JESSE BAKER PHOTO U.S. Congressional Candidate Jerry Trudell arrived in Springfield Vt. in his "green car", a Mercedes 300D which has been converted to run on unrefined vegetable oil. Trudell made an unsuccessful run for Congress in 2006 but has high hopes for this year's campaign.
Congressional hopeful Jerry Trudell campaigning for a write-in



Tuesday, September 16, 2008 7:37 PM

Jerry Trudell is far from your average congressional candidate.

He travels around Vermont in a beat-up Mercedes-Benz 300-D that runs on vegetable oil. He doesn't have a bevy of assistants watching his every move. He claims membership not in one of the two major parties, but in what he calls the Energy Independence Party, and his campaign literature consists of photocopies of his platform, as opposed to glossy photographs.

During his first run for Congress in 2006, Trudell, a pilot and aerial photographer by trade, said that he wasn't focused on winning, but wanted to see "just how far I could go" on his platform of alternative energy. He chose to run against incumbent Peter Welch, D-Vt., this year after Congress failed to pass legislation that would have doubled fuel assistance for low-income individuals.

Many political candidates will speak about the need for alternative energy sources, but it is the issue that Trudell, 54, lives and breathes.

"This is an emergency situation," he said of the rising cost of oil during his Tuesday afternoon campaign stop in Springfield.

"What's required is an emergency response ... People are going to be either freezing or starving, or both."

The state can both reduce its energy costs and help out low-income residents stuggling to pay their heating bills, Trudell said, by focusing its attention on alternative energy.

His first proposal as Vermont's congressional representative would be to establish a statewide public transportation system, which Trudell said could be financed with a $60 million "rainy day" fund in the state's reserves. Trudell said that the bus system could save residents money on fuel, and at the same time connect people in rural communities such as the Northeast Kingdom, where Trudell resides, with the state's larger cities.

Trudell said that he also would like to provide $5,000 grants to homeowners to install solar heating systems, funds for which would come out of the same rainy day fund. He said that Rural Community Transportation, which provides public transportation on rural parts of the state, operates on just $3.5 million a year.

"I did my research," said Trudell. "I've always been a supporter of so-called 'alternative energy.'"

The ability to make the switch to cleaner energy is possible for the country, Trudell said, but that more money must be pushed in that direction. He said that just seven percent of the state's $257 million energy budget is spent on public transportation.

"That's called playing lip service about sustainability, yet not doing your homework," he said. "The problem is not the feasibility of the technology. The problem is funding."

Though he was unsuccessful in his 2006 congressional campaign, Trudell is keeping high hopes for this year's run. He said that he harbors no ill will toward Welch, who has sponsored legislation that would give public schools more money to spend on alternative energy sources and has said that he wants the country to reduce its carbon emissions by 10 percent by the year 2020.

"It doesn't have to be an adversarial campaign," said Trudell. "I got to know Pete on a personal level and decided I liked him. This is about ambitious goal-setting. We've been born and raised to believe that energy is a cheap thing, and it's never going to be a cheap thing again."



RUTLAND HERALD

Jerry Trudell

September 14, 2008
By DANIEL BARLOW Vermont Press Bureau

Trudell said he brings some unique ideas to the debate over the country's energy future as a member of the Energy Independence Party.

He proposes that the state dip into its $60 million rainy day fund and use that money to leverage loans and other funds to supply grants to every Vermont family that wants one. Those grants would be used to install solar heating in their homes.

"I hope to turn the Energy Independence Party into a powerful citizen's lobbying force to get this conversation started," Trudell said. "Our elected officials, including Peter Welch, just haven't done enough."

Trudell, 55, ran against Welch in the race two years ago as an independent. He works as a pilot who takes aerial photographs of Vermont and then repackages them as postcards. This business has brought him in contact with hundreds of merchants across the state, he said, and they are worried about what is happening.

"The feedback I'm hearing is that business is down 40 to 60 percent for some of them," he said. "I don't want to say it, but I'm worried we are heading for another depression."

Web site: www.TrudellforCongress.com