I am Suzanne Smith and for 4 years I have been serving the people of Plymouth and Hebron in the State Legislature. I am running for re-election and ask for your vote.
This last 2-year session has been very challenging with attacks on education and students, health care for women, voting rights and marriage equality. I thank the students of PSU for their work in being active in state government as many of the hard won and hard lost battles of the past two years affected YOU, the students.
PSU students and the administration worked hard to assure that the university has the right to ban guns on campus. The Republican tea party legislature which says they are trying to shrink government, wanted to take control of this issue. They want the legislature to determine what works for every college and university in New Hampshire. That doesn’t look like shrinking government to me.
The Republican tea party led legislature voted to repeal a law passed in the early 1990s (by a Republican led legislature) which requires insurance companies to cover birth control for women. This radical legislature also voted to require doctors to educate patients seeking abortions with medically incorrect information before performing the procedure. Both of these bills did not make it to the governor’s desk, but I can assure you, they will be back again in 2013!
Students came out in force to testify against Voter ID and the law against students voting where they go to school. (thank you!) Unfortunately, the great majority of the tea party legislature passed these into law over the governor’s veto. Thankfully, a superior judge in Strafford County has overturned the student voting law and just yesterday the Supreme Court ruled that there would be no change in the law before the November 6 election.
I am sad to say that the budget to the University system was cut by almost 50 percent. Our House Speaker, Bill O’Brien has said that if he is re-elected speaker, one of his goals is to cut this by another $1,000,000. We need a well educated workforce and if our children cannot afford to attend college in New Hampshire, we are at a strong disadvantage. High tech businesses in NH are hiring from out of state, because we do not have the qualified workers here to fill all of the jobs.
You, the students of PSU and all young people, are the future of New Hampshire and the world. November 6 is election day.
I urge you to vote.
If you choose to vote here in Plymouth, if you do not register by October 27, you may register at the polls on election day. If you are voting at your parent’s home, now is the time to get an absentee ballot. Don’t delay. The future is in your hands.
Sincerely,
State Rep. Suzanne Smith
Grafton District 8, Plymouth, Holderness & Hebron
Hebron, NH