Politics & Government

Hassan Says Legislature Backed by 'Tea Party Extremists' [VIDEO]

She recently visited Havenwood-Heritage Heights.

Former state Sen. came to the city to talk about her candidacy for governor with voters at in Concord.

Hassan, who was introduced at the event by state Sen. , D-Concord, said she was inspired to become involved in public service and civic life by her father who served in World War II and later received a higher education via the G.I. Bill.

After marrying the “love of her life” and settling into careers, Hassan and her husband decided to become parents. They had their first born, a boy named Ben, who she described as “smart and funny” but had Cerebral Palsy, a disability that requires him to be fed through a tube. Ben also has limited communication skills, she said, since he can’t use his hands or eyes very well.

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“If you spend enough time with Ben, you get to know what he’s thinking … he admires beautiful women,” she said, to giggles from the crowd.

Hassan said the couple realized that if they wanted to guarantee that their son had the same opportunities as everyone else, they were going to need help. Luckily, she said, they lived in New Hampshire, where there were publicly funded teachers, therapists, and school systems that could help. Two decades ago this fall, Hassan noted, a bus pulled up to the family’s home and Ben was taken to his first day of preschool.

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“All I could think of was, ‘If it had been a generation or two earlier, we would have been pressured to put Ben in an institution, had he survived in the first place,’” she said. “But instead, he was going to school in our hometown in Exeter and he was going to have a chance to make friends … he was going to be treated like other kids.

Hassan said her experience with her first son reinforced those traditional values that were instilled by her parents and was able to bring those values to the state Senate during three terms.

When she was first elected, Hassan was a member of the minority party that was able to work with the majority party and “got a lot of important work done” especially around heath insurance and environmental issues. They also established the New Hampshire Working program that has been used to stabilize the state economy during the crash.

However, Hassan said the , currently backed by “Tea Party extremists” were trying to dismantle many important programs. She credited Gov. for stopping much of the legislation and she hoped, if elected, to continue that job.

Hassan said she would focus on jobs and the economy and would work to connect educational systems with businesses, in order to create the strongest workforce in the country. She would also focus on “fiscal discipline” to make sure that the economic environment would grow more jobs.

During a question and answer session with seniors, Hassan was criticized more than once about taking “The Pledge” to not implement broad-based taxes like a sales or income tax, with one man stating he wouldn’t vote for her based on her answer. She said the state’s economy was based on not having either tax. Hassan added that voters had repeatedly said they didn’t want the taxes. Hassan added that there was nothing wrong with taking pledges, since she had taken other ones, like not repealing , a woman’s right to choose, and .

"To a lot of people, an income or sales tax represents a spigot that's going to get turned on and it will be a different kind of government," Hassan said. "It's a real concern."

Hassan added that if the Democratic nominee was perceived as supporting a broad-based tax, that candidate would lose and the Republicans would control all three branches of government. 

"I'm not going to lose this election over a tax we'll never have," she said.

On casino gambling, she said it needed further study, especially in light of Massachusetts constructing them. She said, according to studies, more than half the state’s residents currently gamble in some form and most of them are middle-class residents which contradicts the perception that gambling is regressive or just poor people play the lottery.

“If I think we’re going to lose so much revenue to Massachusetts but still have to deal with the social problems that gambling brings back here, I’m going to look very carefully at whether it is possible to do a very highly regulated, very high-end casino, probably near the Massachusetts border,” she said. “And I will consider that carefully and be open to it.”

Hassan added that she might be open to the arguments against it. If Massachusetts opens its casinos, there might not be the revenue everyone is expecting.


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