Colchester, Vermont, September 26, 2020: Colchester 9-2 State Representative Candidate Jon Lynch today officially renounced the pay increase package that Vermont legislators voted for themselves this year. The legislation (H.961) enacted June 30, 2020 ties legislative pay beginning July 1, 2021 to the pay increases provided to other constitutional officers.
It is unconscionable that our majority-party legislators (including Colchester 9-2 incumbent, Sarita Austin) voted themselves a perpetual pay raise this year, during the worst pandemic and economic crisis in living memory. Many Vermonters are struggling to pay their bills, worried about their jobs, worried about the health of their families and their kids returning to school. Many are wondering if they can even afford to keep living in Vermont.
Lynch didn't stop there with his rebuke:
The vast majority of Colchester residents I've spoken to didn't even know about this. When they hear about it, they're as disgusted as I am. If I am elected to represent Colchester in Montpelier, I will donate any raise resulting from this tone-deaf legislation to the outstanding men and women of the Colchester Fire Department and Colchester Emergency Rescue. They deserve it, not me, and not any of the 82 Vermont House Representatives who had the arrogance to vote themselves a raise during these unprecedented times of hardship.
Lynch is calling on other Vermont 2020 legislative candidates to pledge the raise back to their local communities.
Montpelier-hopeful Jon Lynch - a small-business owner and software engineer of over 30 years - hopes to represent Colchester to grow the economy, address the Opioids epidemic and save Vermont's beleaguered state college system.