Partisan politics gets down and dirty in city's mayoral race

LACONIA — It has been 28 years since the city eliminated the two-party system for municipal elections and removed party affiliation from the ballot for local races.

Partisan politics rarely come up in City Council discussions, where most votes are unanimous and political talking points are few and far between. Issues such as saving a downtown church, improving parking, or extending the public WOW Trail don’t seem to have an obvious political party bent.

Although neither candidate will have a party affiliation next to his name on the ballot, this year’s mayoral race featuring Republican state representative Peter Spanos and Democratic former state senator Andrew Hosmer has taken on partisan overtones on issues like spending, law and order and even sanctuary cities.

One such overtone is a new mailer from the New Hampshire Democratic Party:

“The opioid crisis has hit Laconia hard. And Peter Spanos’ record in Concord hasn’t helped. In the NH State House, Spanos Has Consistently Voted Against Efforts To Combat The Opioid Crisis.”

It said he has voted against expanding Medicaid to fight the Opioid crisis, against increasing penalties for possession of fentanyl-class drugs, against increasing funding for drug prevention programs and against tightening prescription reporting requirements.

Meanwhile, the Friends of Chris Sununu group recently purchased a full-page advertisement in The Laconia Daily Sun saying the governor endorses Spanos.

Spanos appeared with the Republican governor at an Oct. 5 event at The Dive restaurant and bar. His campaign literature targets “5,000 Republicans in Laconia,” and says “In this 2019 Mayoral Race, contested with a Democratic opponent, we NEED Republicans to vote!”

It says, "In the past three mayoral elections, only 700 Republicans voted = 15 percent participation."

Hosmer appeared with Democratic U.S. Rep. Chris Pappas on a tour of infrastructure improvements. The Belknap County Democratic Party put up a Facebook post encouraging people to attend Hosmer’s Aug. 1 campaign announcement.

There are 11,105 registered voters in Laconia, 3,806 Republicans, 2,826 Democrats, and 4,473 undeclared, according to City Clerk Cheryl Hebert.

Bipartisanship praised

Each candidate praised bipartisanship in response to a question from Laconia Daily Sun Publisher Adam Hirshan in an Oct. 21 campaign forum sponsored by the newspaper:

“While this technically is a nonpartisan election, both of you identify strongly and proudly with your respective parties. Given the divisive and uncivil discourse poisoning our national politics, will you try to keep partisan politics out of City Hall or will you try to turn your party affiliation into a positive for the city?”

In his response, Spanos spoke highly of Democratic President John F. Kennedy and paraphrased his quote:

”In the final analysis, our most basic common link is that we all inhabit this small planet. We all breathe the same air. We all cherish our children's future. And we are all mortal."

For his part, Hosmer said partisan politics is not good in local races.

“The last thing we want is the dysfunction in Washington, that has seeped into Concord, seep in locally,” he said.

Campaign contributions

Hosmer said his campaign has not received contributions from partisan groups. County Democratic Party Chairwoman Lynn Thomas said the party has not made a monetary contribution but has helped by making calls and knocking on doors.

“We do support candidates who share our values and our priorities,” she said. “Hosmer’s values are in concert with ours.”

She said basic values the party supports include respect for every person and bringing about positive outcomes for the most people.

“That is basic to how good government runs,” she said. “When you have clear basic values, if you live by them, it affects everything you do, even if it is parking, water, or what seems to be nonpartisan issues.”

County Republican Committee Chairman Alan Glassman did not say whether the party has provided monetary support, but did say members of the party have been working to get Spanos elected.

“We do have people door-knocking and making phone calls, and the beauty of it is that there are Republicans, independents and Democrats who are working on behalf of Peter Spanos and I’m really pleased to hear that.

“I’m pleased to say Peter would make an excellent mayor. That’s purely my opinion and I’m hoping to see him prevail in this election on Nov. 5.”

Questions were sent by email and by phone message to both candidates on Wednesday asking them to disclose major campaign contributors.

“Thankfully, I have a very supportive wife and together we've made a significant financial commitment to the campaign,” Hosmer said. “Aside from the two of us, we are fortunate to have support from many Laconia residents and family members.”

Spanos did not respond. Asked Tuesday whether the local Republican group had contributed to his campaign, he said he did not know but would have a campaign fiscal agent respond.

There is no local campaign contribution reporting requirement in New Hampshire for local races.

Dante Scala, a political science professor at the University of New Hampshire, said it’s not surprising that some party politics would seep into a nonpartisan local race.

He said one issue that has been prevalent in the Spanos campaign — a desire that Laconia not become a sanctuary city — is an indication of such seepage. Hosmer also says he opposes sanctuary cities, but also says it’s a contrived issue since this is something that’s never been discussed by local officials and is not likely to happen here.

Scala said that use of the term “sanctuary city” (where local officials aren’t aggressive in enforcing federal immigration laws) is an example of how local politics have become nationalized.

“If you're a Republican who lives in Laconia and watches Fox news a fair bit, chances are you’ve heard quite a lot about illegal immigration and sanctuary cities,” he said.

“My belief is that those issues are at least mentioned or injected into conversations in the hope that they will trigger a response from the party’s base. As you know, local turnout for these races tends to be low. There's a hope you can activate people based on an issue that resonates in the national politics.”

Former U.S. House Speaker Tip O’Neill famously said “all politics are local.”

“Lately that has been turned on its head,” Scala said. “All politics are to a significant degree national, because that's what energizes us, gets us activated and participatory.”

Political parties are interested in a nonpartisan mayoral race because a victory can give them bragging rights, serve as a barometer of the overall political mood, be used as a tool for candidate recruitment and help to build coalitions, Scala said.

Campaign issues

Other issues that have come up in the campaign seem to have partisan overtones.

A Spanos door-hanger card says, “Due to City Hall profligate spending, the tax cap is in jeopardy, creating the real possibility that city property taxes will rise higher.”

He has also been stressing law and order. In the same door hanger, he said “Drug dealers distribute lethal products that often go unpunished.”

Spanos said that, in talking to voters, he has learned that residents fear crime is increasing.

He also said he wants to attract younger residents to the city

For his part, Hosmer says the city successfully works within a tax cap that tends to allow only small increases in spending.

The increase in the tax cap is tied to increases in the Consumer Price Index, plus the value of new construction minus demolitions.

Hosmer, a former assistant district attorney, says the city can’t arrest its way out of the opioid crisis, and favors drug recovery programs as a way to better tackle the problem.

Hosmer has supported a firefighter union request that an additional firefighter be added to the city’s round-the-clock staffing level, talks about investing in education, supports the city’s investment in the Colonial Theatre refurbishment and praises Police Chief Matt Canfield’s record as a crime fighter.

Spanos said when candidates use the word “investment” that is often code for “tax and spend.”

Council affairs

Former City Councilor Brenda Baer, who is running this year against Mark Haynes to regain a Ward 4 council seat she lost to him two years ago, served on the council for a dozen years.

She said party affiliations seldom came up during her tenure and that she could only guess as to whether someone on the council was a Democrat or Republican.

“It’s really a nonpartisan election, which is probably the reason it's successful,” she said. “You have people serving and you don't know their party affiliation. That’s a good thing in today’s world.

“It was more a fact that we're working for the city of Laconia, what’s good for Laconia and it doesn't make any difference what side you’re on if you’re going to do something to help the city.

“National politics have been so strong the past couple years that people have definite feelings and are beginning to judge people more on what party they belong to rather than who they are, which is why I would like to keep it out of city politics.

“We sometimes do protest the way the state treats the city, but never on the Republican or Democratic side.”

Dominant issue

Warren Huse, a local historian, said the sanctuary city issue has become dominant in the campaign.

“I'm not so sure it's ‘partisan,’ meaning Democrat vs Republican vs minority parties, as it is the contrived issue of ‘threat of Laconia becoming a sanctuary city,’ which is a non-issue, but which would make George Orwell proud indeed.

“It does tell me something about the character of the candidate. His radio ads make it even more clear — no proof, no evidence, just the breathless assertion that Laconia is seriously considering becoming a sanctuary city. Akin to the statement, ‘I'm glad to learn that you don't beat your wife any more.’”

Republican state Rep. Frank Tilton said it is perhaps inevitable that party politics would play a role in this campaign given the background of each candidate.

“These are two people who have a history of election as a party representative,” he said.

“Most of the issues are nonpartisan but the characteristics of the two candidates go back to party roots, one is a fiscal conservative, the other a tax and spender.”

Election history

Laconia’s elections were partisan in 1989, when a Tea Party-like group of fiscal conservatives — known as the Straight Arrows — captured six of the nine seats on the City Council.

They were swept from office two years later by a bipartisan coalition. The size of the City Council shrunk from nine members to six. The mayor, who had been chosen by the councilors from among their number, became directly elected by the people.

City elections, which had been contested by candidates of the Republican and Democratic parties, became nonpartisan and a primary election was introduced to winnow the field of candidates.

The mayor only participates in a City Council vote to break a tie.

Mayor Ed Engler is not seeking re-election, meaning Laconia voters will elect a new mayor for the first time in six years when they go to the polls on Nov. 5.