[T]he Chittenden County state senate race got a bit more crowded this week, with the entrance of two candidates running on the Vermont Libertarian Party ticket.
Seth Cournoyer, a high school student, and Loyal Ploof, who runs a dog walking service, are hoping to inspire voters fed up with politicians from the state’s major parties. Both candidates say they will fight to make Vermont affordable for low-income families and local businesses.
“I’ve been looking at my finances and I’m just not sure how long I’ll be able to stay in the state I was born in,” the 47-year-old Ploof said on being able to continue to live in Burlington, where he is also an actor and filmmaker.
Ploof said he’s seen almost all of his friends leave Vermont because of financial struggles. He said he would seek to slash income taxes, rework the property tax system, and bring in new revenue to the state through the legal sale and distribution of cannabis.
Before joining the Libertarian Party six years ago, Ploof was a member of the Progressive and Democratic parties. In 2015, he ran as the libertarian candidate for mayor of Burlington, winning 2.1 percent of the vote.
Ploof’s platform includes plans to release all nonviolent offenders from prison and to put them to work in the community, to introduce one-time vehicle registration fees, and to eliminate new gun measures signed by Gov. Phil Scott in April.
“I’m 100 percent pro-gun. As long as you are a law abiding citizen, you should be able to have any gun,” Ploof said.
Cournoyer first got in touch with the Libertarian Party to discuss a possible run for governor back in March. (Party chair Jeremy Ryan said the libertarians will not nominate a candidate for governor this year.)
The 17-year-old Cournoyer is not the only teenager entering state politics this year: 14-year-old Ethan Sonneborn is running for governor as a Democrat. And Cournoyer’s not the only relative newcomer in the Chittenden County Senate race. Republican Alex Farrell, 25, has received the party’s full backing for his campaign.
Cournoyer said he hopes to inspire young voters and help grow the Vermont Libertarian Party’s demographics.
He describes himself as “economically conservative, but socially liberal,” and points to Vermont’s 2.8 percent unemployment rate as an example of a number that may look good but belies the fact that Vermont doesn’t have enough people for businesses to expand.
“Vermont’s unemployment rate is low, but because we have such a small population it means that small businesses are having trouble getting new workers,” Cournoyer said.
To combat this, Cornoyer says that a decreased tax rate and less government spending can incentivize small businesses and give young people the opportunity to stay in state.
“I need to inspire the youth to want to stay in Vermont and to grow businesses and to grow Vermont,” Cournoyer said.
Sen. Debbie Ingram, D-Chittenden, is running on a slate of six Democratic incumbents running for reelection in Vermont’s most populous county. She said she doesn’t think slashing taxes is the right solution for Chittenden County.
“My philosophy is we all join together for the public good. So the fire department, the roads, the schools. These are all for the public good and the revenue from property taxes go along way to ensure that,” she said.
Ingram also said that she couldn’t imagine finding a revenue source that could supplement revenue lost by major tax cuts.
“I think libertarians are more about cutting spending than finding the revenue in other places,” Ingram said.
With only 1,622 party members in Vermont, the libertarian candidates face long odds. But Ryan, the party chair, said he is excited about getting people involved in running for office — even if they don’t win.
“It seems that now more than ever people are tired of both of the two major parties,” he said. “I would hope that this would translate into people voting for who they really believe in and not the better of two that they don’t really support.”
