The season is upon us now. While the Country gets down to business we begin our own here in Town.
I have a report that two citizens have filed for the open Selectman seat and they are Justin Chouinard and Robert Aldrich.
Bobby came close the last time and Justin is a new member of the Budget Committee this year. It is great that people are interested in being involved at this level. If we get several more then we have the cluttered field issue. I hope we have more time to get some candidates forums.
I got a forum going the last time around with the assistance of the Exeter Area GFWC . I will speak to them today. One forum was not sufficient and all candidates were not present.
UPDATE 5pm WED
There will be two candidate forums ,they will be televised. The dates are February 18th Wednesday and February 25th Wednesday. The Nowak Room in the Town Offices will be utilized for the Forum. The Exeter Area GFWC will be moderating as they did last year.
Mike
The Exeter Town Crier 
I just did a quick goggle search on Mr. Chouinard and found an interesting little fact. He belongs to and is listed as a assistent organizer for a group called NH Seacoast liberty. Look them up on line and they appear to be an anti government group in the seacoast. Is this the type of selectman that we want looking over a multi million dollar operation? I hope you follow up on this and get the information out for comment.
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Hi Mike,
Thanks for reminding us of the upcoming election. I think the noise from the recent national election was very loud and made us almost forget about our local race.
I am a member of Exeter Area GFWC (EAGFWC) in the past other wise known as the GFWC Exeter Area Juniors. So for less confusion it’s Exeter Area GFWC.
It will be interesting to be involved again with the forum. I know it made me a more informed voter last year.
Thanks,
Carol
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Hi folks,
I love the fact that you are interested enough to be following this election, researching the candidates, and commenting in a public forum.
It troubles me that people would identify Seacoast Liberty as an anti-government group. I joined the meet up last year. It is primarily a social group. We meet at local restaurants, discuss political issues, drink beer, and joke around. The membership is diverse, and is primarily made up of intelligent, hardworking professionals with successful careers and families. As the website describes the group: We are a group of liberty minded individuals working towards spreading the message of liberty far and wide. We are proponents of limited government, advocates of personal responsibility and champions of the free market.
This year I volunteered to organize meet ups in the Exeter area. Organizing doesn’t take much, but I thought I would be a good fit since I follow the local issues and frequent our local restaurants. We have been meeting once per month.
As for the election, I look forward to meeting each of you, and I am very interested in your input.
-Justin
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I find it interesting that Mr. Chouinard identifies his role with Seacoast Liberty, which is affiliated with the so-called “Free State Project,” as primarily “social.” According to the website for Seacoast Liberty, Mr. Chouinard is the local organizer in Exeter for Seacoast Liberty and the “Free State Project.”
If you are unaware of it, the Free State Project is a plan for thousands of what they term “liberty-oriented people” to move to a single state in the U.S., where they can “work within the political system” to accomplish their agenda of transforming the state into a libertarian utopia. I encourage you to learn more about this plan. The Free State Project people across the country voted to select New Hampshire as their target state to take over. As they say, “New Hampshire is that state! New Hampshire offers us the most existing political advantages to facilitate the achievement of our goals.” Check out their reasons for choosing the Granite State here:
Click to access 101-Reasons-to-Move-to-NH.pdf
Here are some of the points that they make about why NH is so attractive for their goals, from their website:
The NH Constitution does not mandate public schools, so they believe that it will be an easier state to accomplish their goal of abolishing the public school system or, as they put it, “government controlled schools.” This is a major goal for them: “Although education is mostly funded at the local level, not too long ago it was ALL funded at the local level. The current system was created with the highly unpopular Claremont decision handed down by the Supreme Court. No issue unites the citizens of New Hampshire quite so much as the disgust over the school funding situation. There is an enormous opportunity right now for any political movement to promote a workable solution to the school funding situation and END public schooling in those towns that wish to do so.”
They note that the NH Constitution does not “prohibit secession” from the Union, which they believe “could be a critical bargaining chip during negotiations with the federal government.” Negotiations with the federal government that would include threatening to secede from the Union?
They believe that our NH tradition of town meetings and local control will make it easier for them to take over our state. As they say “What better atmosphere could there be for FSP members to begin repealing unwanted government intrusion, to demonstrate that our ideas are viable, and to create pockets of freedom on a local level to act as statewide and nationwide examples of the benefits of freedom? They also note that: “FREE STATE PROJECT MEMBERS WHO HAVE ALREADY MADE THE MOVE TO NEW HAMPSHIRE, MARVEL ABOUT HOW OPEN AND INVITING THE NH POLITICAL SYSTEM IS.”
They believe that in NH, they can escape the label of being a fringe political movement: “In New Hampshire, FSP members are gaining media attention not as a “fringe curiosity” but as a viable, mainstream movement with real potential. If our goal is to establish a beachhead of freedom that will serve as an example of freedom to the rest of the nation and world, we can achieve that in New Hampshire.”
They feel that our gun laws offer them opportunities: “New Hampshire offers some of the least restrictive gun laws in the nation. Open carry (no permit necessary) is allowed in all but courtrooms and CCW permits are provided on a “shall issue” basis no fingerprints, photos, or special training required as in other states. Obtaining a nonresident CCW permit in New Hampshire is easy. The NH legislature is presently considering a bill that would make concealed carry permits optional.”
They believe that, in NH, they have a better chance of enacting a “Jury Nullification” law which would permit juries in criminal cases to simply refuse to find a defendant guilty if they disagree with the criminal law that was violated. In other words, if they don’t like the law, they can just let somebody off.
They believe that NH is in a good location to attract more “Free Staters” to help accomplish their transformation of our state: “With the majority of the nation’s population east of the Mississippi, New Hampshire offers a large population from nearby states to draw freedom-lovers from in order to reach and exceed our 20,000 goal.”
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Mr. Chouinard
It is great to see your true colors get exposed in such an open forum. Your association with this group is far from a “social club”. If you believe you just go out for a couple of beers with friends then you are more culable then you seem. Your organization represents a far left fringe group that wants no controls or rules. It is scary to see what Exeter would look like with you at the helm. Accoding to the tax information you don’t even own property in town so I find it hard to believe you want to control spending when the rest of us actually pay the bill. Oh thank you so much for not accepting the salary for the position of selectman. I pay triple that in my property tax alone.
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Dear Mr Chouinard I took this quote that you sent to the union leader in Feb 2008 in regards to a sex offender living in Derry,
Typical worthless government response to a problem. How about just stop the problem at the source, give him life in prison or a noose. He raped and murdered a child, there should be zero tolerance for this.
– Justin Chouinard, Exeter, NH
Is this your idea of how we should govern in a democratic state just kill people I assume you would like this to happen without wasting tax dollars on something as trival as a “trial”. Seeing that you think government is wortless why don’t just you and your buddies from seacoast liberty get together for a couple of beers and form a posse and hang all the bad guys. You are a scarry person that never should be elected your dangerous.
Mike you are a voice of reason why aren’t you coming out aganist people like this?
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Mike, Walter and company,
I find it alarming that people are so quick to sound an alarm about Mr. Chouinard. Maybe we need to bring back McCarthyism, and find all of these people who support the constitution. So let me get this straight you are upset because Mr. Chouinard is in support of; Limited Government, Fiscal Responsibility, Personal Responsibility, Educational Freedom, and Democracy as it was conceived by our founders. Wow, that seems evil! He even spoke out about sex offenders who now have more rights than the personal property owners who are forced to live with them! You even characterize his zeal for educational freedom in a bad light when the largest revenue producer in the Town of Exeter is a bastian of free choice in education. Then you make claims that he is a free stater, didn’t we see an unprecedented number of out of state volunteers come in to our state and influence the presidential election. I guess that is a liberty only allowed by the self righteous.
I have met Justin, which is something that I am sure many of you have not done. He is a sensitive, caring, articulate, young man who cares deeply about the community he has made the choice to start a family in.
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Like Justin Chouinard, I am an organizer of the Exeter area branch of NH Seacoast Liberty.
In his post, Justin eloquently stated the goals of this group, but failed to mention that attendance is open to all. We welcome any one, of any political persuasion, to join in respectful dialogue over a glass of wine, or a beer.
Because of the emphasis on limited government, Seacoast Liberty does attract libertarian- minded men and women. Members of the Free State Project are among our members. It is note worthy that some Free Staters are Democrats, while others are Republicans. Though both groups have members in common, NH Seacoast Liberty and the FSP are two separate organizations.
Justin was criticized for stating that our group is primarily social. Yet all politics is social, and the NH Seacoast Liberty Meet-ups are no different than the networking done by Democrats who wish to promote President Obama’s agenda.
In their posts, Gregg and Walter attempt to malign Justin by his association with NH Seacoast Liberty. These two individuals must be psychic, since they pass judgment on the group without ever having attended one of our Meet-Ups. How can Walter state, with any authority, that “this group is far from a social club”? Apparently, Gregg “finds it interesting” that people can meet socially, if they can, in any way, be connected to the Free State Project.
Both Gregg and Walter refer to NH Seacoast Liberty meetings as though attendees were part of a secret cabal, plotting the destruction of all that is good. They have both abandoned logic in favor of innuendo.
Gregg attempts to waive red flags when he lists a number of objectives listed on the Free State Project’s website.
First, he warns that 20,000 liberty-minded folks wish to imperil NH’s 1.3 million people by admittedly working “within the political system.” Oh No! Not That!
Gregg is concerned that some people want to be free to educate their children outside of the “public schools”, which are, undeniably, “government controlled.” He is incredulous that the people of NH might fervently wish to secede from the Union, should the federal government impose tyranny in defiance of our constitution.
Gregg later points out that people who wish to retain their right to defend themselves would find NH an attractive alternative to those states that disarm law- abiding citizens to the benefit of criminal predators.
In his FEB 5th post, Walter criticizes Justin’s belief, expressed in a letter to the editor, that a man who raped and murdered a child, should be imprisoned for life, or put to death. He then disparages all members of NH Seacoast Liberty, stating that “they might get together for a couple of beers, form a posse and hang all the bad guys” Of course, this is just inflammatory and fallacious nonsense.
Regardless of the hysterical, ad hominem attacks posted here against him, Justin Chouinard is a capable and sincere young man. Any town would be fortunate to have him as a selectman.
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