Melissa Brown: Erica Hebert will think outside the box for solutions

To The Daily Sun,

I endorse Erica Hebert for Ward 3 City Council. I have known Erica for many years. What she says, she means, and she has jumped major hurdles in her life. She knows what it is like to work hard, struggle, succeed and fall and to have to pick herself back up again. She has been a teen mom, a single mom, a wife of an addict. She has lived at the poverty level. She knows firsthand the real-life struggles of many of the people in Laconia.. She isn’t the one percent, she isn’t even upper middle class. She works hard, her husband works hard and if they had to be out of work, they would have no safety net, just like the rest of “us.”

One of the things she often says, is that the reason that you always see the same people in the community commissions, committees and councils is because the "regular folks" are intimidated to even speak up because everyone filling these positions are the upper crust of Laconia. I personally would love to see someone who has grit, is smart in not just "college textbook" but college of hard knocks representing some of us. Erica is not just intelligent but resourceful. There is a reason why so many people who work with her seek her out for help. She knows how to look under rocks and find help for those who need it. When I worked with her, she helped me to find a program and funding to get my furnace fixed through the community action program, which most people would not have even known that they help homeowners that struggle. When you have Erica Hebert in your corner, looking out for your interests, you have someone who is not afraid to ask for what is needed, think outside the box for the solutions to the roadblocks and tear them all down bit by bit to get results.

Erica has empathy and compassion for everyone whether they are struggling or not and when she feels strongly about something, she is tenacious in her pursuit for a solution.

One of the many reasons I admire her, is that she not only can debate her point of view, but she can and will debate the opposing POV just to prove that she has thought the topic over thoroughly and from every angle. It's amazing to see her in action.

Her fresh and logical perspective is just what Laconia needs. Vote for Erica Hebert for Ward 3 City Council on Nov. 2.

Melissa Brown

Laconia