Editor’s note: This commentary is by James Ehlers, who is a candidate for governor and the executive director of Lake Champlain International. He is a U.S. Navy veteran, a water quality and public health advocate, and an environmental and veterans affairs adviser to Sen. Bernie Sanders.
[W]hen Citizens United opened the floodgates to unlimited money in politics, many on the left finally opened our eyes to how corrupt the system had become. The voices of the people are being drowned out by corporate interests and lobbyists have enormous influence to make the rules. That’s true in Washington, but it’s also true right here in Vermont.
That’s why I’m fighting to get money out of politics and why I’ve refused corporate contributions from day one of my campaign for governor. That’s also why I’m calling on my opponents in the governor’s race, Christine Hallquist in the Democratic primary and Republican incumbent Phil Scott, to return their corporate campaign contributions right away.
Our system is broken and corporate donations only further the problem by making politicians beholden to powerful, moneyed interests rather than the people of Vermont. When corporations contribute to politicians, they expect a return on investment. This is a fundamentally unjust bargain that no future governor should make.
Hallquist has said that she will no longer take corporate contributions, but that she will not return the ones she has already taken because she needs the money for her campaign. This is a fundamentally contradictory point of view. Corporate money makes a candidate beholden to corporate interests — even more so if that corporate cash is necessary to keep the campaign afloat.
Scott shows us the results of his many corporate contributions from the pharmaceutical industry, developers and Monsanto by when he vetoes any legislation to hold corporations accountable for their actions. He even vetoed S.197, a bill that would hold corporations accountable for polluting our water with toxic chemicals by allowing Vermonters to receive money for medical monitoring (not surprising, given that he takes money from Monsanto.) That is not the Vermont that we want to live in.
People are sick of politics that result from being paid by corporate interests. Instead, every Vermonter wants to have confidence that the person who represents them is only acting on their behalf, not on behalf of corporations who already have disproportionate power in our system.
We need a governor who will rid Vermont of the corrupting influence of money in politics, and I will do just that. Since the beginning, I have said I will not take corporate contributions because I want Vermonters to have confidence that I have no strings attached. My only special interest is Vermonters.
Vermont is a small state, but our voices are loud. Let’s not let corporate interests supercede the ability of a leader to govern of, by, and for the people. We are the change we’ve been waiting for.
