Harris pushes need for broadband access

LACONIA — Vice President Kamala Harris pushed the need for universal broadband access to the internet during a visit to central New Hampshire on Friday.

In comments at the headquarters of the New Hampshire Electric Cooperative in Plymouth, Harris likened the push to get high-speed internet service to rural parts of the country to the campaign in the 1930s to bring electricity to the most sparsely populated areas.

"The idea was pretty basic: Not everybody in America had electricity. And it was really clear that without electricity you couldn't function,” she told a group of Co-op employees gathered outside the customer-owned utility, which began in 1939 under the Rural Electrification Administration during the New Deal. “You couldn't participate at an equal level. You couldn't be competitive. The quality of life would be so compromised.

“And so we said as a country,” she continued, “‘Hey! No, this is everybody in it together. We all have to participate in making sure everyone has the basic services that are necessary to raise their families, participate in society and be productive.'"

Harris delivered her remarks about 90 minutes after landing at the Laconia Municipal Airport in Gilford.

U.S. Rep. Chris Pappas, Gov. Chris Sununu, and Laconia Mayor Andrew Hosmer greeted the vice president, along with U.S. Sen. Maggie Hassan, who accompanied Harris to Plymouth.

Sarah McGlynn of Belmont stood on a picnic table on the opposite side of the airport security fence from the tarmac to get a picture of Harris’s motorcade as it headed across the field toward Route 11.

“We had just left Shaw’s and when I saw the jet landing I wondered if that was (the vice president),” she said.

Linda Smith and her 11-year-old son, Casey, waited patiently outside the airport terminal hoping to get a glimpse of Harris.

At the Plymouth stop, Co-op President Steve Camerino asked for more "federal action" on broadband.

“There are areas where the density is too low for investor-owned companies to go," he said, adding that without reliable internet access rural Americans are "going to fall behind" in access to education, telehealth and commerce.

"We need your help and we really appreciate the help provided so far," he told Harris.

Even though there was very little advance publicity about the vice president’s trip there were bystanders across from the Co-op building holding up signs — some welcoming, some critical.

“Welcome to Plymouth,” read one. “Kamala saved us,” said another. But there were also placards criticizing the Biden administration’s handling of the problems at the U.S.-Mexico border. An arrow-shaped sign read, “Mexico – 2,254 mi.”

Security at the Laconia Airport was extensive prior to the vice president’s arrival. Numerous Laconia and Gilford police were on hand, along with members of the State Police and other law enforcement organizations. A sentry dog led by an officer wearing a protective vest with the lettering "Secret Service K-9" combed the airport grounds. Two sentries were perched atop the airport beacon tower, just feet from where the vice president’s twin-engine business jet aircraft was parked.

After the Plymouth appearance, Harris went to Concord where she visited a local bookstore and then spoke at the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers local hall before returning to the Laconia Airport for the return flight to Washington.