Dear Editor,
Vermonters should vote for John Rodgers for Lieutenant Governor. For many of us, the Lieutenant Governor race is the only place our vote will make a difference this fall. Unfortunately, it is our only seriously contested statewide race; we know who is going to get Vermont’s three presidential electoral votes; and, in too many districts, there aren’t even local contests (although the contested districts certainly deserve voter scrutiny).
Like Phil Scott, John Rodgers is a moderate Republican. Unlike Phil, John was a Democrat during his time in the Vermont legislature.“The Democratic Party, when I first entered politics in 2003, looked after working class and poor people,” Rodgers said. “And they don’t do that anymore.”
Many of us who usually vote Republican feel that our national party has also moved away from us, especially at the presidential level. In the Republican primary this summer, Rogers ran against Gregory Thayer, who allegedly attended the Stop the Steal rally in Washington, D.C., that preceded the storming of the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6.
Rodgers said: “I would never vote for Trump.” And Rogers won the Republican primary and helped set the future of both parties in Vermont with 56% of the vote.
Did people who usually vote in the Democratic primary crossover and vote for Rodgers? Almost certainly. Is that a bad thing? Hell, no! I hope those crossovers will stay Republican and, along with Scott and Rodgers, help rebuild a two-party system in Vermont. Notably, although more moderate people ran in some of the local Democratic primaries, they failed to unseat even the most extreme progressives. Hopefully, their supporters will vote for Rodgers and moderate candidates in those contested local races.
Rodgers’ website says that he “will strongly advocate for policies that will stem unsustainable government spending and fight against the unnecessary increases…. Vermonters deserve to be able to afford to live in Vermont, and Gov.Scott needs an ally in Montpelier…Rodgers believes strongly in an individual’s bodily autonomy and personal and property rights.”
A vote for Rodgers is not only a vote for sanity in Montpelier; it is a vote against the extreme partisans on both sides of the aisle who serve us so poorly.
Tom Ellison, Stowe, former Vt. Secretary of Transportation (1980-81) and Vt. Stimulus Czar (2008-2009.)
