Rutland race turns one sided

Wed, 13 Sep 2006 15:09:00 +0000

September 13, 2006

By Brent Curtis Herald Staff

The lone primary contest among state representative candidates in Rutland ended with a landslide victory for Democrat Gale Courcelle.

Courcelle, a retired Rutland City physical education teacher, soundly defeated Kevin Volz by a vote of 176-15. Courcelle will move on to face incumbent Republican David Allaire for a House seat in District 5-4.

“I was happy about that; it’s what I was really hoping for,” Courcelle said after hearing the results. “It’s a good start, but all it means is more work ahead.”

“I know it’s a tough race ahead with David. It’s going to take a lot of hard work and going door-to-door to reach the voters,” she added.

Undaunted by the results, Volz said he will continue his bid for office, not as a Democrat, but as a Libertarian.

“The independent voters I talked to want to see changes. They want to see lower spending in Montpelier,” he said.

While the Libertarian party’s views are usually lumped in with the far right of the political spectrum, Volz said he ran as a Democrat because of principles that the two parties have in common.

“I don’t agree that Libertarians are closer to the right,” he said. “The Libertarian philosophy embodies what a lot of Democrats hold dear.”

Upholding civil liberties, including the right to abortions, is one example of shared ground between the parties, Volz said.

Where the two parties depart is over fiscal policies, where Democrats often favor larger government and broad social safety nets and Libertarians favor much lower taxes and less government involvement in addressing social issues.

Volz said he supports funding public services, but he said he said there is a limit to what people can spend.

“At some point, enough is enough,” he said. “We need to have priorities.”

Turnout at the polls was low on Tuesday with only 1,438 of the city’s 9,000 voters casting ballots.

In the larger statewide races, Rutlanders favored Matt Dunne over John Tracy 311-265 in the Democratic primary for lieutenant governor. Martha Rainville led rival Mark Shepard in the Republican primary for Vermont’s lone U.S. representative seat by a vote of 491-246.

In the Republican primary for U.S. Senate, Richard Tarrant led Rutland candidate Greg Parke by a vote of 424-276 in the city.

Contact Brent Curtis at brent.curtis@rutlandherald.com.

First round of Vermont Libertarian Party nominations

Tue, 15 Aug 2006 19:55:00 +0000

At our state committee meeting we nominated our first round of candidates. Their campaign are already off and running.

David Atkinson: State Representative, Orange-Addison-1
Bob Wolffe: State Representative, Orange-Addison-1
Ben Todd: State Representative, Orleans-Calendonia-1
Thomas Carpenter Jr: State Representative, Rutland-5-3
Kevin Volz: State Representative, Rutland-5-4
Jeff Manney: State Representative, Rutland-5-1
Hardy Machia: State Representative, Grand Isle-Chittenden-1-1
Milton C. DeGeorge Jr.: Probate Judge, Essex County
Milton C. DeGeorge Jr.: High Bailiff, Essex County

We will be nominating additional candidates at our September meeting.

April 2006 Newsletter

Thu, 27 Apr 2006 09:59:00 +0000

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VERMONT LIBERTARIAN NEWS
April 3, 2006

Sponsored by The Vermont Libertarian Party

http://www.vtlp.org

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

1. From the Chair
$73, Blog, Convention Speakers
2. Convention Schedule
3. Libertarians call on the Legislature to act on Death with Dignity bill
4. Vermont has Highest State Tax Burden in Country
5. Columnist Cal Thomas says “it’s time strong third party”
6. Calendar of Events
Apr 22, 10 M: State Committee Mtg, City Hall, Montpelier
Apr 29, 9:30AM-4PM: State Convention, Montpelier
7. Donate, Volunteer, Run for Office
8. Unsubscribe

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1. FROM THE CHAIR

Thanks to many generous supporters our 10/10/10 fund raiser is wrapping
up on April 15th. We raised another $1000 last month – putting us within
$73 of reaching our goal of $10,000. If all our readers could donate a
dollar, it would put us easily over the top. You can use PayPal to donate -
in the right hand column at http://www.vtlp.org/

When you visit http://www.vtlp.org, you will notice that we now have a
blog. Just under Upcoming Events is the Recent News section. Here you
will find something new just about every day. (If you know about RSS
feeds, then you can watch our blog at feed://www.vtlp.org/feeds/.)

Later this month:

Come celebrate with like minded Vermonters on April 29 at the Capital
Plaza in Montpelier at the Vermont Libertarian Party state convention.
We have a great line up of speakers.

Ethan Allen travels through time to add some revolutionary gusto to
the party.
Rob Williams, editor of “Vermont Commons”, a monthly newspaper
and multimedia forum championing Vermont independence ? political, economic,
social, and spiritual.
Martin Harris of Vermont Citizens for Property Rights
James Dwinell, publisher of the weekly e-mail Dwinell Report.
Professor Frank Bryan is one of Vermont best known political writers
and humorists. Author of Real Democracy, The Vermont Papers, Real Vermonters
Don’t Milk Goats, Vermont Quiz Book, and many others.

http://www.vtlp.org/main/vtlp-convention.asp

Hardy Machia

Chair, Vermont Libertarian Party

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2. CONVENTION SCHEDULE

Vermont Libertarian Party Convention 2006

Capitol Plaza Hotel & Conference Center

100 State Street, Montpelier, Vermont

Saturday, April 29, 8:30 a.m. ? 4 p.m.

FOR RESERVATIONS OR MORE CONVENTION INFORMATION CONTACT:
SCOTT BERKEY AT 802-728-6211 OR BERKEYSCOTT@HOTMAIL.COM
Online Reservation Form
(http://www.vtlp.org/main/vtlp-convention.asp)

MORNING SESSION
8:30 a.m. Registration Opens
9:30 a.m. Chair?s Welcome, Recognition of VIP?s
10:00 a.m. Introduction of Attending Vendors
10:15 a.m. Nomination of Delegates to the National Convention
10:30 a.m. Adoption of Campaign 2006 Platform
12:00 p.m. Break

AFTERNOON SESSION
12:30 p.m. Luncheon (Reservations Required)
Ethan Allen travels through time to speak
2:00 p.m. Guest Speakers (Tickets Required $10)
Rob Williams, Vermont Commons/Second Vermont Republic
Martin Harris, Citizens for Property Rights
James Dwinell, Dwinell Political Report
3:00 p.m. Keynote Speaker: ?Frank Bryan
4:00 p.m. Social Hour

Lunch: Seating for lunch is by reservation only. Reservation may be
placed with Scott Berkey by calling (802) 728-6211, emailing
berkeyscott@hotmail.com?or through our online reservation form
(http://www.vtlp.org/main/vtlp-convention.asp). The price is $25 per
person if paid in advance and $30 if paid on the day of the convention.
The ticket for the speakers is included in the cost of lunch.
A vegetarian option is available.

Directions: The Capitol Plaza is located at 100 State Street in
Montpelier. Exit 8 off I-89, merge onto Memorial Drive. At second stop
light take a left onto Bailey Avenue. At intersection take right onto
State Street. Vermont State House is on your left, 1/2 block on the
Right is Capitol Plaza Hotel. The phone number is (802) 223-5252.

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3. Libertarians call on the Legislature to act on Death with Dignity
bill

March 13, Libertarian Party chair Hardy Machia spoke out in support of
death with dignity legislation that would allow people to retain the
right to make their end-of-life decisions themselves.

Libertarian Party State Chair Hardy Machia said, “Freedom starts with
the individual, and each individual is the owner of his own mind, body,
and spirit. The Death with Dignity bill respects this fundamental right
by allowing individuals to make decisions about how they want to live
their lives, and how they want to end their lives. We call on the
legislature to act on the death with dignity bill [H.168] this session.”

The Libertarian Party looks with approval on Oregon’s eight-year-old
assisted-suicide law that allows doctors to help terminally ill patients
who wish to end their lives. The Party disagrees with the Bush
administration’s argument against the Oregon law, that that hastening
death with medication violates federal drug provisions. Libertarians
believe that no federal or state provisions should truncate the
fundamental right of human beings over their own lives and bodies.

Libertarians agree with the recent U.S. Supreme Court decision rendered
in Gonzales v. Oregon that upheld Oregon’s Death with Dignity Act by a
vote of 6-3. “It is time for Vermont to pass similar legislation to take
a more libertarian approach to matters that are so intimate and personal
to our people,” Machia said.

The Death with Dignity bill [H.168] is currently in the House Human
Services Committee.

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4. Vermont has Highest State Tax Burden in Country

Burlington, Vermont — March 31, 2006

A new report says Vermonters pay more state taxes than people from any
other state.

According to the federal report released Friday, overall state taxation
rose from $1.8 billion to $2.4 billion in one year. That’s an increase
of 33%.

That pushes the per capita tax burden to $3,600, the highest state tax
burden in the country, but the numbers do not paint an entirely accurate
picture.

The new federal report is misleading. It turns out that Vermonters state
tax burden is not as bad as reported, but then again, as one expert made
very clear, Vermonters are still among the highest taxed in the country.

“One of the things that the Census Bureau did was this year was change
its methodology,” said Art Woolf, University of Vermont Professor of
Economics.

Woolf says it is the Census Bureau decision to include Vermont property
tax payments that accounts for the misleading impression that Vermonters
are paying the highest state taxes per person.

“So Vermont’s zoomed up in the rankings because it used to be that a lot
of property taxes were seen as a local tax, part of it was a state tax
and now they’ve just taken the entire property tax and put it in the
state tax which is why we’re number one in the nation in total state
taxes per capita,” explained Woolf.

Woolf points out that while state taxes may not be as burdensome as
indicated in the new report, Vermonters nevertheless remain among the
highest taxed citizens in the nation, especially individuals and
families that make income over 60-thousand dollars.

“Well we are highly taxed. We’re one of the top ten states in the
country in terms of our total taxes as a percent of the income we earn,”
said Woolf.

Maine residents pay the highest overall taxes in the nation, while New
Hampshire residents, by far, according to Art Woolf, have the lightest
overall tax burden per person.

Brian Joyce – Channel 3 News

http://www.wcax.com/global/story.asp?s=4710624

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5. Columnist Cal Thomas says “it’s time strong third party, or failing
that, another revolution”

The following editorial appeared in the Burlington Freepress. Cal Thomas
joins Alan Greenspan and others in calling for a strong third party.

Spending obscenities

By Cal Thomas

Mar 21, 2006

Not so long ago, in a country that now seems far, far away, Ronald
Reagan told the nation: “we don’t have deficits because people are taxed
too little. We have deficits because big government spends too much.”

He uttered those words in a year when Democrats controlled the House
(the body in which spending legislation originates) and the national
debt, according to the Bureau of Public Debt, was $2.3 trillion.

Last week, a Republican Senate voted to raise the debt ceiling to nearly
$9 trillion. Senators quickly passed a record $2.8 trillion budget. What
would Reagan say now? He said then, “the federal deficit is outrageous.
For years I’ve asked that we stop pushing onto our children the excesses
of our government.” He called for a balanced budget amendment to the
Constitution and labeled the budget process a “sorry spectacle.” That
Republicans are outspending the most reckless 1980s Democrat (and 1960s
Great Society Democrats and 1940s FDR Democrats) is the sorriest
spectacle of all.

The Senate vote increased the debt ceiling for the fourth time in five
years. The statutory debt limit has now risen by more than $3 trillion
since President Bush took office. That any Republican majority could
preside over such fiscally irresponsible spending ought to be grounds
for revoking their party membership.

This is mostly about politics, not terrorism. Republicans fear that only
gobs of money will endear them to voters in sufficient numbers to
re-elect their increasingly precarious majority. Why should Republicans
be re-elected when one of the major reasons the GOP exists is to reduce
the size and cost of government and free more people to do for
themselves instead of restricting their liberties through costly and
overreaching big government?

Sen. Jim DeMint, South Carolina Republican, rightly blamed
out-of-control spending on his colleagues’ political nervousness: “They
want to go and say they are helping people, but we are not helping
people when we are selling out their future.”

DeMint might have added that it doesn’t help people to cause them to
rely on and pay for ever-expanding government. Such a policy stifles
initiative and personal responsibility and discourages incentive. It
goes against the “Puritan ethic” that was one of America’s foundational
principles.

Sen. Lindsey Graham, South Carolina Republican, observed, “This budget
could be the final nail in our coffin if we don’t watch it.” Graham said
Republican spending habits are demoralizing voters: “I don’t think we
properly understand the keys to our electoral success.”

Sen. Arlen Specter, Pennsylvania Republican, defended spending an
additional $7 billion for health and education programs, claiming those
areas have lacked money in recent years. Is he kidding? The Bush
administration has sired the biggest new entitlement program in history
- a prescription drug benefit for the elderly. And let’s not forget “No
Child Left Behind,” which massively increased federal education spending
when there is no evidence of a connection between money and academic
achievement.

Perhaps the real culprit is not Congress, but us. The Pew Research
Center poll of March 14 found that only 55 percent of Americans rate the
deficit as a “top priority.” That contrasts with the 1990s when the
deficit resonated more strongly with voters. As long as we are willing
to take the money in exchange for our votes, politicians will give it to
us. This must change, not only because we are in debt up to our
eyeballs, but also because many of the note holders are, or might
become, our enemies.

Means testing for all government programs and term limits for Congress
are the answer to never-ending debt, but neither is likely to happen.

Reagan said his favorite president was Calvin Coolidge. In 1923, when
Coolidge was vice president, he said, “After order and liberty, economy
is one of the highest essentials of a free government.”

Coolidge left the presidency with a surplus. So did Bill Clinton. That a
Republican Congress and administration are engaging in such promiscuous
spending is obscene. If voting in Democrats -who in the past engaged in
deficit spending – punishes Republicans, little will change. What to do?

Maybe it’s time for a strong third party, or failing that, another
revolution.

Cal Thomas is the co-author of Blinded By Might.

Find this story at: http://www.townhall.com/opinion/column/calthomas/2006/03/21/190629.html

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6. CALENDAR OF EVENTS

April 22 (10AM – Saturday): VTLP State Committee Meeting at City Hall in
Montpelier. Use the back door, go up stairs, Memorial Room
is on right.

April 29 (9:30AM-4PM): VTLP State Convention. Capital Plaza Hotel, Montpelier.

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7. DONATE, VOLUNTEER, RUN FOR OFFICE

To make a contribution to the Vermont Libertarian Party or to sign

your friends up for the newsletter, visit us on the web at

http://www.vtlp.org.

If you are interested in volunteering or running for office, then

contact Hardy Machia at chair@vtlp.org.

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8. LETTERS TO THE EDITOR / SUBMIT AN ARTICLE

For information or to submit news, letters, or articles, contact

Hardy Machia, Chair, Vermont Libertarian Party, chair@vtlp.org,

(802) 372-9512.

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The VERMONT LIBERTARIAN NEWS is a publication of the Vermont Libertarian

Vermont Libertarian Party Blog » kevin volz

Rutland race turns one sided

First round of Vermont Libertarian Party nominations

April 2006 Newsletter