By DEVON FULLER
BRANDON—An informal meeting of the Brandon Democratic Committee was held Sunday, September 17 at the Red Clover Ale Company in Brandon. The get-together was headed up by Bob Clark, Brandon’s Democratic Party Chair and Stephanie Jerome, the State Representative for Brandon. The group of twenty or so like-minded voters came to hear what they could do to strengthen the Democratic Party in Brandon and Vermont. These voters were a mix of newcomers to Vermont and folks that had lived in Brandon so long they forgotten where they had moved from, as one participant put it. The mix was a fairly even split of men and women with a good representation of different voting ages.
Representative Jerome gave a breakdown of the various committees and appointments she participates in as a State Representative. Most notable is the Committee on Commerce and Economic Development, where she is Vice Chair. She discussed several bills they are working on or passed in last year’s session to help Vermont succeed economically. One such bill was H68, which removes some state and local regulations around creating more housing in downtowns that have the infrastructure necessary to build housing, such as sewer and water. Another bill Representative Jerome is working on addresses the education of middle- and high-school students by offering the ability for technical schools to create programing at the high-school level. She believes this is necessary to provide students another career path option and that it is vital to reach them with this option before they graduate.
As the chair of Brandon’s Democratic Committee, Mr. Clark was thrilled with the turnout. He remarked that it was great to see so many people coming out to learn more about what they could do to further the cause of the Democratic Party. Of the many comments from Mr. Clark, one of the most notable was how pleased he was at last year’s Independence Day Parade when two gentlemen that were marching with the Republican candidates told him how much they appreciated the job Representative Jerome is doing. Mr. Clark also announced the official meeting of the Brandon Democrats would be Thursday, September 28 at 6:00 P.M at the Brandon Museum, where Brandon’s Democratic Committee officers will be elected and the work of the committee with be discussed. He encouraged anyone interested in moving the Democratic agenda forward to attend.
