BRATTLEBORO-Two attorneys at vastly different points in their careers are vying for the open seat in District 9 vacated by Rep. Tristan Toleno, who will retire at the end of his term after serving for 12 years in the Legislature.
Deputy State's Attorney David Gartenstein, 64, and criminal law attorney Ian Goodnow, 32, of Costello, Valente, and Gentry, are both seeking the seat.
Both men are former chairs of the Brattleboro Selectboard.
Gartenstein, currently the town moderator, has also served on the Brattleboro School Board and Brattleboro Union High School Board, the Development Review Board, and the Charter Revision Commission. He has been a Representative Town Meeting member.
Goodnow has served on the Development Review Board and now serves as a justice of the peace and member of the Board of Civil Authority.
Goodnow is running with Toleno's endorsement; he describes him as "a known quantity and known leadership to our community."
"I think he's wise beyond his years," Toleno told the Brattleboro Reformer. "He has great passion and drive, and a lot of humility. He's not an Ian-first kind of person. I really appreciated that, too, as I've gotten to know him better."
Goodnow earned his degree by "reading the law," or studying with a mentor, in this case, attorney Tom Costello. The Law Office Study Program takes four years instead of the traditional two. State Sen. Nader Hashim, D-Windham, has also earned his law degree that way.
"It's a great alternate way to becoming a lawyer," Goodnow said, "especially in a time when higher education, like graduate school, can be just so expensive. This is a way to move into a professional career that can be affordable."
Goodnow intends to continue practicing law, even if he wins the legislative seat.
"I think a lot of people who are my age, at my level of my professional career, probably could not have the opportunity to take this time go to Montpelier," he said. "But I am lucky enough to have an employer who is willing to work with me, and that's amazing. I'm trying to take advantage of it, so that I can bring my perspective and my voice to Montpelier."
Gartenstein also plans to continue working if he gets elected.
"I'm not planning to retire at this time," Gartenstein said. "I have to work that out with the state's attorney if I'm elected."
A young man's experience
Goodnow's campaign is based on the idea that younger, fresher, more contemporary views are needed in Montpelier.
"I really believe that the strength of the Legislature in Montpelier comes from its diversity of perspectives and experiences," Goodnow said. "So the more diverse the Legislature is, the more strength it has to do good work for Vermont.
"And I really believe that having younger people, people who know what the struggles are for younger people at this time in their lives, being up in Montpelier and being part of the decision-making process, is critical," he added.
It is important for the state's future to retain young Vermonters, Goodnow said.
"We need to keep the people who live here staying here," Goodnow said. "And we also can attract other young people and people of all ages to Vermont. We have an aging population, and that is only going to grow as we move forward.
"So you need people in positions of leadership having the perspective of what it means to be a renter, what it means to try to buy their first home, what it means to try to start a family, what it means to try to start a professional career in the current climate of what Vermont is right now," he continued.
Youth is not his only message.
Goodnow, who served four years on the Selectboard, two of them as chair, says he presents "a unique opportunity for Brattleboro in being someone who is younger, but has already been in positions of municipal leadership."
"I have that experience and perspective of seeing the challenges and strengths of our community and can bring that to Montpelier if I'm elected," he said.
Gartenstein, on the other hand, offers voters years of experience. The criminal justice system informs many of the state's attorney's views about the problems with Brattleboro right now: substance abuse, the lack of housing, and homelessness.
"A big part of what we see downtown is a result of the lack of comprehensive substance abuse and mental health care services in the state," Gartenstein said.
He doesn't think Vermont is unique: "I think the lack of really substantial comprehensive substance abuse and mental health care treatment systems exist everywhere," he said.
"But we see it in pretty stark relief here in downtown Brattleboro, because it's a small town and because a lot of the population who are experiencing substance abuse disorder and being housed are here in Brattleboro, in the downtown center, rather than being in the surrounding towns," Gartenstein said.
He sees a real need for comprehensive substance abuse and mental health care. And more is needed, he said.
"I think there are contributing elements that also come from the criminal justice system," said Gartenstein. For those who are involved in that system, "the programming in the correctional system is not comprehensive and responsive enough," he said. "And we see that manifesting itself on the streets in Brattleboro."
That is one of the biggest issues people talk to him about when Gartenstein canvasses.
"Then the conversation transitions into a discussion about housing, housing insecurity, affordable housing, and homelessness in general," Gartenstein said. "Those are really intractable issues that have been going on for years. And we want to make sure that there's appropriate housing available for people in the community."
Goodnow's career up to this point has been varied. He grew up in Essex and has a degree in the Russian language and political science from the University of Vermont. He worked for the Vermont Department of Labor. He taught English in Taiwan and the country of Georgia.
He and his wife, Ruth Schafer of Newfane, got married on top of Mount Mansfield. They spent five months hiking the entire Appalachian Trail, which runs from Maine to Georgia.
"It was an amazing experience," Goodnow said. "And during that hike, we made two decisions. One, we decided we wanted to permanently move back to Vermont and live in Vermont. And second, I made the decision that I wanted to become a lawyer."
One reason for the decision is that the trail goes through many municipalities, Goodnow said.
"I think back to some of those towns and the assets that they have, and the infrastructure, and things that are happening in all those little places," Goodnow said. "And it reminded me that there are people doing good work, trying to make little communities vibrant in every state. It just makes me really grateful to live in Brattleboro. It's just such a beautiful place that has so many things going on."
Goodnow has just come off the Selectboard, where he chaired a fractious few years when the town moved from a contract with Rescue Inc. to a new configuration of a fire department model of emergency services.
Much of the town was against the move; there was a surge of public comment against the decision to upend a longtime relationship, and some people feel they have yet to hear an explanation.
"Emergency services was not an issue that I thought was going to be a major part of my time on the board," Goodnow said, but it ended up being so. "It was important to me that we [take] that issue, which was really important to the town, and do it right."
He said the board "spent the time to very carefully make that consideration and make the right decision. And we had the opportunity to sign a contract with Rescue."
"So at the end of the day, after having the opportunity to look at all of the information and the data, when it was the time to make a decision, the board voted unanimously to move forward with the fire department. That's leadership. And that's what I mean by doing the right thing for our community," he said.
If elected, Goodnow would like to serve on the House Judiciary Committee.
"I think it naturally lends itself towards the work I do as an attorney," he said. "I actively work on cases where the work that comes out of the Judiciary Committee in the House and the sister committee in the Senate directly impacts my job. So I sort of work and live in the statutes that I think would be relevant to work that would be done in that committee."
Plus, he added, "I'm really passionate about that work. And I think I would be very good at it. Also, I think it's important to have an attorney's perspective in that committee."
In closing, Goodnow said he would "be a really a worthy representative of our district and of our community" because he has "fallen in love with public service."
A prosecutor who walks to work downtown
Gartenstein was born in Brooklyn, New York, and started hitchhiking across the country in 1981.
"I decided to see what Vermont was like. And I got here to Brattleboro, and I never went further north."
To Gartenstein, "It seemed like home."
"I'd never really been in a small town so vibrant and walkable as this one," he said.
"So I got myself a job. I got myself a place to live. And, other than the seven years when I went back to the city to go to law school and practice for the first four years, I've been here ever since 1982," Gartenstein said. "I've been able to walk downtown to work for the better part of the last 40 years."
Although the problems of Brattleboro aren't Brattleboro's alone to solve, Gartenstein believes that a significant population in town wants any housing of homeless people to include social services, including drug rehabilitation.
"Where's the dividing line between voluntary and mandatory services?" Gartenstein said. "It's in the calibration of that line that reflects so many of the things that we're seeing on on the streets in Brattleboro."
He reports "substantial belief among people in the community here that housing should be available - absolutely should be available - but that people should engage in programming and services when that housing is being delivered."
"That's the dialogue I want to have as as part of this discussion about responding to housing insecurity and substance abuse and mental health care issues if I'm elected," Gartenstein said. "Or even if I'm not elected."
His main issue when he was on the Selectboard - an issue that still engages him - is that Brattleboro is a "hub town" which pays for fire, water, road, and other services that are also used by people who live in the surrounding towns but come to Brattleboro to work and for entertainment.
That leaves Brattleboro, he believes, paying a higher property tax for these services and their administrative costs, as well as other hub towns around the state like Bennington, Springfield, and White River Junction.
He plans to take this issue with him to Montpelier if he is elected.
"What I have preliminarily concluded, based upon looking at the statewide tax data, is that [most] regional economic hubs around the state pay higher real estate taxes," Gartenstein said.
The bottom line? "What we know is that tax rates in Brattleboro are significantly higher than in all the surrounding towns," he said.
"To a very large extent, the need for additional services arise because we're supporting the region's economy," Gartenstein said.
"And so we need to have a fire department and we need to have this significant sized police department in order to support the entire economy for the region," he said. "The concern that arises from that structure is that there isn't sufficient revenue sharing coming back from the state in order to make the tax burden on Brattleboro residents fair."
Gartenstein said that any relief for Brattleboro residents should start with the state, which he thinks should "authorize towns like Brattleboro to be able to generate revenue to help offset the cost of supporting services in ways other than just the real estate tax."
Although the town has a 1% local-option sales tax and a rooms and meals tax, "the state takes a big chunk of that money," he said.
"What's left over is not nearly enough to offset the difference in tax rates as they exist between regional economic hubs and the surrounding towns," Gartenstein added.
"People come in to Brattleboro to work, and Brattleboro taxpayers support those employers," he continued. "And people come in to Brattleboro for services like hospitals, medical care, other social services, and Brattleboro taxpayers pay the money to provide the infrastructure."
The problem is that Vermont has never developed a countywide governmental system, Gartenstein said.
"I'd like to work with similarly situated towns and with other legislators to determine whether there's a way to address that tax burden in a way that's fairer for Brattleboro residents but fair to everybody," he said.
Gartenstein thinks he would want to serve on the Judiciary Committee if he is elected.
"I've done a lot of municipal governance, but I've been a prosecutor for 20 years," he said. "I have very substantial experience at the intersection of the criminal justice and mental health care systems."
Gartenstein loves downtown and believes that despite its problems, it remains vibrant.
"We have a relatively diverse and strong retail economic business going on here in Brattleboro," he said.
People have been concerned about the loss of businesses downtown, but "that's really been very cyclical in the 40-plus years that I've lived here," Gartenstein said. "This is the nature of the retail economy in towns this size."
He is offering the voters "a lot of experience working in government," Gartenstein said. "I think that knowledge base will effectively represent Brattleboro in Montpelier. My enthusiasm and passion for the work and for making the community better aren't things that are only reserved for people who are young.
"I am deeply committed to making the community a better place," he said. "And that's why I'm running."
This News item by Joyce Marcel was written for The Commons.