 And before I introduce our candidates, we have a beautiful flag behind us. And I would ask that Lee Morgan come up and meet us and pledge. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation, under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Thank you. We have with us this morning an embarrassment of riches. We have two candidates for U.S. House, Ms. Agnettino and Ms. Erica Reddick. And two candidates for U.S. Senate, Ms. Christina Nolan and Mr. Gerald Malloy. They will tell you a little bit more about themselves and their introductory comments. And I hope that you had a chance to meet them. And probably after we're done here they'd be available for a few minutes maybe to also answer questions and talk with the crowd. So I'm really glad you're here. Let's get moving on this agenda. I couldn't have chosen a better moderator for this. Many of you know Guy is the publisher and editor of Vermont Daily Chronicle. And if you have not signed upwards, an e-newsletter, the best coverage of what's going on at the State House you will ever find. So if you haven't, make sure you sign up for Vermont Daily Chronicle. Mr. Page, the floor is yours. Thank you, Wendy. Welcome all to the first 2022 GOP Congressional Candidate Forum. Our format will be questions on voting rights integrity, energy independence, national debt, term limits, other national issues. We'll be taking, I'll be asking the one question of the Senate candidates and another different question on the same topic to the House candidates. And I'll be changing the order in which our candidates answer. So one will go first on the first question and another will go first on the second one. Please no interruptions from the crowd and also from the candidates. Each candidate will introduce themselves and make a two-minute opening statement. Wendy Wilton is offered to be our timekeeper. She will give a 10 or 15 second warning. At which point, please wrap up. On Yatino, would you please give your introduction? First of all, thank you to Guy and to Wendy. I know this was a lot of work putting it together and I appreciate it. Thank you for all of you showing up. My name is On Yatino and I'm running for the U.S. House of Representatives for Vermont's only congressional seat in Washington, D.C. I'm running for this seat because I believe that we can have improvements, not just change. Improvements over change and I know that I can be a strong voice for the state of Vermont in Washington and will do everything that I can to preserve the principles of liberty which I value highly and I know everyone in this room also values very highly. I'm looking forward to this campaign to getting the issues out in front of the voters. We have a very good chance as Republicans to claim a victory in this election because people have seen the damage that the leftist policies can do firsthand now and it's important that we as Republicans capitalize on this so that we can show them that our policies are going to be the winning policies for our state and our nation. I am happy to answer questions at the end of this if anybody has any for me and I look forward to meeting all of you again, not just today but further down the campaign trail. Thank you very much for coming. Good morning everyone. Thank you for being here so early on a Saturday morning. I don't know about anybody else but when I saw the time I was like, oh! I got to be on and functioning at 8.30 in the morning. This is a lot to ask. But it's, you know, kind of a test, right? Because once I get to Washington there's not rest. You've got folks calling for votes in the middle of the night, all times of the day. And so we really have to be prepared and ready to go at all times to make sure that we are fighting for liberty. So I'm an accountant. I have a bachelor's degree in accounting from Champlain College. I was born and raised here in Vermont and it's with that upbringing that I was taught determination, perseverance, hard work, responsibility and things like that. I tell people that when you have to chop wood to heat your house and when you have to till the dirt in order to eat, you learn what it, you start to learn what it takes to be a part of society and what is required of you if you want to be successful. You can't just wait for things to come to you. You have to work for it and you have to strive. And that is those qualities, those character qualities that I learned growing up in this state are what I will bring to Washington with me because it's going to take determination, perseverance and things like that to be in the swamp and to not get swept up in it. So what I promise to you is that I will go. I will fight for our personal liberties. I will fight for our freedom. I have goals like term limits for federal officials, a balanced budget and ways, things that we can do as congressional folks to reign in the power of the federal government and restore states' rights and restore the people to their proper place in the order of governance, which is at the top. Thank you. Christina. Thank you, guys. And thank you, Wendy. And thank you all for being here this morning at 8.30 on a Saturday morning. I share Erica's sentiments about that. I'm Christina Nolan. I've met many of you before. It's great to see some new faces. I hope you're ready to win a U.S. Senate seat this year because this is the year and I'm going to get it done. And we cannot let this moment pass us by. Fifty years that seat was held. This is the year. This is a historic opportunity and I have every intention of winning this race for you and for Vermonters and for the country. Who am I? Well, I'm a born and raised Vermonter. I grew up on a dirt road in Westford, not too far from here, but all the road in a working class family of four kids. Actually, there are seven kids in the family now because my parents got divorced and my dad had three more. So I'm the oldest of seven. My mom was a school teacher growing up. My dad was a carpenter. Deep Roots in Vermont. I'm running for Senate for the same reasons I wanted to be U.S. attorney and that is because I love this state. It's a blessing and a privilege to have been born here and raised here and to call myself a Vermonter. And I want to give back to the state and I want to serve the state and there are too many things that are not going in the right direction. Inflation. 469 for gas on the way in here. I saw the sign. 459 was the cheapest thought. Vermonters cannot survive this level of inflation, tax on the middle class. Crime is on the rise. Violent crime in Vermont is sharply on the rise. Overdose deaths on the rise. We have a crisis on the southern border. Nothing is going in the right direction. Workforce is left the workforce. Businesses can't stay open. So if you like the way things are going, you can vote for Peter Welch, who will be the Democratic nominee. He's been in Washington 15 years. He's been in politics for 40 years. He is not going to get the job done. If you want change, I propose that I'm your candidate and that we can turn things around and put this country in the right direction. Thank you. Thank you very much. Thank you, Guy, and thank you everyone for having this great event. My name is Gerald Maloy, and I'm seeking to be your next United States Senator as a Republican. I hope you can hear me in the back. I actually wanted to talk about that because I spoke last week at the Teen Challenge in Johnston. It was a great event. I spoke for about 10 minutes. Afterwards, a couple of folks said, I couldn't hear you. My 42 years of experience and tell you all the things I've done in the military and in the government, business, and in Washington, and my education and my family. I put little cards out on every seat at www.deploymaloy.com. I'd ask if you please take a look at that to really learn about me and what I bring to the table to be a United States Senator. 42 years of service, character, experience, leadership, and performance. I only have about two minutes here. I'm going to be very straightforward. I think we have some time at the end, Guy. We have five minutes at the end, so I will present some of my thoughts and positions. I just want to ask a couple of quick questions. First, anybody better off than they were four years ago? No, I'm not. I know we're not clapping or anything now, but how about anybody excited about pro-life in here? Anybody pro-life? All right, here you go. That's what I wanted to say. Is anybody excited about the red wave that's coming down the pike? Anybody excited about that? All right, I'm a combat veteran. We're in a battle. We're going to win. We're going to win and take over the Congress, and we're going to get our country back on track. Thank you very much. So far, our first round of questions will be on voting rights and integrity. I think we all agree that without sound elections, the rest of it almost doesn't matter. Responses to questions limited to two minutes each will ask first the Senate Christina Congressman Peter Welch supported HR1 which proposed federal control of elections. Would you have supported that bill? Why or why not? No, I would not have. We don't need federal control of elections. The Constitution contemplates the states will largely run elections and each locality is different. Vermont is a rural state. The needs in Vermont and when it comes to our election laws may be different than a populated city, for example, or a more populated state. I was the U.S. Attorney for Vermont. As U.S. Attorney, I was responsible for overseeing the enforcement of free and fair elections and preserving election integrity for each election. We have all the other officials in the state to make sure we were ready to combat any form of fraud in elections. Any form. None is okay. The franchise is the cornerstone of our country. The right to vote we aren't a country without it. So we need free and fair elections. As U.S. Attorney, we were able to make sure that there were no major issues in Vermont when it came to voting and local control is working. We don't need a federal bureaucratic solution for local control is working. So I would have voted no on that. I would also note that 159 million people voted in the 2020 election. So we don't have a problem of people going coming out to vote. I mean, people are voting and that's great and I applaud them and I want everyone to vote and I want them to vote in elections of integrity and we're going to bring out new voters. I'm going to bring out new voters because I'm a different kind of candidate that presents this quote and that is what Vermonters are looking for. So we want big voter turnout and people are voting and we don't need a federal bureaucratic solution forced on to every locality. Gerald, would you like me to repeat the question? No, I'm all set. Good. My answer is no. Number one on my platform is to return to abiding by the Constitution to stop and protect Americans from all unconstitutional mandates, executive orders and initiatives such as this one. Per the Constitution of the United States, elections are prescribed in each state and by the legislatures thereof. I would support state level actions like voter ID opposing non-citizen voting and removing statewide mail-in voting in favor of in-person voting. Going back to the 2020 elections what concerns me greatly is the remaining perception that our elections are not fair. For instance, what it says in the Vermont Constitution pure. This is the foundation of our government and I am in favor of changes at the state level to remove that perception. I would look into possibly funding for states to enable actions such as voter observers possibly even making the election day a holiday to reduce that perception. Thank you. Thank you Senate candidates. Anya, do you support non-citizen voting? What three changes should be made to ensure the integrity of U.S. elections? So I do not support non-citizen voting. There are rights and privileges to being a citizen and to fully enjoy the benefits of this country. You should be a citizen and it should be the goal of immigrants to work towards and enjoy that fullness of our nation. To secure our elections it is very simple. Voter ID, voter ID, voter ID. I can say that three times but there are other things. We need to purge the voter rolls and we need to be sure that we have poll watchers to make sure that the votes are being counted accurately as well. You can't go anywhere in this country and do anything without ID. I can't get a hotel room without an ID. You can't drive a car without ID. You can't fly on an airplane or get on a train without an ID. And I believe that it's the height of racism to state that we are unfairly treating minority communities by expecting that they have the basics of being functioning in our society. And I don't believe that it is true at all what the left's portray that we are suppressing votes with voter ID. I think that we are actually encouraging people to feel secure in the election and to know that their vote will count. Thank you. Eric, would you like me to repeat the question? I need something. I do not support non-citizen voting. One of the funny language tricks that people like to pull is that voting is a right in this country and it is not. It is not one of the capital R rights constitution. It is a privilege of citizenship. That is one of the things that is really important to remember and not let the press mince words and confuse the topic. So if you are a citizen you can vote. We can talk about voter ID and all of that other stuff but it's really that simple. We shouldn't have to argue it. As far as three changes that should be made to ensure integrity of U.S. elections we need to enforce our voter laws. We saw twice during town meeting day where our election laws were not followed. Too much to get into in two minutes but Alec Stith lost by two votes for Burlington city council ward 7 and he was not allowed the recounts he was supposed to have access to. They sealed ballots before they were supposed to do the whole thing. We are not following our own election laws. City of Burlington was not allowed to have violated election law and the Supreme Court said well too bad. So we need to actually start enforcing the laws that we have on the books. We need to do undue illegal changes to our voter rules. The secretary of state of Vermont does not have the right to decide how voting procedures go. The legislature does that so we need to undo all of the ways that our state legislature and everyone's state legislature has created illegal laws to vote. The third and most important piece is that we all need to be involved. So if you're not a candidate or helping a campaign or something like that, you need to be a poll watcher. You need to volunteer to help with election day. You need to run for inspector of elections etc and so forth. There's no reason Democrats should be in charge of our elections. Thank you. Our next question is on energy independence. First question is for the House and Erica, I will ask you first. Does the green new deal embedded in recent legislation increase or decrease our reliance on foreign sources of energy or energy infrastructure? This is so funny to me. It clearly increases our reliance on foreign sources. So at the same time we're going to call Putin a terrorist and all of these other things. At the same time as we're pulling troops out of Afghanistan and we're seeing the destruction that we did in Iraq, all of these things. We're now going to cut off our own production of oil and then ask for terrorists to sell us theirs and then be surprised when they're like, no. I mean it is just unconscionable to me what this administration is doing. Not only in Washington, which is what we're here to talk about, but in Vermont with the clean heat standard, the global warming solutions act, all of this stuff. These folks who are in charge their only priority is the end goal, which is to end fossil fuels. And so they do not care who they hurt or what they have to do to get to that end goal. And they're not hiding the ball, you guys. They have said, Biden said our Congress people have said they want fossil fuels to be exorbitantly expensive so people feel the pain and are forced to switch. This is a high gas prices are a feature, not a bug. This is absolutely a decision made by our administration, made by Congress. This isn't a mistake, it is on purpose. We cannot keep sending the same people back to Washington and expecting a different result. Thank you. Thank you. Gerald. Thank you. Oh, I'm sorry. I beg your pardon, I'm jumping the gun. I regret, I don't need it repeated either. So yes, the Green New Deal would increase our dependence on foreign energy. It absolutely would. I'll also add this. I drove past some very, very beautiful farmland coming in here and it warmed my heart to see actual farms being used because on my side of the mountain there are very few left and it's sad to see the empty barns and the overgrown fields. But I do not believe that we should eliminate cattle to support the Green New Deal. I like beef, I like milk, and I like farming. Now, we have to focus also on the fact that we do not have an infrastructure in our country to support the Green New Deal's goals of zero carbon emissions. We cannot support all electric vehicles on the road. We do not have the infrastructure in place to do that. We cannot have everything go electric without major changes to the electrical grid and to be depending on foreign sources for our energy because that is what would happen puts us in a national security situation where we would be unsafe. I also wish to point out that it is definitely a plan of the left to raise the cost of fossil fuels. We know this if you do any research at all you know this and we are looking at a summer of rising fuel prices and what's worse a winter of rising fuel prices and there is no excuse for us not to be drilling for our own oil. It's also important to note that the wind towers that we see on the hills here haven't lowered the cost of energy for anyone in this room hasn't lowered my cost of energy and there's no actual way of containing that and saving that energy. It's only good for what it's in use. There is no way to save it and that's why the state of Texas sued California because of those same principles. Thank you. Thank you. My apologies. It's okay. I would have spoke up eventually. So, Gerald would you support the reopening of the Keystone Pipeline and restoration of energy policy of the previous administration to achieve energy independence? Yes. My answer is yes. My second and third platform positions are promoting the opportunity for economic prosperity and ensuring the defense security and order of our country. On day one, the Biden Administration stopped Keystone Pipeline work, revoked permits and started to implement barriers to the oil and gas industry. He has doubled down on that effort all in a crusade to kill an industry that 300 million Americans depend on. Just so he can push his new green deal I would immediately seek to remove the barriers and I've also proposed what I call a full reset like the entire world is doing right now on future energy, climate emissions and environmental plans. I would look to establish plans and policies that take into account resources, infrastructure and the actual cost and paying for implementation and to consider at the end what is the actual value of that and most importantly what do the American people really want? The Democratic Party has taken us from oil and gas independence very reasonable prices and an overall trade surplus to record gas prices in home oil at $6.59 a gallon and a record trade deficit and we've lost our oil and gas independence. Right now we could be booming with oil and gas trade around the world it is without question a matter of economic prosperity and defense security in order for the United States to regain oil and gas independence. Thank you. Christina. I called for cancelling purchases of Russian oil and responsible American energy independence 10 days before President Biden came on board or something like that I was saying we've got to stop buying Russian oil as soon as Putin started using it as a weapon of war and the gas prices we need to remember were up at a 40-year record high before Putin invaded Ukraine That's right. But when you don't have energy independence you make yourself vulnerable to a bad actor cutting off the oil supply to the world So there's no question we need to pursue an all of the above approach to American energy independence. You see what's happening to these poor countries in Europe who are dependent on Putin for their oil they're in worse shape than we even are. So we absolutely cannot be this idea that the Biden administration had to buy oil from Venezuela. We don't even recognize Maduro as the legitimate leader of Venezuela to send the money and buy their oil I mean when we can produce energy in this country so I absolutely believe we need energy independence if we ever had to purchase elsewhere which we sometimes do. It should be from our friends like Canada some European countries are now buying from Australia but we should not be propping up places like Iran and Saudi Arabia Russia and President Biden are not about doing that too. Gas prices are too high let's go buy from these tyrants these people with abysmal human rights records who are antithetical to our American values. So absolutely all of the above approach to responsible American energy independence and I think we need leadership I don't know where Congressman Welch stands on that doesn't really talk about it but we need to start speaking up and leading on these issues and people cannot afford these gas prices and increased our supply of oil in this country those prices would come down and give some relief to the middle class. Thank you. Our next round of questions is on national debt and inflation. First question to the Senate Christina you're up first was government overspending during COVID and after the prime source of the inflation our country is currently experiencing at historic levels what measures should Congress take if any to regulate monetary policy through the Federal Reserve well the truth is both parties have been spending too much for too long COVID was an unprecedented time perhaps there was a time when there was a time when there was a time when there was a time when there was a time when there was a time when there was a time when there was a time when there was an unprecedented time perhaps there was some spending we needed to try I'm sure that some of the bills were too big and that excess could have been cut from them but it's very simple any student of history knows when the federal government spends too much money you have record inflation like you're seeing right now so it has to stop it's actually not hard to fix this problem both parties need to stop spending so much money they're not helping people they're hurting people my mom could barely make her mortgage every month and if the gas prices and the food prices were at that time what they are right now I think we would have lost the house four kids without a home that's how serious this is so the government needs to stop spending so much congressman Welch supported a $5 trillion spending bill in a time of record inflation 40 year record inflation do you know how much that would have exacerbated the problem and it was loaded with junk you know salmon studies off the coast of Washington state absolutely the American people did not need I would not have supported that so-called build back better bill but very simply the government has to stop spending so much money and we need to pursue policies that put money in working families pockets and anything we can do to do that right now because they can't afford their groceries the Thanksgiving Day turkey cost more a lot more than it did the year before and I'm really worried about the people who are just trying to make ends meet let alone save some money for the future they ought to be able to do that too and they cannot do it with this draconian tax on the middle class that is inflation we need to send a Republican to Washington a common sense thinker to Washington because this problem can't get worse it just can't get worse because working families and their children and their loved ones are not going to be able to stay afloat thank you Gerald yes the main factor in inflation is overspending and contributing factors include executive orders designed to kill the oil and gas industry these orders have caused diesel at 643 a gallon and are also impacting food inflation which is just going to get worse inflation is largely due to the democrat party continuing to pursue and as I mentioned doubling down on unrealistic green policies all at the expense of the American people the solution is to stop stop overspending regain oil and gas independence and a full reset to reasonable realistic future energy plans noted economist Milton Friedman said inflation is always and everywhere a monetary phenomenon I studied Mr. Freeman at West Point and while earning my MBA his statement remains true the democrat party's monetary policy increasing what is called M2 the money supply at 40% in 11 months through what even senator Manchin calls reckless overspending including 1.9 trillion for ARPA 2.9 trillion more for the national debt and pending overspending under build back better including a giant 2.5 trillion dollar tax hike I've all considered I've all can have and will continue to cause inflation at 40 year high in reduced purchasing power the Fed finally started increasing interest rates and selling off assets to reduce the money supply that will slow down the economy we will likely soon enter a recession as the similarities similarities between now and 1974 continue the Federal Reserve Board reports to the congress and submits its monetary policy congress sets the monetary policy that is how congress can regulate monetary policy however decisions on how to achieve those goals are made by the the Federal Reserve Board abandoned the congressional mandate for price stability and zero inflation for a target of 2% inflation thank you question for the house Anya you're up first what are the best solutions to curb the exploding national debt currently at $30 trillion so I appreciate this question very much because we need to stop the government overspending and it comes down to things that policies will correct this inflation it is going to require voting in the house for a budget that is cut back on all of this excess money that is put into it things like the green new deal climate change and all of that it is a wish list of the left spending they have so much in there that is going to cost you money the raising of taxes to pay for things that you're going to get no return on you're not going to see any value from what they're spending money on and government spending is the main cause of this inflation we did have some unprecedented times with the pandemic but it is not an excuse how much money has been wasted in the two years since and it's going to take tough decisions it's going to take somebody who goes to Washington and says no I expect that each of these bills are going to be cut back to a reasonable amount of money so that we are not perpetuating this debt further and further down upon our children and grandchildren and great-grandchildren and I plan to do that in Washington in Washington I will be a voice for fiscal responsibility I will stand up against overspending and I believe fully that if we can get a majority of Republicans in the U.S. House of Representatives that as a group we can stop the Democrats overspending and I intend to be part of that thank you so best solutions to curb that is you know an interesting adjective to choose because the reality is people are not going to like what will be required and it's it really is just a matter of massive spending cuts one of the things I will push for when I get to Washington is a balanced budget initiative we're going to take the black card away from the federal government no more debt spending no more printing money and sending it to foreign countries to support them when we have something like 500,000 children in foster care in this country so we're not doing anyone a service by borrowing money again from countries that hate us so we're buying oil from them and then we're also borrowing money this is a massive national security threat I'm trying to remember if you watch the debt clock how much of what we owe is just an interest payments so some of the things I'm going to push for it may not seem related necessarily but one topic one bill okay if congress wants to pass a bill it has to have one topic in it it needs to be very obvious to the American people what it's paying for and it needs to be explicit what is being paid for no more of these omnibus spending packages where nobody's read it it's 10,000 pages long and we're spending millions of dollars on the Kennedy Center okay why are we I you guys I'm not going to the Kennedy Center do you have hundreds of dollars for a ticket we're supplementing the wealthy in this country through bills that they write that they have that they have lobbyists right okay so we're not going to do that anymore we need to cut ties with big pharma oh wow that went so fast cut ties with big pharma and and just generally cut spending across the board that is the reality I'm an accountant I literally do this for a living I help businesses on the verge of bankruptcy come back and make good financial decisions with their money be good stewards of the resources that they've been given and so that's what I'll do in Washington thank you and before our break we have one more question it's the same question for all candidates it's on term limits would you support term limits for members of Congress and we'll go from my left to right here Gerald we'll start with you yes as a United States Senator I will consider all interests of Vermonters Vermont and the United States as term limits for Congress are specified in the Constitution it would require a constitutional amendment to change them this would require two-thirds votes in both houses or in state legislatures and then ratification by three-fourths of states or state legislatures this of course would take time and if I received a significant amount of interest from Vermonters to support changing term limits I would seek to make an assessment of the viability of a change across Congress and pursue that interest conversely if I observed that there was a significant interest for term limits changed within Congress I would seek to determine the interest of Vermonters thank you thank you so this is one of those issues where I can really see both sides of it and I hope that's okay to say that and it's one of those issues where I'm going around talking to people and listening and I can understand why there would be appeal to term limits on balance where I come down right now is that we should limit terms through elections for example somebody who's been in politics for 40 years and in Washington for 15 years I think we should limit his term by voting for a generation of leadership I'm asking it to be me but I think we need a new generation of leadership with fresh perspective new energy who understands the Vermont values of common sense and hard work so I think we need to get out to vote we need to talk to our friends we need to spread the word and we need to have change in leadership through elections so that's where I come down on it I don't think we need a 75 year old junior senator and you know what there's nothing in the world wrong with being 75 years old but there is something wrong with it if you've been there forever and you haven't gotten a darn thing done and you're a rubber stamp for the AOC, Pelosi wing of the party and that's what we're talking about here and Congressman Welch cannot build seniority if you elect me I can be that new generation of leadership that new way of thinking I can bring new energy to Washington and I can build some seniority that doesn't mean I need to stay forever but you know what happens when you build seniority you can get things like funding for the police we need to fund the police desperately right now in Vermont get things like technology and body armor to them and funding for new positions so these are the benefits of being able to you know vote someone back if they're getting it done for your state if they're not they gotta go but I'm happy to keep having this conversation Erica I am very much in favor of term limits for all federal officials not just Congress so just like has already been said our congressional representation should not have been there for this long it is absolute nonsense gridlock is a feature of our system not a bug I'm using that twice in one debate but there is supposed to be gridlock in Washington they're not supposed to be able to do this much they're not supposed to have this much control over our lives they're not supposed to have seniority where they can take money from places like Florida and Texas and give it to Vermont because we make bad decisions with the resources that we have been given by God okay there is no reason for Vermont should be poor and be a receiver state we have all of the resources that we could possibly want to be well off and to take care of our people we make poor decisions here and then we obfuscate responsibility to the rest of the country to take care of us that is absolutely wrong Anthony Fauci why was he head of the NIH for 50 years are you joking right now this man clearly showed that he was incompetent back during the pandemic and then 40 years later 30 years later he's still there that is absolutely wrong all federal officials should have term limits period we can argue about what those term limits should be the president already has two which is 8 years given the senate is a 6 year term I think 12 years is plenty for anybody to be there if you're there longer it's because you want to make money or you're doing something and you know I'm very libertarian leaning and I get pushback from my libertarian friends for this but the reality is people will just let the same person stay there forever okay we want to have free choice we want to have freedom but human beings tend towards the tyranny of a king and that's why we just reelect the same people over and over and over again without putting in the effort to choose something new thank you so I struggle with term limits for the simple reason that I'm an extreme constitutionalist and it isn't in the constitution however I recognize that unfortunately we have people that are abusing that and staying there for 40 to 50 years and I would look into a constitutional amendment to adding term limits however I think that we could also balance the field by limiting what is able to be spent on a political campaign by a candidate because that's really what goes wrong they gather so much in their war chest so to speak when they've been there that long that the up and coming candidate doesn't really have a chance to fight that and if it was a limited amount that can be spent on a political campaign that would level the playing field and allow both candidates to have a fair shot at winning that election so that is my answer it's kind of a tricky one I think that we do need to do something about the damage that has been done by certain individuals over of course 50 years or more and unfortunately what we're looking at now is that career politicians are not in touch with the state that they represent anymore and that didn't used to be the case when they wrote the constitution you had people they were maybe 35 years old they were going to go down there they were going to do their job they weren't going to stay that length of time so we do have to make a change now we have to look at making a change now and I will take that very seriously I will tell you I don't intend on staying in one seat for the rest of my life I just don't I have other things to do when I'm done fixing this country so I will I will be moving on within a reasonable length of time whether that means a different seat or just going to retire on a ranch somewhere I will let you know but I don't intend on doing that to you well thank you welcome back for round two we'll be using the same format as last time our next question is about the southern border we'll ask the house first Erica I'll ask you to go first on this on a scale of one to ten with one being most important how do you rank the crisis at the southern border and why our crisis at the southern border is absolutely number one it is one of the most important national security issues that we are facing today talk speak louder it is one of the most important issues that we are facing in our national national security not just the southern border but our border with Canada that affects us even more particularly here in Vermont so the same fentanyl that is being trafficked across our southern border the same human beings that are being sex trafficked and slave trafficked over our southern border are also coming across our border with Canada and so I knew that we had a crisis with our borders long before Donald Trump came down the golden escalator my nephew is a border patrol agent in south Texas and he has shared personally the stories of seeing folks so there's a very porous border in Texas if you're on a border town people cross the border to go to work to go to school it's very much one community border there or not so you've got folks waiting in line to come to cross the border to go to school just being slaughtered by cartels just mowed down and that hundreds of people innocent women and children and that's been happening for decades that is not new but when we see the highest increase in drug overdose deaths in this country and that hit Vermont the hardest given that we have the highest rate of drug abuse in this country we cannot we cannot minimize in any way just how badly the southern border is being dealt with we need to enforce our laws that god two minutes is not very long so border security is number one it's a number one priority it is a humanitarian and national security crisis and combined it has created a very detrimental situation for our country when I talk about border security I am talking about northern and southern border I don't really differentiate between the two because both of them need to be secured in order to maintain the sovereignty of our nation we have drug problems coming over the border we have human trafficking we also have bad actors as far as terrorism is concerned foreign nationals that would mean this country harm spying etc all of these things have to be taken into consideration and I believe that we were on the right track when we were building a border wall and I will support that when I go to Washington I would support continuing to build the wall and it's just sitting there and Biden won't let them put it up we need legislation that insists that that wall is finished because the people in Texas and Arizona and New Mexico and California need that additional help in stemming this tide of violent crime frankly diseases that they are unaware of the origins of and it is unfair to tell the refugees that are coming to this border and they are welcomed in and just have everything handed to them without any form of legal citizenship legal processing because they are coming and then they are suffering once they get there because that's not the reality not just in America but anywhere in the world no country in the world would allow this to happen and they don't and we need to be able to stand firm and stand strong and say no and the wall helps us to do that and it will also help us to bring in to be processed correctly to not have these weights in the capes and so forth etc so that is what I would support in Washington thank you thank you Christina it has been said that crisis on the southern border makes every state a border state do you agree and what needs to be done to solve the problems there the fentanyl that is pouring over the border in the quantities the likes of which we have never seen before thousands and thousands and thousands of pounds more last year than any year on record that is what by and large most of it, most of the 210 lives that we lost in Vermont in 2021 to over no death was due to fentanyl and it's almost all coming from Mexico there are problems on the northern border which I hope I can get to but it's all coming from Mexico and you better believe that fentanyl is destroying Vermont lives, communities it's taking Vermont lives it's hurting our economy because people are becoming addicted and they can't work so Vermont is absolutely a border state because we had the highest increase in overdose deaths in Vermont the fastest percentage increase of anywhere in the country in the last couple of years so nobody in the loss of life from the disaster that's going on in the border and it's not just fentanyl it's human trafficking there are cartels that are making huge profits out of smuggling people over illegally and putting them at risk as they cross the desert in the heat and they can die doing that and I would not lift Title 42 even the Democrats understand that's a terrible idea it's another irresponsible move by the administration that's a tool in place so that border patrol can efficiently send people who are coming illegally back and then focus their efforts on interdicting the fentanyl that is killing Americans and Vermonters and the pain is being particularly felt in Vermont we also had 23 terrorists identified trying to cross the southern border last year those are just the ones they caught border patrol is so distracted with the chaos and crisis that they don't have time that they aren't even catching all the terrorists the northern border is another issue there are terrorist communities in Canada Vermont is a highly trafficked place of passage as U.S. Attorney I increase charges on the northern border and we slowed down that illegal traffic in Vermont but the radicalized populations in Canada we got to keep an eye on this we don't want them coming to America via Vermont Gerald Yes I worked directly with U.S. government organizations for many years across the Department of Homeland Security Department of Defense and with many elements of the law enforcement community going back to 2007 the general consensus among elements of those organizations that dealt with the southern border and in my direct communications with senior U.S. government officials I'm talking about people like the drugs are was that we needed a wall on our southern border that the illegal immigration and smuggling of drugs into the United States was out of control that was 15 years ago so I am fully in favor of putting up a wall the wall that was paused in another misguided day one executive order to reduce illegal immigration and the opioid crime and economic impacts I'm also in favor of extending the provisions of Title 42 as removing them later this month we'll result in further loss of control of our border the southwest land borders that were encountered by Customs and Border Protection was over 220,000 in March in 2021 over 11,000 pounds of fentanyl were seized by the CBP I did the math that is enough to kill over 2 billion people China is the main producer and most is coming in through Mexico I believe China is waging chemical warfare against the United States with the synthetic opioid I will seek to increase US and international sanctions if our trade with China went from 2 trillion down to 500 billion a year until the fentanyl stopped it would dramatically decrease every state is a border state because the drug overdoses killed over 100,000 Americans last year including right here in Vermont I would also be interested in increased northern border security thank you thank you next set of questions second amendment rights this is for all candidates given recent increase of incidents involving the criminal misuse of a firearm what if any new gun control laws would you propose or support and Ani will start with you so I don't support any new restrictive gun laws I believe the law-abiding gun owners should stop being punished for what criminals do criminals will continue to get weapons whether or not we are suspended from having them it just puts us at greater danger I frankly would like to see the nation return to constitutional carry I think that would be the biggest deterrent for gun crimes there is if every citizen out there was able to carry a weapon to protect themselves and others I think that would be a deterrent I would also like to see reciprocity for legal gun ownership and the other two lines right now I can't take my firearm and cross the state of New York without getting a certain permit if I want to go to let's say Ohio where I would be allowed to carry it so we need to work on correcting the gun laws that are currently on the books to stop punishing law-abiding for monitors, law-abiding citizens in our state and nation and frankly we need to look at why politicians want to disarm the public this the second amendment states clearly that gun ownership is necessary to preserve freedom and anybody who is trying to take that right away from us has something bad in mind for us and I think that we can look at the situation in Ukraine and see how valuable gun ownership has been to the citizens of Ukraine in protecting their homes and their families from Russian invasion I think that all of these things are necessary to look at when we talk about gun control and I will never support new restrictive gun laws Thank you Erica Thank you for the question I also would not support any new gun laws every state, every city where you see the most restrictive gun laws you have the worst gun crime so we're not these gun laws do not take guns out of the hands of criminals it does not prevent suicides it does not do any of that stuff what it does is it just increases people's risk of being a victim anybody who lives in a rural area knows that there are not cops around to come save you and if you're in a city like Burlington also the cops are not going to come save you because city council defunded them so you are left on your own to protect yourself and that is how our constitution was written you have the right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness and then they enumerate that you have the right to protect all of those things the second amendment was put in place to protect the first period full stop so what I would do is I would probably try to undo some gun laws I know I'm not running for Vermont but lord if I was there were gun laws that have been passed the last few years they don't make us safer they don't make us better off they just don't work and that's the reality we can try to legislate the ugliness and the hate out of the human heart but to my knowledge that has not yet been successful anywhere with anything that we have tried to do that with and so infringing on the rights of law being citizens is not something that I will be willing to do as your congressperson Christina I am not for any new gun laws plain and simple we need to use the existing laws that are on the books to take guns out of the hands of criminals who are wreaking havoc in our communities and yes violent crime is very much on the rise I live in Burlington over the last two years the increase in the number of shootings has been just so disturbing you don't know when shots are going to be fired in Burlington so we need to use the existing gun laws like I did as US attorney we had operations where we seized 128 guns and 6,000 rounds of ammunition illegally possessed but the way to balance the Bill of Rights with public safety is to dust off the books enforce the gun laws on the books but not take guns out of the hands of the law abiding we have one of our richest and most beautiful traditions in Vermont I come from gun ownership responsible gun ownership by the law abiding for purposes of hunting I come from a hunting family target shooting and yes self defense I'm a gun owner myself and the reason is self defense so we also need to fund the police that will help with the rise in violent crime since they've been defunded we've seen a spike in the wrong direction in violent crime and overdose deaths Peter Welch voted three times to defund the police that alone is disqualifying for a position of leadership of the significance he's seeking three different times in three different ways I also want to say guns are illegally trafficked over the border this also comes back to border security you can ask anyone in border patrol in Vermont when I was US attorney I had the closest relationship with border patrol when I left the office they flew the flag with my name outside the border patrol station they did and it was the honor of my life and I have it framed in my house the flag the border patrol flew for me so we need to fund the border patrol and how do we secure the border we listen to the experts you know who the experts are border patrol Cheryl I do not support any new gun control laws I believe that the increase in criminal misuse of a firearm is directly directly related to misguided actions to defund the police not being fully supportive of our law enforcement community and as congressman mulch sought to change the qualified immunity of police the result has been an increase in crime across the country and there are some cities across America that effectively lost control based on misguided knee jerk reactions I fully support funding the police with no changes to qualified immunity if we go back to supporting our law enforcement community we will see a decrease in criminal activity I would also add that my oldest son is going to graduate from college later this year and he is going to become a police officer and I'm very proud of him for that thank you now a question about first amendment for the senate Gerald we'll start with you has big tech curl tailed free speech how can the US ensure first amendment rights are respected in our time ready? yes big tech has curl tailed free speech banning a president removal and shadow banning of prime examples here is my answer on how to ensure first amendment rights are respected I was in Washington DC in the Washington DC area on January 6th last year and I intended to attend a trump rally I was going to exercise my rights as a united states citizen under the first amendment of the constitution for freedom of speech to assemble peaceably and to petition the government I am aware of these rights because I have served in the united states army as a commissioned officer for over two decades under the exact same oath that a united states senator takes to support and defend the constitution to bear truth, faith and allegiance to the same so help me god I had no intentions of committing a crime of breaking any law that day I just wanted to exercise my rights unfortunately due to work I was not able to get to the rally in DC that day on that day thousands and thousands of united states citizens exercise their rights to free speech to assemble peaceably and to petition the government without committing any kind of crime or breaking any law I would like to read a quote from my republican opponent regarding that day January 6th from the NBC5 published interview I quote I said that I would prosecute as when I was a U.S. attorney I would prosecute anyone involved in the events of that day which would just tragic so my answer to ensure first amendment rights are respected is to elect a U.S. senator that will abide by the oath of office and that respects the constitutional rights of every citizen thank you Christina yeah so go to my twitter account and listen to that whole NBC5 interview because what I was talking about were the people who broke into the capital not the people who are protesting peacefully very simply peaceful protests and exercise of first amendment rights no matter your point of view we should encourage and we should protect I don't care what millionaire or billionaire owns the company every point of view should be able to express themselves there is never an excuse for violence I don't care what your view is on either side whether it's rioting in Minneapolis and burning the city down don't care how upset you are violence against the capital is not justified I am for peaceful exercise of first amendment rights that's what I was talking about in the interview that he's referring to which I hope you'll go and watch on my twitter account I was referring to the people who broke into the capital not the peaceful protesters of course I took an oath as U.S. attorney to support and defend the states I took that same oath he's talking about I understand that the first amendment is the first amendment for a reason it's the most important one and we any student of history knows that the answer for speech you don't like is what we're doing right now it's more speech so if you disagree with something say so and nobody should be censored and nobody should be prohibited from peaceful protest it's one of the most important traditions in our country but violence, violence is never justified thank you House candidates starting with you Anja would you support repeal of section 230 which shields big tech from liability yes I would I absolutely would and big tech for far too long has been allowed to dictate to the masses what content they're allowed to see what opinion they're allowed to hear and they have undoubtedly engaged in shadow banning against conservatives and they have also created an atmosphere on their platforms where conservative voices are ridiculed and really held um really lied about if you want to go to the simplest terms when big tech decided that they could silence a sitting president of the United States in my book they lost all right to section 230 immunity and that's all I'll say on that thank you thank you Erica I would not support the repeal of section 230 this is one of those topics that is not talked about honestly in either the left wing or the right wing media the reality is section 230 was created to protect basically like internet providers ISPs if we remove that then Comcast is now going to be responsible for everybody's websites and that's actually going to create more problems with censorship because people are going to be responsible for what is on their platform if we have a problem with the way that things are what we need to do is things like antitrust lawsuits if Facebook is too big and has too much power antitrust lawsuit let's break up Instagram and Facebook the neutrality is not written into section 230 neutrality is not required it does not make anything a public square we hear our republican and conservative representatives say stuff like that it is not true they're misleading you about what section 230 is because we're all mad about being shadow banned and discriminated against so if we have a problem with some of these platforms doing point of view discrimination we attack them directly we have to do things like sue Amazon web services right because they say oh you don't like being moderated on Twitter we'll go build your own well the problem is Amazon web services hosts 70% of websites and they can cut you off from starting you know we saw that with parlor getter all of these alternative websites were shut down from stripe and square and all and payment processors and things like that those places need to be sued okay oh no warning sorry if I missed it so section 230 is just let's have an honest conversation we cannot get rid of it thank you our final round of questions is on parental rights beginning with the senate Christina you'll be going first do you think Attorney General Merrick Garland's memo which announced that federal law enforcement would be involved in investigations pertaining to parents protesting local school boards was acceptable no I mean this memo was released and it was billed as the administration's violent crime policy now there were 21,500 homicides in the United States in 2020 that that will be more in 2021 people are dying from violent crime from shootings and this is where the administration wants to put its focus it's really just very very disturbing to me as a prosecutor as a former U.S. attorney we need to be focusing on real violent crime gun crime shootings and using our gun laws to take guns out of the hands of criminals not on parents who are being involved in their children's education and many of these parents because their kids were stuck at home and by the way they were stuck at home for way too long we got to give them their childhood back no more going backwards installed in place we've got to manage life with the virus and move forward they need to be in school without masks but when they were stuck at home parents got a new window into what was happening in there with their children and their children's education and parents should be involved not all parents will be good parents but we want them to be good parents and good parents should be involved in their children's lives their education and anything else that's going on with them this is just this seems so simple and common sense we want parents involved in what's going on with the very important aspects of their lives but for this administration to make its violent crime policy turn around parents showing up to school board meetings when people are being shot in cities across the country you know some areas children are in the line of fire it's just appalling to me that this is where the administration is placing its focus so that's a long way of saying no Gerald no I do not and I did want to say thank heavens that AG Garland did not become a Supreme Court justice so I'm a parent and my wife Stacy and I we have four children three in Vermont schools right now I have spoken about my priorities the first being to get back to abiding by the Constitution speaking about that I've expressed that I will protect Americans from unconstitutional mandates executive orders and initiatives this would be one of them and I've also spoken about protecting parents' rights to decide about what is and what is not taught to their children and I will against acts like this I've also noted against overspending more taxes more government more control being against all those this initiative is exactly the more control I'm talking about I support less government less control just enough order to enable Americans to enjoy the liberty rights and freedoms that the Constitution provides as I mentioned I have four children and I will stand up for the rights for myself and parents to protest local school boards this memo is an indication of just how far off track we've gone and I will serve in fight to get us back on track back on track to parents having rights not indoctrination on someone else's ideology thank you thank you House candidates starting with Erica do you believe that CRT critical race theory or similar philosophies are harmful to our students if so how do you propose that schools educate students on issues of race or gender I believe that any sort of philosophy whether it's critical race theory or CRT adjacent is incredibly harmful to our young people any notion that they are different because of their genitalia or the color of their skin or anything like that is really just is very sick and it's turning people against each other from a very early age this idea that we somehow have that you know the sins of the father that all white people carry with them is incredibly sick it is very sick and it actually demeans black people and anyone who is not white as if they are less than and not as good as they it is it is saying that they are only victims and the only thing that black people or not white people have contributed to this country is being slaves and being persecuted and discriminated against which is a lie it is not true the reality is we have racists here and we have discrimination and there are areas of American life that do discriminate industries that do discriminate against non-white people and that is true but we diminish those conversations and we diminish the activism in those areas when we say that everything is racist and we have this thing have you guys heard of this term learned helplessness we used to know what that was and they used to teach educators about that that if you just teach people that it is hopeless and there is nothing they can do and everyone is against them they don't try anymore people rise and fall to the level of expectation and our education system used to know that because my sister who is an educator told me that we need to teach people that we are all equal and that what matters is the content of your character not your immutable characteristics and by the way school has no place teaching any of that crap that is for you at home where schools for reading writing and arithmetic period and history maybe a couple of other ones so yes CRT is harmful to children and parents should be teaching about gender and sexual education of elementary school students and sometimes even younger is not a schools place nobody should be talking to your child about sex at that age I'm sorry about the fact and when I have children I will not be sending them to public school to be learning that we need to look at the fact that the school system has failed to turn out well educated students for decades now they are not learning the basics they are learning indoctrination they are propagandized they can repeat a liberal propaganda piece word for word but they can't tell you who was president when or do simple math a calculator I hate to admit this but I have a cousin who she is 14 years old and she did not realize that 14 and 6 makes 20 she is now in special tutoring to correct this she is 14 the school system has failed her on that level and it's unfortunate that parents are now being treated as criminals for caring about what their children are learning for their children and in Washington D.C. I will always advocate for a parent's right to protect their child to be involved in their child's education there needs to be transparency through the supervised reunions of the schools so that parents can view the curriculums and not be kept in the dark as they have been for so long unfortunately in Orleans county where I live there is a big problem with CRT we have talked to students it's denied to our faces that have gone on and the parents becoming involved in this is the first step to correcting it and I am glad to see more and more parents becoming involved in caring about their child's education on the level that they need to be it used to be you could send your child to school and you just really didn't have to worry that they weren't going to learn the basics and that's not the case anymore thank you Anya now each candidate will have 5 minutes I think we have we have time I think we probably have time for one question from the audience before the closing statements before the closing statements so is there anybody from the audience who has a question that all 4 candidates could answer in the back so because you're on the topic of education can you call for the microphone so it can be picked up they need a mic can you hear me fine well it's not for the TV oh thank you because we're on the topic of children I'm a big proponent of school choice of school choice and how do we get there do you have any thoughts on that anyone want to take that question have I start I think we need options for children who are trapped in failing schools and this is one of those issues I mean Democrats agreeing with Republicans that especially in inner cities places like Washington DC we need children to have the ability to have a good education and so I'd be for promoting as much public school choice in Vermont as possible and I'd be for parents being able to make a decision that got their children out of a failing school and into one that could serve them well my mother and father elected to send me to the Catholic schools here in Vermont I am still a sinner some of it didn't take totally I got a great education at those schools but it was a tremendous burden particularly after my parents got divorced it was a lot for my mom to both pay her taxes and pay the tuition so I think we need to look at not only parental involvement but making sure all children have access to a good education here want to handle that so school choice is very important I think that there needs to be a focus also on the persecution that religious schools face in this state and frankly around the nation parents should have the opportunity to pick that school for their children without being penalized for it financially is the best way of saying it there's school vouchers there's all kinds of things that we can do but school choice is very important because it goes back to parental involvement in education and if you believe that your child will receive a better education from all of these different options you should be able to do that I'm also a big proponent of adding homeschooling into that I am personally homeschooled and I can tell you that I learned tremendous amounts of things just from reading books that would never have been allowed I was grades ahead in reading and my entire family is my mother made the decision to homeschool all of her children and it benefited us greatly and I think that it's important to count homeschooling in school choice in the future Gerald do you want to I also am in favor of school choice so I'm a parent my wife and I have four children I think I mentioned three in Vermont schools I can tell you just yesterday my wife and I crafted up an email to center my youngest to his school and have him not participate in some of the education that they wanted him to participate in so yes school choice is important having some options and including homeschooling I would say we last two years my wife has almost drawn the homeschooling route just because of how COVID has turned education upside down so I am in support of school choice options I feel like a broken record I also support school choice and I I'll go even further and say that your tax the tax dollars should follow the child period particularly in Vermont where so many schools are failing to have their students meet proficiency they clearly cannot be trusted with the education of our children and this is going to be very unpopular I probably shouldn't say this in public but I would also be for breaking up the teachers unions and taking away some of their power that they have the reality is I am anti-public sector union period okay private sector unions I that's a different conversation but when you have a union that uses its resources to get people elected to office who they then negotiate their salaries and benefits and what they're allowed to do that's a real problem for me I don't even understand how that's legal frankly I think it should be illegal I would also as your congressperson work to remove the power of the national department of education every educator that I know will tell you that no child left behind left every child behind it has been an absolute nightmare a lot of the really ugly stuff that we're seeing in our schools here in Vermont are actually mandated by the federal government so when I say I want to restore the federal government to the proper size these are the kinds of things that I want to do I want to see the department of education outside of the decisions that we make here there may have been a time when it made sense you know when we had segregated schools and there were things that like civil rights issues that needed to be addressed but that time in all reality has passed and it's clear that whatever they wanted to do they're failing at so we need to take that money and take those resources away from them and give it back to the people who actually provide the service thank you so our closing statements limit five minutes each this will be your opportunity candidates to not only summarize but also if you choose to address some of the comments made you may we'll go from my left to right Gerald five minutes thank you guys but I'm running for the United States senator because the democrat party has failed our country I am deeply concerned for the future of my four children and for Vermont and for America we the people are in fact at a critical juncture and that's because the democrat party is leading us in the wrong direction backwards leading us so poorly that it actually seems like they are doing it on purpose and frankly I'm worried about how much longer we can keep going like this we are running out of time and I'm going to be very straightforward here I am all in to be part of the republican red wave that will gain control of the house and senate and then the presidency and that will implement a unified republican effort to get us back on track that is the solution back to abiding by the constitution back to promoting the opportunity for economic prosperity for every American and back to ensuring the defense security and order of our country stop overspending less government less taxation more freedoms I am in line with the republican party that is what our country needs right now and I'm not going to dilute the republican party effort there are a few things that you won't hear from me that are not part of my approach that I am independent, that I'm bipartisan that I'm willing to work across the aisle you won't hear me say that I won't work for the republican party frankly when I hear or read those things why not run as a democrat you won't hear me a few weeks from now with a new spin on what type of republican I am and you won't hear me waffle about being kind of pro-life I am pro-life, period republican party, sanctity of life I mentioned speaking to teen challenge in Johnson it was a great event candidates gave speeches and then we had a prolonged Q&A I wanted to share part of that panel we were asked random questions by the audience one question was and I am paraphrasing here what local politician do you identify with admire, aspire to be like I thought to myself great finally got a softball my answer was republican representative Arc Peterson I said he is a good man and just wants to do what's best for Vermont my opponent candidate said Senator Susan Collins and in her speech she also spoke about Senator Lisa Murkowski well Senator Collins and Senator Murkowski are both pro-choice and they both crossed the line and voted to impeach President Donald Trump and they both crossed the line in favor of nominating the recent lifetime Supreme Court justice nominee I voiced that I would not support that nomination based on character and qualifications my opponent supported that nomination I talked about the democrat party and that failure includes putting us dangerously close to escalation I say that because I served for three years in a nuclear capable unit in Germany working with NATO and defending the full to gap against the Warsaw Pact and the Soviet Union as part of the army's third armored division not a single U.S. Senator has boots on the ground nuclear experience with NATO in Europe not a single one not a single U.S. Senator also has boots in Korea and the other DMZ I have both probably coming up on being about out of time I would ask you please as I mentioned take a look at my website you can learn a lot more about me I don't have time to fit it into a short speech I bring 42 years of experience a breath of experience I offer my character, experience leadership that our country needs and performance I am seeking to be your next United States Senator as a Republican to get our country back on track and say thank you to everyone for this great event May the 14th star shine bright may God bless America Thank you Christina Well I think this is an incredibly hopeful time like I started out saying we've never had an opportunity like this before we have an open United States Senate seat and we must win it we are not all going to agree on everything no two people agree on absolutely everything even in families sometimes families disagree hugely so we're not always going to agree on everything but we need to elect someone who can make a change in Washington and get this country back on the right track I've talked about my views when it comes to inflation how we got to stop spending so much money how we got to fund the police how we have to secure the border and listen to border patrol to get it secured we need to be strong on national defense and take care of our veterans I believe in the Reagan motto of peace through strength and I'm not going to work for a party and the people in politics in the establishment career elite politicians they think they work for a party Joe Biden thinks I'm sorry Peter Welch thinks he works for Joe Biden he doesn't I'm going to work for you and what I mean when I say that is every decision I make will be with a servant's heart and thinking about what is best for my constituents and the people I'm in Washington to serve and I think people in both parties have lost their way when it comes to that they're not thinking about people and that's what I mean when I say independent minded republican it means I'm going to do the right thing and I hope that should be what every politician strives to do my partisanship is not a dirty word as I mentioned there are ten democratic senators who are against lifting title 42 we can come together around common sense policies what has happened right now everything has gotten so far off track with the Biden agenda with the far left Pelosi defund the police Welch agenda this is almost gone beyond politics we need to come back to common sense this shouldn't be difficult have a border every country needs a border okay we can we can get people democrats, independents not the progressives maybe maybe they're too far afield but we can get them to come together around these common sense ideas I am not for late term abortion if you go on and watch the same interview that I said to go look on twitter I've been very consistent about this and you'll hear me keep saying it we have a constitutional amendment that is unconscionable that is being proposed and it's going to be on the ballot this November to amend the Vermont Constitution to require abortion I'm going to talk to the moment of birth I am against that I think Vermonters should retain the ability to restrict late term abortion and frankly what else is this constitutional amendment if it passes going to allow will it allow partial birth abortion I think so we don't know what it's going to mean but I'm going to be voting no myself I am against I am for restrictions on late term abortion and I hope you'll go to the polls and vote against it too yes there were a number of senators I actually mentioned them all in LaMoyle County not just the ones he mentioned but be that as it may there were a number of senators there to support me in Washington DC last week they were of all different views within the Republican party and that just goes to show what a broad base of support I have they came because they know I can win they want me to win and they said Christina we need help help is on the way help is on the way I am going to win this election and we are going to seize this moment which is a unique moment in the history of Vermont and help is going to be on the way if you want hard work common sense and honor restored to Washington we cannot elect a rubber stamp for the far left wing of the party Peter Welch will vote with the far left wing on every issue and so I'm asking you Republicans, independents and Democrats Democrats especially who feel their party has left them and I've talked to so many who say my party has left me I'm going to be voting for you we are going to win this election it's an exciting time now is the moment we cannot let this moment pass us by so please honor me with your vote in August and November and we are going to see the change that we are also hungry for thank you so much thank you all for being here today thank you for investing your time and your energy and money into your own self-governance that is what is at stake and at risk in this election the federal government our current officials believe they know better how to live your life to raise your children what you should eat, listen to what you're allowed to say we believe that they know better than you do and so this is an opportunity for you to say no in this country we are self-governing and I'm going to make my own choices and you the government don't have a say that's what electing a Republican will give will help restore in this country the red wave is real and it is absolutely accessible to us here in Vermont no matter what anybody tells you it is a matter of getting out the vote, letting people know that there are actual conservatives to vote for okay so that they'll get out to the polls and vote so I love the question what Vermont politician would you compare yourself to and I would like to say I will be like Calvin Coolidge he's a Vermonter only American president that the national debt did not grow under okay, he's my man I have a portrait of him on my wall my website ericuretic.com everyone spells both my names wrong all of the time, get a card look it up hand it out to people we have palm cards and other things that you can share with folks I also have a podcast for folks who don't know it's called generally irritable yes because who isn't when they're talking about politics here let's be real tomorrow I'm going to be posting a video I got to interview James Lindsay who's here visiting so I believe that's going to be posted tomorrow I don't have my normal live broadcast last Sunday I had on Joe Serio who investigated the Russian mafia so he was able to really give us a perspective on what's going on in Ukraine with the whole Ukraine Russia situation I have been providing the service to remonters for a couple of years now because I believe education and knowledge is key in self-governance if people don't know what's going on they can't do anything about it so sharing my message sharing the podcast whether it's facebook youtube or twitch sharing it across with people let people know we exist that is one of the biggest things that you can do go to ericuretic.com you can donate online there's an address at the bottom if you want to mail a check nobody likes to talk about money but here's the reality we can't win without resources so everybody's paying five bucks a gallon home heating oil's gone up food's more expensive is it worth it to you to donate to my campaign so that we can end that suffering how much is that worth to you make that choice for you and your family and donate that's what I'm asking for today I'm also asking for your vote in August and in November we need you guys we need you to show up the 50% of remonters or more who don't show up to the polls you got to talk to them talk to your neighbors help us get the word out self-governance means we are responsible so that's what I'm going to encourage you guys into um I'm an accountant I've been an accountant for much of the last 20 years I am a small business consultant I literally work with people across the spectrum every kind of business is dealing with the same problems is dealing with the same issues every single one of them I have been able to help bring them out of a situation where they didn't have information they were hemorrhaging money right people I literally help people for a living do what needs to be done in our country look at the data analyze it make decisions you don't need me to be emotional you don't need me to give you hugs and kisses you need me to be rational and logical which we are sorely lacking in Washington being an accountant you kind of get that in spades it's sort of annoying actually your brain just is constantly looking for problem solving we need that when dealing with our foreign policy we need that when dealing with the Fed and our monetary policy we need reason and rationality more than anything in Washington right now so again my name is Eric Heretic my website is EricHeretic.com my podcast is generally and sign my petition please please sign my petition it's on the table in the back books for sale take a look at the book it's really funny thank you first of all thank you all for coming thank you Wendy for putting it together and Guy you did a wonderful job moderating I appreciate your professionalism we've heard a lot of opinions here today and most of them ran to the same direction we're all Republicans in this room and so we don't really have any heated debate so I'm going to tell you what I will bring to Washington for you I bring professionalism I bring honesty, I bring integrity and I bring a work ethic that's unparalleled I will be the person that stays up till three o'clock in the morning reading the bill and then voting on it at 8am the next day I do that now it's shocking I can promise you this I will be honest with you I will place every vote that I make with your best interest in mind I want to go and be the one to fight for you to fight for a better life for our children, to fight for the prosperity that this state can and should have I know for a fact that when I go to Washington DC I will make the connections necessary that even in my first year I've heard it said that you can't get anything done in Congress in your first year I will get something done in Congress in my first year I've never been in any job for a year that I didn't I can promise you that I want to do this for you and for because I believe in the principles of liberty I believe that to defend freedom we must have workers Freedom is not something that we can have without the work being done and I look forward to doing that work I have a demonstrated history of standing up for the beliefs that we hold and being successful in implementing those beliefs for example the platform committee I stood up for the beliefs that we hold dear as a party and we won in the platform committee at the convention we won that is what I will do for you in Washington I will bring victories I promise you victories I'm going to go back to what I said in the beginning improvement over change change is inevitable but it's only a good thing if we're going in a positive direction if we're making a difference if we're getting better instead of worse and frankly the Democrat party has been leading us backwards for far too long they are focused on the past and they don't understand the future and we as Republicans do understand the future and we can and will make a difference when the red wave happens this year in order to do that we do need to secure our elections because I do believe that they will cheat to avoid having a red wave and if you don't see one in November that's what happened I can promise you that no citizen is not upset by what has happened nobody can afford the prices that they're paying I stand for the Constitution I stand for your rights as parents I stand for lower lower cost of living, lower inflation less government spending less government period I don't believe in big government the more government stays out of private enterprise the better off we all are I believe in agriculture and forestry is a tenet of our economy in Vermont and in our nation and the necessity for it to be secure national security wise we cannot be relying on foreign energy foreign food foreign medicine that is unsafe for our people and we need to make a change I believe in border security I will work to build the wall I will not vote for HR1 or the for the people act to hold their elections and we need to preserve states rights you can go to my website on yourtinoforcongress.com it has a whole lot more about where I stand on issues you can find me on Facebook and Twitter as well many of you may have joined Twitter recently I'm not sure and that being said I just want to thank each of you for being invested in freedom and I look forward to serving you in Washington and I encourage you to reach out to me with any questions and when I'm your representative reach out to me then as well I'll need to hear from a friendly voice every now and then because I'm sure the Democrats are going to contact me constantly to complain about me but I'm pro-life I know that's important to many people in this room but it's important to me as well and I believe that we need to fight for religious liberty in our state and nation as well I'm a Christian I'm proud to say it I brag on nothing but the Lord and today I just want to thank God that we're all here with the freedom to have this conversation because if it was up to the left we would not they would have silenced us completely oppressed us completely and we would have nothing left that they didn't want us to have that is the tenets of communism and unfortunately it's on the rise and we must stand up to shoot it down thank you all very much I look forward to seeing you and if you have any questions feel free to ask me another round of applause for all the candidates I'll use this so it can be recorded first one I thank Guy Page Guy, thank you for being our moderator today thank you and another round of applause for these candidates because I'll tell you in all my years in politics I got to tell you I want to compliment all four of you because I've never seen in our primary for a statewide office such a talented group of people vying for these offices and all of you all of you any of you are way more talented than the people that you will be running against in the general election so and you know people talk a lot about democracy there's a lot of conversation about democracy right but this today is real democracy so thank yourselves for being here this great this was a great turnout everybody was here and I do want to point out you were left on your chair a little handout the Chittenden County Republicans have basically derived a simple platform that we can share with our friends and neighbors because people wonder well I think there's a lot of misinformation about what the party represents you heard it today from these candidates it reflects very well with this little piece but I urge you to take this home talk to your friends and neighbors about it talk to them about this presentation today and let's start getting the vote out I think that's important I think all of you have said let's get more people voting let's get people interested let's educate them on the issues and that is how we really help our friends and neighbors and our state in the long run become a better place so thank you so much and enjoy the rest of your day and the rest of your weekend