Mayoral forum set for Monday at Laconia Middle School

LACONIA — Their signs are all over the city.

On Monday evening, voters will get a chance to see them in person, view them on a livestream, or hear them on the radio.

Laconia City Councilor Andrew Hosmer and state Rep. Peter Spanos, vying for mayor, will meet in a campaign forum at 7 p.m. at the middle school.

The election will take place on Tuesday, Nov. 5. Mayor Ed Engler is not seeking re-election.

Laconia Daily Sun Managing Editor Roger Carroll will moderate the forum.

Questions will be provided by newspaper staff, readers and citizens, including students, business owners, and college faculty. Those wishing to submit a question for consideration may email to news@laconiadailysun.com or post on the newspaper’s Facebook page, including name and affiliation.

The Laconia Daily Sun is partnering with Lakes Region Public Access TV to sponsor a livestream on laconiadailysun.com, and also with WEEI Radio to simulcast on 101.5 FM. Audience members as well as online viewers and radio listeners will be able to submit additional questions online during the debate. The moderator will decide which questions to ask the candidates.

The forum also will be recorded for future broadcast on public access television.

Spanos, 59, is a member of the Lakeshore Redevelopment Planning Commission. He is vice-president of sales for ROI Corporation, a business brokerage firm. He and his family have long been involved in the hospitality industry, including the Shalimar Hotel at Lake Winnisquam.

He earned his master’s degree in political science from the University of New Hampshire in 1983.

Spanos said his main priorities “would be to ensure that Laconia’s tax cap remain in place, that the city never becomes a sanctuary city, and that law enforcement as well as first responders be given every available tool to succeed in retarding the scourge of our times: substance disorder.”

Hosmer, 55, is a former Democratic state senator. He is a graduate of Suffolk University Law School in Boston and worked in the district attorney’s office in Springfield, Massachusetts, before he and his wife, Donna — also an attorney — decided to leave their jobs on the same day, move to Laconia, and join her family’s business, the AutoServ car dealership in Tilton.

Hosmer spent more than 20 years working in every department at the dealership. He went on to become a founder of a drug recovery organization. He works as a lobbyist for Preti Strategies.

He said his priorities include working to provide housing options that can help attract and maintain a good supply of workers to help foster economic development.

“Good schools will attract people, but housing that is appealing to growing families, people who want to put down roots, will be critical in the development of the city,” he said. “Appealing housing, education and economic development are three big priorities, and so obtainable.”