Five Republicans, two Democrats file for four state rep seats [08/10/2002]

Campaign begins for Sept. 12 primary

Time's up the filing period for N.H. State Representative is over. The final two days saw no additional sign-ups in newly-created District 4 (Conway, Bartlett, Jackson, Chatham and Hale's and Harts locations), meaning it's time for Republicans Carolyn Brown, Gene Chandler, Crow Dickinson, Frank McCarthy and Henry Mock to put their political game faces on. Meanwhile, with four seats up for grabs, Democrats Susan Bruce and Doug Hjelmstad are unopposed in the Sept. 12 primary. During the weeks leading up to the primary all the candidates will "make the rounds," within the district sharing their platforms and reasons for running. Political signs have already started to take root in the area with both Chandler and Brown putting them out. They won't be the only ones."I've already ordered them," Dickinson said. "Up until this point I had never in my whole career as a selectman and now as a state legislator spent money on signs. I've put up signs for other people, but never for myself until now, I just never have. I hate them, but I suppose I've got to play the game like everyone else."At stake is a two-year seat that comes with a $100 annual salary. In the past, Chandler, of Bartlett, and Mock, of Jackson, have been among a number of state representatives to run unopposed. The Supreme Court's redistricting ruling last month has created larger districts and widened the playing field for many. Mock ran in the "floating district" in prior races, representing an area that encompasses all six of the current towns in District 4. The six-term state legislator admits he doesn't mind his district, but his fears about candidates having to spend money have come true."The down side of this whole thing, and it doesn't affect me much," Mock said, "people are going to have to spend money to run. What we have now is some representatives who have traditionally served one or two towns now has seen the district expanded to eight or nine. What that does is it destroys that old feeling that you know your state legislator.""It certainly changes the way we've done business in this state for 200 years, and not for the better I might add," Chandler said. "What it does is it sets up huge districts and it will certainly be more costly for people to run. If you're lucky enough to get elected it means you're going to have a lot more constituents which means you're going to have a lot more work and it means a lot more phone calls. I think with the new setup, we're going to have a first in that candidates are going to have toll calls within their district (calls between the 383 exchange in Jackson and Glen and the 447 exchange in Conway). It's not just here, but all over the state."Under the Supreme Court plan, Carroll County's house seats have been reshuffled. Two seats are now up for grabs with Brookfield, Effingham and Wakefield, all in the same district, N.H. District 8. Three seats will come out of Freedom, Ossipee, Sandwich and Tamworth, N.H. District 6. Four seats are open in Wolfeboro, Moultonborough and Tuftonboro, N.H. District 7. One seat remains open in Madison, Albany and Eaton, N.H. District 5.