Statehouse statue of Christa McAuliffe wins approval
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Dec. 20—CONCORD — Plans to erect a statue honoring teacher/astronaut Christa McAuliffe narrowly cleared the Executive Council on Wednesday over concerns about using $250,000 in taxpayer money for the project as well as its location on the State House lawn.
McAuliffe was one of seven crew members aboard the space shuttle Challenger when it broke apart barely a minute after launching on Jan. 28, 1986.
Wednesday's vote was 3-2 in favor of the proposal, with Councilors Joseph Kenney, R-Wakefield, and David Wheeler, R-Milford, voting against it.
Both opposed the memorial's location, and Kenney said it should be funded entirely through private donations.
"My number one concern is we are using taxpayer money for this monument, which I believe in reality should be privately funded," Kenney said.
Wheeler added, "Great idea, wrong place."
In February, Gov. Chris Sununu proposed setting aside $500,000 in the budget to complete a memorial for McAuliffe, the first teacher to go into space.
"I had the inspiration at 6:15 a.m. in the shower one day," Sununu said. "I then said to the Legislature and the secretary of state, 'How could we get this done?' and brought it to them."
Sununu signed an executive order creating a 10-member commission to select an artist and unveil the statue by Sept. 2, 2024, which would have been McAuliffe's 76th birthday.
After Wednesday's vote, Sununu expressed surprise at the "pushback." He said the eight-month process to date has been transparent and inclusive, involving stakeholders from the Legislature, education and the arts.
The statue should be on the front lawn so that all fourth-graders who visit the State House each year can see and learn about how McAuliffe inspired young people to consider becoming educators themselves, Sununu said.
"This is not just the best place, but the most rightful place given everything that she represented," Sununu said.
"It is long past time we had a woman's statue on the State House lawn," said Councilor Cinde Warmington of Concord, the only Democrat on the council.
Foe: Process subverted
Kenney argued that many statues outside the State House and other public buildings across New Hampshire were supported by private fundraising campaigns.
Kenney, a former state senator and representative, also objected to Sununu deciding where the monument should go, as the Legislature's historical and facilities committees have authority over the State House grounds.
"We sort of short-circuited that process," Kenney said.
Sununu said the Legislature decided to include the statue in the budget he signed last June.
"I didn't write an executive order to authorize money," Sununu said. "They did it."
Natural and Cultural Resources Commissioner Sarah Stewart said the commission also is accepting private donations to support this effort.
Previously, state money has been used for some statues at the State House complex, Stewart said.
"A lot of people have reached out to offer their input. We haven't exactly settled" on where it will be placed on the property, Stewart said.
The legislative committees will be consulted by the commission, she said.
Kenney said other New Hampshire historical figures should already have been recognized with statues, including Mary Baker Eddy, the founder of the Christian Science movement who was born in Bow in 1821, and John Weeks, a Lancaster native who went on to become a U.S. senator from Massachusetts and war secretary from 1921-25.
"We have missed out on a lot of opportunities to have statues on the State House lawn," Kenney said.
The commission chose Benjamin Victor of Boise, Idaho, to design the memorial. Victor is the youngest sculptor to have a work placed in the U.S. Capitol's National Statuary Hall.
"I've taken a look at his work and it's really impressive," said Sununu, who added he had no role in selecting the artist.
Mike Liberty, a New London Democrat running for Executive Council against Lebanon Democrat Karen Liot Hill to succeed Warmington, said there was no reason to oppose the contract.
"There were no questions about the qualifications of the sculptor. It was simply two councilors yet again attempting to be shadow legislators and inserting their extreme ideology," Liberty said.
