In the news.

Endorsements

• 

  Ian Goodnow

  State Representative

  I write today to voice my support for the candidacy of Oscar Heller for the three year seat on the Brattleboro Selectboard, a race that voters will decide on Tuesday, March 4, 2025. I am lucky to know Oscar well, and much has been written and reported about his experience and work in our community. I trust his experience and his thoughtfulness. I believe that he will serve Brattleboro with an even head and a willingness to listen.

  Oscar knows the value of leadership and decision making that is based in a thorough investigation of the facts and a careful consideration of the voices in our community. I care deeply for public service and for our town, I believe that we will be well served by Oscar on the Selectboard.

• 

  Richard Davis

  Selectboard

  Oscar Heller needs to be the new young member of the Brattleboro Select Board. Some people run for positions such as this because they think they can do a good job and they believe their experience in unrelated sectors qualifies them. Not so.

  Oscar has been engaged directly in town activities for many years as a member of the Finance Committee as well as the Energy Committee. In fact, when I ran for Select Board last year Oscar was the first person I asked to help me understand town finances.

  He was extremely patient and helpful and this young man became a mentor to a much older man and for that I have been very grateful. Oscar is smart and he has the kind of temperament that is needed on a five member board where there is a difference of opinions on most matters.

  If voters want a selectboard member who will help build consensus from a foundation of intelligence, experience and common sense Oscar fits the bill.

• 

  Missy Swim

  I went into this year’s elections very fixed on my votes and who they would go to.

  Then I got to know Oscar Heller.

  Oscar has consistently shown a willingness to listen. When we were faced with the backlash of the local shock jock who threw us into a tailspin, Oscar was the first person to remind people to have grace for their neighbors and to encourage us to talk to each other. That spurned some incredible conversations and built some bridges that I thought were impossible, and I’m so grateful for that!

  Oscar has promised to listen to all viewpoints represented. He does not have an agenda. He has worked extremely hard as an RTM member and as the chair of the finance committee. He is in a unique position in that regard and would be a tremendous asset to the SB in tightening this budget and to ensure fiscal responsibility going forward.

  Oscar sees and considers all points of view even if they don’t match his personal opinions. He’s a bridge builder, a connector, and a really great person! He’s invested in this community as both a resident, business owner and a landlord.

  Oh and he’s a dog (and cat) guy, which is just awesome 😊

  I’m proud to cast my vote for Oscar and I encourage you to get to know him better!

• 

  Daniel Quipp

  Selectboard

  When my term as a Select Board member ends in one month’s time I will have served for six years during some of the most challenging years Brattleboro has seen. In this last year I have served as chair of the board and was responsible for running our meetings in a year where we have seen increased anger, polarization, and a lack of trust in government. Some of the things that people are feeling can be laid squarely at the feet of the Select Board – myself included – and this election provides an opportunity for change.

  There are eight candidates running for the three open seats and I believe that all of them have shown themselves to serious people worthy of your consideration. I am writing to you all to talk about two candidates who I believe have demonstrated a refreshing thoughtfulness in their approaches to the challenges facing our community: Cristina Shayonye and Oscar Heller.

  Cristina Shayonye is running for one of the two one-year seats. I have gotten to know Cristina this year through her participation in Select Board meetings and community organizing. Cristina’s moral clarity and critical thinking have been on display in her work around homelessness, public safety, and the town’s budget. In talking to her it is clear to me that this is someone who will fight for Brattleboro, rather than a particular ideological position. As a young parent in town she can be a voice for a part of our community that struggles to attend meetings and be represented on boards. Christina is articulate, fierce when she needs to be, and genuinely committed to solving problems.

  Oscar Heller is running for the three-year seat that I am vacating. I have known Oscar since we both ran for the board in winter 2019. Since that time he and I have had many conversations about issues facing the town, and whilst we do not always agree, I am always impressed by his intelligence and curiosity. With the town budget on many people’s minds these days, Oscar’s work on the RTM finance committee means that he is well informed about the budget and has an outsider’s perspective which enables him to critique the budget development process. In debates this year I have been impressed and encouraged by Oscar’s responses, demeanor, and positivity. I can imagine him working effectively with other board members and town staff. Voters can judge for themselves by reading the candidate interviews in this newspaper, watching the debate from Feb. 12, and listening to interviews on the Vermonitude podcast. Brattleboro is lucky to have such a good slate of candidates to choose from, and I am excited for fresh perspectives to make their way onto the board.

• 

  Joe Meyer

  I’ve lived all my adult life in Vermont, most of it in Brattleboro. I’ve worked here and raised my family here and have friends from all walks of life. I am proud to call Brattleboro my hometown.

  I’m typically not a letter writer but am making an exception here to share my thoughts on two things.

  First, I want to applaud all those who have taken the time and made the effort to run for Select Board and Town Meeting Representative. It’s rare that we get as many people running as we have this year. Not only does this give us good choices but also allows for a broader discussion of the many issues that we find the town facing. The discourse has been informative and civilized, which helps renew my faith in our political system at a time when it has been sorely tested.

  Second, I’d like to encourage voters to join me in supporting Oscar Heller and Franz Reichsman for Select Board. I’ve known them both for some time now and feel that they would be superb choices for their respective positions. I find them to be extremely diligent in taking the time to understand the issues, and they take the time to seek out the opinions of their constituents. I feel that their communication skills, and equally important, their listening skills are exceptional, and we would be well served to have them on our selectboard.

  Now time for the voters to do their part in our political process. Please get out and vote!

• 

  David Schoales

  If our town is going to resolve the deep problems that have dominated our attention for years, we will need leaders who understand the complexities we face, know the concrete realities of town governance, and have the ability to listen and find consensus among our deeply divided citizens. Oscar Heller has those qualities.

  Oscar has years of RTM membership, and has served for the last six years on Finance Committee. He is currently the chair. This service has given him a deep understanding of the fiscal and operational systems of town government. He is an easy-going, non-judgmental person who is good with people, hard-working, and detail-oriented. This experience and these personal qualities makes him by far the most qualified candidate to fix our budget process and get the budget on track again.

  Communication among the many like-minded people in Brattleboro has become an ongoing Civil War over methods, destroying any chances of success. Oscar has the skills and temperament to draw the community together on the path towards consensus, and to begin healing the divisions that have developed under recent leadership.

  Oscar can keep our focus on the goals and values we share, and help us realize the community we all envision. Please support Oscar Heller for the 3-year Select Board position.

• 

  Mary White

  I encourage Brattleboro residents to vote for Oscar Heller for the contested three-year Selectboard seat.

  I had the pleasure of working with Oscar on the Representative Town Meeting Finance Committee where he paid close attention to financial details and wrote clear, concise reports for our citizens. He also served on the Energy Committee and has been an elected Town Meeting Representative for six years.

  Oscar has done his research and is fully informed about the many issues facing Brattleboro including the proposed FY26 budget, housing, economic development, crime, and policing. I appreciate his thoughtful considerations of these complex issues.

  Oscar and his local partners own two small Brattleboro businesses (web design and digital marketing). He started visiting the area in 2002 as a summer camper and moved to Brattleboro 11 years ago, first as a renter and next as a landlord.

  In addition to his expertise and commitment, I wish to support new faces on our Selectboard.

• 

  Maya Hasegawa

  Town Meeting Rep

  I write to endorse Oscar Heller for the Brattleboro Select Board.

  Oscar is currently chair of the Representative Town Meeting Finance Committee, having served as a member for six years. As a former member myself, I know that being on the Finance Committee gives one detailed knowledge of how the budget process works. This knowledge is particularly important this year and will be for the years to come. We can no longer count on grants from the state or money from the federal government, but Brattleboro still has the same needs: streets, public safety, housing, and keeping our downtown vibrant. I believe that Oscar has the skills and knowledge to help us navigate our way through these difficulties. As he says on his campaign webpage he is “… a problem-solver at heart…”

  Problem-solvers need to know how to listen. I know from my conversations with him that he is interested in what people think. Oscar and I don’t always agree, but we can talk and find common ground and things we can work on together.

  Please join me in voting for Oscar Heller.

• 

  Michael Bosworth

  Town Meeting Rep

  Many of you have voted already, but my wife Naomi and I are still catching up after returning from our first international trip in a number of years.

  We took the time Sat. eve to watch the BCTV recording of the Feb. 12 Brattleboro Selectboard candidate debate. IMHO this is a strong and likable slate of candidates!

  I will definitely be voting for Oscar Heller for the open 3-year seat. Though from what I know of Jill Stahl Tyler, she is a smart and capable person, getting the town budget in order is of highest importance, and Oscar’s skills and experience through his years on (and chairing of) the Representative Town Meeting Finance Committee make him the ideal candidate to match this need. There are also the great pluses that he lives and is a landlord downtown and oversees two businesses, and has taken pains in his outreach to listen and be fair.

  For me the choices for the open 1-year seats are tougher ones. Again going back to the need to get the town budget in order, I believe Franz Reichsman’s experience actually on the Selectboard – and his sometimes lonely caution about spending more than townspeople can afford – will continue to make him well-suited to this job. I also greatly appreciate that he has taken pains to make himself available to anyone wanting to talk directly to him about his views, which I took advantage of a couple times.

  Regarding my second choice for the open 1-year seats, I am torn. Through watching the BCTV recording, however, I have come to believe that Amanda Ellis-Thurber is the best of the other candidates for this opening, with her experiences as a business owner as well as with drug rehab programs in Greenfield. She also made a great point, that she’d like to see Brattleboro be a place where her own three maturing kids want to come back and settle.

  If you haven’t already made them, good luck with your own choices!

• 

  David Levenbach

  Finance Committee

  Oscar Heller will be a thoughtful member of the Brattleboro Selectboard, progressive in his values but mindful of the financial facts of life. I have served with Oscar for several years on the Representative Town Meeting Finance Committee (both of us have chaired in different years) and I know his abilities well. Heller is diligent and well-informed. He respects different opinions, listens well, and has an admirable ability to contribute to the development of reasoned decisions while maintaining group cohesion.

  It is clear from this year’s Finance Committee work that Heller strongly believes in the necessity of multi-year financial planning and rigorous consideration of budgetary alternatives. He knows that nothing good can come from undisciplined spending.

  As someone who chose to make his home in Brattleboro, as a young businessperson, and as a landlord of an Eliot Street apartment building in which he lives, Oscar cares deeply about Brattleboro. He wants to contribute his talents and energy to address the problems the Town currently faces and to help pave a path toward its better future.

• 

  Millicent Cooley

  Finance Committee

  I endorse Oscar for the Select Board. I have worked with him for 5 years, first on the Energy Committee and then for the past few years on the Finance Committee, where he has been the chair for both. He understands the various elements of the budget very well, and has sound ideas about how to improve the budget process. One of those is to strengthen long-term capital projects and strategic planning, which should articulate the town’s future vision and help to maintain stability in spending and fiscal management, over time. He also advocates for more time spent publicly discussing various options and parts of the budget, than we saw this past year.

  He has done a good job of leading a diverse committee of people who do not always agree when discussing controversial issues. Most people like to say they are good listeners, but he actually follows through on that point, quite well. You won’t ever find him using his privileged position to manipulate others or to have the last word. He is fair and easy to work with, while maintaining his own principles. He is confident in his leadership and also able to allow people with strongly opposing views to express themselves, to challenge each other, sometimes learn new things in the process, and then find reasonable consensus. These are qualities that I think will contribute well to being on the select board.

• 

  Andy Davis

  Town Meeting Rep

  I support Oscar Heller for the Brattleboro Select Board. Oscar is committed to improving our town. He is a downtown resident, small business person and property owner. Oscar has a “feet on the ground” approach to the challenges we face. He has experience as chair of the RTM Finance Committee.That perspective will inform positions he takes on the Selectboard. In addition to experience with town affairs, he has enthusiasm and vision for our town.

  Whenever I talk with Oscar I feel he is listening. We need this kind of thoughtful, informed and innovative leadership. In the recent candidates debate Oscar showed that he communicates well and is open to new viewpoints and solutions.

• 

  Beth Kiendl

  We are fortunate here in Brattleboro to have several qualified candidates running for Select Board seats, and that leaves us with choices to make. Given that the major function of the board is to create and monitor the town budget, I will be voting for Oscar Heller for the three-year seat.

  As a member of the finance committee for six years, Oscar is well informed as to the town’s needs and resources and is committed to working on long term fiscal planning. He has also paid close attention to the concerns and desires of the local citizens and is thus well positioned to represent us and to take on the fiscal challenges facing us at this time. Please join me in voting for Oscar for the three-year Select Board seat.

• 

  George Carvill

  Town Meeting Rep

  I have known Oscar Heller for several years and am very happy he is running for the three-year seat on the Selectboard. He is a good listener and always has a positive attitude.

  I hear his concerns about the town spending down reserves and deferring things, all to keep the tax rate artificially low. I say “artificially” because if you defer something that is needed all you are doing postponing the inevitable and probably increasing its cost. I think the better way to go about it is to find ways to decrease on-going expenses.

  I am an RTM member and the Finance Committee is an RTM committee. The current selectboard has chosen to stonewall the committee’s recommendations rather than air them and discuss them openly. And it was on-going expenses the committee wanted the board to reconsider. It makes sense now to put Heller, the Finance Committee chair, on the Selectboard.

  Heller is running against Jill Stahl Tyler, who does wonderful work welcoming foreign exchange students. But I remember her stance on the Act 46 forced merger in 2017 and the way she ignored input from voters. I don’t want to see this repeated on the selectboard.

• 

  Ruth Shafer

  Oscar Heller is my choice for the three-year seat on the Brattleboro Select Board. As a colleague and friend, I know Oscar to be hardworking and a great listener. As a good neighbor and local business owner, he approaches the tough challenges that Brattleboro faces with both realism and positivity. His commitment to this town is evident by his years long service on the Finance Committee, which gives him the experience and authority a Select Board member needs to do their most important job, which is to manage the town budget. Another testament to his politics and character is that Oscar is the only three-year candidate who has never supported or been endorsed by Planet Hank.

  I look forward to voting for Oscar on March 4.

• 

  Zoe Cunningham-Cook

  I write in support of Oscar Heller for the Brattleboro Selectboard. Oscar is my neighbor and friend. Oscar has the unique ability of being knowledgeable and intelligent, and still wanting to listen to other perspectives and work out a solution with others. He has the experience of managing a budget from his 6-year tenure on the Town Finance Committee, and has vision for Brattleboro, but I don’t doubt that he will seek out and implement residents’ thoughts.

  Oscar will be an excellent addition to the Selectboard, and it’ll be great to see someone younger representing Brattleboro. Please vote for him on Tuesday, March 4.

• 

  Arthur Davis

  Town Meeting Rep

  I write today to encourage Brattleboro voters to cast their ballot for Oscar Heller for the 3-year seat on the Brattleboro Selectboard. Oscar brings experience both as a renter and a landlord in Brattleboro and also as a longtime member of the RTM Finance Committee. In talking with Oscar, it is clear to me that he understands the complexities of the issues that Brattleboro faces. I am impressed with his hands-on approach to issues like filling empty downtown storefronts and his measured approach to balancing taxpayer burden and needed services in the town budget.

  I would encourage my fellow Brattleboro voters to watch Oscar speak at the candidate debate held by the Reformer on Feb. 12 and available on Brattleboro Community TV. What you will hear from Oscar is that of a thoughtful, incisive, and creative leader. I am excited that Brattleboro has the opportunity to have him on the Selectboard for the next three years, and I hope you will join me in casting your vote for Oscar Heller on March 4.

• 

  Joe Barboza

  I discovered Brattleboro over two decades ago from visits with extended family living here. My wife and I have been proud residents and small business owners in Brattleboro since 2016. I met Oscar Heller two years ago as a fellow tennis player at the Brattleboro Outing Club. I have been inspired by his love for our town, and his engagement and commitment to our community.

  Oscar is the neighbor and leader Brattleboro needs. He listens carefully, thinks deeply, and makes thoughtful decisions. His six years of service on the town’s finance committee, including his current role as chair, have given him practical experience and a deep understanding of our community’s needs. Oscar won’t need time to get up to speed – he’ll be ready to lead from day one. Join me in voting for Oscar on March 4.