This morning at 11 via teleconference call, Manchester Mayor Frank Guinta declared his intent to seek the Republican nomination for NH’s 1st Congressional seat presently occupied by Democrat Carol Shea Porter. The Mayor started with a prepared speech, followed by a series of questions from participants of the call. Here is the prepared text as delivered, and I’ll post followups based on several questions later. GraniteGrok asked about illegal immigration, cap & trade, and energy issues, long-term. His answers did not disappoint this conservative Republican… With a strong, winning record as Mayor of New Hampshire’s largest city, Frank Guinta is a candidate that will no doubt be a formidable force in the upcoming race…
Good morning! As has been widely speculated by members of the press corps, I have decided to launch my candidacy to become the next representative for New Hampshire’s First Congressional District.
I have been Mayor of Manchester for two terms now. One of the great things about being Mayor is the connection and sense of community you get from doing this job. No matter how trying the day has been, just looking out the windows at City Hall reminds me how fortunate I am to serve the people of Manchester. I care deeply for this city and her residents, and I have always acted to protect their best interests. That is why my recent decision to not seek re-election was so difficult for me.
I am proud of the work that we’ve accomplished in our city. We’ve proposed four straight balanced budgets that lowered taxes and kept spending substantially beneath the rate of inflation. No easy feat, this was accomplished by reducing the overall number of city workers thru attrition, finding greater efficiencies within departments, and by consolidating government agencies resulting in the reduction of unnecessary expenditures. We also targeted resources to add police officers to our streets and established a crime data tracking system, which significantly increased public safety and cut crime. And we continued the strong policies of economic growth of the past decade by spearheading a new $100M development project, keeping our city the premier one in Northern New England.