Forrester & Lamb trying to arrange for series of joint campaign appearances

MEREDITH — The two candidates for the New Hampshire Senate in District 2 — Republican incumbent Jeanie Forrester of Meredith and her Democratic challenger Bob Lamb of Holderness — have agreed to a set of what he calls "debates" and she calls "forums," but have yet to reach agreement on the venues or format.

When the two met for the first time after Forrester addressed the Meredith Board of Selectmen on June 18 when Lamb asked about a round of debates. "I call them forums," Forrester said yesterday, referring to an event hosted by the League of Women Voters as an example. "He brought it to me and I agreed to do it," she said.

According to Lamb, he e-mailed Forrester proposing five events in Meredith, Plymouth, Haverhill, Bristol and Tilton. He said he chose Bristol because it was within easy reach of a number of the smaller towns in Grafton County and Tilton, the only one of five towns in Belknap County added to the district by redistricting. He also expressed his willingness to go to any other town in the district where voters invited the two candidates to appear together.

At this point each claims that overtures to the other failed to elicit a response. In any event, both agreed that they reaffirmed their intent to arrange the debates while campaigning in Ashland on Independence Day. When time passed, Lamb sent a letter to the press, which was published in The Daily Sun on July 11 saying he had not received a response from Forrester.

On July 15 Lamb had his answer. Forrester proposed four "forums" in Meredith, Plymouth, Haverhill and Grafton and suggested dates and times. Lamb replied the next day, telling Forrester that some of the dates she suggested conflicted with scheduled commitments and assuring her he would propose alternative dates by the end of this week.

Yesterday Forrester said that she would prefer four events while Lamb said he favors five. Forrester also said that she would like to invite the candidates for the House of Representatives in the towns hosting the events to participate in them. Without dismissing the idea out of hand, Lamb said that his exchanges with Forrester should be confined to the two, perhaps by allotting one period of time to Senate candidates and another to the House candidates.

Both candidates placed a premium on appearing together before the electorate and expressed confidence that they would reach agreement.

A graduate of the University of New Hampshire, Forrester worked in the office of Governor John Sununu, served as a town administrator and executive director of Main Street programs in Plymouth and Meredith. She and her husband Keith own and operate an environmental technology company in Meredith. She was elected to the Senate in 2010 and was the lone freshman appointed to the Finance Committee.

After graduating from the United States Military Academy at West Point Lamb served as an infantry officer as well as an instructor at West Point for six years. On leaving the service, he began the first of two stints with Peat, Marwick Mitchell & Co. (now KPMG), joining the firm as a consultant. In 1986, he began the first two stints with Fleet Financial Group, becoming executive vice president and corporate controller before returning to KPMG Consulting, Inc. as chief financial officer in 2000. Two years later, Lamb took the same post at FleetBoston, then the seventh largest bank holding company in the county. Currently he is chairman of Allied International Holdings, Inc., a privately held insurance firm. This is his first bid for public office.

Senate District 2 consists of five towns in Belknap County — Center Harbor, Meredith, New Hampton, Sanbornton and Tilton — 19 towns in Grafton County and three towns in Merrimack County.