 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
|
Is the House about to get a youth infusion?
Younger candidates join this year's ballot
By SARAH LIEBOWITZ
Monitor staff
June 16, 2008 - 12:00 am
Gray hair is a common sight at New Hampshire's House of Representatives, which
is filled with those who have the time and financial wherewithal to work for
$100 a year. But come next session, the chamber could look a bit more youthful.
Spurred by this year's presidential race, political ambition, and a desire to
inject some youth into the 400-member House, younger candidates are taking to
the campaign trail this year.
On the Democratic side, between 20 and two dozen candidates younger than 35 -
some of them not old enough to legally drink alcohol - are running, said Garth
Corriveau, president of the New Hampshire Young Democrats. At least 15 of those
candidates are 25 or younger, said Kevin Hodges, director of the House
Democratic Caucus. It's unclear how many like-aged Republicans are running, but
state GOP Chairman Fergus Cullen said that he knew of at least a handful of
candidates.
"Younger people are extremely underrepresented in Concord," said 19-year-old
candidate Doug Lindner of Manchester, who serves as chairman of the New
Hampshire Young Democrats' Young Candidate Caucus, a new group devoted to
supporting the candidacies of young Democrats. "I think I could be a positive
influence and do my part." Lindner is transferring to Northeastern University
from a school in Staten Island, in part so he could serve in the House.
And with youth (at least some of these youths) comes web savvy. Along with
planned canvasses and meet-and-greets, these candidates are campaigning on
Facebook, Google groups and MySpace. They're fashioning their own websites,
posting photographs of themselves posing with politicians and linking to online
fundraising tools.
"I think that almost along the lines of the model Howard Dean started and Barack
Obama perfected, you're going to see campaigns be much more socially networked
with each other," Corriveau said. "Eventually you're going to be reaching out to
all these people you may just not be able to meet at traditional political
events, and that's especially true of young people, who are probably less
inclined to go to a state party function."
Soon, leaders of the New Hampshire Young Democrats plan to hold a gathering for
young Democratic candidates to discuss ways to promote their candidacies,
Corriveau said.
It's difficult to compare this year's crop of young candidates with those of
elections past. "I really couldn't say for sure if the numbers are any larger,"
said New Hampshire Democratic Party Executive Director David Scannell. "This is
maybe more of a continuation of a theme than a new story."
But if those young candidates running win election, the ranks of young House
members will swell. In the group of House lawmakers who won House seats in
November of 2006, nine were age 25 or younger. Of those nine, three were
Republicans and six were Democrats. All except one were male.
"This could be the year of the youth," said Rep. Jason Bedrick, a 25-year-old
Windham Republican who is running for his second term.
For some of the prospective Democratic lawmakers, this year's presidential
primary and other state races helped prompt their candidacies. "I couldn't tell
you how many candidates were young in the past, but I have to imagine because of
the newly energized generation, because of Barack Obama as our nominee and
Jeanne Shaheen and all the great candidates down the ballot, this is the year
for the young voter and the young candidate," Hodges said.
Eighteen-year-old Danny Loehr of Andover has been interested in politics for
years. But "certainly Barack Obama and his campaign has inspired me to do more
and to take action besides what I have been doing," Loehr said. If elected,
Loehr hopes to focus on education-related issues. "As somebody in high school, I
think that I can have an important voice."
In part, he said, his decision to run is rooted in timing. "Now that I can run
(since turning 18) I feel a sort of obligation; I feel like I can do more and
therefore I can do more," Loehr said. Loehr would be forced to juggle his senior
year of high school - he attends Proctor Academy - with House committee hearings
and legislative sessions.
For others, the decision to run is rooted in years of political activism.
Andrew Sylvia, 27, currently serves on the Merrimack Ethics Committee and the
Merrimack School District Budget Committee. He works as an organizer for New
Hampshire for Healthcare, a project to raise awareness about the need for
affordable coverage. This year's election will mark his third State House bid -
in previous years, Sylvia said he devoted most of his energy to helping other
candidates win election.
"I felt that my town of Merrimack wasn't really moving forward, and I wanted to
be part of the solution," said Sylvia, who cited health care, the price of gas
and the Merrimack tollbooths as among his main concerns. "I think past
delegations haven't really united and organized properly around that issue," he
said of tollbooths.
Republican Shaun Doherty's résumé lays plain his interests: New Hampshire youth
chairman for Republican John McCain's presidential campaign; executive director
of the New Hampshire College Republicans; chairman and founder of the Pelham
Young Republicans; elected delegate to the state GOP 2006 convention; president
of the Pelham High School Class of 2006, and the list goes on.
When it comes to his own campaign, Doherty has harnessed those political skills,
enlisting volunteers for field outreach and door-to-door canvassing, raising
several thousand dollars and touring towns in his district. Since deciding this
spring to run for the House, he's created a sophisticated website (with links to
photographs of Doherty with Republican luminaries), and he is already signing up
pledges from potential voters.
Why run? "I'm from a different generation from most of the people who are in the
House. . . . I feel I have a slightly different perspective," said Doherty, who
is heading into his junior year as a communications major at Rivier College in
Nashua. People Doherty's age (he's 20), he said, are going to be making New
Hampshire their home, raising families here.
"I want to make sure there are jobs there, there are affordable houses there,
there are safe schools," Doherty said.
Apart from political ambition and civic interest, some young candidates are
drawn to the State House at an early age because they sense that this will be
the most convenient time to serve.
"There's a lot of retirees," said 25-year-old Marilinda Garcia, a Salem
Republican who is now running for her second term. "In our case, I think it's
kind of the after-college-before-marri
Many candidates don't have a mortgage to pay, and some are still in college (or
even high school), with relatively flexible schedules. Garcia ran for the House
shortly after graduating from Tufts University and the New England Conservatory
of Music.
Though House novices, several of the chamber's youngest members played
high-profile roles in this year's legislative session. Bedrick, a Republican,
and 21-year-old Nashua Democrat Jeffrey Fontas joined together to make the case
for a bill that would decriminalize possession of small amounts of marijuana.
The bill cleared the House by a large margin before meeting its demise in the
Senate.
Although strongly opposed to the use of marijuana, Bedrick argued that current
laws can leave teenagers with criminal records that make them ineligible for
federal financial aid, thus making it more difficult for them to attend college.
Young lawmakers - Fontas, Bedrick, 23-year-old Democratic Rep. Scott Merrick of
Lancaster, 21-year-old Democratic Rep. Andy Edwards of Nashua - also sponsored a
bill (along with several other lawmakers) that would require the state to divest
its retirement assets from companies doing business with Sudan.
At first, some younger lawmakers said they faced a bit of skepticism from some
of their older colleagues. "But I showed up pretty much every day and I showed
that I was dedicated to my work," Fontas said. "And I think that really did a
lot."
Despite taking a lead role on some legislation, Fontas won't be on the ballot
this fall. Balancing his classes at Northeastern University with his State House
schedule "was getting to the point where I'd have to delay my graduation date,
and I didn't want to do that," he said.
For now, though, he's not counting out future campaigns. "I don't know if you've
seen the last of me yet," Fontas said.
http://concordmonitor.com/
PAID FOR BY FRIENDS OF SHAUN DOHERTY - 105 BUSH HILL RD. PELHAM, NH 03076 |
