(Host) Lieutenant Governor Brian Dubie says, if re-elected, he’ll continue to work to lower the cost of doing business in Vermont. Speaking about his campaign on VPR’s Vermont Edition, the three-term Republican incumbent said Vermont is an expensive place to raise a family — or run a business.
Vermont has been losing private sector jobs. But Dubie says the state should take advantage of tough economic times to rethink its priorities:
(Dubie) We need to make government smaller, more accountable and more efficient. Hopefully we can use this really challenging economic cycle that we’re about to go through or are in the process of going through of bringing people together, focusing our thinking. How can we reinvent state government to continue to provide the services that people rely on and need, but do it in a more efficient manner?
(Host) Low-tax states are gaining population, while states like Vermont are losing young, college-educated people, according to Dubie. He also says abundant, low-cost base-load energy, like that provided by Vermont Yankee and hydro Quebec, are key to keeping businesses in the state.
But Dubie says it’s also important to continue to build Vermont’s renewable energy portfolio.
AP Photo: Toby Talbot