New Hampshire is blessed to have two gifted candidates running for governor. Either Dan Feltes or Andy Volinsky will bring a fresh and dynamic perspective to the corner office. With their unique skills, both have served the public interest: Dan as a legal assistance lawyer and Andy through this pro bono work, particularly in the area of school funding and the inequality of education in our state. They are both wise and effective public servants, Andy as an executive councilor and Dan as majority leader in the Senate. Unlike our present governor, they are not parrots of the past and condemn the Trumpism that is poisoning our political process. They should focus on the issues before them and not each other.
I was particularly struck by Mike Lewis’s toxic and misguided letter (Monitor letters, March 2) condemning Andy for being a “wealthy business lawyer,” as well as a generation too late to run for office. I have known Andy for 30 years and he was always ahead of his times, never behind. He initiated the school funding litigation in the mid-1990s and while Mike Lewis was seeking the death penalty in Rockingham County, Andy had a history of challenging in the United States Supreme Court death penalty cases arising in Georgia.
There is a sad component of political voices who find imperfections everywhere. Candidates are either “too old” or “too young”; “not gay enough”; “not black enough”; “their contributions not pure enough.” The Democrats running for office can learn from each other: No generation has the corner on wisdom.
STEVEN M. GORDON
Hopkinton