The Republican and Democrat running for Vermont Governor participated in their first broadcast debate Monday night. While generally polite, the two candidates offered clear differences in their philosophy regarding several issues.
Two weeks after Democrat Sue Minter and Republican Phil Scott won their primary battles, they met in Randolph for their first debate. Divided into three segments, the moderators, candidates and finally audience members asked questions.
A number of issues were covered ranging from energy policy to taxes and economic development. Sponsored by the Vermont NEA several questions focused on the property tax, school choice and Act 46 revisions. Executive Director Joel Cook says they had neither editorial control nor input on the questions. He was pleased with the event. “I think each of them did a very good job answering direct questions. As a general rule I thought that both Phil Scott and Sue Minter represented themselves quite well and were able to give a pretty good picture of where they agree and where they disagree. But more than anything I think they were both articulate and both represented themselves quite well.”
There were stark disagreements between the candidates on a number of issues. One example cropped up as Democrat Sue Minter and Republican Phil Scott discussed Vermont’s health care exchange:
Minter: “My first priority is to make Vermont Health Connect functional.”
Scott: “I think this has been something that's long overdue. We need to pull the plug. We need to move forward. We need to find a transition to something else.”
A second topic highlighted the contrast in their energy policy:
Minter: “Are you going to reduce opportunities for good paying jobs by taking wind off the table?”
Scott: “This is fracturing Vermont. You know we can do better. There's more to other technology out there. I think solar is really actually the future. Why not take it off the table. Why do we have to destroy our ridge lines in order to facilitate that?”
Middlebury College Professor Emeritus of Political Science Eric Davis found most of the questions and answers in this first gubernatorial debate predictable. “I think the candidates made their positions quite clear. Phil Scott and the Republicans believe that the state government is spending too much; that the focus should be on making current state programs more efficient and effective before adding anything new. Sue Minter and the Democrats believe that the state government needs to be doing more in order to reduce economic inequality and that there is fair tax capacity as exemplified by Minter’s proposal to increase the tax on banks to pay for greater access to public higher education.”
Despite marked differences in opinion, Davis believes it will be a civil campaign. “The candidates aren’t going to be engaging in negative personal attacks on each other. I think we can also say that there are some rather profound ideological and philosophical differences between the two major party candidates. Those were developed last night and I suspect they'll be developed even more in the two-and-a-half months that remain until Election Day.”
Incumbent Democratic Governor Peter Shumlin is not running for re-election.
Audio from the debate is courtesy of Vermont PBS.
