Doug Racine – Vermont Labor Council

October 17, 2009

I do want to thank you for the work that you do on behalf of Vermonters and the work that you’ve done on behalf of me and my various campaigns over the years. I’ve enjoyed your support and I hope I am able to earn it again this year. And I want to applaud your agenda, not only for the people you represent, in the unions and unionized workers, but all working Vermonters. I think that’s what makes you such a strong movement in this state, is the ability to advocate on behalf of everybody who is working, and not just a union agenda.

And I want to congratulate you, too, at the outset, as representatives of the union movement in this country for being such a crucial part of electing a new president of the United States. I mean after 8 years of the darkness in the wilderness, people did come together and give us opportunity for hope – something that working Americans did not have for many years.

Now, we’re seeing in Washington how difficult change can be. You know, it’s like one agenda at a time. It’s very difficult. The monied forces are lining up against health care, but I am comfortable that it is indeed happening, and it’s going to happen here in Vermont, too. We are going to have a new governor, and I clearly want to be that Governor.

I’m on a mission – not just to get myself elected – but it’s to work with you and other Vermonters to restore the middle class in this state, and to restore the middle class in this country.

You know, if you think back over our history in this country over the last 50 years or so, you’ll see that when this country was at its strongest, economically strongest, with the greatest opportunities for working people, was not coincidentally the same time that unions were strongest in this country. The unions have really helped to build the middle class. And, I want to work with you – I want you to be part of that vision – to change our priorities. We can do it in Vermont and we can show the way across the country. Change our priorities so that we can restore the middle class. I believe it really can be done.

Politics today, always interesting, but it’s about the economy. Very clearly, that’s the number one issue. We’re going through difficult times. I talk to Vermonters every day. You talk to Vermonters every day – your friends, your neighbors, your families – and Vermonters are hurting. There’s no question about it. A lot have lost their jobs. Others fear losing their jobs. If you lose your job, you know, you can lose a lot. You can lose you can lose your home, you can lose your car, you can lose your savings, you can lose your hope as well.

And everything’s going through the roof – the cost of health care, of education, energy, everything else. We’re looking at our kids, and we’re looking at our grandkids and saying are they going to have the same opportunities that we had when we were growing up, and for a lot of Vermonters that I’m talking to, the answer is no. There’s fear that the answer is no. Life should be getting better for the next generation. It always has. That’s sort of been the American way, and there’s a real fear out there that it’s not getting better for that next generation.

So how’d we get here? What explains this problem that we have? I think there are two things. One, there’s a current recession, and let’s remember where it came from: it was caused by greed and incompetence on Wall Street, and the banking industry and the financial industry, but those folks are coming back. We’re reading every day that the million dollar salaries are back, the mega-million dollar bonuses are coming back.

But what’s happening? Americans are continuing to be hurt. Americans are continuing to suffer foreclosures and the inability to get a loan and the inability to pay for kids to go to college.

And in Vermont, what’s been the response? It’s been to go after working people – to go after a lot of unionized people – you know, you’ve seen the governor going after state employees, saying you’re part of the problem, going after teachers, going after unemployment, so you have to cut benefits there, and you have to cut benefits under workers’ compensation. But folks at the top are still doing ok. We’re asking only the people who are working hard and struggling to pay the price, and I think that’s clearly, clearly wrong.

But the second thing that’s going on – and I think this is even more fundamental and really more important for all of us – is that even before this recession, this economy was hurting. We’re losing jobs. We’re losing jobs overseas. We’re seeing growing income inequalities. We’re seeing increasing numbers of Americans and Vermonters who don’t have insurance. You know from your discussions with your colleagues across the country that it’s more difficult to organize workers. The laws seem to be stacked against it. Businesses clearly continue to fight the efforts of organizing across the country. This is a fundamental problem that really needs to be addressed. I think we can do a lot about it in Vermont. We can’t fix it all, but we can start here in Vermont.

These are times that really test our values. Politics and these sorts of political discussions are about what’s inside of us, and what values we hold dear, and I want to tell you a little bit about my values. I grew up in a blue collar family. My dad was an auto mechanic and then had a gas station and over time through hard work built a business. We had opportunities. My parents understood the value of hard work and education, fairness, caring about others in the community, and that’s what was instilled in me, and I think most of our generation. We carry those values are inside of us.

I know that kids should have opportunities – the opportunity to get a good education, the opportunity to get ahead and look towards a brighter future.

Parents should have decent jobs. Jobs that pay a decent living and have decent benefits to go with them, so they aren’t always looking over their shoulder waiting for that pink slip to arrive.

I believe, and you believe, that the economy should work for all of us, and we shouldn’t have people working really, really hard for the benefit of a few at the top. That’s what’s happening, and that’s what I mean when I’m talking about our values. These are the things that I care about and these are the things that you folks all care about. It’s really about fairness. It’s about justice. It’s about the middle class.

A lot of us are going to talk to you, and we’re all going to say sort of the same things to you. But I want my work, what I’ve done in the past, to really illustrate what my values are, and my commitment and dedication to the values and the issues that I’m talking with you about today. I’ve worked on your agendas over the years. There You folks here have worked with me even when I was in the state senate the first time back in the 1980’s. Remember that I’ve always been there for labor in this state, however you’re organized, whatever your organization is.

I’ve been working on healthcare. I’ve been working to reduce the cost of healthcare and find ways to extend healthcare to all Vermonters. I think it’s time we recognize, as many of you do – I was talking to Ben and others the other day – in a country as wealthy as we are, I think we should be recognizing healthcare as a basic human right. We can afford to do this. It’s really a question of priorities, and it’s not happening in Washington right now for a lot of reasons, but it can happen here in Vermont. I heard you talking a few minutes ago – Marvin and others – about S.88 and H.100.

I made a commitment the other day with Ben and the folks I was talking with. I chair the Health and Welfare Committee. We’re going to take that up. It’s going to be our starting point, to say how can we do this? How can we work with the federal government to make universal access, single-payer, a reality in the state of Vermont?

I’m going to tell you, it’s not going to be easy. There are a lot of tough questions to be answered. There are a lot of tough issues to work out, but we aren’t going to work it out if we don’t start, and we’re going to be starting on this in January.

I’ve been working on the unemployment issue and the Workers’ Compensation issue – some of you have been in the room as I and others – Mike Obuchowski and Warren Kitzmiller and Mark MacDonald have sort of been at the base for those discussions in two legislative committees, and again, tough times for the unemployment fund, and what’s the response from a lot of folks? Cut the benefits. You know, someone called it brave – you have to do the brave thing and cut benefits for people.

I don’t know what schoolyard they grew up in, but the schoolyard I grew up in, you don’t kick somebody when they’re down – that’s not considered brave. And the idea of cutting benefits in the time when people really need them, and it will protect their ability to hold onto their homes and hold onto their futures – that’s just wrong, and we’re going to find a better solution to that.

And the same with Workers’ Comp. What is the solution when Workers’ Comp costs more for businesses? Cut benefits for people. And this is the same time that people are ripping off the system that there are businesses out there who are labeling people independent contractors so they can avoid paying workers’ comp, and instead of going after them, we’ve had an administration choosing to let them off the hook and say we have to cut benefits instead. Well, the legislature stood up to that last year, and we required more enforcement of the laws that we have on the books as a way of protecting legitimate benefits for people who are legitimately hurt on the job.

I’ve worked on behalf of kids. I’ve worked on behalf of fair taxation – progressive taxation in this state.

I believe that government at its core needs to be responsive to average people – people who need help occasionally from the government, and it needs to be responsible in the work that it does.

I’m running for governor. I know there are a lot of us doing it but I need your help, and I’m asking for your help today.

I want to be governor because this state is very special to me. I’m proud of it. I’m proud of all Vermonters. We know how to work hard, and we know how to get through things, and we understand the need to look out for others when times are tough and not just hunker down and say what’s in it for me, and not help my neighbor. That’s not the way we do things here in Vermont.

I know we can make Vermont what it should be, what it has been, which is a great place to live and a great place to raise a family. Fundamentally, that’s what I think it’s about for all of us.

I believe in Vermont. I believe in Vermonters. I believe we can do it.

And I hope as you examine all of us, take a look at us and listen to all of us, we’ve got a year to go, that’s a lot of time, I hope you’ll come to believe in me, too, and recognize that if we really work together, and if we’re operating from good values and concern about middle class Vermonters and making the middle class thrive and prosper the way it should be, if we’re willing to work together and we’re willing to work hard, we can make it work here in Vermont.

Thank you very much. I appreciate your willingness to sit here and listen and I appreciate the support you’ve given me so many times in the past.