Important Issues

General Sorrell speaks
with a supporter at the
2000 Tunbridge Fair

In the area of consumer protection, we should continue our lawsuits against companies for allegedly fraudulent conduct ranging from charitable solicitation drives to sweepstakes operations to prescription medication pricing activities. There should be continuing emphasis on consumer education, trying to prevent Vermonters, particularly our seniors, from falling prey to scam artists working through the mail, over the telephone, or door-to-door. I also hope to us enhance our resources to combat criminal conduct perpetrated by computers and via the Internet.

As for environmental protection, we need to aggressively pursue our court efforts, along with several other states and the federal government, against midwestern coal-fired power plants that we allege are primarily responsible for the acid rain that is so destructive to some of Vermont's vegetation, waters, and aquatic life.

In the criminal area, we need to redouble our efforts to combat the scourge of domestic violence in our homes.

Looking to the future and the continually increasing ease of gathering and communicating personal information about individuals, personal privacy issues will become more and more important in this State and this Country. I will continue to play a lead role in the public policy and legislative debates as these topics are addressed.

In the United States, more than 2,000 people under the age of 18 begin smoking and one third of them will one day die from a tobacco-related disease. Blocking youth access to tobacco improves public health by breaking patterns of addiction and disease. I will continue to pursue efforts to reduce youth exposure and access to tobacco products.