VOTE in the Sep 13th primary! Your vote matters! #FossilFree603
"Telegraph Endorsement: Democrats who go to the polls to vote on Tuesday, Sept. 13, have some choices, the best known being Executive Councilor Colin Van Ostern, former Portsmouth Mayor Steve Marchand and Mark Connolly, who formerly headed up the state's office of securities regulation.
Van Ostern is undoubtedly the darling of the party establishment. And why not? He is a nice guy who has held an important elected office and represents nothing so much as Gov. Maggie Hassan's third term.
Our choice, however, is Marchand. He's socially progressive - he favors funding Planned Parenthood, advocating for same-sex marriage, and paid long-term leave for new mothers or people caring for ailing family members - but he's hardly a cookie-cutter Democrat. In fact, one of the things that sets him apart is that his ideas for implementing or expanding programs also come with specific ideas about how to pay for them.
Marchand said he would improve education by conducting "a regression analysis" geared toward making sure New Hampshire school districts can offer competitive salaries to retain the best teachers.
To pay for some of his programs, Marchand would legalize marijuana in the state.
"I'd legalize it, regulate and tax it," he said, estimating that as much as $30 million could be raised through marijuana taxes in the first year alone.
He'd look at reducing the state's business enterprise tax - which, he said, hampers private-sector growth, especially for small businesses and startups.
Marchand may not be the darling of the Democratic establishment, but the son of immigrants who was born and raised in Manchester is a high-energy candidate with ideas that seem fiscally responsible and particularly well thought out. We encourage Democrats and undeclared voters to take a look at him when they go to the polls on Sept. 13."
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