(VT Gov) Douglas (R) leads Clavelle (D/P/S)

MONTPELIER, Vt. Governor Jim Douglas maintains a comfortable lead over Democrat Peter Clavelle in a poll released tonight by WCAX-TV. The poll of 403 likely voters found Douglas with the support of 51 percent while 37 percent said they would back Clavelle. Eleven percent were undecided.

The telephone survey was conducted Sunday through Tuesday by Research 2000 of Rockville, Maryland. The margin of error was plus or minus five percentage points.

In the race for governor, Douglas did better with men than with women while Clavelle drew stronger support from women than men.

Of those surveyed, 48 percent said they had a favorable opinion of Douglas while 36 percent had an unfavorable opinion and 16 percent said they had a neutral opinion. Clavelle's favorability was 39 percent; his unfavorability was just 22 percent but a high 39 percent said they have a neutral or no opinion.

"WISE AND FRUGAL GOVERNMENT IN VERMONT"
by Hardy Machia

Governor Douglas was correct in his Burlington Free Press
column a couple weeks ago. Our tax burden is too high. So
why did Governor Douglas increase spending 17 percent and
increase the tax burden by $1000 per Vermonter in his first
term in office?

Vermont's tax burden is now $6500 per Vermonter. New
Hampshire's is only $3400. Vermont's state budget is $4.0
billion. New Hampshire's is $4.4 billion, but they have more
than twice Vermont's population.

Ten years ago, Vermont managed to get by on a state budget
of $1.9 billion dollars. Adjusting for inflation and
population growth since then, Vermont's budget should be
around $2.3 billion today. Instead, it's $4 billion.

I have outlined my proposed budget for 2005 on my website.
It rolls back spending to 2001 levels. Rolling back spending
four years means that we can repeal the sales tax and cut
the property tax in half. Repealing the sales tax means
ending the 30 year exodus of jobs to New Hampshire, and it
means more shoppers from New York, Massachusetts, and Canada
coming to Vermont to shop. Cutting the property tax in half
means the towns of Killington, Manchester, Ludlow, Plymouth,
and Dorset won't have to secede to New Hampshire for tax
relief from Governor Douglas's new and improved "shark
pool," created by Act 68.

Lowering the tax burden to $4,500 would save Vermonters an
average of $2,000 per year. So instead of politicians
deciding how to spend your money, you'd be able to keep it
and fix your roof, buy winter tires, or afford to keep your
thermostat set to 68 degrees this winter. It would put 1.3
billion dollars back into Vermont's economy. The tax burden
would still be $1,100 more than New Hampshire, so there
would still be room for further improvement.

As Governor, I would take the following steps:

1) Repeal Governor Douglas's 20% increase in the sales tax.

2) Roll back Governor Douglas's first term spending increase
of $857 million.

3) Propose a budget that is both wise and frugal, which will
reverse the spending trends by Democrats and Republicans in
Vermont over the last twelve years.

4) Work for the repeal of the unfair funding sections of Act
60 and Act 68. Return educational control and responsibility
back to the parents, teachers, and local school boards.

5) Adopt a Tax Payers Bill of Rights (TABOR) to cap spending
and taxes to the rate of inflation plus population increase
unless approved by a direct vote of the people. TABOR has
been working in Colorado for over ten years. It has resulted
in the second strongest economy in America, and Coloradans
being refunded about three billion dollars in the last few
years. If Vermont had passed TABOR at the same time as
Colorado, we would have saved over $10,000 per Vermonter
since then.

It bears repeating. Douglas increased the tax burden on
Vermonters in 20 months by an average of $1000 per person,
or $4000 for a family of four. Towns are talking about
seceding to New Hampshire. Our tax burden is too high.

New Hampshire's workers and even their poor are better off
than Vermont's. Their economy is freer and stronger. Vermont
needs a leader who can reduce spending without cutting
programs, who can bring an entrepreneur's business skills to
Vermont government, and who can lead by example by cutting
his salary as governor by 50%.

Keep more of your money. You earned it.

At the AARP debate on October 6, Douglas proposed increasing
the taxes on health insurance and on energy. Vermonters are
already paying some of the highest prices for health insurance
and energy in America; increasing taxes on it is just a bad idea.

You can send Governor Douglas a strong message on November 2
that you want lower spending and lower taxes by casting your
vote for governor for me, Hardy Machia. Why not? Douglas is safe.
He is polling comfortably above 50% and has a 14 to 20 point
lead over Clavelle in the polls. Casting a vote for me will
help me reach 5 percent of the vote, which means in 2006 you will
have a voice in the debates calling for wise and frugal
government.

Hardy Machia, 35, of Grand Isle is the Libertarian candidate
for governor. His business, Catamount Software, specializes
in software for handheld computing. His political
experience includes chairman of Grand Isle Selectboard, the
Northwest Regional Planning Commission, justice of the
peace, and president of Vermont NORML. He was the only
gubernatorial candidate to sign the Americans/Vermonters
for Tax Reform's Taxpayers Pledge to not raise taxes.
More information is available at http://www.freevermont.org.

--
Contacts:
Hardy for a Free Vermont
31 Town Line Road
Grand Isle, VT 05458
http://www.freevermont.org
(802) 372-9512 (h/w); (802) 238-3437 (c)

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