Back to Vt. roots, fiscal prudence

Dear Editor,
Another legislative biennium has ended and Vermont has begun to enter the doorway of an historic transition in state government. Next January we will have a new Governor, Lt. Governor, Speaker of the House and President Pro Tem of the Senate — and it is possible that Vermont’s path forward could look far different than it does today.
I hope that is the case.
Over the course of the past two years alone Vermonters have seen their tax burden rise by almost $100 million while wages have remained stagnant. Additionally, more than 11,000 jobs have been lost throughout the state, our infrastructure has continued to suffer neglect and affordable healthcare remains elusive. While Montpelier is still a place where legislation is crafted harmoniously, that old, invaluable Yankee ethic of fiscal prudence and personal responsibility has seemingly fallen by the wayside. Instead of reverently remembering that ethic as the means with which this state was tamed from the wilderness and the Vermont way of life established, it is treated as a relic and unfit for today’s realities.
Me? I say we need a heavy dose of our roots. As we enter into this historic transition I hope that Vermonters will be eager to seize the opportunity for a “reset” and that we will elect, throughout state government, a set of women and men who are beholden to the taxpayer and are committed to returning Vermont to a sound path forward. Men and women with guts – that have the personal fortitude to acknowledge that red ink is a slow poison that is killing our way of life and that we can’t keep injecting it into our future.
We need a path not paved by ideology or special interests but, rather, by the pure and simple will of the people. A Montpelier that does a few things and does them well and a government that jealously guards the prosperity of its citizens — whether they live in Chittenden County or not. You can count on me,
Job Tate, state rep. for Mendon, Chittenden, Killington, Bridgewater