PRESS RELEASE
Keene Sentinel Editorial Board Endorses Cinde Warmington for Governor
MANCHESTER, NH — In Case You Missed It, the Keene Sentinel editorial board endorsed Cinde Warmington for governor, writing that Warmington is the “change in direction New Hampshire needs.”
Read the full endorsement below:
Keene Sentinel Opinion: Cinde Warmington; The former executive councilor is the change in direction New Hampshire needs
As with other races this election, assessing New Hampshire’s gubernatorial contest means acknowledging, separately, the strengths of the candidates involved and what the election of each would mean for the state and its future.
In years past, the consideration of one might equal that of the other, but in today’s hyper-partisan political climate, it’s unrealistic to expect that a legislature led by one party will respect the authority of an executive from the other, or vice versa. Moreover, Democrats and Republicans have such wholly different visions for New Hampshire that keeping in mind a candidate’s party is imperative.
Challenger Cinde Warmington ran for governor two years ago, losing in the Democratic primary. Monadnock Region residents will remember her two terms as the very effective executive councilor for District 2, which covers much of the region.
Warmington is a longtime healthcare attorney and former phlebotomist whose signature issue has been women’s healthcare — she proposes reversing the 24-week abortion ban Republicans pushed through several years ago, and consistently fought, as a councilor, for state contracts with Planned Parenthood for women’s health services.
One of Warmington’s key issues is energy. She opposes the reliance on fossil fuels that Republican governors have expanded during the past decade, instead calling for cheaper, cleaner and greener options — especially wind and solar.
Her platform also includes more affordable housing and childcare, adequately funding public K-12 and higher education, opposing school vouchers and legalizing recreational marijuana.
The last of these she sees as both a business driver and a revenue source for the state. That would be a key because Warmington has said she won’t raise taxes on Granite Staters and will veto an income or sales tax, but also aims to restore cuts she says Gov. Kelly Ayotte has made to education and healthcare.
Incumbent Ayotte ran two years ago promising to be an extension of then-Gov. Chris Sununu’s administration. She vowed to work across the aisle — which she really hasn’t had to do, with Republicans holding strong majorities in both legislative chambers — and to protect “our most vulnerable” while serving “those most in need.”
We’re not sure how enacting monthly premiums for those on Medicaid or taking away the independence of the administrator for the fund to settle lawsuits over sexual and physical abuse perpetrated over several decades at YDC and other state-run facilities for youth meet those goals. But Ayotte has at least, to some degree, served as a buffer against the most extreme efforts of her party’s culture-warriors in the Legislature.
Upon taking office, Ayotte said she would govern “for all of New Hampshire. … Our state is so much bigger than a party or an ideology.” But she also promised to work with Republicans in the Legislature to “deliver on the promises we made to keep our state moving in the right direction.”
Those two pledges are at odds. Over the past decade, the stewardship of Sununu and Ayotte has moved New Hampshire hard to the right — restricting women’s health options; gutting taxes on the wealthy and big corporations at the expense of regular homeowners and renters; waging war on public education, both in the classroom and at budget time; and allowing fossil fuel companies to dictate energy policy, leaving the Granite State paying more and lagging the rest of the Northeast in green energy options.
That’s the wrong direction for New Hampshire, and one that needs changing. There’s plenty to recommend Warmington as the state’s next governor, but beyond that, a change of direction for the state is long overdue. We endorse Cinde Warmington for governor.