Woodstock
“He’s just getting on board with the super-majority in Montpelier,” said Cappellini, a 43-year-old real estate investor who lives in Plymouth, Vt. “He’s going to be another vote on that side of the same people that have driven Vermont into the ground. The pathway out of this mess doesn’t lead from putting the same people back and giving them another shot. They’ve had their shot.”
Kimbell, a 51-year-old business owner from Woodstock who is head of the Woodstock Economic Development Commission, said Cappellini, who moved to Vermont two years ago, is barking up the wrong tree.
“It’s easy for Keith to say, ‘let’s throw the bums out,’ but I’m not in there,” said Kimbell, who says he recently switched partisan affiliation because he is fiscally conservative and socially liberal. “I found more room for that in the Democratic Party than the Republican Party.”
Kimbell’s evaluation of the candidacy of Cappellini, who moved to Plymouth from New York, was more mild.
“It’s always good for people to get involved in the political process and I’m glad that he’s running,” Kimbell said. “It’s not easy when you’re just getting involved in a town to run for office, so I have to give him credit for stepping up.”
Though the Windsor-5 district, which represents Plymouth, Reading and Woodstock, has been held by state Rep. Alison Clarkson, D-Woodstock, since 2005, voters have shown a willingness to consider candidates of all political stripes. Before Clarkson, who is running for the Vermont Senate, the House seat was filled by independent Jack Anderson from 1999 to 2005; before that, Republican William Suchmann served from 1997 to 1998.
Kimbell defeated Ron Miller in the August Democratic primary, while Cappellini was unopposed in the Republican primary.
Cappellini and Kimbell agree that Vermont’s state budget woes are best addressed with a basic philosophy of growing the state’s economic base by using tax incentives to make it more appealing to businesses and residents.
“I think we need to look at really completely overhauling our property tax system,” said Kimbell, who owns Elevation Clothing with his wife, and also sold manufacturing industry software until recently. “It is in many ways inequitable. Property taxes are rising at a rate that is unsustainable and it is causing people to move away.”
Cappellini, whose name will appear on the ballot as “KT Cappellini,” is a former television news producer who has worked in Washington and all around the country. He said Vermont’s sluggish economy is the root of many of its problems.
“There’s miniscule economic growth rates, which has led to an increase in taxes and fees to make up the shortfall,” he said. “There’s no end in sight. We’ve got to move beyond tax-and-spend and over-reliance on property tax.”
But their focus on how to get there is very different. Kimbell spoke about trimming individual aspects of current tax programs.
“We need to look at reviewing the entire system of property taxes, whether that means we look at income sensitivity levels, or the current use program, and the difference between homestead and not homestead.”
Last year, Kimbell helped pass Woodstock’s 1 percent local option tax on rooms, meals and alcohol sales in the town. The town’s share of the money is spent on marketing Woodstock to tourists and potential new residents.
Cappellini spoke more about aggressively pursuing businesses in certain sectors, like machine tool manufacturing, and pointed to Germany as a place that has successfully created industries with good wages, environmental responsibility, and quality products.
“You try and lure small manufacturers from other states or make it easier for manufacturers to set up in Vermont and grow,” he said.
The candidates also differ on Act 46, the education reform law that pushes school districts to merge into larger units as a way to cut costs and improve educational offerings.
Kimbell said the districts that have not yet found an easy way to merge should be looked at individually, and that their specific needs should be accommodated, whether that means extending the state deadline or signing off on governance structures that aren’t currently approved under the law.
“There is some flexibility that is built in that hasn’t turned out to be as flexible as some of the legislators who wrote it and passed it intended,” Kimbell said.
Cappellini, who has an 18-month-old son at home, said he fundamentally disagrees with any approach that is going to lead to larger class sizes and the closing of schools.
“We’re trying to rubber stamp Vermont with a big city model that’s failed,” he said. “Why not embrace one of our strengths? It’s worth paying for. Why am I going to kneecap my kid by busing him an hour and a half to a place where he’s in a class with 50 kids?”
Cappellini is “totally against” marijuana legalization, based on concerns about increased availability and problems that states like Colorado have experienced in the wake of legalization.
Kimbell says he would entertain legalizing marijuana, but cited concerns that the subsequent marketing could increase usage.
On gun control, Kimbell said he favors universal background checks; Cappellini said he thinks Vermont’s laws are where they should be, and that the state enjoys “a long tradition of firearms ownership and a culture of respect for firearms.”
Cappellini is endorsed by the National Rifle Association with a grade of A, though it notes that he has not held office and has no record to consider. Kimbell is not rated.
On health care, both candidates acknowledged that Vermont Health Connect has problems.
“There’s no short-term solutions. It’s definitely a long-term process,” Cappellini said. “The Republicans, if we’re successful, are going to inherit that mess.”
Kimbell said he was looking to the December report of a study committee to guide his thinking on whether Health Connect should be scrapped or saved, and that he was leery of Vermont striking out on its own path.
“We cannot afford to extend the most benefits in our region,” he said. “We can’t afford it. We have to be part of a national solution. What we’ve done so far is a waste of money.”
On Nov. 8, voters can cast their votes beginning at 10 a.m. in the Plymouth Town Hall at 68 Town Office Road; at 7 a.m. at Robinson Hall at 799 Route 106 in Reading; or at 7 a.m. at the Woodstock Town Hall at 31 The Green. Polls close in all three towns at 7 p.m.
Matt Hongoltz-Hetling can be reached at mhonghet@vnews.com or 603-727-3211.