US Congress (District 2)
Former Congressman Charlie Bass (R) defeats Ann McLane Kuster (D), Tim van Blommesteyn (I) and Howard Wilson (L) in the bid for the U.S. Congress District 2 seat. Congressman Paul Hodes (D) left this post to run for U.S. Senate, and lost there to Kelly Ayotte.
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 Ann McLane Kuster (D-Hopkinton) Lawyer with Rath, Young and Pignatelli; community activist; author |  Tim vanBlommesteyn (I-Wilmot)President/Owner of Key Marketing, Inc. 2008-present; former management consultant, commercial loan officer, financial analyst and environmental engineer | Howard Wilson (L) |  Charlie Bass (R-Peterborough)U.S. Representative, 1995-2006; N.H. Representative, 1982-1988; N.H. Senate, 1988-1992 |
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| Elections & Campaign Finance | Kuster has signed a pledge to support overturning the U.S. Supreme Court’s Citizens United decision that allowed unlimited corporate or union campaign spending. | “Neither party owns the political process. It's time to have elections that reflect the true interests of all citizens.” vanBlommesteyn proposes “(o)utlawing the use of any political data in drawing districts,” such as the census data that is currently used in redistricting every 10 years. He believes primaries should be open to independent voters and candidates. | Wilson advocates a repeal of all state or federal laws that discriminate against any political party. He strongly opposes public campaign financing. Wilson agrees with the Supreme Court’s Citizens United ruling “partly because it repealed McCain-Feingold restrictions that cut holes in the Bill of Rights.” | Bass was a vocal supporter of the McCain-Feingold campaign finance reform laws to restrict “soft money” and regulate political advertising by third parties. |
| War & Military | Kuster “believes that we must do whatever it takes to protect the American people from terrorism,” but she opposed the Iraq war and escalation in Afghanistan, which she worries is costing lives without improving safety. She supports a narrowly focused counter-terrorism mission there with more accountability from the Karzai government. She supports repeal of “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell.” | vanBlommesteyn believes it was a mistake to invade Iraq. “That said, we’re in a position now where hopefully we can stabilize a country that has a major impact on the long-term viability of the Middle East.” He hopes we can remove troops as scheduled in 2011, but is concerned about a return to sectarian warfare. | Wilson maintains that the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan are unconstitutional. He advocates withdrawing troops from both nations and letting them “solve their problems internally,” even though we wouldn’t like all their solutions. He says U.S. interference is helping the people we are fighting and hurting the people we are trying to help. | Bass was a firm supporter of the war in Iraq. He believes a different strategy is necessary in Afghanistan because its governmental infrastructure is weaker. “I don’t believe that we can support a government that essentially doesn’t exist.” He says announcing a date of withdrawal is like announcing the date you’ll be defeated. |
| Foreign Policy | Kuster’s approach to foreign policy throughout the world is: “first with development, diplomacy, and then defense.” She advocates pressuring the Chinese to re-value their currency against the U.S. dollar. | Limited public record. | Wilson wants foreign policy to be consistent regardless of the party in power at any given time. He thinks the U.S. should limit foreign policy to ambassador posts and trade negotiations. He does not condone full-scale trade agreements. He expresses reluctance at international interventions in cases of human rights violations. | While in the U.S. Congress, Bass voted to establish permanent trade relations with China; he currently supports pressuring the Chinese to re-value their currency. Bass also sponsored a Congressional Resolution expressing solidarity with Israel; he currently does not favor pressuring Israel to cease its settlement activities in the occupied territories. |
| National Budget | Kuster proposes freezing Congressional pay until the budget is balanced, ending “the broken earmark system,” and strengthen Pay-As-You-Go rules. She would reduce the deficit by limiting military engagement in the Middle East and letting the Bush tax cuts expire. She advocates limiting executive pay at the banks that took taxpayer-funded bailouts. | vanBlommesteyn supports a “smaller, more efficient government,” but thinks the current deficit is too large to solve just by cutting programs. He suggests that those who propose only raising taxes on incomes over $250,000 “lack courage.” vanBlommesteyn supports a Constitutional Balanced Budget Amendment and supports giving the president line-item veto authority to keep budgets in check. | Wilson suggests largely dismantling the federal government in order to reduce the cost of running it, saying much of it is not even constitutional since it’s not specified in the Constitution. He would work to repeal both the personal and corporate income tax, relying just on taxation of imported goods. | Bass supports extending Bush-era tax cuts. He wants to repeal the American Recover and Reinvestment Act (“Stimulus”), enact an immediate budget freeze on all non-defense discretionary spending, and elminate “duplicative and ineffective government programs.” |
| Jobs & Economy | Kuster would eliminate the capitals gains tax on small business investments, expand clean energy technology and support universal broadband Internet access. She proposes preventing outsourcing by closing tax loopholes that encourage it and by supporting “fair” trade agreements to better effect than recent free trade agreements. | “We cannot continue to increase employment costs and expect businesses to choose to add workers in the US. We need to look at creative ways to reduce unemployment insurance, workers compensation costs, the overhead burden created by excessive regulation and reporting requirements, as well as health insurance costs if we expect to compete effectively in the world economy.” | Wilson believes the bank bailouts and stimulus spending “should never have happened in the first place,” saying all of it was unconstitutional. He believes minimum wage laws should be repealed because “employment is an agreement between employer and worker in which the federal government has no role.” He proposes relying on independent organizations for social services. | “It is not government's task to create jobs. Instead, government should enact policies that support business growth, which will lead to good, new jobs.” Bass opposed the American Recover and Reinvestment Act (“Stimulus”). He promotes lowering corporate tax rates and providing tax credits for investments in new plants, equipment and emerging technologies. |
| Energy & Environment | Kuster supports market-based incentives to create energy in cleaner ways. She would improve oversight and end subsidies for large oil and other energy companies, and invest in renewable energy technologies. She “has serious concerns about the safety and the extremely high taxpayer costs of expanding nuclear power.” Kuster holds an undergraduate degree in environmental policy. | “Our objective must be energy resiliency not energy independence.” vanBlommesteyn proposes conservation, diversified energy sources and carpooling to reduce dependence on foreign oil. He also suggests a fee be charged for oil and fossil fuel use. “Higher prices will move us to the goal of reducing oil imports and improving national security.” | “In effect, the environmental policies of the US government should be terminated.” Wilson believes independent organizations “should be working through market process or persuasive process to change minds.” He believes recognizing more complete property rights would enable people to sue for any damage caused by pollution, the threat of which would deter environmental degradation. | Bass opposes carbon taxes or cap-and-trade laws. He is open to off-shore drilling, but opposes it in the Arctic National Wilderness. He encourages tax incentives for alternative fuels and the development and use of clean coal. Bass supports “timelier permitting” of nuclear power generation. |
| Immigration | Kuster believes immigration reform should protect the borders, strengthen enforcement of existing laws, and bring illegal immigrants “out of the shadows of our society.” She supports a path to citizenship for current illegal immigrants and wants to “crack down on employers who exploit illegal immigrants in order to lower their labor costs.” | “Total deportation or blanket amnesty are neither realistic nor fair solutions.” vanBlommesteyn proposes securing the borders as best as possible and creating a path to legalization and a guest worker program. He also would make it easier for employers to verify workers’ immigration status, and make it a felony to hire illegal immigrants. | Bass’s healthcare platform lies mainly in health insurance reforms. He proposes repealing the recently passed health care reform legislation (press release) and replacing it with several measures, including: Disassociate health insurance from employment, promote Health Savings Accounts, reform medical malpractice liability, allow the sale of insurance across state lines, address pre-existing conditions. | |
| Healthcare | Kuster supports the recently passed health care reform. She also wants to lower health insurance costs for small businesses by adding a public option to promote market competition. | vanBlommesteyn believes the recent healthcare legislation did not go far enough to “bend the curve” of health care costs. He advocates moving away from fee-for-service and toward a system of costs according to the health of the patient. He supports malpractice reform to reduce physicians’ fear of liability. | Wilson prefers making immigration unattractive to begin with. He opposes a path to legalization and would terminate the current birthright premise whereby anyone born in the U.S. is considered a citizen. He believes eliminating the minimum wage and legalizing drugs to reduce their street value would discourage immigration. | “I do not support any type of amnesty program that is going to reward those that are already here illegally and not recognize the fact that the law is being broken.” Bass believes the borders should be secured and employers who knowingly hire illegal workers should be penalized. He advocates streamlining the legal immigration and VISA process. |
| Education | Limited public record. | “We must make it a national priority to improve educational opportunities in every community throughout the country.” | Wilson believes government involvement in education is unconstitutional and “designed to produce an individual who is subservient … to government.” He advocates education being delivered on a market basis or as a family process. “Turn it over to parents and do-gooders and we will have a better quality of education going forward into the future.” | While in the U.S. Congress, Bass voted for No Child Left Behind in 2001. He is now on record as believing it should be amended. He is a vocal supporter of federal funding of special education. |
| Abortion | Kuster believes “a woman's health decisions should be kept between her and her doctor.” She practices as a private adoption attorney in addition to her other legal work. | Limited public record. | “I don’t really like the idea of abortion but until we reform the adoption laws to permit easier adoption … I would still permit abortions.” | Bass advocates keeping all but late-term abortions legal, and he has voted in support of stem cell research. |
| Guns | Limited public record. | Limited public record. | Wilson agrees “totally” with the right to bear arms. “Because the government that fears the citizenry is a government that is restrained in its actions across the board.” | While in the U.S. Congress, Bass voted to reduce the gun waiting period from three days to one by instituting an instant (24-hour) background check for purchases at gun shows. He also voted to protect gun makers, dealers, trade organizations and ammunitions manufacturers and sellers from liability in most cases. |
| Our Sources | Campaign materials, public records. | Campaign materials, public records. | Phone interview. | Campaign materials, public records. |
| More Information | campaign website | campaign website | Limited public record, no campaign website. | campaign website |