To the editor: Gleason announces candidacy for Vermont Senate for Windsor

Hello Chester!  I appreciate your time and attention to our political process. For too long we have watched our community buckle under the rising costs of living and the annual battle for a fair and balanced budget to educate our children.

We deserve better. I’m Jonathan Gleason and I’m proud to announce my candidacy for Vermont Senate in Windsor County.

In speaking with people from all over the community, I have found everyday Vermonters are struggling with affordability.

Hard working people are having difficulties paying their ever increasing property taxes (rent), utility bills and fees (on everything). This needs to change. Young adults are unable to find good paying jobs, buy a house and raise a family. That needs to change. The current leadership has engaged in decades of tax and spend policies. They see your hard earned tax dollars as a slush fund for their pet projects.

We have a spending problem in Vermont. We do not have a revenue problem in Vermont. Tax and spend, when will it end? That time is coming, and you the voters have the power to make a choice and create a positive change. A vote for me, Jonathan Gleason, is a vote for fiscal conservancy. I understand how hard you have worked for that money, and you deserve better.

Every year our schools are faced with ever increasing costs, lower student enrollment and decreasing achievement outcomes. The per pupil costs are some of the highest in the nation and outcomes some of the lowest. That needs to change. Town after town engages in acrimonious school board meetings and struggles with school budgets, often voting ‘No’ and leaving students and teachers with an uncertain future for the coming school year.

This should not be an annual problem. We need real structural reform for education in Vermont. We do not need another committee report without achievable goals. For too long this has been the status quo. If elected, I will not stand by and watch another legislative session pass without positive change for all stakeholders in our education process (students, parents and teachers).

The current leadership has had its chance with decades as the supermajority and now the majority. The result of their stewardship has been ever increasing costs through taxes and fees. It has resulted in a declining population and affordability crisis for the average people.

We cannot afford to support the present trajectory. Maintaining the status quo is simply no longer an option!
This campaign is not about me. It is about us. It is about taking our community back. I invite you to join this movement. Talk to your neighbors. Get energized! We can make Vermont a better place for all of us to live. I need your vote this November. Thank you.

Jonathan Gleason
Ludlow

After graduating college with a degree in engineering, I worked for a multi-national oil services company. Mid-career, I pivoted away from the large company, went back to school for an MBA and bought a small business. I successfully ran that business for 15 years and sold it to a long-time employee. After selling the business, I pivoted again and began working winters as a ski instructor, teaching children to ski. Summers I worked for the same resort in a variety of roles including outdoor activities, food and beverage and housekeeping.