Biography
US Army, finish grinder at Fellows. 15 years on Planning commission, 33-year co-owner of Stern’s Quality Produce, Chairman trustee at NS Baptist Church for many years, now on leadership team. Former brownie, and junior scout leader, married to Keith for 41 years. one child, two grandchildren, four great grandchildren. Volunteer teacher’s aide for kindergarten and first grade at North Springfield School when my daughter was in those classes. Started working at Fellows and could not do it anymore. Belonged to PTG there, in her third grade I was chairman of PTG. A friend and I were co-chairman of the ways and means committee at the school for four years. At different fund raisers we earned over $5000.00.
Candidate occupation
Retired mother, grandmother and greatgrandmother
Why are you running for office?
Hoping to make changes in the state. Everything is too expensive and one-sided. I want to help make Vermont livable for the people who live here. With regulations being forced down our throats the natives and longtime residents can no longer afford to be here. Schools have gone down-hill. No longer governed by the local people. We seem to have no say in what is taught and how. Children have almost no knowledge of history. History is VERY important; without it the same mistakes are made. Math is sadly lacking and bulling is on the upswing. Crime is up and no punishment is meted out. Seems to be a lot of slap and release. Drugs are rampant and spreading. People need to wake up and realize change is here and has been here for over 30 years. We need to remember the days of the shops but move on to make Vermont bigger and better. We cannot do that with the heavy burdens that are being put on us by the current legislators. We need a change of the guard. The Democrats have been there too long. It is all one sided and it needs to be stopped. They voted themselves pay raises and more working days. We cannot afford them.
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?
No
Do you support imposing new taxes on the wealthiest Vermonters?
No
Do you support the establishment of overdose prevention centers?
No
Do you support a ban on flavored tobacco products?
Yes
Do you support increasing penalties for property crimes such as shoplifting?
Yes
Do you believe Joe Biden won the 2020 presidential election?
No
Issues in depth
What would you do to help grow Vermont’s economy?
We need to make Vermont business friendly. Vermont is ranked the second least business friendly state. Compare Vermont vs. New Hampshire using the Upper Valley for example. The growth on the New Hampshire side is very active while stagnant on this side. If we want to see Vermont grow our economy then we need to adopt a business friendly attitude. As it is now many of the regulations now make it expensive to be here. Act 250 has been revamped but it is still too expensive and time consuming too often. Property taxes and the carbon tax will damage our business economy.
What changes, if any, would you make to the way Vermont funds its schools?
Before you make changes in funding you need to overhaul the system. Start at the top and weed out the fat. How many people at state level are on the board? Eliminate the duplicates. At local level eliminate the duplicates. Who decides on the insurance? Is it put out for bid and by whom? If not do so. There are less expensive ones than Blue Cross. Schools should go back to their own busses. Bus companies can be too pricy. Go back to the farmers who drive and own the busses. They are more dependable. plus having more control over the children. These drivers know the families, so no violence is tolerated. I am sure if we could see an itemized budget, we could see many more ways to cut without hurting education. This is a way taxes could be cut. Then we would not have to devise more ways to get money or how to do so. Spending is not the way.
Is Vermont doing enough, too much or not enough to address climate change? Please explain.
Over doing it. We have the lowest level of Co2 (.04) in the nation. We are being forced to take measures for our neighbors who are not as clean. Want EV’s in a climate that is too cold for the batteries. There will be a lot of dead cars along the roads and people still having to pay for them. You seem to want to have a zero Co2. Farmers need to pump Co2 into their greenhouses for the plants to grow. In order to reach your goal, you will destroy everything. We must reach a happy medium. And I do not see that happening.
Is Vermont doing enough, too much or not enough to regulate gun ownership? Please explain.
I support the right to gun ownership. Without guns it does not take much to be overthrown by the enemies within and without. Our forefathers gave us right to protect ourselves from those seeking to destroy our country. They could not foresee the change in weapons from the flintlocks to what there is today. But I still believe we have the right. You cannot check the mentally of a person because of HEPA. Yes, I believe that some people, in a rage, may go by a gun and kill someone. And maybe there should be a waiting period, but also the person could use any weapon to kill. Even an automobile, should we regulate that also?
What would you do to help ease Vermont’s housing crisis?
No answer
How would you address rising homelessness in Vermont?
Seek the reasons. Mental illness, I believe that was wrong turning them onto the street. They will not take their medication on their own or seek help. They need supervision. The drug users need to be helped to clean up. It takes help, it is difficult on their own. Once this is taken care of, I believe almost all homelessness will be taken care of. People will be able to get jobs and hold them. Crime rates will go down. Plus, working on getting inflation down. It should not be a choice between eating, health, rent or mortgage and property taxes.
What would you do to increase access to health care services for Vermonters?
I do not know the answer to this. I will not play the blame game as so many people do.
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 Stern’s financial disclosure here.
Disclaimer
We emailed a questionnaire to every candidate with a valid email address. The responses provided by candidates are in their own words. VTDigger has not edited or fact-checked information provided.
If this is your candidacy and you’d like to fill out the questionnaire or report an error, please contact us at voterguide@vtdigger.org.
