Gubernatorial candidate Hassan to visit Conway on Friday

Published Date Written by Lloyd Jones

CONWAY — Gubernatorial candidate Maggie Hassan of Exeter will make a brief stop in Mount Washington Valley during a busy day on the campaign trail Friday.

Hassan is running in the Democratic September 11 Primary against Jackie Cilley of Barrington and Dan Kennedy of Danbury, and was here last in mid-July for a Democratic Gubernatorial Forum at the Salyards Center.

Hassan plans to do a meet and greet at the Conway Town Hall from 8:30 to 9:30 a.m. followed by an editorial board at The Conway Daily Sun office. She is being escorted on her tour by former state senator Mark Hounsell and former state representative Tom Buco, who is running for election this fall.

She spent Thursday on a tour of the North Country with visits to the Lancaster Fair; the Littleton coin Company; a tour of the Gorham Paper and Tissue plant; and an ice cream social at the White Mountain Community College Bistro in Berlin.

Hassan, the former N.H. Senate Majority Leader, said at the forum that the state is at a crossroads with this election.

"We can either elect a governor who sides with the Tea Party in the legislature and the divisive policies they support that hurt working class families, or," said Hassan, "we can elect me, a person who can bring people together to solve problems, attract business to our state and help to bring innovative solutions. To do the work we need to do, we need to come together, whether around the issues of infrastructure, or balancing the budget or improving health care. Or, of protecting a woman's right to choose and the right to birth control — for heaven's sake, it's 2012!"

Hassan has stated that education and jobs would be her focus if elected governor, stating that one could not be debated separately from another.

Hassan, 53, served in the N.H. Senate from 2004-10 when she lost a reelection bid to State Senator Russell Prescott 53-47 percent as the Republicans regained control of the both the N.H. House and Senate. While in office she served on the Capital Budget Committee; Commerce, Labor and Consumer Protection; Finance; Public and Municipal Affairs (chair); Energy, Environment, and Economic Development (vice chair); Internal Affairs Committee; and the Executive Department and Administration Committee.

Also on Friday, Hassan is slated to tour downtown Laconia at 2 p.m. and attend the Brookline and Hollis Democrats Town Hall from 6-7:30 p.m.