Vermont’s major party candidates for governor met for a televised debate on MyNBC5 Tuesday night. The two candidates disagreed on how they would deal with most of the issues facing the state.
Republican Governor Phil Scott is seeking his fifth two-year term. Democrat Esther Charlestin is the co-chair of the Vermont Commission on Women and is seeking her first statewide office.
Their differences were apparent with the first question regarding how to stem the rise in property taxes. Charlestin’s response was short, while Scott criticized the Democrat-led legislature.
“We’ll start with relief for those who can’t afford their property taxes and then long term we need to come up with a sustainable way to fund our education system,” Charlestin said.
“Well it’s not just about funding because we’re spending all kinds of money for education at this point. We need to do everything we can to provide for relief for taxpayers,” Scott replied. “We had an opportunity this last session. The legislature overrode my veto on the yield bill and we have taxes that were imposed without any structural reform. If we don’t do something right off the bat come January, we’re going to see the same kind of results in the coming year.”
The candidates argued over homelessness and changes in the hotel-motel program. The moderators noted that an October 1st letter signed by 91 state legislators was sent to Governor Scott calling on him to take executive action to create emergency shelters and to declare a state of emergency to respond to the homelessness crisis. Scott said many who signed that letter were hypocritical.
“I didn’t come up with this legislation to wind down the hotel-motel program. They did. And yet four months later they want to reverse course. They could have fixed it then,” asserted Scott.
“What I’m hearing is a lack of vision. We saw this problem coming. We knew it was coming and we weren’t prepared. The lack of vision on the Governor’s part to continue this program and to make it long term is where I hold fault,” contended Charlestin.
“I think the Pro-Tem had said we don’t need the executive branch. We don’t need the Governor,” noted Scott. “I’ve reached across the aisle my entire political life. And this, over the last few years, they didn’t reach over, not once! They have the super-majority. They have the power and they abused it.”
The two candidates also offered stark differences regarding overdose prevention sites as Burlington prepares to open the state’s first. Scott has long opposed such a program while Charlestin believes it’s needed.
“The opioid crisis is out of control and this is an answer to it,” stated Charlestin.
“I think it’s the wrong approach because the millions of dollars it’s going to take to put into a safe injection site I think we should be putting it into things we know works like prevention, treatment, recovery and law enforcement,” Scott said. “We’ll adhere to the law but I think it’s again a mistake to put our precious resources into an unproven safe injection site.”
“As I understand it, the money is already there so it’s not coming from taxpayers,” commented Charlestin.
“It’s not magical,” Scott said with a chuckle. “It doesn’t come from thin air. Taxpayers pay for programs.”
Scott’s controversial appointment of Zoie Saunders as interim Secretary of Education also highlighted differences of opinion between the candidates. Charlestin said a candidate from within the state should lead the Agency of Education instead of Saunders, who is serving in an interim role.
“I would not keep Zoie Saunders in the position and I, we would start the process over,” Charlestin said. “There are amazing Vermont educators who are here, who are willing to do the work and who understand the system. I trust the Senate. The Senate did not approve. And so with the Governor just putting her in as an interim is him not respecting the system.”
Moderator Liz Strepa turned to the other candidate. “Mr. Scott?”
“The State Board of Education is required to send, you know to take all the names in, people interested in the position for Secretary of Education,” Scott explained. “We should put party politics aside and do what’s right for Vermont and she is the right person at the right time for Vermont.”
Early voting is ongoing in Vermont. The general election is November 5th.
