ESSEX JUNCTION — Republican Scott Milne and independent Emily Peyton faced off Thursday in a gubernatorial debate about criminal justice issues including marijuana, gun control and the state’s response to opiate addiction.
They were the only two candidates to attend the debate sponsored by the Vermont Association of Chiefs of Police.
Milne and Peyton sat between empty chairs in the Champlain Valley Expo Center, facing an audience of even more empty chairs and about 15 filled by law enforcement personnel, who were scheduled to have their annual meeting after the forum.
The forum was open to all gubernatorial candidates, but five who are on the November ballot did not attend, including Democratic Gov. Peter Shumlin and Libertarian Dan Feliciano.
“Unfortunately we are not able to accept every invitation,” Shumlin’s campaign manager Scott Coriell said Thursday. “As in the past, we’ve decided to participate in a number of media-sponsored debates this year. We have seven of those scheduled, including two yesterday and one tonight.”
Bennington Police Chief Paul Doucette’s first question was whether the candidates support legalizing marijuana.
Milne said Vermont should not rush to be the third state in the nation to do so but said he would sign a bill to legalize pot if it came to his desk. Vermont should “follow the facts” first, he said, and gather more information on what is happening in Washington and Colorado.
Peyton called for a three-year phase-in of legalization and pointed to a display she set up in the back of the room for alternative uses for hemp, including a building technique known as “hempcrete” and hemp milk.
“I don’t think we should be using the police force to be going after marijuana use,” she said.
Doucette asked how the candidates would help law enforcement fight opiate addiction and trafficking, especially in light of a tight state budget.
Milne didn’t answer with specifics but said he would keep an open ear and called for an evaluation of whether Shumlin’s hub and spoke treatment model is working.
Peyton said there should be limits on the amount of opiates doctors are allowed to prescribe, describing a homeless woman she said lived with her who took nine psychiatric medications and oxycontin, and then died in her home.
About trafficking, Peyton said there should be more opportunities for young people to work and receive debt-free education so they won’t slip into drug culture. She suggested developing uses for hemp as one job and research sector that could grow.
“Poverty is the reason why we’re seeing so much of this,” she said.
Asked whether they support new gun laws, the candidates gave short answers. Peyton said the state should examine whether requiring a background check to buy a gun reduces the rate of domestic violence but in general said she supports second-amendment gun rights.
Milne said he does not support any new gun laws.
“I believe the gun laws that we have are sufficient,” he said.
The police chief also asked how the candidates would help police deal with mental health-related incidents, which he said occur more frequently every week.
“You have marginally stumped me, chief,” Milne said.
Milne said the state’s human services agency should provide more prompt service, but said he didn’t know enough to spell out exactly how a governor could help police with mental health-related incidents.
Peyton said the state should encourage more community-based peer support groups and create farming programs as alternatives to incarceration.
She said she has opened her home to homeless people for the past decade and witnessed the over-use of medication to treat symptoms instead of addressing root causes. She called for an investigation of pharmaceutical companies’ drug promotion efforts.
Law enforcement agencies feel pressured by the Legislature, which imposes directives and requirements that burden local departments, Doucette said. He asked how the candidates would guide the Legislature about that type of top-down governance.
The Legislature should instead create more incentives to “reward peace,” Peyton said, such as a monetary reward if a department can show that a community is safer, Peyton said.
“The more locally decisions can be made, the better,” Milne said.
Asked whether there should be a universal retirement system for all law enforcement in Vermont, as some states have, both candidates said they didn’t know the pros and cons of the issue but welcome a discussion.
The candidates also said they didn’t have enough information to answer a question about whether the state’s police academy should have its funding increased so it can offer a third class each year.
In closing remarks, Peyton said she has seen the “good and bad” of law enforcement in Vermont. She called police many times as a single mother, but was also falsely arrested for wiretapping while filming a protest on Iraq war suicides, she said.
“I understand why you’re in law enforcement, because you want peace … and that’s essentially what I want,” she said.
Milne said his role as governor would be to listen to law enforcement and help them have their ideas acted upon quickly in the Legislature.
“The challenge that we have as a state going forward is tied to poverty, is tied to this opiate drug problem, is tied to a lot of things. Your roles and importance that you play is going to need to step up and change,” he said.
