Join Springfield hometown boy Keith Stern, his campaign team, and friends, family and supporters in kicking-off his campaign for Governor of Vermont.
Stern is the owner for 30 years of Stern’s Quality Produce, a retail and wholesale business in White River Junction. He is a candidate for governor in the next Republican primary. In previous elections, he was an independent candidate for U.S. Senate and participated in the Republican primary for U.S. representative.
Learn more about Keith Stern and his positions and shake the hand of the possible future Governor of Vermont this Sunday, November 19. The event takes place from 1 to 2 pm at the North Springfield Baptist Church, 69 Main Street, North Springfield, Vt.
www.VermontGetsStern.org
Keith Stern Campaign KickoffVermontGetsStern.org
North Springfield Republican announces 2018 gubernatorial bid
Republican Gov. Phil Scott is only months into his first term in office. But a North Springfield man — and member of Scott’s own party — already is plotting a bid to make Scott a one-term governor.
www.vnews.com
digital.vpr.net
Keith Stern: A plan for health care for all Vermonters
Stern believes his plan would lower the cost of health care and, subsequently, insurance premiums. He believes he can achieve a 40 percent reduction in premiums.
www.vtdigger.org
His mind has changed, but have his policies? Should be interesting to watch.
ReplyDeleteI am running as a Republican.
ReplyDeleteDue to the attacks I was receiving from Vermont’s Republican establishment, the comments that formed the basis of Peter Hirschfeld’s July article stemmed from early onset frustrations and me, in essence, thinking out loud about the impact that running as a Democrat would have on my campaign. Beyond the hypothetical “what ifs” surrounding the discussion with Hirschfeld, I understood that I could NEVER, in good conscience or faith, ever run as a Democrat, despite the Party’s establishment making it clear that a challenge to their “Republican” Governor would not be tolerated. The truth is, the platforms of Vermont Democrats AND the ideas embraced by Governor Phil Scott are virtually identical. Vermont Democrats and Governor Scott believe in increasing the size of the state government, increasing taxes on an already heavily-taxed middle class, substantially taxing home heating oil, propane and motor vehicle fuels in the quest for ‘green energy’, refusing to permit parents to make the choices involving the education of their children that best suits that child’s educational needs and the morals, ethics and faith of the family. This race is about ideas. Ideas that will make Vermont a place that people want to live in, raise a family in, and that is inviting to businesses. The fact remains that Governor Scott’s tenure is marred by failed ideas. Ideas that are shared by Vermont Democrats. Ideas that involve pandering to teachers’ unions and government employees. The failed ideas that have put the State that I love into the current mess we find ourselves in. Please take a moment to visit my page. Read the thoughts that I’ve shared on my Facebook page. You’ll see that as a life-long Republican, I’ve chosen to campaign on the ideas of restoring power to the people, limiting taxation, creating a hospitable environment for business, protecting individual rights, and paving the way to returning Vermont to a state of viability. I thank you for your continued support.
Always the whats, but never the hows. Hot air...
ReplyDeleteNo, 12:02, if you look at what's happening in Congress .Keith is in tune with mainstream Republican thought. Look at what they've done to 9,000,000 children on the Children's Health Care Insurance Program, their work to repeal Obamacare, and their success in lowering taxes for a significant portion of Americans (well, okay, not significant in numbers, just in wealth). The hows are there.
ReplyDeleteKeep your hallucinations to yourself.
Delete9 million? How many abortions were provided?
DeleteZero. Federal law prohibits providing funds to help women decide how many children they want to raise.
DeleteAs it should. If a woman needs federal funds for her to make a decision; the woman shouldn't be creating a family. Chuck, two kinds of people - maker and takers - The liberal utopia here in Vermont has supported you and your takers for far to long, and unfortunately the community shows it.
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DeleteNH business friendly
ReplyDeleteVT business hostile
NH is better in every metric
How dare someone run on policies that would benefit those who work
Benefit those who work? Since when do the 1% work? Last I checked, there are only 5 people in the entire state who belong to that class. The rest of you are simply fooling yourselves! (But not us.)
DeleteSo you don’t work then?
DeleteNo, after decades of busting my butt (and my back) for wingnut employers who drove Caddies, Benzs and Jaguars, and then complained they couldn't afford to give us raises, I was finally able to retire. With a broken back. Now I have ALL DAY to respond to greazy, whining, lazy, bloodsuckers like you, and there's not A DAMN THING you can do about it! HA, HA, HA!!!!!!!!!!!!
DeleteYou seem bitter. Maybe you should have studied more or aspired to greater things.
DeleteI work two jobs. Lazy, bloodsucking, nope. You will suck up far more tax dollars in Medicare and SS than you ever paid into the system. Let your laughter comfort you in your last few years of a wasted life.
Well let's see, 9:34, I'm a veteran, a certified CNC machinist and programmer, I have a BA on top of that, I'm also a Grammy-nominated songwriter, and I paid cash for all four of my homes. ALL BEFORE THE AGE OF FIFTY. The only thing that makes me "bitter" is spending my hard-earned retirement watching a rabble of white trash destroy this country, thinking they're making it "Great Again." Why don't YOU aspire to something? Oh, by the way, you'll be "sucking up" Social Security one day, unless the people YOU VOTED FOR screw us all out of it first!
DeleteSounds like you’re doing better than you let on! Good for you! I thought you were anti business and anti capitalist. Here you are paying cash for houses! I applaud your success. And you found time to get a degree and write songs? I’m also a veteran and currently serving. Thank you for your service. Sincerely. Happy Thanksgiving to you!
DeleteAccording to Vermont state tax data (for 2012), the 1% consisted of 3,216 households earning $300,000 or more.
ReplyDeleteThe top one-eighth of that, earning $1,000,000+, averaged a reported $3,330,263 in Adjusted Gross Income.
Since Vermont tax law allows them an additional average of 11% from federal AGI, their Vermont taxable income is some $330,000 lower. Of course, the rest of us get Vermont adjustments as well, but the middle class' ($40K- $100K) adjustments were not as generous for their income levels as the adjustments for those above and below them.
We could have a tax system which would reduce taxes from 65 to 100% for everybody making $1 million or less and still provide the same level of tax revenue, but nobody seems to be in favor of that.
Is that the top 1% of Vermont, or the top 1% of America? I read somewhere that there were only 5 people in this state with a net worth of over a billion dollars. That's who I was referring to. Maybe you don't need to be that rich to be a 1 percenter, but that's who I think of when I hear the phrase "1%."
DeleteThat's Vermont's one percent.
DeleteThe Department of Taxes provides the $1 million-plus with a veil of modesty, claiming violation of privacy. The million-plus group that year was 360 households, 0.12% (one-eighth) of the one percent.
The saying goes, "To turn $100 into $110 is hard work. To turn $100 million into $110 million is inevitable," which might account for the presence of a billionaire or two in our state. While the 1% starts in Vermont at $300,000, nationally it starts at $500,000, but almost everybody in the 1% makes less than $1 million. The richest 400 in America-- one of the first things the IRS did under Obama was release the data on them the Bushies had suppressed-- averaged $434.4 million
The Reagan tax cut for the wealthiest took $13 trillion out of taxable income and put it into Wall Street, where it greatly spurred the fantasy finance league (See the movies "The Big Short" or "Inside Job" to see how money corrupted the industry.) It also deprived us of funding to get our infrastructure out of its C-minus rating (we're talking Second World schools,roads, airways, etc. here).
In Vermont, though, the wealthiest tend to be liberal, supporting their adopted community. The ones who aren't liberal are not very pleasant people in my experience. As Brad DeLong wrote of one, "He does not look downward and feel thankful that he is better off than they; he looks upward and realizes that the truly rich are ten times wealthier, and this makes him angry because he knows he can never be one of them. So who is he angry at? The system that enables and increases their privilege and his discomfiture? No, he is angry at the people whose education, health and safety depend on the taxes he pays."
Your definition of the 1% might benefit from a little fine-tuning.
Perhaps a little fine tuning is necessary, although I have never met a wealthy liberal. I grew up in what was (at that time) the second wealthiest county in America. (It no longer is.) Although I was not rich, I know what real wealth looks like. Looking back, I suppose the people I remember were more likely 1/10 or 1/100 of one percenters, since most of them were worth well over a billion. The point I was trying to make is that there are far too many people who view themselves as the elite, but are far closer to the bottom than the top. I've met A LOT of them, and as you described, they are not pleasant to be around. I've only known ONE who actually worked for it, the rest had it handed to them. They have no problem whatsoever screwing people out of what they worked for, (while sitting on their butts) and I have absolutely nothing but utter contempt for them; just upper-middle-class wannabees who THINK they're rich!
DeleteJust go to the ski hill to see those rich familys. I know. Their second. .third homes used a few weeks out of the year are impressive. Plus their brat kids with wads of money to spend are just lovable.
DeleteTry this (chuck and the other leaches).... Contribute to the economy. your perspective may change. Let me know.
DeleteThose homes with the rich folks provide a ton of jobs and tax revenue to this poor rural state allowing many natives the opportunity to live and work here.
Delete8:47, actually, they don't. They provide some jobs and some tax money, but not as much as you think.
DeleteThe average income of the top 0.12% in Vermont in 2012 was about $3.3 million. The median income for Vermont that year (which means that half the people in the state earned less than it) was just south of $35,000. So 94 Vermonters would have as much money to spend as one of Vermont's millionaires.
Nobody is going to sell as many goods and services to one millionaire as they are to 94 other households. Even John McCain limited himself to owning only seven houses.
Any smart businessman will take 94 home carpeting jobs over one slightly bigger home carpeting job-- and no smart businessman would do a carpeting job for one of our richest Americans, Donald Trump, because we all know how he treats contractors. Who among us can afford to take someone like him to court? So, it's better to have average Vermonters for customers-- more income, less risk.
It's just a matter of getting rid of the advice in our state song, "Moonlight in Vermont (or Die." We launch programs to fix our roads, bridges, schools and medical care. More people get more pay and start buying more goods and services than millionaires can possible use.
Enough drivel Chuck, nobody's listening. Pretty sure your communist comrade Bernie is no longer helping your cause.
DeleteThe rich people’s homes I was referring to are the ones who purchase stately homes on Okemo mountain. Non-residents. If there are resident millionaires in Vermont I’ve never met one. Those who live out of state who have second homes, who ski, leaf peepers, etc. help make up a large part of Vermont’s revenue from tourism.
ReplyDeleteThere are only some 360 millionaire residents in Vermont. We have a higher per capita number of millionaires than Texas does. You might have met some-- they are not all flash and glitz; old money tends to be comfortable; Abby Rockefeller went from a very Establishment upbringing into the composting toilet business.
ReplyDeleteI have no idea how much one has to make in order to be able to afford the ski home in Vermont. As you point out, they are second home owners; not likely to make year-round purchases.
While their contribution to our tourism industry is greatly appreciated, having 94 Vermont families able to afford something like a new car or a home makeover is preferable to having one of them purchase the same.
I have been to few of the ski houses. The expensive ones. What does a 180000 + dollar Bentley in the garage tell you. Yes they do contribute. The fill the gas tank once a year on that car.
ReplyDeleteYeah, but think how much gasoline that car must hold!
Delete15 gallons
DeleteContractors, real estate agents, interior designers, plumbers,electricians, carpenters, roofers, food service, fuel purchases, property taxes, car registration, caretakers, fuel deliveries, drivers, grocery stores, restaurants, etc. Yeah, those rich people contribute nothing to this state’s economy. NEVER seen a Bentley anywhere in Vermont.
DeleteI have seen two. One old and a few weeks ago one new. Nice looking car. As for those jobs listed above they are concentrated for most part around a ski hill(s). But as you say,they are jobs in vermont. Springfield sees little from the rich and famous.
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