We had endorsed Ovide Lamontagne in the Republican Primary for NH Governor early in this election cycle; it is now time to roll out additional endorsements. We reviewed a number of races, talked with a number of candidates, reviewed objective ratings done by groups that mirror the ‘Grok philosophically (e.g., Republican Liberty Caucus of New Hampshire, NH House Republican Alliance, and HRA, New Hampshire Liberty Alliance), and then talked / voted amongst ourselves. Now, we are asking for your votes for them.
This cycle, we are endorsing Rick Parent to be the next US Congressman representing New Hampshire in the First Congressional District.
We first met Rick last cycle as he ran then as well – a nice guy but not sure of the process, what he had to do to be successful, how to articulate his positions, and the best ways to get his message out. We liked him as a person but really didn’t feel that it was his time – while his heart and his intent was there, he was not ready.
This time, he is better situated – and we believe that he is much improved! He has always been a Patriot – as Chief Engineer on a cargo ship that supplies our troops in the Middle East, he is a down to earth guy that knows the value of hard work and showing up. A plus for me – I wish MORE Engineers would run instead of just politicians looking for the next rung up the political ladder – he has spent years learning his craft in the private sector. I “get” his campaign tagline: “Engineering the future, one step at a time” – Go back to fundamental principles, consider the problem in the light of those principles, break the problem down to more manageable pieces, make sure those pieces will work individually and as a whole knowing that a SYSTEM is better than a point solution, and then roll it out incrementally instead wholesale changes. While politics is much less deterministic than engineering software, electronics, or hardware, the point of considering the whole and how even the smallest legislative changes can impact Society is a skill that many (if not most) politicians never learn. It is never good to start a runaway train…
Rick knows from personal experience what it is to get his hands dirty and keep things running – his is the responsibility to ensure that both the lives of his shipmates are safe and that our Armed Services get the supplies to keep them safe. He has spent his time in the Gulf better learning the issues and how to explain his stances based on the Constitution as “his system”. Oh yes, big time on the Constitution – and we believe that will not change just because the election is over. He understands that the Constitution is not just legal foundation but now IS our lifeboat.
We did an interview series with Rick Parent – links after the jump. Oh, and for those that remember that we endorsed someone else last time…
Our Interview series with Rick:
- Question 1: Why are you one of the sponsors [of the Smart Girl Politics / NH First Annual Armed and Fabulous gun shoot]? What possessed you to say, in this hot and heavy political race, “I’m going to help sponsor a gun shoot”?
- Question 2: Why are you running for Congress in NH-CD1?
- Question 3: What are your top three things? What do you bring to the table, besides being a working man and not in politics, that Frank Guinta that Frank Guinta didn’t or has failed to do?
- Question 4: You were talking about the debt resolutions, the continuing resolutions, that your opponent in the primary voted for and raised the debt ceiling. If you see a bill that is going to spend more than it did last year (outside of the military because it is one of primary Constitutional duties of the Federal Government), how would you vote?
- Question 5: Does Congressman Rick Parent introduce bills to respond to these kinds of issues you’re talking about or defund them?
- Question 6: In the last cycle, on a political line, where would you see yourself (from Nancy Pelosi to Jim Demint)?
- Question 7: Budget is $1T out of balance and you won’t vote for a bill or a budget that would increase that deficit. What do you see as wants or needs to erase that? What gets cut?
- Question 8: The biggest disbursements in the Federal Budget are Social Security, Medicare, Military, Debt service. You said we have to address entitlements; the top two there are. Is it OK, does it have to be fixed, or do we have to do rather drastic changes because of demographics?
- Question 9: Too big, too small, or just right?
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Note:
Last cycle, we had endorsed Frank Guinta for US Congress in NH’s Congressional District – we believed that he had aligned himself with the TEA Party folks who worked hard for him (as we did for him in NH’s blogosphere). The Number One issue was the absolute out of control spending by the Federal Government – and Frank voted for both Continuing Resolutions and voted to raise the Debt Ceiling extension (and effectively got nothing in return). We saw the names of those Conservatives in the US House (50 – 57 stalwart Conservatives saying “NO MORE!” to adding bone-crushing debt onto our grandchildren) ) that voted against all of them – and Frank’s name was missing in action.
Thus, not this time. He had the TEA Party support last time – he has voted us away.
Previous Endorsements:
