1 00:00:20,36 --> 00:00:24,86 Hello Bedford I'm Gerri here in our and I'm your host today for this edition of 2 00:00:24,87 --> 00:00:27,56 candidates corner which B.C. T.V. 3 00:00:27,57 --> 00:00:33,51 Brings to us its exercise in democracy in our town of Bedford our guest today is 4 00:00:33,52 --> 00:00:35,63 Sue moment and Sue is 5 00:00:35,64 --> 00:00:40,98 a candidate for state representative in Bedford District seven Good to see you're 6 00:00:40,99 --> 00:00:47,97 still Thanks for having me and today Gerri so soon I've been on been doing this for 7 00:00:47,98 --> 00:00:52,95 quite a number of years these interviews but I've never. Interviewed 8 00:00:52,96 --> 00:00:57,25 a candidate with deep or New Hampshire roots than you have so tell us 9 00:00:57,26 --> 00:01:02,80 a little bit about your family about your schooling which is all New Hampshire. I'm 10 00:01:02,81 --> 00:01:08,11 happy that your grandparents or parents having happy too happy to third generation 11 00:01:08,12 --> 00:01:14,74 New Hampshire My parents were born in Manchester as was I and my three 12 00:01:14,75 --> 00:01:20,71 siblings. My grandfather on my dad's side was born in Manchester 13 00:01:21,50 --> 00:01:28,33 my mom's parents were immigrants from Ireland and we've had some family emigrate 14 00:01:28,34 --> 00:01:33,62 from Canada as well and I don't think anything makes you more native New Hampshire 15 00:01:33,63 --> 00:01:38,79 than being from the west side of Manchester which is where I grew up I graduated 16 00:01:38,80 --> 00:01:45,63 from West High School long beloved by Bedford residents before Bedford High 17 00:01:45,64 --> 00:01:51,31 school was built and I went to Keene State College and got 18 00:01:51,32 --> 00:01:57,62 a Bachelor of Science and elementary education once I left high school and. Came 19 00:01:57,63 --> 00:02:02,40 back to Bedford New Hampshire though I want to clearly state that as 20 00:02:02,41 --> 00:02:07,59 a twenty one year old I said that there was no way that I would Avar return to 21 00:02:07,69 --> 00:02:13,91 anywhere near Manchester when I was in my professional life so it strikes me as 22 00:02:13,92 --> 00:02:19,18 both funny and sort of ironic that I spent my entire professional life here in 23 00:02:19,19 --> 00:02:20,63 Bedford and that's 24 00:02:20,64 --> 00:02:25,85 a thirty nine year teaching career in counseling career here in the Bedford school 25 00:02:25,86 --> 00:02:28,60 district and as I started as 26 00:02:28,61 --> 00:02:33,72 a classroom teacher in one nine hundred seventy eight at the age of twenty one and 27 00:02:33,76 --> 00:02:40,07 I taught for twelve years both at the Macau the school and the Memorial School and 28 00:02:40,66 --> 00:02:46,78 I I would say probably seven or eight years and recognized that I was ready to go 29 00:02:46,79 --> 00:02:50,09 to graduate school which I did and received 30 00:02:50,10 --> 00:02:56,27 a master's in counseling from Northeastern University and that launched me on my 31 00:02:56,37 --> 00:03:01,21 twenty seven years in the counseling office both and. 32 00:03:03,43 --> 00:03:07,26 And you're a Hall of Famer and I'm going to have to do 33 00:03:07,27 --> 00:03:13,99 a little bragging for you right now let me introduce the subject. Last year was the 34 00:03:14,06 --> 00:03:20,81 opening year of the Bedford School District Hall of Fame Yes and there were six 35 00:03:20,82 --> 00:03:26,87 people inducted one two three four five six three of them were passed 36 00:03:27,32 --> 00:03:32,73 superintendents there was an agreement they are Was Dennis pope there was Tim Mayes 37 00:03:32,73 --> 00:03:37,95 . One of them was the director who really found it 38 00:03:37,96 --> 00:03:44,29 a great program for the Bedford schools to have a little bit more and one was 39 00:03:44,30 --> 00:03:50,36 a business community advocate of the schools and that was Bill Greiner and there 40 00:03:50,37 --> 00:03:56,18 was one teacher and they'll always only be one teacher who was the first teacher to 41 00:03:56,19 --> 00:04:01,37 be inducted. Into the Bedford School District Hall of Fame and that's room well and 42 00:04:02,04 --> 00:04:06,35 so really you know the first teacher Yeah it was that it was an exceptionally 43 00:04:06,36 --> 00:04:12,69 meaningful thing for me. Anyone that has followed my career in Bedford 44 00:04:12,74 --> 00:04:17,79 realized that the decision to retire was huge and there's 45 00:04:17,80 --> 00:04:23,48 a lot of activity that goes along with retiring lots of recognition and parties and 46 00:04:24,25 --> 00:04:31,11 when the letter came from the school district in June I think it was 47 00:04:31,15 --> 00:04:35,16 close to the end of the school year and indicated that I was going to be inducted 48 00:04:35,17 --> 00:04:40,50 into the Hall of Fame as the first staff member it is the one time that I actually 49 00:04:40,51 --> 00:04:46,85 cried in my retirement process it meant the world to me and 50 00:04:47,63 --> 00:04:53,61 I'm happy to greet the next class of inductees whenever they happen to be announced 51 00:04:53,82 --> 00:04:54,24 it was 52 00:04:54,25 --> 00:05:00,94 a wonderful choice and now you want to represent the people of Bedford as its state 53 00:05:00,95 --> 00:05:07,00 representative and let me introduce the state the kind of the the background of 54 00:05:07,01 --> 00:05:13,24 state representatives who are here that Bedford voters can vote for 55 00:05:13,89 --> 00:05:18,56 seven state representative correct and they all represent Bedford you have seven 56 00:05:18,57 --> 00:05:24,14 vote six of those represent only the town of Bedford itself that's District seven 57 00:05:24,28 --> 00:05:30,14 right and we also have one state representative seat which we share with them 58 00:05:30,15 --> 00:05:36,49 Hearst correct that's district forty one. But in going to and going to the polls I 59 00:05:36,50 --> 00:05:40,44 don't think the Bedford voters need to worry about that too much but they should 60 00:05:40,45 --> 00:05:45,02 know that they can vote for seven candidates and your district from that from 61 00:05:45,03 --> 00:05:50,74 absolutely that district forty I'm sorry District seven right so. 62 00:05:52,02 --> 00:05:56,64 It's been it's been an interesting experience because I probably don't have to tell 63 00:05:56,65 --> 00:06:02,45 you. Larry that. I don't even know when the last time was in Bedford that we had to 64 00:06:02,46 --> 00:06:02,59 have 65 00:06:02,60 --> 00:06:08,21 a Democratic primary runoff as we were leading up to the general election this year 66 00:06:08,22 --> 00:06:14,73 we did and the six candidates that were chosen to move on to the general election 67 00:06:14,74 --> 00:06:20,18 will be running against six Republican candidates and one libertarian guy 68 00:06:20,89 --> 00:06:27,21 and it's really democracy at its best because the winner are the top six vote 69 00:06:27,22 --> 00:06:33,66 getters So you know regardless of party the top six vote getters are six for seven 70 00:06:33,84 --> 00:06:39,71 plus the top one for distance or one already won right right very good yeah OK So 71 00:06:40,68 --> 00:06:41,26 as 72 00:06:41,27 --> 00:06:45,98 a Hall of Famer Well first of all let me let me say that I remember asking you to years 73 00:06:45,99 --> 00:06:50,91 ago whether you'd run and you hadn't quite retired yet correct or it intrigued by 74 00:06:50,92 --> 00:06:55,27 the idea but you didn't think you could put the full effort right so Cheri behind 75 00:06:55,28 --> 00:06:59,01 it and I Sure well you know someone is really serious about that I mean we have 76 00:06:59,02 --> 00:07:02,34 people who just put their name on the Democratic side of the ballot just trying to 77 00:07:02,35 --> 00:07:05,45 fill them but you've decided you're going to give it 78 00:07:05,46 --> 00:07:09,37 a go until you are absolutely could be committed to it well you know it's 79 00:07:09,38 --> 00:07:13,30 interesting because certainly you and I have known each other over the years 80 00:07:13,31 --> 00:07:17,55 because I knew you as the parent of two lovely girls that came through the school 81 00:07:17,56 --> 00:07:23,73 system but in that phone conversation when you said to me you know we'd like to put 82 00:07:23,74 --> 00:07:27,75 your name on the ballot in two thousand and sixteen my recollection of the 83 00:07:27,76 --> 00:07:33,11 conversation is that I said to you Jerry I can't run because I have 84 00:07:33,12 --> 00:07:39,90 a full time job and you mentioned to me at that that point. You 85 00:07:39,91 --> 00:07:45,78 understood why I was cautious but it wasn't terribly likely that I was going to win 86 00:07:46,60 --> 00:07:52,18 and I remember laughing and saying to you hey listen I'm not going to run unless I 87 00:07:52,19 --> 00:07:53,90 can throw myself into 88 00:07:53,91 --> 00:07:59,63 a campaign without worrying about whether or not it's impinging upon my ability to 89 00:07:59,64 --> 00:08:06,59 do my job or in the unlikely if event that I would win how could 90 00:08:06,60 --> 00:08:11,09 I serve the school district would let me out every Wednesday from January to June 91 00:08:11,67 --> 00:08:17,72 and you were kidding because you have set the standard I think set the bar for what 92 00:08:17,73 --> 00:08:23,51 an active vibrant campaign for state representative should be and you know we have 93 00:08:23,52 --> 00:08:26,12 ahead a Democrat who's been 94 00:08:26,13 --> 00:08:31,54 a state representative in Bedford since nine hundred thirty five I think right so 95 00:08:32,52 --> 00:08:36,28 you know how much take for granted that you know they haven't had to campaign and I 96 00:08:36,29 --> 00:08:41,79 think you'd like well what's going on here is that you run several of them Listen I 97 00:08:41,80 --> 00:08:48,26 have to say that I am so far from doing this alone that it 98 00:08:48,53 --> 00:08:51,80 bears witness to the impact that 99 00:08:51,89 --> 00:08:58,49 a team of people can have on an event or an outcome because I have been fortunate 100 00:08:58,50 --> 00:09:02,49 enough to be surrounded by people that really wanted to help me with this campaign 101 00:09:02,96 --> 00:09:09,26 so this sixty two year old well I'm OK with e-mail and 102 00:09:09,27 --> 00:09:13,58 Amazon had to have loads of help on setting up 103 00:09:13,59 --> 00:09:19,97 a website to on stablish ing my Facebook presence Manning my social media 104 00:09:20,48 --> 00:09:26,29 and I've been super fortunate that I've had people really from two different 105 00:09:26,30 --> 00:09:33,12 generations people my age that I've known and be friended over the years and an 106 00:09:33,16 --> 00:09:40,01 upcoming crop of young people in town that have been hugely in. To 107 00:09:40,02 --> 00:09:46,90 me and have really made me keep pace with them and want to win as 108 00:09:46,91 --> 00:09:51,18 a means of setting an example for what you can do when you put your mind to it and 109 00:09:51,19 --> 00:09:53,91 where you've done it admirably and I think you're being 110 00:09:53,92 --> 00:09:59,74 a little bit modest here no one aside from the talent that you've attracted nobody 111 00:09:59,82 --> 00:10:06,61 outworks. Convinced of that it just gives. Me the amount of effort that you 112 00:10:06,65 --> 00:10:12,92 cheerfully put into to this candidacy thank them for your support Well let's talk 113 00:10:12,93 --> 00:10:14,49 about your campaign experiences in 114 00:10:14,50 --> 00:10:18,42 a minute but let's let's go over some issues that I know are important to you yes 115 00:10:18,77 --> 00:10:22,98 to and I know there were there were about four issues that are really important 116 00:10:23,35 --> 00:10:29,09 cover them in turn there's the euro or crisis that is the mental health and there's 117 00:10:29,10 --> 00:10:35,11 the graying of the workforce here in. In New Hampshire and there's of course 118 00:10:35,12 --> 00:10:41,67 education right so let's talk about these. Start with the opioid crisis 119 00:10:41,86 --> 00:10:42,44 Well it's 120 00:10:42,45 --> 00:10:49,27 a cow so you probably saw some firsthand firsthand I first became interested in 121 00:10:49,28 --> 00:10:54,75 the opioid epidemic which really is a public health emergency at this point as 122 00:10:54,79 --> 00:11:01,45 a. Practicing. School district employees because these 123 00:11:01,46 --> 00:11:08,05 needs were on the ground in prayer at the funerals of young people from our own 124 00:11:08,06 --> 00:11:13,47 community I think that sometimes in Bedford we want to believe that we are 125 00:11:13,48 --> 00:11:14,88 insulated from 126 00:11:14,92 --> 00:11:20,77 a lot of the things that challenge our surrounding neighbors but the reality is 127 00:11:20,78 --> 00:11:27,68 that this opioid crisis is everywhere in multiple generations last 128 00:11:27,69 --> 00:11:33,52 Friday I was at the opioid collaborative forum that was hosted by Dartmouth 129 00:11:33,53 --> 00:11:36,24 Hitchcock in Concord It was 130 00:11:36,93 --> 00:11:43,26 a tremendously educational experience for me because it covered the topic across 131 00:11:43,27 --> 00:11:50,22 the life span. From looking at the impact of opioids on babies that are 132 00:11:50,23 --> 00:11:57,09 born to addicted mothers talking about adverse childhood experiences 133 00:11:57,10 --> 00:12:03,90 and how addiction may in fact play out in the schools as kids who are 134 00:12:03,91 --> 00:12:09,89 either born to addicted mothers or are witnessing trauma at home become school age 135 00:12:09,90 --> 00:12:16,75 and are in need of services this forum looked at different sectors of 136 00:12:16,82 --> 00:12:23,74 state government and how they intertwine and fold their services talked 137 00:12:23,75 --> 00:12:28,52 about the impact on the homeless and the elderly it was it was fascinating the 138 00:12:28,53 --> 00:12:35,29 surgeon general of the United States was the keynote. And Congresswoman Custer 139 00:12:35,30 --> 00:12:38,08 was there as a person who has done 140 00:12:38,09 --> 00:12:42,100 a tremendous amount for New Hampshire in bringing funding towards us the governor 141 00:12:43,01 --> 00:12:49,71 spoke on this new hub and spoke model where in the process of 142 00:12:49,72 --> 00:12:54,07 developing in response to getting forty six million dollars from the federal 143 00:12:54,08 --> 00:13:00,60 government. So it it has been something that the interest was grown at 144 00:13:00,61 --> 00:13:06,92 home but the knowledge that I feel I've been able to pick up just by being around 145 00:13:06,93 --> 00:13:10,93 people who know so much more than I do has been tremendous It's been good to see 146 00:13:10,94 --> 00:13:15,81 how the candidate who can bring experience to the issue as opposed to just kind of 147 00:13:15,82 --> 00:13:18,73 lip service about throwing more money at it so 148 00:13:18,74 --> 00:13:23,51 a lot of judicious decisions Yeah I think it's the coordination of services that's 149 00:13:23,52 --> 00:13:28,99 going to. You know really the Department of Health and Human Services of course is 150 00:13:29,00 --> 00:13:35,08 actively involved in this and when the governor's spoke at this at this conference 151 00:13:35,09 --> 00:13:36,84 he talked about making it 152 00:13:36,85 --> 00:13:43,84 a priority to not have people have to drive more than an hour to access help 153 00:13:44,53 --> 00:13:48,11 and I think that that's going to be tremendously important because right now we 154 00:13:48,12 --> 00:13:52,74 have a safe stations program in Manchester and Nashua that attract 155 00:13:52,78 --> 00:13:58,35 a lot of people to Manchester and Nashua because those are the places in the 156 00:13:58,36 --> 00:14:03,10 southern tier of the state where you can actually walk in without fear of arrest 157 00:14:03,11 --> 00:14:08,30 and ask for help. But I think we need to do so much more with the Lakes region 158 00:14:08,31 --> 00:14:14,70 north and hopefully where we're getting to that hope we get on the up of it let's 159 00:14:14,71 --> 00:14:15,11 talk about 160 00:14:15,12 --> 00:14:22,06 a related issue mental health yeah I know you're. An advocate for increased 161 00:14:22,56 --> 00:14:28,81 vigilance as far as the government is concerned on. Tuesday night. I was at the 162 00:14:28,82 --> 00:14:34,76 Manchester library where the Department of Health and Human Services. 163 00:14:36,20 --> 00:14:36,97 Unveiled 164 00:14:37,02 --> 00:14:43,70 a draft plan for the ten year mental health plan that the state is putting forward 165 00:14:44,54 --> 00:14:50,45 and they're having listening sessions so commissioner Myers was there with some of 166 00:14:50,46 --> 00:14:57,41 his staff and he spoke about how the state and visions the need for mental 167 00:14:57,42 --> 00:15:02,32 health services growing in the next ten years. It was 168 00:15:02,86 --> 00:15:08,82 a heartbreaking situation there were audience members that were 169 00:15:09,19 --> 00:15:13,95 related you know they were family members of people with mental illness and they 170 00:15:13,96 --> 00:15:20,11 spoke at length and with great passion and sometimes despair about 171 00:15:20,65 --> 00:15:27,22 having. Children that they could not find services for one 172 00:15:27,23 --> 00:15:28,45 couple is raising 173 00:15:28,46 --> 00:15:34,10 a grandchild that had to go to Bennington Vermont to receive services because there 174 00:15:34,11 --> 00:15:40,76 are no inpatient beds for adolescent girls. These were real 175 00:15:40,77 --> 00:15:47,43 people talking about utilizing their life savings to provide treatment in 176 00:15:47,44 --> 00:15:52,93 situations where there weren't services in New Hampshire sometimes people have had 177 00:15:52,94 --> 00:15:59,43 to go to Boston one mother spoke at length about the fact that she just doesn't go 178 00:15:59,44 --> 00:16:04,85 to the emergency room in Manchester anymore she heads right for Mass General and 179 00:16:05,26 --> 00:16:11,43 despite you know good efforts by local hospitals Dartmouth Hitchcock certainly 180 00:16:11,44 --> 00:16:16,91 contracts with the state to staff the mental health facility the New Hampshire 181 00:16:16,92 --> 00:16:22,84 State Hospital in Concord Catholic Medical Center has also been doing some 182 00:16:22,85 --> 00:16:25,11 forefront sorts of things with 183 00:16:25,15 --> 00:16:31,25 a stablish in unit the Eliot has talked about increasing beds but the fact of the 184 00:16:31,26 --> 00:16:37,41 matter is the reality is that our mental health services have been cut and cut and 185 00:16:37,42 --> 00:16:44,17 cut to the point where we have Bedford residents who have had to 186 00:16:44,18 --> 00:16:50,65 leave their jobs and bank wrap themselves for treatment. Kids young 187 00:16:50,66 --> 00:16:57,32 adults adults and something has to be done about it and of course you know 188 00:16:57,33 --> 00:17:01,50 especially for young people think of the burden on the educational system you know 189 00:17:01,51 --> 00:17:05,95 when that when the state withholds money for mental health services it ends up 190 00:17:05,96 --> 00:17:10,58 coming back as so many of these issues end up doing oh and local property taxes 191 00:17:10,90 --> 00:17:15,38 because the schools are overburdened with responsibilities that are not taken care 192 00:17:15,39 --> 00:17:20,02 of at the state level Well it's interesting because there was one particular mom 193 00:17:20,03 --> 00:17:26,31 who talked about the concept of dual diagnosis which basically means. Not only do 194 00:17:26,32 --> 00:17:26,51 you have 195 00:17:26,52 --> 00:17:32,80 a mental health issue but you might also have an opioid addiction and she talked 196 00:17:32,87 --> 00:17:38,01 about her daughter perhaps using opioids. As 197 00:17:38,02 --> 00:17:43,53 a way of numbing the pain of her mental health issues and 198 00:17:45,06 --> 00:17:51,84 there's no there's nothing that can be done in terms of this cycle 199 00:17:52,01 --> 00:17:57,00 of admitting people having them released from their hospitalizations. 200 00:17:58,94 --> 00:18:02,14 It's just it's really sobering and it's 201 00:18:02,15 --> 00:18:06,65 a chicken and egg situation you know what comes first does the mental health issue 202 00:18:07,66 --> 00:18:14,42 result in somebody becoming addicted to opioids. Or do you even sometimes 203 00:18:14,43 --> 00:18:18,96 accidentally through sports injuries through hip replacements whatever do become 204 00:18:19,00 --> 00:18:24,00 addicted to opioids and then have subsequent mental health issues as 205 00:18:24,01 --> 00:18:28,85 a result of it the reality is it doesn't really matter whether the chicken or the 206 00:18:28,86 --> 00:18:33,19 egg came first we need to do something about both issues because they're affecting 207 00:18:33,20 --> 00:18:38,63 us tremendously. And of course not only does it have an effect on local property 208 00:18:38,64 --> 00:18:44,79 taxes on the burdens of the schools have to carry. Local agencies but it also is 209 00:18:44,80 --> 00:18:46,15 a burden on the workforce it's 210 00:18:46,16 --> 00:18:52,24 a button on our business for sure and so often you hear Business leaders say how 211 00:18:52,28 --> 00:18:57,13 difficult it's becoming to find qualified to correct people who are reliable 212 00:18:57,65 --> 00:19:03,30 because this opioid up epidemic is making a is taking 213 00:19:03,31 --> 00:19:08,22 a toll on the available wells particularly north of Concord there are businesses 214 00:19:08,26 --> 00:19:14,04 that have actually closed because they're advertising for workers and they're 215 00:19:14,08 --> 00:19:19,73 unable to find people to fill the positions the Lakes region has been particularly 216 00:19:19,74 --> 00:19:26,16 hard hit and. You know certainly north of the lakes or even last opportunities for 217 00:19:26,17 --> 00:19:31,05 employment so yeah we have to do something about increasing the workforce because 218 00:19:31,06 --> 00:19:31,38 without 219 00:19:31,39 --> 00:19:37,58 a workforce we can't be vibrant and we can't continue to grow well certainly education 220 00:19:37,59 --> 00:19:41,70 pays you know plays a role in that so you know him talk 221 00:19:41,71 --> 00:19:47,58 a little bit about how. Betteridge and that better education workforce are more 222 00:19:47,62 --> 00:19:51,29 available educational opportunities and right emptor would result in 223 00:19:51,30 --> 00:19:55,20 a better workforce for them while you know it's interesting because as 224 00:19:55,21 --> 00:20:02,07 a school counselor I saw parents for years fretting about where their children were 225 00:20:02,08 --> 00:20:08,75 going to go to college. And then of course we've had waves of college graduates who 226 00:20:09,54 --> 00:20:16,48 don't fulfill the workforce needs and we need skilled laborers We need people 227 00:20:16,49 --> 00:20:23,21 who are adept in the fields of technology and science and in 228 00:20:23,22 --> 00:20:29,50 order for that to happen we have to have an affordable education in New Hampshire 229 00:20:29,51 --> 00:20:31,78 both for our students K. 230 00:20:31,79 --> 00:20:37,90 Through twelve and for our students once they graduate from high school and whether 231 00:20:37,91 --> 00:20:44,74 that comes through our attempts at helping kids access the Community College to 232 00:20:44,98 --> 00:20:50,65 meet some of their general education requirements or attracting new research and 233 00:20:50,66 --> 00:20:57,55 development to the University of New Hampshire so that it does not rank fiftieth in 234 00:20:57,56 --> 00:21:03,95 the country in support of public education I want to say that again the University 235 00:21:03,96 --> 00:21:10,41 of New Hampshire system ranks fiftieth in state support and 236 00:21:10,45 --> 00:21:17,25 a recent statistic is indicating that even if we double the state support we would 237 00:21:17,26 --> 00:21:24,09 still be in fiftieth position so of course what's happening is our kids odd 238 00:21:24,91 --> 00:21:28,62 they're leaving New Hampshire to go to school elsewhere because they can actually 239 00:21:28,98 --> 00:21:34,13 be educated and private or public universities and other parts of the country. 240 00:21:36,08 --> 00:21:40,23 Less expensively than here at home and then the University of New Hampshire and its 241 00:21:40,24 --> 00:21:44,38 university system tries to attract out of state students right to make up for the 242 00:21:44,39 --> 00:21:48,68 deficit for unfunded higher education here right so we have 243 00:21:48,69 --> 00:21:52,04 a greater and greater proportion of out of state students and they're not 244 00:21:52,05 --> 00:21:56,86 necessarily sticking around after I graduate right so I mean in order for people to 245 00:21:56,90 --> 00:22:03,12 you know young people to choose New Hampshire as their home it certainly helps if 246 00:22:03,13 --> 00:22:08,05 they've grown up in New Hampshire and they have come to love New Hampshire as home 247 00:22:08,59 --> 00:22:15,24 but it also helps if there are job opportunities and you know the cost of living is 248 00:22:15,28 --> 00:22:21,42 affordable but if you don't grow up without love of New Hampshire and you're 249 00:22:21,43 --> 00:22:28,07 looking at a state that has minimal funding for secondary education and 250 00:22:28,11 --> 00:22:33,55 a lack of services on many different levels then you know it's going to take some 251 00:22:33,59 --> 00:22:40,05 convincing to get young people to stay in the state and we both understand the kind 252 00:22:40,06 --> 00:22:45,68 of animal frugal attitude which New Hampshire residents have towards their 253 00:22:45,69 --> 00:22:52,56 government but so many times particularly in the field of education it seems to me 254 00:22:52,57 --> 00:22:57,78 that the state legislature is failing to distinguish between what is an expenditure 255 00:22:57,85 --> 00:23:03,35 and what is an investment in the state right right. Let's talk about another sure 256 00:23:03,45 --> 00:23:04,03 this is going to be 257 00:23:04,04 --> 00:23:07,17 a little bit impromptu I don't that we talked about this but I was looking at Joe 258 00:23:07,18 --> 00:23:12,45 Facebook page Ah. OK both of your Facebook page and there was 259 00:23:12,46 --> 00:23:18,56 a link to the latest findings of the investigations the Department of 260 00:23:18,84 --> 00:23:24,78 Environmental Services regarding the water crisis here in Bedford in Merrimack and 261 00:23:24,79 --> 00:23:31,22 so that for domestic. Just so it really you know other candidates are given quite 262 00:23:31,23 --> 00:23:34,64 a lip service to this right there it is right on your Facebook page and they can 263 00:23:34,65 --> 00:23:41,37 update themselves of West to what's app let me tell you something people for ever 264 00:23:41,38 --> 00:23:47,29 have touted the schools as the reason that young families move into town and I do 265 00:23:47,30 --> 00:23:48,53 not doubt that for 266 00:23:48,54 --> 00:23:54,56 a moment as somebody who registered young families for decades coming into you know 267 00:23:54,57 --> 00:23:57,98 moving into Bedford I certainly understand that the schools are 268 00:23:57,99 --> 00:24:04,44 a big draw but if you do not have clean water if you have 269 00:24:04,94 --> 00:24:05,31 P.F. 270 00:24:05,32 --> 00:24:12,05 Always that are above federal guidelines way above if you have 271 00:24:12,06 --> 00:24:17,93 people who have been on bottled water in sections of our community some for 272 00:24:17,97 --> 00:24:24,92 multiple years now the impact on being able to sell your home 273 00:24:25,36 --> 00:24:31,94 is going to be huge the reluctance to move to Bedford if it becomes known as 274 00:24:31,95 --> 00:24:38,83 a community that has bad water is going to be huge and so I think we need to 275 00:24:38,84 --> 00:24:43,07 be looking at this because I'm not so certain that the experience that we have 276 00:24:43,08 --> 00:24:49,65 right now with people towards the Merrimac end of town we don't 277 00:24:49,66 --> 00:24:54,15 know if that. Is going to be resolved in 278 00:24:54,16 --> 00:24:58,17 a timely fashion the state has said yes but there has not been any you know there's 279 00:24:58,18 --> 00:25:03,41 no shovel in the ground bringing that public water yet and we have we should be 280 00:25:03,42 --> 00:25:07,28 looking at the entire community here and determining whether or not we have P.F. 281 00:25:07,29 --> 00:25:12,47 Always in other locations you know places where we used to have 282 00:25:12,48 --> 00:25:19,17 a dump and you know that was mitigated and we built the transfer 283 00:25:19,18 --> 00:25:25,56 station but we're not entirely sure that we won't have ground water issues 284 00:25:25,62 --> 00:25:31,79 someplace else and tell you that it's a growing problem. Let's talk something 285 00:25:31,83 --> 00:25:34,74 a little bit more the human side of your campaign I know you've been on the 286 00:25:34,75 --> 00:25:38,80 campaign trail and it's been an exemplary campaign for anyone who wants to know how 287 00:25:38,81 --> 00:25:41,53 to thank you Representative to spin 288 00:25:41,54 --> 00:25:46,10 a city or two about your experiences on the campaign trail Well it's interesting 289 00:25:46,11 --> 00:25:52,98 Jerry because most recently I have changed my montra to be either I 290 00:25:52,99 --> 00:25:58,77 will win or I will lose or I will die in the attempt 291 00:25:59,48 --> 00:26:05,49 and as tongue in cheek as I can be about that we have had 292 00:26:05,53 --> 00:26:12,45 a super active campaign I have had zero I'm going to say 293 00:26:12,62 --> 00:26:18,91 eighteen to twenty meet and greets I have nine between today and November one 294 00:26:19,72 --> 00:26:25,15 those are private citizens opening up their home inviting their neighbors 295 00:26:25,86 --> 00:26:32,68 regardless of their party Republicans undecided on declared and Democrats coming 296 00:26:32,69 --> 00:26:38,48 in for to our listening and talk sessions to sort of get to know me 297 00:26:38,49 --> 00:26:41,34 a little bit if they don't know me for me to get 298 00:26:41,35 --> 00:26:46,20 a better read on what some of the issues are that people are worried about so we've 299 00:26:46,21 --> 00:26:53,12 done that. Social media of course has taken on a life of its own so it's 300 00:26:53,13 --> 00:26:56,41 a new way of communicating I mean it's what we do know there's been 301 00:26:56,98 --> 00:26:58,47 a ton of that and 302 00:26:58,48 --> 00:27:03,13 a learning experience for you certainly has and door knocking knocking on doors and 303 00:27:03,27 --> 00:27:08,21 fashion way write well you've taught you've taught Bedford State Rep candidates how 304 00:27:08,22 --> 00:27:13,04 to do it and I think you've kind of told us today how you would act as 305 00:27:13,05 --> 00:27:14,87 a state representative and it's 306 00:27:14,88 --> 00:27:21,35 a very attractive scenario indeed So let me thank you for coming on tall You're 307 00:27:21,40 --> 00:27:26,61 quite welcome You're quite welcome candidates corner here and thanks so much for 308 00:27:26,62 --> 00:27:32,33 sharing your views and Sue Mullen candidate for state representative and let me 309 00:27:32,34 --> 00:27:37,13 remind our viewers that they can vote on November sixth there for the high school 310 00:27:37,14 --> 00:27:42,12 seven am to seven pm I will be there for you there I know you'll be this sick and I 311 00:27:42,13 --> 00:27:46,46 hope I'm Toyo words and everybody else in Bedford comes to the polls as well the 312 00:27:46,47 --> 00:27:52,75 vote so that's November sixth so thanks to all of us for Watch out thank you so 313 00:27:52,76 --> 00:27:58,59 much Terry for having me and I look forward to the results on November sixth it was 314 00:27:58,60 --> 00:28:00,53 a pleasure thanks very much thanks to.