It was good to re-connect with some friends in the audience at the candidate forum at the Shelburne Town Hall on Wednesday night. Friends will be as surprised as I was to find I was the only one wearing a suit…
Archive of posts filed under the Uncategorized category.
A Recent Letter to the Editor Re: VT’s Ag Economy
One of my priorities when I was elected to the Senate was supporting Vermont’s promising local food economy. I’m glad to say in an otherwise difficult year in Montpelier, we made progress in this area.
The Legislature made the second of two $100,000 investments in the Farm-to-Plate initiative. This has included thousands of Vermonters in the [...]
Bernie on the Estate Tax
As many of you know, I used to work for Bernie Sanders when he was in the House. From those days to today, he’s been one of the few, if only, national political figures speaking out about the gross unfairness of the estate tax reductions that have been implemented over the last decade.
If you haven’t [...]
Rookie of the Year Recognition
In my first Senate term, I benefited greatly from the wisdom and support of many Senate colleagues, particularly the Chairs of my committees, Vince Illuzzi and Phil Scott. Thanks to them and others, I was recognized by other Legislators as the legislative Rookie of the Year in a Seven Days survey.
Rookie of the Year
Sen. Tim Ashe (D/P-Chittenden)
Sen. [...]
Fairness and Sacrifice
These are tough times for all of us. But during tough times, the middle class in particular feels the squeeze. Stagnant or lower pay, reduced benefits, higher cost of living. Meanwhile, the very wealthy may also lose some of their wealth, but there’s no denying that parting with a thousand dollars when you’re a millionaire [...]
Challenges
Anne Galloway has a good, in-depth article about the Senate Economic Development Committee (on which I sit) and our effort to think creatively about economic development strategies in Vermont. The reality is this: if the Committee does nothing, the Governor can go about making $3.4 million in reductions as he sees fit. This will likely [...]
Protecting our Food Supply and Vermont Brand
On Thursday the Senate passed a bill that will create strong standards for the treatment of animals on the way to slaughter, and will impose stiff penalties on those who would mistreat the animals. Vermont agriculture relies on its sterling reputation. We cannot afford to have national publicity relating to horrific treatment of our livestock. [...]
Vermont Yankee Vote
Wednesday was quite a dramatic day in the Capitol. The (small) Senate chamber was filled to capacity to hear the debate on whether or not to relicense Vermont Yankee. There were many reasons to vote NO on relicensing Yankee: the Enexus spinoff, the Tritium leak into the Connecticut River, the price being offered for future [...]
CPAs, Estate Taxes, and the Middle Class
There is an effort underway to repeal the Vermont estate tax changes that were implemented last year. This tax, which affects a tiny fraction of Vermont estates, has its origins in the early part of the 20th century, and was supported by some of the era’s wealthiest Americans because they thought it was unwise to [...]
The Dramatic Costs of Private Health Insurers
This is a variation on an earlier post that appeared as an opinion piece in the Burlington Free Press. The Governor and Legislative leaders are turning their scalpels to services to low and moderate income Vermonters, while ignoring the dramatic bloated costs in the health insurance industry which are by far the greatest threats to [...]