By Michael Bielawski
Rep. Charles Wilson, R-Caledonia-3, announced last week that he is retiring, for health reasons, from his time as a representative at the Statehouse. The Vermont GOP will seek to find three GOP candidates from whom Gov. Phil Scott will choose a replacement.
Wilson told VDC during a phone interview on Monday afternoon that he hopes to focus on a full recovery and he noted that there will be more political commentaries that he will seek to publish in the future.
The U.N. agenda at the Statehouse?
Wilson was known as a principled conservative who often suggested that the Vermont taxpayers were being overburdened. He also wrote numerous commentaries noting apparent parallels between United Nations-related global agendas and the local policies coming out of the Statehouse.
For example, he noted that this year they are seeking to expand on last year’s controversial universal school meals policy.
“That was last year, now this year they want to add a few million in a summer food program…. I said you know this is all aligned with the plan to feed everybody in the whole world from the U.N. and they said ‘oh it’s just a coincidence.’ Well, it’s word for word.”
He suggested if Vermont takes up trying to feed the world then it’s Vermonters who ultimately are going to be left out.
“They aren’t interested in feeding Vermonters, they want to feed all the migrants that are gonna come in,” he said. “… It’s gonna create more poverty. I mentioned I think the week before last I said can I get some constituents of mine in here that will testify that they can’t pay their taxes now and you want to give us more of this stuff,” he said.
He said the environmental restrictions are ruining farming and forestry. He suggested the lawmakers aren’t putting Vermonters first.
“It’s all set up to accomplish something else other than … Vermonters don’t really have a say anymore and they are moving out, that’s what they want. … Honestly, there are some of my constituents that can’t pay their bills now, I expressed concern about that and they laughed at me.”
Are lawmakers feeling pressure?
VDC asked if lawmakers are nervous about the looming 20% property tax increase currently forecasted for Vermonters, in an election year with the state’s House and Senate chambers currently polling slightly – 51% – unfavorable.
He said some of them seemed worried but not all of them. He said, “I think some of them are [hesitating to spend more] but some of them – there are at least three people in my committee that are activists – I don’t think they give a hoot what happens [in the election. And they are represented by people with money.”
He suggested that powerful influences with money – including those tied to U.N. interests – are shaping Vermont’s local policies. He added that these influential people stand to earn more through the policies they push.
Wilson said, “You know the whole global warming and global emergency and all that, what they are trying to do is sell wind towers, the solar electric farms, and the heat pumps. The people at the Global Warming Solution Act’s 24-member board, they are the ones making money off this, not taxpayers.”
Who’s next for Wilson’s seat
Wilson said the process has already begun for the Vermont GOP to gather three names of GOP candidates that can take Wilson’s seat.
“They want to get someone right away,” he said, adding that, “Republicans and conservatives need every vote they can get.”
VDC asked if he thought his replacement was likely to continue to scrutinize bills including as he did including to keep an eye out for U.N. connections. He is not hopeful.
“I doubt it very much,” he said. “Because I was the only one in the legislature that spoke up about it except for Terry Williams [Sen. Terry Williams, R-Rutland] in the Senate and the people just don’t want to get involved in it because Vermont is signed on to it.”
The author is a writer for the Vermont Daily Chronicle