GLOVER – After the first televised lieutenant governor’s debate with my opponent last week, it is clear that his answer to everything is more taxes and fees.
As I travel around the state, I am hearing from Vermonters, no matter their party affiliation, that they are tired of being crushed by rising rents, spiraling property taxes, unsustainable heating and lighting bills, commuting costs, and healthcare costs. If you are tired of these crushing costs, then I am your candidate. I will be your voice in Montpelier.
I served in the legislature for 16 years as a Democrat. My Democratic values have not changed, but the party that I used to belong to has. I am now the Republican nominee for lieutenant governor because my opponent and the progressives have taken over the Democratic Party that I was raised in. They no longer care about nor represent working Vermonters. Progressive elitist values have destroyed the Democratic Party and are actively destroying Vermont communities, making them both unaffordable for average Vermonters and literally unsafe.
I have always supported women’s rights and everyone’s right to bodily autonomy. I am the only candidate who truly respects women and their personal boundaries, and I will always fight for women’s rights and equality. While serving in the House of Representatives, I was the only member of the legislature who lost my seat because I supported marriage equality. So when I say I support everyone’s rights, I mean it.
My opponent pretends to care about climate change, but his solutions are destroying the environment, both here in Vermont and around the planet. He supports the child and slave labor mining the world’s cobalt, a crucial metal in the “renewable energy” industry, so long as he can pretend to be green and that his policies address climate change in Vermont. What is clear is that he supports the policies of his millionaire friends and donors in the energy development business.
My opponent supports solar panels that are built in sweatshops in China using coal power. He is also responsible for dumping thousands of pounds of plastic into the landfill: plastic that he has used on his farm for crops. On my farm, I spend the extra money for a plant-based, fully biodegradable, and certified organic row crop cover because I believe in always doing what is right for the earth even if it costs me a bit more.
My opponent supports allowing multinational corporations to destroy Vermont ridgelines and watersheds for the profits of millionaires. I want to develop renewable energy that is responsible and that actually addresses climate change. We must use materials that are ethically sourced, such as solar panels that are produced here in the United States with clear labor and environmental standards. We must develop our renewable energy as much as possible on “the built” environment and as close to the end user as possible. It’s common sense, and so, I support the many Vermont solar developers who care about where they source their materials and who truly care about the good of Vermont and the planet.
Personally, my opponent and I could not be more different. My opponent grew up in privilege in one of the wealthiest ZIP codes in Massachusetts. I grew up the son of poor dairy farmers here in Vermont. It clearly has influenced our values.
I am an open and honest person. My opponent is not. My opponent said in his publicly paid for newsletter that I opposed a $15 minimum wage bill, which I did, but he did not admit that I supported the $15 minimum wage bill after it was improved. When I asked him if he paid his farmworkers $15 an hour he admitted that he did not. Imagine a millionaire who pays his help poverty wages.
My opponent pretends a lot and does not seem to be open and honest with voters. He pretends to be a Democrat, to be a poor farmer, to support a livable wage, and to support women in the workplace. I find his duplicitous behavior unacceptable and question his fitness for office. That kind of deceit will not take place in my office, your office. With me, for better or worse, what you see is what you get.
I am proud of Governor Scott’s endorsement as a lieutenant governor: he can work with and whom he can trust to work honestly through the difficult and trying times ahead of us. I am the only candidate who will work for you. I am the only candidate who will respect everyone’s constitutional rights. And, I am the only candidate who will work to make Vermont more affordable, more safe, and a place that we can all be proud to call home. I am John Rodgers, and I am asking for your vote on November 5.
John Rodgers is a candidate for lieutenant governor. He is the son of Vermont dairy farmers, and he continues to work the land as a specialty crops farmer on his family farm in Glover, where he resides with his wife, Brenda, of 33 years and his son, daughter-in-law, and grandson and granddaughter.
John Rodgers
