CLAREMONT – City voters will see a number of familiar names on the Nov. 3 ballot when they elect four state representatives from Claremont in contested races.
Among the candidates are a long-term legislator first elected in the 1992, two sitting City Council members, and a former Republican House member. Democrats currently hold a 3-1 advantage in Claremont’s New Hampshire House delegation.
Democratic state Rep. John Cloutier, 62, is the longest serving Sullivan County legislator and will be seeking his 15th, two-year term in the House. Sullivan 10 encompasses all three city wards.
In this past session, Cloutier voted to support establishing a minimum wage of $10 an hour in 2021 and increasing it to $12 in 2023. New Hampshire minimum wage is tied to the federal minimum of $7.25 an hour. He also backed a bill which would have given authorities the right to take guns from people considered dangerous based on a petition from family, housemates or law enforcement. Both were vetoed by Gov. Chris Sununu and override votes failed.
“I voted for the minimum wage bill,” Cloutier said, calling the $10 wage and subsequent increase to $12 in 2023 “reasonable.”
“It is a very important issue for me and it would definitely help my Claremont constituents.”
On the issue of gun safety, Cloutier, a security guard and substitute high school teacher, said he supported the extreme risk protection orders bill, (HB 687) which establishes a civil procedure to allow for the removal of guns and ammunition from someone deemed a danger to themselves or others.
Cloutier said the law would have given protection to victims of domestic violence and could decrease suicides.
“We need to do something about gun violence,” Cloutier said. “I think it is better to have a court hearing than a funeral.”
He also said law abiding gun owners would not be affected by the law. In the last legislative session, Cloutier also supported bills that would require a waiting period between the purchase and delivery of a firearm and expanded criminal background checks on the sale or transfer of a firearm.
If re-elected Cloutier said he wants to focus on finding a permanent solution to state funding for education and infrastructure, including finding more revenue to support bridge and road repairs, especially in Claremont.
Republican Jonathan Stone, 47, a former Claremont police officer, current city councilor and co-owner of Claremont gun shop, addressed several questions in an email response.
He would support a minimum wage of $9 an hour by 2022 but otherwise believes the free market, not the government, should dictate wages.
“I am a firm believer wages should be based on skill, education, experience and the law of supply and demand. Raising the minimum wage to $15 an hour, which is what some states have done, would have a negative effect on smaller employers who can’t afford it,” he wrote.
On gun safety, Stone opposes the extreme risk protection orders bill otherwise known as the “red flag bill” and said it disregards “an individual’s due process rights.”
“The House bill as written goes too far and would weaken the constitutional rights of law-abiding New Hampshire citizens,” Stone wrote, adding that current state law “serves law abiding citizens of New Hampshire.
“I do not support ‘Gun Free Zones,’ no law abiding citizen should be stripped of their ability to protect themselves,” Stone said.
His priorities if elected include opposing broad-based taxes and focusing on school funding and bail reform and re-examining marijuana legalization
An attorney for Stone last month argued in court that details about his record as a Claremont police officer, including a suspension and 2006 notice of termination, should not be disclosed to the public.
Democratic state Rep. Andrew O’Hearne, a Claremont city councilor and retired Claremont police officer, was defeated in his House race in 2016 then won back the seat two years later against incumbent Republican John O’Connor.
He has also served on the Claremont School Board.
In the past two years, O’Hearne supported bills to raise the minimum wage and also voted in favor of measures that would require criminal background checks on the sale or transfer of firearms and establish a waiting period between the sale and delivery of a gun. However he opposed the extreme risk protective orders legislation.
Republican Patrick Lozito has run unsuccessfully for state office in the past. Most recently he lost a bid for the state Senate from District 5 in 2018.
According to the web site, citizenscount.org, Lozito opposes legislation to raise the minimum wage and pass stricter gun laws.
Phones messages left for O’Hearne and Lozito were not returned.
Democratic state Rep. Gary Merchant, 68, is a retired pharmacist and is completing his first term in the House.
Republican Paul LaCasse Sr., who has previously served on the Claremont City Council and Claremont Planning Board is a former state representative who served one term, 2010-2012.
According to Citizenscount.org, LaCasse opposes increasing the minimum wage and passing stricter gun laws in New Hampshire. Several messages left for LaCasse were not returned.
Merchant said he voted for the minimum wage bill and for stricter gun laws. In his research, Merchant said if the minimum wage of 1968 were indexed to inflation it would be $11.55 an hour today.
“For me, $12 made sense,” he said, adding that those on minimum wage usually need government aid including food stamps, Medicaid and housing assistance.
“The business community ends up subsidizing (low) minimum wage workers,” Merchant said.
On the issue of gun safety and stricter gun laws, Merchant said he voted for several bills this year including ones on background checks, waiting periods and the court order to remove guns from people determined to be a danger to themselves and others.
Merchant said the issue for him is not gun ownership but rather keeping guns away from unstable individuals.
“If you know someone is unstable, why allow them access to guns. People have a right to own guns but with that right comes a responsibility to use it safely.”
If re-elected Merchant said education funding to help communities like Claremont and the state downshifting expenses to cities and towns will be priorities for him.
Republican state Rep. Walt Stapleton, 74, won his first term in the House in 2018 after losing to Cloutier for the District 10 seat in 2016. Stapleton had a long career in the railroad industry and later a consulting business which he sold in 2017. He voted against both the minimum wage bill and extreme risk protection orders.
Democrat Liza Draper, 58, is making her first run for public office. She works as an educator at the American Precision Museum and a tutor with Upper Valley Tutoring in Hanover. She has volunteered on numerous committees in Claremont, including Main Street and Turning Points.
Stapleton and Draper differ sharply on the issues of minimum wage and gun safety.
He opposed the minimum wage bill approved by the Legislature and vetoed by Sununu because it set a higher wage too far into the future with two increases.
“I don’t believe projecting a minimum wage for the future is the responsible thing to do because economic conditions may not prevail. I prefer short term increases,” said Stapleton, noting that most businesses are already paying above $10 an hour now and he did support a one-time increase to $11.
Draper said she would have voted for the bill and will vote for other minimum wage increases if elected.
“I think it is important to increase the minimum wage to a livable wage,” Draper said. “$7.25 is not livable and makes it hard to attract workers.
“We have the lowest minimum wage in all of New England.”
On the extreme risk protections bill, Stapleton saw it as a Second Amendment violation and said current law allows for guns to be taken away from someone charged by police.
He also opposed waiting periods, expanded background checks on firearms, saying federal law already offers those protections, and gun free zones, which he said would be ignored by criminals and tells a shooter no one can stop them.
Draper’s backs HB 687 and other bills creating stricter gun laws.
“I favor basic common sense measure to preserve public safety,” Draper said. “The goal (of 687) is to remove lethal weapons from people who are a risk to themselves and others. This is not a threat to law-abiding gun owners.”
If re-elected, Stapleton said he wants to work on finding a long-term solution to education funding in the state for grades K-12, pass legislation to protect small businesses and others from legal action if someone were to contract COVID-19 and resolve the problems with the county nursing home, whether it means a new facility or upgrades to the existing one.
Draper’s priorities will focus on health care, including mental health and recovery and addiction services in rural areas like Claremont, and reproductive rights.
Voting is from 8 a.m. to 7 p.m., Tuesday Nov. 3.
Wards I and II will vote at the Claremont Middle School; Ward III at Disnard Elementary School.
