Letter: Choose Bartlett as next governor

Burlington Free Press              SUNDAY, JULY 25, 2010

As we all know there are five candidates vying for the vacancy for governor of Vermont. After learning about each candidate's qualifications, I decided to support the senator from Lamoille County. Susan Bartlett is my choice for she is prepared to hold the position.

First: Bartlett has an education background earning degrees both at the University of Vermont and Johnson State College. With her degrees, she obtained employment as directorof a group home for youth and as director of special education services for a school district in Lamoille County. She developed programs that offered stability to our youth at risk.

Second: With her spouse, she has hands-on experience in organic farming and raising animals. She knows dirt, lambs and sheep.

Third: She has business experience having owned and operated a successful shop, Wool & Feathers, in Stowe. She knows yarn.

Fourth: She has served as Vermont's senator from Lamoille County for 18 years. When she won her first race, she was the first Democrat to be elected to that seat in the county's history.

Fifth: During her 18 years in the Senate, she served on the Appropriations Committee for 16 of those years. She was at the helm as the chairwoman of the Appropriations Committee for eight of those years. (A former Vermont governor, the first woman from Vermont to serve in that office, also served on the Appropriations Committee.) We know what a tough time our state is in right now with budgeting issues. Bartlett knows budgets.

Sixth: If you've met or read about Susan Bartlett, you have a sense of her competence, her vision for our state, and for the people within its borders. Voters in Lamoille County know.

PATRICIA A. ALLEN 
South Burlington