“Direct Democracy”: State Senator Lou D’Allessandro on New Hampshire Politics

by Colin Dudgeon

State Senator Lou D ‘Allessandro met with 11 Presidency and the Press Participants at the state house yesterday to discuss New Hampshire politics, touching on several interesting political issues that he was involved in at the moment.

The first issue was the question that seems to be on everyone’s mind right now: will Hillary Clinton run for president in 2016? D’Allessandro started off by admitting that he was a Hillary supporter, and said that when he had talked to her a few days ago she had said that she was “holding the door open” for a run.

D’Allessandro also talked about the importance of the first-in-the-nation New Hampshire primary. He touted the fact that he had talked to CNN, ABC, and other national media outlets during the election cycle. He also mentioned how New Hampshire defended its own primary by paying for it, unlike other states whose primaries were funded by parties. He described the primary’s importance in revealing dark-horse candidates by relaying the story of Jimmy Carter, who came out of nowhere to win the primary in 1976 and proceeded to get the Democratic nomination and win the presidential election.

Talking about his forty-year career in the General Court, New Hampshire’s state legislature, he was mostly positive and humble about his tenure, mentioning “I’m the only one left from when I started here.” His best moment was the first time he delivered a speech, when he was supporting a bill that would make adoption records public, citing the excitement of explaining his support. His worst moment was when he cursed out a fellow legislator who opposed one of his bills, and he said he would never forget that moment.

He boasted that the General Court was the most representative legislature in the world, with one member for every 3,000 people, and is the third-largest legislature in the world after the United States Congress and the British Parliament.

Finally, he spoke about his most recent legislative fight, to expand gambling in New Hampshire. Listing facts with ease, he mentioned the 1,000 part-time jobs and 1,500 full-time jobs that the proposal would create, labeling the proposal a “jobs plan” and talking about the fact that he introduced a gambling bill every legislative session.