Out In The Mountains : News - Progressive to Run For Governor

Left to Right: Representative Dean Corren, candidate for governor Anthony Pollina, and Representative David Zuckerman, all members of the Progressive Party.

A Vermont political party whose goals include full civil rights for gays and lesbians has nominated its first candidate ever for the office of governor.

Anthony Pollina, a senior policy advisor for Vermont Public Interest Research Group, is the Vermont Progressive Party’s gubernatorial candidate for 2000. He has been active in grassroots organizing, activism, and non-profit work for nearly 20 years.

“There’s no doubt in my mind that giving gays the right to marry is the right thing to do from both the legal and the moral point of view,” said Pollina, who objects to the so-called incremental approach to the granting of civil rights. “Separate but equal is completely unacceptable.” He said continued public discussion and education is the key to bringing the majority of Vermonters to that same conclusion.

Although he considers the current legislative process itself and most legislators “very open,” he doesn’t think the executive branch can claim the same. “I don’t feel as if the current governor is that kind of decision maker,” he said. “If he’s talking to the GLBT community 15 minutes once a year, who is he talking to? That’s just unacceptable. I think the gay and lesbian community will find that I am not only open to their issues, but I’ll be consistent and lead on them.”

Pollina said he would support development of methadone treatment for heroin addicts in Vermont — a sticking point between current Governor Howard Dean and many health care, drug treatment, and HIV/AIDS treatment professionals for years.

“The fact that people may have to leave their families or travel out of state to get the treatment they need just exacerbates the problem,” Pollina said. He disagreed with Dean that twelve-step programs are the best way to break the heroin habit.

“That’s a somewhat elitist attitude: “You’ve gotten yourself into a bad situation, now go get yourself out of it,’” he said.

In accepting the unanimous nomination from his party on February 13, Pollina said, “We will be doing what no party has ever done before: run a winnable race for governor without the influence of big money.”

“Mr Campaign Finance Reform” is the label given Pollina by Governor Howard Dean, acknowledging the new candidate’s central role in the adoption of 1997 law Pollina called a start toward “taking the money out of politics and putting people back in.”

As the founder and first director of the farm and rural advocacy organization Rural Vermont, Pollina has first-hand experience with helping people find their voices in government. In that position, Pollina said he experienced a watershed moment at a meeting between a group of farmers and then-Administration Secretary John Dooley.

“The farmers sat down and talked to Dooley,” said Pollina.

“The farmers left that meeting feeling so empowered. They realized they could sit down with a key policy maker and actually teach him something. Somehow, we have to get more people to do that kind of thing.”

Pollina called empowerment a long-term process with leadership as the key. “Having the right kind of governor can make a real difference in how people feel about their ability to be active in decision making,” he said.

A New Jersey native, Pollina has lived in Vermont since 1972, graduating from Johnson State College with a degree in Political Science and Environmental Studies in 1977. After graduation, he moved to Montpelier and started a non-profit network of radio stations.

Since then, Pollina has been involved in work on such issues as the impact of the development of shopping malls, Bovine Growth Hormone, genetically engineered foods and NAFTA. He worked for US Representative Bernie Sanders for five years as a policy advisor on a range of issues.

“I guess I’m a non-profit kinda guy,” said Pollina, “which doesn’t mean that I don’t know how to run a business or balance a budget. Non-profit work takes a lot of creativity and persistence.”

Pollina said he has asked friends to tell him if he starts to “act like a professional politician or get too or get too distracted to hear what people have to say and deal with that.”

“I’m going to run this race to win,” he said. “But I’m going to run the race in a way that allows me to maintain who I am.”

“Vermont needs a governor who will fight for the issues working Vermonters care about: universal health care, living wages and an economy that works for all,” said party chair Heather Reimer during the nomination.

The Progressive Party, the result of the Progressive Coalition born when Bernie Sanders became mayor of Burlington in 1981, will not officially vote on its platform for this campaign until its convention this summer. The pre-platform includes support for a single-payer health care system, livable wage legislation, progressive tax reform, reproductive choice, and full inclusion of gays and lesbians in marriage.