Laconia candidates discuss housing issues, reproductive rights at bipartisan forum

On the top floor of the Belknap Mill, eight candidates from both parties sat at a pair of plastic tables. Between the tables and behind a small podium, Liz Tentarelli, president of the New Hampshire League of Women Voters, served as moderator.

Across from the candidates was a full house of guests. The combination of brick walls, wood floors, warm air, respect and focus on local issues felt like a long-awaited return to political normalcy.

There was no shouting or raising of hands. Instead, audience members wrote out questions for candidates on notecards with golf pencils. Cards were then silently delivered to the podium via volunteers, where Tentarelli sorted before posing them to candidates.

Responses had time limits, ranging from one to two minutes, and most candidates did a surprisingly good job of sticking to the timeframe. After making introductions, Tentarelli fielded audience questions.

“There's probably someone sleeping outside this room,” said Hoffman when asked about funding social services in the county. “He matters just as much as I do.” Hoffman's observation was apt, as audience members had to step around a prone woman on the sidewalk just outside Rotary Park before the forum.

When it came to legislation to address homelessness, former house member Charlie St. Clair said he wanted to see the state get more involved with directly addressing the issue.

“This is going to probably sound crazy, but if someone would come up with something like the Works Progress Administration and come up with some housing for people to move into, they could have state-sponsored jobs, they would have to be clean, I mean not dependent on drugs,” St. Clair said. “With the money they could make, they could hopefully clean themselves up and from the bad situation they're in.”

Littlefield suggested investing in dome houses at a rate of about $7,000 per unit to give temporary shelter and a jumping off point for people experiencing homelessness to start getting back on their feet.

“I would like to create bill that would use these dome houses and then have help from the mayor and city council to work with the state and local businesses for a local job program to get people into these houses and also a job program to help these people out,” Littlefield said.

Other candidates like Wood and Bogert discussed the complexity surrounding the causes of homelessness, from mental health and drug addiction to those who choose the lifestyle. Wood expressed interest in Littlefield's dome housing idea, but expressed frustration with finding land for such a project.

“It would have been helpful if we'd been able to work with the governor on the state school property so we could have had a space for the dome houses that [Littlefield] is referring to,” Wood said. “We need to identify and support the mental health services that are available and we need to look at drug and alcohol problems as an illness.”

“The problem with trying to build this dome housing and stuff, one must find the land to do this,” Bogert said. “The biggest pushback is going to be from the public; 'not in my backyard.'”

Bordes also shared stories of attempting to work with private property owners to conduct such programs. Bordes explained that such efforts were not financially feasibly for the property owners. “We have to give them some sort of incentive whether it's through the state or the city to continue to build affordable housing for the homeless and for the everyday citizen,” he said.

Huot argued that crafting legislation seemed premature, and that more study of the problem was needed. “We have to find the matrix of what consists of the lack of housing issue before we can decide how we're going to solve the problem,” he said.

Johnson stated that needs and circumstances must be addressed on an individual basis.

“We can't just lump them all together,” Johnson said. “Whether they're just having a rough patch, or if they're having dependency issues, we need to deal with that. Or, if they choose to be homeless because that's what they want — there are people like that, I talk to several of them — then we have to abide by what their wishes are, but we have to come up with a solution.”

Tying into homelessness was affordable and available housing, another issue which plagues not only the Lakes Region but the entire state.

“Our statewide vacancy rate is less than 1%,” said Bordes. “Median rents are up 24%. What we did this year is work with Gov. [Chris] Sununu, he started a $100 million program using federal funds to incentivize cities and towns to get grants and build more affordable workforce housing.”

A pair of questions focused on county government and the relationship between the commissioners and county delegation, which is composed of state House members. Over this past year, interactions between the commissioners and delegation has been fraught with tension over points like the funding of the county nursing home and sheriff's department, as well as the Gunstock Mountain Resort controversy.

Candidates were asked if, as delegation members, if they would support county commissioners in their proposed budgets, and how they would make the budget more responsive to the people.

“I think my track record on this speaks for itself,” Bordes said, citing his stance against cutting budgets for the nursing home and sheriff's department, but that he couldn't completely answer the question without seeing a physical budget.

“I think it's part of the obligation of the people of the county to take care of their own and not be cheap about it,” Huot said.

Johnson said she supports services that help the community, but that she also had to look at the bottom line to help with “your tax dollars.”

“There's a fine line. Until you see those fine lines and you see where those things are at, you can't really say what you'd do until you see those numbers come in and you have to do what's best for the people,” Johnson said.

St. Clair expressed frustration with some members of the county delegation and their approach to the county commissioners.

“For us [delegates] to micromanage them always made me unhappy,” St. Clair said. “Worrying about budgets is very important, but the services that have been kicked down the road year after year, we've seen that with our nursing home and several other agencies. Unless it was really a bad decision by commissioners, [I] intend to go along with what they recommend, because that's their job. That's why they were elected.”

Littlefield said that if commissioners came to the delegation with a fiscally responsible budget that covered mental health and other services, he could vote for it favorably.

“If I'm elected to the state House, I will have to learn a lot more about the different communities in Belknap County,” Wood said. “As a member of the delegation, my decision affects all members of the county. That'll be the first thing I'll have to do before I propose any changes.” Wood also cited his experience as an attorney and handling large amounts of money.

Party fault lines appeared when it came to the state's school choice legislation. Democrats like St. Clair and Wood criticized the legislation for having no spending cap, while Hoffman attacked the measure for taking funding from public schools and giving it to private ones.

Bordes and Johnson, who supported the bill, defended it, along with Littlefield, citing giving students and parents more learning choices.

On state-level issues like marijuana and abortion, most candidates emphasized personal choice, albeit with a few detractors. When asked whether or not he would support a bill legalizing recreational cannabis in the state, Hoffman gave the one-word answer: “Absolutely.”

Bordes stated he couldn't currently support such a bill due to federal regulations preventing all marijuana users, including those with medical clearance, from purchasing or owning firearms. Johnson also expressed hesitancy to approve recreational marijuana.

“We need to figure out if this is going to be a complete open market, or is it going to be run by the state?” Johnson questioned.

St. Clair cited the fact that New Hampshire residents frequently travel to Maine, Massachusetts and Vermont to purchase and use recreational marijuana already.

“I think it would be a good way for the state to regulate it, and realize some tax revenue from it,” St. Clair said.

Huot said he was in favor, stating that individuals have a choice. This sentiment was reflected by Littlefield, who discussed recent pushback on his pro-legalization stance

“I believe everybody has the right to their own personal responsibility to make the choices that they feel are right, so I would support it,” Littlefield said.

Wood agreed with St. Clair, citing the potential tax revenue from recreational pot.

“It can be done in a legal and proper manner,” Wood said. “It's done in many states around us and across the country, and it has not created a serious problem in any of those states.”

Bogert agreed with the benefits of tax revenue, and stated it was a personal choice, not much different than consuming alcohol.

“You choose to drink, you choose to smoke,” Bogert said. “This is the personal rights of people.”

Bogert, also brought this approach to his stance on abortion, stating, along with many other candidates, that such a decision was best left to the woman, her doctor, and her family.

Littlefield stated that the state's current 24-week ban was a compromise that could “fit perfectly in any blue or purple state in the country.”

“As a man, I just want this to be left to a woman and her doctors,” said St. Clair.

For Johnson, the only woman on the panel, the current law is a compromise.

“I personally don't believe in abortion,” Johnson said. “But it's not my view that makes a difference in Concord, it's your view and I listen to you all. This bill came to light and it was a compromise. I've learned that compromise is a necessity to get anything done. You candidates have it all one way or the other.”

After the candidates finished, Tentarelli invited the audience to applaud, which they did thunderously.

The country's polarization inspired members of the Unitarian Universalist Society to start putting the event together in August.

“There was no bipartisan forum,” said Kay Anderson, who helped organize the event. “There would be Democratic house parties and Republican house parties, but never where voters could see them talking on the same issues together. We wanted to model it to other communities in the Lakes Region so they would have open discussions, open dialogues, because that's not what has been going on.”

Overall, to Anderson and other attendees, the outlook was highly positive.

“I think it was fabulous,” Anderson said. “I think the tone was very good, nobody was attacked, which is what we wanted, and they got to hear each other's opinions, and that's what the voters got.”

The two-hour forum was recorded by Lakes Region Public Access, and is available to watch by visiting vod.lrpa.org. The general election is Tuesday, Nov. 8.