For opinion pieces on any topic.
Please see the attached for the “unofficial results” for Brattleboro Town Meeting, WSESU School Board, & Presidential Primary Elections. These are the results from the ballot tallies, not including write-in votes, and not including other towns’ results for the WSESD or Primary races. The projected winners are in bold in each race.
Being the first Tuesday in March, it is Town Meeting Day in Vermont. Here, unlike much of the world, there are only two layers of government; state & local. And for the vast majority of our 246 towns & cities, local government is composed of a legislative branch that includes EVERY citizen as may gather at an annual (and special) Town Meeting. Most communities introduce, amend, and pass all agenda items (like the town budget, tax rates, election of officers, ordinances, etc.) through a (public) floor vote by all the assembled citizens. This is our traditional Town Meeting system. And having ALL the citizens included in the legislative branch of local government lends itself to working people (who are the great majority) being more informed and more thoughtful about the positions they take (as their opinions, under such a system, very much matter). Vermont is a better place for it.
We now have all interviews for Brattleboro Selectboard candidates available, and Tuesday is the day to get to the polls and vote if you haven’t already done so. Here are the links to candidate interviews, the candidate forum video, representative statements, and general election information. It is all to help guide your last-minute voting decisions.
Selectboard Candidate Interviews, alphabetically:
Kurt Daims is running for a one year seat on the Brattleboro Selectboard.
Tell everyone a bit about yourself… who are you?
I was born nearby and travelled widely. I worked for inventors, started my family and loved the ocean in San Francisco. In 2002 I came to Brattleboro with my family. I devoted myself to raising and home-schooling my daughters and to public service. I hope to consolidate the power of the people in town government and help Brattleboro become town that acts as a member of the community of towns and cities As director of the non-profit Brattleboro Common Sense I taks the credo “Think globally: act locally” for an aggressive, pragmatic grass-roots politics, which I believe is needed to save an endangered world.
Ian Goodnow is running for a one-year seat on the Brattleboro Selectboard.
Tell everyone a bit about yourself… who are you?
My name is Ian Goodnow. I grew up in Essex, Vermont and graduated from the University of Vermont in 2014, with degrees in Political Science and Russian Language. I’m currently enrolled in the Vermont Law Office Study Program, which is an alternative way to become a lawyer in Vermont. Instead of law school, I moved to Brattleboro to study under Tom Costello at Costello, Valente and Gentry P.C. I am also a Justice of the Peace and through that role serve on the Board of Civil Authority and am the alternate on the Developmental Review Board. In my free time, I love backpacking, eating dumplings with Ruth, my fiancee, and talking about movies.
Below is information that might be helpful to know for March 3rd local elections. In addition to local elections, the Democratic and Republican Primaries will be held.
Attached is a sample ballot from each of Brattleboro’s three districts. All districts’ ballots are the same except for Town Meeting Members for each district. Absentee ballots are currently available at the Town Clerk’s Office and may be requested until 5:00 pm on Monday, March 2. Sample ballots can also be found on our website at www.brattleboro.org under Elections.
There is an old saying about how, when asked to explain what one means by what one says nine out of ten people will become angry or silent. The one who does not become offended or feel attacked but rather is stimulated and eager for an opportunity to engage and learn would be a person like Oscar Heller, candidate for a one-year Selectboard seat.
The desire and ability to listen and learn is also a strong indicator of self-confidence and thoughtfulness, both of which are very apparent in Mr. Heller. He will bring a particularly strong understanding and voice concerning the most unabated, vexing and critical issue of our time: climate change and all its inseparable aspects.
I have been a Town Meeting Rep for the past 3 years for District #2. I have been on 50 Vine Street since 2012. Before that we lived in Marlboro from 1993 – 2011. We lived at 395 Canal Street and on Frost Place since 1980.
I am an active member of Brattleboro Time Trade since 2012. I drive a Senior Meals on Wheels route twice a week in District 2. I was a member of the Human Services Review Committee this year. I have been involved with the Vermont Workers Center’s Health Care for All campaigns as a videographer. I have been a volunteer producer with Brattleboro Community Television since 2012.
Greetings fellow Brattleboro voters, especially my District 1 neighbors. I am on the ballot this year to represent District 1 at our annual town meeting, and I seek a two-year term.
If elected, this will be my return to RTM (Representative Town Meeting), although last year I was not elected.
How did that happen? During the District 1 caucus at the RTM informational meeting, I was appointed along with a handful of others. Why didn’t I get myself on the ballot? When it was time to petition to get on the ballot, I was still a reporter with The Commons newspaper, and journalists are ethically precluded from holding public office. I couldn’t even be the Weigher of Coal or the Viewer of Fences!
A link to the Selectboard Candidates Video…
Oscar Heller is running for a one-year seat on the Brattleboro Selectboard.
Tell everyone a bit about yourself… who are you?
My name is Oscar Heller. I’m a programmer and graphic designer with my own web design business called 10F Design. I serve on the energy committee and the finance committee, and I’m a town meeting rep for District 3. The energy committee played a big role in successfully convincing the Selectboard to create the new sustainability coordinator position, and I also served on the hiring committee for the position.
Before the 2018 midterm elections, President Trump cited reports of a migrant caravan traveling to the U.S. from Central America to claim that the southern border was facing a national-security crisis.
Trump warned of a coming “invasion” and claimed that the caravan had been infiltrated by gang members.
Many endorsements for the Brattleboro selectboard tout the candidate’s open-mindedness, integrity, intelligence and compassion. If you have heard David Schoales’ positions on the board over the years, or if you read the long list of issues that he has championed, you know that he is all these things plus much more. If you’re a public employee you may remember that David led the board in support of a successful effort to negotiate a much better health insurance plan for town workers. More recently, he supported the successful effort for the town to hire a Sustainability Coordinator, a position critically to address the challenges ahead that go well beyond climate change. David also spent many cold days with others campaigning for the ban on distribution of single use plastic bags in Brattleboro. By any measure, he is a true champion of the environment, local businesses, and fiscal responsibility.
I am writing to express my endorsement of Daniel Quipp, who is running for a one-year seat on the Brattleboro Selectboard.
Our town is lucky to have Daniel.
Daniel’s work with SEVCA, helping local people make sure their homes stay warm, and as a community organizer with Vermont Interfaith Action, point to his dedication to making sure our neighbors’ basic needs are being met. When someone works on behalf of people who are struggling, and demonstrates a drive to be helpful to others, I take notice.
Early/absentee ballots for the Presidential Primary and Brattleboro Annual Town Meeting to be held March 3, are now available in the Brattleboro Municipal Center, first floor. Anyone wishing to vote prior to March 3 may apply for an early/absentee ballot until 5:00 p.m. on Monday, March 2.
Early/absentee ballots may be voted in person at the Municipal Center, mailed to the voter by the Clerk’s office, picked up by the voter, or if a voter is in need can be delivered to the voter’s residence by two Justices of the Peace. All voted ballots must be received by the Clerk before the polls close on election day in order to be counted. For more information or to request an early/absentee ballot call 251-8157.
At the last two meetings of the Brattleboro Selectboard, members of the board and the Chief of Police implored people NOT to use social media for official business, such as reporting crimes.
“Don’t rely on social media,” said board member Tim Wessel. “Social media has never been a form of reporting things,” added Chair Brandie Starr.
Where could the public have gotten such a crazy idea as to use social media for town business? Perhaps from members of the Selectboard?
David Schoales is an incumbent running again for a three year seat on the selectboard.
Tell everyone a bit about yourself… who are you?
Do you have any special powers or skills to offer?
Daniel Quipp, and incumbent, is running for a a one year seat on the selectboard.
Tell everyone a bit about yourself… who are you?
Like many people around here, I wear a few different hats. Obviously, one of these is my Selectboard hat. I hope to earn the voters’ trust to wear it for another year. I have two jobs – I work for SEVCA and help people keep their lights on and homes heated through our crisis fuel program and I work as a community organizer in southern Vermont for Vermont Interfaith Action. I also wear my community radio hat. I’m currently the president of the WVEW 107.7 FM board and also host a weekly show playing new alternative music called ‘Brand Spanking New’ (Thurs, 6 to 8 pm). When I’m not doing one of those things I’m probably either hanging out with my wife, eating sandwiches at Amy’s, playing tennis or reading and drinking warm beverages.
Elizabeth McLoughlin is a current member of the Brattleboro Selectboard and is running for a three-year seat.
Tell everyone a bit about yourself… who are you?
About a dozen years ago, I chose Brattleboro, together with my family, my Mother-in-Law, our jobs, and our whole lives– we moved to Brattleboro, where our youngest daughter attended BUHS. This move, after many years of visiting family in Brattleboro, was a happy choice. My husband and I both started small businesses. I own a planning and environmental consultancy business. I volunteered for a number of Town and civic committees, most notably: the Planning Commission, The RTM Finance Committee, BASIC, the Skatepark Committee, and the Empty Bowls Dinner Committee.
My Selectboard service is an outgrowth of the understanding I gained participating and contributing to these civic committees.
How did we fix it so all these things happened at the same time? What were we thinking when we scheduled Brexit, Impeachment wrap-up, Iowa Caucus debacle, and Trump’s State of the Union address within 5 days of each other? Are we insane? Do we want our heads to explode?
Ok, I know no one planned to make all these events coincide, but the fact that they did gives it that aura of fatedness. Clearly the gods are angry. The natives are getting restless. And as is typically the case, the overlords (clueless neocons and neolibs alike) are burying their heads ever deeper in the sand.
