Republicans have a three-way race in the primary for the Cheshire District 13 state House of Representatives seat that represents Dublin and Jaffrey.
The winner of the Sept. 13 primary between Rita Mattson of Dublin, Donald Primrose of Dublin and Christopher Mazerall of Jaffrey will face incumbent Democratic state Rep. Richard Ames, who is unopposed in the primary, in the Nov. 8 general election.
Primrose said he is a more-moderate choice than his fellow candidates. Previously registered as undeclared, Primrose said he is not in lockstep with either party line, but considers himself more conservative.
“Across the board, my opponents have conservative, Republican positions. That’s not where I’m coming from,” he said.
Mattson said she is a stronger conservative candidate than Primrose, calling herself a “more-traditional” Republican candidate.
Mazerall, a former Jaffrey chair for Donald Trump’s presidential campaign, said he has a track record of tackling injustices when he sees them, including filing an ethics complaint against Rep. Doug Ley when Ley did not recuse himself from union-related legislation while president of the American Federation of Teachers-NH.
While the Ethics Committee ultimately found no willful misconduct in 2019 and instructed Ley, who died in 2021, to recuse himself from such votes in the future instead of issuing a formal punishment, Mazerall said it showed that he was willing to tackle hard subjects.
School choice
The candidates all said they favored the current New Hampshire system that allows parents to use public funding to send their children to private schools, or for their homeschool education.
“I’m 100 percent for the voucher system, I think they’re a very, very good thing,” Primrose said. “If you ask most any teacher, ‘Can you reach every child?’ the answer is no. The public system doesn’t reach everyone.”
Mattson said the voucher system needed to be expanded to reach more families, and that she favors raising the income cap that dictates who can qualify for the funding, currently 300 percent of the poverty line.
“I’m totally for school choice,” she said.
Mazerall said the voucher system allowed parents to “break the monopoly on education.”
“It’s very important we broaden the scope. If we have a broader market, parents are in a better position to find the right place for their child. I think school choice is extremely important,” he said.
New Hampshire has faced several lawsuits regarding the issue of school funding, including a lawsuit that includes the ConVal and Mascenic regional school districts, contending that the state has not met its obligation to equitably fund public education.
Mattson said school districts “get too much as it is,” and that it was less of a matter of how much funding schools got and more about how that money was allocated, saying it should be focused more on student education.
Mazerall also said education costs were rising at an unreasonable rate, and said reliance on technology and computers was driving up costs and acting as “a distraction more than a benefit,” and he “didn’t see it as a necessity.”
“There’s a lot to be gained by having a traditional relationship with books,” Mazerall said.
Primrose disagreed, saying the state had a duty to adequately fund education and follow the law and constitution.
“They’ve been dodging that responsibility for 50 years,” Primrose said. “It’s one thing after another that has not worked.”
Primrose said the state has to reconsider its tax structure and find a way to fund education without new taxes.
Second Amendment rights
All three candidates said they would be staunch defenders of Second Amendment rights.
Mattson said she was not for any restrictions on gun purchases in the state, saying the current background check requirements were sufficient. She said she was “all for more training,” but it should not be mandated to own a firearm.
Primrose said the only issue he had with New Hampshire’s current system was background checks not being processed in a timely manner.
“We need to follow the existing laws properly, and that will eliminate a lot of the issues,” he said.
Mazerall said he might be open to additional rules surrounding mental health checks, but only under certain conditions and depending upon the criteria. He added that those who propose further restrictions on gun ownership “often don’t approach the issue in good faith.”
New Hampshire’s housing needs
Mattson said she was staunchly for towns retaining local control over their zoning rules, and said mandates for allowing workforce housing could be a big burden for small towns.
“I don’t think we should force a certain amount of housing. I’m against that,” she said. “I think towns need to run their own town. Concord has no idea what’s happening in Dublin or Jaffrey.”
Primrose acknowledged the heavy burden property taxes were to a new homeowner, and said the state has to find a way to allow young people to afford to live here. He said it had to be a partnership between the state and towns, particularly those that have infrastructure such as municipal sewer and water to support additional housing units.
Primrose said that for a town such as Dublin that don’t have that infrastructure, state-mandated increased housing density doesn’t work, but for larger towns, it may be more feasible. However, he said towns like Dublin needed to start looking locally at their own rural rules and considering allowing smaller acreage and frontage.
“It could be a little denser,” he said.
Primrose was also in favor of towns streamlining permitting processes and offering additional financing options either through or guaranteed by the state for affordable housing units.
Mazerall agreed that cooperation between the state and towns was needed, but said it was unfair for the state to override local zoning. Instead, he said the state should encourage additional housing through measures such as legislation around accessory dwelling units – apartments attached to existing homes – and encourage a reasonable development environment through tax breaks or state grants.
“We can’t be overzealous,” he said. “It’s unfair for the state to go into a town and disrupt the character by requiring an apartment tower.”
Minimum wage
Earlier this year, a bill that would have raised the New Hampshire minimum wage in stages to $15 per hour by 2024 failed. While acknowledging that the federal minimum wage of $7.25 per hour is not enough to live on in New Hampshire, all three candidates disagreed with the state setting its own minimum wage. Ultimately, they said the free market would resolve the issue on its own.
“Obviously, the minimum wage is not enough, but I think the market will push those wages,” Primrose said. “I don’t think we need to be following what the states around us are doing. I think the marketplace can do it on its own.”
“I don’t think anyone, anywhere, starts at the minimum wage,” said Mattson. “But to force some small businesses to pay $15 an hour, it would put them out of business – and it’s not realistic.”
Mazerall said New Hampshire has a vast disparity between its northern and southern halves, and that the state should not make a move on setting a minimum wage at this time.
Abortion and vaccination
Regarding New Hampshire’s abortion laws, Primrose and Mattson said they were comfortable with the state’s current 24-week cutoff.
Primrose said there is still room for improvement, including making exceptions for rape and incest, saying those were provisions that “should have been looked at on day one.”
Mazerall said he would be for adopting exceptions for rape and incest, but wouldn’t expand the 24 week limit. He said he was in favor of the recent changes to the law, which included making exceptions for if the life of the parent was endangered, or if there were defects that would not allow the pregnancy to be carried to term.
Mattson said New Hampshire should not extend its abortion limits beyond 24 weeks, but would support an earlier cutoff. She said she felt the current timeline was permissive enough to allow for rape or incest survivors to make a decision about their pregnancy, without additional exceptions for them.
Mattson said she had been in favor of a rule that was initially attached to the abortion law that required an ultrasound to be performed on the parent. That portion of the law was repealed earlier this year.
Regarding vaccines, Mattson said she remained against any mandates for vaccination, including the COVID-19 vaccination.
“It’s wrong to force people,” Mattson said.
Primrose said he was torn on the issue of vaccination mandates, saying the COVID-19 mRNA vaccinations are a different structure than other widespread vaccinations.
Mazerall said he had been required to receive the COVID-19 vaccination as a condition of his employment, and said he felt “more freedom is better” when it came to the concept of mandates or seeking alternative treatment.
“There were legitimate concerns that people had that were brushed aside,” Mazerall said.
Ashley Saari can be reached at 603-924-7172 ext. 244 or asaari@ledgertranscript.com. She’s on Twitter @AshleySaariMLT.