District 5 Republicans talk affordable housing, education, Second Amendment, taxes, and heating bills

LACONIA — Since redistricting, New Hampshire House District 5, which now includes Laconia Wards 1, 3, 4, 5 and 6, has four seats. Five candidates are running in the Republican primary, and include incumbents Reps. Mike Bordes, Dawn Johnson and Richard Littlefield. Joining the three veterans in the race are Erica Golter and Steven Bogert. The Daily Sun spoke with Bordes, Littlefield and Bogert regarding their candidacy. Golter did not return requests for comment, and Johnson declined to be interviewed for this story.

Golter's website describes her as a "home-owning, self-employed homeschooling patriot with love for New Hampshire, freedom and the Constitution." Golter's site described her as pro-Second Amendment, pro-limited government, cannabis legalization, lower taxes, education choice and an end to vaccination mandates.

According to Citizen's Count, Rep. Johnson is "against any income tax of any kind," and is a pro-life candidate. Johnson wrote that "except in cases of rape/incest or health of the mother, no abortions should be legal" in a 2020 survey. Her profile also highlighted a pro-Second Amendment stance, and that mail-in ballots "should be illegal." When it came to business, Johnson was in favor of lowering business taxes and not increasing the state's minimum wage. 

Johnson walked out of a meeting of the Belknap County Delegation this week after fellow delegates voted to ratify an August emergency meeting to address the crisis recently facing Gunstock Mountain Resort. Johnson said she felt there wasn't enough discussion before the vote.

Over the past year, the mountain has become a local political battleground, causing cracks and divides even within the local Republican party. 

“The work on the delegation right now is primary concern number 1,” Bordes said. “We have to make sure Gunstock remains open and we have a good grasp on who the candidates are and how we get them elected to the [Gunstock Area] Commission. We did just appoint Denise Conroy, she's a great fit, but we have to be careful with who we put on the commission. Gunstock is county owned, but it's also a business and needs to be run like a business.”

For challenger Bogert, the Gunstock situation was a reflection of partisanship, bickering and extremism in American politics, something he’d like to step away from.

“Maybe it’s time we evolved that type of government into a different form,” Bogert said of the current organizational setup of Gunstock. “I wouldn’t mind seeing if our county government couldn’t be morphed into something more self-determined. It seems to me we elect three county commissioners, and all the hard work they do representing the people of the county gets dragged through the delegation.”

Bogert, who calls himself an open-minded Republican, continued: “Everything seems to be in a stalemate situation where no matter what someone is coming up with, it’s whatever party is in power is what gets done.”

Bordes touted his willingness to prioritize his voters over party politics, citing his vote against HB 1431, also known as the “parental bill of rights,” which had strong Republican support. The bill was barely killed in the house, with Bordes being one of the few Republicans to stand against it.

“The assistant [attorney general] said it was borderline discrimination, there might have been legal issues with it, it was a Republican bill, the governor said he was going to veto it,” Bordes said of his decision. “I literally only had two people email me in favor of that bill. One lived in Meredith, and was involved in the local Republican Party, and one lived in Laconia. I must have gotten 100 phone calls against it, and 1,000 emails against it.”

Education issues were among the top priorities for Littlefield, who sponsored HB 1431.

“School choice, protections for the unborn, religious freedom, things like that, I've got to checkmark all those,” Littlefield said. “This time around I want to keep all that and I want to help change the atmosphere in our schools.”

When asked to elaborate, Littlefield pointed to Laconia High School. “I think when it comes to implementing policies, zero-tolerance policies for bullying, cyber harassment, property destruction, you pretty much get that whole bushel of things just from the high school, and the middle school has been no better,” Littlefield said, acknowledging that since Jim McCollum became principal, the situation at the high school had improved “tenfold.”

Like Bordes, Littlefield also expressed willingness to go against party lines in the interest of his constituents, citing efforts to establish a 2-mile buffer zone between state parks and a future landfill, and a bill allowing for remote access for sick or immunocompromised legislators.

“I think that I’ve been very voter friendly on a lot of topics,” Littlefield said. “I’ve kept a lot of promises over the last two years, and they weren't popular promises to keep. School choice was a part of my last campaign, and I voted in favor of the education freedom accounts, the abortion ban, I voted in favor of the 24-week ban, and really a lot of the pro-gun bills. I voted for all of those.”

Bogert is currently the clerk for Ward 5 in Laconia and has been on the zoning board for about 20 years. During that time, he’s grown increasingly concerned with housing availability and affordability in the area.

“I’ve raised two kids here through the high school and system in Laconia,” Bogert said. “I’ve sent them to college at NH and they both had to leave the area so they could afford to live.”

“We've got to do something about affordable housing in the area and the entire state,” Bordes said. “Not necessarily affordable housing, we need workforce housing. Go out to a restaurant, a bar, they're all short-staffed, and it’s a 40-minute wait because they only have two or three people working.”

“When I say affordable housing, I’m not talking about slum housing,” Bogert explained. “I’m talking about something that is respectable where people can be proud to live in and contribute.”

Bogert referenced a proposed 90-unit apartment complex planned for Laconia’s south end that was approved by the zoning board in 2021 as a boost to city housing issues. He also cited the soon-to-be-sold State School property as a strong opportunity to improve housing in Belknap County.

“There’s enough property out there it can fulfill a large amount of requirements for our local society,” Bogert said, stating a multi-income housing development as a possible use for the land. “We could have multi-income levels of housing and have more businesses so you can live over there, work over there, which then helps to reduce the footprint on the roads and stuff, so maybe people most of the time can walk or ride to work. That property is nicely located next to the industrial park where we have factories.”

Bogert touted his campaign slogan as “for our future,” and emphasized the region’s need not only to grow, but adapt to the current times.

“With the advent of new technology, if society itself even at a local level does not adjust itself, then it’s going to be left behind,” Bogert said, referencing increased remote work opportunities and shifting demographics. “Then people are going to move to other areas and then you end up with more issues than you gained by not addressing the future with the current plans.”

Housing is just one of several pressing forces for Belknap County voters and candidates.

“The economy is a hot topic,” Bordes said. “Gas prices, heating and oil, food, everything has gone up drastically. There was talk about a one-time payment of only $100 to go out to all the residents of New Hampshire. There's further talks down the line not just for the middle class to assist them throughout the winter to help pay the bill. Two months ago it was $169. I just got my bill now, it's almost $400 in the matter of a month. My jaw dropped.”

For Bogert, working on issues as complex as pricing, inflation and energy is going to require compromise, cool heads and an end to the hyper-partisan politics plaguing the country.

“A majority of the issues facing us are not far-right problems, not far-left problems,” Bogert said. “They are problems, but those two sides are getting in the way of creating solutions. Throughout our whole lives we’re taught you sit down and negotiate a solution. Part of that is sit down with someone who does not think the exact same way you do and come up with a solution that 100% of people can be satisfied with, not the 50% in power.”