As a nurse, it hurts every time I see someone suffer because they can’t afford health care.
On Tuesday, August 14, 2018, Mari was the top vote-getter in a hotly contested VT House primary to serve the towns of Bristol, Lincoln, Monkton, ...
Read moreAs a nurse, it hurts every time I see someone suffer because they can’t afford health care.
On Tuesday, August 14, 2018, Mari was the top vote-getter in a hotly contested VT House primary to serve the towns of Bristol, Lincoln, Monkton, and Starksboro. Perhaps the most gracious political contest of 2018, all four candidates became good friends and helped each other out along the way. At a public event promoting universal health care, Mari asked each of her opponents to let folks know what helped they needed, noted that she’d gained three brothers as the four of them competed for two slots on the Democratic ballot.
Mari has been motivated her entire life to work for fairness and justice in her community, workplace, and at the state and national levels. Over the past several years, she has helped draft and move state legislation and policy that have positively impacted Vermonters.
Mari has been a registered nurse in Vermont since 1988 giving her a first-hand look at how a political system mired in private, corporate interests impacts the daily lives, health, and well-being of Vermonters. Through her grassroots work to reform this system and raise up the voices of her fellow community members she has come to believe that, united together, Vermonters have the power to make significant positive change locally and statewide.
The Emerge training was invaluable in learning how to effectively communicate my story, my experiences, and my drive to make this community even better. I gained campaign skills focusing on how to best use my time to connect personally with voters.
Mari has fought hard for and helped achieve state policy that supports and empowers Vermont working families. Her work has helped eliminate health insurance discrimination based on gender identity; institute protections for regulatory oversight that safeguards against the sale of non-for-profit hospital assets to for-profiteers; moving towards healthcare reform; and paid sick days. She was appointed by Governor Shumlin to three state-wide commissions: the Green Mountain Care Advisory Board, the Health Care Consumer Advisory Board, and the Vermont Future of Nursing Commission. She was the president of the 2,000 member nurses’ union at the University of Vermont Medical Center for 4 1/2 years.
Mari is a mother and grandmother and lives with her husband and their small flock of amusing chickens on their off-the-grid homestead in the mountains of Lincoln, Vermont.
To learn more about Mari, please click here.
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