(First appeared in the July 15th edition of the Vermont Standard)
By Gareth Henderson
Standard Staff
Homegrown innovation will be the key to Vermont’s economic recovery, and the state should play a larger role in boosting that process.
That was a major point from gubernatorial candidate Susan Bartlett, when she visited the Standard for an editorial board interview last week. Bartlett is in a tough field of five Democrats running for the state’s top office. They include former Windsor County Senator Matt Dunne, Secretary of State Deb Markowitz, Vermont Senator Doug Racine and Senate President Peter Shumlin. One of them will emerge from the Aug. 24 primary to challenge Lieutenant Governor Brian Dubie.
Bartlett, a former educator who has been in the Senate for 18 years, said her experience as chair of the Senate Appropriations Committee has given her a deep understanding of the state budget and governmental operations. Also, she sees herself as being in the middle of the road politically.
“I thought the Democrats needed a person in the middle to vote for,” Bartlett said.
So far, all candidates have made jobs an important part of their campaigns. If elected, Bartlett said she would create a state “office of innovation and intellectual property” to help and encourage entrepreneurs who want to start businesses. Innovation will be the economic engine of Vermont in the coming year, she said.
“I really believe that’s the future of job creation in this state,” Bartlett said.
She added that empowering entrepreneurs would help revitalize downtowns and also encourage investments in alternative energy sources, like solar, wind and bio-diesel. Bartlett would also provide more funding for regional planning organizations and streamline the licensing process for small businesses.
But she also noted that “the private sector creates jobs,” and the best role for the government is to help with access to funding.
Bartlett said health care and schools also top her priority list. Bartlett is in favor of supervisory union consolidation.
“I’ve been a supporter for a long time of going to large administrative districts,” she said.
Bartlett said the efficiencies and cost savings resulting from SU consolidation could help school districts hold on to their smaller schools at a more reasonable cost. It would also be easier to keep staff in the district, if there were more schools, Bartlett explained. She also said encouraging more schools to use regional technical centers could be beneficial.
Bartlett also wants to see special education money come out of the general fund, and not from the education fund, which is paid for by property taxes.
In addition, Bartlett favored working with state education officials to organize some “fundamental policies” for schools across the board and layout statewide minimum and maximum class sizes.
As for health care, Bartlett said Catamount Health was not an “unfunded mandate,” as some critics have claimed. She said the main issue is that the program doesn’t encourage “young, healthy people” to buy into the program.
“Unless you’re really low income…[Catamount] is not particularly affordable,” Bartlett said.
However, she added that lawmakers tried to create universal health care through Catamount, but Governor Jim Douglas vetoed that version of the bill. In the end, Bartlett voted for the proposal, saying that doing nothing was not an option.
“It was starting us down the road to make health insurance available to everyone,” Bartlett said.
On another important economic issue, Bartlett supported expanding high-speed broadband Internet coverage in Vermont, an issue where she called the state “a pretty magnificent failure.” As governor, Bartlett said she would work toward a plan to connect with the smart grid, in order to reach the state’s broadband goals.
Bartlett also commented on Vermont Yankee, saying the embattled nuclear power plant in Vernon “needs to close on time.”
“It’s old…it’s just time to stop it,” she said.
Bartlett said Hydro Quebec will continue to be a good source of electricity for Vermont, and she said renewable energy will be essential for the state’s future. She said individual communities and households will also play a key role in conserving energy and figuring out alternatives. Bartlett also believes the state should have a closer working relationship with the non-profit Efficiency Vermont, and should help fund Efficiency Vermont’s energy audits. Bartlett also wants to see a comprehensive, across-the-board energy
plan for the state’s future.
During this ongoing energy debate, the state continues to grapple with economic issues, as reflected in the state budget’s revenue gap. Last week, Bartlett said she feels the economy has stabilized and is still in flux. She didn’t have a plan to address the budget’s problems at this point.
“We’ll get to November and figure it out,” she said.
Bartlett, 62, and her husband, Bill, have lived in Lamoille County since the mid-1970s. In 1977, she received a Master’s degree in special education from Johnson State College and went on to be the special education coordinator for the Lamoille North Supervisory Union for several years. Later, she co-owned a small business in Stowe during the late 1980s and early 1990s. In 1992, Bartlett became the first Democrat and the first woman to represent Lamoille County in the Senate. She has served on the Senate Appropriations Committee since 1994 and, in the past, has also been a member of the committees on energy and natural resources, the judiciary and also the government operations committee. Along with appropriations, she also currently serves on the Senate Agriculture Committee.
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