The Brattleboro Reformer from Brattleboro, Vermont • 3

VERMONT Friday, July 17. 1998 Brattleboro Reformer 3 Candon runs for Congress By ROSS SNEYD mnnn AP fife photo WEED WHACKERS This is an undated photo of purple loosestrife in Vermont. State biologists have recruited a new ally in their war against the non-native nuisance plant a beetle. State enlists beetles aid to eat plant CONGRESSIONAL BID Mali Candon of Rutland holds his daughter, Reilly, 4, while daughter Molly, 10, looks on aftec be announced his run for Vermonts lone congressional seat at the Rutland Free Library in Rutland. RUTLAND Rutland investment executive Mark Candon launched his bid for the Republican congressional nomination Thursday with a call to reject the Lone Ranger politics of incumbent Rep.

Bernard Sanders. Candon acknowledged both his conversion from a Democrat to a Republican and his GOP primary opponent, Jack Long. But it was Sanders on whom he focused primarily. I run because I am everything that Bernard Sanders is not, Candon said. He is a political activist.

I am a business person with a solid background in politics, who is also a proud disciple of the free enterprise system, and decidedly pro-jobs and pro-work. Sanders is out of touch with the interests and wishes of most Vermonters, Candon said. He promised a campaign focused on drawing the state back to the political center, where there is less dependence on government to solve societys problems. I believe self-reliance, not government reliance, has always been the Vermont way, Candon said. I believe in the old Vermont values of independence and thrift.

I do not believe in division and class warfare. Candon drew an overflow crowd of close to 100 that filled an auditorium at the Rutland Free Library. The audience included former Gov. Thomas Salmon, a Democrat who endorsed Candon. The Candons have been friends of mine forever, Salmon said afterward.

This is a family steeped in public service. Candon is a former two-term state representative. He represented Proctor as a Democrat in the Vermont House in the early 1980s. His twin brother, Kevin, is a probate judge in Rutland County, and several other members of the family have served in the Legislature and in other public service roles. Reference to prominent Democrats were sprinkled throughout Candons remarks, including several mentions of U.S.

Sen. Daniel Patrick Moynihan of New York, whose ideas about preserving and strengthening the Social Security system intrigue Candon. Candon said his leaving the WEST RUTLAND (AP) The state is resorting to a new weapon in its fight to stop the spread of a nuisance weed called purple loosestrife: beetles. About 1,000 hungry beetles were released in the marshland off Marble Street in West Rutland Wednesday morning to gnaw away at the plant, which destroys North American wetland ecosystems. Denise Quick, of the Department of Environmental Conservations water quality division, is spending the summer spreading the beetles around Vermont.

Quick said West Rutland and parts of Addison County have been targeted as problem areas. This is the first time the beetles, bred in Vermont, have been released to kill loosestrife in West Rutland. 1 The plant is 2 to 7 feet tall and has a five- or six- petal flower attached to a tall stem. Its native to Europe and Asia, and blooms in Vermont from July to September. Where loosestrife flourishes, native plants suffer.

State and federal agencies have released four species of plant-eating beetles to combat the invasive plant since 1995. Traditional methods of killing loosestrife include cutting, burning and applying pesticides, although these methods are ineffective for treating large areas. State officials have high hopes for the beetles, which wont harm native plants, Quick said. People tend to be concerned about (the beetles) eating their flower gardens, Quick said. Its a reasonable concern, but its not going to happen.

The West Rutland marsh, about 400 acres, should see results of the beetle release in about five years, Quick said. Candon glance By The Associated Press Mark Candon of Rutland announced Thursday he was running for the Republican nomination for Congress. NAME: Mark J. Candon. AGE: 46.

HOMETOWN: Proctor native; current resident of Rutland City. FAMILY: Wife, Debbie; children Justin, Molly and Reilly. BUSINESS CAREER: Partner in the Rutland office of Moors A Cabot, a Boston retail brokerage firm. POLITICAL CAREER: Elected to Vermont House in 1980, re-elected in 1982. Switched to Republican Party in 1992 from Democrats; joined Rutland City Republican Committee in 1995.

FEMA vows to get help out fast ESSEX JUNCTION (AP) -Officials with the Federal Emergency Management Agency are vowing to speed aid to people who suffered property damage in flooding during the past month. Our goal and our commitment is that disaster victims get money that they are entitled to as quickly as possible, said Ihor W. Husar, deputy coordinating officer in Vermont for FEMA. The comment followed news report that not all the money slated to be distributed in response to last years flooding in the Montgomery area had gone out yet. Husar said about $494,000 had already gone to 347 households for emergency housing during flooding that began June 17.

More aid to individuals and families would be distributed within days, he added. The money that is taking longer to be distributed tends to be larger amounts headed for towns with major bridge and road repairs, Husor said. He explained that such projects -and payments for them often are slowed by the need to hire contractors through competitive bidding and to conduct environmental reviews. The centers are at Vermont Technical College in Randolph, the Waitsfield fire station and at the Mount Abraham High School, junior high school wing, in Bristol. I look forward to providing our current congressman something he has not enjoyed in many years: a good, healthy political brawl.

Our contrasts couldn't be sharper, Candon said. I believe Bernard Sanders politics are wearying to Vermonters. As the Lone Ranger, he has contributed mightily to the widespread belief beyond our borders that Vermont is out of the mainstream, a tax and spend, suffocatingly regulatory state with a lousy business climate. Democratic Party in 1992 was difficult, but in this state, necessary. He did not go further into his decision during his speech, but he has previously said that the Democratic Party has gone too far to the left to suit his political views.

Before Candon can face Sanders, he has to get by Long, another Democrat turned Republican, in the September primary. Candon did not mention Long by name, but did say he believed he was the better candidate against Sanders. Economist: State is subsidizing N.Y. passenger rail service Vermont has agreed to pay about $800,000 to Amtrak this year to subsidize the Ethan Allen Express, which runs twice a day between New York City and Rutland; and the Vermonter, which runs once a day between New York City and St. Albans on the eastern side of the state.

The Vermonter started running in the spring of 1995 to replace the cancelled Montrealer service, and the Ethan Allen Express started running in December 1996. The subsidy for both services is based on passenger revenues; when ridership goes up, Vermonts share of the cost goes down. But revenues alone dont cover the entire cost of the service. Revenues on the Ethan Allen Express were below projections earlier this year because many passengers didnt travel all the way to Rutland from New York City as expected, but got off in New York state instead. Vermont pays for the three stops between Albany and the Vermont border, and gets the revenues associated with those stops, Amtrak said.

Not only are they stopping there, but theyre making the money off the New York stops," said Maureen Garrity, an Amtrak spokeswoman. Woolf, who now works as an associate professor of economics at the University of Vermont, said in his column that Vermonts multi-million-dollar state subsidy shaneck. And the state gets credit for ticket revenue from riders who take the train to stops in New York state, he said. Vermont also gets a share of the money spent on concessions like food and T-shirts. Gershaneck didnt dispute that the Vermont-subsidized service might provide a service to New York state, but he said theres no other way for a train to run between Vermont and New York City than through the state in between.

State transportation policymakers have long said they want to provide alternatives to automobiles and other modes of travel. Rail is one, Gershaneck said. By ANNE WALLACE ALLEN The AnocUUd Pri MONTPELIER A former state economist says that by helping Amtrak pay for its Ethan Allen Express passenger service, Vermont is subsidizing passenger rail service in New York state. curious footnote about the Ethan Allen is that most of the passengers get off before the train arrives in Vermont, Art Woolf, the state economist under Gov. Madeleine Kunin, wrote in the July-August issue of Vermont Magazine.

Vermont taxpayers seem to be subsidizing New Yorkers who travel from New York City to Albany and upstate New York, not tourists coming to Vermont. would be better spent on air transportation, a system that is much more important to Vermonts current and future economy. About 30,000 people each month use the Burlington Airport, the only major airport in the state, Woolf wrote. "That represents three times the number that ride Vermonts Amtrak trains. How much do Vermont taxpayers pend to subsidize passengers at Burlington Airport? Not a penny.

Vermont pays only for Ethan Allen Express service between Albany and Rutland, because the service would run from Albany to the city anyway, said Vermont Transportation Secretary Glenn Ger- Senate passes HarkinLeahy food safety bill will add inspectors and develop tached Harkins amendment to the better inspection practices to de- annual agriculture spending bill, tect threats earlier, Leahy said. which also funds the Food and By a 66-33 vote, the Senate at- Drug Administration. improve food inspection, research, consumer education and outbreak tracking of the increasing number of illnesses and deaths caused by food contaminated by such microbes as E. coli and salmonella. Harkin and Sen.

Patrick Leahy, a member of the Senate agriculture committee, joined others in offering the amendment. There are many problems that arrive on Congress doorstep that we can do little about. Food safety is a problem that has a solution, and this vote will actively improve the safety of our food supply. It WASHINGTON (AP) Moving closer to President Clintons goal, the Senate voted Thursday to in- crease spending on the White House food safety initiative from $2.6 million to $68 million. After an initially lukewarm re-' sponse from the Republican-led Congress to his $101 million pro-posal, the president in recent weeks intensified lobbying efforts, including an appeal for more money during one of his recent radio addresses.

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