[T]he two leading candidates for lieutenant governor diverged on tax policy and wind development at a debate that included charges of immaturity from one candidate and an apology from the other.
Republican Randy Brock accused Progressive/Democrat David Zuckerman of having made misstatements that Brock said called into question Zuckerman’s character and whether he should be “a heartbeat away from being our governor.”
Zuckerman said many of Brock’s examples had been taken out of context. However, Zuckerman apologized for comments he made in 2013 at an anti-F-35 rally where he questioned the role the Vermont Air Guard on Sept. 11, 2001.
“When I look at what our planes did on 9/11, they flew over a site that was already devastated by the terrorist action. I don’t believe they stopped a single thing from happening,” Zuckerman said.
Zuckerman said Tuesday that he “spoke poorly” and honored the efforts of the military.
“I did not express that well at all and I will own that,” Zuckerman said at the debate, hosted by VTDigger at the Capitol Plaza in Montpelier, “That is also a sign of maturity. Twisting people’s words is something quite different than that.”
Polls show Zuckerman, a two-term state senator and former house member, leading Brock, who also served in the Vermont Senate and one-term as state auditor. In the VPR poll last week, Zuckerman was up 43-26 percent.
The candidates discussed tax policy, how to combat the opiate epidemic, wind development and the pros and cons of marijuana legalization during the one-hour event. Zuckerman said it was the third night in a row the candidates had debated.
On tax policy, Zuckerman said he supported making all education property tax payments based on income, which he said would have the wealthy pay more and lower-income people paying less. Brock said property tax rebates already constituted the biggest expense in the Education Fund. Both he and Zuckerman spoke of how income taxes could be volatile depending on the economy.
Zuckerman was more supportive of efforts to broaden the sales tax to services and lower the rate, calling the sales tax regressive. Brock worried future Legislatures would slowly up the lowered rate over time to its current level of 6 percent.
The Chittenden County senator also spoke favorably about wind development and argued even smaller projects with three or four turbines, such as those built on Georgia Mountain, could supply electricity for as many as 10,000 homes. Brock spoke against wind development, criticized the utilities for selling renewable energy credits to out-of-state utilities and said the jobs created went to out-of-staters.
On opiate addiction, Zuckerman said the state needed to spend more on treatment. Brock said the state needed to determine first which programs were successful in addition to possibly adding more state funds.
After the debate, Brock took issue with money raised for Zuckerman by Sen. Bernie Sanders. Zuckerman, a longtime ally of Sanders, was included in a national email solicitation and has raised $20,000 in first six hours after the request and his campaign says the money continues to come in. A similar allegation was made in an August complaint against another progressive, Chris Pearson, who received $80,000 through a similar solicitation. Democratic Attorney General Bill Sorrell dismissed the Pearson complaint.
Zuckerman said Brock’s allegation was “telling.”
“I’m disappointed because here in Vermont we value talking about real issues,” Zuckerman said. “My issues are resonating better so he’s chosen a different path.”
