(Host) The three leading candidates for governor were scheduled to address the environment and food in their first debate of the campaign.
They covered those topics, but they also took the opportunity to talk about a variety of other issues at a forum last night in Waitsfield.
The underlying theme common to Governor Jim Douglas, Democrat Gaye Symington, and Progressive Anthony Pollina was the economy.
Symington said Vermonters are worried as winter approaches.
(Symington) "Really there’s a triple pressure on Vermonters. It’s the relentless pressure of fuel prices, health care costs and food costs.”
(Host) Douglas said he’d spent his first six years as governor trying to address the economy.
He said even in the middle of a recession, that remained his top priority.
(Douglas) "The best thing we can do is make sure that each and every Vermonter has a good job, each and every family has a decent paying job to put food on the table and pay the other costs of living in our state.”
(Host) Pollina agreed that Vermonters feel pressed by the downturn of the economy.
But he said the problems facing the state can be blamed on both the administration and the Legislature.
(Pollina) "The single most important issue facing us is one of leadership. Two things: A lot of bickering between this side and that side. I think people in this room know how to improve Vermont‘s environmental and energy future. I think the people in this room have to be engaged in making it happen more.”
(Host) The event at the Lareau Farm in Waitsfield was sponsored by the Vermont Natural Resources Council and Vermont Localvores, which drafted the questions.
So the candidates addressed many environmental issues, including the future of Vermont Yankee, regulating farms and protecting Lake Champlain.
They sometimes had to speak loudly just to be heard over the rain beating on the metal roof of a pavilion at the farm.
The debate was delayed while organizers tried to talk Liberty Union candidate Peter Diamondstone into leaving the stage. He wanted to participate but had not been invited. Ultimately, a state trooper removed him.