NH GOP's Clegg Seeks District 5 Executive Council Seat

HUDSON, NH — Citing a change in tone on the Executive Council from more partisan to less oversight, a long-time Republican activist and politician announced he will seek the GOP nomination for the District 5 Executive Council seat.

Bob Clegg, a former state Senator from Hudson, and former majority leader, announced his run for the seat Thursday. The District 5 seat represents a number of western and central communities in Hillsborough and Merrimack counties, including Amherst, Merrimack, Milford, and Nashua.

"I believe that the Executive Council is the watchdog of state government," Clegg said. "Its role is to ensure that our state government runs effectively, efficiently and protects our citizens from governmental overreach. However, in recent years, I have noticed that the role of the council seems to have shifted and taken a more partisan tone and has moved away from its critical function."

Clegg pointed to a move by four of five council members earlier this month to hold up the dispersement of the COVID-19 federal CARES Act funding for June calling it "a dangerous, partisan decision meant to flex the muscles of the few and protect the power of the political institution and the Democratic party."

The funds, he added, belonged to the state, small businesses, and families, and not the Executive Council or Democrats.

"If we want to get New Hampshire back to work, we need to make sure that our government is not holding our businesses back," he said. "I want to help bring the Executive Council back to its watchdog role. I will make it my mission to bring greater transparency and sunlight to the work of the council. This means ending no-bid contracts and giving the public unprecedented access to our meetings and our work."

If Clegg wins the Republican nomination, he will face off against Debora Pignatelli, a former state representative and state Senator.

Pignatelli was first elected executive councilor for the District 5 seat in 2004 and served until 2010 when she lost reelection by around 6,000 votes to David Wheeler, a Milford Republican. She defeated Wheeler in 2012 by around 6,500 votes and served until 2014 when she chose not to seek reelection. Wheeler was elected again to the seat, easily defeating Diane Sheehan by 9,600 votes that year. In 2016, Wheeler also easily defeated Democrat Dan Weeks by about 9,600 votes. When Pignatelli ran again in 2018 though, she bested Wheeler by 4,400 votes with Libertarian Brian Chabot earning nearly 3,200 votes.

The District 5 seat represents the city of Nashua as well as Amherst, Antrim, Bennington, Brookline, Deering, Dunbarton, Fitzwilliam, Francestown, Greenfield, Greenville, Hillsborough, Hollis, Hudson, Jaffrey, Litchfield, Lyndeborough, Mason, Merrimack, Milford, Mont Vernon, New Boston, New Ipswich, Peterborough, Richmond, Rindge, Sharon, Swanzey, Temple, Troy, Weare, Wilton, and Windsor.

Previously, Clegg served four terms as state representative, where he was speaker pro tem and assistant majority leader, and two terms as state Senator, where he served as majority leader.

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