Sarah Unis | Fall 2000 Headlines

Clark aims at upsetting Sununu

By Sarah E. Unis

Martha Fuller Clark feels as though her 10 years of experience in the New Hampshire state legislature might be enough to defeat incumbent Republican John Sununu and make it to the first district of New Hampshire in the United States House of Representatives.

Clark talked with The Sun yesterday about her plans if elected to the House. She is running against the Republican incumbent, John E. Sununu, who is expected to retain his seat for a third term. But Clark is not thinking of the incumbent's chances. She focused on the differences between her and her opponent and hopes voters are taking notice.

Clark, who was a teacher and architectural historian, has spent 10 years as a New Hampshire state representative from Ward 36 in Portsmouth, where she served as the Assistant House Democratic Leader. Now, Clark believes she could do a better job in standing up for the true interests of working families and individuals than Sununu has. "I believe I can do a much better job than he has done, and that's why I decided to run against him, that I would better represent the first district than he has." She urged voters to look at Sununu's record, saying he has voted with the conservative, Republican agenda, 95 percent of the time.

Clark said education is the most critical issue facing the country. "I think that we should make it a national policy to improve our public schools," said Clark. She said this would be possible by forming partnerships between federal, state, and local policy makers to give every child a quality education. Sununu believes that decisions about implementing voucher systems and charter schools should be left at the local level.

Another important issue to the voters of the first district is health care, said Clark. "In the first district most of our independent health insurers have withdrawn their coverage for seniors," said Clark. "I led the fight in New Hampshire for the HMO accountability act." She attacked the Republican's prescription drug bill, saying under the bill seniors would only get drug benefits they need by going through independent health insurers.

On the issue of abortion, Clark also believes in protecting a woman's right to choose. "I believe that the way that we find some consensus around this terribly divisive issue is that we should all be working as policy leaders, parents, and families to prevent unwanted and unplanned pregnancy." She also pointed out that she sponsored legislation at the state level demanding health insurance companies pay for contraceptive prescriptions for women, citing insurers who covered Viagra prescriptions for men, but wouldn't pay for women's contraceptives.

Because the current New Hampshire delegation in Washington is entirely Republican, and entirely male, Clark points out that as a democratic woman, she has more choices to offer voters. "I think it's important to realize that my legislative record, and the success that I have had has taken place in a Republican House at the state level, the same size as the House in Washington." She also said the New Hampshire State Legislature has been Republican since before the Civil War.

Clark says that she is in favor of paying down the national debt and preserving Social Security. She opposes saving Social Security by taking Social Security dollars and giving a small portion back to the person in the work force, so they can invest it as they will, a plan that the GOP has been proposing. Clark believes there would be no guarantee that citizens would invest the money that was given back to them, putting their economic security in danger. "Social Security was never meant to be the sole source of support for seniors, but clearly it has been a safety net that has kept our elderly citizens out of abject poverty and it deserves to be protected as it stands, not be put at risk by taking the dollars and retuning them to local individuals to invest."

This campaign has been a somewhat unusual one, with Congressman Sununu stuck in Washington while Congress awaits passage of the 2001 fiscal year budget. Because of his need to be in Washington to cast votes, he has had to cancel many of the debates he had scheduled with Ms. Clark. "I think debates are absolutely essential to promote democracy," said Clark.

The two candidates vying for votes have only had one opportunity to debate each other in an un-televised debate held on Sunday. Clark thinks that it has hurt the voters because they haven't had an opportunity to compare and contrast each candidate's record and vision for the future.

According to a spokesperson for Clark, a local radio station has offered each candidate a chance to call in to debate one another, on-air this Friday. Martha Fuller Clark has accepted the offer, and Congressman Sununu's office couldn't be reached for comment about the debate.