Candidate for Vermont House of Representatives - District Washington-5 in 2022 Vermont Primary Election.
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Get StartedLooking forward, we need to consider additional steps to protect people who come to Vermont to access abortion services when their home states restrict or ban this care and where those states may attempt to control their citizens even beyond their borders. Learn more
We also need to work to ensure that our health care providers are protected from harassment by states trying to ban abortions beyond their own borders. Learn more
We need to pass Prop 5 – which I support and will vote for – to ensure that Vermonters’ reproductive rights are protected. We should not amend our constitution lightly, but the right to bodily autonomy is essential to liberty and gender equality, and deserves to have this level of protection. Learn more
At the end of the most recent term, the US Supreme Court ruled that Maine could not limit funding of private schools providing education to public school students to secular schools only. Many rural Vermont school districts operate similar school choice programs. We need to ensure that in cases where our public school districts do not operate schools at all grade levels and instead pay for their students to be educated elsewhere (including at private schools) that our students are not being offered schools that might discriminate against them and that our tax dollars are not being used to fund discrimination, either against students or staff. Learn more
Our schools need support to meet the needs of all students. We need to listen to educators about what schools need to recover from more than two pandemic years, to ensure that school funding is equitable. We must meet the needs of all students - both to ensure their career success and so that they are equipped to be full and active participants in our democracy. Learn more
High quality child care sets kids up for success later in life and allows parents to remain in the workforce. The pandemic has shown just how fragile this vital system is, and has further decreased capacity, especially for infants. Costs are high for families, while pay is far too low for those who provide the care. We need to invest in childcare both to give all kids the best possible start, to allow parents to maintain their careers, and to give early childhood teachers a fair deal. Learn more
We should also consider limiting school choice to allow students to pick available public schools, only utilizing private schools to meet public educational needs in cases where the nearby public school systems cannot meet needs of their communities. In some limited cases we will need to continue serving public needs through the private systems, but in many cases (including the school choice towns in Central Vermont) these needs can be met through existing public schools. Learn more
Addressing climate change is one of the great challenges of our time. Solutions that used to seem years in the future are becoming viable in the present, and we need to move quickly to ensure that everyone can be a part of this transition - today. Learn more
Shifting transportation and heating to renewable energy sources will require significantly more electrical power. We need to work with neighboring states to make one-time investments in the grid which will allow us to put more renewable power to work and to support new uses of electricity. Learn more
We also need to better promote community solar power projects, which allow renters, people who do not have good sites to place panels on their own properties, and people who do not need to purchase enough power to make their own installations economically feasible to buy in to larger projects. Learn more
The technologies needed to move us beyond fossil fuels are rapidly advancing. To drive widespread adoption, we need to ensure that they are financially viable for all Vermonters. Right now, electric vehicles, heat pumps, and solar panels can all save Vermonters money in the long run – if they can afford the up-front costs. We need to develop financial models which will allow everyone to shift from fossil fuels to electricity both for the environmental impact and to allow everyone to realize the financial benefits of cleaner technology. Learn more
We need to transform the rural health care system. The current fee-for-service model does not provide enough money for the services that rural communities really need, while also incentivizing providers and hospitals to offer high-profit services that they don’t do often enough to ensure good quality of care. Learn more
The cost structure of the modern health care system imposes hidden taxes and high costs largely based on a patient’s luck. Businesses, schools, and governments face ever increasing costs to provide insurance while workers see their raises go to health care. We need to create a fairer system where the costs aren't borne by a few, and where those who need care can afford to access it. Learn more
Our health care system has both produced huge gains in quality of life and has created significant burdens for many people. Even as we have seen health care providers work heroically through the pandemic and rapid development of vaccines and drugs which have vastly increased survival we are also seeing huge cost increases and a rapidly centralizing health care system that leaves less care in rural areas. Learn more
The state does not have adequate capacity to meet our mental health needs, particularly for adolescents. We need to ensure adequate funding of the outpatient mental health system and build the inpatient capacity needed to provide care to the people currently stuck in our hospitals’ emergency departments. Learn more
We need to invest in housing and the infrastructure to provide all Vermonters with high quality, affordable housing, focusing especially on those who are currently priced out of the market. We need to both directly support new housing and to fund the infrastructure, such as water and wastewater treatment, that will allow denser development in our towns and village centers. Learn more
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