Way, lets meet the candidates starting jeanie forrester. Jeanie forrester was born in michigan and later moved to houston and moved back to michigan where she earned an m. B. A. She was the Town Administrator in new durham and is current lay New Hampshire state senator. She lives in meredith with her husband. Josh its time for your opening statement. Jeanie there are four candidates. Only one has been endorsed by the union leader. Im proud to say that im that leader. Im the most conservative. I have the experience and i am the best chance for republicans to take the Corner Office in november. Josh up next, chris sununu. Announcer chris sununu born in m. I. T. He was the owner and director of sununu enterprises. Hes been a member of the executive council since 2010 and is the c. E. O. Of Waterville Valley resort. He is married and has three children. Chris thank you to wmur for hosting us tonight. New hampshire is a great state. We have to do better, our businesss that power our economy. We have a greatpp Leadership Back into the Governors Office. And ill be that candidate. Josh lets move to ted gatsas. Announcer ted got a degree from the university. You will hear this evening about perceptions versus reality. Those are the things that well be talk about and whos going to lead this state forward. So i look forward to the questions that youre going to ask. Josh last but not least frank edelblut. Frank edelblut graduated from the university of rhode island. He also has theology. He started his own company, control solutions and then joined an Angel Investment group. Hes a New Hampshire state rep. Hes marryed and has married and has children. Im a proven job creator. I have fought for fiscally life. I have foug for conservative values. Josh lets introduce tonights panelist. Dave solomon. David sexton and allie morris. Lets get right to it. Were going begin with something you touched on representative edelblut. Republican voters here in New Hampshire made it very known that in the first of the nation primary that political in fact, it could be argued that ties to the establishment could be viewed as a liability rather than a benefit. How do you make the case to the tens of thousands of voters in New Hampshire that youre not an establishment politician simply trying to sound like an outsider . Chris look, my father was involved in politics. My brother was involved in politics. Hampshire from the rest of the country. Thats how we tithe our time. My mother taught us you have to give back somehow. Be a teacher. Participate in Public Service. And thats what we do here. Thats how we commit ourselves. Given my experience, my background in business, my experience in classrooms with my kids, my passion to education, my experience in dealing with the Opioid Crisis whether its with my affecting our schools and our kids and the future of our kids moving forward. Thats the kind of k3er7bs and leadership im thats the kind of experience and leadership i wan. Its sh i want. Ive served in the executive council for five years. Were going to bring that experience to the table and make a change to the council. Josh mayor gatsas youve been in politics for a long time. Awful lot of events, theyre just amazed whether its a Little League game, a school event, or choir practice, they just think its all about the events that im going to. And i can tell you that im proud to be going to those events because it makes a big difference in those folks lives. When i sign honor roll letters every quarter to all the ud manchester, i have more grandparents and grandparents and talk to me about those letters that i sent for the last several years in every single quarter. Josh senator forrester. Jeanie when i decided to run for the senate, it was to be a voice for my communities and im proud to say thats exactly what ive been in my time served. One of the first votes i cast 231 and i was that one vote against democrats and would hurt my communities. I also fought the establishment when it came to protecting the private property rights. So i have a history and a record of standing up and standing for the people of New Hampshire and i think thats what we need in the Corner Office. Josh representative edelblut. Frank this is an easy question because im not a career politician. Ve half years, long enough to know what the problems on but not long enough to become one of them. Im not going to go from one position to another position. I will tell you that running for governor was not on my bucket list of things to do. But somebody needs to stand up for the people of New Hampshire and so i have thrown my hat in the ring and i thope be able to represent the people of New Hampshire in the Corner Office morris. So all of you have signaled support for your partys nominee for president. If you were asked by a child why you were voting for donald trump, what would you say . Frank i will gladly support our nominee and i will gladly vopet against Hillary Clinton who i think will bring more destructive policies to our country. What we have to understand is how our constitution republic ie strong states and strong states is what makes for a strong country. And so i am focused on running for governor to make sure that New Hampshire is one of the strong states that helps to make New Hampshire great again. Josh senator forrester, same question. Jeanie i will support our republican nominee. I will say to a child, look, we have seen the destruction of years and years of democratic control in the white house. The Corner Office in washington, d. C. Whos going to represent the values of america, whos going to stand up and fight for people, and i dont believe that Hillary Clinton will be that person. So i will support our nominee. Josh mayor gatsas. Ted i think the first thing i would say to a child decisions on who they choose to be president are personal. I think its important that they have the ability to make those decisions because i can tell you that perfect candidate. But hes somebody that i support and is better than the alternative. And sometimes you dont get that perfect candidate. And its the best thing for this country. So i can tell you that donald trump is somebody they look at, i support and i endorse. Josh Council Member sununu. Chris ive always said i would support the nominee. I support him. I endorse it. We said it from the beginning. Public service is about public its ok to have viable debate. And frankly its ok when candidates frakly say frankly say that you may disagree with. But this comes down to public trust. I believe democrats especially Hillary Clinton has violated that public trust time and time again. So there are why youre never going to find that perfect candidate out there, its porn to understand that public process and the Public Service that we look for in the candidates that we support, its honesty. Josh thank you, candidates. Sticking with the candidates dave solomon on immigration. Dave thank you, josh. As youre all aware New Hampshire has an aging democratic, low birthrate, declining migration from massachusetts. So economists have told us that International Immigration is critical to developing the workforce that we need to grow the economy of this state . Do you agree with that . Encourage that immigration. If you dont agree please explain starting with mayor gatsas. Ted certainly im somebody thats been supporting immigrants. I think its important that we have them in this state and this country. I can tell you the one thing that the immigrants will tell you is that they want to make sure that they get a good job so they can support their familiar lip and they can learn the language. Those are the two most important things. When i was looking for a when i was looking for a moratorium four years ago, those talk to the governor and executive council about to allow the folks that are here now the opportunity to find those good jobs and to learn the language. Again, i didnt get the support of the council because they voted make sure that they send them. When you see the immigration in this city, you know that when we speak 62 different languages at central high school, its something that we should be talking about even though that these immigrants are working hard to find their way through life. I think its important that we the syrian immigration is something we have to consider because we dont know who some of those immigrants. Josh senator forrest, same question to you, jeanie my number one priority as governor of the stitt of New Hampshire will be the safety and security of our residents. Having said that i do support immigration. But i believe we need to make sure those immigrants are properly vetted before they come into the state. You know, a week or s toured the border, the canadian border, and they showed me the 58 miles of water, canada and New Hampshire. Three checkpoints. And informed me of their concerns because 25,000 refugees had been brought into canada and we have a very pourous border in canada. And the vetting process of those so as governor, i say yes to immigration but i say also we need to make sure we have a proper vetting process. Thank you. Josh Council Member sununu. When the Obama Administration proposed to bring 10,000 immigrants i say know. The federal government has not been able to protect our citizens to insure whos coming in and what their i stood up and said no for that. I completely disagree with it. The best forks driver is a governor that understands the business in 2016. A governor that breathes and lives government issues that can bring businesses in, make the investments to incentivize Young Workers to stay here and come here. Thats one of the primary jobs of a governor and thats exactly perception and reality. However the reality is is that when i went to the Governors Council and you were there, and i asked for a moratorium on refugees you voted against them. Thats perception and reality. The moratorium on refugees back in 2011 had nothing to do with the 10,000 Syrian Refugees that president obama was for purporting to bring in. Josh frank as governor, my job is to make sure that our communities are safe for our citizens. But theres a premise in the question who says if question dont bring younger people into our community that we cant have a thriving community. Thats a wrong premise. It doesnt take into fact that not only is the New Hampshire is aging, but the United States is aging and the world is aging. Lets make sure that democratic simply because were aging doesnt mean we can want have a thriving economy. What we want to do is we want to take that Demographic Development and make it work for our economy. New hampshire could take the lead in that. Areas like medical devices and therapies in terms of medicine, those can become economic engines for New Hampshire. The aging population is not a liable, it is an asset that we need to treat as such. Josh thank you, candidates. Lets move on t that a lot of voters think its the number one issue, were talking about the crisis of addiction. The stats show that from 2013 to 2015 there was a 128 increase in the number of drugrelated deaths in New Hampshire and the affs of chief exammer in said there examiner said there would with 500 this year. Adam . Deploying the National Guard along our border with canada and also along massachusetts as a component to fight the drug war. But what exactly would those troops be doing and what purpose would it serve . Jeanie as governor, my number priority is the safety and security of the people of the state of New Hampshire. Look, we have a serious her winn and Opioid Epidemic in this statement. And as governor, im in this state. As governor, im going to make sure we use all the tools in the toolbox. Ive been criticized because right now we are using the National Guard in New Hampshire to address the crisis here and we are using that actually in manchester. As governor, it is my duty and responsibility to work on and execute the Counter Drug Program here in New Hampshire. So i would bring together the talk about what we need to do so make sure we address this crisis in New Hampshire. We need to be serious. Josh representative edelblut, some say the problem is the alleged overprescription of open yoids and not being adequate oversight between doctors and patients. In your view, are there deceptive advertisements. Would you backup that investigatio investigation. But i think, i damn, what we really need to do is look at the problems. The op iates are not the problem. The responsible use of those opiates. We know patients have suffered from chronic pain for years and they have been treated well with opiates. If we can make sure that individuals are informed and that doctors are informed and so that theres a responsible use we have a problem. So again, lets make sure lets not try to fix one problem and create another problem. Along the way. Josh Democratic Candidates for governor says making the expansion of medicaid is a key component to fighting this problem of addiction. With it set to expire next year, would you like that happen . And do you believe that the expansion of medicaid has made the problem of opioid addiction worse . I would start by medicaid has made the problem worse. Im not quite sure whats thats based on. Whether we go forward or not with medicaid is a big issue. Its not how it affects the Opioid Crisis. As we know the federal government is paying less and less. Ive always supported the idea of having a work requirement put into the expanded medicaid program. Ive never support cutting 45,000 people right off the them out and getting the eligibility requirement in line with one another. So its more of a fair system going forward. However we go forward we must make sure that we dont put any additional tax burden directly on the people of New Hampshire and that again, its a plan for New Hampshire not just one devised by the federal government. Josh Council Member sununu has been critical of the opioid what is your response . Ted thats perception versus realm. I can tell you my response is that weve gotten a awful lot of people to find solutions. I talked to president ial candidate as they came into this state back in january and february and in last june to talk not only about the problem that we have here in the state of New Hampshire but this problem that we have in this country. When we comes to doctors, i say that there should be a sevenday prescription mandate put on them and it should be a law that says go in and get more prescriptions. And again, when we talk about the boreds, are we borders are we going to stop every tourist to check them to make sure that theyre not how is the National Guard going to actually advocate for that or do it . Josh senator forrester. Jeanie i really am surprised that you seem to be uninformed Law Enforcement to try to deal with the her winn and Law Enforcement in your city, in your city. And i fact the high intensity Task Force Area that along the border is where most of the drugs are coming in. When i talk about using the National Guard, i say yes, we should have all the tools in the toolbox using those tools. And quite honestly im surprised tools available as governor end this crisis. Weve used every tool in the toolbox. I dont think so. I dont think so. When you talk about what are you going to do . What are you going to do . Well, senator, i know youre much more respectful than that. Ill give you an opportunity. Have you talked to the chief of police . Does he think its a good idea that the National Guard is coming into manchester i think i talk to the chief of police daily and hes never told me about the National Guards being in the front lines fighting this battle. Ok. So youre not aware that the National Guard is used in support with manchester to deal with the heroin and opioid problem . Thats exactly what im saying. I this you need to talk to somebody. A question coming from our panel. Dave solomon. Mentally ill patient to a skew unit in the state prison where theyre housed like inmates even though theyve committed to crime. Do you think this is an appropriate way to deal with Mental Illness . And if not what would you do about this as governor . Starting with senator forrester. Jeanie well, i would have to know the particular issue or the particular person being housed in the st