Category: Emelie Rutherford
NH’s Dept. of Education Receives Grant for Special Ed Summit
WASHINGTON, April 02–New Hampshire’s Bureau of Special Education has received a grant for $20,000 to hold a special education summit in Bedford next October.
The two-day summit will bring together special education policymakers, administrators, service providers, families and advocates from New Hampshire for the purpose of turning research on improving school climate into reality.
“I’m thrilled,” said Mary Ford, the director of the Bureau of Special Education in the New Hampshire Department of Education in Concord, who learned the Granite State was selected for one of eight competitive grants on March 20. The grant was awarded by the IDEA Partnerships program, which is administered by U.S. Department of Education’s Office of Special Education and Rehabilitative Services. These grants fund meetings that bring disparate people together to talk about the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA), the law that mandates how schools educate special needs students. This year the U.S. DOE also granted IDEA Partnership grants to Colorado, Louisiana, West Virginia, Connecticut, Indiana, New Mexico and South Carolina. Applicants for the grants were charged, according to Alice Porembski, a special education policy analyst at the New Hampshire Development and Disabilities Council in Concord, with replicating a successful national IDEA summit that was held last June. That meeting was credited with strategically bringing different organizations concerned about IDEA together and forging a commitment from them to work together, according to Porembski.
Porembski helped the Bureau of Special Education prepare the grant application by interviewing state special education representatives about what special education issues matter most to them. After interviewing over a dozen people from seven groups including The New Hampshire Department of Education, The New Hampshire Developmental Disabilities Council and the New Hampshire Alliance for the Mentally Ill, Porembski decided upon school climate.
“There was very little discussion about any other topic than school climate,” Porembski said. “This is the hottest topic. It’s everything from bullying and teasing to violence. Schools need a better atmosphere that fosters the emotional health of special education students and all students.”
Porembski said that IDEA, which will likely be reauthorized this year, can not work in schools and communities for kids unless many stakeholders are involved on the local and state level. “The national summit taught us that is has to be local,” she said.
The October summit’s workshops will focus on topics such as school-side approaches to miscommunication, family involvement, positive behavior support, behavior assessment and behavior intervention plans, according to Porembski.
The summit will admit 300 to 400 people. Porembski said the Bureau of Special Education has not decided if it will charge admission, but if it does, scholarships will be available for parents.
Titled “School Climate and Discipline; How Can We Create a School Climate that Creates Emotional Well Being for all Students and Meets the Unique Needs of Students with Disability,” New Hampshire’s summit will be held on October 18 and 19 at the Wayfarer Inn in Bedford.
Published in The Union Leader, in Manchester, New Hampshire
Pair of Granite Staters Attend White House Ceremony for the Patriots
WASHINGTON, April 02--Posing for a picture in front of the White House Tuesday, Randy "Zip" Pierce, the 2001 New England Patriots Fan of the Year Award recipient, put his arm around Patriots defenseman and fellow Nashua resident Kole Ayi. "Smile," Pierce said. "It's not often the two of us are dressed up like this."
Army Pvt. Kyle McGovern, the Merrimack soldier who returned home last week after being wounded in Afghanistan on March 2, looked on, talking about the Rose Garden ceremony for the Superbowl-winning Patriots that he and Pierce had just attended.
"It was great. They gave us VIP seats right in the front row," McGovern said. "Tom Brady walked right up to me and said, 'I'm Tom Brady,' and I was like, 'Yeah, I know.'" Brady, the Patriots' starting quarterback, signed McGovern's football and two of his hats. McGovern and Pierce also met backup quarterback Drew Bledsoe, Patriots owner Bob Kraft and Sen. Edward M. Kennedy (D-MA), among others.
Approximately 200 Patriots fans, many of whom hail from New England and work in congressional offices, turned out to watch President George Bush congratulate the team. Kraft gave Bush a jersey with his name and No. 1 on it, and coach Bill Belichick gave the president an autographed football.
Bush stood in front of approximately 50 suit-clad players and said that their careers have been similar. "I can remember when they were down on you a little bit," he said. "I know how you feel." But, Bush said, they all learned the same lesson: "The experts are often wrong."
Pierce and McGovern received their tickets to the event from Rep. John Sununu (R-NH) who received them last week from the White House congressional affairs office, according to Sununu's spokeswoman, Barbara Riley. "John had previous engagements in Franklin, Northfield, Cantebury and Manchester," she said. "He gave the ticket to Kyle because he made such a great sacrifice for his country. And John couldn't think of a better person than Randy for the other ticket."
Pierce and McGovern said they liked Bush's message about overcoming adversity. "Everybody faces challenges," he said.
Pierce is blind. He is guided by his dog, Ostend, a golden retriever that is never without a Patriots scarf around his neck. McGovern gets around on crutches. He lost two toes in Operation Anaconda, the offensive that drove al-Qaida operatives from Afghanistan's Shahikot Valley. He returned home last week after being treated in a series of hospitals.
Linebacker Ayi, a 1997 graduate of Nashua High School and the lone Granite Stater on the Patriots, said the attention the team has received has been great. "I was home and walked in Wendy's and everyone was so excited," he said as he walked back to the team bus after taking a private tour of the White House. Ayi, who wears No. 99, was one of a group of Patriots who threw out the first pitch at the Boston Red Sox game at Boston's Fenway Park yesterday morning.
Published in The Union Leader, in Manchester, New Hampshire
Bass Helps Write Special Ed Funding Plan in House-Passed Budget
WASHINGTON, March 27--New Hampshire is in line for an increase of more than $4 million for special education programs next year and much more than that in later years under the budget resolution the House approved last week.
Rep. Charles Bass (R-NH), a member of the Budget Committee, played a key role in writing a provision that would ensure that the federal government, by 2012, fulfills its decades-old promise to pay 40 percent of state special education costs.
The proposed budget would provide a $1 billion increase for next year and annual increases over the next nine years that would bring the federal share up to the 40 percent level the 1975 Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) mandated. The budget resolution would also change special education financing from discretionary to mandatory, thus freeing it from the unpredictability of the annual budget process.
The House-passed budget resolution would give New Hampshire $36.87 million next year for special education, a $4.32 million increase over current federal funds.
"This money is in a reserve fund, which can only be used for special education," Bass said on Wednesday from his district office.
IDEA calls for all public schools to provide special-needs students under 21 with an appropriate education. This year, however, Washington is contributing only about 17 percent of the cost. Even that is a considerable change; as recently as 1996, the federal government contributed only 5 percent.
For the past 27 years, schools in New Hampshire and around the country have been grappling with the huge costs and sometimes bureaucratic and counter-productive processes educators must follow under IDEA.
Bass authored the provision that would authorize the Education and the Workforce Committee to set the annual spending level. He said he worked with Rep. John Sununu (R-NH), the Budget Committee's vice chairman, in garnering support for IDEA.
"I wouldn't say that it was all that high on the budget list in the past," Bass said. "But visibility is very high now. Advocacy groups have effectively communicated how important this is to Congress."
Bass said he and the other members of the New Hampshire delegation have been especially strong advocates because of the high level of awareness of the subject among Granite Staters. "Constituents, parents, community groups, school boards and principals have all relayed to me how important fully funding IDEA is," he said. "In other parts of the country where education is funded differently than New Hampshire, there is less awareness of the lack of federal funding in the education budget."
Last week, for example, students and parents from Merrimack and Concord joined others from around the country at a Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee hearing on reauthorizing IDEA, cramming the hallway outside the committee room hours before proceedings began. Sen. Judd Gregg (R-NH) is the senior Republican on the committee and will play a part in reauthorizing IDEA, probably this summer.
Published in The Union Leader, in Manchester, New Hampshire
VA, Sununu Seek More Money for Veterans’ Care
WASHINGTON, March 26--Rep. John Sununu (R-NH) and Veterans Affairs Secretary Anthony Principi are scrambling to garner more money to care for the increasing number of Priority 7 veterans-middle-income people whose ailments did not result from military service-who are seeking care in the Manchester VA hospital and other VA facilities across the nation.
"There's no question our region has seen higher enrollment levels of Priority 7 veterans, and that hasn't been accounted for in how funding levels are set up," Sununu said on Tuesday from his Manchester office, a day after he met with his personal Veterans Advisory Group in the state. "I pressed the VA to look at funding formulas."
Sununu asked Principi twice in March - once at a meeting with the state's other legislators and again at a meeting of the House Appropriations Subcommittee on VA, HUD, and Independent Agencies - to distribute more money to Region 1, which includes New Hampshire, when he adjusts the funding formulas for the nation's 22 VA health networks this spring.
"I asked for and received commitment from the secretary that they will complete the review by May," Sununu said. "Once he delivers his recommendations he will have to take a very hard look at whether funds are fairly and equitably distributed."
Gail Goza-MacMullan, the communications manager for the VA New England Healthcare System in Bedford, Mass., said the money the eight medical centers in New England's Region 1 now receive is related to the number of patients they saw three years ago. "So we're always behind," she said. "Since we've grown so much the amount being allocated isn't sufficient."
The VA created the formulas when it divided its 1,300 facilities into the 22 networks in the late 1990s.
Kerri Childress, a spokeswoman for the VA in Washington, pointed out that New Hampshire is only a piece of the pie. "I've seen lots of those requests from lots of representatives and senators," she said. "New Hampshire is not unique in that regard. Florida has seen an amazing increase in [Priority 7] population down there. The secretary has to look at funding from the national level."
Region 1 also has a shot at receiving an emergency allocation of $8 million in the coming months for Priority 7 veterans. Principi will ask Congress for $142 million in additional funds for Priority 7 veterans across the country, according to Goza-MacMullan.
"This is a very unusual situation," Goza-MacMullan said. "There is just such a great need for Priority 7s. Secretary Principi has not gone to Congress before and asked for specific funds."
Goza-MacMullan said the $8 million for Region 1 would still not be enough for Priority 7 veterans in the deficit-plagued region.
"Now we're roughly looking at a $36 million deficit - and that includes the emergency money we're anticipating getting on Priority 7," she said. "If that doesn't happen, then we're in more trouble."
Region 1's financial woes received attention last December when officials at the Manchester hospital considered reducing its emergency room hours because of an $80 million shortfall. Goza-MacMullan said that the money was ultimately received and ER operations were not altered.
All of these reforms and adjustments are happening because the nature of veterans' health has changed since VA's health care system was designed and built decades ago, said Childress. The medical centers initially focused on inpatient care, with long admissions for diagnosis and treatment. Over the past 10 years, the VA has shifted from focusing on in-hospital treatment and now looks at "prevention, early detection of disease, the promotion of better health care and easier access to care," according to Childress.
As a result, the Manchester hospital and all other VA hospitals this spring will kick off a massive reevaluation process, called CARES (Capital Asset Realignment for Enhanced Services), spearheaded by its Washington office, aimed at assessing and adjusting the way all facilities provide services.
The CARES process, which will last for over a year, will do a count of veteran populations, determine what kind of health care those veterans need, decide where best to provide that care and adjust its facilities and services accordingly.
Childress said the VA will evaluate options in Manchester by holding hearings and accepting local comments.
The VA, Childress said, will also "brief New Hampshire veterans, VA employees, university affiliates, unions and local and national elected officials and evaluate their input to ensure everyone's concerns are heard and veteran' health care is enhanced."
Principi will announce how the VA's resources will be rejiggered in May 2003.
Published in The Union Leader, in Manchester, New Hampshire
Smith, Gregg Vote Against Campaign Finance Bill that Passed the Senate
WASHINGTON, March 20--Sen. Bob Smith (R-NH) and Sen. Judd Gregg (R-NH) voted against the wide-reaching McCain-Feingold campaign finance reform bill that the Senate approved, 60-40, on Wednesday.
The two also voted against a motion earlier in the day to end debate on the bill that aims to reduce the role of special-interest money in politics.
The bill would ban corporations, unions and individuals from donating unregulated "soft money" to national political parties. It would allow individuals to double their regulated "hard-money" contributions to $2,000 per candidate per election. The measure would also forbid so-called issue ads for or against candidates from being broadcast in the final 60 days before general elections and the final 30 days before primaries.
The House passed its version of the bill on February 14, 240-189. Rep. Charles Bass (R-NH), who signed a petition in January that forced a vote on the bill, voted for it. Rep. John Sununu (R-NH) voted against it.
The McCain-Feingold bill is now headed to President George Bush to be signed into law.
Gregg called the bill "a very poor piece of legislation" in an interview earlier this month. "I think it's clearly, in my opinion, an affront to the First Amendment, to free speech significantly," he said. "And secondly, it dramatically tilts the playing field away from parties and toward special-interest groups."
Smith, in a statement, said the bill "hurts average Americans by limiting grassroots politics and by prohibiting the advocacy groups they support from fully representing their views." He added that "full disclosure, not limitations on free speech, is the right kind of campaign finance reform."
Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-KY) has pledged to challenge portions of the bill in court.
Published in The Union Leader, in Manchester, New Hampshire
Smith Introduces Segway Legislation
WASHINGTON, March 20--Sen. Bob Smith (R-NH) Wednesday introduced legislation that allows motorized, scooter-like Segway devices on sidewalks and trails built with federal funds in New Hampshire and across the country.
On February 15 Governor Jeanne Shaheen signed a bill that allows the gyroscope-stabilized, stand-up human transponder machines on sidewalks and roads in the state. Smith's bill would allow Segways on throughways-but not highways-that were built with federal funds. Dick Lemieux, a Concord-based transportation planning engineer for the Federal Highway Administration, estimates that fewer than 10 percent of sidewalks and paths in the Granite State were built with federal funds.
Smith's legislation would give states and local governments the authority to allow Segways, which are manufactured in Bedford, on federally financed sidewalks and trails if their use complies with their state and/or local laws.
The measure will be handled by the Environment and Public Works Committee, on which Smith is the senior Republican.
The legislation would allow "any self-balancing, non-tandem wheeled devices designed to transport one individual and powered by an electric propulsion system with a maximum speed of 20 miles per hour," according to a committee statement.
"I want to see people have the flexibility to use these devices like you would use a bicycle or a wheelchair if people feel they need to use them," Smith said. Laws that Smith said were written "about 10 years ago" ban most motorized devices from federally financed sidewalks, with exceptions for devices such as motorized wheelchairs.
The Manchester Police Department and the U.S. Postal Service are now testing the Segway for use by police and mail deliverers.
Dean Kamen, a Manchester resident and the inventor of the Segway, said in a visit to Washington last month that widespread use of the battery-operated device would reduce pollution and help conserve gasoline. "This is a real alternative that can reduce inner-city congestion," he said.
Published in The Union Leader, in Manchester, New Hampshire
Christa McAuliffe Fellowship Program Discontinued
WASHINGTON, March 19--The Christa McAuliffe Fellowship program - which in recent years awarded teachers from Wolfeboro, Concord and Claremont more than $30,000 each to improve their skills and advance their schools' standards - has been discontinued by the Education Department, much to the surprise of previous recipients.
The national teacher fellowship program was created in 1996 to honor the Concord teacher who died 16 years ago in the explosion of the space shuttle Challenger.
"The Department of Education has done a refocusing of priorities, and this unfortunately was not one of them," said Jon Quam, the director of the Council of Chief State School Officers in Washington, which has administrated the fellowship for the past six years.
The program has allowed teachers to take sabbaticals, conduct research and undertake projects that increase standards-based educational reform in their schools. The recipients have used the money, which is based on teachers' average salaries in their states, to supplement their salaries while away from the classroom or to purchase materials while remaining on the job.
The federal government last year distributed $1.8 million in McAuliffe fellowship grants to 59 states and territories, according to Quam. The states awarded fellowships to K-12 teachers with eight or more years of experience who presented project proposals that jive with their standards-based school reform priorities. Quam said New Hampshire's priorities were to improve early literacy development, purchase educational technology and increase the performance of all students.
A McAuliffe fellowship helped Jade Warfield, a language arts teacher for kindergarten through fourth-grade students at the Eastman and Broken Ground Schools in Concord, purchase "thousands upon thousands" of books for struggling readers in 1998. Terry Hayward, a seventh-grade mathematics teacher at Claremont Middle School in Claremont, used her fellowship funds in 2000 to buy mathematics software and hardware and to train teachers in how to use them to raise students' aptitude. Both teachers also took time off to pursue advanced degrees in education.
The current fellow, Joanne Parise, is using the money to develop an interactive computer program that teaches students at seven schools in Wolfeboro about global community, habitats, oceans, birds and plants.
"It will help kids learn about science in a variety of ways," Parise said, "through music, movement, paper pencil books, graphs and diagrams."
Parise, whose fellowship ends in June, says the program's elimination is "very surprising." The McAuliffe fellowship is unique, she said, because it focuses solely on teachers and allows them to use the money, if they choose, to purchase thousands of dollars worth of materials for their schools - something most teachers only dream of doing.
She is using some of her grant to supplement her income because she reduced to part-time her hours as a gifted-education adviser to K-8 teachers at the Crescent Lake School in Wolfeboro. She has used the remainder to purchase costly supplies, including an incubator to hatch chicken eggs and a kiln.
"This program worked so well because the projects have to show that they have an impact on students' lives," Parise said. "I'm working in my community but have outreach efforts so that my project will reach the whole state."
She admitted, however, that the program was not administered very well in New Hampshire. "The politics have been frustrating," she said. "It was hard to find people at the state level to talk to."
Claremont's Hayward acknowledged little recognition for her fellowship in New Hampshire. "Other states made a much bigger deal out of it," she said. "They got to meet their governor and do lots of things. Not here."
Dr. Joanne Baker, the director of the Division of Instruction at the New Hampshire Department of Education in Concord, which handles the McAuliffe scholarship on the state level, was not available for comment.
Warfield, who said she is "really saddened" to hear that the program is being ended, said she saw projects by teachers in other states at an annual conference in Washington that were "just outstanding." "There were people doing science projects and dropout prevention projects, drug prevention," she said. "I couldn't be more impressed with their level of dedication and professionalism."
"I think it's really too bad for the money to be reallocated," Parise said. "My guess is that it is going to be reallocated in a way that won't help teachers like this one does"
While Hayward suspects that interest in the program may have waned at the national level because of the push to put more money into testing initiatives, Quam said the program was cut simply because of shifting priorities.
"This is the reality in a government-run and funded program," he said. "The funding was last approved under the old administration. New people in new positions have new ideas."
Published in The Union Leader, in Manchester, New Hampshire
Wounded NH Soldier Reunites with Family, Recalls Al-Qaida Shootout
WASHINGTON, March 16--Like many 21 year-olds, Army Pvt. Kyle McGovern of Merrimack likes to watch television sitcoms, smoke cigarettes and play basketball; but he has something few his age can boast: a Purple Heart medal for the injuries he sustained on March 2 in Operation Anaconda, the massive 12-day offensive that drove al-Qaida operatives from Afghanistan's Shahikot Valley.
Sitting in his hospital bed in the Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington, D.C. on Saturday with his parents and 23 year-old sister Keely by his side, McGovern relived the battle during which he was hit by shrapnel that severed two of his toes on his right foot.
"It happened pretty fast," he said about the first eighteen-hours of Operation Anaconda's first battle, when the U.S. Army's 10th Mountain Division inadvertently landed in an al-Qaida stronghold.
"We landed on the first morning, when it was dark," he said. "Even though [al-Qaida fighters] like to blow up helicopters, they let the helicopters leave. Then they started firing on us pretty heavy."
"We were on really, really big mountains with snow" near the Shahikot village in southwestern Afghanistan, he said. "Under it was hard, packed dirt, like clay. The whole time we were on a slant and all we had for cover were hard plants that look like tumbleweed in the ground."
After only about three hours of fighting off rocket-propelled grenades, McGovern was hit by shrapnel from mortar that fell two feet behind him.
"I was lifted up and put on my stomach," he said, as he leaned forward in his hospital bed to scratch around the soft cast on his right leg with a metal grabbing device. "It was just like in the movies - my eardrums were blasted, my vision was blurry and it seemed like everything was going slow mo. My finger was covered in blood and my legs were hurting. My squad leader said to move and I ran over to get assessed. Then the mortar tube next to us was destroyed. We had to keep moving because of the mortar, before I finally got to the helicopter."
McGovern did not know the seven U.S. soldiers who died in the battle. His platoon of 26 people was a part of a large company of approximately 100 people.
Standing next to her son in his snug single hospital room flanked with flowers, fruit baskets and honorary coins delivered by dignitaries including Bob Dole, Debbie McGovern, Kyle's mother, said she's happy to see her son for the first time in five months.
"We got here yesterday and stayed the evening with him," she said. "We had to buy him clothes, because all of his stuff is still in Uzbekistan and Afghanistan."
McGovern, a former soccer and basketball player, said the doctors have assured him he'll eventually walk normally on his right foot, which is missing two toes and had to be screwed together. "They showed me an x-ray and the foot bones weren't all together but spread apart," he said. "But I didn't loose my big toe or end toes, so that's good."
Doctors are discussing whether to give McGovern prosthetic toes or removable foam to put in his shoes. In the meantime he does physical therapy to strengthen his leg and occupational therapy to return movement to his right index finger, which has two gashes, for one hour a day. He hopes to soon put weight on his left leg, which is now in a brace.
McGovern went from a field hospital in Afghanistan to hospitals in Uzbekistan, Turkey and Germany before arriving at Walter Reed on March 8.
McGovern does not know if he'll be given a medical discharge or return to duty in a non-combat role. Though has not decided if he will reenlist when his military contract expires in two years, he takes pride in how his platoon performed.
"My platoon sergeant and my platoon leader got hit at the same time and then the squad leaders just took right over," he said. "I had to do some stuff with the radio as I was getting fired at, so I thought I did a good job with that."
McGovern enlisted in 2001, two years after graduating from high school, because he "wasn't doing much of anything," he said. Now that he's been overseas and seen battle, he said, he likes the military "even better."
"I got to meet a lot of interesting generals," he said.
"As soon as Kyle was here I called Rep. Sununu," said Jack McGovern, Kyle's father, "and the congressman called right back."
"We contacted him because we wanted more recognition," said Debbie McGovern. "It wasn't so much about Kyle, but we wanted all of the wounded to get recognition."
McGovern said he's looking forward to going home to Merrimack, where he has an 18 year-old brother named Kelly.
Pointing his gripper at the small TV attached to his bed that receives basic cable, McGovern grinned, "I can't wait to go home and watch satellite TV."
Published in The Union Leader, in Manchester, New Hampshire
Smith Votes For, Gregg Votes Against Less-Stringent of Two Fuel Economy Standards Amendments That Passed Senate
WASHINGTON, March 14--Sen. Judd Gregg (R-NH) voted against an amendment to the energy bill on Wednesday that Sen. Bob Smith (R-NH) and the majority of his party helped pass, one that allows the Transportation Department - not lawmakers - to establish new fuel-economy standards over the next two years.
Smith was one of 43 Republicans who voted for the amendment sponsored by Carl Levin (D-MI) and Christopher Bond (R-MO) that the Senate adopted, 62-38.
After the amendment was adopted, Sen. John Kerry (D-MA) withdrew a more stringent corporate average fuel-economy (CAFE) standards proposal that he had co-sponsored.
Kerry's amendment received attention in the press and on the Senate floor because it would have increase by 50 percent the fuel-efficiency standards automakers must comply with for their fleets of cars and trucks. In the Senate on Wednesday, members opposed to the stricter amendment said it would curtail the availability of large, gas-guzzling cars and harm the automobile industry.
Proponents of Kerry's amendment touted the environmental benefits the tougher CAFE standards would bring.
The stricter plan would have required automakers to produce vehicles that achieve a fleetwide average of 35 miles per gallon by 2015. Automakers now are required to build sedans that achieve an average of 27.5 miles per gallon and pickups, SUVs and minivans that average 20.7 miles.
Smith said that leaving discretion with the Transportation Department would "increase fuel-efficiency standards as well as help reduce our dependence on foreign oil without costing jobs, without putting safety at risk and without effectively eliminating SUVs and minivans as a consumer choice."
Gregg did not return phone calls asking for comment on his vote against the Levin-Bond amendment. It is not clear if he would have voted for Kerry's proposal had it come to a vote.
Published in The Union Leader, in Manchester, New Hampshire
Martha Fuller Clark Visits Washington for Two Day Congressional Training
WASHINGTON, March 13--In town for two days of intensive training with the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC), Martha Fuller Clark on Wednesday spoke out against the President Bush's Social Security plan and said she would "absolutely" feel comfortable taking up residence in the Capital as a member of Congress.
The state representative from Portsmouth who hopes to succeed U.S. Rep. John Sununu (R-NH) in New Hampshire's 1st District is among six candidates touted as vital to Democratic efforts to take over the House after the November elections. Sununu is giving up his House seat to challenge Sen. Bob Smith (R-NH) in the Republican primary this spring.
Clark met with 40 other Democratic congressional candidates and was picked by House Democratic Leader Dick Gephardt (D-MO) as one of four candidates to speak to the press Wednesday about one of the key topics she was briefed on by policy experts - Social Security.
"I've spoken to many people who see my race as a real opportunity to see Leader Gephardt as Speaker of the House," she said. "I'm honored to be chosen to be one of the four to participate in the social security press conference today. I've spoken out on Social Security quite a bit in the last race and this race."
The President's plan calls for privatizing a share of social security receipts, an idea Clark rejects. "In New Hampshire we have a high percent of residents who are seniors," she said. "It will put them at risk if it is privatized. [This warning is] a message for the first district of New Hampshire, it's a message for the second district of New Hampshire, it's a message for all American communities."
The DCCC training session covered the political landscape, including campaigning tips. Candidates attended sessions with a handful of policy experts, according to Kim Ruby, a spokeswoman for the DCCC, who called the two days "immensely successful."
"We looked at the importance of strengthening homeland security in each of our states, " Clark said. "We talked about the importance of health care prescription drugs, what is a workable program, and had some very interesting ideas coming forward. Basically we all know that in the long run we have to work to include a prescription drug benefit under Medicare."
Spokeswoman Ruby said the eclectic group of candidates "had opportunity to share ideas and strategy for the campaign. There was a great deal of enthusiasm."
Clark, who said she couldn't wait to return home after a week of party events that brought her to Boston and New York as well as Washington, said she'd enjoy living in Washington during the week if elected. "I've lived all over the world," she said.
Published in The Union Leader, in Manchester, New Hampshire
