Tara Reardon, District 15 State Senate Candidate

Patch Candidate Profile, Tara Reardon

Age (as of Sept. 1, 2024)

Town or City of Residence

Concord

Position Sought

State Senate District 15

Family

Wife, mother of three children, grandmother to two children

Does anyone in your family work in politics or government?

Jim Bouley, government relations consultant: Jackson Bouley, government relations consultant

Education

JD, UNH Law

Occupation

Attorney in private practice for 20 years, retired; 3 years as the Commissioner of Employment Security for the State of NH; 10 years as a housing director and VP of External Relations at the NH Community Loan Fund. Now retired.

Previous or Current Elected or Appointed Office

14 years (7 terms) in the NH legislature on the House Commerce Committee, 2 terms as Chair. Member of the Concord School Board and Concord City Council At-large member, 3 term (8 years) member of the Merrimack County Board of Commissioners, all as chairperson. Appointed to Concord Zoning Board, Appointed to NH Retirement System Board of Trustees, Appointed to Workforce Opportunity Board.

Campaign website

tarareardon.com

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

Lack of Housing, and a resulting inability of businesses to grow or expand because you can't attract workers when they can not find or afford a place to live. Our ability to grow is stymied. I intend to use my 30 years of experience and relationship building to increase the housing stock. Zoning ordinances need to reflect a willingness on the part of a city or town to work with developers and reduce barriers. Incentives in the form of tax credits, stimulus funding, tax deferments and increased density bonuses must be considered. Manufactured housing is the most affordable housing and needs to be part of the housing solution. Increased density of existing neighborhoods will easily add units. I have created housing for homeless veterans, preserved thousand of units of manufactured housing for low-mod income homeowners, and am currently working on housing for adults with intellectual developmental disabilities. All models that could be replicated if local and state law allowed them to be built in more jurisdictions.

Funding, from federal, state, local and from private sources, is available from a wide variety of agencies and organizations, that information should be available along with the permitted uses of the funds.

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

I am the most experienced candidate, and have a track record of successes. My relationship building over 30 years has given me a vast network or experts and colleagues to reach out to as resources. 80% of bills I sponsored in the legislature were signed into law. My leadership resulted in the smoking ban in restaurants after several other efforts failed. I have doubled the size of our local domestic violence shelter and created housing as detailed in my answer above. I work in a collaborative and non-partisan manner, find common ground, listen, recognize disagreements and work to the common goal. My endorsements are from people that I have worked with and they have appreciated my ability to be a workhorse, never a show pony. I have a reputation and a track record for getting things done, not just writing policy, but insuring that there is money to do it, staffing, and operational plans in place. I have the endorsements of Congresswoman Annie Kuster, Governor John Lynch, formers state senators Sylvia Larsen and Dan Feltes, Representatives Mel Myler and Dave representing Bow and Hopkinton, and Concord Mayor Byron Champlin. All of those endorsements are from people that I have worked with, and know that I am hardworking, collaborative and thorough in my efforts.
Additionally, I have the endorsement of the Teamsters 633, the State Employees Association and the Professional Fire Fighters of New Hampshire, again, all organizations that I have worked with in the past and they have confidence in me that I am the candidate that can represent the interests of their members.

Describe the other issues that define your campaign platform:

Reproductive freedom and health care for everyone is a matter for an individual and their medical professional, not politicians. It is unacceptable that medical personnel is threatened by criminal penalties for caring for a patients needs. NH needs to ensure that changes at the federal level do not impact the lives of Granite Staters but rather our laws guaranty the right of bodily autonomy and reproductive freedom to all citizens.

Childcare is critical to families that need to work outside the home. $710 million in lost wages in NH alone result from the inability for some parents to work. This loss is primarily falling on women, who will ultimately have lower wages for both social security and retirement savings. We need to treat childcare as an essential community need and fund it appropriately.

Public education funding in NH needs to be adequate to actually fund an education, no matter where you live in the state of NH. 80% of School Vouchers are used by students that were not enrolled in public schools prior to the creation of the Education Freedom Fund. We need to end that practice of siphoning funds away from the use of public school students.

Public schools when properly funded and staffed can meet the needs of all students. If a family makes a choice to pursue different education avenues, they themselves need to pay the cost of that education.

Disrespect for teachers is at an all-time high. We have always trusted teachers to run their classrooms, and their curriculum without the influence of uncredentialed politicians influence. The legislature has neither the knowledge or experience to second-guess teachers, let teachers teach.

We can no longer ignore the effects of climate change on NH and beyond. As a tourist state we should be doubly concerned. Seeking out opportunities for clean energy and making it affordable for all Granite Staters should be a priority. We will not eliminate fossil fuels, or gas-powered vehicles but we need to make significant reductions in emissions.

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

I successfully chaired the House Commerce Committee for two terms and served as a member for 7 terms in all. Our hearings and deliberations were professional and collegial. Often the committee would make unanimous recommendations to the full House. Republicans and Democrats worked toward the best result for the people of NH and rarely took partisan stances on issues. I believe my role as a leader and as a member contributed to the good working and dialogue that existed in that committee.

I have been a member of the Merrimack County Board of Commissioners for the past eight years, despite being the sole democrat, I have always chaired the board. I listen, am fair and comprehensive about he work that we do. I suggested and the County adopted a CIP (Capital Improvement Plan) to prevent spikes in the tax rate when large projects were needed. When we received ARPA money, we invited local non-profits to apply for funding for needed projects. The result was new freezers for food pantries and playgrounds at daycares among other projects. My experience creating solar arrays in the housing communities I worked worth inspired me to suggest that we use our ARPA dollars to install an array at the County facility, which is underway. These are just a couple of examples of beneficial projects that provide long term relief and or stability to the budgeting process.

The grant which allowed the local crisis center for domestic violence victims to double the size of the facility required that all of the work be accomplished in just two weeks. The project required the coordination of hundreds of volunteers and contractors. Not only did I work with the leadership team to achieve that, but also physically worked every day of the project to ensure that I was aware if it was off schedule.

The best advice ever shared with me was…

Listen more than you talk.

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

I have dedicated my entire life to community service in addition to a full time job and raising three children. I have lived in this community my whole life and believe that it is a wonderful place to live and raise a family because we truly care about all of our residents and making their lives better. I have never volunteered or sought elected office for the recognition, I do it because it is the responsible way for any community member to contribute. I know that I have plenty; plenty of knowledge, plenty of relationships, and plenty of experience from all of the opportunities I've had to work on a myriad of projects. I would like to use all of that experience, intellect and common sense to work in representing the people of District 15 in the State Senate.