Considering Vermont Gov. Phil Scott’s priorities
Vermont Gov. Phil Scott and I have different priorities.
Example one: The University of Vermont has a scholarship fund. During the budget negotiations, Gov. Phil Scott decided to take scholarship money and use it for a sports arena. If you were a student, or the parent of a student, looking for a bit of financial help, how would you feel about this? While sports teach about teamwork, so can a classroom. Sports also build community support. I think education is a better use of scholarship funds. Especially since colleges are built as educational institutions. Additionally, students who get a scholarship might be more inclined to stay in Vermont when they look for jobs.
Example two: The Legislature had a bill about data centers. It put some guardrails on them. It got vetoed. One of the guardrails concerned electricity use. It had the data center produce a portion of the immense amount of power that data centers use. This would have kept rates lower for other electric customers, like you and me. I won’t go into water usage. Phil Scott vetoed it because we need the workers. I Googled how many this would be. According to Broadstaff website, a 1 to 5 MW has 8 to 15 staff, a 5 to 20 MW has 15 to 35 staff and over 20 MW has a staff of 35. I went to the White River Co-op, the one that is part of Hanover/Lebanon co-ops. This is a medium-sized store. I asked two people at the front counter (where you ask questions) how many people work here. One person said around 45 employees and the other said between 50 and 55. Would you rather have a data center or a grocery store in your town?