Kevin Porter, Concord City Council At Large Candidate

Kevin Porter

Age (as of Election Day)

43

Position sought (including district number if applicable)

City Council At-Large

Party Affiliation

Dem.

Family

Wife (Vanita), 43; two sons ages 7 and 9

Does anyone in your family work in politics or government?

No

Education

B.A. Economics, Bates College; M.A. Economics, New School for Social Research

Occupation

VP of Loan Originations, ROC USA Capital; 21 years of experience in community development/real estate finance

Previous or Current Elected or Appointed Office

None

Campaign website

www.kevinforconcord.com

Why are you seeking elective office?

Having spent my entire career dedicated to strengthening communities and expanding economic opportunity, I believe there are ways that the City of Concord can be more responsive. Particularly in areas such as the clean energy transition, governance and helping to promote inclusive prosperity, I would like to apply my experience in community development and energy to the city that I love and call home. I'm also hoping that more people will get engaged with local government. Local government matters, it's important, and it should be more reflective of our community as a whole.

The single most pressing issue facing our (board, district, etc.) is _______, and this is what I intend to do about it.

The single most pressing issue facing Concord is the skyrocketing cost of living, especially around energy, housing and property taxes, and the City Council can do several things to address this. First, we should enroll in Community Power. We are very behind on this and because of the delays the residents of Concord are paying more on their electric bills then they should be. We also need more municipal solar, and to make it easier for people to put solar up on their own homes or businesses. Solar is now the cheapest form of energy, and we need action here. On housing, we simply need to make it easier for people to build housing in locations and in a scale that is appropriate. The administrative costs and burdens are too high, and it doesn’t need to be that way. On property taxes, the “tax and spend” mentality needs to change, and we need to look at some of the major institutional property owners in Concord and how they help pay for a fair share of the burden.

What are the critical differences between you and the other candidates seeking this post?

Housing and energy are very critical issues right now, and they are also in many ways local issues. I have decades of experience in housing and energy, and having the technical knowledge in these sectors is key to getting things done. I can move things forward because I understand the inner workings of these industries.

If you are a challenger, in what way has the current board or officeholder failed the community (or district or constituency)

Concord is a laggard in almost every way when it comes to energy. There are a lot of talented people working on energy issues locally, but the political will to move things forward has been lacking and that needs to change.

Describe the other issues that define your campaign platform.

Fiscal responsibility is a focus of mine, both of the revenue side and the expense side. Diversifying sources of property tax revenue is something I’d like to take a deep dive into the data on and see how Concord compares to other towns and cities in NH. On the expense side, I think there are a lot of ways where taxpayer money could be saved but unfortunately this just hasn’t seemed like it’s been a priority.

Governance is also very important, and it’s a priority for my campaign because without good governance everything else is impacted. Restaffing the Board of Ethics is one specific issue I’ve pointed to here. Democracy at every level needs a system of checks and balances, and it is not acceptable that this body has been vacated and not met since 2012. There are other related issues, but this is one that is very blatant and needs to be addressed immediately.

What accomplishments in your past would you cite as evidence you can handle this job?

First I’d point to the work we’ve done at ROC USA. We took a model that started here in NH in the 1980s are brought it to scale around the county. We’re using a market-based solution to preserve affordable housing, and doing it at a systems-change level. And in the last few years more and more local governments have gotten involved and want to see this model used to preserve housing in their communities. Secondly, in 2011 I was hired to manage a statewide energy efficiency lending program in Connecticut. This was one of the first statewide on-bill financing programs in the country. Working collaboratively with the utility companies, the public utility regulators, contractors and property owners was really exciting and it showed how broad constituencies of people can work together and save people massive amounts of money.

The best advice ever shared with me was:

You may never be the smartest person in the room, but you can always outwork everyone else in the room.

What else would you like voters to know about yourself and your positions?

The City Council should always remember who they work for, which is the taxpayers of Concord. If I’m elected I promise to always keep that front of mind, and to always make decisions that I think will be in the best interests of the people of Concord as a whole.