Sullivan County District 9: Drye challenges incumbent

By GLYNIS HART
[email protected]
Incumbent and Democrat Linda Tanner faces challenger Margaret Drye, a Republican, in the Sullivan County State Representative District 9. The floterial district includes Croydon, Cornish, Grantham, Newport, Plainfield, Springfield, Sunapee and Unity. 

Margaret Drye

(R)

Hometown: Plainfield

Eagle Times: What particular skills or experience do you have that make you the best candidate?

Margaret Drye: financial /business experience includes: 13-year board member of Hanover Co-op (two years as president), trustee of Eastern States Exposition (The Big E), town finance committee (member and chairman).

Leadership experience includes: more than 25 years as  a Sullivan County 4-H leader, co-founder of New England’s first crisis pregnancy center, state coordinator for TeenPact Leadership School, Leadership NH graduate and selection committee member.

Community Service experience includes: volunteer EMT – 38 years, Meriden Bird Club president – 10+ years, co-chair of Plainfield’s 250th Anniversary Committee.

Education experience: Home-schooled all nine of our children.

EA: Is there a particular issue or problem you are focused on for the upcoming term? 

MD: There are two issues I would like to focus on: the opioid crisis and over-regulation.

Slowly but surely, the line of treatment for addiction is becoming clearer: Safe Stations help bring people into treatment and the new hub-and-spoke set-up helps  make treatment centers within a 1-hr drive of most of NH residents.  The focus now should turn to after-treatment re-integration into society and the workplace.

The Committed for Regulatory Reform has been studying over-regulation in the state and came up with an omnibus bill that addressed a number of issues and cut out a number of regulations. That only scratched the surface.  I would like to address over-regulation of small businesses in licensing, and how to keep it easy for towns to maintain volunteer services.

EA: What achievements have you made in the past that are relevant to what you want to achieve in the legislature? 

MD: In my 13 years as a board member of the Hanover Co-op, I developed an appreciation for locally-owned businesses and how they keep money in the community, learned the value of small farms in our agricultural landscape, and saw first-hand the benefits of cooperation.

During my two years as board president, we undertook a renovation and expansion of our Hanover store, which came in on time and on budget.  

These experiences would help not only in state budget deliberations, but also in working together as a state to create a vibrant small-business environment.

EA: What challenges are facing the legislature in the upcoming term? 

MD: The legislature will have to determine how to wisely spend federal dollars marked to treat drug addiction and how to make sure that all phases of recovery – from treatment to re-entry into society – have the resources to handle the volume.

The legislature will need to act on a report just released by the Committee to Study Education Funding and the Cost of an Opportunity for an Adequate Education that proposes increases to school adequacy payments and proposes a new grant program based on current numbers (instead of 2011 numbers.) This would enable the state to distribute more to towns that have a harder time raising the taxes necessary for education.  

 

Linda Tanner

(D)

Hometown: Georges Mills

 

Eagle Times: What particular skills or experience do you have that make you the best candidate?

Linda Tanner: I am a person who works hard at what I do. Through my years of experience teaching, coaching, and working as a department chair, I have gained skills in listening to people, organizing, compromising, and prioritizing what needs to be done. I’m a proven leader that works with people to meet goals or accomplish a task. I have served my community as an EMT,  member of the town budget committee and volunteered on town projects. I am running for a third term as your state representative. It has been an honor representing the people of my district and listening to their concerns. I will continue to bring a strong, honest voice for my constituents to Concord.

EA: Is there a particular issue or problem you are focused on for the upcoming term? 

LT: This past term I served on the Education Committee. I am a strong supporter of public schools.  I do not think we should take monies away from our public schools and use taxpayer money to fund private and religious schools. These schools can pick and choose which students they will serve. I think it is vital to a democratic republic to have free, public education that serves all students. So the big issue for me is Public Education:  how it’s funded, how to make schools safer, whether or not we will allow public funds to be spent on private and religious schools, fully funding Kindergarten, reduce the crushing debt our college students face, invest in career technical education, and find a way to deal with the children who are effected by the opioid crisis.

I am also interested in raising the minimum wage. Currently, New Hampshire has no minimum wage. We depend on  the federal minimum of $7.25 per hour. Hard working people, even if they have two full time minimum wage jobs, can not make enough money for basic needs. Most of our small businesses already pay over the minimum wage because they know they must pay more to keep their valued workers. However, the major national chain stores continue to pay the minimum or only slightly more. We, the taxpayers, end up subsidizing their low pay through food stamps, housing subsidies etc. A raise in the minimum wage is a re-investment in the local economy because low wage workers will use this increased wage for food, clothing, and basic needs.

Energy will be another topic for the legislature. We had two bills this year that passed both the House and Senate but were vetoed by Gov. Sununu. His veto was overridden on the bill that required major power companies to get a small, but consistent, percentage of the electricity from renewable resources like wood, solar, wind, water. I voted for the bill both initially and to override the veto because it has a substantial impact in Sullivan County, from the wood-chip plant in Springfield to the hydro-plant in Sunapee. The veto was overridden. The second bill increased the net metering, the amount that the power companies were required to buy from renewal sources such as home solar arrays. I voted for this bill as well but the veto was sustained.

EA: What achievements have you made in the past that are relevant to what you want to achieve in the legislature? 

LT: I was a successful teacher and was named as a faculty emerita at Kearsarge Regional High School. During my coaching career, my teams won two state championships, a runners-up and several undefeated season. I have been named to the New Hampshire Coach’s Hall of Fame and received the Walter Smith Outstanding Coach’s award from the Union Leader. But my greatest achievement has been my work at the House of Representatives. I was able to co-sponsor a bill that was put into law that allowed domestic pets to be included under restraining orders in domestic violence cases. I sponsored a bill that went into the permanent record that recognized the contribution of Cadet Nurses during World War II. I co-sponsored a bill that was put into law that strengthened the New Hampshire’s equal pay act. This term I am co-sponsoring a bill to establish a higher minimum wage in New Hampshire that will increase in increments. I am the prime sponsor for a bill requiring criminal background checks for all employees in schools who receive public funds.

EA: What challenges are facing the legislature in the upcoming term? 

 LT: A major challenge for the State is creating consistent streams of revenue. We are always shortchanging education, healthcare, infrastructure, social services, fish and game, our parks etc. Some of the shortchanges – such as the lack of education funding, no secure mental health facility so people end up in prison units or emergency room without care, and a substantial waiting list for disabled adults to get services — have brought the State to the verge of lawsuits that will cost millions of dollars. We must look at the best way to invest taxpayer money for the best interests of our citizens.

The other issue is that the political scene is very fractured and polarized. The lack of civility, the ‘my way or the highway’ attitude, and radical agendas have blocked the good work that results from compromise and consensus. I think the majority of us would like to work with people across party lines but there are many roadblocks, chief among them are the outside, well-funded radical groups who literally bully people to vote a certain way with no compromise. I stand ready to reach out to the other side, listen, and work to get the best solutions.