Editor’s note: The Vermont Democratic Party held its fall festival, an annual fundraiser, at the Old Labor Hall in Barre last night. About 200 people attended the catered evening soiree. Sens. Patrick Leahy and Bernie Sanders spoke and Margaret Cheney read a letter from her husband, Rep. Peter Welch (he was away on a congressional visit to Pakistan). House Speaker Shap Smith, and Democratic candidates for governor Susan Bartlett, Matt Dunne and Deb Markowitz also gave speeches. Excerpts follow.
Sen. Patrick Leahy remarks on the Vermont Democratic Party’s delivery of 67 percent of Vermont’s votes to Barack Obama’s election, the Senate confirmation of Sonia Sotomayor to the U.S. Supreme Court and the recently announced $67 million federal funding for a smart grid project in Vermont.
Sen. Bernie Sanders spoke about the health care, banking and energy reform bills he has pushed this year. “We are wasting hundreds of billions of dollars every single year through the profiteering and the administrative costs of private health insurance companies,” Sanders says. “We are fighting to get in the heart of the bill language that would allow states to have the flexibility to move to something very close to a single-payer bill.”
Judy Bevans, chairwoman of the Vermont Democratic Party, says 2010 has presented Democrats with “the best opportunity to take back the governor’s and lieutenant governor’s offices and put the auditor’s position back with Democrats.”
Margaret Cheney reads a letter on behalf of her husband, Rep. Peter Welch, who is on a congressional visit to Pakistan.
House Speaker Shap Smith says Vermont is unlikely to receive more stimulus funding from Washington, and consequently the state faces significant financial challenges this year. “We are going to have to rethink some things, but we are going to have to remember who we represent,” Smith says. “We will ensure that people get what they need so they can eat, so they are housed and so they don’t freeze this winter.”
Gubernatorial candidate Susan Bartlett believes the state can solve the bulk of its budget problems by investing in green energy.
Candidate for governor Matt Dunne says Vermont is facing the worst fiscal crisis in a generation. He says broadband is a key solution to the state’s economic development problems.
Gubernatorial candidate Deb Markowitz touted her record as an effective campaigner. She says she has won every town in the state as the incumbent candidate for Secretary of State.
