Franklin to hold city elections on Tuesday

FRANKLIN — Voters will go to the polls on Tuesday, Oct. 2, for city elections, where the only contest is for the Ward Two City Council seat.

Incumbent Olivia Zink is facing a challenge from Karen Testerman in what for some see as a decision on the city's tax cap — the model for Laconia's own tax cap.

Testerman is a strong supporter of the tax cap which, while amended once, has withstood challenges at the ballot box. She is making the case that, because Zink voted to override the cap in order to make up for a shortfall in school revenue this year, she is a tax-and-spender who will destroy the cap in the future.

Zink is serving her first term on the Franklin City Council and serves as executive director of Open Democracy Action, an organization working to bring political equity by removing the influence of money. The group advocates for public knowledge of donors, banning bribes, and banning super PACs. A long-time city resident who graduated from Franklin High School, Zink also attended Southern New Hampshire University.

Testerman is the founder of First Principles NH, and founder and former executive director of New Hampshire's Family Policy Council and the National Heritage Center for Constitutional Studies. She is active with the Coalition of NH Taxpayers, Faith Based Action Network, Concerned Women for America, The New Hampshire Alliance, NH Firearms Coalition, All Stints Anglican Church, NH Right to Life, and the Abstinence Advisory Committee of Health and Human Services.

Others on Franklin's ballot include incumbent city councilors Jo Brown and Scott Clarenbach and incumbent school board members Delany Carrier, Susan Hallett-Cook, and Deborah Brown. Steven Foley, Tamara Feener, and Cameron Temple are running for reelection as ward moderators and Nita Tomaszewski is running for reelection as Ward One checklist supervisor. Daniel Darling is running for checklist supervisor in Ward Three; no one filed for Ward Two.

Polls will be open from 8 a.m. to 7 p.m. on Tuesday.