Mark Shepard for Congress and for Vermont

By BOB AUDETTE | Brattleboro Reformer Staff | Wednesday, August 30

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BRATTLEBORO -- An entrepreneur and a former soldier are facing off for the privilege of representing Vermont in the U.S. House of Representatives.

Republicans Mark Shepard, of Bennington, and Martha Rainville, of St. Albans, have until primary day, Sept. 12, to convince voters they can best represent their interests.

Before getting to Washington though, whoever comes out the victor will have to defeat Democrat Peter Welch in the general election in November.

Rainville, who spent nine years as the adjutant general of the Vermont National Guard and achieved the rank of major general, was the first woman in the 370-year history of the Guard to serve in that position.

Shepard, who has served as a state senator for two terms, grew up on his family's farm in Hartland, and is an electrical engineer who owns and operates an industrial control and test systems engineering company.

Shepard attended the University of Florida, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and the Rennselear Polytechnic Institute, and has owned his own business since 1993. He helped establish the Bennington Microtech Center in 2002.

Shepard is traveling the state in an RV with his family, and is running his campaign on a shoe-string budget with the help of volunteers. He said he wanted to prove to Vermonters that candidates don't need $1 million to run for office.

"We don't need the paid staff," he told the Reformer. "If I'm not supported by the people I represent, I'm not going to run."

Shepard, who said Vermonters can expect the same sort of frugality from him if elected to Congress, has also made a commitment to not take PAC money, said his opponent has a 10 to 1 financial advantage over him.

He said because of the out-of-state money in Vermont politics, those elected to represent the Green Mountain State are "largely responding to national special interests, and not the interests of Vermont."

"I am not going to be governed by special interest groups," said Shepard

Rainville, a self-described "Navy brat," is a graduate of the University of Mississippi, where she received a degree in elementary education. She then spent 4 1/2 years on active duty in the Air Force before spending time in New York with the Air National Guard and in Minnesota with the Air Force Reserve.

In 1988, she and her husband moved to Vermont to raise a family. She is now divorced, with three children.

Rainville has also served on the board of directors of the Northwest Medical Center in St. Albans and for three of the six years she was a member of the District 6 Environmental Commission, she served as its commissioner.

She also led efforts aimed at expanding economic opportunities in Macedonia, a country formed after the breakup of Yugoslavia.

In her role as adjutant general, she established family readiness centers across the state to work with families of deployed soldiers and airmen and oversaw millions of dollars in federal military construction funds for a $10 million readiness and technology center at Norwich University and a $34 million Army aviation facility being built at Burlington International Airport,

Rainville said her priorities in Congress would be energy, the economy and national security.

"National security is the No. 1 priority of a government," she said. "With my background, I can ask the right questions with confidence."

Rainville, who believes America's oil dependence weakens its national security, wants to reduce that dependence by increasing domestic production and investing in alternative fuels.

Rainville said, along with wind and solar, nuclear power "has got to be on the table."

Shepard also believes that along with other alternative energies, nuclear power must be part of the mix.

In July, Rainville released her energy plan, which "includes short- and long-term steps to reduce America's dependence on foreign oil, protect the environment and ultimately help move the world away from the use of fossil fuels entirely," according to her Web site. She wants the U.S. to work with economic powerhouses China and India to reduce the use of fossil fuels.

Shepard said his No. 1 priority if elected to Congress would be making sure all Vermonters have affordable health insurance by empowering "citizens to be more in charge of their health insurance by allowing them to purchase health insurance policies from any state. This would save many Vermonters 50 percent or more on health insurance," according to his Web site. "Empower health care consumers by enacting policies that build a stronger and more direct connection to their health care provider. This would lead to lower costs and better products."

Shepard, a member of the North Pownal Congregational Church is pro-life and sponsored a failed amendment in the state Senate to define marriage as between a man and woman, said he believes "all humans are created equal."

He said his amendment was in response to activist judges that were pushing "against the will of the people."

Shepard also said he would like to see changes made to regulatory and tax policy that would allow innovation to blossom in "garages" and "mom-and-pop" companies in Vermont.

"Big business has money and resources," he said. "Regulation only hurts 'moms and pops.'"

According to his Web site, Shepard believes regulation, such as environmental rules, "must be science based, transparent and predictable as well as consider the economic hardship they may place on people. A healthy environment requires a strong economy."

Though Shepard said the U.S. needs to put more pressure on Iraqis to govern and secure their own country, on his Web site, he writes "today's Americans must stand up to this real threat in the same way earlier generations stood up to earlier threats. Just as Nazi Germany and Imperial Japan were defeated in World War II, Islamic Radicalism must be defeated today."

"To cut and run from Iraq would be a disaster," he said.

Still, asked Shepard, does the United States need to be spending $600 million on a new embassy in Baghdad?

"This money is coming from future generations," said Shepard, who has four children with his wife Rebecca.

Rainville said she will work to bring American troops home from the Middle East.

"I will use my military experience to make sure that we bring our brave men and woman home with honor and dignity without jeopardizing the gains that America and Iraq have made together over the last three years," according to her Web site.

Rainville said that though the recent airline hijack plot foiled by British officials "reminds us all we are still facing a pretty serious threat," Congress needs to take back some of the authority assumed by the president.

"The balance of power needs to swing a little bit back from the executive to the legislative branch," said Rainville.

Rainville, who said she would have voted "no" to a recent two percent pay hike Congress authorized for itself, and would have voted for a minimum wage increase that failed. She said money that is wasted by the government needs to be identified and used for worthwhile projects.

"We need to go back and look at how we're spending the money," she said.

Short term, Rainville would like to accomplish four goals: Increase conservation, power government fleet vehicles with alternative fuels, repeal import duties and support development of cellulosic ethanol and biodiesel production and increase domestic offshore production of oil and natural gas.

Rainville, who supports eliminating "royalty-relief" for oil companies drilling on public lands, also supports a "windfall profit tax" of 50 percent for any profit oil companies make for oil sold above $40 a barrel.

Shepard would like to see changes to the nation's immigration policies.

According to his Web site, "Illegal should mean something. We must build a clear path for legal immigration, eliminate taxpayer-funded services to illegal immigrants, secure our borders and not allow amnesty, under any name."

Rainville supports sending National Guard troops to defend America's borders from illegal immigration, while Congress is working on an immigration plan "that protects our national security, addresses the problems of illegal immigration and acknowledges the positive impact that legal immigrants have on not only our national economy, but on Vermont's economy as well."

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"... many politicians talk the talk about doing something tangible about new jobs and it doesn't go much further. Sen. Shepard walked the walk."
"Sen. Shepard's big accomplishment, and it is a significant one, lies in the major role he played in bringing the Bennington Microtech Center into being."

Bennington Banner State Senator Endorsement Editorial, October 29, 2004

Paid for by Shepard for Congress Committee