4 vie for 2 seats in Belknap 8, floterial district over Belmont, Tilton, Sanbornton

With the General Election just weeks away, candidates for the two floterial seats in the Statehouse from Belknap District 8 are buckling down on campaign efforts, getting their messaging out to voters and making final pleas.

This year, four candidates are vying for the two spots representing voters in Belmont, Tilton and Sanbornton: Rep. Lisa Freeman (R-Tilton) and Republican Cameron Thompson, and Democrats Don Giguere and Don House.

Meet the candidates

Freeman is passionate about education after being involved in the Manchester school district, before relocating to the Lakes Region. She served for four years on the Manchester School Board while dually serving as an advocate for her son, who is on the autism spectrum. She knows firsthand what kind of representative Granite Staters need when it comes to seeking change at the Statehouse.

Her impetus for running was a commitment she made to her late husband, who encouraged her to continue to “rise up” as a community leader.

“Here I am, and I'm not going anywhere. I love Tilton. I love Belmont,” Freeman said. “I love this area of New Hampshire.”

Giguere is no stranger to New Hampshire. He grew up in the Lakes Region, going to schools in Belmont and Laconia. He explored other areas of the country, largely due to the high cost of living in New Hampshire, and started a career in hospitality. Eventually returning to the East Coast, Giguere began working at the New Hampshire Veterans Home in Tilton, the town he calls home today. He's now retired. 

A former Republican — he credits Ronald Reagan’s politics being the reason for the party switch — Giguere wants to see more of a middle ground.

“It's so black and white. We need a little bit of gray.”

House is an active member of the Budget Advisory Committee in Belmont, and spends a lot of time volunteering. He’s on several boards and commissions, including Laconia’s Belknap House. A resident of Belmont for 17 years, House had a career in IT and corporate management. He regularly frequents Gunstock Mountain Resort as an avid skier.

House got involved with politics when he became aware of the Free State movement.

“Mike Sylvia was the [state] rep. for Belmont, and he was one of the ones that was heavily involved in the Free State movement. He was one of the ones that proposed New Hampshire seceding from the U.S.,” House said. “I thought, 'Well, if we have a rep. like that representing the town, the town deserves better.'”

Thompson, a self-described problem-solver, is eager to get involved in local and state politics. This is his first time running for office. Currently, he works as a dispatcher for the Belknap County Sheriff’s Office and lives in Sanbornton, with his wife and son.

His public safety career has shown him how important Second Amendment rights are for the protection of society, and he strongly backs law enforcement.

“I am a Republican constitutional conservative, and so, I generally will follow those lines,” Thompson said, acknowledging he’s the new guy. “I'm brand new to this. This is my first time running for any public office, so I'm just a regular guy, and I'm just trying to help in any way I can.”

Housing, property taxes

All four candidates think a change is needed in Concord, regarding the housing crisis, but don't necessarily agree on the root cause of the problem.

Freeman thought the crisis was more a supply and demand issue rather than affordability.

“We don't have an affordability crisis. We have a supply and demand crisis. When you don't have enough supply, what happens? The demand goes up. And when demand goes up, what happens? The prices go up,” she said.

She recognizes the COVID-19 pandemic caused a massive influx of out-of-staters to relocate to the Granite State.

“I get people want to own homes, but it's not an, ‘Oh, I've got a job. I graduated from college. Now I want a house.’ No, you work up to those things. However, right now, I can see where the issue is. Especially during COVID, I mean, we saw a lot of people move from other states to New Hampshire and subsequently, that made the price of houses skyrocket.”

Freeman believes more can be done to reenergize New Hampshire’s zoning laws to help encourage more available housing stock, too.

House agreed housing availability can be difficult, when giant real estate conglomerates purchase properties, jacking up rental prices.

“The other thing New Hampshire needs to do is restrict private equity corporations from buying housing. That's been a trend across the country. There's a lot of money to be made from real estate,” he said. “These other private firms can go in and buy places and then they rent them, but they raise the rents and that contributes to the, you know, housing insecurity. It keeps the home prices so high that it restricts the availability of housing.”

He referenced a visit on a door-knocking excursion that really drove the point home.

“Everyone, really, is stressed by the expenses, you know, property taxes, healthcare expenses, food expenses, utility expenses, housing costs. They're all causing problems for people,” House said. “I see a lot more people that are likely to lose their homes, because the property taxes keep going up and expenses keep going up, and people's pay rates aren't keeping up with it.”

Giguere thought housing affordability coincided with low wages in a high-inflation world.

“You can’t afford to pay the property tax on a lake-level property when you have a middle level income job,” he said.

And Thompson thought more oversight was needed to ensure checks and balances for property taxes.

“By fighting waste and corruption, I can possibly save money and bring costs down.”

Education

While residents continue to be burned with higher property taxes as a means to fund public education, candidates heard firsthand frustration from residents about the double-whammy high cost of education.

Education Freedom Accounts, or school vouchers, which fall under the large umbrella of school choice, was a hot topic.

Freeman was in favor of them, seeing them as a positive economic contribution to society. During her time on the school board, in Manchester, she recalled instances where parents simply had no choice but to pull their child from the district.

“My biggest concern is that people would bring problems in front of a public board and say, ‘Look, I'm having this problem with my child.’ Nothing would get done, but that child still needs an education, and that parent still has a responsibility to make sure that that kid gets the education that fits their needs. So, that's when I kind of jumped on the school choice bandwagon,” she said. “I think people slam Education Freedom Accounts, but I think they're making a huge difference in this state. I get calls from parents all the time that are grateful for the opportunity to utilize them. I am not trying to burn down public education. I want public education to change. I really do.”

House thought the opposite, demanding more accountability and oversight to thwart potential misuse and abuse.

“I'm supporting major changes to the voucher programs, or the Educational Funding Accounts, because I think they take money away from public schools,” he said. “They also don't have the right accountability. There's virtually no accountability. There's very little reporting. I'm definitely opposed to taxpayer dollars being spent on religious schools. And right now, they can't really restrict that, because of the way the funding has been worked out through a third party.”

House thought schools should be supported by legislators, especially since their success directly impacts the vibrancy of the community.

“If you want to have young people live in New Hampshire, and stay in New Hampshire, then you have to provide good schools. If you have a good school district in your town, then the property values will probably be higher,” he said.

Thompson supported the idea of school choice, but advocated for looking through the program with a fine-tooth comb.

“I'm a big [supporter] of education. On the surface, I would say I believe that you should have school choice,” he said, and thinks there are savings hidden between the lines to help reduce the cost of education.

“Not only am I a big supporter of business, but I'm also one who tries to eliminate waste anywhere I can find it. I think that there may be a lot of waste. [Let’s] get rid of that overspending and spending inappropriately. It could maybe be done better. So, that may bring the cost of education down, if we can find savings in certain places. That would be helpful.”

They all agreed students deserve a good education, and it's the responsibility of the community to ensure that happens.

“Education is my passion. It is my passion because kids need an education. And again, we are morally and legally responsible to make sure that happens,” Freeman said. “I don't want a generation of kids that don't know how to read, or do math, or have no idea what basic science is. We want to have intelligent, well-educated children because those kids are going to be taking care of me and you.”

Giguere agreed kids are owed quality schooling.

“Great, general education is suffering when the property tax is pushed on top of" taxpayers, he said during an interview. “Being gay, my point of view wasn’t appreciated at all in the ‘70s, so I left the state to get away from the small-mindedness at that time. Things have changed a lot over the decades. [Public education] opens people up to different cultures, different experiences and different upbringings. For that reason, I think education is the most vital thing to shaking our society up, mixing it all together so we appreciate each other’s lives.”

Other platforms

Candidates are also focused on generating new tax revenues, supporting Belknap County resources, and protecting gun rights.

Thinking creatively, House was open to legalizing cannabis, if it meant a new tax revenue stream could combat the property tax crisis.

“I think making marijuana legal in the state would be a good idea, and the state should license it, and control that the same way they do liquor,” he said. “That would be a revenue source that they ought to pursue.”

Giguere was not opposed to new tax streams, including an income or a sales tax.

“We need an alternative tax, however, I would only agree to it if some kind of abatement was made to actually lower the property tax. A specific income tax, or a sales tax. I know it’s against the No New Tax pledge,” he said. “I would agree to something like that, as long as taxpayers, who are presently being crushed, get the rewards from it.”

Freeman simply does not want to see work duplicated at the state and municipal levels.

“There's a lot of services that it's duplicative. I've seen it, being on the county delegation, and seeing some of the things that are being done, some of the services are duplicative of what the state's already supplying,” she said. “I don't want to spend taxpayer money like that. You know, I'd rather put it in the county nursing home. You know, I'd rather put it in the county jail that needs to be completely redone.”

A staunch Republican, Thompson believes citizens should lawfully bear arms.

“I'm also a very strong supporter of gun rights. I believe that people should have the right to protect themselves,” he said. “So, I am a big proponent of the Constitution and gun rights.”

The General Election is Tuesday, Nov. 3.

•••

Katlyn Proctor can be reached at katlyn@laconiadailysun.com or by calling 603-524-0150.