On Wed. March 4th, State Senator Jeb Bradley spoke to a group of students and local residence in Boyd Hall.
Connor Brown, an active member of Plymouth State Republicans, introduced the senator, listing his accolades and positions in public service over the past 10 years.
Bradley, a Turf University graduate, started off by telling the crowd, “I want to make this about your questions, instead of me.”
The senator then asked the crowd, “As Republicans… should we compromise on our beliefs?… Our constitutional rights?… Taxes?,” each question was answered with a resilient, “No!”
One member of the PSU Republicans opened the discussion by asking Senator Bradley how their organization can get younger people attracted to the GOP. “We can’t be so strident that we just scare people,” Bradley said, citing recent Republicans who caught notoriety, such as Todd Akin.
“We [The Republican Party] have to learn how to talk about issues without scaring people,” the senator continued, “I think that’s what’s going to unify your generation, less discussion on social issues,” Bradley instead believes the debt that college-age-generations will inherent will be the unifying factor.
On energy policies, Bradley said, “my view on Northern Pass is that there are areas that it has to be buried,” Bradley also wants to see more benefits for the people of New Hampshire out of the proposed plan. But, when it came to the windmills, Bradley said, “you can’t bury windmills-they’re just uneconomic. Northern Pass is ‘base load power,’ whereas windmills, it’s [energy is] not always there.”
“How do you keep NH students working here in NH?” one student asked. “Well I have 3 sons who live in Colorado, I ask myself that everyday,” Bradley continued, “we have to have this state have the most competitive economy-it’s a question to me of opportunity, having a growing economy, and having the things that are important to young families.”
Bradley continued to speak for an hour on a range of topics, from Governor Hassan’s recently proposed budget, to the legalization of medical marijuana.
Bradley was originally supposed to speak Feb. 27th, but the lecture was postponed due to poor weather. Bradley is the second state senator to be invited by Plymouth State Republicans this past year.
Bradley represents the 3rd district of New Hampshire, and resides in Wolfeboro. PSU Republicans hope to invite more senators to speak on campus before the semester ends.