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On Wednesday, we asked readers to pose questions for the governor’s press conference. Four people responded to the call, and I was able to ask Gov. Jim Douglas five out of the seven questions they sent.
Here are the questions, and the governor’s responses, compliments of YouTube:
1. What’s your reaction to the Vermont Mental Health Association’s decision last week to cut its ties to the State’s “Futures Project?” How would you grade your administration’s handling of the State Hospital issue?
2. Who would be legally liable for a potential increase in cancer in the State of Vermont resulting from the tritium leak? Who will monitor cancer rates now with the tritium leak still endangering citizens?
3. You advocate replacing the 40% capital gains exemption for upper income brackets which was removed last year. One of the reasons for this is the claim is that wealthy people might leave Vermont. Can you cite any evidence other than anecdotal that this could in fact happen?
Do you have a burning question for the governor? Send it to agalloway@vtdigger.org. I’ll choose the best three submissions for next week’s presser on Feb. 25.
the usual dissembling
in the end, he did not (cannot) answer your question
you were completely right to ask the follow-up because he had nothing but unsubstantiated anecdotes
as for the Census data, the Public Assets Institute published data (from Census) that shows in-migrants have higher incomes than out-migrants
as for the drop in reported income, that always happens during a recession as high end filers make less in the market
this governor is not interested in fact based policy; his goal is to protect the wealthy and shrink government
The look on Douglas’ face when you say “if there were a cancer spike” says it all. His “I have no idea” response is none too reassuring. This is an excellent idea well-executed Anne!