ANYBODY SEEN FRANK????

Mayor Frank Guinta
Town Hall
City of Manchester
One City Hall Plaza
Manchester, NH 03101


May 19, 2009

Dear Frank,

First let me welcome you to the race for the Republican nomination for New Hampshire’s 1st Congressional. It can only help the Party and the state to have a vigorous contest for the seat. As the old saying goes, “you are only as good as your competition forces you to be.”

But now that the announcement hoopla has died down, I would like to make a suggestion by way of this public letter. I would like to propose that over the next year and a half until the primary we set up a regularly scheduled series of joint meetings at the various GOP gatherings and other open public forums to discuss the leading issues that will be on the national agenda. At its best, politics is fundamentally about issues and ideas. I think we owe it to both our party members and the general electorate to put in front of them where we stand on the issues of the day and how we will address them.

From my perspective, the issues that will face the nation over the next five years are quite clear. They will certainly include the following: 1) the whole set of issues surrounding job creation including economics, finance, and trade policy; 2) given the fact that the current financial crisis started in the banking sector, banking and bank regulation should be discussed; 3) energy policy will undoubtedly continue to be a core issue in the future as energy touches virtually every other set of issues; 4) health care is an important core issue both because it touches economic competitiveness of the country but also because of the aging American population; 5) the same can be said about education policy. In this hyper competitive age, education will play a central role in our national economic well being; 6) last, but certainly not least, we need to actively discuss foreign policy. We are still engaged in two wars abroad and much of our future will be influenced by what happens abroad, particularly in the Middle East and Asia. Beyond these, I am certainly open to discussing any other issues.

I am sure you will agree with me that we owe it to the New Hampshire electorate to discuss these issues openly and in depth. It would be a real pity if this campaign ended up like so many in the past, being just about superficial platitudes and sound bites. Let’s help educate the electorate on the issues and force our Democratic opponent to do the same. We will all be far better off for it.

All the Best,


ROBERT M. BESTANI

Bob Bestani is a resident of Newmarket, a republican and running for the 1st Congressional District against Carol Shea Pelosi. Bob has too many qualifications for the job to list on this posting; but, I'll try to get him to send me a qualifications posting for your consideration.