- According to Vermont Legal Aid, over 70% of evictions in Chittenden County are for non-payment and non-payment alone. Half of these evictions (35% of all evictions in the county) are for overdue payment of $2000 or less. Sometimes, the sheriff is throwing children and families onto the street for a few hundred dollars, even in Vermont’s harsh winter. Evictions in Chittenden County have increased by 45% in the last 5 years. Stable housing in our community is in crisis.
As sheriff, instead of a maximal eviction policy, I will do the hard and meaningful work of eviction prevention to keep children and families in their homes and to get landlords paid in full. Eviction is an expensive and time consuming process for landlords, and the system fails both parties. I will connect tenants with a good paying job, and use the resources we already have to mediate a payment plan with landlords, as well as offer tenants financial literacy and other support resources to create stable solutions.The cheapest and most effective way to address the eviction crisis head on at the start of the process. If we could evict our way out of an eviction crisis, we would have by now.
- Crime is a function of people’s needs not being met. I cannot think of a more effective way to deprive someone of their needs than to remove them from their housing in Vermont’s winter. Housing alone will not fix every issue, but it is a necessary first step to addressing community safety.
- Nationally and in Vermont, the increase in federal immigration activity threatens the fabric of our communities. As sheriff, I will not just refuse
to collaborate with ICE, I will stand up to ICE to keep our neighbors safe. Our communities are not safe when federal agencies kidnap our neighbors.
- There is no system of accountability for sheriffs in Vermont. In office, I will advocate to change state law to create commonsense oversight, guardrails, and a recall mechanism so voters can curtail the king-like power of a sheriff in their community. Regardless of funding structure, a public resource belongs to the public interest.
- Politicians like to talk about increasing transparency with vague language and no tangible plan to actually do so. I will make the sheriff’s financial records public and begin collecting policing data, which in the year 2026,
they still are not currently doing.
- We need someone who can actually do the job. A Vermont sheriff is a civil law administrator. The current sheriff admits to refusing to do one of the core functions of his job, making him in contempt of court by refusing a judge’s direct order.He is too busy personally working private security gigs to do the necessary administrative work to run a competent department. The Chittenden County Sheriff’s Office’s 2024-2025 financial audit led all of Vermont with the most “material weaknesses” of any sheriff in the state. A “material weakness” is considered to be the largest red flag an auditor can give. As sheriff, I will ensure the office actually serves the public instead of wasting their time serving private interest at our community’s expense.
- Racism is embedded in every aspect of American life, and is deeply entrenched within our criminal justice system. Every elected official needs to understand this and take steps to address and dismantle oppressive systems. I will carry my experience as an anti-racist activist into my role as sheriff which directly contrasts my opponent’s complicit silence on
the racist incidents of the past within the Chittenden County Sheriff’s Office. While I come with ideas of my own to address systemic racism in our community, I also understand that as a white Vermonter, listening to communities of color as a good faith partner is required to make any real progress.
