MONTPELIER – A state judge gathered Friday with the top three Democratic vote getters for governor in a Montpelier courtroom to hammer out the details of how to speed a recount in their party’s primary.

Peter Shumlin, Doug Racine and Deb Markowitz, who all attended the hearing, said they will do what they can to move the process along and have their nominee ready to face Lt. Gov. Brian Dubie, a Republican.

“We share the goal of uniting behind a single candidate as soon as possible,” said Shumlin, who with nearly 200 more votes than Racine, is the apparent nominee.

But despite using time-saving measures such as machine ballot counters where possible and working through the Jewish holiday of Rosh Hashana next week, it may be difficult to recount the 76,000 ballots in the Democratic primary and re-tally the results by Sept. 20. That date represents a likely deadline because federal rules, which also prompted the Legislature to move this year’s primary date into August from September, require a 45-day period for ballots to be mailed overseas and returned by voters there.

One possible delay will not be a problem, said Markowitz, who is also the Secretary of State and oversees elections. Although the ballots will have to be ready to be printed on Sept. 20, (in fact other than the line for the Democratic nominee for governor they already are ready), they will not all have to be printed. That’s because town clerks will receive electronic files of the ballots, which can be printed on their office printers for the small numbers of voters who will need them or need them mailed immediately, Markowitz said.

A variety of other technical issues were also worked out before Superior Court Judge Geoffrey Crawford drafted the order which will guide court clerks around the state in how to conduct the recount requested by Racine. His order includes Racine’s request that, to save time, tabulator machines be used in a statewide recount in Vermont for the first time since the law was changed this biennium to allow their use.

Nobody knows how long the recount, which will begin Wednesday, will take: It is the first statewide recount in modern Vermont history of a primary election. While typically a more adversarial process between political parties, the unity among the top candidates means this recount is more a collegial family affair to determine the selection of the Democratic nominee.

Clerks arranging the recounts in the courthouses in each of the state’s 14 counties will try to assign four-member re-counting teams consisting of two Racine supporters and two Shumlin supporters. But where that is not possible, Judge Crawford and the candidates agreed those four-person groups could be configured differently or could include supporters of just one candidate. So far the Democrats have found more than 600 possible volunteers to work in shifts on the recount and are seeking more, although far less than the 40 people per county will likely be needed in smaller jurisdictions like Essex County and Grand Isle County.

Crawford rejected a suggestion by the candidates that the volunteers and officials work on Saturdays, although he left open the possibility that would change if the recount proceeds too slowly.

“What I really want is a process that is steady and reliable and 100 percent accurate,” Crawford said.

“The potential for this to drag on is not in anybody’s best interest,” Racine said.

Crawford also gave the three candidates a bit of personal disclosure. Markowitz is a family friend and his wife donated $750 to her campaign, the judge noted.

That is fine, “as long as she is willing to match it,” Shumlin joked.

http://www.timesargus.com/article/20100904/NEWS02/709049935/1003/NEWS02

According to a just-released, uncertified tabulation of statewide votes by election staff in the Office of the Secretary of State, Shumlin’s lead was just 197 votes more than second place finisher Racine. Election officials report Shumlin’s total was 18,276 compared to Racine’s 18,079.

Deb Markowitz finished in third with 17,580 — 696 behind Shumlin.

Matt Dunne’s vote total was 15,323 and Susan Bartlett had 3,759.

The total number of votes cast was 74,634.

The results of the state’s tabulation of vote counts by local officials confirmed the order of finish that news organizations reported election night based on information collected by phone, fax and email from clerks.

The question now is whether Racine will ask for a recount because the vote was so close. Candidates may request recounts when the difference is 2 percent or less.

Racine called a news conference at Richmond Town Center, where he has just requested a recount.

http://www.burlingtonfreepress.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=2010100827014

Brattleboro Reformer
By CHRIS GAROFOLO /Reformer Staff
Posted: 08/20/2010 03:00:00 AM EDT

Friday August 20, 2010
BRATTLEBORO — Democratic gubernatorial candidate Peter Shumlin is making one final sweep of the Green Mountain State in his pursuit of the party’s nomination next Tuesday.

Shumlin, the outgoing Senate president from Putney, expressed excitement about his campaign earlier this week to the Reformer, crediting Windham County voters for their support during his political tenure.  He is one of five Democrats vying for the party nomination on Aug. 24 to square off with Republican gubernatorial candidate Brian Dubie, Vermont’s current lieutenant governor.

“We are optimistic that we’re going to win the nomination and beat Brian Dubie in November,” he said. The county has not produced a governor in about 40 years, and Shumlin said he will “never forget who brought me to the dance” when he sits in the governor’s chair.

“I made a decision early on in this race that resulted in a lesson that I learned from the voters of Windham County, who have been so good to me for so many years, and it is — stand up for what you believe in and get tough things done and the voters will stand by you.”

According to Shumlin, he has the action plan to make the infrastructure changes within Vermont to create jobs and recover faster than the other 49 states while moving away from an oil-based economy.

“I think my vision for job creation is catching fire because I have a very specific plan to get Vermont back to work,” he said.
He lays out five points as part of his campaign:
– A single-payer health care plan where coverage follows the individual and is not a requirement of the employer.
– Broadband Internet access and cellular phone service to every last mile by 2013.
“I will do for the Internet what our last governor from Putney, George Aiken, did for electricity,” he said.
– Establish a block grant for early childhood education for parents of 3- and 4-year-olds so (predominately) women do not have to make the choice between a job and affordable, quality child care, he said.
– Generate a tax structure that grows wealth and jobs.
– Retrain Vermont’s work force to do the jobs of the 21st century.

Calling himself a social liberal but fiscal conservative, Shumlin said only two of his platform programs (health care and early childhood education) will cost money during a fiscal year that is expected to have a $120 million budget shortfall.
“With health care, our challenge as a state is that we’re spending $1 million a day on health care. That’s both unsustainable and unaffordable. It is also the fastest area of growth in the state’s budget, which is also unsustainable,” he said. Shumlin pointed to a study done 12 years ago that examined the fiscal impact of a single-payer system for Vermont, and said it would save the state an estimated $110 million ($250 million in today’s money) in administration savings alone.

“I’ve never known an insurance company to make Vermonters healthier. I will get it done, and it will cost less, not more,” he added.

The second fastest growing area of the state budget is corrections, Shumlin said, and he has found a way to save $40 million annually to provide community-based care for offenders and grant money for children’s early education.  In statistics he said were from appropriations at the state level, 69 percent of female and 45 percent of male offenders are nonviolent. Of those figures, 90 percent have difficulty reading and more than 90 percent have drug or alcohol addictions.

“Vermont has the distinction of locking up more nonviolent offenders per capita than any other state in the country,” he said. And putting millions toward early education will pay off tenfold in the future and break this destructive cycle, he added.  “I will be the governor with the courage to provide community-based drug and alcohol consulting, mental health consulting, adult education, life skills and housing through the Vermont Housing and Conservation Board and stop this madness of spending almost $40 million a year of taxpayer money incarcerating people who we’re not scared of, but mad at. I want to lock people up we’re scared of,” he said.

Democrats will choose between Shumlin and four other candidates in the statewide primary next Tuesday.
State Sens. Susan Bartlett of Hyde Park and Doug Racine of Richmond, Secretary of State Deb Markowitz of Montpelier and former state Sen. Matt Dunne of Hartland are also vying for the party’s nomination.  But Shumlin points to his track record of “making things happen” in the Statehouse, such as the Legislature approving same-sex marriages in 2009 and the vote not to allow Vermont Yankee nuclear power plant to continue operations once its license expires in March 2012.

“I get it done. I think people are moving to our campaign because, as the Burlington Free Press said in its endorsement — I stand above the other four in my ability to get things done and have the vision for where Vermont needs to go,” he said.

http://www.reformer.com/ci_15834361?IADID=Search-www.reformer.com-www.reformer.com

Even without his own money, Shumlin still narrowly beat out Deb Markowitz in the money race.

Markowitz raised $97,880.
Matt Dunne has also been busy, taking in $69,567.
In the money race, Doug Racine continues to stay in fourth place, raising $50,205 from supporters.
Susan Bartlett is still in last place, raising just $5,886 in the past month.

All five Democratic candidates for governor have spent most of what they took in trying to win this primary, spending on ads, campaign staff and polling.
•    Shumlin has $56,116 left
•    Markowitz has $33,588
•    Dunne has $82,975
•    Racine has $49,654
•    Bartlett has $11,273
Republican Brian Dubie has no primary and a huge war chest. Even though he was outraised in the last month by Shumlin and Markowitz, Dubie overall has taken in the most cash– over $1 million with $1,036,675. He’s spent over half that– $575,054– but still has six times the money left over compared to the Democrats with $461,621 cash on hand. That leaves the Democrat who wins the primary in the difficult spot of having to raise money fast to keep up and get their message out to voters in November.
Kristin Carlson – WCAX News

http://www.wcax.com/Global/story.asp?S=12999236

The Burlington Free Press editorial page editors recommend Peter Shumlin for the Democratic nomination for governor of Vermont.

Our state is in the midst of one of the greatest economic challenges it has faced in a generation. Vermont’s next governor must be a strong leader who can work with the Legislature to get things done. Whether you agree with his positions, Shumlin’s record as Senate president pro tempore has shown him un- afraid to engage difficult issues and act decisively.

The newspaper has covered the election extensively from the opening announcements on. All candidates, including the unopposed Republican in the primary election, were asked to respond to 12 questions 12 weeks in a row. The answers ran in the Tuesday newspaper and online.

Our reporters interviewed all the Democratic candidates. The editors met with each candidate individually. The newspaper sponsored a debate. The candidates’ records and position papers were evaluated. We scoured their campaign websites, connected with them on Facebook and followed them on Twitter. Staffers attended numerous debates through the state.

Democrat Peter Shumlin presents a clear contrast to the Republican candidate, Brian Dubie.

Vermonters are entitled to an open and vigorous debate among the gubernatorial candidates leading up to the November election. Shumlin, a resident of Putney in Windham County, will bring the energy and spirit to the fall campaign to fully engage Dubie, who lives in Essex Junction in Chittenden County, in a way that will give voters the campaign they deserve.

Shumlin is a realist who fully understands the state’s struggles in the midst of a multi-year revenue shortfall. He has the experience to know that Vermont has passed the point where Montpelier can continue to balance the budget simply by cutting more or by hoping for an economic turnaround to restore revenues. He has the integrity to tell Vermonters about the hard work and sacrifices ahead.

He stood on his principles in presiding over the Senate override of Gov. Jim Douglas’ budget veto in 2009 — the first time in Vermont the Legislature overrode a governor’s budget veto.
Shumlin objected to the transfer of teacher pension obligations to the state Education Fund,
a move he says would have led to a sharp increase in property taxes.

He led the charge in passing marriage equality legislation and then, again, overriding the
governor’s veto to make Vermont the first state to recognize same-sex marriage without court intervention and a leader in protecting the rights of all citizens.

He kept his word to hold Vermont Yankee owner Entergy accountable by delivering the Senate’s overwhelming vote to deny the nuclear power plant an extension of its operating license beyond 2012.

The tasks before the next governor will prove to be equal to all the skill and dedication reflected in Shumlin’s legislative record.

The next governor must work with the Legislature to solve the state’s fiscal problem, finding ways to make up for the year-by-year revenue shortfall while meeting Vermonters need for services during hard times.

The next governor must invest in the state’s future prosperity and lay the ground work for opportunities.

The next governor must lead a cultural change in all levels of government in Vermont, where too much happens behind closed doors out of expediency or habit. The principle of open government must never by laid aside, and access — a vital step to accountability — must be restored to the norm.

Peter Shumlin rises above his four competitors — Susan Bartlett, Matt Dunne, Deb Markowitz and Doug Racine — from one of the strongest fields of Democratic gubernatorial hopefuls in recent memory.

The past 10 months have been a startling exercise in bringing the electoral process down to the grass roots, where direct access to each candidate by voters became the rule. In dozens of debate and forums, countless rallies, news conferences and house parties, just about any Vermonter who wanted to meet a candidate or hear what had a chance to find out what he or she had to say in person.

The campaign has exposed few serious differences among the candidates when it comes to core beliefs and broad policy direction. All five Democrats pledge to face down the budget  deficit, while making it clear their allegiance to social programs to help the needy and level the playing field for all Vermonters.

That makes character, administrative approach and governance philosophy key factors in determining who would make the best governor of the five hopefuls.

Peter Shumlin has shown character, demonstrated decisive leadership, and is attuned to the grass-roots concerns of Vermonters. He has earned the privilege of representing the Democrats on the November ballot as the party’s choice for governor.

http://www.burlingtonfreepress.com/article/20100815/OPINION01/8150305/Burlington-Free-Press-makes-its-endorsement-for-Democratic-gubernatorial-primary

As a young student in his native Putney, Shumlin’s dyslexia thwarted his classroom efforts. Much as he tried, he says, the letters wouldn’t cooperate.

Frustrated with the written word, he learned to excel at the spoken. The academic failings he endured as a youngster, he says, gave rise to the rhetorical aptitude that has made him one of the most skilled politicians in Montpelier.

On the Senate floor, at the press-conference dais or in Montpelier backrooms, colleagues say, Shumlin’s oratory skills are unrivaled in the Statehouse, where he’s served as Senate president for 10 years.

His powers of persuasion have been the driving force behind some of the state’s most controversial pieces of legislation. In the last biennium alone, Shumlin shepherded a same-sex marriage bill into law and orchestrated a legislative assault against Vermont Yankee that cast the nuclear power plant’s future into even greater doubt.

“He has an ability to state what the goal and the objective is and knock down all the doors and all the obstacles in the way to achieve it,” says Rep. Tony Klein, the Democratic chairman of the House Committee on Natural Resources. “He doesn’t take any prisoners and does what he needs to do to get it done.”

His preternatural gift for politics is universally recognized, even among those who don’t necessarily admire it.

“He’s certainly a politician’s politician, in terms of wielding power,” says Rob Roper, former chairman of the Vermont Republican Party and still a member of its executive committee. “He’s not afraid to put his own agenda above that of other people.”

Longtime Statehouse observers say he plays in a different league. Retired lobbyist Steve Kimbell, who worked with Shumlin on gay marriage and against him on Vermont Yankee, falls back on a baseball analogy.

“In terms of raw political skills, if you’re talking about major league pitchers as a comparison, this guy throws a 100 mile-per-hour fastball,” Kimbell says. “Nobody else throws 90.”

Shumlin is a divisive figure, as revered in some circles as he is reviled in others. According to a June 17 Rasmussen poll, of the 38 percent of Vermonters who have strong feelings about Shumlin, nearly two-thirds of them view him “very unfavorably.”

Shumlin, not surprisingly, wears those negatives as a badge of honor. His towering presence on controversial issues, he says, has made him a lightning rod for Republican criticism.

“We’ve done some polling ourselves, and what we found was that among the staunch Republican voters, I tend to have higher negatives, because I fight so hard for things I believe in like marriage equality and shutting down Vermont Yankee,” Shumlin says. “People who never vote for my party feel more strongly about my name because I’ve gotten things done. And that’s why I can win this race.”

Shumlin says it’s also why he’s the only candidate who can deliver a single-payer healthcare system by the end of his first term, free childcare for every 3- and 4-year-old in Vermont and broadband service to every home and business in the state – all without raising a nickel in new tax revenues.

If it all sounds too good to be true, Shumlin says, just look at his record.

“When I say I’m going to get something done, it happens,” he says. “And I’ve got a record that proves it.”

QQQ

Shumlin’s early struggles with dyslexia, he says, have in many ways guided his adult life.

“We’re all formed by life experiences, and I tell people this part about me because my dyslexia, the fact that I learn differently, made me who I am,” Shumlin says. “It defines my strengths and my weaknesses.”

Shumlin, the son of a father who fought in World War II and a mother born in Holland, says his school-age years were marked by verbal compensation for academic failings.

“I had to use my mouth to survive in the classroom at young age when other things weren’t working as well for me as they did for other kids,” he says.

Shumlin, a father of two teenage girls (he is separated from his wife), says these rhetorical skills often go misinterpreted.

“I sometimes come off as slick because I speak so quickly,” he says. “I learned a long time ago to use all the tools I had to compensate for the fact that I didn’t learn the same.”

His learning disability also bred his work ethic and, by extension, his political and professional success, Shumlin says. It also, he says, fostered an appreciation for the plight of the underdog.

“When you’re in a situation like that, where you have to work twice as hard to get to the same place, you never forget people who haven’t had the same opportunities as other people,” he says. “You never forget what it’s like to be discriminated against.”

Most importantly, he says, his condition forced him “to think outside the box,” an approach he says landed him at the prestigious Wesleyan University despite abysmal standardized test scores.

“I still have nightmares about spelling bees,” he says.

After graduating high school, he spent two years in a basic studies program at Boston University.

“It was mostly for inner-city kids,” Shumlin says.

He graduated with honors from Wesleyan, where he majored in English and government.

“My story is one of the reasons I so abhor No Child Left Behind, because you can’t just can’t judge a person’s potential with a standardized test,” says Shumlin, who says he’ll work to exclude Vermont from the landmark federal standards.

After college, Shumlin returned to Putney to work at his parents’ business, Putney Student Travel. In his 20s, Shumlin bought the business from his parents, with his brother, Jeff. The company now coordinates overseas educational experiences for more than 1,300 children annually.

The travel business, along with his numerous real estate enterprises, has made Shumlin a wealthy man. According to tax returns he made public earlier this year, Shumlin made more than $1 million in 2009. He’s poured $150,000 of his money into his campaign for governor.

Shumlin calls himself a “reluctant politician” who “got into politics by mistake” after waging a campaign against a jail proposed for his hometown.

“The local selectboard voted to have the Bureau of Prisons turn the bankrupt Windham College into a maximum-security federal prison,” he says. “I thought that was the wrong future for my hometown.”

After leading a successful charge to rescind the plan, Shumlin says, he was encouraged to run for the board himself, where, at 24 years old, he learned “it’s easy to say ‘no.’ It’s much tougher to solve real problems.”

QQQ

Well-manicured hair and sharp suits notwithstanding, Shumlin likes to describe himself in terms that evoke images of a rural farm boy.

“I’d rather be on a farm spreading manure than wearing suit,” says Shumlin, whose old Putney farmhouse adjoins the dairy farm at which he is a financial partner. “My favorite day of the year is opening day of hunting season. I’ll be the first governor in a long time that cuts own wood, splits it buy hand.”

For such a “reluctant politician” though, Shumlin – the longest serving Senate president in state history – has spent a lot of time in Montpelier. His Statehouse career began in 1990 when then-governor Madeline Kunin appointed him to fill vacant seat in the House. In 1992, Shumlin was elected to one of Windham County’s two Senate seats, and in 1997, he was selected by his Senate colleagues to serve as the chamber’s president.

He left the Senate in 2002 after a failed bid for lieutenant governor – a race he lost to Brian Dubie, but returned in 2006, when he was promptly reinstated as Senate president despite his official status as a freshman legislator.

As Senate president, Shumlin has been credited with guiding its pivotal votes, including civil unions, gay marriage, Vermont Yankee and the historic 2009 override of Gov. James Douglas’ budget veto.

“He’s just got a good political mind,” says Dick Sears, a longtime Democratic senator from Bennington County. “He’s able to see the forest through the trees and he understands the impacts of various moves way ahead of most other people.”

Colleagues say he’s a consensus-seeker generally but can resort to steamrolling when it suits his needs.

“I’m a person who’s dealt very heavily on some very big issues with him for the last four years, and while we were pretty much on the same page on where we wanted to go, we often disagreed on how to get there,” says Klein, a Shumlin supporter. “I’ve seen the good part of Peter but I’ve seen the bad part too. And it hasn’t changed my opinion of him. He got us where we wanted to go – and that’s the key. It’s about the end result, not how you get there.”

Not everyone agrees. Roper, who, as head of the Vermont Republican Party, sparred with Shumlin from afar, says he speaks from one side of his mouth and legislates from another.

“He’s earned a reputation for not exactly being truthful and he has earned a reputation for saying one thing to one person and turning around and saying another thing another person,” Roper says.

Roper says Shumlin was among the first prominent Democrats to declare there was no more tax capacity left in the state of Vermont, only to turn around and push a $26 million tax increase into the fiscal year 2010 budget.

“Now he’s running for governor, and he says again we have no more tax capacity,” Ropers says. “We’re supposed to believe that now?”

Rep. Patty O’Donnell, a Republican lawmaker whose House district is in Windham County, says Shumlin’s tenure has coincided with a sustained period of economic decline in the county he represents.

O’Donnell faults Shumlin for investing more energy on his own political profile than the financial plight of his constituents. Specifically, she points to Shumlin’s “grandstanding” on Vermont Yankee, in which he’s demonized what she says is one of the region’s most important employers.

“On political issues you can be sure he’ll be right out front. But on issues that help Windham County residents live their lives and grow, he’s nowhere to be seen,” O’Donnell says. “And if that’s what he’s done in Windham County, what’s he going to do for the state of Vermont?”

Senate Majority Leader John Campbell says great leaders tend to have vociferous detractors. Shumlin’s success on divisive issues, Campbell says, has earned him enemies on the losing sides of those fights.

“When you look back at all the great leaders in history, I challenge anyone to find one that hasn’t had people say the same kind of negative things about them,” Campbell says. “Those enemies will always attack the integrity of the great leader. What I know about Peter is he’s a great leader. And I know his integrity stands up to scrutiny.”

QQQ

Shumlin is a self-proclaimed “fiscal conservative” who has vowed not to raise taxes.

“You won’t find anyone tighter with money than I am,” he says.

But critics – including a Democrat against whom he is competing in the Aug. 24 gubernatorial primary – say new revenues are the only way to fund the massive capital infusions associated with items on his ambitious five-point campaign platform.

Those campaign promises include single-payer healthcare by the end of 2014 and free childcare for 3- and 4-year-olds.

“Everything on his plan requires tax increases,” Roper says.

Shumlin assures voters they will not. Administrative reforms and the elimination of profit motive, Shumlin says, will more than pay for the health care overhaul.

“My plan does it cheaper than we do it now,” he says.

Emptying the prisons of non-violent offenders, he says, will cover the nearly $50 million price tag attached to his early childhood education plan.

The same qualities that have made him a successful businessman, Shumlin says, will guide his fiscally responsible turn in the governorship. Most importantly, he says, he’s the only person who can build the political will needed to achieve major reform.

“We don’t need anymore commissions. We’ve had enough studies,” Shumlin says. “I think we need an activist governor who’s going to get things done. We need vision. We need creativity. And that’s what I’m going to bring.”

http://www.timesargus.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20100815/NEWS02/708159870/&template=printart

Editor’s note: Dr. Deb Richter practices medicine in Cambridge, Vt.

Is this our last best chance to get single payer in Vermont? If it is, then look upon it as a political and health policy emergency.

Outside my hours as a physician, I’ve worked for 20 years on health care reform. In all that time I’ve never seen better conditions for real and sensible reform than right now here in Vermont.

The conditions won’t last long. In my view it is now or almost never. Our window of opportunity is not even a year’s time. More like 10 months.

By 2010 the window will have started closing. That’s when important provisions of the federal health reform kick in. By 2014 the window will be all but shut. It will stay shut until at least 2017.

The federal bill does some good things for Vermont. But the rest of the good provisions will only bring the rest of the nation up to Vermont’s standards. The bad stuff is what the federal bill doesn’t do: it doesn’t have any way to manage or control health care costs and it does not do enough to help many of those struggling to pay for their health care.

Since rising health care costs is Vermont’s biggest problem now, the federal bill isn’t going to help us much.

What it will do in less than a few years is end Vermont’s opportunity to call its own shots at controlling and managing out-of-control health care costs.

There is a way, though, and that brings us back to the conditions that might allow real reform. The first condition is, of course, broad based public support for a publicly funded system that creates universal access and controls costs. In Vermont, this condition has already been met. But there are three more conditions that must be met to allow for real reform.

These conditions are wrapped up in Senator Bernie Sanders, Dr. William Hsiao and Peter Shumlin.

Let’s take a closer look starting with this. Five years ago we had a process bill that would have led to the design of a fiscally responsible health care system when the legislature passed a single payer health care bill. Gov. James Douglas vetoed it. As a result we veered down the side road of incremental (think tiny) changes. Costs have risen more than $1.5 billion since then ($2600/Vermonter).

Fiscally responsible means there is some kind of sensible management of overall costs and fairness in the way we pay for health care. And system means all the health care facilities are tied together and coordinated to the benefit of everyone.

The 2005 bill, a fatality of politics not policy, might have eventuated in a single-payer system. Single payer health care systems are proven to be the most cost-efficient.

This year legislation was passed that asks next year’s legislature to consider one of three systems currently under design, one of them being single payer.

Sen. Sanders favors single payer and has worked for years on the issue. Dr. Hsiao has stated that in order to cover everyone for less money, you need a single-payer system. And Peter Shumlin has never wavered in his support for single payer.

Dr. Hsiao is well known to everyone in the health care policy field. He is a world renowned health economist from Harvard who designed Taiwan’s spectacularly successful health care system in the 1990s.

Peter Shumlin is known to some Vermonters as president pro tem of our Senate but to most Vermonters for having faced down strong opposition to same-sex marriage and for taking down Vermont Yankee’s corporate powers for publicly lying to the Vermont public.

Why is this important?

Shumlin is a candidate for governor in the Democratic primary (Aug. 24 this year). He has been unequivocal in his support for a single-payer health care system. Sen. Sanders has been unequivocal in his support and has said he will go right to President Obama to get any necessary federal waivers. Dr. Hsiao is the man designing the three systems (emphasis on systems) for next year’s legislators to consider. His wide knowledge, practical experience and gentle sophistication is just what the doctor ordered for our legislature.

Hsiao is at work as we write. Sen. Sanders has pledged his part. That leaves
the governor’s chair. As we learned five years ago, you can have the right legislation but you need the right governor.

There are a lot of reasons for electing someone governor. Reasons that applied two years ago, six years ago, ten years ago may not apply today. Fiscal reform of Vermont’s health care will have the single most beneficial impact on our economy. That’s big. It demands someone smart and tough. Peter Shumlin is smart and tough.

He was smart to seize on Dr. Hsiao’s expertise and to introduce him to our legislature. He took on same-sex marriage, a tough issue, and Vermont Yankee’s shutting down on schedule, a tough issue. He navigated both and won.

After 20 years of disappointment I can’t help but think this is our best chance to do the right thing. Shumlin, Hsiao and Sanders make the best combination anyone could hope for to get the right thing done. We don’t have much time. We can’t wait.

This Op Ed was posted on vtdigger.com: http://vtdigger.org/2010/08/12/richter-single-payers-last-chance/

Today I challenged Brian to stop hiding behind the Democratic Primary and release his plan.

In June I released my plan: a Vision for Vermont and the majority of the other Democratic candidates have released their plans as well. In these difficult economic times, Vermonters deserve to hear from every candidate who wants to be governor what his or her plan is to get Vermonters back to work. There can only be two reasons why Brian wouldn’t: either he doesn’t have a plan or he doesn’t want Vermonters to examine it for themselves. Either way, it serves as another example of the lack of leadership that Vermonters cannot afford.

If Brian doesn’t release his plan then Vermonters can assume that it is just more of the same. And the same isn’t very inspiring: running down the state as a place to do business to anyone who will listen instead of promoting it and hopping on a plane to Asia in search of a few prospects while ignoring struggling Vermont businesses and millions of people within a 3 hour drive. The results speak for themselves: over 10,000 private sector jobs and countless investment opportunities have been lost and Vermonters are feeling unprecedented economic pain.

Please tell Dubie to release his plan so the candidates can debate how the next governor can do better then the status quo by signing the petition here.