NEWPORT — On Wednesday, Gubernatorial candidate Peter Galbraith spent the afternoon speaking to Newport residents about the impact of the alleged fraud in the region committed by politically connected developers.
Galbraith visited the Renaissance Block, the giant hole in the middle of Main Street, that was supposed to include shops, offices and a hotel as part of Ariel Quiros and Bill Stenger’s redevelopment project.
“In Newport, I heard first hand and saw the consequences of a state government that failed to oversee projects that the state had sanctioned and promoted,” said Galbraith. “Working men and women in the Northeast Kingdom, the most economically disadvantaged region of the state, are understandably worried about the future of their communities. Our top priority now should be to continue operations at Jay Peak and to open the Burke resort, to minimize any job loss,” Galbraith continued.
Galbraith also spoke to businesses on Main Street, as well as attended the Community Commons meeting.
“What happened in the Northeast Kingdom is a prime example of crony capitalism where politicians put the interests of wealthy individuals and corporations ahead the citizens who elected them,” said Galbraith. “We need to investigate the state’s role in this scandal and to clean up our politics. There is no excuse for allowing wealthy individuals to corrupt our politics by using corporate entities to evade Vermont’s limits on campaign contributions. It is time for the state of Vermont to end corporate campaign contributions, something prohibited in federal elections for more than a century.”
On Monday, Galbraith called on for an independent commission to investigate the state’s role in the Northeast Kingdom fraud and reiterated his pledge to ban corporate campaign contributions as Governor.
As a senator from Windham County, Galbraith championed legislation to ban corporate contributions.
I’m sorry Mr. Galbraith but are you aware that there has been wide spread support of all of these programs by every political party in Vermont? So of whose Cronys are you speaking? Why don’t you concentrate on our economy, lowering taxes that hit all the working people of Vermont, and help us bring business, real business, to the Northeast kingdom. And I’m happy you attended our Community Commons last night so you could see community in action.
Crony Capitalism & Government are inseparable and a final product of human nature in the form of greed be it for wealth and/or power.