Former Human Services secretary to run for
Senate
By Tim McCahill
The Associated Press
MONTPELIER
— Former Human Services Secretary
Jane Kitchel
is making a bid for state Senate. Kitchel, a Danville Democrat, is
running for the two-person district that includes all of
Caledonia
County
and six towns in neighboring
Orange
County
including Bradford, Newbury and Topsham.
She joins fellow Democrat Matthew Choate of
St. Johnsbury in the race against incumbent Republican Sens. Julius Canns and
Bernier Mayo, who was appointed last year to replace Robert Ide.
Another Northeast Kingdom Democrat, Rep.
Robert Starr of
Troy
, is also said to be considering running for the Senate, to represent the
Essex-Orleans district.
Starr could not be reached for comment
Tuesday, but Democratic Party officials said he would make an excellent Senate
candidate.
“It's my understanding that Representative
Bobby Starr has been encouraged by a number of people to run for Senate and is
actively considering it," party spokesman Mark Michaud said. “His
record of accomplishment in the Legislature would make him an excellent
candidate and an excellent senator.”
Sen. Jim Greenwood, R-Essex-Orleans, is not
seeking reelection, opening up one of the two seats in the district.
Kitchel who retired from the Human Services
Agency in 2002, said Tuesday that many people had approached her about running
for state office and she made her decision within the past few days.
"I felt that I had a tremendous amount of
experience and background on key issues," she said. "That will
serve me well as we're dealing in those policy areas in the future."
She said those issues include health care and
promoting strong communities through education and civic involvement.
"We want to make sure our state policies
are designed to achieve that," said Kitchel, 58.
After her retirement, Kitchel worked with
lawmakers to draft a plan restructuring the Human Services Agency which oversees
several departments and operates the
Vermont
State
Hospital
in
Waterbury
.
Kitchel, who started her career as a social
worker in St. Johnsbury, became Human Services secretary in 1999.
“I have a strong personal commitment to
making government work well,” she said. "I feel that I have an
ability to ask the right questions so we can have informed debate.”
Kitchel also has deep roots in and around
Danville
. She grew up on one of the state's remaining “century farms,”
owned and operated by the same family for more than 100 years. She’s
president of the
Fairbanks
Museum
’s board of trustees and secretary of the
Danville
chamber of commerce. Kitchel’s mother, Catherine Beattie, was once a
House member and her brother, Marty Beattie, runs a grocery store and gas
station just outside town.
Her connection to the area gives Kitchel
credibility in the traditionally Republican Northeast Kingdom, Senate President
Pro Tempore Peter Welch said.
—Source: The Burlington Free
Press. Wednesday, June 9, 2004. Page 5B.
|