[O]ne week before Election Day, the two major party candidates for lieutenant governor squared off in an hourlong Vermont Public Radio debate that featured both policy talk and personal hits.
As in a number of past debates, both Republican Randy Brock and Progressive-Democrat David Zuckerman said their top priority in office would be revitalizing the Green Mountain economy.
While Zuckerman argued for a gradual increase to a $15 an hour minimum wage in Vermont, Brock said such a move would destabilize an already fragile economy.
The Republican added that pie-eyed programs, like a minimum wage boost or universal health care, would bring about stagnation and uncertainty in the economy.
“Stability is extremely important for business expansion,” Brock said.
He spoke in favor of the Vermont Employment Growth Incentive, a controversial program commonly known as VEGI. It offers tax incentives for companies to create or retain jobs in Vermont and has been recently overhauled.
Brock said that while VEGI remains far from perfect, “it is a lot less flawed than when I attacked it as state auditor.”
After Zuckerman asserted that the Legislature had been the leading oversight wing on VEGI, Brock — who was auditor between 2005 and 2007 — shot back.
“It was an audit report that my office wrote that was the linchpin behind the changes that were, in fact, made,” Brock said.
Zuckerman was broadly skeptical of VEGI as an effective economic driver. “We can’t compete with New York or other states that give away a billion dollars in tax credits to draw a corporation in,” he said. “And then they leave when they get that candy taken away.”
Both candidates expressed skepticism about the recently signed deal for an all-payer health care model. Zuckerman said he would ensure the Senate Health Committee thoroughly evaluated the plan, while Brock stressed a more incremental approach, saying this plan will “re-engineer (health care) in a way that’s never been done before.”
Zuckerman and Brock also squared off on the idea of a carbon tax, which could raise gas prices incrementally by roughly 88 cents. According to a bill proposed last session by Democrats, the tax would be entirely offset by other tax subsidies and energy-saving measures for Vermonters.
Brock said a hike in gas prices would hurt Vermonters who commute long distances to work, but Zuckerman assured listeners that such a tax would take awhile to ramp up.
“Nobody is paying 88 cents next year, or the year after, or the year beyond that under any proposal that is out there,” he said.
Zuckerman added that carbon fuels need to be phased out to protect Vermont’s climate.
“The maple trees, you know, when we move to a climate of Virginia, won’t exist in Vermont in 40 or 50 years,” he said.
In the latter part of Tuesday’s VPR debate, the discussion became personal.
Zuckerman accused Brock of spawning an “atmosphere of negativity” with a set of attack ads directed at Zuckerman. The ads hit Zuckerman for his practice, when he served as a state representative prior to being elected senator, of billing the state for the full daily allocation for mileage even when he carpooled with other lawmakers.
A more recent ad from Brock hits Zuckerman for past comments seen as disparaging the Vermont National Guard.
“How can Vermonters trust you, and know what you stand for, when you have been so misleading and have not shared your ideas?” Zuckerman asked Brock.
Brock said he was releasing a new policy-based ad, but said he would not apologize for his criticism of Zuckerman’s past.
Later, Zuckerman went after Brock over the money he made in his career at Fidelity Investments, where he previously was executive vice president for risk oversight. In 2012, Brock was worth roughly $6 million, and his 2015 tax returns were released last week.
“Your growth in income, you know, at that kind of percent — 60 percent in three years — is not what ordinary Vermonters see,” Zuckerman said, referring to Brock’s released tax data from other elections.
“There’s nothing wrong — and the implication of that I think is in your question — that anybody who makes a reasonable amount of money is somehow harming the rest of society,” Brock shot back.
“My income is based on 40 years of hard work,” he added.
Randy Brock’s tax returns are here: brock-2015-tax-returns
