Enfield
Republicans aren’t taking this election season lying down, however, and are vying for three seats held this year by Democratic incumbents.
Enfield residents Roger Dontonville and Mike Lorrey are both vying for a seat in Grafton 10, which represents Enfield. The seat was left open when state Rep. Wendy Piper, a Democrat, chose to run for an open seat on the Grafton County Commission.
Lorrey, a Republican, is an Air Force veteran and writer who campaigned for the seat in 2014. While many of his neighbors are focused on the election, he often fields concerns about the ongoing opioid epidemic.
“I think we need to recognize that the drug war is a failure and has caused a lot of this,” he said.
New Hampshire needs to come up with new ways of combating drug addiction, Lorrey said, instead of treating it like a crime problem. He’s opposed to Operation Granite Hammer, a $1.5 million law enforcement operation targeting drug dealers, and said the problem will only get worse without a focus on treatment and prevention.
The progressive group Granite State Progress listed Lorrey on its 2016 list of Free State Project members running for office. The project encourages libertarian minded people to move to New Hampshire. Lorrey did not return an email asking for comment on the list.
Dontonville, a Democrat, recently retired from a career teaching physical education at the Grantham Village School. He’s running to advocate for local education and more funding for public schools.
Most of the bill for education falls on property tax payers, so locals should have greater more input on how children are taught, he said, rather than directives coming from Concord.
“I just see all the testing that’s coming down from the state comparing district to district, and I think that is just too inappropriate,” he said, adding that children in different communities have different needs and goals.
Lorrey said he’s still undecided on whether to continue the Medicaid expansion, which insures about 50,000 Granite Staters. He’s not opposed to the services it provides but is concerned the program could be open to waste and abuse.
“By forcing people into a single source solution, it just enhances the motivation for bureaucratic waste and abuse,” he said.
Dontonville said he would need more time to review the state’s Medicaid expansion before taking a vote to renew the program, saying costs are currently “spilling out of control.” He’s also undecided on how best to tackle the state’s opioid epidemic, saying he intends to talk with Enfield Police Chief Richard Crate to discuss the area’s problems.
“Being an educator, I think it is imperative that schools and communities take a vested interest in the opioid crisis,” he said. “I’d like to see the schools be a resource for that also.”
Four people are vying for two seats in Grafton 9, which includes the towns of Grafton, Alexandria, Bristol, Ashland and Bridgewater. State Reps. Jeff Shackett and Robert Hull, both Republicans, are competing against Democrats Judy Wallick and Joshua Adjutant.
Shackett is running for his fourth term in the House. A Bridgewater resident, he owns a grocery store in the nearby town of Bristol, where he used to reside and serve on several town boards.
During the last legislative season, Shackett voted against legislation funding Operation Granite Hammer and a bill to expand Medicaid coverage. He declined to be interviewed for this story.
Hull is also hoping to hold onto his seat. A Grafton resident, he’s a well-known libertarian activist and owns several properties in town used as a residence by members of the Free State Project. He did not return messages seeking comment.
Hull voted for a repeal of concealed carry permits and against both the Medicaid expansion and Operation Granite Hammer funding.
On the Democratic side, Wallick is running for the seat a third time. She also resides in Grafton and hopes to be an advocate for local government and reverse downshifting of costs to towns and cities.
“The state has to deal with our structural deficit,” she said. “We’re always crimping.”
Wallick said she is in favor of the Medicaid expansion, and said it should be made more permanent so health care providers can better plan services. A $15 minimum wage is also needed, she said, to help people stay in the area.
“I know it’s hard, and I’m very supportive of small businesses and I know for some $15 an hour is just not workable,” she said. “But we’ve got to work on this.”
Wallick is joined on the Democratic ticket by Adjutant, a Marine Corps reservist and Bristol resident who said he is focusing on the opioid crisis.
Adjutant said he’s in favor of sealing criminal records of those involved in low-level drug crimes to enable former addicts to get back out into the job market.
He also hopes to make the state’s Medicaid expansion permanent and would vote to continue the state’s permitting system for concealed carry, although he’s against further gun control legislation. To expand education funding, he proposes exploring a new tax system that doesn’t overburden property owners, but he wouldn’t say whether that includes instituting a sales or income tax.
Rep. Duane Brown, R-Wentworth, and Democrat Carol Friedrich will once again face off for the Grafton 16 floterial seat, which represents the towns of Canaan, Dorchester, Ellsworth, Groton, Orange, Rumney, Thornton and Wentworth.
Brown, an American Airlines pilot, said he’s running to help improve the economy and create jobs for locals. He’s in favor of reducing regulations on businesses and lowering the business profits tax, an effort that was accomplished in the last state budget. Brown voted twice for legislation to do away with concealed carry permitting, and says he’s opposed to the Medicaid expansion.
“I think there’s a better way to accomplish that, like a voucher system for folks,” he said, adding that the free market should play a bigger role in health insurance.
While Brown says he supports public education, he also supports expanding the number of charter schools and reducing educational regulations from Concord.
Friedrich, a retired teacher who also lives in Wentworth, said she’s focusing her campaign on climate change. A former legislator, she was on the House Science and Technology committee, and voted for legislation that expanded alternative energy solutions and the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative, a program that caps and aims at reducing carbon dioxide emissions.
If elected, she also hopes to push for more funding to combat the state’s opioid epidemic. Friedrich said more resources are needed for treatment, and the Medicaid expansion should continue.
“I think it’s a crime that we’re letting 400, 500 of our young people die every year and we’re not willing to put enough money into that,” she said. State officials say 439 people died of drug related deaths last year, and expect the number to near 500 this year.
On gun control, Friedrich supports regulations to ban the sales of assault weapons and said the state’s concealed carry system should be left alone. She’s also opposed to charter schools.
In Grafton 17, Rep. Stephen Darrow, R-Grafton, is hoping to retain his seat against a challenge from former state Rep. Catherine Mulholland, D-Grafton. The floterial district covers the towns of Grafton, Enfield, Alexandria, Ashland, Bridgewater and Bristol.
Darrow said he’s opposed to Northern Pass in its current form, and is concerned communities don’t have enough local control over utility projects such as wind farms. He voted in favor of the Medicaid expansion, saying some of his constituents need the program.
Darrow favored a bill to do away with concealed carry permitting requirements and is supportive of charter schools in the Granite State.
Mulholland, of Grafton, did not return calls asking for comment on the race. Previously, she’s expressed support for the Medicaid expansion.
State Rep. Kevin Maes, D-Rumney, is defending his Grafton 6 seat against Republican Sky Bartlett. Maes currently represents Orange, Groton, Rumney, Ellsworth and Thornton. A retired teacher, Maes said he’s in favor of the Medicaid expansion and increasing the minimum wage to $15 an hour. He’s running a campaign focused on “bringing civility to government.”
Messages left for Bartlett seeking comment were not returned. A Thornton resident, he sits on the town’s Zoning Board.
Timothy Josephson is running unopposed for the Grafton 11 seat, which represents Canaan, Dorchester and Wentworth. Josephson, a Canaan Democrat, sits on the Mascoma Valley Regional School Board and wants to help revitalize rural communities. He replaces state Rep. Charles Townsend, a Canaan Democrat who opted not to seek a fifth term in Concord.
Tim Camerato can be reached at tcamerato@vnews.com or 603-727-3223.