Vermont Viewpoint

Vermont Viewpoint is a morning public affairs program produced and funded by WDEV and the Radio Vermont Group, broadcast from the station in Waterbury. No single host owns the chair. Rob Roper hosts on Tuesdays and Lachlan Francis on Friday mornings, while Brad Ferland and David Zuckerman have each hosted other editions, so the guests change with whoever is asking the questions. One April week shows how far that goes. On Monday, Ferland had Matt Cota of Meadow Hill Consulting in the studio for a rundown of all things Montpelier. Randy Hultgren of the Alliance of Health Care Sharing Ministries came next, on Vermont legislation that would restrict some of the group's health care initiatives. The same morning also made room for Kathy Mattea, the country and bluegrass singer, ahead of a Vermont appearance. On Tuesday, Roper came in with a notepad of subjects for Vermont Republican Party chairman Paul Dame, from candidate recruitment to Act 181, the land use rule he said has rural Vermont up in arms. His second guest was Javan Sears, a University of Vermont senior the party recruited to run for state Senate in Chittenden County. Thursday was Zuckerman's show, with Geo Honigford on the public education system, Chuck Collins on the Fair Share tax proposal, and Representative Herb Olson on a local vote before any school is closed. Zuckerman framed the tax conversation around recouping federal cuts from Vermonters in the top one percent so that everyone else can still afford to live in the state. By Friday, Francis was asking the executive chair of Let's Build Homes, a former Burlington mayor, what it means that three in four Vermonters want more action on housing from the legislature. The answer went back to his first run for office in Burlington in 2012, when building more homes was a contested idea and opponents cast him as 'the developer mayor'. He described a tremendous sea change in public opinion since then. Alex Hernandez, president of Champlain College, also joined that Friday program. Education keeps coming back. In an earlier Tuesday episode, first-term Barre City Representative Michael Boutin sat in Roper's studio and talked about Barre being one of the few communities to fail its budget, and about how far enrollment has fallen since Act 60 came into being in 1997. Former Burlington City Council member Kurt Wright was also on that program. Callers are part of the format: Roper reads out the call-in number, takes a listener's point, and passes it to his guest to answer. The tone is conversational and local. Hosts often open on the weather, whether a gray morning or a long winter finally breaking, before running through the lineup. It suits someone who wants Vermont's housing, school and tax fights explained by the people directly involved.