Keene held a municipal primary on October 8 because a municipal ordinance says if there are more than 2 candidates for Mayor or a Ward Council seat, or more than 10 candidates for At-Large Council there shall be a primary. There were 11 candidates for At-Large council, so the City spent approximately $5,000 to remove 1 candidate from the general election ballot.
Ian Freeman survived the municipal primary for At-Large City Council, snagging the 10th ballot spot by a mere 10 votes over Bradford Hutchingson. (more…)
Filing for Municipal elections closed today for anyone wishing to pay a fee of either $2 or $5 depending on the office. Prospective candidates can still file until the end of the week, if they wish to submit a petition in lieu of the filing fee. Steven Lindsey, Randy Filiault, Bradford Hutchingson, Ian Freeman, Carl Jacobs, Kris Roberts, Emily Hague, David Meader, Beverly Creamer, David Curran & Robert Sutherland have all filed for City Council At-Large, and three candidates filed for the Mayoral position. Kendall Lane has filed for re-election, while he has two challengers; Rich Paul and Darryl W. Perry. The City Clerk’s Office has not yet heard from the State Attorney General if Paul, who is ineligible to serve, will be removed from the ballot.
Of the six Council positions elected in the five ward, there are candidates in half of those races. Ward 1 is electing two councilors this year, as one position is a mid-term special election; David Crawford and Sheryl Redfern are vying for that seat. James “Robinhood” Cleaveland is challenging incumbent Mitch Greenwald in Ward 2, while Conan Salada is challenging Robert O’Connor for the Ward 4 seat.
One other race has competition. William Marcello, Kathleen Richards, Fred Parker and Matthew McKeon will face off for three Selectmen positions in Ward 3.
The polls have closed, and 1625 votes have been tabulated (1 person showed up to Ward 4/5 as the polls were closing, so that ballot will be a hand-count and is not included in these results that were posted at the precinct – and it appears there were 2 “spoiled ballots”). Those voters, which represent approximately 10% of registered voters in Keene, have spoken and overwhelmingly approved all 7 Warrant Articles, and elected Chris Coates, Susan Fratus & Kris Roberts to 3-year terms on the school board. (more…)
The chips have fallen where they may and the Grand Old Party is looking less grand especially in New Hampshire. Governor Romney’s loss is not much of a surprise for many given the startling similarities between him and President Obama. Even during the primary many polls showed him losing to Obama in the general election and yet the Republican Party put a great deal of effort into squelching the one candidate who could beat Obama, Dr. Ron Paul.
Supporters of Ron Paul did not forget and when the time came to back Romney in the general election, the votes were just not there.
Both of New Hampshire’s seats to the U.S. House of Representatives were held by Republicans and both were lost to Democratic ousters. One in particular has some interesting numbers to note:
C. Shea-Porter Dem 49.8% 172,356
F. Guinta (i) GOP 45.8% 158,482
B. Kelly Lib 4.3% 14,968
Brenden Kelly captured enough of the vote to deny Frank Guinta another term in office. Had the GOP been able to court more support from libertarians and independents the results may have turned out differently.
Soda Tax seeker Catherine Mulholland won a seat in the New Hampshire House of Representatives. With quotes like,“To be addicted to sugar is just as bad as being addicted to alcohol or tobacco,” New Hampshire residents will have another legislator looking to impose nanny-state sin-taxes. New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg instituted a ban on super-sized beverages but Mulholland has a different approach, “That’s a great idea, but tax it. Don’t restrict the size.”
Tim O’Flaherty captured more than just the vote this election season. He also captured the attention of bloggers at Comedy Central with an interesting post about running in a race against his roommate Dan Garthwaite. The post became much more intimate with a funny response from Tim indicating that there was more at stake than a seat when jokes about the bedroom were made.
New Hampshire voters came out against the income tax with a majority voting in favor of a Constitutional Amendment though the total fell short of the two-thirds majority needed. The topic shaped the debate with Governor-elect Maggie Hassan vowing to veto a personal income tax and general sales tax as Governor.
With the election over the campaign signs are disappearing like so many political operatives and shadowy money. Now perhaps New Hampshire residents can get back to real, tangible, and productive work and the airwaves will have less negativity spewing forth.
