Hallquist is smart and she listens

Char Osterlund
Springfield, Vt.
To the editor,

I watched the gubernatorial debate sponsored by VT Digger on Wednesday, Oct. 10, and Christine Hallquist once again proved that she has the leadership qualities Vermont needs. She is smart, she listens to and learns from people, and she feels comfortable challenging Gov. Scott’s claim of making Vermont more affordable. He claims not raising taxes will make life more affordable for the most vulnerable but do the math. If one gets a raise from $10.25 an hour to $15 an hour, for a 40-hour work week that comes to $190 more a week ($9,880 a year before taxes). How does that compare to any tax relief Scott claims to give to the most vulnerable? Scott vetoed paid family leave. That forces working families to either miss a day’s pay to take care of their loved ones, or not take care of their loved ones in order to makes ends meet.

Hallquist rocks it when it comes to renewable energy. She knows her stuff. Gov. Scott, to his credit, believes in climate change, but pales in comparison to Hallquist in having strategies for dealing with it. Hallquist believes in community and knows the importance of schools in the community. She wants to stop funding our education system with property taxes and link it to income taxes. Hallquist wants to work on a regional basis to make solutions to our health care system work. Scott appears pretty happy with the status quo.

To find out more about Christine Hallquist, I encourage you to look at Wednesday’s debate on Rutland’s community access t.v. website, or go to the Christine for Vermont website to see where she stands on the issues. Better yet, go see her person, at the Chester Vt. Town Hall on Tuesday, Oct. 23, starting at 6:30 p.m.

Thank you.

 

Char Osterlund

Springfield, Vt.