[B]URLINGTON – Lt. Gov. Phil Scott and Progressive/Democratic challenger Dean Corren disagreed on nearly every issue in a debate Tuesday at the Burlington Free Press.
Questions ranged from major issues like health care and property tax to lesser-discussed topics like whether Scott should have appointed a senator who is not convinced humans are responsible for climate change as chairman of the Senate Natural Resources committee.
Marina Brown, the Liberty Union candidate, joined them in the 90-minute session, in which Free Press reporters Nancy Remsen and Terri Hallenbeck fired off more than 20 questions.
Scott and Corren began by agreeing the current model for health care in Vermont and the nation is broken, but they disagreed over how to reform it in Vermont.
Corren is an advocate not only of Vermont Health Connect, the online insurance marketplace the state is constructing, but also the Shumlin administration’s larger goal of a publicly financed health care system known as Green Mountain Care.
Corren touted his experience in the Legislature in the 1990s, when he said he and others pushed for a single-payer type system that fell on deaf ears. If health care was not tied to jobs, but rather a service provided by right to all Vermonters, people would be more willing to change jobs or start new businesses, he said.
“It’s key not only to the quality of health care but to our economy, to reform our health care system,” Corren said.
Scott said people across Vermont tell him they care little about how health care is provided, they just want to have it and be able to afford it.
Vermont should abandon Vermont Health Connect, which is behind schedule, not functioning and over-budget, rather than dig itself into a deeper, more expensive, hole, Scott said. The state has spent $100 million on the project, which is not currently online.
“When you find yourself in a hole, you stop digging. I think we’ve got a bad foundation and we’ve got to change now,” Scott said.
Scott said Vermont should form a two- or three-state partnership for health care purchasing or join the federal health care exchange, rather than continuing to build its own.
“It’s like the TurboTax of IT systems for health care,” he said, calling the roll-out of Vermont Health Connect “disastrous.”
Brown said she believes Vermont should have “free, universal, socialized medicine and suggested forming a medical “corps” like a medical army, where doctors can help provide health care if they wish.
The candidates also discussed rising property taxes and public school funding, one major driver of property taxes.
Corren said the state should reform the “unfair and complex” formula it uses to fund education but he said a statewide mandate to consolidate schools, discussed last year in the Legislature, is a poor solution.
Corren said the state should look not only at taxes but other costs Vermonters pay, including health care premiums, saying “we could certainly reduce that if we called it a tax and made it fair.”
Scott said the education funding formula doesn’t matter if schools don’t learn to spend less. He suggested an education funding system like the Green Mountain Care Board, a five-member board appointed by the governor that regulates hospital spending and health insurance rates in Vermont.
Brown said Vermont should pay for education through a “steep, progressive income tax.”
Moderators also gave the candidates a chance to expound on the ideal role of a lieutenant governor. The position in Vermont is part-time and largely ceremonial.
Scott pointed out that he served as acting governor for Peter Shumlin nearly 25 percent of the time. He said it is also important to act as a “buffer” between many parties, including the governor, Legislature and constituents.
Brown said she would use the position to advocate for people who don’t have resources and “spread wealth in a humane fashion.
Corren said he would be a conduit for Vermonters to feed information to the Senate and administration and make his office an incubator for creative ideas.
The lieutenant governor is also president of the Senate but only presides on special occasions.
Perhaps most important, he or she serves as one of three members of the powerful but little-known Committee on Committees, which assigns senators to committees and chooses chairmen and women.
During the debate Scott defended his appointment of Sen. Bob Hartwell (D-Bennington) as chairman of the Senate Natural Resources Committee. In a Seven Days article earlier this year, Hartwell said he is not convinced that humans are responsible for climate change. Hartwell is not seeking reelection.
Scott said chairs are chosen for their ability to lead a committee, not their pesrsonal views. Scott did not discuss Hartwell’s views on climate change with him before appointing him, he said.
“Sometimes, it’s not about your views but it’s how you run the committee,” he said.
Corren called the appointment of Hartwell a “malfunction,” because of a chairman’s power to advance only a few of the many bills that flow into a committee each session.
Scott said he believes climate change “is real.” Corren called it “one of the greatest challenges facing the current generation, the next generation and the one after that.”
Brown agreed, saying it is “perhaps the most dire thing that’s facing the planet right now.”
In the middle of the debate, moderators asked candidates a lightning round of questions about topics likely to feature in next year’s legislative session.
About wind power, Scott said he was in favor of the first phase of wind turbines, but after a bike trip in the Northeast Kingdom now supports a moratorium on building more. Vermont should focus on solar power while it gathers more data about wind, he said.
Corren said he supports limited wind development in designated areas. Brown said she supports wind but believes the communities that the power serves should control the turbines.
The three disagreed on whether they support a tax on sugar-sweetened beverages. Scott said Vermonters don’t need another tax. Corren and Brown said they support it.
“Where do you stop? I would contend that for some that don’t drink sugary soda, but purchase Ben & Jerry’s ice cream, what’s more detrimental?” Scott said.
About marijuana legalization, Scott said Vermont should wait and watch what happens in Colorado and Washington first. Corren said legalization is “inevitable” and Vermont should not view those who smoke it as criminals.
Brown said marijuana should be legalized and reparations given to anyone who was jailed for using pot.
Candidates were allowed only one word each on whether businesses should have to offer paid sick days to employees. Brown: yes. Scott: no. Corren: yes.
Scott and Brown said they do not support any new gun laws. Corren said he supports requiring background checks to buy firearms.
Rarely, the candidates agreed. They all said the state should adopt new regulations in the coming year for the “death with dignity” law, scheduled to sunset this year, instead of repealing it.
