by Rob North

I have met many of the majority party candidates here in Addison County, and for the most part they are kind and well-meaning people.  But here is the reality: 

• Vermont’s healthcare insurance premiums have risen 169% since 2018.
• Housing costs are through the roof.
• Property Taxes have increased 62%, averaging nearly 9% increase per year over the last 7 years.
• Our State budget has increased 62% since 2019, double the inflation rate. 
• Electric rates are 56% higher than the national median.
• We are one of only 3 states that tax Social Security for seniors earning less than $100K, and one of only 8 that tax Social Security benefits at all.
• Our Education System is one of the worst performing and most expensive in the nation. 

And yet, in a July 8 interview on WCAX about the current Speaker of the Vermont House — a leader of the majority party and the one who controls the entire policy discussion agenda — when asked if she subscribed to the belief that Vermont has an affordability crisis, the response was, “Surprisingly, not really. She doesn’t buy that part of the theory.”  This, when more than 80% of Vermonters think that the state is unaffordable to live in.  Seriously!?

And, during an interview on WVMT, Laurie Houghton, the self-proclaimed next Speaker of the House, was asked what she planned to do about it.  She said, “There’s a real need for us to continue bringing in experts and Vermonters who are doing the hard work and make sure they have an opportunity to be heard in testimony. I think that’s where we would go.”  Nothing substantive. No plan. No admission that we even have a problem. 

Meanwhile, these are examples of what I hear from my constituents all over the county:

• “We have started the process of closing our door. We refuse to be slave labor for a state that doesn’t see who really pays the bills. – Local business owner with over 40 yrs experience.
• “Tragically, many native Vermonters are leaving the state because they can no longer afford to live here. We keep running into working Vermonters who are giving up on Vermont and moving to [other states].  We have considered leaving too for the same reasons. There is so much room for improvement here!” – Lifelong Vermonter and ecological advocate.

And if anyone thinks that “taxing the rich” will help us, they’re wrong.  Even they are leaving:

• “[We] are planning on selling because of the continuing situation here. Our best friends and neighbors are building [elsewhere] and selling this year because of their disgust with Vermont. Love the people, love the countryside, love the lake, but we don’t want to be governed by an obvious gang of idiots.” – Lakefront property owner.
• “As much as it hurts to leave, we had to. It’s just gotten ridiculous. And we can move [elsewhere] and live much more affordably.” – Lifelong Vermonters, successful business owners, and passionate local volunteers.

Even worse, some of the majority party members have the audacity to blame the affordability crisis on Governor Scott. Be assured, he is the only thing standing between us and financial collapse.  Were it not for him pushing back on an out-of-control, out-of-balance, and out-of-touch legislature (against which he has had to veto more than 60 disastrous bills), we would be in a bigger world of hurt.  Not re-electing Phil Scott and installing a progressive governor who will further empower our out-of-balance legislature would be the death knell for Vermont.  As my friend from Bristol says, “a [balanced] bi-partisan legislature is the pinnacle of democracy.”

With the crisis at a boiling point and the majority party not paying attention, now is not the time to think “Well I’ve always voted that way, so I’m just going to continue.”  As a friend I saw at the Benedict Arnold re-enactment at Arnold Bay said to me, “Doing what you’ve always done and expecting a different outcome is foolish. That’s the definition of insanity.”  

Based on my first-hand experience in the House of Representatives, it’s almost a guarantee that any newly elected members of the majority party – no matter what they promise during their campaigns – will simply nod their heads and follow their out-of-touch leadership. The result will be a disastrous continuation of Vermont’s growing affordability crisis.  

IT IS TIME TO DO SOMETHING DIFFERENT.  If we expect members of the legislature to work productively together, we need a more balanced legislature. We need bipartisan creation of cost-effective solutions that will attract new young families and help working Vermonters afford to live here.  It’s time for Addison County to stand up to Chittenden county and balance Vermont’s legislature.  It’s time for Addison County to stop voting for those that have constantly increased costs and raised taxes. It IS time to vote for state officers with PROVEN track records of listening TO and fighting FOR Vermonters and FOR a more affordable Vermont.

PLEASE VOTE for both Rob North and Joe Baker for State Representative.

Stay tuned and stay engaged.