BRATTLEBORO-I admire and respect both women running in the Democratic primary for governor. So I've had to look closely to decide who would be more likely to win in the general election and be the more effective governor.
That's why I'll be voting for Aly Richards.
As a guardian ad litem for 20 years, I've worked with more than 250 kids in the Vermont court system who need, and deserve, a safer and more secure home life.
I've also written extensively about my friends on the streets of Brattleboro who don't know where their next meal is coming from or where they will sleep that night. (Or if they have the will - and the Medicaid eligibility - to stay on their methadone program.)
Vermonters need a governor who has both the ideas and the experience to deal with these crises.
We need a governor who is progressive and pragmatic enough to address the challenges we all face in terms of affordability, employment, education, and healthcare.
Yes, bold ideas are critical. So is bold action. Aly has a well-deserved reputation for both.
Aly is best known for her transformation of Vermont's childcare system. When she started working at Let's Grow Kids, most Vermonters agreed that we needed more and better childcare. Many of us had ideas about how to achieve that. But it just wasn't happening.
Aly got it done by assembling a coalition of more than 40,000 Vermonters - parents, businesses, educators, and politicians - to get a law passed that has made our state's childcare more affordable and available. The law has become a model for states all over the country.
The other thing that impresses me is that she already knows what it takes to be governor. She was appointed to the State Board of Education when she was 15. (Yes, at first, her mother had to drive her to meetings.) In subsequent years, she worked directly with the governor on several projects that addressed education issues - from dual enrollment to free lunches.
Yet, oddly, what most impressed me about Aly is that she worked alongside her neighbors to dig out (literally) after the flooding in Montpelier and then became the co-chair of the Commission on Resilience to protect communities from experiencing kind of damage again.
That kind of says it all, doesn't it? The ability to take concrete action - on the ground and in government.
I urge you to watch the Democratic Candidate Primary Forum debate between the candidates as broadcast by the Center for Media & Democracy's Town Meeting TV. For me, it made the choice clear.
David Blistein
Brattleboro
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