The major party candidates for Vermont Lieutenant Governor disagreed on a number of issues during a debate Thursday afternoon.
Candidates in Vermont have been participating in numerous debates as Election Day approaches. Republican Joe Benning was elected to the state Senate in 2010. Democrat/Progressive David Zuckerman served as Lieutenant Governor from 2017 to 2021, leaving the post to launch an unsuccessful campaign for governor. Democratic Lieutenant Governor Molly Gray is leaving the seat after she ran unsuccessfully for U.S. House this year.
The wide-ranging debate on Vermont Publicincluded a look at calls to revise Act 250, the state’s land use and development law. Zuckerman doubted he would make significant changes to the measure.
“I would look at the proposal a few years ago, it did not get through the legislature,” recalled Zuckerman, “To consider reducing some of the Act 250 hurdles in town and village centers, so that we could get more affordable housing, denser housing in our towns and village centers. We could also invest money in infrastructure for sewer and water to make building in those areas more possible.”
“Senator Benning,” asked moderator Connor Cyrus, “What would you advocate for to help alleviate this housing crisis that we're experiencing here in Vermont?”
“We have just set aside $90 million from the ARPA funding for the specific purpose of actually getting homes built,” noted Benning. “And I think this is an interesting difference between David and myself. It sounds as if he wants to create another level of bureaucracy and a tax revenue stream that is in existence in perpetuity.”
Vermont has a question on the November ballot known as Prop 5 asking voters to approve a state constitutional amendment to guarantee “personal reproductive autonomy.” Zuckerman quizzed Benning on his past votes on abortion rights.
“During the 2019 legislative session, two bills were brought forth similar to Proposition 5 seeking to strengthen the protection of reproductive liberties in Vermont. You voted no,” recounted Zuckerman. “What changed between that and Proposition 5 for you then to support it when essentially Proposition 5 does that same thing?”
“Well, Proposition 5 is actually a mirror of the balancing test in Roe v. Wade,” asserted Benning. “That's why I supported it because I've always supported Roe v. Wade. H 57 was a bold statement that was totally unnecessary.”
Benning noted that Zuckerman has promoted a number of initiatives including universal health care, affordable child care and affordable housing and climate change solutions.
“I understand your argument that eventually all of these things are supposed to save us money,” observed Benning. “But they also require startup costs. Taken collectively have you ever actually analyzed what the startup costs for those programs would be?”
“Well, there is no doubt we can't tackle all of them at once,” responded Zuckerman. “But what I often hear is we can't, as opposed to we can. We can save money and do it better.”
“So I take it the answer then to my question is no.” retorted Benning.
“Actually,” defended Zuckerman, “some of that work has been done, and often it's dated so it's got to be brought back up to speed. So it has.”
The two candidates expressed different strategies of how they would develop a younger workforce in the state. Benning said the Lieutenant Governor needs to actively promote the state, while Zuckerman looks to policy.
“Vermont needs to have somebody promoting Vermont's brand,” declared Benning. “Every state in the union is facing this same question. But that means they're all in competition with each other. And the way that you advance in the competitive race to attract younger people is to get somebody out there as a salesperson for your state. And that was what I intended to do with the lieutenant governor's position.”
“David Zuckerman,” asks Connor Cyrus, “What do you think are the proper steps to fix Vermont's workforce shortage, particularly when it comes to young people?”
“Well, I think the biggest issue is affordable housing and childcare,” Zuckerman replies. “The question is can they afford to live here? So I think we have to very proactively take action, not just words to promote Vermont.”
Ian Diamondstone of the Green Mountain Party is also running for lieutenant governor.
