Richard Boisvert

I am a NH native, retired in 2018 after 31 years employment with the state as an archaeologist. Beyond this, I have worked in a public mental institution as a counselor and my wife and I have been foster parents. I care deeply about the natural and cultural environment and have witnessed the preventable and permanent damage to both. My education and career have given me a long term perspective and an understanding of the breadth and complexity of our state government. I have developed the skills to work productively with others including those who may or may not agree with me. I wish to bring to bear my skills, my concerns and my willingness to work for the good of all through my candidacy.

• I want to ensure that essential state programs, such as foster care, adoption services, protection from domestic abuse, will be preserved especially as we contend with a massive shortfall in the state budget.
• We need to take a long term view of the impact and consequences of state programs and policies. Too often the choice has been made to opt for short term budget savings where the net result has been greater costs, both in financial and human terms. This ranges from bridge and highway maintenance to addiction treatment or mental health services.
• New Hampshire has laid the responsibility for public education on property taxpayers with the undeniable consequence that in property poor towns and cities education has suffered while the individual residents pay a disproportionate amount in taxes and rent.

I am passionate about protecting the state services that protect the most vulnerable in our society - children at risk, those in need of addiction and mental health treatment. The lack of affordable health care continues to erode our communities depriving us of worthwhile people who can no longer contribute to our society. Our public education system is being slowly eviscerated by underfunding and diversion of the limited funding to private and often exclusionary alternatives. Unabashed gerrymandering has deprived many communities of genuine representation that truly reflects the character and desires of the people in those communities.

I am diligent, thrifty, thorough, methodical, inquisitive, honest, honorable. I loathe bullies and will always stand up to them.

It is the obligation of government, and therefore the legislators, to carry out the will of the people within the dictates of the constitution. This is a dual responsibility. The will of the people cannot ride roughshod over the requirements in our constitution (principally the state but we cannot ignore the federal constitution). And we cannot misrepresent the constitution to thwart the the will of the people.

The first major historic event that I remember was the Cuban missile crisis. I was barely 12 at the time and it literally haunted me for decades. Like many of my generation I had apocalyptic nightmares for decades. On the one hand it left me feeling helpless as the cause and solutions to the event were so totally out of my control. It also made me appreciative of solid, forthright leadership that did not bow to bullying but that also did not resort to reactive lashing out irrespective of the consequences. These are characteristics to which I aspire, to stand fast in adversity, think coolly even though the situation is hot, and to find and follow good advice. It has also given me a sense of perspective and consequently hope that we as a society can endure and resolve the current trials in our nation and bring it to a better place.

"American Nations" by Colin Woodard. It is an historical assessment of America (including Canada and Mexico) that recognizes 11 distinct "Nations" each of which have their own character, values and enduring history. New England is part of "Yankeedom" which stretches from New England proper through upper New York, includes the states around the lower Great Lakes and Ontario into Wisconsin (BTW Beloit Wisconsin was founded as a colony from Colebrook, NH). Yankeedom is characterized by a high value on education and adherence to high social responsibility standards. This book presents a very compelling regional history of America, shinning a light on what makes each area distinct and explaining why these areas hang on to their character and values over time and waves of immigration. Recognizing these distinctions helps understand why come distant parts of the county are so similar such as New England and western Oregon and Washington, and why seemingly close areas are so different such as West Virginia and Virginia. It is well written, well researched and documented and defined down to the county level. It was written by a journalist from Maine and continues to be insightful.

Yes, experience in government is quite beneficial. I have worked in state agencies in three states with over 36 years of experience. I have learned that finding a bipartisan solution is often not just the best solution but often the only way to achieve one's legislative goals. That is not to say that one must compromise their values and integrity, but one can seek to find common ground and work from that to find solutions. I have also learned from my own regulatory roles and advocacy for certain outcomes that there are some causes that one must fight for even though the end result is certain failure. Allies and opposition alike need to know that if I am dedicated to a goal or principal I will hold to it even though I would not prevail. This is not a noble notion, it is a way to assure those around me that if I state I will work unrelenting for a cause, I am not bluffing.

The greatest challenge is obvious. The combined effects of the Coronavirus and the attendant fiscal crisis have changed how we will construct and implement the state budget. The ripple effects will last easily for a decade. The desire to slash budgets will be immense, and some lawmakers will take this as an opportunity to permanently destroy vital services. Policies that could not be changed under normal circumstances, such as health and safety regulations, could be jettisoned under the guise of economy. This is known at the "Starve the Beast" approach. I have seen agency regulators on the federal level neuter mine safety programs not through rule making but by reducing the number of mine inspectors by 95%. Similar approaches may be in the offing for New Hampshire in the next legislative session. The challenge then is to find ways to preserve (and likely strengthen) vital programs. These would be programs for our most vulnerable members of society such as those in foster care, elder care, nutritional programs and those in poverty. I admit that I lack the detailed knowledge of where economies can be found, but they can be found. And any attempt to find revenues cannot come at the cost of further burdens on the individual property taxpayers.

I favor adoption of a commission which is as non-partisan as possible that would develop a set of recommendations for redistricting that will comport with the New Hampshire constitution. Such recommendations would then be voted on by the legislature and adopted. I recognize that the US Supreme Court has allowed that naked partisanship is allowed in redistricting, but it certainly did not require it. Other states have succeeded in achieving a goal of quashing gerrymandering as much as possible, New Hampshire should be able to do the same.