March 21, 2008 Press Statement:

As an organizer for many years, I appreciate the need for citizens to have a strong voice in issues that affect their lives. And I am concerned about my opponent’s repeated efforts to discourage public participation in civic life.

The Governor opposes legislative efforts to cap unlimited campaign contributions from political parties. He wants political parties to continue to funnel hundreds of thousands of mostly corporate dollars to Vermont campaigns. The Governor has also opposed Instant Runoff Voting – a way to bring more people, candidates, and voters into the political process.

I commend the Legislature and their leaders for persistently moving forward on these issues and I urge my opponent to sign both of these important bills. And please, do not insult Vermonters with weak excuses like ‘it’s too complicated’ or ‘it’s incumbent protection.’

But, I want to shine a special light on the Governor’s opposition to another very important piece of legislation intended to protect state workers who speak up to point out waste, fraud, or other problems in the workplace.

I am appalled that Vermont ranks dead last among states in laws to protect so-called whistleblowers. We are the only state with no whistleblower protections for public workers. An Accountability Report Card issued by Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility gave Vermont a score of 0 out of a possible 100 points, ranking us 51 out of the 50 states and the District of Columbia. Vermont has protections for health care workers reporting legal violations and improper quality of patient care in hospitals or nursing homes because organized health care workers came together and lobbied the statehouse to protect their patients and themselves. We need similar protections for state workers.

While the administration called S.201 “terrible public policy” this bill would, in fact, protect the fundamental rights of workers and all Vermonters. The administration’s opposition is just plain wrong. My opponent should reconsider and support S.201.

Robbing workers of their ability to speak freely undermines their rights and undermines a more efficient state government. State workers should be encouraged to talk about ways to avoid waste and make government work better. These workers know better than anyone if our tax dollars are being spent wisely, our environment being protected adequately, or our services being delivered as efficiently as possible.

State employees are our neighbors and friends. They are the people who make Vermont work: as police officers; environmental law enforcers; highway workers; tax processors and so on. They deserve our respect. They deserve to be heard.

The Governor also showed disregard for workers when he took a top-down approach to cutting 400 state jobs. He offered no plan about how needed services would be protected. And he has not engaged workers themselves in possible ways to cut costs or restructure the workplace.

One has to ask: why this Governor is afraid to hear from state workers?

# # #

www.AnthonyPollina.com
PO Box 281 • Montpelier, VT 05601 • 802-229-0800
Janet Munt, Treasurer

This entry was posted on Friday, March 21st, 2008 at 12:00 pm You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.