Progressive group lists 39 Free Staters on the ballot for the N.H. House

By SARAH PALERMO

Monitor staff

Last modified: 10/19/2014 12:54:33 AM

Almost 40 members of the Free State Project are running for seats in New Hampshire’s Legislature this year, including two in Merrimack County District 20, which covers Chichester and Pembroke, according to a progressive group that tracks the libertarian-leaning movement.



Granite State Progress is poised to publish its list of 36 Free State Project participants running for office this year, plus three “honorary” members – including incumbent Republican Rep. JR Hoell from Dunbarton and Lydia Harman, a Warner Republican running for state Senate in District 15. Their honorary status means they are New Hampshire natives deemed to be sympathetic to the goals of the Free State Project, according to Granite State Progress.



In the race for the three-seat Chichester and Pembroke district, the two on the list are John Goldthwaite and former state representative Brian Seaworth, running as Republicans. Also running in the district are Republican Kim Bolt, incumbent Rep. Dianne Schuett, a Democrat, and Democrats Richard DeBold and David Doherty.



Several more participants and “honorary” members ran and lost in primaries, said Zandra Rice-Hawkins, Granite State Progress executive director.



Her group compiled the list because it believes it’s dishonest to voters for that affiliation to be hidden, she said.



“If you’re running for office, you should expect people to talk about your record and stated intent for being in office,” Rice-Hawkins said. “They sign a pledge to support the mission. For everything they say about not having shared intentions, they have political beliefs, and they are trying to enact those political beliefs. We are trying to educate local communities to let them know what those beliefs are.”



The project’s goal is simple – to recruit 20,000 people to sign the following pledge: “I hereby state my solemn intent to move to the state of New Hampshire within five years after 20,000 participants have signed up. Once there, I will exert the fullest practical effort toward the creation of a society in which the maximum role of government is the protection of individuals’ rights to life, liberty and property.”



But the list doesn’t really tell voters much, said state Rep. Carol McGuire of Epsom. She and her husband, Rep. Dan McGuire, moved to New Hampshire in 2005 as part of the project and have both been in office since 2010.



“Knowing that they are members is like saying they all have Type B blood,” Carol McGuire said. “It doesn’t really tell you much about what they’re trying to do when they’re in office.”



When she first arrived and met other project members, McGuire found “a very large difference between some people who wanted to do nonviolent protests at the IRS . . . and those people like us that felt we wanted to work within the system. There’s both of those, and all types, and everything in between. You end up with a group that’s as diverse as Republicans. There’s some commonality of principles, but as far as tactics go, there’s a tremendous difference between members and friends of the movement,” McGuire said.



And not all Free State Project participants who run for office choose the same political party.



Though the pledge might sound most naturally aligned with libertarianism, there’s only one House candidate in the state running as a Libertarian: Lisa Wilber of Weare. She could not be reached but wrote on her campaign Facebook page that she’s lived in town for 25 years.



Five of the 39 candidates Granite State Progress identified as Free Staters are running this year as Democrats; the majority are running as Republicans, including Seaworth, Goldthwaite, Hoell and Harman.



The Merrimack County Republican Party doesn’t ask candidates whether they are affiliated with the project, Chairman Bryan Gould said.



Seaworth has been the party’s webmaster for several years, and Gould said he did not know he was listed as a Free State participant.



“I think of him as a liberty Republican. I did not know he moved here pursuant to the pledge, (but) it doesn’t change anything,” Gould said. “When you get to know people, those kind of things fall away. It’s understandable shorthand if you don’t know someone to say who do they affiliate with. But once you get to know them, you base your judgment on their temperament and their beliefs.”







(Sarah Palermo can be reached at 369-3322 or spalermo@cmonitor.com or on Twitter @SPalermoNews.)





