Platform: Pollina on the Issues Important to Vermonters

Reducing Health Care Costs

Costs keep climbing at over 10%, year after year. This hurts our families, drives up property taxes, keeps wages down and discourages Vermont's entrepreneurial spirit. We have to ask ourselves if we would like to save money and shift from paying insurance premiums to a broad collection of taxes to pay the bills. Repeated studies demonstrate a universal health care system would save the state between $60-120 million.

When workers bargain for a new contract they could focus on wages instead of health care benefits. When it came time to retire, health care would no longer be a problem. We would cover everyone and we'd save money - sadly there is little commitment in Montpelier to seriously examine this possibility. That has to change for the good of our economy, families and more.

Lowering Energy Costs

Gas prices at the pump have tripled in recent years and home-energy prices doubled. Electric rates are on the rise and yet somehow the administration hasn't grasped that the cheapest energy is the energy we don't use. We should expand our efficiency programs. We should help neighbors, towns and businesses find ways to work together to reduce their energy consumption. Global warming is a real threat and we need to reclaim Vermont's leadership role in the nation as the country struggles to find answers.

The Vermont label adds value to bread, cheese and more. Why not renewable energy components? If we produced, developed and researched energy solutions we could stimulate the economy and give young people a reason to visit, study and stay here. We must also get working to replace the energy currently produced at VT Yankee, which should close as scheduled in 2012. With a combination of efficiency, wind, wood-burning plants and bringing old hydro dams back online we can go on without the dangers of an aging nuclear plant.

Keeping Vermont Farms Profitable

Vermont is a small state, and we should be nimble enough to adapt to changing economic realities. Small businesses drive our economy and yet they are consistently overlooked by state government. We should help our entrepreneurs get started and our micro-businesses grow. They deserve a central contact in state government to help navigate the many bureaucratic challenges they encounter.

Agriculture is vitally important to our economy and our identity. With small investments we can help farmers add value to products right on the farm. We must develop strategies to keep farmers on the land and productive contributors to our economy. We need beefed up infrastructure to keep our farmers in business and our land open.

Issues are at the heart of this campaign and we are developing more specifics to share soon