Four Republicans vie for Belknap District 6 seats

BELMONT — Republican primary voters in this town will have to choose from four candidates vying for the two seats representing the NH House of Representatives’ Sixth District, which represents Belmont. Primary voting will take place on Sept. 8.

Shari LeBreche, 59, is a New Hampshire native who has cut hair for 40 years, including as owner of Tilton Haircuts for Men. Since the pandemic came to New Hampshire, though, she’s worked as a commercial truck driver.

LeBreche has held this seat before, for one term ending in 2016. She said she was motivated to run again this year because she wants Republicans to regain majority in the House.

“The state of our country is in jeopardy, I feel, in many ways. I feel that if President Trump is not re-elected, we are going to have some more problems,” LeBreche said. “We need to have more conservative people step up and try to get some control back to make everything better. President Trump has done some great things and I want to continue it in that direction.”

LeBreche said she is a passionate defender of the First and Second Amendments to the U.S. Bill of Rights. She said that personal liberties have been trod upon by the state’s response to the coronavirus pandemic. She does wear a mask when she’s in public buildings or in crowds, she said, “But I think it’s been overdone a little bit. Making people wear masks in any city, or walking in one direction in the grocery store, I don’t like it.”

She said she went to observe the House proceedings during the last session, and was taken aback by the disorder. She wants to help restore order to the legislative process.

“I hope that people get out and vote,” LeBreche said. “I think it’s important that President Trump gets back into office again so that he can have the opportunity to finish straightening out what’s going on these days.”

John Plumer, 76, retired after working for 38 years either in, or for, the U.S. Military. He now runs a small technology and development company. Plumer is one of the incumbents in the race, he’s running for his third term in the House.

“I think there’s still work to be done,” he said when asked why he’s running. Plumer sits on the Commerce Committee and said he wants to advocate for small businesses.

“I feel tehre’s a great challenge for the next term to try to get New Hampshire back on track,” Plumer said. “I think there’s going to be a tremendous amount of energy to, how do we get small business, especially hospitality, back on the right track. And I’d like to be part of that.”

Plumer said he would like to see the continued development of the Belknap County-owned Gunstock Mountain Resort into a true year-round destination resort. He also thinks the state has work to do in the area of child custody and court-ordered counseling – specifically, he said that the court should recommend counseling at the most convenient place for the client.

“I think, in the four years that I’ve been involved in politics, the greatest detriment is the general apathy of constituents to get involved,” Plumer said, adding that he was pleased to be in the predicament of being one of four candidates competing for the two nominations. “I would like to be elected again, but I do think that seeing the number of candidates signing up is a good thing.”

The other incumbent in the contest, Michael Sylvia is a 62-year-old retiree who worked for FedEx and has lived in Belmont since 2012. He is seeking his fifth term in the House, and said he learns more about the job with each term.

“There is a learning curve to being a state representative, it is kind of like a college course, you gain more knowledge along the way and you are able to apply it for your constituents,” Sylvia said.

Sylvia said his goals are to shrink the size of government, and making the government more accountable. Central to these concerns is the issue of transparency, especially in regards to the state’s public information law, often referred to as 91-A.

“I think that’s very important and frequently abused. Enforcing it puts the burden on the citizen. If you recognize that some government body is not properly following 91A, the burden is on you to sue them, even if you win, at best you might get your legal fees back,” Sylvia said. “For the most part, the government body that didn’t follow the rules will get a slap on the wrist.”

He thinks there should be more transparency in policing as well. Sylvia said police personnel files should be open to public scrutiny.

“I don’t want to disparage cops, we have a lot of good cops. The fact of the matter is that the good cops take a beating in public for the actions of a few. We can’t afford to protect the bad cops, they need to be exposed as quickly as possible and be fired,” Sylvia said.

Douglas Trottier, the fourth name on the Republican primary ballot, is recently retired after spending 27 years as a law enforcement officer. Now 49, he is taking courses online to become a lawyer. Trottier ran last year for Selectboard.

Trottier said he is motivated to run by his desire to help small businesses in the state, and to identify another source of funding for public education so as to reduce pressure on property taxes.

“Our property taxes are so high, a majority of that is school funding. Over half of my property taxes go to school funding, and talking to residents, that’s a concern of theirs,” Trottier said. He said he’s a strong supporter of the Second Amendment and would “fight any attack on our Constitutional right to own guns.”

Trottier believes elected officials should be subject to term limits, would support welfare reform and said he believes that people who make false domestic violence charges should be held accountable. Currently, he said, “There’s no recourse, most prosecutors won’t pursue charges against the alleged victim even though they’re not the victim, they’ve victimized the other person.”

Trottier said he also supports enhanced penalties for repeat offenders of domestic violence laws.

On the Democratic side of the ticket, George Condodemetraky and Don House are running without opposition.