Thousands Raised In Ward 4 Concord City Council Special Election

CONCORD, NH — As the old saying goes, money is the milk-blood of politics, and one ward special election city council candidate has learned that in her third run for office.

The last candidate financial filings before the July 13 special election were submitted on Tuesday and the forms showed Edith Chiasson has raised more money than her two opponents combined. The candidate, who placed third in the Ward 4 special election in 2019, raised another $975 last week for a total of $1,704.30 toward her effort. The donations include $350 put up by the Concord Republican City Committee, as well as $25 from Trisha Dionne, an educator and former Ward 4 city council candidate herself, who ran in 2007. Dr. Matthew Gomez donated $500 to the effort.

Most of Chiasson’s expenditures during the past few weeks have been on stamps for letters and direct mail, according to her report.

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Karen McNamara has been primarily self-funding her campaign, like many city council candidates have done in the past. In her filing, she reported raising $109.25 from donors for a total of $268.50 raised for the race. Dermatologist Peter Sands made a $35 donation to the effort while a resident from Merrimack donated about $74 worth of stamps to the campaign.

Her campaign spent more than $291 on printing, postage, and postcards during the past week.

Connor Spern reported raising $220 for a total of $858 toward her effort. She received two donations from women in the ward, Alison Gutierrez and Sarah Galligan, a library director. Another $35 in donations went unitemized due to being less than $25.

Spern spent about $130 on postcards, postage, and a notary.

Firefighters Back McNamara Without Interviewing Others

In a short Facebook post on Wednesday, Concord’s firefighter union officially endorsed McNamara.

The Professional Firefighters Local 1045 said support for public safety was “a must for the citizens and visitor (sic) of our city” and “a vote for Karen is a vote for public safety.” The firefighters urged residents to get out and vote on July 13.

On Facebook Thursday, McNamara shared the endorsement and thanked firefighters for “your continued service and support.”

According to Chiasson and Spern, no one from Local 1045 reached out to them about the endorsement. While union leadership can do what it wants with its endorsements, it is unusual for all candidates not to be interviewed in political races, even nonpartisan ones like city council seats in Concord.

McNamara’s opponents also found this surprising. Spern said she hoped it was “a minor oversight” and not intentional.

"I am disheartened to hear that only one candidate was able to speak with the fire union before a decision was made,” Spern said. “I would have loved the opportunity to develop relationships with CFD leadership, regardless of who they chose to endorse, and to learn what our community can do to help support them going forward."

Chiasson, too, was disappointed and said it raised deeper concerns than just an endorsement of an opponent.

“First, their statement implies that Karen is the only candidate supporting public safety,” she said. “The organization did not reach out to me for an interview, and I sincerely believe all of us understand and support initiatives to ensure safety in our community. Also, does this create a conflict of interest when city councilors meet on issues where objectives may not align? As a city councilor, I would be working for the interests and financial well-being of the residents in my ward. That would obviously include their personal safety and protection of their property.”

Justin Kantar, the new president of Local 1045, said the union is going through a transition period, including his election, which happened this week. He said the union has never reached out to candidates in the past — candidates reach out to the union and ask to talk. The candidates are then invited to meet with members at a regular business meeting. Neither Chiasson nor Spern contacted them but McNamara did, Kantar said. After meeting with members, they voted to endorse her, he said.

Kantar added the endorsement was not done out of malice. Any future candidates should reach out to the union directly if they are interested in an endorsement and hearing from members about their concerns.

Absentee Ballots? Not Many, Says City Clerk

The 2020 primary and general elections were some of the highest turnout elections in New Hampshire history.

Part of the reason was that hundreds of thousands of Granite Staters voted by absentee ballot, due to fears of catching coronavirus at the polls, something that was probably never going to happen, since voting was no more dangerous than going to the grocery store, a process nearly every resident does, often, pandemic or not.

As coronavirus cases have diminished, there are four or fewer in Concord, so has the fear of voting in person, it would seem.

According to Janice Bonenfant, the city clerk, only 11 voters have cast ballots via the absentee balloting process. One other absentee ballot request is outstanding.

That, however, is a far cry from the hundreds of voters who cast absentee ballots in 2020 from the ward in two elections. At the same time, it is a special election in the middle of July. In five days, the city and Ward 4 residents will know if the low number of absentee ballots was a sign of light turnout or not.

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