Inspired by questionnaire cancelled by Front Porch Forum
By Guy Page
Rare is the public citizen who will take the time to pen questions for candidates for the Legislature. Editors and candidates usually reward these efforts with publication and thoughtful responses, respectively.
Usually, but not always. Sometimes all that effort just gets you cancelled.
As reported last week by VDC, Abby Crosby of the Windham County Massachusetts border town of Jacksonville authored a slate of questions and asked to post them on her neighborhood Front Porch Forum. FPF refused her post because it construed her preference for ‘meritocracy’ over DEI in schools as a ‘personal attack.’
A day later FPF deactivated her account. “I submitted [another] post to FPF yesterday,” Crosby told VDC Thursday, July 25. “They did not publish it, but deactivated my account overnight instead. Zero communication from them regarding this or explaining the meritocracy dispute.”
Once a legislator is elected, citizens – as individuals and in groups – have relatively little influence. Citizen power is greatest before they are elected. But to exercise the power of the ballot, voters need information. That information was denied not only to Crosby, but to the other citizens who might have benefited from her thought-provoking questions and candidates’ answers.
In appreciation for Crosby’s efforts, VDC promised her last week we would include her questions in our August 13 Primary candidate questionnaire. That questionnaire appears below. Our questions read somewhat differently from Crosby’s original version. Editors edit. It’s what we do. Nonetheless we appreciate her laying the groundwork and believe the spirit behind them represents her hard work on behalf of representative democracy.
VDC will send these questions by tomorrow to every candidate appearing on, or announced as a write-in for, the official ballot. And there’s nothing stopping YOU, Citizen Reader, from sending these questions (with your own edits) to candidates, whose email addresses all appear on the Secretary of State’s listing of all primary election candidates.
Our questions seek to focus on issues that seem of greatest interest to Vermonters in general and our readers in particular.
Housing
How should the Vermont Legislature alleviate the state’s housing crisis?
Do you support the ‘Housing First’ policy of providing housing for homeless people without requiring them to address the root causes of their homelessness?
Climate change policy
Do you support implementing the Clean Heat Standard now in development by state regulators?
Please explain how the carbon credit system created by the Clean Heat Standard works and how it will affect Vermonters.
Do you support Vermont banning all sales of non-EV cars by 2035, in compliance with California regulations?
Education
Please explain why you support:
- school vouchers and school choice so that “the money follows the child,” or
- The status quo in which revenue is assigned to school districts, or
- an alternative to public school funding.
Do you support Diversity/Equity/Inclusion public school instruction and state government policy based on Critical Race Theory? If not, what should take its place?
How can Vermont public schools improve student test scores?
Do you support Vermont continuing as a ‘sanctuary state’ prohibiting state and local law enforcement participation with federal authorities apprehending immigrants who entered the United States illegally?
Elections
Do you support non-citizen voting in local and/or state elections?
Do you support legislation requiring voter identification for Federal, State and Local elections?
Drug crime
Please explain how best to reduce Vermont’s drug crime, drug abuse and drug overdose problem.
Land conservation
Do you support the current state law mandating conservation of 30% of all land in Vermont by 2030 and 50% by 2050?
Firearms restrictions
What further restrictions on firearms ownership and operation would you support?
Committee assignments
If elected, what committee(s) would you prefer to sit on, and why?
Other
Please address below any other legislative issues.