By Donald Koch

Too often, candidates for public office will tell you one thing during the campaign but do something completely different once they get into office.  Sound familiar?  I don’t want to be that type of public official, and that’s why I have written position papers on eight different issues facing the State of Vermont and have published one each week for the last eight weeks.  I want voters to know where I stand before they vote, and I want to be held accountable for my voting record once I am in office.

That said, I do have to admit that facts sometimes change between October and April.  Bills that a legislator sincerely intended to support get written in such a way that a vote in favor of that bill would be harmful to many Vermonters.  The desire to fund certain services may be hampered by a shortfall in tax revenues, and difficult choices need to be made.  And it is possible that a legislator might actually change his or her position on an issue while listening to a debate—after all, that ‘s what debates are for!

What is not acceptable is for a legislator to get elected while espousing certain fundamental principles and then abandon those principles once in office.  I am a strong defender of the First Amendment principle of freedom of speech, freedom of the press, freedom of religion, and the right to assemble peaceably to advocate for one’s views.  That will not change.  I am a strong supporter of the Second Amendment and Article XVI of the Vermont Constitution.  That will not change.  I will always advocate for due process in public affairs, and that will not change.  I am who I am, and I hope that I have made clear during this campaign who I am and what I believe, and it is on that basis that I ask for one of your three votes for State Senator from the Washington District (Washington County plus the towns of Braintree, Orange, and Stowe.)

It has been a genuine privilege to run this race.  I have met many wonderful people, had some great conversations, and been the object of a number of derogatory comments.  It’s all in the game!  I have enjoyed working with my running mates, Michael Deering II and Mike Doyle; we each have our own approaches, but we are agreed that things in Montpelier need to change.  And while we disagree with our opponents, Ann Cummings, Andrew Perchlik, and Anne Watson, on many important policies, there is also a lot on which we agree.  I think the campaign has been honorable on all sides, which we would like to think is the Vermont tradition, and I thank all five of these other candidates.

With less than two weeks now until polls close here in Vermont (7:00 p.m. on Nov. 5), my plea is that Vermonters cast every legal vote!  Your vote does make a difference!  After every election, there are tales of elections that were decided by a handful of votes, with the losing candidate finding that some of his or her friends didn’t vote.  Close results are not unusual; a number of years ago in New Hampshire, an election for United States Senator was decided by exactly two votes!

I hope that in the course of this campaign, I have given you cause to cast one of your three votes for State Senator in the Washington District for me.  Certainly, a supermajority, whether run by Democrats, Republicans, Whigs, or Know-nothings, is not good for democracy, and the supermajority we have now in Montpelier needs to be broken up.  The legislature also needs to be more mindful of what Vermonters can afford, and we need to repair our economy so that our children don’t have to leave the state in order to earn a decent living.  On these issues, and on the issues, I have discussed in more detail over the last eight weeks, I hope I have given you reason to vote for me.  But whether your vote is for me or for one of my opponents, PLEASE VOTE!!  IT DOES MATTER!!

Yours for a brighter Vermont,

Donald

The author is a candidate for the Vermont Senate in Washington County and currently lives in Barre