Shea seeks 2nd term on Executive Council

David P. Greisman
Sentinel Staff

The once-mystery candidate who two years ago won a seat on the N.H. Executive Council says he is running for re-election for two reasons — he loves his job, and his party loves having a majority.

John D. Shea was in Belgium in November 2006 when, by his own account, he rode the coattails of the Democratic Party all the way to an election victory and a seat representing District 2.

Now the party with the majority is apparently looking for him to return the favor.

“The governor, of course, wants to keep three seats,” Shea, a Democrat from Nelson, said Tuesday afternoon in a meeting with Sentinel editors. “This is the first time there’s been more than one Democrat on the council since Governor (John) King back in the ’60s.”

The five-member Executive Council is responsible for approving all contracts valued at $5,000 or more, and it also votes on the governor’s nominations for judges, state boards and agency heads.

The other four members are Raymond S. Burton, R-Bath, Beverly A. Hollingworth, D-Hampton, Raymond J. Wieczorek, R-Manchester, and Debora B. Pignatelli, D-Nashua.

“When you’ve got three Republicans, he cannot get people through,” Shea said of Democratic Gov. John H. Lynch.

Lynch is facing Republican Joseph D. Kenney of Wakefield in the coming gubernatorial election.

“With three Democrats, he has had only one ‘nay’ vote on all the nominations he’s made,” Shea said. “The Republicans are all voting with us. It’s a ‘five’ vote on everything, just about, which means we’re working together. That would change if you had three Republicans.”

District 2 covers Acworth, Alstead, Antrim, Bennington, Chesterfield, Dublin, Gilsum, Greenfield, Hancock, Harrisville, Langdon, Marlborough, Marlow, Nelson, Roxbury, Stoddard, Sullivan, Surry, Walpole and Westmoreland, among others.

Shea’s challenger is Daniel St. Hilaire, a Republican who serves as a Concord city councilor and the Merrimack County Attorney.

And Shea is campaigning far more actively than he did two years ago.

In 2006, Shea spent a total of $1,584.63 — all his own money — buying advertisements in five newspapers, according to a filing with the N.H. Secretary of State’s office.

He was a virtual unknown two years ago when he scored a surprise victory over longtime Republican executive councilor Peter J. Spaulding of Hopkinton.

Things have changed.

Come Election Day, Granite Staters will no longer have straight-ticket voting, an option that let voters pick all of the candidates from a single political party by checking just one box on the ballot.

That coattail effect was attributed to wins in several races in a year in which Democrats took over both houses of Congress.

Already, Shea’s political committee has taken in nearly six times what the candidate spent in 2006.

“I had never taken a contribution up to this year,” Shea said. “I refused them. And then this year the governor’s staff has told me I don’t understand the situation here — ‘We want this seat. You can’t do it without raising money. We are going to form of a Friends of John Shea committee.’ ”

The committee had raised $8,925 as of Sept. 17. Of that, Shea fronted $2,000 himself, and another $5,600 came from non-individual donors such as the Professional Fire Fighters of New Hampshire and the N.H. Independent Pharmacy Association, according to state filings.

Shea’s campaign has spent $908 on signs.

In contrast, St. Hilaire’s campaign had taken in $18,529 as of Sept. 17, $700 of which had come from non-individual donors, according to state filings. About $15,908 has been spent in areas such as mailings, advertising, supplies and consulting.

“I work well with the governor and the other councilors,” Shea said. “I’d like to continue.”

One thing Shea said he’d like to continue is his work toward bringing fixes to the state’s bridges and roads.

Shea said economic conditions mean state spending should be closely scrutinized.

“We’re looking at every contract,” he said. “We’ve asked if the Department of Transportation can actually postpone some of the highway work.”

But the Executive Council is handcuffed by its role in New Hampshire’s government, Shea said.

“Our job basically is to determine whether it is a competent contractor,” he said.

And so it is on the road Shea finds himself in the weeks leading up to November’s election, traveling far closer to home than he was two years ago.

At a glance

 

Name: John D. Shea

Party affiliation: Democrat.

Age: 73.

Residence: Nelson.

Education: Associate degree, Burdett College in Boston, 1955; graduated from Keene High School in 1953.

Occupation: N.H. Executive Council, 2007-present.

Previous offices held: N.H. House of Representatives, 1963-65; Keene City Council, 1963-69.

Family: Single.

On the issues:

Highway program: Continuing to fix red-listed bridges and highways.

Service to communities: “Being there for them and their needs.”

State economy: Using the influence of the Executive Council position. “It’s not so much an expense problem as an income problem.”