VOTE411 Voter Guide

I bring a combination of experiences that I believe would be valuable in the State House: direct human-services experience, conflict-resolution skills, and a background in business and entrepreneurship. For nearly a decade, I've worked directly with Vermonters with developmental disabilities. I also founded One Love Club to create opportunities for people with disabilities. I also have a bachelor's degree in business and have been an entrepreneur myself. I developed an educational product from concept to market. What ties these experiences together is practical problem-solving: understanding people's needs, bringing people together, and figuring out how to turn an idea into something that works. I will bring this to house representation.

I don’t think the answer is simply spending more every year, but we also shouldn’t address affordability by hollowing out our public schools. I would prioritize structural efficiencies that preserve educational quality—sharing administrative services, IT, transportation, purchasing, special-education expertise and facilities planning regionally, while adjusting to enrollment changes. At the same time, we should protect strong teachers, special education, career and technical education, and equitable opportunities. The goal should be reducing the cost of delivering education where we can, not reducing its quality.

I don't see housing and environmental protection as opposing goals. We should make it easier to build more densely in our existing cities and towns particularly where infrastructure already exists, while maintaining strong protections for forests, farmland, waterways, flood-prone areas and other environmentally sensitive lands. That means allowing greater housing density, encouraging infill and mixed-use development, and making permitting faster and more predictable in appropriate growth areas. At the same time, we should direct public investment toward infrastructure and genuinely affordable housing in those communities. The goal should be smart growth: build more housing where it makes sense, while preserving the landscape

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I bring two terms in the House and service as Ranking Member of Corrections and Institutions, where I have worked across differences on public safety, state facilities, corrections, and government accountability. My professional career at UVM has centered on student conduct, restorative practices, Title IX coordination, conflict resolution, and difficult decisions requiring careful investigation and fairness. I have also worked in municipal human resources and co-owned a small landscaping business. In the Legislature, I helped turn constituent concerns into law, including ending DOC supervision fees and strengthening dignity and gender equity in corrections. As an Independent, I answer to my constituents and the evidence before me.

Buying down the tax rate is not the same as bringing down the cost. I am open to a foundational funding model, provided the base is adequate and student weights continue to direct resources toward historically underserved students. Vermont should move toward an income-based education tax, address school healthcare costs through broader healthcare reform, invest in neglected buildings, and consolidate administrative functions where genuine savings exist. Local educators must help shape those decisions. I will not balance public education on the backs of teachers, paraeducators, and school staff. Cost control must protect educational quality, collective bargaining, and every student’s access to opportunity.

Vermont needs substantially more housing, but supply is not simply supply. We must ask what is built, where, and who can afford it. State law should allow denser and taller housing where roads, water, sewer, transit, and services already exist; prioritize infill and reuse of vacant buildings; and make permitting coordinated, predictable, and adequately staffed. Streamlining cannot mean sacrificing wetlands, floodplains, working lands, or meaningful environmental review. Public subsidy should purchase public benefit through permanently affordable housing, land trusts, shared-equity ownership, and missing-middle rental support. I opposed H.772 because housing reform that weakens tenant protections is an unacceptable trade.