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1 week ago | 
samessenger.com | Emerson Lynn
After five months of the back and forth that defines Vermont’s legislature we’re at the point where we begin to ask whether the results matched the calls for action. For most Vermonters that judgment centers on three issues: the need to reform the state’s educational system, the need to add more housing, and the need to deal with the state’s healthcare crisis.
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1 week ago | 
samessenger.com | Emerson Lynn
When the lobbyist for the Vermont Association of Hospitals and Health Systems was asked by a legislator why Vermont has the highest markup on outpatient drugs in the nation she said she didn’t know. She said she was not even sure Vermont’s hospitals were aware of their disproportionate billing practices.
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2 weeks ago | 
samessenger.com | Emerson Lynn
“It sounds like regardless of what bill we vote on, we lose. We put the House bill up, we lose. We put the Senate bill up, we lose,” said Sen. Ginny Lyons, D-Chittenden Southeast. The bill she was referring to is the education reform bill, H.454, legislation Gov. Phil Scott says is the session’s most important. The governor has made it clear he will keep legislators in Montpelier until they deliver something he can sign into law. Let’s hope. But Ms. Lyons’ lament is understandable.
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2 weeks ago | 
samessenger.com | Emerson Lynn
If the landmark education bill being advanced through the Senate were to become law the Enosburg-Richford school district would get an additional $5.3 million to spend. Nice. Except for this: The taxpayers in that district would see their property tax bills go up 32 percent to pay for it. That’s a problem. No matter what else is included in the legislation. Only a third of the taxpayers in that district have children in school.
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3 weeks ago | 
samessenger.com | Emerson Lynn
It’s happening again. We’re spending time and energy figuring out how NOT to do something that we all say is the most important thing Vermont needs to do. The need is more housing. It’s central to almost everything we agree is necessary to turn the state’s economy around and to make things affordable. Yet, every time we get close to doing something productive, actually building things, we have people who work to second-guess it and make it next to impossible to do.
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3 weeks ago | 
samessenger.com | Emerson Lynn
For decades Burlington has been celebrated as one of the country’s most desirable places to live and visit. Little wonder. It sits on the shore of Lake Champlain with stunning views. It’s home to the University of Vermont, and its 10,000 fun-seeking students. It’s routinely regarded as one of New England’s most vibrant cultural centers with Church Street being the pedestrian thoroughfare that knits everything together. And, for families, it was celebrated as one of the safest places they could visit.
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1 month ago | 
samessenger.com | Emerson Lynn
In this age of political polarization, it’s more than a little odd [albeit encouraging] to find an advocacy group that includes as many Republicans as Democrats [with a couple of progressives sprinkled in] all focused on dealing with what is shaping up to be the state’s most pressing crisis: Vermont's health care costs. The group is VHC911 - aptly named - co-chaired by former Republican Gov. Jim Douglas and Lisa Ventriss, former president of the Vermont Business Roundtable.
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1 month ago | 
samessenger.com | Emerson Lynn
No matter the state, the common denominator for those who live in its rural areas is dependency on those who feed us, our farmers. Those farmers, in turn, have a common denominator dependency of their own, which is an undocumented workforce. It’s estimated that 40 percent to 70 percent of those who work on our farms are here illegally.
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1 month ago | 
samessenger.com | Emerson Lynn
In last week’s Messenger, former Burlington Mayor Miro Weinberger penned an op-ed about how Vermonters are better able and more inclined to say no to things than to say yes. Mr. Weinberger makes specific reference to the book “Abundance”, by Ezra Klein and Derek Thompson in which they contend that “Laws meant to ensure that government considers the consequences of its actions have made it too difficult to act consequentially.”As Mr. Weinberger noted: They nailed us. That’s Vermont to a T.
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1 month ago | 
samessenger.com | Emerson Lynn
With chaos coming from all sides and with the uncertainty about the nation’s direction growing by the minute it’s hard to know how to respond. We also don’t know what the future holds, short or long-term. Closer to home, there is less ambiguity. Those who lead us in Vermont have not gone off the rails. We aren’t “disappearing” people. We aren’t slashing payrolls. And we generally follow the rule of law.
