Both District 1 Republican candidates Joseph Kenney and Paul Carreiro want to solve problems as executive councilor.
Kenney wants to continue the work he’s started. The 56-year-old Wakefield resident, Marine Corps veteran and former legislator gained his seat during a 2014 special election after longtime Councilor Ray Burton died in office.
It was then, Kenney said, that he took his previous political experience – eight years in the New Hampshire House and six years in the state Senate – and put it into action.
Within two or three months, “I was steamrolling,” he said. “They realized they elected an experienced official who hit the ground running and never missed a beat.”
He did that, he said, through his relationships with state commissioners, connecting small businesses and developers in his district with resources, and contributing to the 10-year Highway Plan with his previous experience as the state Senate Transportation Committee chairman.
“A lot of it, frankly, is opening your eyes to opportunity,” Kenney said. He added that he just voted as a councilor to support a lease agreement between the state and the Mount Washington Summit Road Co. to allow a $14.3 million project – the Glen House Hotel, according to New Hampshire Business Review – to move forward at the base of Mount Washington.
Kenney said he sees the need for job creation in New Hampshire and has voted to fund state economic coordinators and supported high school vocational programs.
Kenney also touts his dedication to solving the opioid crisis. His June “no” vote on funding $540,000 in Planned Parenthood contracts for next year, he said, was because he thought that money could go toward treating drug addiction.
Aside from the official votes he takes with the council, Kenney said he networks across the state’s largest district to accomplish these goals.
“I think the role really calls for a strong outreach program,” Kenney said. “I’ve put 120,000 miles on my car in the last two years.”
And he said he wants to continue that work: “I’m running again to help citizens.”
Kenney’s opponent, 50-year-old Orford resident, Army Green Beret veteran and municipal official Paul Carreiro, is a first-time candidate for Executive Council.
A consultant in process improvement in the private sector, Carreiro said he wants to bring this approach to state government.
“I really enjoy digging into complex systems with a lot of moving parts,” he said. By streamlining those systems, Carreiro added, “Hopefully that will translate into improving service and boosting performance.”
When asked about the issues, Carreiro said he prefers to look past different sides and wants a plan to empower everyone in the district.
On his campaign website, the candidate emphasizes these key goals: politicians taking ownership of their spending, measuring nominees by their commitment to the position, approving contracts based on how successfully they’ll deliver services, and consulting voters on what outcomes they want from the 10-year Highway Plan.
Carreiro said his skills seem to best apply to the Executive Council during a time when government appears to be increasingly downshifting costs onto taxpayers.
“It really felt like a hammer dropped,” he said. “I started to consider my neighbors . . . (and) seeing in their faces and hearing in their voice their concerns were no longer just bellyaching down at the town dump on Saturday.”
As a former lifeguard, Carreiro added that he looks at the faces of his neighbors and sees a familiar look. “It was that same scared look of someone when they’re drowning,” he said. “These people are really scared.”
Carreiro said his campaign is about him working with people. “I want to carry that spirit to Concord,” he said.
The winner of the Republican primary will face Hanover Democrat Michael Cryans in November.