Editor’s note: This story is by Tommy Gardner. He is a reporter for The Hardwick Gazette.
HARDWICK — With the clock ticking down until the Nov. 2 elections, gubernatorial hopeful Peter Shumlin got a boost from populist congressman Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., at campaign rallies around the state.
Saturday’s rally at Hazen Union School was by and large the Bernie show, since Shumlin had to rush off to prepare for that evening’s WCAX-TV debate. But in his 15 minute speech to roughly 125 Hardwick-area residents, Shumlin provided the faithful with a handful of reasons to vote for him over Brian Dubie.
He started off apologizing for the sometimes nasty tone the campaign has taken this fall. But Shumlin couldn’t resist a quip, even though his penchant for jokes on the campaign trail have earned him criticism. Plenty of people in Saturday’s crowd were more than willing to have a laugh at Republicans’ expense, though.
“How many of you have ever gotten a speeding ticket? Raise your hand,” Shumlin said. Many hands went up, there was a beat and then, “Wow. Well, do not run for governor against Brian Dubie.”
He touted his experience running a small business, and promised to create more jobs to offset 10,000 private sector positions he said have been lost in the eight years under Gov. Jim Douglas’ tenure.
Shumlin attacked Dubie for his proposal to reduce the income taxes for “the richest 1,400 Vermonters,” and for plans to level fund the state budget at 2 percent. He said he would help steer the state away from its dependency on foreign oil, and gave a shout out to the Hardwick area agriculture scene and the value-added product farmers are able to produce “so they are not starving for the work they do.”
Health care and education were the main courses in Shumlin’s stump speech, with a side dish of social services for prisoners.
Shumlin told the crowd that health care costs for Vermonters have doubled during the Douglas/Dubie years — from $2.5 billion to more than $5 billion – and by working with Vermont’s congressional delegation, the state could be the first to pass a single-payer system.
Shumlin got personal when he broached the topic of education. He talked about his dyslexia, and shared an anecdote of day in the 1960s when he and his parents were called into the principal’s office, and were informed young Shumlin couldn’t read. But one teacher, Claire Oglesby, took the time, over a year and a half, to teach Shumlin how to master the written word.
“It is sort of an unlikely thing that I stand before you as the Democratic nominee for governor,” he said, “because people who can’t read have a tough time being governor.”
Shumlin drew a direct correlation between education and the Vermont correctional system. Vermont’s prisoners “never met Claire Oglesby,” he said, and 90 percent of them can’t read. Nearly all of them have substance addictions or mental health issues, according to Shumlin.
He said it costs $40 million “to lock ‘em up,” but only $32 million to give every child in Vermont a voucher for the early-childhood education provider of the parents’ choice.
Shumlin vowed to bring broadband to every Vermont home by 2013, and invoked a Vermont Democratic icon. “I will do for cell service and broadband last-mile service what the best last governor from Putney, George D. Aiken, did for electricity,” Shumlin promised, adding, “Before he coined the Northeast Kingdom.”
Saturday’s event drew a handful of area Democratic politicians. Incumbent representative Lucy Leriche, a Hardwickian, introduced the speakers, and in the audience were November hopefuls like Caledonia County Senators Jane Kitchel and Matt Choate, Orleans/Caledonia Representative Sam Young and House Speaker Shap Smith.
Secretary of State candidate Jim Condos and Lt. Governor hopeful Steve Howard each took a turn at the mike Saturday.
Sen. Bernie Sanders: “This country is on the verge of becoming an oligarchy. We’re going to look not radically different than some of those Latin American countries we used to make fun of.”
Condos pledged to work for open and transparent government, saying “over the last eight years (there has been) a lot of closed door stuff going on at the State level.” He also pointed out the Legislature has already ensured paper trails for voters and has given the State authority to perform audits of voting machines.
Howard touted his working-class pedigree, saying he knows what it’s like to be “one car repair away from financial ruin,” drawing some knowing chuckles from the crowd. He sold himself as part of a Shumlin/Howard executive branch package, and in a dig at Dubie said he would be a “full-time” lieutenant governor.
After Shumlin departed for Burlington, Sanders stuck around for a half-hour to fire up the crowd, delivering the red meat — localvore, of course — in the waning days of the campaign season.
“You can’t give up on the democratic process. You’ve got to stay on this issue 365 days a year,” Sanders said. “We are fighting for our lives right now, I’ll tell you that. This country is on the verge of becoming an oligarchy. We’re going to look not radically different than some of those Latin American countries we used to make fun of.”
Some in the crowd bemoaned the lack of competition among American companies, and the power of corporate money to sway the populace. Sanders said the top four companies in America — Citigroup, Bank of America, Wells Fargo and J.P. Morgan/Chase — hold assets equal to more than half the U.S. gross domestic product. And he attacked media moguls, specifically Rupert Murdoch.
Sanders defended the federal stimulus package. He said it paid for more road work over the last few years than at any other point in the state’s history. He said Vermont received more money, per capita, than any other state for broadband expansion. Funding for solar panels and wind towers? The new Health Center in Hardwick, or the new Vermont Food Venture Center? All came from stimulus money, Sanders noted to steady applause.
Shap Smith: “I’ve been in the building for the last eight years, during the terms of Jim Douglas, and while Brian Dubie has been Lieutenant Governor. I can’t take another two years.”
Vermonters don’t readily realize how much money has come their way through the stimulus, the Senator said. Most Americans received a $400 break, and will again next year, something a New York Times poll revealed hardly anyone in America knew.
“We did a magnificent job of selling this tax break,” Sanders deadpanned.
Sanders also made a plug for a single-payer health care system, which he likened to the public school system, where everyone is provided an education.
Speaker Shap Smith wrapped up the event with a brief speech about how important it is to get his party into the governor’s office.
“I’ve been in the building for the last eight years, during the terms of Jim Douglas, and while Brian Dubie has been Lieutenant Governor,” Smith said. “I can’t take another two years.”
