By David Van Deusen
As a working class Vermonter, when I vote for people to represent me in Montpelier I expect them to do right for the many and not the few. I expect that they will have good values, to be personally informed and for them to do everything they can to support working people. Ideally, I would want them to lower taxes on the working person, while raising them on the rich in order to ensure that the many can put food on their family's table and that our public services remain effective and robust.
On March 26, our state Representatives Adam Greshin (I-Warren) and Maxine Grad (D-Moretown) placed three important votes. Together they ignored the recommendations of the Vermont Workers' Caucus and voted against an amendment to the revenue bill that would have created a $2 a night hotel occupancy tax aimed at out-of-state tourists and they voted against a second amendment that would have raised taxes on the rich who are in the two highest tax brackets.
These amendments were being backed by the Vermont State Employees' Association (VSEA) as a means of rationally closing the budget gap without having to gut public services and lay off hundreds of public workers. On the other hand, Ms. Grad voted for the nonamended revenue bill. This bill flagrantly balances the budget by targeting state workers for hundreds of layoffs (and reductions in public services). Mr. Greshin voted against the revenue bill because it did not cut enough. The amendments failed and the revenue bill passed.
In the Mad River Valley, we presently have 122 households that include state employees or retired state employees. (In Moretown, approximately 7 percent of the total households have someone in it represented by the VSEA.) So by voting against the amendments offered by the Workers' Caucus, our reps effectively doomed an untold number of our local state employees (local residents of the Mad River Valley) to joblessness. This amounts to balancing the budget on the backs of state employees and the poor (to the benefit of the in-state rich and out-of-state tourists).
So, if you work for the state of Vermont and you lose your job due to these votes today, be sure to send a thank you card to Mr. Greshin and Ms. Grad. I am sure they would love to hear from you. And if you do send one to Mr. Greshin, I would suggest you also congratulate him on keeping taxes low for the rich.
In November 2016, I do hope we working class families remember who was with us and who was against us. In the meantime, on April 11 (a Saturday), at noon, in front of the State House in Montpelier the Vermont State Employees' Association will have a rally against mass layoffs and against cuts to public services. My family and I will be there. Hope to see some of you, my friends and neighbors, there too. Let's let the politicians know that cutting jobs and rolling back public services is not OK and is not something we, the people, can support!
David Van Deusen lives in Moretown.
