Of the seven races they were watching, four were wins for the liberty activists, including two democrat incumbents, Tim O’Flaherty and Michael Garcia. In his race for Manchester state rep for Wards 4-7, incumbent democrat Tim O’Flaherty received a solid third place out of five contenders. The first and second placed opponents only got 26% each compared to O’Flaherty’s 24%. O’Flaherty says that local haters spent a fair amount of money to mail flyers to all registered dems, promoting three other candidates. However, O’Flaherty says that what happened to him was nothing compared to the all-out-attack on Michael Garcia.
Michael Garcia (no relation to US Senate candidate Marilinda Garcia) is a Keeniac-moved-to-Nashua, who, like O’Flaherty won his state rep seat originally in 2012 in Nashua’s Ward 7. Local haters were caught by surprise in 2012 and this year mobilized against him with large signs calling the democrat liberty activist who moved several years ago from Florida, a “phony”. Plus, they were distributing an attack flier at the polling site. Despite the desperate push against him, Garcia prevailed, beating the last place contender by 30 votes. Garcia received 16% putting him in third place out of four, with the fourth place person receiving 12%.
The other races that Miscellany Blue were watching included Elizabeth Edwards who received a solid first place finish in Manchester’s Ward 4! She scored 41% of the vote compared to the second place finisher’s 34%. Manchester’s Amanda Bouldin (the founder of Shire Sharing) also made it through in a close race for state rep in Ward 5 where she finished second with 25% – the runner-up had 22%.
In Keene, despite valiant efforts, James “Robin Hood” Cleaveland lost his race for state rep to political newcomer William Pearson, who in a Keene Sentinel interview claimed to be a “real democrat”, whatever that means. Pearson received 102 votes in Keene’s Ward 1 compared to Cleaveland’s 30 votes (23%). The good news out of this race is that turnout in Ward 1 was down from 9% in 2012 to 7% in 2014, meaning that either Cleaveland’s opposition did nothing to try to stop him, or if they did, any efforts they made to try to turn out the vote were total failures. (more…)
Real Estate company Movoto ranked the 30 largest New Hampshire towns and cities in seven different criteria, and determined that Keene was the third best place in New Hampshire!
The criteria included: total amenities, quality of life, crime rate and tax rates, among other factors.
Movoto says, “The city is a bit of a haven to students, offering them an impressive 12 to 1 student-teacher ratio and some great summer temperatures to enjoy the time off of school. If people are past school-aged, that’s fine too, as the place boasts the fifth-best unemployment rate at only 4.3 percent.
As far as things to do, Keene doesn’t fall short. The number of amenities here rank sixth for that criterion.” (more…)
Just when the audience of AKPF #1 believed the panel series to have concluded, the bonus portion four premieres to feature the discussion which continued after the allotted hours of the official Robin Hood of Keene Direct Action panel. In this unique installment, there is a generous serving of B-roll to visually illustrate the verbal narrative delivered by the four panelists. Don’t forget to look for unique footage from a new day for the Aqua Keene Parking Force during next week’s creative complimentary.
This footage airs on Cheshire TV Monday April 07 at 7:00pm. The panel was captured on Saturday February 22 at the 2014 New Hampshire Liberty Forum.
On Tuesday March 25th, 2014, five activists from Manchester including myself and Free Keene blogger Joel Valenzuela drove to Nashua to protest the rally to raise minimum wage. According to the Nashua Telegraph, Vice President Joe Biden was to be speaking at the event. Unfortunately, Joe Biden did not show. However, neither did anyone else. The crowd consisted mostly of activists from Manchester, a friend of the Free State Project (who none of us had ever met), and the local media. The most interesting part of the event was how the “show” went on. There was no real reason to do a political presentation to just protesters, yet they did it anyways. The Union Leader interviewed us and mentioned the protest in their article.
Today there was a rally in Nashua to raise the minimum wage to $10.10 an hour. They thought it would be a quick, one-sided media circus to portray the wage hike as an issue with unanimous consent. They thought wrong.
I ventured down to Nashua with a party of counter-protesters including Free Keene bloggers Rob Mathias and Wendy French to make sure both sides of the issue were accurately represented. What we found was a bus full of big government advocates completely unprepared for a turnout of actual concerned citizens.
Our impromptu happy little gaggle of activists made up a full quarter to third of those in attendance, and this made the rest, who had planned on a rally without dissent, visibly uncomfortable. Once the press conference was over we were swarmed by reporters itching to catch the underrepresented other side of the story. One of them couldn’t believe we were just concerned citizens and not “with someone.”
We also ran into a friendly local who worked nearby and stopped in to have his voice heard. He was happy to see that he wasn’t alone in fighting for liberty in the Granite State.
It’s important to note that when it comes to making a difference, 90% of the battle is just showing up. The encroachment of the state relies on its opponents just staying home and not getting involved. Make the time, show up, and make a difference for liberty.
Another exemplary installment of the AKPF #1 series this week features more quality content from the 2014 New Hampshire Liberty Forum. Opening with a well produced interview compilation captured by recent Chicago-area transplant Rob Mathias, we get insight into the passions and motivations of various activists around New Hampshire and beyond. The segment is followed up by a freshly cut edition of the Nashua duck vigil held on the morning of Sunday, February 23. Finishing out the show are excerpts from a public declaration by Garret Ean at the DPRK Central sub-Committee hearing on a proposal to increase AKPF rates, fees, and fines by hefty portions. Another locally produced CheshireTV program, Black Sheep Rising, discusses the increase proposals, as well as reactive response in a portion of their most recent episode.
1. 00:10 Declaration of the people (Liberty Forum compilation)
2. 15:46 Nashua Lost Ducks Candlelight Vigil Memorial Service
3. 27:20 Questioning the parking commissioner on proposed increases against DPRK civilians (taxation/penalization/criminalization/victimization)
In Keene, despite valiant efforts, James “Robin Hood” Cleaveland lost his race for state rep to political newcomer William Pearson, who in a Keene Sentinel interview claimed to be a “real democrat”, whatever that means. Pearson received 102 votes in Keene’s Ward 1 compared to Cleaveland’s 30 votes (23%). The good news out of this race is that turnout in Ward 1 was down from 9% in 2012 to 7% in 2014, meaning that either Cleaveland’s opposition did nothing to try to stop him, or if they did, any efforts they made to try to turn out the vote were total failures. (more…)
generous serving of B-roll to visually illustrate the verbal narrative delivered by the four panelists. Don’t forget to look for unique footage from a new day for the Aqua Keene Parking Force during next week’s creative complimentary.
blogger Joel Valenzuela drove to Nashua to protest the rally to raise minimum wage. According to the Nashua Telegraph, Vice President Joe Biden was to be speaking at the event. Unfortunately, Joe Biden did not show. However, neither did anyone else. The crowd consisted mostly of activists from Manchester, a friend of the Free State Project (who none of us had ever met), and the local media. The most interesting part of the event was how the “show” went on. There was no real reason to do a political presentation to just protesters, yet they did it anyways. The Union Leader interviewed us and mentioned the protest in their 
uncomfortable. Once the press conference was over we were swarmed by reporters itching to catch the underrepresented other side of the story. One of them couldn’t believe we were just concerned citizens and not “with someone.”
