House candidates from Swanzey diverge sharply on guns, abortion

Oct. 28—Issues of abortion and gun regulations divide the two Democratic candidates for Cheshire County District 10 in the N.H. House from the two Republican hopefuls.

Two seats are in play in the district, which takes in Swanzey and Richmond. All four candidates are from Swanzey.

On the Democratic side are incumbent Rep. Barry Faulkner, 72, a former town and transportation planner, and Bruce Tatro, 71, a retired public works superintendent who previously served in the House. The Republican candidates are Daniel LeClair, 42, owner of a construction firm and a member of the Monadnock Regional School District board, and Swanzey Planning Board member Michael York, 69, a retired manufacturing manager.

Faulkner and Tatro say abortion decisions should be left to a woman and her doctor without governmental interference. They oppose a Republican-backed bill signed into law in New Hampshire last year that prohibits abortions after 24 weeks of pregnancy, with an exception to protect the woman in a medical emergency.

"I'd like to see us get out of the reproductive health-care regulation business altogether," Faulkner said Thursday. "I don't think we have any business being there."

York supports the law, which was changed this year to add an exception in cases where the fetus has a fatal defect. LeClair said he generally opposes abortion after a fetal heartbeat, which is usually detectable at about six weeks of pregnancy.

"I believe that if something has a heartbeat, it is alive, and if you kill it, it is murder," he said, adding that he does support exceptions for cases of rape, incest, fatal fetal defects and to protect a woman's life.

While supporting government regulation of abortions, the two Republican candidates feel the government shouldn't regulate guns.

"The problem isn't guns," York said. "Restrictions on firearms violate the 2nd Amendment and also the New Hampshire Constitution. A gun is a tool and a means to protect myself and my family."

LeClair said he thinks "everybody should own firearms.

"The more the better," he said. "I don't believe in any restrictions on firearms."

The two Democratic candidates, on the other hand, are in favor of universal background checks before firearms sales. Currently some sales, such as at gun shows, can be accomplished without such a check.

"I'm not a person who is looking to take people's guns away," Tatro said. "I'm looking at the methods used for obtaining guns to begin with. Everybody should have a background check."

People in states with more restrictive background-check laws come to New Hampshire to buy weapons, according to Faulkner.

School shootings should prompt support for enhancing background checks and passing a "red-flag law," which would allow a court to order the removal of weapons from a person judged to be a danger to themselves or others, he said.

"This is a simple law that would allow the police to at least temporarily take their guns so that they don't go off and express their anger or frustration or whatever by shooting innocent people," he said. "It seems like a simple matter and something we just have not been able to get through."

Faulkner has served six years in the N.H. House. During that time, he has seen bills introduced in Concord with origins out of state.

An example, he said, is the Republican-backed "divisive concepts" law enacted last year that restricts how educators may discuss discrimination.

The law bans teachers from telling students that some people are inherently racist, sexist or oppressive, consciously or unconsciously.

"It's just ridiculous," Faulkner said of the law. "It's clearly not compatible with the 'Live Free or Die' history of this state or the basic constitutional protections on speech. And the only reason we even considered it was because of a movement that was developed elsewhere and became a national push by the other party."

This past legislative session, Faulkner opposed as unnecessary a measure that would have expanded parental oversight of public school curriculum. This "parental rights" bill did not pass.

On the other hand, LeClair said there is a need to more closely monitor history, social studies and sexual education in public schools, and for parents to be afforded greater information about instruction.

He gave as an example a "Black Lives Matter" mural he said was put in place at Monadnock Regional High School.

"It was taken down, but it should have never been there in the first place," LeClair said. "Black Lives Matter is a divisive group, just as the Proud Boys are divisive."

Black Lives Matter is a social movement highlighting discrimination and police brutality against Black people. The Southern Poverty Law Center classifies the Proud Boys as a hate group, and the Anti-Defamation League describes the group as right-wing extremists.

LeClair also objects to sexual education posters that he said were placed in hallways at Monadnock and described different types of gender identities.

He said he would support legislation governing what sexual education material can be put on school walls without parental notification.

SAU 93 Superintendent Lisa Witte said in an email Friday responding to questions from The Sentinel that the student group Student Allies/Activism for Greater Equality (SAGE) has a bulletin board where informational posters about Black Lives Matter and about gender identity were posted. Both posters were vandalized, Witte said.

The Black Lives Matter poster was hung in January and February near Martin Luther King Day and Black History Month, the superintendent said, adding that she supports SAGE and that the district's schools are welcoming of all students, regardless of sex, gender identity, sexual orientation, race, color, marital status, family status, disability, religion, or nationality.

There is one issue all four candidates agree on in principle — legalization of marijuana.

A bill to legalize recreational use by adults passed the N.H. House this past session but died in the Senate.

Rick Green can be reached at rgreen@keenesentinel.com or 603-355-8567.