Tag Archives: Andrew Hemingway

Drug War, Election, Opinion, Police State, Politics, US

Andrew Hemingway Victorious In Last Debate Before NH Primary

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Manchester, NH- New Hampshire Republican gubernatorial candidates Andrew Hemingway and Walt Havenstein squared off Friday night in their last debate before the September 9th primary. Havenstein suffered from an incapability to articulate a distinct position on vital state issues, and thus was unable to define himself as the leading candidate. The fact that Havenstein cancelled three debates with Hemingway prior to Friday clearly did not help his campaign.

Despite Havenstein gaining support of establishment allies such as Mitt Romney, John McCain, Chris Christie, and NH State Senate candidate Jim Foley- who was recently outed for concealing his disbarment from law practice for embezzling- Andrew Hemingway triumphantly left the debate as the clear winner.

The contrast between Havenstein and Hemingway was difficult to miss as topics including marijuana decriminalization, New Hampshire’s economy and police militarization were discussed.

When asked about drugs and Governor Hassan’s response to the “spice” problem in the state, Hemingway said he is an advocate of marijuana decriminalization and criticized New Hampshire’s criminal penalty for small amounts of marijuana.

“Today in New Hampshire, we have such severe penalties on this that it pushes and creates a marketplace for these synthetic drugs,” said Hemingway.

Havenstein responded “I understand the nature of this problem, it is a very severe problem for our state. But I don’t think there are simple solutions. I don’t think there are simple solutions, if there were simple solutions, frankly we’d find those simple solutions. And it’s not merely a matter of decriminalizing marijuana.” Havenstein mentioned “looking at” decriminalization.

Havenstein and Hemingway discussed their plans to energize New Hampshire’s economy; Havenstein promised to create 25,000 new jobs by 2017 and reduce the business enterprise tax by 1.1%; Hemingway proposed a flat tax for businesses while eliminating the business profits tax and business enterprise tax and reducing the interest and dividends tax to reduce the burden. Havenstein called it a “tax on jobs when we’re trying to create jobs”, and Hemingway replied that his proposal would mean a reduction of the overall tax burden by nearly 42%.

The two candidates were asked about police militarization. The city of Keene discussed the future of their BearCat, an armored vehicle obtained by police through a federal grant application, and ultimately decided to keep it. Hemingway was asked if police militarization is becoming a problem, and he answered yes.

“To protect and to serve. That is ultimately the motto of police officers. And I believe perhaps that’s something that we have lost. This adoption of BearCats, these massive armored vehicles, the idea of them running through the streets of New Hampshire is frankly something that terrifies me and I think it terrifies a lot of individuals.”

Havenstein said that he does not think “massive arming up” of police is appropriate but that it’s up to the communities to decide of that type of equipment is appropriate.

WMUR-TV’s political analyst, James Pindell, graded the debate and gave Hemingway a B+, while Havenstein received a D, the lowest grade of all New Hampshire candidates analyzed following WMUR debates last week. WMUR coverage and analyses provides influence to New Hampshire elections.

“Havenstein gets the worst grade for any candidate all week for the simple reason that he had a terrible debate. He didn’t seem prepared for the most basic of questions. The feedback from Republican post-debate was all in unison: My goodness is he trying to lose?” wrote Pindell. The analyst did not have many words for Hemingway but wrote that “he came prepared and knowledgeable and energetic, even if it seemed over the top sometimes.”

Havenstein has been promoted by big-name GOP establishment candidates, many with unscrupulous records, throughout his campaign. Even with such support however, Havenstein has failed to resonate with voters. Hemingway has been labeled as an underdog in the past, but the campaign has been steadily gaining momentum. While he is not propped up by well-known names in the Republican party, Hemingway has become a favorite of independent-leaning conservatives and liberty-minded voters.

Hemingway’s victory at Friday’s debate has led to more grassroots support than ever before, with pro-liberty candidate PAC Stark360 organizing over 100 volunteers to distribute literature about Hemingway to voters this weekend in the final push before the primary.

Stark360 Volunteers
Volunteers preparing to distribute pro-Hemingway material. Photo credit: Stark360

Hemingway’s official campaign has its own team of about 100 volunteers making phone calls, knocking on doors, and other get-out-the-vote initiatives.

Stark360 has raised nearly $200,000 to help spread the word about Hemingway. Stark360’s volunteers in addition to official campaign volunteers could spell victory for Hemingway next Tuesday, as New Hampshire voters appear to crave a candidate with substance, solutions and integrity, not simply money and political influence.

Update #1, September 6th, 7:41 pm: Jim Foley has suspended his New Hampshire Senate campaign following news that Foley had poorly concealed his record of being disbarred from practicing law due to fraud.

Interviews

Exclusive Interview: Stark360 PAC to Air Pro-Hemingway Commercials

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Benswann.com’s Joshua Cook interviews Stark360 PAC’s Aaron Day to discuss current news in the liberty movement. Day gave an update on how he is helping gubernatorial candidate Andrew Hemingway and a new website, AnyBodyButBrown.org, which exposes Scott Brown’s progressive voting record. Watch Pro-Hemingway ads here.

Listen below:

 

Politics, US

NH GOP Gubernatorial Candidate Told To Return $9K In Improper Tax Credits

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Concord, NH- Gubernatorial candidate Walter Havenstein (R-Alton) has been billed by the state of Maryland for “inappropriately accepted” tax credits that he shouldn’t have received.

Questions were raised about Havenstein’s residency following his candidacy announcement earlier this year. At the time of his declaration of candidacy, Havenstein claimed that he has lived in New Hampshire since 1999 when he and his wife moved to Bedford.

Havenstein later bought a home in Alton, NH, and then bought a condominium in Bethesda, Maryland while working there at BAE systems before becoming CEO of SAIC. In 2007, Havenstein signed affidavits stating that Maryland was his primary residence when he applied for the Maryland Homestead tax credit.

Maryland law defines “principal residence” as follows: “Principal residence” has been defined to mean the “one dwelling where the homeowner regularly resides and is the location designated by the owner for the legal purposes of voting, obtaining a driver’s license, and filing income tax returns.”

Critics of Havenstein, particularly Democrats, questioned Havenstein’s declaration of being a full-time New Hampshire resident in order to gain eligibility to run for governor, while also claiming primary residency in Maryland to receive tax credits at the same time.

“Being a statutory resident for income tax purposes doesn’t make you eligible for the homestead property tax credit that Havenstein took. Only those domiciled in Maryland can take that break. Homestead equals domicile and domicile equals homestead,” said former New Hampshire Democratic Party Chair Kathy Sullivan in April when the media began discussing the issue. “Given these facts, Havenstein is left with a very uncomfortable situation – either he was domiciled in Maryland as recently as 2011 and therefore ineligible to run for Governor of New Hampshire or he misled Maryland tax officials to get a tax break he wasn’t entitled to.”

In June, Havenstein requested that the Ballot Law Commission make a ruling declaring that he met the seven-year residency requirement that gubernatorial candidates in New Hampshire must adhere to. In his petition, he claimed that he did stay longer in Maryland than New Hampshire for several years but stated the situation was temporary.

The issue was assumed to be put to rest after the Ballot Commission ruled in his favor. However, with the state of Maryland now ordering $9,000 in back taxes, Havenstein has 30 days to pay the bill.

Former New Hampshire Governor John Sununu blasted Democrats, saying “This is just part of the Democrats’ smear campaign because they are burdened by an incompetent that is making a tough political climate for them,” he said.

“This is just another in a long list of these types of events that Walt Havenstein has brought into the race,” said Andrew Hemingway, Havenstein’s primary opponent. “It’s unfortunate because what it does is every time this happens, it takes away from the issues that are facing this state.”

James Pindell of WMUR-TV weighed in on the news, pointing out that “stories like this, which undermine Havenstein’s argument from day one that he is the most electable candidate, only give Hemingway more momentum.”

Election, Featured, Politics, US

Exclusive: Stark360 PAC Aims to Make New Hampshire a Pro-Liberty Powerhouse

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A group of entrepreneurs and liberty activists just announced the launch of a new political action committee called Stark360. The PAC is focused on pursuing libertarian-minded political objectives in New Hampshire, a critical state in the presidential election process as it is home to the first-in-the-nation party primary elections. Stark360 is named after New Hampshire-born Revolutionary War hero General John Stark, best known for his heroic actions at the Battle of Bennington in 1777. The committee’s site contains the following quote by Stark, which happens to be the source of New Hampshire’s state motto, “Live free or die: Death is not the worst of evils.”

Stark360 has outlined a specific set of step-by-step objectives that it aims to achieve over the next few years. First on the list is the election of 32-year-old millennial Republican tech entrepreneur Andrew Hemingway to the position of governor of New Hampshire. If Hemingway, who once served as Chairman of the state’s Republican Liberty Caucus, prevails in the September 9 GOP primary, he will face incumbent Democratic Governor Maggie Hassan in the general election in November. Second on Stark360’s agenda is the achievement of a pro-liberty majority among Republicans in the state’s legislature. The group also has eyes on the 2016 Republican presidential primary, as it hopes to lay the groundwork for a win by a liberty candidate. According to the organization’s mission statement, it plans to achieve these goals by deploying “a statewide, data-driven grassroots campaign that will endure beyond 2014 and address a fundamental structural weakness of the Republican Party.”

Aaron Day, Chair of Stark360, expressed the group’s concerns with politics-as-usual in The Granite State, “In recent years, New Hampshire has picked losing Presidential candidates. A small, elite group of the New Hampshire Republican establishment, corrupted by DC interest groups, has disenfranchised New Hampshire voters, alienated the youth vote, and manipulated party rules for personal advantage. Our data-driven grassroots infrastructure will restore the Republican party back to the liberty loving citizens of New Hampshire and serve as a model for the rest of the nation.”

Stark360’s team includes founder and Chair Aaron Day, who serves as CEO of the think tank The Atlas Society, Chairman of the Republican Liberty Caucus of New Hampshire, Chairman of the Free State Project, a member of the Hillsborough Country Republican Committee, and board member of the Bedford Republican Committee. Co-founder Matt Philips once interned for The Cato Institute prior to joining forces with internet advertiser DoubleClick and selling his company Right Media to Yahoo! Inc. He now serves on the board of the Free State Project, as a member of the Hillsborough County Republican Committee, and as Chairman of the board of Ethics and Economics Education, Inc. Treasurer and special adviser Dan Backer, also founder and Principal Attorney for DB Capitol Strategies, has experience as counsel to over 30 PACs and 20 members of the US House and Senate.

A particular focus of the group is bridging the divide between the Republican Party and millennial voters. Says Stark360’s mission statement, “What if we could prove that liberty works? What if we could transform the Republican Party into a party of liberty that embraces the millennials? What if we could break the cycle of failed Republican candidates who support the expansion of the welfare state and position the country for a Goldwater/Reagan Republican in 2016?” The group also pointed out, “If both the legislature and governor’s office were controlled by Liberty-Republicans, New Hampshire would be in a position to pass right-to-work, reform its broken pension system, fix voter fraud, and decriminalize, if not fully legalize, marijuana.”

Aaron Day told BenSwann.com that enacting policies on the state-level in New Hampshire would serve as an example as to how other states could benefit from them as well, “For a relatively small investment compared to other races and states, we can prove that liberty works in New Hampshire by winning our state races, and then we become the proof-point for the rest of the country… because we certainly have enough examples of failure of the state as seen in Detroit, Illinois, California, and other places around the country. ”

Stark360 accepts donations in Bitcoin in addition to traditional currency options and believes that liberty activists nationwide should focus on promoting issues in New Hampshire, as the state is influential on national politics and already has a libertarian-leaning electorate. Said co-founder Matt Philips, “New Hampshire is the single best investment to demonstrate and spread liberty throughout the rest of the country through New Hampshire’s critical first-in-the-nation primary status. The case for liberty in New Hampshire is clear.”

Featured, Opinion, Politics, US

Video: NH Republican Gubernatorial Candidate Called Tea Party Members “Teabaggers”

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Video has surfaced of Walter Havenstein, the GOP establishment’s pick to challenge Maggie Hassan (D-NH) in the upcoming New Hampshire gubernatorial race, dismissing Tea Party conservatives as “teabaggers” while speaking to a group of business students at the University of New Hampshire. The video is from 2010, during the height of the Tea Party’s popularity.

“We got a lot of problems in this country,” said Havenstein.  “The teabaggers, or whatever they are, they’ve been telling us that all summer long. Alright?”

“Isn’t that who they are? I’m a little out of touch,” Havenstein continued, smiling.

The usage of a sexual slur is Havenstein’s latest folly. As previously reported, Havenstein is the former CEO of Science Applications International Corporation (SAIC), a tech company that was awarded billions in federal contracts and implicated in in a spyware hack on security software that happened to involve the NSA. He was still CEO of SAIC at the time of this video.

Havestein insisted in a press release that he was using the word in a positive manner. According to the Union Leader:

“As anyone who watches the full video can clearly see, I was talking about the positive impact that the Republican victory in the 2010 elections had on shaking up the status quo. So it was obviously a poor choice of words. The great thing about our democracy is that we get to shake things up every two years, which is what I want to do this November.”

This past weekend, at the Coalition of New Hampshire Taxpayers straw poll and picnic in Hillsborough, Havenstein was approached by attendee Dennis Hamel. Hamel explained to Havenstein that the word “teabagger” is a “trigger word” used by opponents of Republicans to specifically incite anger, and had asked Havenstein to apologize. “How should I react when you referred to me, my wife, most of the people in this room, and millions of patriotic Americans with a homosexual slur?” Hamel asked Havenstein. Havenstein responded that Hamel should watch the full video of his speech, and Hamel replied that “a very sincere and public apology is in order.” Havenstein did not reply.

Republican candidate for governor Andrew Hemingway responded to Havenstein’s video slur in a statement:

“Whether one likes the ‘Tea Party’ or doesn’t like the ‘Tea Party,’ everyone should be offended by this. People have referred to me as a Tea Partier and I always say this: If you mean an average citizen worried about the future of our country as it relates to over-taxation, over-regulation and limited liberty who is willing to stand up and work? Then fine. That’s who these people are.”

Hemingway was also in attendance at the CNHT straw poll, and gave a speech following Havenstein’s that began pointedly describing the beginning of the Tea Party organization in New Hampshire. “I’m curious, how many of you were at the very first Tea Party that was started in New Hampshire? How many of you were there for that?” Hemingway asked the crowd.

Hemingway went on to discuss the work done over the last four years by Tea Party and liberty-minded Republicans fighting for lower taxes and reduced spending, while Havenstein “was living in Maryland, speaking at groups passing derogatory comments about the Tea Party.”

“This is unacceptable. This is unacceptable from the likes of Rachel Maddow, and this is unacceptable from the likes of a Republican candidate running, asking for your vote. I am offended, we should all be offended that this type of behavior exists,” Hemingway said. “We must have an apology for this type of action.” Hemingway bested Havenstein the straw poll 111-43.

The video of Hemingway’s speech is available below.

Opinion, US

Maryland Resident, Former NSA Contractor, to Run for NH Governor

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We reported last week that Walt Havenstein, a resident of Maryland, has plans to file to run for Governor in New Hampshire. New Hampshire’s Constitution clearly states that (emphasis added):

[Art.] 42. [Election of Governor, Return of Votes; Electors; If No Choice, Legislature to Elect One of Two Highest Candidates; Qualifications for Governor.] The governor shall be chosen biennially in the month of November; and the votes for governor shall be received, sorted, counted, certified and returned, in the same manner as the votes for senators; and the secretary shall lay the same before the senate and house of representatives, on the first Wednesday following the first Tuesday of January to be by them examined, and in case of an election by a plurality of votes through the state, the choice shall be by them declared and published. And the qualifications of electors of the governor shall be the same as those for senators; and if no person shall have a plurality of votes, the senate and house of representatives shall, by joint ballot elect one of the two persons, having the highest number of votes, who shall be declared governor. And no person shall be eligible to this office, unless at the time of his election, he shall have been an inhabitant of this state for 7 years next preceding, and unless he shall be of the age of 30 years.

So that made us wonder: who is Walt Havenstein and why is he running for Governor of New Hampshire?

Havenstein is the former CEO of tech company SAIC. From SAIC’s website:

SAIC consults on the design, development, and use of products, parts, and programs for a diverse array of government and enterprise missions. We help optimize infrastructure, engineering processes, operational approaches, and logistics and supply chain management by offering a wide range of business and mission strategy services, including:

  • Analysis, reporting, and consulting on national policy and technical business issues.
  • International security, defense, and cultural advisory.
  • Implementation of organizational change processes.
  • Government contract project management and program support.

He retired in June of 2012, but not before securing $5.9 billion dollars in federal contracts. That ranks them 4th in companies that received federal contracts.

contractors
Source: WashingtonTechnology.com

It is no secret that SAIC is awarded billions of dollars a year in contracts, but what are these contracts for? According to Slate, SAIC may have been contracted by the government to place malware on Tor networks and websites (sometimes referred to as “dark web”). Dark web is usually used by journalists and activists who wish to transmit information anonymously. Sometimes, just like the regular web, it’s used for criminal activity.

The malware was used to collect data on website traffic and visitor information and activity and send it back to a data collection center. The IP address the malware was sending the information to was traced back to an address near Reston, Va. Further investigation found that a SAIC IP address, that was alloted to the NSA, was receiving the malware information.

Is it a coincidence that Havenstein announced his run shortly after gubernatorial candidate Andrew Hemingway announced his “Privacy First” platform?

From Hemingway’s Privacy First platform:

Outline: The concept of privacy is paramount in the protection of individual liberties.  The degree to which the government, either federal, state or local, corporations or curious individuals have the ability to gather information on anyone for any reason is the degree to which our privacy has been invaded.  Therefore, it is paramount that government must do everything in its power to prevent this incursion.  Government’s job should be to protect citizens from this intrusion and not to be the purveyor of it.  The advancement of digital capabilities and technology without legislative protection has led to an “open season” mentality on information and data collection. Whether it is through our medical and health organizations, our schools, or the blatancy of metadata collection by the National Security Agency (NSA), it is incumbent upon all government and political leaders to develop ways to protect the privacy of Americans and specifically, Granite Staters.

Let us know your thoughts below.

 

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Opinion

GOP Establishments’ Assault on New Hampshire Liberty Republicans

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Concord, N.H. – We are just days away from former Massachusetts Senator Scott Brown’s official announcement that he will be running for Senate in New Hampshire. His announcement will come after Brown has lived in New Hampshire for only a few months.

It is a widely known fact in New Hampshire that establishment Republicans, both national and statewide, are happy to see Brown run. Brown has even had help from Karl Rove’s PAC American Crossroads, which is currently running anti-Shaheen T.V. ads. Sources tell BenSwann.com that American Crossroads will be spending mid six figures in New Hampshire.

Brown will be entering a race that has three qualified candidates, all of which have strong liberty backgrounds: former state Senator Jim Rubens, conservative activist Karen Testerman and former New Hampshire Senator Bob Smith. While the liberty movement is split among these candidates one thing is constant- the liberty movement is rejecting Brown.

Brown recently admitted he does not have the best qualifications for the job ‘Cause, you know, whatever.” His 2012 voting record just might prove that. According to Politifact, Brown voted 53% of the time with the Democrats in his final two years of office.

As if one transplant wasn’t enough the GOP establishment has tapped Walt Havenstein, a self-and tax-proclaimed resident of Maryland to take on former chair of the Republican Liberty Caucus, Andrew Hemingway, in the Republican gubernatorial primary.

As you can see below, Havenstein took Maryland tax credits related to residency in Maryland.

havenstein-tax-bill
source: walthavenstein.com/

According to Kevin Landrigan, staff writer at NH.com:

According to Maryland law, the principal residence is defined as the location “designated by the owner for the legal purposes of voting, obtaining a driver’s license and filing income tax returns.”

Landrigan goes on in his article that when Havenstein accepted his Maryland home as principal residence, Havenstein did not have to pay property taxes on the first $50,000 of his home value.

With Hemingway polling better against a first term Governor than any challenger in recent history, it begs the question of why has the establishment tapped Havenstein to primary him?

A bigger question may be what would establishment candidates at the top of the ticket do to liberty candidates running for local and state offices? If history is any indication, it’s not a good sign. When Romney was at the top of the ticket the New Hampshire Republicans went from holding super majority in the house to being the minority.

 

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Featured, Politics, Technology, US

NH Gubernatorial Candidate Takes Aim at NSA, Securing Privacy

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Manchester, N.H.– Gubernatorial candidate Andrew Hemingway has released a series of proposals to protect New Hampshire citizens from the overreaching powers of the NSA as well as other forms of data collection. His “Privacy First” plan is the first of several “Solutions First” proposals that outline the initiatives he would take as Governor.

“I believe strongly that privacy is an issue engrained in American culture, law, tradition and in the Constitution.  The authors of this great document may not have known the technology we would have more than two centuries later, but they did know government, when given the opportunity, will encroach on the liberties of individuals.  We must pro-actively stop this over-reach by the federal, state and local governments,” Hemingway said in his release.

Massive data collection has become a daily intrusion on the lives of Americans, and Hemingway has created several concepts to prevent this data from being used against New Hampshire residents.

“There are several things a Governor can do on the issue of privacy.  However, the Governor must be willing to be bold, be innovative and be creative in pursuit of privacy,” said Hemingway.  “Sitting back letting the NSA metadata collection continue, the data collection of our students continue and the medical data of our citizenry continue without one word of opposition or attempt to protect Granite Staters is exactly the kind of Status Quo governing we don’t need. This is just one in a series of several pro-active solutions I will be releasing over the months of this campaign.”

In each of these sections of “Privacy First”, Hemingway proposes introducing legislation to prohibit the State of New Hampshire from using different methods of data collection against its residents.

“Privacy First” addresses the issue of patient-specific data related to Obamacare. ACA legislation overrides HIPPA with its “navigators” that are allowed to access private data of patients. Hemingway plans to implement legislation that prohibits the state, as well as insurance companies licensed in NH, from collecting an individual’s health and healthcare information.

In addition to protecting patient information, Hemingway supports the privacy of students as well. Common Core “uses mass collection and analysis of student information to implement itself as a program. This information includes everything from a student’s name and address to his or her social security number, family information, attendance and grades.  This information is then shared with third party research groups and private companies.” Hemingway’s “Privacy First” would call for prevention of third-party access to such data.

Hemingway also plans to protect residents’ emails from being accessed by law enforcement and government officials. In his “Privacy First” plan, legislation would be introduced to require state law enforcement and other government agencies at state and municipal level to obtain a warrant before asking service providers to deliver a private individual’s emails and other electronic information. Hemingway plans to protect the privacy of cell phone users as well by calling for legislation to prevent government agencies from being able to collect cell phone users’ location information from wireless providers without a warrant from a judge.

It’s widely known now that the NSA is collecting massive amounts of data on American citizens at a rapid, uncontrollable pace, and at this time there’s “no requirement for a judge to sign a warrant or approve of this data collection prior to its collection.” In New Hampshire, Hemingway would encourage the state to adopt legislation that prohibits the use of such data in the courts without a “properly executed warrant signed by a judge prior to and authorizing data collection.”

Additionally, Hemingway would encourage legislation that prohibits the use of facial recognition biometrics “without the proper exercise of the legal system, including a properly executed warrant signed by a judge prior to and authorizing data collection of a specific individual(s),” and would call for it to be prohibited in the NH courts to be used as evidence.

Hemingway supports currently proposed legislation including HB 1619, a bill that prohibits acquiring sensitive information such as utility, financial and insurance data by state, local municipality, private entity or individual without a search warrant and  probable cause; HB 1212, a bill barring colleges from access to personal social media accounts of any current or prospective students; and HB 1533, bill would require a search warrant from law enforcement before being allowed to search any portable electronic device.

Hemingway is currently fundraising for his gubernatorial effort with “Moneybomb Madness” at AndrewHemingway.com and is the first major candidate to accept Bitcoin donations. He will be on the radio with Ben Swann today, March 25th, at 1pm EST. Hemingway’s full “Privacy First Plan” is available here.

Opinion, Politics

Will Andrew Hemingway Be the Strongest Liberty Governor?

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Andrew Hemingway is a 32-year-old entrepreneur from Bristol, NH running on the Republican ticket for New Hampshire Governor. He is currently the only competitor to challenge governor Maggie Hassan (D-Exeter) and hopes to unseat her this November. Hemingway has a background in innovative technology- he organized the first Twitter presidential debate in 2011 and is also the founder of Grassloot, a simplified and more efficient online donation application that allows its users to donate to their favorite causes and campaigns from virtually all mobile devices, including via text.

Issues of education, fiscal responsibility, and civil liberties are at the forefront of his campaign. Hemingway is opposed to Obamacare- describing it as “an abject failure”- and wants to see it repealed.  “In New Hampshire we have only one insurance company eligible on the Exchange,” Hemingway tells Benswann.com. “That has created a monopoly and massive premium costs for our families.  Ten hospitals are removed from the network leaving people in the north country having to drive hours for basic medical care.  I’d like to see Obamacare repealed, until those in Washington can make that happen we need to fosters competition in NH to lower costs and increase access to health care.”

In addition to Obamacare, Hemingway is also opposed to Common Core, new federal education standards that are under scrutiny from teachers and parents for its controversial teaching material. While the outrage and frustration over Common Core is happening all over the country, Hemingway wants to see an end to it in New Hampshire:

“I adamantly oppose Common Core. Common Core substitutes tried and true educational process with an unproven top down mess that hurts our children and relegates our teachers to mere bystanders in the classroom. Our campaign will state here and now that the most important person to make decisions for the classroom is the individual teacher. Why would anyone want to change that? Gov. Hassan made the support of Common Core one of the main points in her State of the State address on Feb. 6th. It is clear that there can be no more of a fundamental difference between Gov. Hassan and myself. I believe in the rights of the parents, those who are responsible for their children and who pay the taxes which support public education.  Gov. Hassan believes in the right of the State through Federal coercive measures to dictate what and how your children learn.  She stands with the Government. I stand with the people.”

One issue that does not come up as often as Obamacare or Common core in campaigns is the matter of NSA spying. Hemingway stands in favor of personal privacy, saying, “Privacy in a world where technology is developing so rapidly is something all leaders must address.  Whether it is protection of our emails, our phone calls, our physical images or our health care, we must protect our citizens individual liberties and as Governor I will do so.” Hemingway plans to fight their intrusion on New Hampshire residents: “Our Forefathers never intended to allow such government intrusion and hijacking of liberty to be allowed.  Next week, I will be releasing the most comprehensive privacy plan I have yet to see put forward on the state level. While, as Governor, I cannot prevent the NSA from the illegal spying they are conducting on Americans, I can make sure its information is not used to prosecute anyone in our state judicial system. ”

Marijuana has been a hot-button issue in New Hampshire, with multiple attempts to legalize and/or decriminalize having been made over the last several years. Currently there is a legalization bill passed by the House in January (now in the House Ways and Means Committee) and a decriminalization bill passed March 12.  While Maggie Hassan signed a tightly controlled medical marijuana bill last July, she has stated that she will not support anything further than what she has already signed, including any legalization or decriminalization measures.

Hemingway’s approach to the issue calls for an end to archaic marijuana laws. On the topic of decriminalization, he says it makes sense as a first step. ” Why are we threatening to put people in jail for having a small amount of marijuana for personal use?  Why are we threatening people to lose their jobs, or college acceptance over this?  Why are we spending money prosecuting these crimes and ruining people’s lives?  The punishment needs to fit the ‘crime’ and decriminalization is a common sense way to do that.”

Hemingway also disagrees with the medical marijuana legislation signed by Hassan, saying, “The law supported by Maggie Hassan still today leaves patients suffering from cancer, multiple sclerosis, and other serious illnesses, with no protection from arrest and no ability to access marijuana if their doctors recommend it. We must improve access for those suffering.” While Governor Hassan remains opposed to marijuana legalization and has vowed to veto any such bill, Hemingway is open to such discussion:

“I am open to discussing legalization. There are several issues involved. First, we must recognize we have a very serious heroin and illegal prescription drug problem in this state.  Focusing on marijuana doesn’t solve that problem.  If a person has to go to a dealer for marijuana that person now has access to an individual who may have access to dangerous drugs like heroin.  Legalizing marijuana puts a buffer between a dealer of heroin, narcotics, opiates etc and an individual who may otherwise never have thought of trying those dangerous drugs. If we legalize it, we control it and we can tax it.  We can use a portion of that tax to go to drug treatment programs to address these serious heroin and narcotic problems we have.  NH is 49th in treatment. Let’s get a revenue stream to address a growing and serious problem in NH and I do not see that problem as marijuana.”

Hemingway’s steering committee includes liberty-minded New Hampshire State Representative Emily Sandblade (R-Hillsborough) and former libertarian gubernatorial candidate John Babiarz of Grafton, who is also the town’s fire chief.

Hemingway looks to use his entrepreneurial and technological background to place him ahead of the curve in his campaign. Hemingway’s platform has been resonating with New Hampshire’s residents who value personal freedom, and he has the potential to be America’s most liberty-minded Governor if elected.

Today marks the launch of his fundraising campaign, Moneybomb Madness, and is the first major candidate to accept Bitcoin donations. For more information visit AndrewHemingway.com.

Hemingway will be joining Ben Swann on his radio show on Tuesday March 25th.