Pollina takes aim at Douglas from local farm
County Courier, April 15, 2008, by Jedd Kettler (link to article).
FAIRFIELD: Progressive gubernatorial candidate Anthony Pollina wants to talk issues, and visiting with more than 20 area residents in the living room and kitchen of the Flack Family Farm in Fairfield, he was given plenty of opportunity to do so on Friday, April 4.
While many are fixated on whether a Democratic candidate will enter the Governor’s race, Pollina was much more interested in problems he sees with the Douglas administration and his own vision for Vermont’s rural economy, agriculture, health care, and energy policies.
Pollina told those gathered in the farmhouse that his decades of community organizing with Vermonters on these issues have shown him something about the current race for Governor.
“In my Vermont, government is us,” Pollina said. “Vermont used to be a real leader on a lot of issues … Vermonters are capable of doing that now, but we don’t have the kind of leadership to make that happen. We can, in fact, solve problems.”
He also criticized Douglas for his recent vetoes of campaign finance reform and statewide instant run-off voting.
Pollina said that a major loophole in Vermont capital gains tax law should be closed and the money leveraged to fix aging roads and bridges.
He said insuring all Vermonters under the same insurance plan - modeled on the Governor’s health coverage - can also be accomplished with new leadership, and reduce health care costs in the process.
He said the State can help return agricultural infrastructure to Vermont and proactively seek local foods for State institutions, again without leaving a large mark on the State budget.
He also criticized Douglas for missing the opportunity several years ago to purchase dams along the Connecticut River to boost Vermont’s locally generated electricity.
“Such bad planning about our energy future,” Pollina said, pointing out that no administration plan exists for replacing power generated by Entergy Vermont Yankee once that plant goes offline.
Pollina couldn’t entirely escape questions about prospects for a Democrat joining the race, though.
“We’ve reached out to a lot of Democrats,” said Pollina. “We’ll just have to see what happens. We’re not letting it slow us down, that’s for sure.”
To the idea that Douglas will likely win if it comes to a three-way race, Pollina pointed out that a Progressive has only run for Governor once and not since Douglas was elected.
“There was no Progressive in the last three races. Don’t blame it on a three-way race if he wins again,” Pollina said.