Daly, Copeland-Hanzas Prep for Election
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- Created on Friday, 02 November 2012 16:49
- Written by Alyssa Sylvia
AROUND THE NEK - Voters in the towns of Bradford, Fairlee and West Fairlee will be going to the polls in just a few days to choose their Vermont State House Representative.
Democrat Sarah Copeland-Hanzas is running for a fifth term as state representative. Republican Mary Daly, who unsuccessfully ran against Copeland-Hanzas in 2010, is challenging for the seat once again. The divisive issue of nuclear energy is one where the two candidates have clear differences.
Daly feels that nuclear energy is a great option.
"There's been a lot of controversy in the state about nuclear energy," Daly said. "I'm a proponent of nuclear energy. I think it's safe, I think it's reliable, I think it's less expensive than a lot of our other options."
Copeland-Hanzas on the other hand, is concerned about the impact of nuclear waste.
"I get frustrated because everybody talks about it being clean and cheap," Copeland-Hanzas said, "until you ask them if they want to take a bucket of nuclear waste home with them or bury it in their back yard. And, okay, it's not clean, and it's not cheap.".
Another point where the candidates differ regards physician-assisted death, the procedure in which terminally ill patients may choose to end their life.
"They do not need to put the physicians in the middle of that equation," Daly said. "I feel extremely strongly about that.".
"The real issue, to me, is one of a very personal nature," Copeland-Hanzas said. "What I would hope that we can do is keep government out of that relationship, between the doctor and the patient, so that a person who is terminally ill doesn't have barriers with what they and their doctor might decide to do.".
Both candidates agree on is that health care costs in the U.S. are too high. Daly is skeptical that a single payer health care system would work in Vermont, while Copeland-Hanzas says cutting administrative waste in health care would signifigantly lower costs.
