Re-Elect Joel Winters to the NH House of Representatives

Thanks for checking out my campaign website. Hard to believe it's been two years already! When I campaigned in 2006, I said the west side deserved better representation. I made a number of promises to the people of the wards 10, 11, and 12, and I was honored to be elected one of your State Representatives.

• I promised to show up in Concord and promote common sense solutions.
• I promised to work to protect our environment.
• I promised to vote against a sales or income tax.
• I promised to work to keep spending and taxes under control.
• I promised to fight to protect your privacy and civil liberties.
• I promised to work for safer neighborhoods.

I've kept those promises...

On this website, you can find out where I stand on many issues, what your neighbors and the media are saying about me, and look at some selected roll call votes and voting records for our district.

If you'd like to be represented in Concord by a neighbor you can trust, please use one of your eight votes for me on election day. If you have any questions about my campaign, please contact me at joel (at) joelwinters (dot) org or by phone, 624-5635.

And don't forget to sign up for my low volume mailing list. You can manage your own subscription from the Mailing List page.

Joel

P.S. I need help with my campaign - please visit the Volunteer page if you would be willing to help. Thanks!

October 16th, 2008

October 10th, 2008

A number of business groups chose 50 bills from the last 2 years, and assembled them into a report card. According to the article, "Joel Winters... with 68 percent, had the top rating in his party." The highest score for a Republican was 80%.

September 10th, 2008

Out of 11 Democrats running, I finished a strong 5th. Here are the vote totals:

Jane Beaulieu - 760
David Nixion - 659
Ronald Boisvert - 581
Roger Beauchamp - 530
Joel Winters - 515
Patrick Arnold - 484
David George - 478
George Kasiantonis - 436
Steven Dolman - 398
Ron Sample - 349
Robert Santiago - 300

August 24th, 2008

August 17th, 2008

In a 3 minute primary speech airing on MCTV, Rep. Joel Winters proposed introducing the Cover New Hampshire Health Access Act. "According to the US Census Bureau, more than 150,000 Granite Staters do not have health insurance," he said. If re-elected, Rep. Winters promised to introduce this legislation "which is based on a program in Florida. What it does is allow people without health insurance to buy more streamlined policies which fits their needs, at a reduced cost."

For more information on how this program would work, please visit the Issues Page. Rep. Winters currently serves on the House Commerce Committee, which reviews all proposed legislation that deals with insurance.

(You can find the next scheduled airing of recorded primary speeches at: http://www.manchesteraccess.com/sched22.html )

August 10th, 2008

Their candidate survey includes a question "Are there any current Representatives that you respect?" According to the article, "in responses... received from different candidates... Joel Winters was named as someone they respect. This was uniform through responses from Democrat, Republican and Independent alike."

Serving the west side in Concord for the last two years, I've worked hard to find some common ground with all Representatives, regardless of party, and I'm honored to see that that's been noticed. If re-elected, I will continue to work to find bipartisan solutions.

(In the full interest of public disclosure, last year I did some work on the house of Rick Barnes, who wrote the blog post reporting on the phenomenon.)

August 3rd, 2008

Over the last two years, Representatives have had the opportunity to vote on 284 different roll call votes, where each legislator's vote is recorded and made public. Today, Rep. Joel Winters offered an explanation for his missed votes - both of them.

"I've kept my promise to show up and represent Manchester," Winters said, noting his perfect attendance record on the 41 session days over two years. "I was there on June 27th, 2007. But at the exact time that the House was debating and voting on HB83, Governor John Lynch was signing HB685 into law. HB685, which I was a proud co-sponsor of, opted New Hampshire out of the federal REAL ID Act. I worked on this legislation for a year and a half, and I stepped out of Representative's Hall to witness the culmination of those efforts. Had I been present, however, I would have voted against the committee of conference report. HB83 chipped away at the Right-To-Know Law. I am a strong supporter of open and honest government, and therefore opposed HB83."

In 2008, Winters missed another vote. He explained, "On March 18th, I'd prepared a floor speech for later in the day, and I printed it from my laptop. However, the only printer I had access to through the computer network was in my committee room across the street in the Legislative Office Building. HB1360 would have repealed a $25 court filing fee which was created to help balance the budget in 2007. Since I had already decided to support this bill, I ran over to my committee room during the floor debate and picked up my speech. Unfortunately, the debate didn't last as long as I thought it would, and I was not back before the vote was taken. On the plus side, my floor speech helped overturn a committee report and pass a good piece of consumer protection legislation through the House."

Over the two year session, less than 8% of the 400 Representatives were present for more then 99% of roll call votes. Winters points out that his voting record is not just the best on the west side, but in fact none of Manchester's 35 Representatives has a higher voting percentage than he does. "When I ran for this office, I promised to show up," he said. "I've kept that promise."

Rep. Winters' voting record on the remaining 282 roll call votes is available through:
The NH House of Representatives Website

-- Representative Joel Winters