The local election season has ended with both incumbent state representatives holding onto their seats.

Maxine Grad from Moretown who represents Northfield, Roxbury and Moretown in the legislature will be launching her fifth term.

She said "I deeply appreciate your confidence in my representation. Congratulations to Rep. Anne Donahue. It has been an honor to serve with Anne and I look forward to working with her as well as our local officials to give our district a voice in Montpelier."

Her daughter, Noa Lily has been chosen to become a page at the state house this year. She said, "I am so proud as a mom and a public servant to share the opportunity of public service with her."

As to her legislative agenda for the coming session of the legislature, she said that her top priority will be the economy. "We need to find ways to create and sustain jobs, and help Vermonters meet their financial needs including property taxes, housing, healthcare, education and energy."

She also said that "we will need to work closely with our Congressional delegation, the administration, and local officials to build a fiscally responsible budget that addresses needs. Your input will be vital."

She stated that she will be introducing legislation including the 35 recommendations on sex offender policy of the Senate Judiciary Committee that she sat on this summer and fall.

She also said that she will re-introduce legislation on highway safety and veterans.

She noted especially that she wants to hear any requests that constituents might have and welcome their ideas.

Closing, she said, please stay in touch: 496-4244 or maxjg@wcvt.com.

Anne Donahue said that we have all heard that the nation, and our state, may be facing the greatest financial crisis since the Great Depression.

She said "I hope that we will let history be a teacher. I hope that neither panic, nor blind abandon, will prevail. Vermont is known nationally as a state that fails often in the area of long-term planning, and this will be what may bite us most in the session ahead."

She stated that her immediate legislative goals continue to be

- to make independent judgments, guided by facts, on the challenging questions we will face, rather than listening only to "party lines" or divisive partisan rhetoric. Our balance of power is set up with a Republican governor with strong electoral support, and a heavily Democratic legislative majority. This can mean a battle between extremes.

- to press for paying for more of what we already buy, as a state, in health care for our citizens - before expanding what we buy. Fixing Medicaid is the only and best foundation for both further health care reform and for reducing private health care premiums.

- to remain an active voice in other health care reforms that prioritize the ways we can save costs as an individual state; specifically, in enforcement of hospital planning that takes statewide need and costs into account.

- to insist on full scrutiny of the sustainability of the Vermont Yankee nuclear plant as a power source, a focus on the facts that we are restrained legally to address, and enhancement of the vital need to build our portfolio of alternative energy sources as rapidly as possible.

- to push for a resolution of the ongoing crisis of the state's reliance on the uncertified State Hospital. Providing hospital services for Vermont citizens in a facility that we would reject for any other illness continues to be a scar on our state's integrity, as well as a financial drain.

- to be persistent in continuing to argue for a complete new look at education funding that addresses tax fairness and transparency while retaining tools for wise choices in spending.

- to oppose state tax savings that achieve nothing other than a shift to local town spending. We need to work with, not against, our towns in preventing tax burdens that our citizens cannot bear without eliminating essential services, such as the safety of our roads and bridges.

- to sponsor legislation for Vermont to enter the national states' agreement on a national popular vote for presidential elections; for enhanced information on the use and safe disposal of efficient CFL bulbs; for a tax exemption for military pensions than encourages second careers here instead of driving them to other states; for medical surrogacy legislation that gives legal backing for physicians to accept treatment consent from family members when a patient is not conscious; for the right of parents to give consent to psychiatric hospitalization for young children; to make it easier for senior citizens to use motor-assisted bicycles, and for various other smaller but important adjustments needed in current laws.

Anthony Vach, who was also a candidate in the election for representative, said that he wished to congratulate both Anne and Maxine on their victory.

He also said that he wished that could have met more of the public then he was able to do during the campaign to make people more aware of his position on the many issues that are facing us.

He said that he especially wanted to thank Mrs. Grad for her present position on sex offenders and offered to do anything that he could to make sure that the recommendations which her committee have made become law.

With respect to the future, Mr. Vach said that he plans to help to get more Republicans interested in becoming involved with the party.