Dear Editor,
I am asking you to vote for Alison Clarkson, who I have known many years, for another term in the Vermont Senate. She was initially elected to the Senate in 2016, and prior to that had served in the Vermont House from 2005.
She served on the Board of the VT Natural Resources Council, and has been an advocate for environmental issues; helping to move the state from a fossil fuel economy to a more environmentally friendly economy. In 2011 she coordinated the volunteer effort in Woodstock to respond to Tropical Storm Irene.
Alison currently is the vice chair of the Senate Committee on Economic Development, helping to shape economic development for Vermont going forward into the 21st Century, supporting a sustainable living wage, paid family leave, addressing income inequality, and affordable housing.
But as a physician, what I find appealing has been Alison’s consistent stance on public health. She has been supportive of efforts not only to assure access to health care, but to also improve health outcomes cost effectively. Alison recognizes the fact that the opioid and substance abuse crisis we are currently facing is a medical problem and should be treated as such. She has always been a champion of women’s reproductive rights and is supportive of the passage of Proposition 5.
Alison also approaches gun violence as a public health, and not a 2nd Amendment issue. A major health problem in Vermont is death by suicide using a firearm. We know that those who attempt death by suicide using less lethal means rarely make another attempt. The choice of a firearm is almost universally lethal. She has supported legislation to address the entire life spectrum: child access prevention and safe storage laws; a 72-hour waiting period before taking possession of a firearm; and an extreme risk protection order for those in crisis who already own a firearm.
Please vote to send Alison back to the Senate!!
Paul Manganiello MD, MPH, emeritus professor, Obstetrics and Gynecology, Geisel School of Medicine at Dartmouth
