Calvin McEathron Finishes Campaign

On Tuesday, Nov. 4, Calvin McEathron ’16 concluded his bid for the two-seat Addison-1 district in the Vermont House of Representatives. When the votes were tallied Tuesday night, Amy Sheldon and incumbent Betty Nuovo took first and second and will represent Middlebury in the legislature. McEathron was close behind Nuovo’s 1,163 votes, with 1,034. At just 20 years old, the Middlebury junior would have been the youngest state representative in the nation.

McEathron grew up on a small farm in East Montpelier, VT, just 15 minutes from the state capital. “I was able to spend some time in the state house in high school,” McEathron recalled in an interview, “which really piqued my interest in politics.”
The impetus for McEathron’s campaign occured during his freshman year at Middlebury College, when he heard that his representative in East Montpelier might step down. Instead, the resignation of Middlebury incumbent Paul Ralston (D) “opened the door for a potential run,” and McEathron seized the opportunity.
In an interview, McEathron explained his stance on economic development, property tax reform, higher education, opiates, health care, and environmental preservation – the cornerstones of his campaign.

“First off, we need to make sure the job market is inviting for young people,” McEathron explained. “Vermont is still super beautiful, there’s no sprawl, there’s small communities and farmland, and it’s very sustainable. But at the same time you don’t see a lot of growth.”

The major reason for Vermont’s economic stagnation, according to McEathron, is the prohibitively high cost of living. “People are now leaving the state, because they can’t afford to live here.”
For a rural state like Vermont, McEathron sees e-commerce, internet connectivity, and cell-phone coverage as potential catalysts for entrepreneurship and economic growth.
“I think that the internet and cell phone coverage in general provide tremendous opportunities,” McEathron explained, “because people don’t necessarily need to start up a new business and get a big brick and mortar building. What they need is internet access and their living room. Middlebury has done a decent job in bringing these people in – telecommuters – but there’s a lot more we can do toward incentivizing entrepreneurs and providing capital to get them off the ground.”

McEathron also suggested consolidating smaller schools into a larger and more flexible school system. The problems that Vermont schools face, he explained, are often logistical.
“There are still towns in Vermont that are graduating five or six kids a year. You can’t have someone taking an AP class and someone else on an entirely different track both being able to succeed. Instead you have both those kids in the same class, where one kid is way over his head and the other is bored.”
Attracting and developing human capital is one concern, but retaining this skilled workforce is another. McEathron explained that families move to Vermont to provide their children with a quality education, only to leave the state after graduation day.
“You can raise your kids in a very safe area, with good public schools,” McEathron admitted, “but at the same time the property taxes are some of the highest in the country here in Addison County, and really across Vermont.”

“You’ve got to provide a quality education,” McEathron emphasized, pausing for a moment before continuing. “But now you have people who are afraid to come here because they think it will cost too much.”
One program that might help, Homeshare Vermont, connects newcomers with cheap housing in exhange for everyday chores like “raking the leaves or mowing the lawn,” McEathron explained. “It’s a really good program, but it’s in a small part of the state. If it were spread throughout [Vermont] I think it could do a lot to lower rent costs, especially for those who are interested in coming here but couldn’t afford to previously.”
Another roadblock is Vermont’s healthcare system, a thorny issue that McEathron discussed frequently with Middlebury residents.

“Right now the system is broken in Vermont,” McEathron said, leaning forward in his chair. “You go to sign up for healthcare and the website is down. We spent a ton of money, we tried to put in our own exchange, as opposed to taking the federal one, which has come at a tremendous cost to us.”

Although McEathron doesn’t fault Governor Shumlin, or even oppose a single-payer system in principle, he is wary blindly supporting any initiative without assessing its costs.
“When we’re looking at single-payer, there is a group of people that are unequivocally for it,” McEathron said. “I think that single-payer could be a good possibility. But, I think it’s really reckless to take that step without knowing the costs.”

The reform is expected to cost around two billion dollars.

“Right now Vermont raises around 2.7 billion dollars in tax revenue. You’re looking at almost doubling your tax burden ... even finding two billion dollars in a small state is really tough. To say, ‘I unequivocally support it,’ I think is a little unfair to Vermonters.”
McEathron also criticized Governor Peter Shumlin for failing to release his financial plan for the reform.

“Governor Shumlin has pushed off and pushed off the release of the plan,” McEathron said. “It’s gotten to the point where he’s playing political games with it.”
Throughout his campaign, which lasted throughout the summer and fall, health care was one issue that McEathron encountered with regularity. On the campaign, McEathron hosted discussions with local residents, appeared on local media, and went from door to door throughout Middlebury.

Close interaction with the electorate quickly taught McEathron to develop a thick skin.
“The Addison Independent controls the political sphere in Middlebury,” McEathron explained, “and pretty much across Addison. People are always going back and forth with letters to the editor, so you have to make sure your side is well represented, and see what other people are saying about you. That’s a thing you don’t see in the rest of the country.”
This constant self-reflection – and self-promotion – can be exhausting.

“There are days that you come back thinking, ‘Everyone hates me,’” McEathron said, sighing. “Then there are days where you come back and think, ‘I’m the perfect candidate!’”
Before his campaign, McEathron worked on an independent study of ‘rural politicking techniques’ with former Vermont Governor Jim Douglas. In addition to political expertise, McEathron quickly recognized the importance of an open mind.

“I think people are looking for, to some extent, just someone to listen,” McEathron explained. “You don’t want to come in with too big of an agenda. ‘This is what I’m going to do, this is what I’m going to do.’ That can turn people off pretty quickly.”
Coping with situations like that can be daunting.

“I still remember the first door that I knocked on,” McEathron recalled, chuckling. “I remember getting to my first door and seeing a big sign on  the door that said “No Political Solicitors.” It was the only one I saw all summer, but it was the first door. I was like, ‘Oh my gosh, what do I do!’ I didn’t have a spiel yet, I wasn’t comfortable, and I was so nervous. I think I ended up just putting a business card in and leaving.”
These types of hiccups were the anomalies in an otherwise fantastic learning experience, according to McEathron.

“Overall it’s been incredibly positive and broadened my comfort zone in terms of meeting people, in terms of really listening, and both being able to objectively take in someone else’s opinion and then form my own.”
McEathron was also thankful for all of the Vermonters he met on the trail.
“There’s a lot of neat people in Vermont, and when you run a race like that you get the chance to see the perspectives of so many of them.”
When asked about adjusting back to college life at Middlebury, McEathron smiled.

“I think it will take a little adjusting, to get back into the swing of things. The difference between running a campaign and doing schoolwork is night and day.”