Biography
I grew up in Bristol Vermont, where I attended public school through grade 12, graduating from Mount Abraham Union High School in 1999. Subsequently, I attended Middlebury College where I majored in Environmental Studies. Since college, I have worked in public schools, for non-profits focused on environmental justice, and in the renewable energy field. Additionally, I have worked as a musician in Vermont for the past 25 years, primarily playing bluegrass fiddle.
Currently, I live with my family in Starksboro, where my two kids are just now entering the public school system. For the past six years, I have served in the Vermont House, representing the towns of Bristol, Lincoln, Monkton and Starksboro. In the Vermont House I have served on the education, ways and means and housing committees. I believe in interdisciplinary solutions to our problem, and value compassionate, pragmatic collaboration. I’m deeply appreciative of my families support in my public service work.
Candidate occupation
Vermont House Representative, musician, renewable energy consultant
Why are you running for office?
As a lifelong resident of Addison County, including education at Mount Abraham High School and Middlebury College, I have deep connections to this Senate district. In addition to the town of Addison County, I’m excited to represent Buels Gore, Huntington and Rochester.
Strong priorities of mine include:
Public Education, ensuring that the young people of our state have excellent educational options for the next 20 years, while bringing the price of that education in line with what our taxpayers can afford.
Housing investments to provide greater affordability to Vermonters who are feeling priced out by our current rental and real estate market. We need common sense land use and zoning reforms that allow communities to build more easily in their village centers.
Climate Resiliency work has never been as urgently needed as right now. But how we respond to the floods of 2023 is a critical step in charting a course of resilience in the face of changing weather. We need to stick together, and to try new things. Building housing outside of floodplains is critical in some communities, and they need the state’s help to accomplish this work.
Please reach out any time with questions about my campaign at calelder@gmail.com.
Issues in brief
Do you believe Vermonters are better off now than they were 10 years ago?
No
Do you believe Vermont needs a new education funding formula?
Yes
Do you support imposing new taxes on the wealthiest Vermonters?
No answer
Do you support the establishment of overdose prevention centers?
Yes
Do you support a ban on flavored tobacco products?
No answer
Do you support increasing penalties for property crimes such as shoplifting?
No answer
Do you believe Joe Biden won the 2020 presidential election?
Yes
Issues in depth
What would you do to help grow Vermont’s economy?
I would focus on establishing more progressive regulatory systems. Our current regulatory structures can act as an impediment to our smallest, newest businesses. Additionally, “gatekeeper” regulatory structures naturally lead to bottlenecks. We should move towards “trust but verify” regulatory standards, whereby business self certify to a standard rather than going through a series of hurdles and inspections. We have done this for certain industries, such as renewable energy or maple syrup. It’s time to apply this thinking to our housing crisis, and get out of the way of those who would help us meet collectively agreed upon housing goals.
What changes, if any, would you make to the way Vermont funds its schools?
We need to streamline our administrative spending. We have too many supervisory unions duplicating work. Concept such as Boards of Cooperative Education Services, or even an opt-in statewide supervisory district deserve consideration. If we could decouple the work of supervisory services from local curricular work, I think we could save money and improved educational outcomes. Additionally, we have to address the silent shift of mental health costs to school budgets. We need to move some of the designated agency services into school building, where appropriate, along with their budgets. And I believe we need to re-examine opportunities for savings and efficiency in teacher healthcare costs. We saw a $50M increase this year alone, bringing spending to $200M statewide. This is a self paying pool, so there might be opportunities to negotiate comparable rates for the same services across the state. Right now, we have no really transparency there, and free market forces are wholly absent from our enormous healthcare marketplace. I believe teacher healthcare funding could be a point of leverage, not dimishing care, but getting better value for our $300M in annual spending.
Is Vermont doing enough, too much or not enough to address climate change? Please explain.
It’s hard to define what “enough” is, but regardless I think we are not. I think, truly, we can never do enough. So, it’s a question of what types of work we can do knowing that the ultimate solutions to this problem are national, even global. I think we need to work on climate solutions that intertwine with our other urgent needs. For example: shoring up our public education system, and connecting it in news way to emerging green economies. This work could result in efficient housing development, while giving Vermont kids a clearer path to professional development and entrepreneurship in critical economic areas. This is the type of interdisciplinary climate work that I find the most hopeful for our state.
Is Vermont doing enough, too much or not enough to regulate gun ownership? Please explain.
No answer
What would you do to help ease Vermont’s housing crisis?
My focus would be on career tech education and building the workforce of the next 30 years. Additionally, we need to craft our regulatory structure so that housing development is predictable, both in terms of cost and timing. Subsidized housing is important, but we can never meet the new housing goals laid out in the HOME Act of 2023 without significant participation from the private sector. For that, we need an attractive regulatory regime for residential housing. We could even consider a preferred permit status, such as a “certificate of public good” as we do for renewables and many utilities.
How would you address rising homelessness in Vermont?
No answer
What would you do to increase access to health care services for Vermonters?
I have always co-sponsored bills to establish a universal primary care system in Vermont. I continue to believe this would ultimately save us money and would move our relationships with primary care providers away from the fee-for-service model. Additionally, I support efforts towards medicare expansion.
Financial disclosure
Candidates for state and legislative offices are required to submit a financial disclosure when filing to run. These disclosures include each source, but not the amount, of personal income of each candidate, and of their spouse or domestic partner, that singly or jointly totals more than $5,000 for the previous 12 months. The information provided is an opportunity for voters to learn about candidates’ potential conflicts of interest.
You can find Elder’s financial disclosure here.
Disclaimer
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