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by Sen. Terry Williams
Editor’s note: Senator Terry Williams (R-Rutland) is an incumbent state senator. More than a month ago, inspired by a candidate questionnaire cancelled by Windham County resident Abigail Crosby, I sent him and every other legislative candidate a detailed questionnaire (NOT the Clean Heat Standard survey also sent to every candidate.)
Very few candidates of either party submitted detailed answers to this first, lengthy questionnaire. An exception is Sen. Williams, whose response was received this week. A U.S. Army officer and one of the most thoughtful legislators in Montpelier, Sen. Williams’ responses are informative and thought-provoking. I’ve highlighted some of the (IMHO) most interesting thoughts.
Housing
This problem is most prevalent in my district, Rutland County and I have been involved in meetings at three different levels as we attempt to confront the problem and deal with the people who are most affected by it.
1. Appoint an agency and a person by name to deal with the problem. That organization/person will be the “Tip of the Spear” and needs to be charged with the responsibility and given the authority and resources they need to positively eliminate the problem. Whether it is a government agency or a non-profit that is selected to deal with this, they need to have a clear vision and a strategic plan to systematically take down the situation.
2. Over the past several years, our government has thrown billions of tax-payer dollars at this problem to no-avail. Yes, there have been successes, but overall the system of homelessness and prevention has not changed. Government intervention and oversight needs to happen to ensure that waste, fraud and abuse is eliminated and that every dollar spent contributes to the take down of the problem.
3 The Department of Buildings and Grounds (BGS) has produced a list of all vacant (unused) state owned and leased buildings in the state of Vermont and the administration should look to eliminate those leases or ownership of those buildings or consider using them to help temporarily alleviate the shortage of housing for the unhoused population of Vermont.
I do support the current ‘Housing First’ policy of housing homeless persons with medical and mental disabilities and single parents with children without requiring them to work on the causes. All able-bodied homeless, if a resident, should be required to work to help offset the conditions of their homelessness and get invested in the local workforce to help compliment our labor force. The government needs to be involved in working with these people to ensure that they become active participants in our society.
I do believe that non-Vermont citizens who move here should have a mandatory waiting period required before they can apply for state government assistance. Some states require a one year waiting period. I believe that there should always be exceptions for extenuating circumstances, but it should not be a system where you can arrive here today and be on government assistance tomorrow as it is now in Vermont.
Climate Change & Environment
I do not support implementing the Clean Heat Standard now.
I must confess that I do not know how the carbon credit system created by the Clean Heat Standard works, but I do know how it will affect Vermonters. Even the PUC and experts, including most legislators who voted for this act admit that they do not know how it will work. I guess we will need to wait until January 2025 to find out. But, I know that it will have an adverse financial impact upon most Vermonters, especially the ones most vulnerable and who are supported by a fixed income. We can and must do better than Act 18.
I do not support banning the sale of all non-electric vehicles by 2035 and don’t know why we always thrive to be in compliance with California standards when Vermont has one of the cleanest environments in the country and probably the world. Until we fix the antiquated electrical infrastructure of this country so that it can support total electrification systems, we are attempting a fool’s errand.
Vermont should come up with a plan to relocate their population centers and businesses out of the flood plains but, until we do this, debris (trees and gravel) should be removed from the bends and pools which fill up with sediment. The strategy of ‘let the rivers and streams go where they want to go’ might work after another century, but it is not helping in the interim.
Education
I support “the money follows the child.” I believe that the problems with Vermont education began with the advent of Act 60/68 and that “the equity in education act” should be repealed and we should start over again. We have moved so far from the intent of Act 60/68 that it is no longer relevant.
I believe that competition enhances a quality education and that the state should get out of the state education funding business, that property taxes should not be used to fund education and that we need to get back to local control of our children’s education in Vermont.
I do not support D/E/I or CRT in public school instruction. We need to place more emphasis upon teaching civics and civil discourse and how to respect others opinions and accept their constitutionally guaranteed rights to be the way that they are without exception as long as it is within societal norms.
Student test scores will improve when our school system moves back to an identifiable standard for student achievement and when they are held to those standards scores will improve. If a student does not achieve those standards they should remain in that grade until they do. Each student should be periodically evaluated to ensure that they are capable of achieving the standards and if they are not, they should be moved to a different course of instruction or remedial instructional methods should be employed.
I do not support Vermont continuing as a sanctuary state and I believe that Vermont should work with federal authorities to apprehend and remove immigrants who entered the country illegally out of fairness to the ones who did come here legally, met the standard of citizenship and assimilated into our society.
Elections
I do not support non-citizen voting and I do support apprehending and removing immigrants who entered illegally.
Drug Crimes
We should enforce the laws on the books to enforce the drug crimes in this state and the country. We need to secure the borders and prosecute the criminals to the fullest extent of the laws on the books already. Being told that we don’t want the “low level violators” and we are after the “big drug dealers” is not acceptable.
Land Conservation
I do not support Act 59 as it is currently written and do not believe that any legislation should pass into law until there is a clearly defined explanation of how that act will work. This act does not pass muster. I also think that every piece of legislation should include the taxpayers of Vermont as stakeholders before the bill should even be considered by a legislative committee.
Firearms Restrictions
I support and defend the constitutions of Vermont and the United States and especially article 16 and the 2nd amendment of those documents. “Shall not be infringed” means exactly what it says!
When I am elected to another term as a Rutland County senator, I want to be on the Natural Resources and Energy and Judiciary committees.
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Categories: Commentary
Was this incumbent in power when the Govie locked the state down and pushed the Covid kill shot??????????
I believe Terry was elected in 2022 to represent us starting in 2023
I have known Terry for many years because of my involvement with gun ownership in the state of Vermont and attending many rallies at the statehouse to defend our rights along with John Rodgers, who is running for lieutenant governor.
Terry is a fine representative who values his constituents and makes a decisions based on their input.
Terry is the representative in my district and I have had many conversations with him since he was elected and I have always walked away with a good feeling after discussion things with him.
I couldn’t find a better representative in my district as a senator.
One niggling little misdirection whenever someone speaks of ‘homeless’ persons (yes, we ARE living, breathing, human beings who, in most part, ‘there but for the grace of God go I”…)… by someone who has never experienced ‘one paycheck from the fiscal cliff’, or ‘one health crisis’ from not being able to pay one’s mortgage or rent, or who lives paycheck to paycheck, or better yet, lives simply within their means to simply live…
There are many who do not fall within those glass parameters set by
NIMBYs and bureaucrats who love to throw money at a problem and called it fixed …as evidenced above by Williams’ notation of same (because this is a HUMAN problem not a financial problem i.e. how we treat one another, and the fundamentals of a healthy society being cashed out for profit i.e. family support, and aging elders in place).
For example, ten years ago, a senior could ‘retire’ at 65 and expect to need to work 20-25 hours a week on top of that. At 72, supposedly full retirement, and a mere 13 years later — it is impossible to live on those same retirement investitures (yes, we paid into them everytime we got a paycheck), and no one is hiring seniors (except for the most unhealthy and base jobs like cleaning (toxic to elders), running a register (standing on your feet all day), in an EMF laden environment that young people and old people are most susceptible to.
I am one of the disenfranchised from the ‘electrification and EMF-laden’ world we are accepting if not actively creating… I cannot LIVE in such an environment…i.e. ANY public or private business has wifi I cannot abide and live.
I am cut off at the knees, cannot find healthy housing or a place to live; where 6 years ago, when wifi was less ubiquitous, and rental cabins were still available, I could work from home as I have since 2007 — but no more. I KNEW I would have to work until I died… now I cannot work without literally putting myself in a casket because I am hypersenstivet of wifi, smart meters, cell phones, cell towers and antennaes and whatever radio waves they are using to manipulate our weather overhead. My symptoms are debilitating. I’d LOVE to fix this so I could continue with my chosen career; because the issue of exposure affects my brain and ability to cognify, organize, and pull together ideas into coherent thoughts… gone with each exposure…and no place safe and healthy to live… because I NEED A PLACE THAT IS NOT EXPOSED TO ANY OF THOSE SIGNALS…and there isn’t any.
Plus, landlords are hesitant to rent cabins given the state’s interference with being able to choose how one lives…I literally cannot live in any place that isn’t in the woods, and made out of wood, and burns wood for heat.
Am I useless eater?
Have I reached my expiration date?
Where is there room for ME in this world now?
I am 73 years old, have much to still contribute to changing this world towards one that is better than it is now… and am hogtied in the hinterlands, wishing I could participate…but prevented by the WoRLD’s agenda and choices… that I wasn’t asked about.
Look up EMF or electomagnetic hypersensitivity — the EU recognizes this dis-ease… all those symptoms we ascribe to other causes are actually caused by overexposure to electricity and radiation. Read THE INVISIBLE RAINBOW by Arthur Firstenberg.
And please… create sanctuary spaces for TRUE refugees…from a world that is killling all life…not just mine… the science on THAT IS settled.
Homelessness is not fixed by giving people a job. That is not the problem.
We simply stopped caring for one another. We deemed some more worthy of capital support, and others not worthy of our kindness and generosity. We abdicated our responsibilities to each other, and we chose stigmatization over connection; separation and gaslighting over connection and generosity. We stopped ‘loving others as ourselves.’ We forgot Jesus’ one commandment before He left us, to follow:
Love others as I have loved you.
Simply doing that, providing for needs before they become a crisis, and caring enough to make room for someone who doesn’t fit into the boxes we now prefer over human connection… that is what fixes homelessness.
It is a reflection of far we have departed from the wisdom and truth of Jesus’ Word, that we have an increasing homeless situation, and followed by a food scarcity situation.
Starvation and homelessness ARE the tsunami we want to throw money at… that can only be solved by each of us looking in our hearts and asking, ‘How can I help?” and then doing it when the answer comes, even if its outside of our comfort zone.
The most honest people I know, the most transparent people I know (because you all need to know every detail of our bidness to decide if we are worthy of your lofty help), are those experiencing homelessness and food insecurity. Period.
Too many, and increasingly so, are seniors. We were told we could retire at 65. Then it turned into 72. Just to wring a few more hours of worthless work supporting fascists capital gains… and NOT enjoy the fruits of our labors…but making sure YOU can…
How pray thee, Sir, will fix THIS?
It’s fascinating how most candidates will not answer questionnaires by the press. Kudos to this gentleman who answered! This is the type of person we need to elevate and promote within the VTGOP.
Affordability, Schools, Drugs/Crime are some major issues in Vermont, any insights on those problems.
sword of truth does hit on some issues within our state, I might agree with both, it is a human issue AND a financial issue, both delving into the affordability issue.
We don’t allow modest housing, haven’t for 40 years+, one of the designs in the original draft of act 250, confirmed by lawyers involved and clearly stated in the document AND from the fruit of the document is the abolition of modest housing. This has put generations of Vermonters in financial jeopardy, not because they lack the skills, desire or ambition to make their own housing, but because they make it near impossible and more today than in years past.
I will disagree with that throwing money only elevates the expense, taxation elevates the expense, regulations on tenant, landlord law elevates the expense and risk. We have created our own problems, and mostly by design.
+ A three year wait on assisted living wouldn’t be unreasonable, extenuating circumstance aside.
+ No property tax on rental properties for year-round residents, novel idea.
+ No harm no foul eviction notices for drug dealers, non-payment of rent, jail time for destruction of property would go a long way to balancing the risk.
+ Modest housing promoted.
+ Boarding homes use by right
+ Single wide homes, log cabins, yurt, strawbale, use by right, rv/tiny home conditional use, not reasonably withheld
+ $500 per year property tax cap on homes for people over 65.
The most powerful way out of poverty is to own a home free and clear. Our tax bills are a mortgage payment, it’s a big problem.
+Owning even a very modest cabin without house and outside shower is a liberating experience, same as our forefathers.
+ Promoting habitat for humanity on a more modest scale/scenario would work wonders.
Our courts are filled with NIMBY cases, it’s a waste of energy, court time and life, we do need to be more tolerant and loving to our neighbors. Farms have manure. Average income and below need modest homes, which many can build and take care of on their own.
Vermont could become, as we once were, more tolerant and loving.
Ahhh yes… the glories of outside shower and outhouse… it’s my ‘weather rock’ and I learn so much about God’s creations in those sacred moments..
I would LOVE to live in a yurt or a cabin…I currently live in an RV that I purchased because I could find no place to put my yurt… going on 3 years, and winter coming up… no help for heating now with dual axles, and considered ‘temporary’ housing (that FEMA put others in to live)… I cannot keep myself warm on my fixed income, and I can’t work from home here… no internet (I’m typing at a hotspot in town)…
Simple living is closest to God by my experience… cuts down on the all the noise, and shows us what is essentially…loving thy neighbor as thyself, because the only people who’ve helped me… have been my neighbors.
There are modest housing solutions, that are comfortable, more so than outside showers, in times past it was accepted as living close to the land. RVs’s are tough to keep warm, can be hot in summer, ask me how I know. There could be communities of simple living, farming, using wood heat, it used to be the way all Vermonters lived.
We weren’t polluting, even with our hokey septic designs. Try thinking about the greenest housing, straw bale, that is problematic on many levels, all by the system, not the product. We could all be warm and safe, if only we didn’t have such a strangle hold on our housing.
God Speed sir, God Speed.
Neil, I live in an RV, one I leave in Alabama and the other on my property (27 footers). When the cold weather is coming, I travel 1600 miles to my south RV near Pensacola,and escape the cold. In the warmer temps, I drive north to VT and stay in my other one. In winters my rig is in a park (Wilderness in Robertsdale AL. Expenses are $400 a month that includes taxes, water, sewage, electricity, WI FI. I stay here 6 months and in VT six months. Been doing this since 2001. State parks in Florida is free be a volunteer and give them 20 hours of not hard work a week. If a couple, it’s ten hours, being 20 hours total. Have given them 5000 hours in many years.
There are many nice people here, unlike VT and there’s a lot to do, great fishing, restaurants, Navy’s Blue Angles flying team fly twice a week Tues & Weds at 8AM., and the show is free, the pilots sign autographs. At the naval base there’s one of the best museums in the country take more than a day to see it all. Can also fly in a fighter trainer and see how you land it.
You can communicate on the net as I’m doing now. Too much grief in VT, If you get a house and over 65, no property taxes and free hunting and fishing license. Can get on a charter boat and fish in the Gulf, prices vary and reasonable. Alabama’s state motto is “SWEET HOME ALABAMA”. Many conservatives are here and more moving in. The south is conservative. In this location, seems more of the bad weather skirts around here and goes north.
I was friends with a native (build a house here on the water front, taxes $500), he and his wife often gamble—he says in a southern drawl “they were going “UP SOUTH” to Vicksburg (MS) to gamble. Biloxi MS has many casinos and 2 hours away. New Orleans is 5 hours on interstate I-10. From AL I’ve been in a day San Antonio, St. Louis, driven to Baltimore in a day. Key West FL is 900 miles.
Thought I’d supply info about another world easily accessed. I’m totally mobile, speaking of which Mobile is about 30 miles away to the West, Pensacola 24 miles to Joe Patti’s huge fresh seafood establishment (they have a web site)
Good luck to thinking. Get rid of the Montpelier pea brains. Seems we both are “Homeless in RV’s” and enjoy the simple life. RVing is a blessing. I’ve had a few houses and built and modified them, no more. Hope others take note. The world ain’t VT.
To clarify:
Space for anything deemed temporary (RV, tiny house, yurt) is non-existant outside of public/state campgrounds, and limited to 90 days here in VT. Unless, of course, you live in a place that is unzoned – few and far between. I had paid for and was scheduled for delivery to have a yurt but had to cancel because the spaces available at the time (all have disappeared in the 2.5 yrs since) were not safe for a single elderly (but spry and healthy due to my lifestyle and life choices) woman, and I had to backoff, cancel the order, and quickly purchase the 26′ camper I live in now, facing winter #3. I have lived in cabins off or mostly offgrid for 45 years, incuding in Alaska.
I have never stopped working or volunteering when there is no work, since 1969. However, I would LIKE to enjoy some time to do what I put off all my life to do…you know… for when one retires. Emphacizing once again that I am currently working just not getting paid for it. I have some serious obstacles to making the work PAID, mainly being how to access online resources I need, without making myself sick all over again. So far, the stop gap measures available now don’t work in any kind of consistant way for one to actually produce paid work (I have worked from home since 2007 due to healthy reasons). I also have never had anyone support me, pay the bills for me, or take care of me in any way. I know now, that He has me in His hands and has and always will take care of me.
Doesn’t mean the world goes away and becomes friendly again though.
I am the canary in the coal mine for health being destroyed by over exposure to radio waves and frequencies. I am not alone anymore in that either. The issue is global.
I would LIKE to get paid for the work I do. But until then, I will continue to pump out what I can, do what I can, and go where I can until I can’t anymore.
I know these devices of man for what they are, and keep my focus on His world and spiritual view. God be praised! I am not alone.
What a novel concept, having able-bodied men or women helping out, I know they won’t do it, these lowlifes know the system and how it works, it’s too easy to take, take, and take …….. no self-esteem, but they find the time and money ” your money ”
for booze, cigarettes, and a body full of tattoos all on your dome !!
To all hard-working tax-paying citizens, work hard they are depending on you, and the bleeding hearts, we have running this state promote this nonsense…… pathetic.
Wake up people, you elected officials don’t care, and neither do the lowlifes as long as the $$ keep coming in.
I wish we had him for Orleans 1
Senator Williams is absolutely one of the best legislators. Thank you so much for your clarity and hard work in service to Vermonters. I am grateful to know you and Vermont is so fortunate to have you in there representing and working so hard for all of us. Keep up the great job and many thanks.
The “housing crisis” is a human crisis AND a financial crisis. The human crisis is a combination of drug addiction, fewer mental institutions and stagnant wages.
The financial component is that housing is unaffordable for the vast majority because government has been stimulating that market for fifty years now.
The economic powers have been so successful at “supporting” asset bubbles (mainly housing and stock market related) that they have painted themselves into a corner. They can’t allow house prices to fall in any meaningful way because if they do, the withered husk of what was once a great economy will be exposed.
But if they don’t do something to stop the train of ever rising house prices, then speculators will always drive the price of houses to levels beyond what is affordable for ordinary people. So more and more people are excluded from the market.
Today, there are just two people per housing unit in Vermont. Between 2010 and 2020 housing stock grew by an average of 1,200 units per year but for most of that decade population numbers were falling. But 15% of the houses are second/seasonal homes and I believe that number is understated.
Another factor, in addition to price, is that extremely low interest rates in the 2015-2022 period has created a disincentive to sell today. No sane person who bought in that period wants to swap their sub-4% fixed mortgage for a mortgage that will cost them 7% in annual interest. As a result we have a massive shortage of units for sale.
These financial problems can be fixed. But the fix is to allow prices to fall and that is extremely painful for leveraged house owners.
I lived in an RV for a couple of years. Unfortunately, I didn’t have room in it for a child. Now that he’s grown up, I would do it again if given the chance. Why?
It was inexpensive and if you’re kind of crafty, one can make it at least comfortable in the winter. Lot rent was cheap too!
“+ A three year wait on assisted living wouldn’t be unreasonable, extenuating circumstance aside.
+ No property tax on rental properties for year-round residents, novel idea.
+ No harm no foul eviction notices for drug dealers, non-payment of rent, jail time for destruction of property would go a long way to balancing the risk.
+ Modest housing promoted.
+ Boarding homes use by right
+ Single wide homes, log cabins, yurt, strawbale, use by right, rv/tiny home conditional use, not reasonably withheld
+ $500 per year property tax cap on homes for people over 65”-Neil Johnson
These are all great ideas. I also think that able bodied homeless should contribute to the workforce. My wife is disabled and still works so I question what the excuse of many who do not work but can is.
Contrary to what the Left believes, throwing money at a problem doesn’t fix it. I guess the Supermajority hasn’t figured that out yet.
Re: “Contrary to what the Left believes, throwing money at a problem doesn’t fix it. ”
We’re not throwing money at a problem; we’re throwing it into the bank accounts of the progressive left who created the problem in the first place. They have no interest in fixing anything. Problems are money-making ventures for them.
No Joke on that Jay.
They are getting stinking rich off of keeping Vermonter’s poor. Huge programs, huge payrolls, huge hand outs and special gifts in the affordable housing grift our state runs…….
I am pro rv, perhaps my current rv is not quite up to speed. I’ve got rv on the brain most of the time, rebuilt a Spartan Royal Manor, never should have sold it, way better than my current ride.
There is some sanity still in the US, good to hear.
Everyone has a plan until they’re punched in the face. A critical point missing from the list – jobs and economic growth. It should be top of the list. Yet, all Vermont legislators, bureaucrats, and selected officials like to point out the obvious and leave the critical means of growth and prosperity for all unspoken, unaddressed. Hence, no problem is ever solved for over four decades now. Audits and accountability are dirty, deadly words to our “bureaucracy” – top to bottom!
The Vermont I grew up in no longer exisits and it’s not coming back. The incorporation of goverment long ago has led us to this societal and economic collapse. The Vermont State motto is Freedom and Unity – nothing could be further from the Truth if we are to be honest and transparent for a change.
I’ve said it before, I’ll say it again for those in the back – the pandering platitudes and finger wagging is akin to closing the barn door when the horse has all ready run counties away. It is too late to even attempt to fix what is woefully broken, corrupt, and compromised. It has always been evil from it’s inception going back 100+ years in the United (now divided) States of America. The corporation writes everying in CAPS – take note and decipher the real meaning of such a practice. I’ll wait.
The right vs. left paradigm is the biggest lie and deception under the sun. It was created to divide and conquer. By the looks of things currently, it has succeeded even beyond Lucifer’s wildest dreams. Until criminality, conspiracies to commit fraud, treason, sedition, collusion, coercion, and all other encompassing repugnant, unlawful behaviors are prosecuted with consequences, there will be no changing course. The People must break out of the programming, mind games and stop feeding the beast. Take it all back or die trying – that is where we are at and soon we’ll see if manifest into the battle never imagined – civil society hangs in the balance – it is that serious. Can anyone fathom what it will look like if the scales tilt to a point of no return? We are seeing it now and it is going to get far, far worse if people don’t snap out of the chains and throw off the yokes of indebted servitude to fake authorities and artificial intelligence. Free will – choose wisely.
WOW/// M. C. Do you really believe the public will be able to handle the truth???????????
I hear many say they want and expect truth and honesty from others. Do they really? If they can’t handle the truth, they should not expect it from others. Moreover, are they truthful and honest with themselves? The Truth is hard to face when it involves intentional betrayal and knowingly deceptive actions – free will to face it or not – this timeline is lurching and will break loose one way or another.
There is always the opportunity to bring back and establish the CCC (Civil Conservation Corps). It saved the US in Franklin’s time and it could save VT in this time. Also make it mandatory and get criminals off the street. Simple solution. There areb 14 counties in VT, have about 4-5 such camps spread out among the 14 states, include illegals. Ya there will be barriers (language etc) to overcome, that’s not the main problem. For the work they get meals, clothing, shelter, a bed and a shovel.
Sorry for the typo should read “14 counties” not “states”. Fast fingers.
Time to rally 200+ other candidates to show some transparency. Thank you, Terry, for leading the way. This election it is important that people know the stances and reasons behind the candidates.
Local forums are needed, but Black and White in print responses on many issues are needed, too. Give everyone a chance to know the stances and positions. VOTERS – HOLD THEM TO IT. Start asking them to put it out in the local press and on Front Porch Forum and see if they earn the right to be publicly funded. Facebook can reach many, too. Little bits each day – one section at a time – and then at the end copy it all.
Terry, without doubt the most courageous thing you’ve said here, and probably the least appreciated by those reading these pages, is your desire to serve on the Senate Natural Resources & Energy Committee. I truly wish you all the best of success in that endeavor.
what I was thinking too
Thanks for the reply, Joe! Although it will be painful, I think that there should be at least one conservative with common sense in there to add clarity to their thought processes and to be the canary in the coal mine. I have sacrificed for my state and country before…
Terry, my friend, thank you for your hard work, honesty, candor, intellect, and Vermont common sense. Our great, ‘Brave Little State,’ is proud of you. I’m glad you’re real.
Good on you…
The Right Mark.
Modest housing is needed. Smaller 6 unit apartment buildings would fit in better in towns than big 30 unit ones. Buying a few acres and building a cabin or tiny home is a great idea, but you cant get a loan for that as you will never get a certificate of occupancy. Its considered illegal for year round use. Too bad building codes do not allow such tiny homes. Rules dictate you need x amount of electrical outlets, and a bathroom has to be a certain (large) size as well as bedrooms. One must have windows of a certain number and size. A small off grid cabin is not allowed for full time use. One can’t live in the space above a garage unless it’s up to code.
The state needs to force counties to build apartments that rent to people for 30% of their income. Nurses, school teachers, day care workers qualify as low to moderate income as well as fast food, service workers etc. Get your head out of the sand Montpelier