Urges voters to turn out in Manchester elections

Cornerstone Action is calling on its Manchester supporters to vote for Mayor Ted Gatsas in tomorrow’s city elections.  In an email to its faithful on Friday, Cornerstone informed its members that Gatsas rival Joyce Craig has been endorsed by both the Planned Parenthood of Northern New England Action Fund and Emily’s List, a deep pocketed national PAC dedicated to electing pro-abortion Democratic women.   In saying those endorsements caught their attention, the group urged its members to go to the polls writing quote

“you know Planned Parenthood’s supporters will be there,”

in big bold letters.  (Emphasis in the original.)

Cornerstone took notice

The group also shared that New Hampshire Right to Life had endorsed Albert MacArthur, Jr. in the special election for state rep. in Ward Eight.  MacArthur’s opponent is liberal Democrat school board member Erika Connors, who is also seeking reelection to the school board.

MacArthur, was also endorsed last week by the Concerned Taxpayers of Manchester.  C T M Chairman Sean Thomas said the group sent a survey to both candidates and that only MacArthur responded, despite multiple inquiries of Connors.  Said Thomas, quote: 

Endorses Albert MacArthur,Jr in Ward 8 state rep special election

“Based upon his willingness to be open and transparent to Manchester’s taxpayers, as well as for his tax friendly answers, the Concerned Taxpayers of Manchester are pleased to endorse Al MacArthur for State Representative and urge all voters in Ward 8 to cast their vote for him next Tuesday, November 7.”

Gatsas: It’s all about taxes

Of course, Election Day is tomorrow in Manchester and eyes statewide will be on several races, not the least of which is the rematch between Mayor Ted Gatsas, who has sought to make this campaign about spending and taxes above all other issues and former three term Alderman Joyce Craig who has sought to make this election all about what a terrible, horrible very bad mayor Ted Gatsas has been.  We’re about to see which of the two approaches is going to pay off.  And, yes, we’ll discuss this morning!

Other races of interest include those in: 

  • O’Sullivan: Making it a race

    Ward Two, where the race for alderman between Bob O’Sullivan and Will Stewart has become unexpectedly hot and the race for school board between Democratic operative David Scannell and incumbent Debra Langton has been a barn burner.

  • Baines & Long: Down to the wire

    Ward Three:  Where Board of Alderman Chair Patrick Long is locked in the fight of his political life with restaurateur Tim Baines, son of former Mayor Robert A. Baines.

  • Ward Four where incumbent Alderman Christopher “throw Grandma out of her house” Herbert is likely to lose to businessman

    Mathieu

    Flanders

    Steve Mathieu and incumbent School Committeewoman Leslie “I represent the students not the taxpayers” Want has seen a strong challenge from Mark Flanders who lost by about just sixty votes two years ago.

  • Freeman

    Ward Five, where former at-Large school board member Kathy Staub’s campaign to unseat first time incumbent Lisa Freeman seems to have fallen flat with Staub being much less active than predicted.

  • DiPietro

    Ward Six, newly elected incumbent Alderman Elizabeth Moreau is facing an unexpectedly stiff challenge from restaurateur Peter Macone, whom she defeated in September’s special election and Jon DiPietro’s full court campaign to unseat incumbent school board member Dan Bergeron has the Democrats and the teachers union very nervous.

  • Lehoux

    Cataldo

    Ward Eight, Jimmy Lehoux appears poised to overcome the very narrow loss he suffered to incumbent school board member Erika Connors two years ago.  Lehoux told Girard at Large that roughly two thirds of his one hundred forty signs have been stolen from people’s front lawns in the last week.  In the race for alderman, newcomer John Cataldo has simply outworked former Alderman and State Senator Betsy DeVries.

  • Shaw & Burkush

    Ward Nine, two heavy hitters are at it for alderman.  Incumbent Barbara Shaw is working desperately to fend off a challenge from former Fire Chief James Burkush.  Shaw has been hurt by her votes to override the city’s tax cap and for contracts that cover her daughter who is a union teacher in the school district.  Burkush’s backing of fire union demands and expressed willingness to override the tax cap have held him back.

  • Ouellette

    Ward Eleven, former Alderman and primary winner Russ Ouellette has seen fierce opposition from city unions backing incumbent Normand Gamache, a retired firefighter who has overridden the tax cap and voted on union contracts covering his daughter who is a teacher and his son who is a firefighter. 

  • Thomas

    Ward Twelve, both incumbents are in trouble.  Alderman Keith Hirschmann has underestimated the challenge from twenty year old Hassan Essa, who has been solidly backed by various city unions and the Democratic Party at the local, state and even national level.  School Board Member Constance Van Houten is facing a formidable challenge not only from Kelly Thomas, who has deep roots in the ward, but also from her own behavior over the past two years, which has soured many on her reelection.

News from our own backyard continues after this.

Substantially done

With the help of additional out-of-state crews, Eversource has substantially completed restoring electric service to more than 312,000 customers, replacing approximately 408 utility poles.  That’s a lot of lumber!

Crews continue to work on a small number of remaining single or scattered outages, which are more complex and will take additional time to complete.  Line workers are going to each of these individual locations to assess what additional equipment or effort may be required to make repairs.  Eversource will conduct personal outreach to each of the customers who remain without power to provide updates and crews will continue to work 24/7 until every customer has been restored.

The company is asking customers to be cautious while continuing with their own storm clean up and to be careful moving or cutting tree limbs.  People should also remain cautious of weakened trees and downed power lines, and watch out for any wires that may be entangled in debris.  Customers should always treat any downed power lines as live and report them immediately to 9-1-1.

GPD: Citizen Survey

The Goffstown Police Department, in conjunction with Plymouth State University, will be conducting an on-line Citizen Survey starting today through December sixth.  We’ve got the link, which can also be accessed from the department’s Web site and Facebook page, with this news read at Girard at Large dot com.  The department says it’s anonymous and will only take about ten minutes.  The results of the survey will be analyzed by Plymouth State and presented to the department and Goffstown’s Board of Selectmen.  I’m thinking they’d like residents of the town to fill it out.

That’s NEWS from our own backyard!  Girard at Large hour ___ is next!