Ericka Redic of Burlington was born and raised in Vermont, and as an accountant has made a career out of helping small businesses succeed. She also works with women in recovery from substance abuse and supports many organizations that uplift marginalized, under-served and at-risk people.

Last Monday, Vermont Daily Chronicle emailed the same questionnaire to candidates in most contested statewide races in tomorrow’s Democratic and Republican primary. Below are one candidate’s answers to these questions: “If elected, how would you:

Reduce the cost of living?
Promote widespread, affordable home ownership?
Protect the public from crime?
Promote successful schools?
Protect a clean environment?
Protect civil liberties?
In any other way promote the welfare of your constituents?

Ericka Redic, Republican Candidate for U.S. House

Reduce the cost of living? – I will push for massive cuts to the Federal Budget. The American people should only be paying for what is absolutely necessary – not pork for special interest groups. We also need to limit the Federal Reserve’s ability to manipulate the value of our currency and markets.

Promote widespread, affordable home ownership? – The Vermont Legislature and local municipalities like Burlington must lower taxes (cut budgets) and remove regulatory burdens (Act 250). Vermont and local municipalities must change their zoning rules and limit litigation against the construction of new buildings. City Place in Burlington got sued out of existence, so instead of having tons of new housing, tax revenue and shopping, we have a giant hole in the ground.

Protect the public from crime? – Governor Scott should ensure that State’s Attorneys are doing their jobs, prosecuting crimes and upholding Vermont law. If they are not, they should be removed from office. Additionally, there should be sanctions for municipalities who have defunded or demoralized their police and made their citizens unsafe.

Promote successful schools? – As Vermont’s next Congresswoman I will push to limit the power of the Department of Education. At the State level we need to see school choice, and have our tax dollars follow to student, rather than keep them trapped in failing public schools. Additionally, Vermont needs to audit the books of every single school in the State of Vermont to determine the following two things:
Are funds being spent efficiently?
Are students having verifiably positive results?
If the answer is “no” to both of those questions, we simply cannot throw more money at the problem. The further question is whether or not that program should be cut from the school budget.

Protect a clean environment? – I will push for updates to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission to allow for the building of safe, “clean”, efficient energy. I will also eliminate all subsidies for EV cars, solar panels and wind turbine technologies. These technologies are not renewable despite the rhetoric, nor are they better for the environment. We are simply offshoring our pollution. These technologies require fossil fuels to build, include Rare Earth Minerals that are in lessor supply than oil and gas, and slave labor is used in the production – that doesn’t sound like a better option than the traditional combustion engine.

Protect civil liberties? – I will work to bring Accountability, Transparency and Integrity back to the Federal government. I will begin with the following bills in year one.
Term Limits for Federal Officials.
Single Issue Bills – Only one topic or one appropriation per bill.

Balanced Budget Bill – No more debt spending and printing of money that devalues the American dollar.

In any other way promote the general welfare of your constituents? – We have to take the mental health and drug addiction crisis seriously. Did you know 17% of suicides are related to economic troubles? So many Vermonters feel hopeless about their future. We need a good economy, with good jobs and access to help. We also need to see Vermonters engaging in their communities again.

We cannot rely on the government to save us or make things better – it often makes things worse. Instead, my husband Benjamin and I, encourage everyone to looks for ways they can contribute to the community. We volunteer for a mentoring organization called Catalyst Collective, but you could choose the Boys and Girls Club, tutoring at your local schools, get a group to clean up graffiti, host a car wash for the football team, etc… Just do something!