By BOB MARTIN
Eagle Times Staff
CLAREMONT, N.H. — The Democratic District 2 Executive Council candidates (Karen Liot Hill and Mike Liberty) recently took part in a forum in Claremont, where they were able to speak about the issues facing the constituents in a non-debate format.
Hill is a 20-year city councilor and former mayor of Lebanon, and for the eight years she has been the Grafton County treasurer.
While on the campaign trail, Hill has been sharing the story of her mother, Lynne. She died of cervical cancer at 33 when Hill was just 6 years old. This type of cancer can be found in routine reproductive health assessments.
When her father was left with three kids under the age of seven, he was able to keep the family roofing business afloat thanks to Social Security.
She also spoke about when she was a young single college student facing an unplanned pregnancy, her daughter was born 10 weeks early. She was able to finish studying at Dartmouth thanks to Medicaid and said she “knows firsthand the power of government to improve people’s’ lives.”
“That is why I am so passionate about government,” she said.
Hill said the executive council is the most important seat that you’ve never heard of, pointing out that it is unique to New Hampshire and a checks and balance on the governor. There are five districts, and she said this is like a big city council for the whole state. They work on what she refers to as CARS: contracts, appointments, roads and services.
All state spending of more than $10,000 is voted on by the executive council. She said she is prepared for this type of taxpayer oversight when it comes to contracts.
Appointments are a major aspect, she said, and she called out Commissioner Frank Edelbut for needing to be replaced, as he doesn’t believe in public education.
Roads and infrastructure is huge, with Hill saying every two years the council holds hearings to update the plan. She said she has advocated for projects for Lebanon and is prepared to do the same for District 2.
Services are about connecting people, nonprofits and municipalities. Hill said constituent services is the type of work she has been doing in the city council for 20 years, and she sees this work benefiting her on the executive council.
Mike Liberty said he is running for executive council because New Hampshire is what made him who he is today.
He explained that when living in San Francisco with his wife, he had graduated from Stanford and was working at PayPal. A discussion at one of PayPal’s meetings was about how many small business companies they worked with were going out of business due to fraud. He said this struck him as unfair, so they left the company and founded their own business dedicated to protecting small businesses. Now they employ 500 people and have worked to stop millions of dollars worth of credit card fraud.
Liberty is a brain cancer survivor, and knows first-hand the battle that can take place with insurance companies for proper care. His wife practices transgender medicine and had been fighting for years to get her patients covered.
He also said that reproductive rights need to be defended. This includes family planning, primary care, contraception and making sure the attorney general never prosecutes a doctor or woman for getting an abortion.
“I am prepared to hold the attorney general accountable if that happens,” he said.
Liberty said that a major aspect of his platform is the housing crisis. They need to be pushing, pulling every level to get the missing middle of small lot housing going, he said.
“What I think that comes down to is having a housing-oriented transportation plan,” he said.
The candidates fielded questions, with the first being about the politics of working together. It was asked how to operate considering this council is very conservative. Liberty said everyone agrees that there is a housing crisis, and he wants to take advantage of the Housing Champions Program.
Hill will use her background as a city councilor to help work on alleviating the housing crisis front in a non-partisan way, as well.
One question was on appointments and nominees, and what qualities and characteristics they would look.
Liberty said it is important to look at integrity when it comes to appointments. This comes through not only listening to what they say but look at what the appointees have done. He said when looking at a nominee, he will ask people who have worked with this person for feedback. This is how to build a good team, he said, and look at what people have done in their past for qualifications.
Hill said the appointment process is important, as the governor nominates while the executive council approves. There are only five supreme court justices and two will face mandatory retirement in the next term of the executive council. She said this is why it is so important to vote blue when it comes to governor, as well as the executive council.
Another question was on reproductive freedom and health care, and the role of the executive council. Liberty said these kinds of contracts are critical. Hill said these are about attacks on women’s rights, bodily autonomy, the trans youth and showing more of a right-wing agenda of control.
Hill said judicial appointments are huge in this area, but she also said Planned Parenthood is facing a massive budget shortfall. This will lead to a lack of gender affirming care, reproductive health care and more. She said it is important to look at what can be done to make sure access to reproductive health care is protected in this state.
The primary election will take place on Tuesday, Sept. 10 with the general election on Nov. 5.
