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"I have taken care of generations of families living in Goffstown and neighboring towns, and I consider them to be not just my patients, but also my friends."
Education
MD, Vanderbilt University School of Medicine
MA, Political Science, Philosophy, and Economics, Oxford University
BS, Physics and History, United States Naval Academy
Professional Backround
25 years as a family physician serving Goffstown
25 years in the US Navy, including 11 active duty and 3 overseas
Who are you, and what ties you to our community?
I am a family physician, US Navy veteran, husband and father. I have worked in Goffstown for 25 years and lived here for nearly 20 years. I have taken care of generations of families living in Goffstown and neighboring towns, and I consider them to be not just my patients, but also my friends.
I moved to New Hampshire to raise a family. I love our town and our state. My wife and I live on land here in Goffstown that her great-grandfather farmed. Our son and his wife live here, too. We have deep roots in our community, and we want to see it thrive in the future.
Why are you running for State Representative right now?
I see our state moving in the wrong direction—property taxes are out of control, public education is under constant attack, and housing is out of reach for many residents. I want to be part of changing that direction, so New Hampshire can again be a place where young people see a bright future for themselves and their children and seniors can retire without fear of losing their homes.
For too many years, our state government has favored the interests of the most wealthy residents of our state, at the expense of the hardworking residents who are trying to make ends meet while they raise their families.
The actions we take now will determine if New Hampshire will succeed in attracting and retaining young people and families in our state—the people who energize our economy and make up the workforce we need for New Hampshire to thrive in the future.
What are the top 2–3 issues facing our district?
Affordability is hands down the top issue facing Goffstown and New Hampshire more broadly. After nearly 20 years of Republican control of our state legislature, we have seen the tax burden shifted away from the wealthiest in our community and onto lower- and middle-income citizens like our neighbors in Goffstown. Average people are struggling, from students trying to afford a degree to working parents raising their children to seniors surviving on fixed incomes.
A second key issue closely linked to affordability is making sure that New Hampshire is a place where young people want to live, work, and raise a family. In the past few years alone, our legislators have cut housing programs that helped workers afford homes, cut funding to our state university system (increasing the cost of obtaining a degree in state), and relentlessly attacked the public schools nearly 90% of our children depend on. Policies like these not only hurt people like you and me, they also weaken our economy by worsening the shortage of working age residents local businesses depend on.
How would you address these issues?
A key step to improving affordability is to offload some of the excessive tax burden for residents, especially in towns that welcome families—and we can’t talk about taxes without addressing public education.
Public education funding should not place an excessive burden on the residents of towns that have large student populations like Goffstown. This burden should be fairly shared by all residents of this state, including the wealthiest ones who tend to reside in towns with few school age students.
An easy place to start is to limit the school voucher program that diverts our tax dollars away from public schools and into the hands of the wealthiest families in the state. Some of New Hampshire’s richest families now receive thousands of tax dollars per year to defray the cost of attending exclusive private schools which are well beyond the reach of most families in our state. This must stop.
However, limiting school vouchers will not solve education funding on its own. We must also seriously consider restructuring how the state contributes to our neighborhood schools. The current statewide education property tax (SWEPT) only increases our property taxes while unfairly benefiting richer towns. We must consider new revenue sources to pay for education and distribute those funds more fairly for all New Hampshire communities.
How will you represent all constituents—including those who may disagree with you?
I’ve served 25 years in the Navy, including 11 years on active duty and three years overseas, which required working on teams of men and women from all sorts of backgrounds. I’ve also practiced as a family physician for 25 years, where you need to be able to connect with people at their level and listen to their concerns. I would bring this experience to all of my Goffstown constituents.
I believe that some common ground can be found in most cases, even when individuals hold divergent worldviews. In most cases, we hold more values in common than we have differences.
What values guide your decision-making?
I will always rely on my core beliefs:
We have a duty to care for our neighbors, and our neighbors are all of the members of our community (not just the ones next door).
We have a duty to be truthful and a duty to take into consideration the truly held beliefs of those around us.
What else would you like voters to know about you?
I love spending free time hiking and running on the trails which criss-cross the green spaces of Goffstown. I have had the great happiness to see my two sons thrive in public schools and then go on to careers that they are passionate about.
