Bernie Sanders

In my view, a corporation is not a person. A corporation does not have First Amendment rights to spend as much money as it wants, without disclosure, on a political campaign.

Instead of schools being the great equalizer, we are developing a two-tier system based on the income of families.

Champlain Oil. Are there any restrictions on the price that you can charge?

Since 2007, Costco has been seeking land use permits and approvals to build a gasoline filling station at our current store in Colchester, Vermont.

I appreciate--Joe, and I did not mean to make your life miserable here, but you are the designated representative, right?

I think you made that point.

But I am not talking about Wawa, and I am not even talking about Gail in South Hero.

There does seem to be a phenomenon that the Burlington area does go down in prices more reluctantly than other parts of the State.

Explain to us why one company owning two gas stations about 35 miles apart, one in Burlington, one in Middlebury, would have a 24 cent differential in prices.

We will not be deterred, and will continue to try to obtain approval so we can provide this important core service to our Vermont members.

The Burlington retail gasoline market was mostly controlled by four companies, suggesting a possible lack of local competition.

The price discrepancies the Senator outlined in his letter to the attorney general.

That is what they pay you to do, right?

Does that sound like a vigorous competitor situation?

I was asking you whether you think it is just kind of a coincidence that all of this occurred at a time when there has been a lot of public discussion when I asked for an FTC investigation.

I urge you to complete a comprehensive study of the impact of high gas prices on the health and welfare of the senior citizens of Vermont.

It was apparent to me, as the Senator elegantly pointed out in his statement, that your market for a long time has been a great market for a gasoline retailer to sell gasoline in terms of margin above his costs.

I think I took some of that data back to 2009, looking at wholesale rack prices in Burlington versus retail pump prices over a statewide configuration.

Further, when we talk about high oil prices, it is important to understand that high oil prices have a lot to do with Wall Street speculators who are buying and selling huge amounts of oil on the energy futures markets.

OK. So they sell to you, and you can charge whatever you want, high or low.

It was brought to my attention by Senator Sanders' office that Burlington prices for a long period in his estimation were higher than the industry average.

We can discern no legitimate reason for these appeals and believe that they are really an attempt to use the land use process to stifle competition for gas sales.

Do you have an explanation as to why that might be the case?

But when you say that for whatever reason prices, say, in Rutland have been lower, is the whatever reason not that we do not see a lot of competition?

No one is disputing that gasoline distributors--gas stations--have a right to make a profit. That is not in dispute.