WHITE RIVER JUNCTION — Since 1996, one thing hasn’t changed about the race for the three seats that represent Windsor County in the state Senate: Every two years, voters have gone to the polls and elected Democrats.
In most years, the Republican Party has fielded three candidates, and some years an independent or Liberty Union party candidate has run, as well, except in 2014, when three Democrats ran unopposed.
This year, though, the three Democratic incumbents, state Sens. Alison Clarkson, of Woodstock, Dick McCormack, of Bethel, and Alice Nitka, of Ludlow, will face three independent candidates and two Republicans in the general election on Nov. 3.
The big field generates some uncertainty in an election that usually runs like clockwork, but perhaps not much. None of the five challengers have legislative experience and have to campaign in a district that is the state’s largest by area, incorporating Windsor County’s 24 towns, plus Londonderry and Mt. Holly. They are running against incumbents who among them have more than 55 years of experience in the Legislature and who still possess a passion for the nitty-gritty of committee meetings and constituent service.
“I love the work. I love being a state senator. I love the orderliness of the rules” in the Senate, said McCormack, 73, who has been a state senator for 27 of the past 31 years. McCormack is a musician and has a background in education.
The three people who are running as independents, Keith Stern, of North Springfield, Mason Wade, of Rochester, and Doug Wilberding, of Norwich, don’t have much in common. Stern and Wade are conservatives, while Wilberding leans to the left.
The two Republicans in the race are Michael Jasinski, of Springfield, and Jack Williams, of Weathersfield.
Among the candidates, three issues came to the fore: climate change and the state’s recently passed Global Warming Solutions Act (GWSA); the high cost of housing; and the ongoing response to the pandemic, which will hit the state budget hard next year.
Stern, 65, said he was motivated to run after state lawmakers overrode Gov. Phil Scott’s veto of the Global Warming Solutions Act, which requires the state to reduce its carbon emissions by 80% by 2050.
“It’s going to destroy our already weak economy,” said Stern, who operated Stern’s Quality Produce in White River Junction with his wife, Judy, from 1985 to 2018.
Stern predicted that the plan will drive up energy prices and taxes and “do away with” snowmobiles, ATVs, boats, lawnmowers and other devices powered by fossil fuels. Vermont produces only a tiny percentage of the nation’s greenhouse gases, he said. Why should the state provide a financial incentive to purchase an electric vehicle when people are struggling to pay for housing and other basic needs, he asked.
The incumbents, all of whom voted for the bill and the override, said that those predictions don’t take into account the cost of doing nothing about climate change. Vermont is reliant on its climate, Clarkson said, citing skiing, agriculture and forest products as key parts of the state’s economy.
And vehicles, recreational and otherwise, are going to be electric before long, McCormack and Clarkson said. “We’ve got to move in that direction,” McCormack said.
Nitka, a 75-year-old longtime social worker who specialized in working with children, expressed some reservations about the GWSA, saying she was uncomfortable with provisions that created an independent board to oversee it and that allows people to sue the state if it fails to live up to the law’s goals.
But Clarkson, 65, a former theater producer whose family is steeped in political life, argued that the Legislature needs to have its feet held to the fire on this issue.
Wade, 65, said he supports efforts to combat climate change, but that the Legislature should have waited until after the election to resume work on the GWSA, when it would have been less divisive. “I believe in science and technology and the clock is running out,” he said in an email.
Like the three Democrats, Wilberding, 54, said the GWSA was “definitely extremely long overdue.” A Norwich native who moved back to his hometown in 2017, Wilberding works in real estate investment with a focus on affordable housing. He ran unsuccessfully for the Norwich Selectboard in March, then started a successful effort to revote on a $3 million plan that had been approved in March to make Norwich’s Tracy Hall more energy efficient, arguing that simpler, less costly measures could have a greater impact. Voters overturned the plan in August.
Housing is the issue that spurred Wilberding into the race. The high cost of housing is a limiting factor on population growth and on the economy, he noted. “My hometown is a case study in that,” he said. “It’s really changed over the years. It’s extremely affluent.”
Vermont needs housing that is both affordable for lower-wage workers, but also resilient, in terms of energy efficiency. They should make use of solar power and be well-insulated, he said.
“We need incentives for people who are building new homes to use those fossil-fuel-free solutions,” he said.
Wilberding said he chose to run as an independent because it allows him to be non-partisan. “It can be a double-edged sword,” he said. He’s unburdened by party dogma, but unaided by party backing, he said.
Stern’s bid for state Senate follows several runs as a Republican for statewide offices, including a primary challenge two years ago to Gov. Scott. Those early attempts were “just to get ideas heard,” he said. He’s running as an independent because he feels “the Republican Party kind of doesn’t have any center.” He also feels that the GOP is burdened by negative associations, which predate the ascendency of Donald Trump to the White House.
The three Democrats pointed out that they have all worked well with people of other parties, though the huge Democratic majorities in the Legislature mean they don’t have to should they want to send bills to Scott’s desk.
The candidates were in near unanimity on the need to address the state’s high housing costs.
“Housing is something that shouldn’t be such a struggle,” Stern said, citing state and local regulations as a primary reason why housing supply lags behind demand.
“We know we need 10,000 more housing units in the state,” Clarkson said.
Asked about the big issues facing the state, both Stern and Wilberding brought up housing, but the three Democrats pointed to the state budget for the 2022 fiscal year, which starts on July 1, 2021. This year, while the novel coronavirus had a huge effect on the state’s economy, and therefore on state revenues, the financial picture was healthy thanks to strong revenue from fiscal year 2019 and from $1.25 billion in federal aid.
Next year, building a budget will be much more difficult, as further federal aid might not be forthcoming and the revenue from the current fiscal year will reflect the impact of the lockdown. The budget gap is currently estimated at around $180 million.
“Nobody is really clear on what we’re going to do,” McCormack said. Both he and Nitka sit on the Senate Appropriations Committee, one of the Legislature’s key financial panels. Nitka is the vice chair.
“I’ve been working hard for many years now on the budget,” she said.
Efforts to reach the two Republican candidates this week were not successful. In a news release this summer, Jasisnki said that his “campaign will focus on a common sense approach to efficient and effective government” and that he would work to reduce taxes.
Williams, a retired civil engineering technician with the Vermont Agency of Transportation, ran for the state Senate two years ago and expressed opposition to Act 46, the state’s school consolidation law; to gun control; and to a carbon tax.
The last Republican to represent Windsor County in the state Senate was the late Ruth Harvie, a Chester resident who lost a bid for re-election in 1996.
Alex Hanson can be reached at ahanson@vnews.com or 603-727-3207.
