DENISE WALDERICH, DEMOCRATIC CANDIDATE FOR STATE REPRESENTATIVE

I am a citizen of Goffstown, a 59-year old grandmother of three, and a life-long Democrat.

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THE ENVIRONMENT: I am running to preserve clean air, soil, and water for the future generations of New Hampshire citizens. Our environmental safeguards are being eroded at an alarming rate. We breathe air polluted by coal-burning power plants of the Midwest that refuse to self-regulate and clean up their emissions. Our consumption of freshwater fish has been limited due to mercury in our streams and lakes. And our forests will soon be logged into oblivion if greedy corporations have their way.

My eight- year-old grandson has been diagnosed with high functioning autism. My three-year-old grandson has been hospitalized frequently due to asthma. Both of these illnesses may well have been caused by excessive pollution in our air and water. I do not want this future for the children of New Hampshire.

REPRODUCTIVE CHOICE: Nor do I want the women of New Hampshire to lose control of reproductive choices. The erosion of a woman’s right to choose how and when to plan her family is alarming. I support separation of church and state and believe reproductive rights should not be legislated based upon the invasion of religious beliefs on the legislative process.

DOMESTIC VIOLENCE AND SEXUAL ASSAULT: I also want the citizens of this state to be safe from sexual assault and domestic violence. I therefore have worked diligently both through volunteer work and through my profession as a marriage and famly therapist to end these heinous acts. I hope to effect legislation that will strengthen laws that protect New Hampshire citizens from assault. Too many have suffered and even died from these crimes.

JOB OUTSOURCING AND CORPORATE WELFARE: I am concerned about the horrific effects of outsourcing New Hampshire jobs to foreign shores while giving corporations big bucks in tax breaks because of loopholes that allow them to hide income overseas. This is especially a travesty at the time our country is at war. Military equipment and even the bullets our soldiers use to defend us should not be made in an overseas plant, while New Hampshire citizens have to settle for minimum wage jobs. New Hampshire has lost 24% of its manufacturing jobs over the past three years, and our congressmen don’t seem to care, nor have they tried to reverse this trend.

HEALTH CARE AND TAXES: The middle class is being squeezed by rising costs in health care and in property taxes. Those of us in Goffstown saw our property taxes increase alarmingly in the past year. Unfunded federal mandates, such as the inappropriately named “No Child Left Behind,” continue to leach money out of our local and state pocketbooks. And prescription drug reform has proven to benefit mainly the large drug corporations.

We need to get serious about these issues. New Hampshire is a state of natural beauty. Its citizens are strongly independent and believe in hard work. And all of its citizens, not just the wealthy few, should benefit from the abundant resources it has to offer. If elected, I hope to assure that our future generations continue to enjoy the land I have grown to love.