#nhgov

It’s been a long campaign season, but it is just 1 week to the 2016 United States Presidential Election, as well as numerous Gubernatorial elections, elections for Senate Seats, elections for seats in the House of Representatives, and other local elections. 

NH Governor: Colin Van Ostern (Democrat). If anyone's shocked at this suggestion to for the "liberal," Mr. Van Ostern isn’t really that liberal. Mr. Van Ostern has essentially run on a pro-jobs, pro-growth platform and pledged not impose an income or sales tax in New Hampshire.

NH Senate, House District 1, and House District 2: Kelly Ayotte (Republican), Jim Lawrence (Republican), and Frank Guinta (Republican). Hillary Clinton is likely to end up President and keeping the Senate balance of power in favor of the Party of Lincoln and Reagan (the Republican Party) will prevent imposition of any egregious new regulation that would stifle innovation, prevent job growth, or hurt the economy.

Massachusetts Ballot Initiatives:

Question 1 (Additional Slots Parlor): YES. As a business idea, this is likely bad since the suggested location of Revere will be close to Wynn Boston Harbor and there is no way a slots parlor can compete effectively with what Wynn will offer, but ultimately the free market can sort this out. If a company wants to come in and build a slots parlor, let them do it. If they fail, they fail, but at a minimum that creates some jobs in the short-run. 

Question 2 (Lift Cap on Charter Schools): YES. There are many schools in Massachusetts that are not up to par and unfortunately these are often in areas where parents cannot afford to just send their kids off to private school so they have a chance to get into good colleges and get decent jobs. The charter schools provide greater opportunity for the children.

Question 3 (Farm Animal Containment): NO. Again, this is one where the free market should be able to operate. People can already buy meat where the animals are not contained in small spaces and eggs where the hens are not caged.

Question 4 (Legalize Marijuana): YES. This will add revenue, create jobs, and is actually a curbing of regulation as it removes a government prohibition on business transactions.

Image: Marc Nozell / CC BY 2.0

Links to up-to-the-minute vote totals from Associated Press:

U.S. Congress:  Total  |  Detail

N.H. Governor and U.S. Senate:  Totals  |  Detail

N.H. House and Senate:  Totals  |  Detail

N.H. Executive Council:  Totals  |  Detail

Miscellany Blue PVI data and maps:

Executive Council Districts:  Map

N.H. Senate Districts:  Map

N.H. House Districts:  Map1  Map2

N.H. Towns:  Map

In the Granite State, voters on November 4th will have the chance once again to choose their State’s top executive, the Governor. New Hampshire, in contrast to its neighbor to the South (Massachusetts), elects the Governor to 2-year terms similar to how members of the U.S. House of Representatives are elected to 2-year terms. This empowers the people of New Hampshire to get rid of failing leadership much faster than in other states.

The two leading candidates for Governor of New Hampshire are incumbent Margaret "Maggie" Hassan, a Democrat, and Republican Walt Havenstein.

Since taking office, Ms. Hassan has managed to bring forth positive results for the economy. Business has grown in New Hampshire, and the unemployment rate has fallen to 4.3% from over 5% when Ms. Hassan took office. In addition, Ms. Hassan worked with both sides of the aisle in order to pass a balanced budget. New Hampshire’s two major strengths over surrounding states are its lack of Income Tax and Sales Tax, and Ms. Hassan did not propose implementing either tax. Ms. Hassan has also sought to ensure taxpayer funds have greater accountability, and is the first Governor of New Hampshire to actively use social media to engage with the citizens of the state.

Where Ms. Hassan does fall weak is in her support for some new regulation which gives government more control instead of individual. Unfortunately for Mr. Havenstein, he is in favor of burdensome, job-killing regulation. In opposing casino gaming in New Hampshire, Mr. Havenstein is endorsing the continued flow of money out of New Hampshire to casinos in Connecticut, Rhode Island, New York, New Jersey, Maine, Quebec, and soon Massachusetts. Further, Mr. Havenstein effectively has taken a position against new jobs in New Hampshire.

Additionally, Mr. Havenstein has a weak record of leadership. Under his tenure as Chief Executive Officer of SAIC, he ran the company's stock price down by over 30%, killed thousands of jobs, failed to grow the company's revenue, and was in charge during the "Citytime scandal" in New York that cost taxpayers more than $400M.

Image: druid labs / CC BY-NC-SA 2.0

On his website, Republican gubernatorial candidate Andrew Hemingway says we should make literacy our first priority by rejecting national educational standards.

This morning, during a radio interview with Jack Heath on WGIR 610, Republican gubernatorial candidate Walt Havenstein refused to state his positions on marriage equality and a woman's right to choose:

Heath: Let me ask you for clarity on this show. Are you pro-life or pro-choice?

Havenstein: No. Jack, I have very strong personal views on that issue, as other people do. I’m not going to make that part of my campaign or governing, frankly. I suspect it will come up not just here but in other places in the future, but I’m going to be focused on pro-growth, as opposed to the social issues.

Heath: But you know at a forum or debate, someone is going to say, "Mr. Havenstein, you’re running for governor. Are you pro-life, pro-choice? Do you support gay marriage?" Those are questions that you’re going to be asked. So would you just share a position on either?

Havenstein: No, I’m not going to share a position on either today.

Then, on his way over to WMUR for an interview with Josh McElveen, Havenstein apparently realized that his stonewall strategy was not going to fly. The former defense contractor addressed both issues with McElveen -- by taking both sides:

#nhgov cand Walt Havenstein on gay marriage - supports law on the books but would consider bill to repeal. #nhpolitics #wmur

— Josh McElveen (WMUR) (@JoshMcElveen) April 18, 2014

#nhgov cand Walt Havenstein (R) on abortion - pro choice but would support "reasonable restrictions" #nhpolitics #wmur

— Josh McElveen (WMUR) (@JoshMcElveen) April 18, 2014

I'm going to be using the word "nullify" a lot. Once elected, I'm going to be rallying the troops in the legislature and hoping and pushing and doing everything we can to nullify, nullify, nullify. As much of the federal health care mandates that we can, as far as the E.P.A. mandates that we can, everything we can, we're going to push back against Washington using our constitutional rights.