Hardy Machia goes on the offensive by pointing out the incumbents ads of wanting to work for lower taxes are just not true. This PDF of Can’t Afford These Taxes postcard shows how much new spending the incumbents approved last session, and highlights how the Vermont state budget has doubled in the last eight years, but what we are getting in services hasn’t.

Andrew Thomas sent out a similar mailing for his race, but the incumbent in his race voted for budgets in excess of 15 billion dollars in new spending since she took office….Andrew’s mailing.

John McClaughry had a 90 second radio commentary on the new VTLP Platform and it aired on WDEV yesterday.

http://www.vtlp.org/main/media/ audio/WDEV406%20052406.mp3

WDEV406 052406

Libertarian Platform

Most people don?t pay much attention to Vermont?s tiny Libertarian Party, but they really ought to read the new Libertarian Platform. Her are a few juicy quotations from it.

?We believe, ? it starts out, ?in competitive free enterprise as the source of wealth for our people, jobs for our labor force, and the tax base necessary to support the legitimate demands of government. Confusing regulations and prolonged and often arbitrary enforcement has weakened the economic competitiveness of Vermont businesses. We will identify regulations that are outdated and unnecessary, and secure their repeal. We will identify regulations that ought to be rewritten, and we will rewrite them so they are strict in protecting consumers, business, our communities, and our environment, but certain in their requirements, reasonable in their demands, and swift and fair in their application. ?

On taxation, the platform says, ?We will stop the growth of state government and permanently cap the income tax rate at 2006 levels, rollback the sales tax rate to 5 percent, and cap rooms and meals tax at 9 percent. We will adopt a Taxpayer’s Bill of Rights to limit the growth of government to the rate of inflation, and to require a voter referendum to raise any tax.

The platform concludes with the section on Liberty. It concludes ?We will pass up every opportunity to tell peaceable, independent Vermonters how to live their lives.?

Now is that a great platform, or what?

This is John McClaughry ? thanks for listening.

John McClaughry has been President of the Ethan Allen Institute since its founding in 1993. He was Legislative Aide to Vermont Senator Winston Prouty, 1965-67; a Fellow of the Institute of Politics, JFK School, Harvard University, 1967-68; a member of the Vermont House, 1969-72; Senior Policy Advisor in President Reagan’s White House Office of Policy Development, 1981-82; member of the Vermont Senate 1989-92; and Republican candidate for Governor of Vermont, 1992. He has served on four Presidential Commissions by appointment of Presidents Nixon, Carter, and Reagan, and has been Kirby Town Moderator for the past 34 years.

Congratulations to Hunter Melville for his appointment to Town Grand Juror in Woodstock.

Just before town meeting in Woodstock Hunter noticed no one was running for Grand Juror. He mounted a quick write-in campaign and got 29 votes. He needed 30 votes to win a write-in election, so he had to be appointed by the Selectmen for the position, which they did last week.