Senate President Pro Tem Tim Ashe, D/P-Chittenden, and Assistant Attorney General Molly Gray traded attacks on each other’s records Thursday in a debate between Democratic candidates for lieutenant governor on Vermont Public Radio.
Ashe questioned Gray’s qualifications as someone who has never held elected office.
Gray criticized Ashe’s record in the Senate—noting that Vermont still lacks a paid family leave program and universal broadband access—and argued that Montpelier needs fresh leadership.
At one point, Ashe asked Gray if there was one bill he had voted for that she would have voted against.
“Tim, I’m not going to play political games, but I’m going to continue to talk about what Vermonters are telling me every single day,” Gray replied.
“And I’m running because of your failed record on paid family leave. I’m running because Vermonters still don’t have child care. I’m running because a fourth of Vermonters still can’t get online,” Gray said.
Under Ashe’s leadership, the Senate passed paid family leave legislation on two occasions. But the policy was vetoed twice by Republican Gov. Phil Scott.
This year, Democrats in the House fell one vote short of overriding Scott’s veto.
Ashe asked Gray why she didn’t run for the House, instead of the lieutenant governor’s office, if enacting a paid family leave program was one of her top priorities.
“As you know, I’ve developed a veto proof majority in the Senate for paid family leave,” Ashe said.
“I’m just wondering why you didn’t choose to run for the House for your first elected office, where flipping one vote would have the effect making it possible to pass over the governor’s veto,” Ashe said.
Gray implied that Ashe’s line of questioning was sexist.
“Throughout this election people have asked, ‘Molly, why don’t you run for city council, or why don’t you run for the Legislature?’ Those are questions that men ask women running for office,” she said.
“No one’s asked Senator Leahy, a 32-year-old prosecutor who was elected by Vermonters to go to Washington and serve our state, whether he had the experience,” Gray added, referring to Patrick Leahy, who was first elected to the U.S. Senate in 1974. (Leahy was 34 when elected.)
Ashe and Gray were the focus of most of the questions that VPR moderator Jane Lindholm allowed candidates to ask each other during the debate.
Sen. Debbie Ingram, D-Chittenden, another candidate, questioned Gray about whether she can qualify to seek the lieutenant governor’s office because of her residency status.
As VTDigger reported last week, Gray lived in Switzerland for 15 months between 2017 and 2018, and according to the Vermont Constitution, candidates for the lieutenant governor’s office must reside in the state in the four years before they seek the position.
Gray was in Geneva setting up an international human rights monitoring framework for private military contractors. She and several legal experts have argued that the time abroad did not interrupt the four-year requirement because it wasn’t her intent to remain abroad permanently.
“We don’t take away someone’s residency just because I’ve spent time serving human rights or serving our state overseas,” Gray said. “I wouldn’t be running if I wasn’t eligible.”
Brenda Siegel, a progressive activist who also ran for the Democratic nomination for governor in 2018, asked Ashe whether he believed marginalized people “should be able to run and win higher office.”
Ashe said that before he was elected, he actively recruited women and people of color to run for statewide and local positions.
“I did those things when no one was watching, and it wasn’t part of the media zeitgeist, so I absolutely believe everyone who is capable should be encouraged to run for office,” Ashe said.
Siegel, who discussed her background as a low-income single mother, said that as lieutenant governor, she would prioritize bringing the voices of those who lack privilege and opportunity to the table in Montpelier.
“It is time to bring the people to the people’s house,” she said.
Lindholm, VPR’s moderator, asked the candidates how they would address the Covid-19 crisis.
Ingram said that despite the economic downturn that has resulted in a reduced revenues, state officials need to avoid making budget cuts at a time when people need state programs.
“We need to make sure that we’re not cutting people off at the knees when they’re already down and experiencing hard times,” she said.
She recommended using the state’s reserves, borrowing funds, or raising additional taxes from wealthy Vermonters who benefited from federal tax cuts in 2017 to help keep state programs running.
Ashe said that in addition to getting the state back on its “economic footing” Vermont should look to invest in its future.
He favors an expansion of housing for all income levels, helping more homeowners and businesses weatherize their properties to save energy costs, and expanding the workforce with a statewide initiative akin to the Youth Conservation Corps—a program puts young people to work on federal lands.
Gray said that now is the time to “align our budget, with our greatest needs.”
“Now is our moment to think about the leadership that we need to take Vermont forward to invest in broadband to invest in childcare to invest in paid family leave and resilient local food systems,” she said.
Gray criticized Ashe over his vote against a bill in 2015 that repealed an opt out of vaccinations for children on philosophical grounds.
“In light of this global pandemic, and the need for a COVID-19 vaccination to protect our children and allow our businesses to reopen, has your position changed?” Gray asked.
Ashe said he has always believed that all children should be required to be vaccinated and has made that position clear.
“Well that’s a funny question to be asking Molly, I’m sure the consultants who encouraged you to do so didn’t quite do their homework,” he said.
He said he voted against the bill because while it removed the philosophical exemption for vaccinations it kept the exemption for those with religious beliefs in statute.
“Which I believed meant that some who did not practice a particular denomination were being treated differently than those who happen to be part of a religious group,” Ashe said.
