Candid Assessment -- Where the Candidates Stand on Our Issues

by Mary Elizabeth Fratini
with additional reporting by Carrie Chandler

 

Lt. Governor - Matt Dunne

Senator Matt Dunne (D-Windsor) was first elected to the state House of Representatives when he was 22 years old and served four terms representing Hartland and West Windsor. He has since served as the National Director of Americorps VISTA, a marketing director for a Wilder-based software company, and recently ended his second term in the Senate where he sat on the Appropriations, Economic Development, and Administrative Rules committees.

Giving up his Senate seat to run for lieutenant governor seems a step backwards in terms of real power, but Dunne said that, “At this point in time, we need to have some change. […] I’ve seen firsthand the damage that has been done by the Congress and the White House, and unfortunately, our current Lieutenant Governor has not been willing to stand up to them and give the support to the Legislature that it needs to be able to combat what I perceive as attacks on Vermont and Vermont values.”

Agriculture and Entrepreneurs

Living on the same small farm he grew up on, Dunne continues to raise livestock on a small scale. He testified against the statewide Premises ID program at a joint legislative hearing this spring. “The proposal put on the table was a cookie-cutter modeled after states that have nothing left but large corporate farms,” he said in our interview. “The direction the administration was going is too invasive of privacy and would put an undue burden on Vermonters who are upholding that tradition [of raising food for their own consumption].”

Dunne also supported the recently vetoed Farmer Protection Act, saying that, “I will continue to support protecting farmers from the corporate giants who I do not believe have our family farm concerns in mind.” He believes that state government should work to ensure that agriculture remains a part of Vermont’s diversified economy, by incorporating use value appraisal into property tax reform, exempting farm buildings from education property taxes, and providing incentives and support for farmers who wish to keep their land protected and diversify their agricultural base through a transition to organics or the addition of value-added products.

“Vermont is at its best when Vermont entrepreneurs have been successful in taking their ideas and turning them into products that can compete in the global marketplace. That has been true for over two centuries, whether it was initial munitions innovations, or farm equipment or even the early engines that were developed here in Vermont,” Dunne said. “It has been unfortunate that over the last 30 years, we have shifted our focus from trying to support these kinds of entrepreneurs to trying to recruit large corporate campuses to plunk down in the state of Vermont. While I am certainly an advocate of going out and making sure that people know that Vermont is open for business, I believe that the strength in building the new economy is going to come from investing in new entrepreneurs.”

Dunne believes that the next steps in supporting more innovative businesses are universal access to broadband and increasing the amount of state resources used to support moving ideas from the concept to product phase.

“I started a broadband grant program in the Senate with Senators Vince Illuzzi (R-Essex-Orleans) and Hinda Miller (D-Chittenden) [but] we have not invested enough money in that program,” he said. In addition, Dunne sponsored legislation creating the Seed Capital Fund.

Support for innovators extends into the affordable housing crunch for Dunne, who cited the difficulty of focusing on new ideas when someone is also carrying one or two jobs to pay for housing. “The lack of space for them to innovate with other innovators makes Vermont a place that’s less likely for entrepreneurs to want to set up because entrepreneurs want to be surrounded by other entrepreneurs,” he said. Two solutions he offered were looking at vertical development in Vermont’s growth centers, and converting abandoned manufacturing facilities into mixed housing units. “Many of our villages, downtowns, and traditional community centers have second, third, and sometimes fourth floors that are unused. That would make ideal housing for a mix of incomes,” he said, offering as examples young people delighted to have a “funky loft space” within walking distance of a cup of coffee and work, and families looking to live within easy access to recreation.

Choice and Gender

Dunne’s grandmother was one of the first regional directors of Planned Parenthood of New York and he describes his support for a woman’s right to choose as hereditary. “Either you trust a woman and her doctor or you don’t,” Dunne said. “I trust a woman and her doctor.”

Dunne does not support parental notification. “The reality is [that] there are situations where incest is involved and where close family friends are involved,” he explained. “As long as those situations exist, asking a 14 or 15-year-old who has been through a traumatic situation to go in front of a judge [in a process] that they might not be able to understand, is not acceptable. I’m quite firm in that position.”

Calling this issue a major difference between himself and the current incumbent, Dunne added that, “Four years ago, it might have been okay to have someone in any state office who believed that Roe v. Wade should be overturned like the current Lieutenant Governor believes, but with the Supreme Court makeup the way it is, and the bill that was passed by South Dakota, the issue of a woman’s right to choose is going to come to the state in fairly short order. If there is a tie vote, I think the people would want to know that the person casting that vote would cast it for a woman’s right to choose.”

Dunne also supported the Gender Identity bill, which he described as a modest piece of civil rights legislation and the first in recent memory to be vetoed. “I think Vermont is looked to across the country as a place that takes stands across party lines in support of civil rights and unfortunately this was not an example of us leading the nation,” he said.
As to opponents’ concerns about the bill placing undue burdens on school hiring practices, Dunne had little sympathy or patience. “I will always err on the side of civil rights. If there are problems with the implementation process, we can work through those after the fact. I come from a family that has spent time in prison fighting for civil rights when people said it couldn’t be done because it will be bad for schools, or problematic to integrate restaurants. I am not making nearly the sacrifice my parents did and will not make excuses like that.”

State Policies on Women in Crisis

With a five-fold increase in the incarceration rate for women in Vermont over the last decade, some advocates have asked if we will begin sending women out of state to serve their sentences. Dunne opposes such practices for either gender, calling it our responsibility to take care of the incarcerated population in Vermont. “It is something we need to live up to and not outsource out of state, because then the problem becomes ‘out of sight, out of mind’,” he said. “It is particularly problematic for women who are mothers, because all the data shows that if you create barriers [to] seeing or communicating it leads to worse situations for the [children].”

Dunne also called for more comprehensive treatment programs like Valley Vista in Bradford, more investments in practical skills training, and bringing together experts from all fields to reduce domestic violence. “I had the honor of working with the advocates for domestic violence [prevention] ato put through legislation which guarantees that victims of domestic abuse who had to miss work would be covered by the equivalent of unemployment benefits. For me, there is nothing worse than the situation of someone dealing with a domestic violence situation who has to miss work, suddenly being confronted with defaulting on [her] mortgage or not paying bills,” he said.

And while he supports maintaining the work requirements for welfare eligibility, Dunne believes that educational and skill-building classes should count as part of the hours. “Those are critical asset development strategies to get out of poverty for the long term. If we punish people for not having the skills to get jobs paying livable wages then we are not accomplishing the mission of welfare reform, which is to empower people out of poverty,” he said. Dunne would also allow service opportunities like VISTA to count towards the work requirement and emphasized the importance of providing preschool and childcare. “I do not believe we have met that commitment – and without that you run the more significant risk of women who are attempting to meet their commitment to work at the cost of their child not getting proper supervision and the care they need to be successful in the long term.”

Conclusion

Dunne’s goals seem large given the resources allocated to the lieutenant governor’s position in Vermont, but he is confident that they are achievable through collaboration. “I see the Lieutenant Governor’s office as an incredible opportunity to take a position that has typically been kind of sleepy and turn it into an office of action,” he said. For an example, Dunne pointed to a conference on poverty last spring featuring former senator and vice-presidential candidate John Edwards (D-NC) in Burlington. “I was able to do that without any staff, it’s just a matter of being creative and reaching out to the incredible non-profit and higher education community in Vermont to take an offensive action.”

Facing a primary with an equally  charismatic Representative John Tracy (D-Burlington), and (if he wins), a three-way race with the recent entry of Progressive Marvin Malek, Dunne’s elected future is uncertain at best. But his energy and experience indicate that both the primary and general election will be races to watch.