As soon as they all become official (which is still an ‘if’ with Shumlin, not an ‘if’ with Markowitz), I’m hoping to send a questionairre to all the Dems vying for the state’s top spot. Everybody gets the same questions with the answers to be posted side by side here with a front page link on the sidebar throughout the election season.
I’m sure I’ll have a couple of my own, but I’d like to lean on the community for many of those questions. What do you think? What should they be asked?
Given the poor economy in Vermont, how do you see the role of social services in the state over the next decade? Do you think they need to be reduced, increased or restructured?
Jim Douglas has been re-elected by comfortable margins in every election since he first took the office. How is your approach to unseating him any different than those who tried before you, and how do you think you’ll succeed where others have failed?
And I’ll probably think of others. (I’m glad you are doing this, btw.)
1. A lot of younger voters in Vermont were introduced to politics by becoming involved in the 2008 presidential campaign. How will the candidates transfer that momentum to the state level and address the concerns of young Vermonters?
2. Will you ask our Congressional delegation to actively campaign around the state for your candidacies? (They didn’t for Symington in 2008.)
Despite evidence that suggests that we were spared much of the worst of the real estate bubble precisely BECAUSE regulations require us to look before we leap; he claims that these regulations are discouraging “quality” businesses from locating in Vermont. How would you respond to this argument, and how strongly will you defend the ability of affected individuals and local grassroots groups to access the Act 250 system in order to challenge projects with potentially significant environmental and economic impacts for their communities?
Questions:
The last time few “big name” Democrats worked really hard for Symington. 1. Do you agree that a hard fought primary is the best way to energize the party to defeat the encumbant? 2. What will you do to ensure that all the ‘big names” get behind the final Democatic candidate?
Will you pledge to campaign “primarily” against the Republican candidate rather than against the other Democratic candidates? And if you lose, will you actively campaign and raise money for the successful Democratic nominee?
What is your stand on extending the working life of the Entergy Vermont Yankee nuclear power plant? Under what conditions and for how long?
If Yankee closes in 3 years, what steps will you take to ensure that Vermonters will not see steep hikes in electric rates? How will you deal with limitations on Vermont’s capacity to accept more power from Hydro Quebec?
What changes should be made to the Catamount Health plan to make it more accessible, affordable and responsive to Vermonters’ health care needs?
How will you fund retirement obligations for state employees and teachers?
NanuqFC
Politics is the science of who gets what, when and why. ~ Sidney Hillman (1887-1946, American Trade Unionist)
Bartlett have a website for her campaign that I am somehow missing searching with Google?
Of course, by posting questions in the comments, we’re giving the candidates plenty of advanced warning about our concerns — since we know they or their surrogates read the site (Ms Markowitz says she does not read the blogs, but that one of her campaign staffers does).
NanuqFC
I’m not a member of any organized political party, I’m a Democrat! ~ Will Rogers (1879-1935)
Do you support moving more Vermont prisoners to the private jails? Would you build a big prison in Vermont and create jobs? Why are we sending our money to Kentucky? Didn’t Vermonters say they liked our prisoners coming out better? Do you have any stock in a private jail chain?
Vermont was recently ranked 7th out of the 50 states for the worst 2010 budget gap. Considering that the Federal stimulus funds will run dry and that the Legislature seems determined not to cut a significant amount of spending, how do you intend to pay this deficit?
Who is your opponent? If the answer isn’t Jim Douglas, then don’t bother going any further.
Second Question
How are you going to use the internet in your campaign and how are you going to get the 50 and younger voters activated?
It is great so many interesting people want to run and good to have a deep bench of Dems.
At this point I have my favorite and will see if that holds as the campaigns progress.
How do you respond to people who claim that government is not being responsive to the voters and taxes are too high?
How quickly will you remake the PSB to reflect the concerns of the citizens of Vermont rather than those of the companies it supposedly regulates? Will you demand resignations or wait for terms to end? In the meantime,
How will you deal with the threat of bankruptcy by Fairpoint in order to begin negotiations about reducing service level agreements? How soon after you are elected will you require Entergy to fully fund the decommissioning fund? What will you do to re-introduce competition in cable television to keep a check on Comcast?
Gee, that’s 5 questions, and we’ve hardly gotten started. I’d love to be on the PSB for the next decade or so… 🙂
Small businesses are the backbone of Vermont’s economy. How do you propose to further enhance and support existing and start up companies?
1) Exactly what will you do to help make Vermont capable of producing most of the food it eats?
2) Exactly what will you do to help make Vermont capable of producing most of the energy it needs?
2 questions I had jotted down a while ago – where do you stand on touch-screen voting, and on the 2-vote school budgets?
1. What will you do to improve the efficiency of Vermont’s health care system?
2. If national health care reform includes an option for states to experiment with reform on a local basis with some support, would you have Vermont participate, and what changes or approaches would you implement?
3. As Governor, would you continue to have Vermont languish near the bottom in terms of support to higher education?
4. What changes would you make, if any, to the current system of economic incentives and tax breaks in our state?
5. How would you strengthen the job market in Vermont?
Vermont is one of the smallest states in the union in area and in the bottom 6 or 7 in population. Yet the governor’s pay is 12th highest in the nation ($143,957, based on data from 2007). Would you take a pay cut as governor, as so many of the rest of Vermont’s workers have had to do?
NanuqFC
I used to think I was poor. Then they told me I wasn’t poor, I was needy. Then they told me it was self-defeating to think of myself as needy, I was deprived. Then they told me deprived was a bad image, I was underprivileged. Then they told me underprivileged was overused, I was disadvantaged. I still don’t have a dime. But I have a great vocabulary. ~ Jules Feiffer