Uh Would any of the candidates support legislation To implement safe injection sites in vermont, uh, would they sponsor it? And would they jump on to a bill with someone else? Uh Proposes it. Thank you so much for calling the United States injection sites in the state of vermont. Great. Great to hear from you Missed you during the campaign. Okay, so we're going to go back to our questions on state support for the bhs High school expansion and carol. You're the answerer first answerer If you could also tell us do you support the uh bond issue general obligation bond to Expand the high school and do you think there's an opportunity to get some state funds for that project? Well, I do support the bond. I think that as I go door to door. I hear people saying that you know They aren't that they they understand that the building really does need work and that um Not enthusiasm for having a tax increase for it, but an understanding that it needs to be done um I did introduce legislation last year that would have asked that asked the state to uh match some of the dollars that um That cities and towns might have might need to do Building projects like this, but it did not make it anywhere. Um, and uh, I would look forward to being sure that Seeing what I could do to introduce a bill that would um allow for increased spending as a result of this bond not to be held against Um, not to be counted as part of our per people expenditures so that we would be held harmless from That increase in spending. Thank you very much. Bob. Who are your support for the bond issue for the high school? And do you think there's some support from the state we could generate for that project? Um, I have You know unflinching support for the bond issue. I took a tour of the high school Recently and uh, even though I used to be in and out of it a lot when I was working It was amazing how Far it had gone downhill And I think I take a different perspective on the whole high school perspective um some at Some in our community will put it that way. I think that this is solely a local issue and I really Strongly disagree with that And I put it in the context of so many of the things that we're going to talk about excellent questions that you've come up with by the way um, where So many of the tentacles of the problems we're talking about touch into the economic development arena Um, and the example I give you is if Take any of your large businesses that are either here or have been here IBM digital Musk decides to put the battery plant here. They send advanced teams into your community They look at the resources that are available They look at the infrastructure and one of the things that they would do Will be walk into barlington high school and look around and if any of the 10 people that came To look at that high school had a mobility impaired child or knew somebody who was They would be moving to portland, oregon to look there next really quickly so Our infrastructure is very important in terms of addressing the affordability of vermont because you get Jobs in your community when you have support for those jobs And the high school as it sits now is an educational Embarrassment even though the teaching staff turns out the best and the brightest For as an institution it it really needs help, but it's an economic development impediment And I think that's something that we have to recognize it would be nice if the building had been kept At a serviceable level for a long time, but what similar to memorial auditorium got it. Thank you very much Great, so lauren there's been a freeze on state school's construction in montpelier for some time I would like to see that lifted or eased somewhat so that there could be help for these type of things Right now it's not it's on the 70 million dollars will be voted on on in november But I will say that I was the lone no vote on the city council to put this on the ballot in november The reason is not because this high school doesn't need a major renovation I also went on the tour and I knew before even going on the tour that it's in just in desperate need of a major renovation However, I mean, this is a an issue of the magnitude of 70 million dollars to me Needed more vetting More public input. That's what I've heard going door to door Not that people don't support it or think that there is a need for major renovation But this was awfully quick to come out late summertime I know there's been work done on it for a while But until an issue like this is in the public domain in the public sphere People really don't know that and people most citizens don't know What the plan really is and with two weeks left really now almost less than two weeks left in the campaign to november I think we'd have been much more better served to wait until march take the extra time Get more public input and on a number of fronts do a better job here. Again Great work by the school board members I totally get the accessibility issue. It was not an easy vote. I had friends in the audience who had children with disabilities So but on principle Um, I had to vote that way because I I believe that march is the better time to have an issue of that magnitude on take the time And do it right. It's got to last for a generation But there's no question accessibility needs to be improved Security safety and classroom size and it's just a matter of I think we would have been better served To have waited until march and and make sure this is the right plan. Thank you very much. Um, so we now Start with bob. No I just lost track. We just start with bob. Yes. Okay. Yes, sorry so we're working through questions that people have called with and this question has to do with ways of supporting program spending for the state budget and the question had to do with the millionaires Surcharge tax is that something you think is going to generate a significant or sufficient amount of money for the work we need to do And what's your overall approach on program spending? What are your priorities for program spending? well It's hard to basically carve out one particular area to talk about Generally taxation. I think under this administration has been Um Not applied in the best way. I think that If you take into consideration something like the school tax the property tax um There's a proposal floating around now where it goes completely over to income, which I don't necessarily agree with 100 percent but So many of the people that like two-thirds of the citizens of Vermont pay based in time Why is now when you get to the the final analysis and your Income is adjusted. Um, the upper wage earners though in that card still Basically don't pay the same amount. It's a regressive tax at this point. So As far as program spending, uh, I think that at minimum program spending should go up at the rate of inflation Otherwise, you're decreasing budgets for things There are immediate needs in certain programs like environmental Child protection child care Great need for child care in the state um Those sort of things I think we need to look at independently You send people to montpelier to make decisions based upon need and their judgment Um for somebody to sit here today and say i'm not going to do this. I'm not going to do that It lends you to the fact that that they just aren't willing to give consideration to the changing environment that might happen down the road Oil prices could double tomorrow oil prices could go in half tomorrow You have to be prepared to make changes in your position In order to just give the best service to Vermonters. Thank you very much Kurt your view on program priorities in montpelier generally speaking And the millionaires through charge tax in particular Thank you. Thank you to the caller I always start out every session by sort of clearing my mind and Having an open mind on every single issue um, I I have And I've had people say this at their doors to me that they are glad to see The me evolve over the years some people liked Like the old kurt better actually But people told me they like to see the evolve not that that there was any flip flops, but that there was Learning done over years and an evolving Thought process and changes in attitudes and ideas, but on the on the actual tax issue I do not think there are enough millionaires to make a big difference And in fact, we have to be very careful because I could give you example of example after example of people I won't mention the names on the air But that are and i'm hearing that out door to door now that are becoming florida residents or Down south residents six months and a day residents because if the taxation gets too burdensome That's what happens on the school finance system. I will say that The the system that we have now is too complex too convoluted and confusing to explain to people There's a total disconnect In who pays? We need to we got very close in the ways and means committee this year to a really bold proposal So I think that we're getting closer Kudos to my chair janet ansel who put forth a really bold proposal We worked on that for as long as we could but we ended up sending a Somewhat pared down proposal to the senate I was very disappointed that the senate actually took everything basically out of that and sent back just a basic Tax proposal without much of any reform at all Which to me said the senate I don't know if the senate gets it that there needs to be serious significant reform and change in the property tax system Thank you. Carol odi your view on program priorities for spending And the millionaire surcharge tax Childcare is something that If we invest in that we'll be able to keep working families in the workforce And we increased that spending by 2.5 million dollars this year, but it's there's still not enough support to help working families The I think what that this tax that's being referred to was something in h9 11, which was our Which was a education funding change and um and a charitable tax Change. Yes. Well, there were a number of changes in that bill but the the one where it was going to be a surcharge for education and then it was going to make the Property taxes go in half but get rid of all income sensitivity and then put a surcharge on the income And I thought that was a very risky thing to do. I Didn't want people not to have their income sensitivity and I I thought if you Something we have to ask ourselves is if you if you raise the income taxes in one area and you and and you lower But you you start that tax and you lower the property tax Both taxes can still creep up again And so I think more we have to get to the root of why property taxes are going up the way they are For schools and to take human services needs out of the education budget And take some other things out of the education budget, which we did do this year Taking that off the backs of property taxpayers and And that's what I would do. Thank you You know, I think we would probably agree that this is one of the primary areas that we've been getting conversation with I wouldn't mind doing another round on that subject if you think we have time. What's the question? More discussion on property taxes and I want to get through the questions from the people if we have some extra time I'm not sure we will but kurt this next question has to do with Um, what's your comment on the state of the budget the state budget that's been passed over the past two years Which may actually get to what bob is saying So it's a pretty global question. Yeah, and you want to keep us open to go anywhere I think that the state budget has Has been solid. I think that the governor has laid out his parameters for what he wants Which is frankly that he doesn't want any taxes or fee increases And I think that our appropriations committee Did a really good job Kitty toll I think did a good job and with the with the entire committee and working through that and for the last two years I think that's been done a good job in keeping taxes under control I will say going back to the previous issue since this is a global question that um, I agree with counselor Excuse me with representative odi That there are other things there's there's things in the education funds Education funding system that really shouldn't be in there. There's a number of things still in there that shouldn't be in there Um, and I think we ought to You can refer to it as purifying that system so that Anything that's in there is strictly what should be for education funding And I do think I've talked to some people about this door to door and other experts, etc Who as counselor already said I think human services. We should look at that That is a huge hit on on the budget in schools. Uh, so I I agree. I think that is another thing that we should look at. Um, I do think that Um, in regard to the income sensitivity issue I wouldn't want to do away with income sensitivity without making sure and that was one of the hold ups in our proposal That we couldn't quite get over But I want to make sure that that people were protected and that the overall decrease was enough to make up for that And there because the the overall decrease in property taxes was going to be something like 50 percent But we couldn't quite get over the hump on that I think we I wish we had kept working on it because we were getting close and I and we We basically as my committee chair said because of the crossover deadline for the senate We we went away from that and it turned out the senate didn't want to do anything with it anyway on the on the Charitable issue. I know that's an issue near and dear to your heart And I actually moved for doubling of that tax credit for charitable donations and that even that wasn't enough So thank you. Thank you Carol State of the state budget for the past two years I think we've done a great job We kept the rate of the budget growth in this past year to half of one percent And in both years to under what the governor asked us to increase spending by so we kept it to less than what was asked Um, we invested in pension funds to save taxpayers money over time We filled our reserves guarding against inflation Any coming recession and any changes in federal law? And to keep our bond rating strong which helps our state and local governments when they are doing any borrowing We Had federal tax cuts came to us as a result of the federal tax changes That would have resulted in 30 million dollars more revenue to the state and we Decided rather than do that we would simplify vermont's tax code and help working families And we did that by lowering all personal income taxes income tax rates by point two percent and collapsing the top top two brackets We created a vermont personal exemption equal to forty one hundred fifty dollars per exemption of vermont standard deduction of six thousand dollars for personal filers and twelve thousand for married couples And we expanded the vermont earned income tax credit from 32 percent to 35 percent of the federal In earned income tax credit and that is helps with the benefits cliff and is known as an excellent poverty reduction program It gives a credit against taxes to people lower incomes Thank you rob hooper I agree with carol also I I actually think when you walk into a school and you see The number of of people that are there for ancillary services as opposed to education It gives you an indication of how much of other budgets are buried in the school budget Mental health is an excellent example A lot of money flows through School budget into mental health services for kids necessary services mandatory services, but Uh, the state is sort of putting a little mask on them when they pay through them for a different through a different budget means Um, I think it would be more honest for vermonters period if the budget was laid out really clearly um This year's budget was good and I have really little indication as to why People went along with scott's veto. Uh, it it did good things for residential property tax It it intended to Do good things for Renters and everybody else in terms of Keeping things pretty stable We put money on obligations that are in the future going to be costing us more paying down the debt on the teachers retirement fund Saves us a lot of money and we would have been better off to put money into that Then cutting property tax for corporations and uh, quite frankly landowners rich folk So on the whole pretty happy with the budget, uh, the shenanigan that that happened with the veto Uh questionable and quite frankly, uh somewhat illogical. Did you go along with the governor's veto? I did. Why? Um, because I think that the governor again, there was the question about taxation It was a big issue. Uh, it was Tax on commercial business on landlords, which would have gone to apartment owners to uh, renters And the problem that I had with that was not that the governor vetoed it We get a lot of really gubernatorial vetoes when we decide how we're gonna act on was I think that the legislative leadership And I fall on both sides the governor didn't have a clear end game to me And some of these proposals come out too late At the same time we should have stuck to the normal process for a veto and had a veto session And got down to business immediately on what the governor's problem was what the governor's issue was and negotiated Instead legislative leadership said we're gonna have a special session in which they controlled the the agenda Each day that we went up there and I spoke about this publicly It's on record saying when are we going to get down to business and deal with the issue at hand and stop spinning our wheels Which we were doing and we were we were wasting taxpayer dollars by doing that and so Again, the problem was that we didn't get down to business Legislative leadership did not set up a process that that had us do that All right, any follow-up to that pop. Well, that's I've heard numbers as high as $350,000 that that Veto and the subsequent endorsement of the vetoes cost uh taxpayers. I don't know where that money came from I know that every time I saw governor scott say i'm vetoing the budget. It was curt's head right over his shoulder Um, and it wasn't spinning his spinning wheels There was a actually a lot of other legislative business got done during that period which if it had only been a veto Session would not have happened. Okay, so legislative leadership. I don't think is necessarily I need to respond. He mentioned me specifically Carol, do you have any follow-up on the budget the veto session now? Follow-up and I didn't respond to that in the sense that There is no question I was in the committee where we were dealing with it That we did not get down to business the legislative leadership had made clear that we're going to follow normal legislative process That is a lengthy lengthy process. This was the normal legislative process on steroids And we did not get down to the business of dealing with the issue at hand that we needed to deal with That is what kept us there too long. I mean there there were problems on both sides And we had solutions at the end that there was a great disappointment when we had a compromise that sort of fell apart but There are problems there were problems from both sides in us in that And that's and we have to acknowledge that it's not to put it all on one side is simply not being fair We have five minutes Um, I just like a quick answer starting with you carol on would you sponsor or support a legislation on Safe injection sites being available in vermont? Well, I have read that they can save lives But I would have to know more about it How about you bob? I'd be really interested in the parameters the thing that we have in burlington now Um needle exchange program uncontrolled a lot of uh, a lot of my corrections friends Are out mowing grass in the cemeteries in place and picking up boxes and needles all over the place It would have to be tightly controlled, but I agree with carol. It's a Great lifesaver in terms of making sure people are doing something clean something safe in an environment where I would support it. Thank you. How about you kurt? No, I would not. I think it's uh, incredible We have limited finite resources and I think there are better strategies than to have This is done nowhere else in the united states of america right now It is our attorney general has talked about in debates about the fact that it is illegal And the federal government has made clear that they would come in and criminally prosecute That's enough to stop us there. We have other strategies that work far better than a controversial proposal to create Um and spend significant money in burlington or elsewhere and it would be in burlington Um where we uh allow people to come in and do hardcore illegal drugs There are significantly better strategies that are being worked on the governor's opioid council has made clear now that this is not a good strategy Not in terms of the resources that we have there are better strategies that are being worked on and that those should continue to be worked on Okay, i'm going to stop you there. We have um a minute for closing comments if you'd like to distinguish yourself from your opponents that would be helpful And we started with carol. So now we start with you bob um, I think that Uh, where are we camera wise tonight? You've probably heard very little in terms of debate because we've just been answering questions There are distinct differences between people who are sitting in these chairs tonight trying to get your vote I run as a strong democrat I stand behind the principles Um, I disagree with the curd on a lot of issues. I agree with carol on a lot of issues. That's just the party Structure Um, I think that the big thing that that needs to be said is When you send divided representation down there's some representations that you might get a better deal and It's I make the analogy that when you're on the field playing baseball You have an influence over where the game goes when you're sitting in the bleachers. You don't It's Just finish it's it's time that we move from on forward This business of veto stop veto stop Does not serve us well. It's an interjection of washington type politics into our process And I don't think we have time for that. Thank you very much robert hooper Kurt right closing statement. Thank you lauren and thank you to the voters of six one in the new north end I appreciate all your support. It's been the honor of a lifetime to have represented you In the house of representatives I hope that what you want is what I have brought to the table for a number of years now Which is a person who does not care about party party is not on my mind when I cast votes at all There's a clear record of that over and over again I have I supported the guns gun legislation when only a tiny number of republicans did I supported same-sex marriage when only a tiny number of republicans did I was the only republican to vote against the governor's proposal on education to move The town the town meeting day elections for schools from march to may I don't think about party politics at all I hope what you still want is a legislator who does what they think is right for you For my constituents on a regular basis on every single vote And that party is never part of my consideration I asked for your vote on november 6 or earlier if you're voting by absentee. Thank you. Thank you very much Right carol odi your closing comments. You have a minute. Thank you for having us lauren glenn It has been an honor to serve for these past two years and an honor to serve people of burlington and for many many years that I have My favorite part of campaigning is going door to door I love meeting people at their doors and hearing about how much they love their neighborhoods and vermont And We have three neighbors running for two seats out in the new north end and i'm working hard for every single vote And if you support me I ask that you please go out and vote And whether or not you vote and no matter how you vote if i'm reelected I'll continue to represent you listen to your concerns and work very hard for you I want to thank you all very much for joining us this evening. There are a lot of questions We didn't get to but we really appreciate the involvement I think the district six one gets the public involvement award. So thank you very much. 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