Sen. Bragdon Clarifies Misleading Statement on Website

A new edit to Senate President Peter Bragdon's re-election website had some residents of Merrimack scratching their heads recently, wondering if the senator, who claimed on his site to represent Merrimack as part of District 11, was claiming an early victory in the upcoming primary or if it was simply an oversight. 

According to Bragdon, it was the latter.

But the way the concerns were brought to Bragdon's attention had him scratching his own head.

“I guess I'm surprised some of concerned parties didn't contact me themselves and ask about it,” said Bragdon, a Republican from Milford.

Patch contacted Bragdon's office on Wednesday, after it was brought to attention that there were posts on the Facebook pages of a couple of local Republican forums – Merrimack Tea and the Republican Liberty Caucus of New Hampshire – calling a statement on Bragdon's homepage to question.

The statement was simple, “Senator Bragdon represents these Senate District 11 communities: Amherst, Merrimack, Milford, Wilton”

On Facebook, David McCray, a supporter and business partner of Senate District 11 candidate Dan Dwyer, R-Merrimack, posted the following, “Someone needs to tell Senate President Bragdon that he hasn't won his election yet. His campaign page reads Senator Bragdon represents these Senate district 11 communities: Amherst, Merrimack, Milford, Wilton. Last time I checked, Senator White was still the Senator representing Merrimack. President Bragdon has listed the towns of the new district 11 which he will represent if he wins his election. I guess when you are the Senate President, elections are just a formality.”

In the span of two hours, after Patch left a message with Bragdon's office asking about the somewhat erroneous statement, the text on the homepage was changed to this.

“Senator Bragdon has faithfully represented district 11 in the NH state Senate since 2004.  As a result of the 2012 redistricting process, district 11 will consist of the following towns: Amherst, Merrimack, Milford, Wilton"

Bragdon said, in an attempt to allay confusion on his re-election website, a URL he's owned for six or seven years, he asked his webmaster a couple weeks ago to change the text to reflect the communities he would represent in the District he's running for. If people from his current District 11 went to his website to learn more about him, he wanted the site to reflect that there had been a change.

He said he hadn't considered the way it read, versus his intent, until clarification was requested by this publication Wednesday afternoon.

“The way it was written implies strongly that I represent Merrimack, which isn't the case and wasn't my intention,” Bragdon said.

He immediately requested a change in language and called current District 9 Senator Ray White, who does still represent Merrimack, to apologize.

Those actions, his opponent Dwyer said, show what he's always thought of Bragdon: That “he's a good guy.”

Dwyer said Wednesday night that the language had been brought to his attention by some of his supporters and he didn't know what to make of it.

It seemed out of character, Dwyer said, for Bragdon to overtly try to mislead voters, but it was confusing.

But then, he said, so can be the process of redistricting.

When communities are redistricted, when does that change go into effect, he asked, and how does one know who to turn to with questions or suggestions for legislation?

“Those things can be confusing to voters,” Dwyer said.

that moves Merrimack out of District 9 and into District 11, among several other changes. The plan does not go into effect until after the elections this fall, and when that happens, District 11 will go from 11 towns, to the four above. District 9 will pick up many of those towns leaving District 11.

In the meantime, White still represents his district until a successor replaces him – – and Bragdon still represents all 11 towns in District 11 at least until the elections this fall.

Legislators remain in place until at least the first Wednesday in December when election-winners are sworn in, Bragdon said.

Also confusing, Bragdon said, is whether a legislator in a redistricted area is considered the incumbent. Bragdon said yes, he's still the incumbent in District 11, it's just going to be a new representation of towns, which includes a radical majority shift.

In the current District 11, Bragdon's hometown of Milford was the largest population of about 15,000. Amherst, the next largest, has about 11,000 Dwyer said. Those two towns combined are about the size of Merrimack, which will represent about 47 percent of the vote come fall.

Dwyer said he knows he's got a good fight ahead of him for the primary, with a well-liked senator in the opposite corner.

“I think the response today was good,” Dwyer said. “I think it shows well of him that he made the correction right away. I think it shows it was an honest mistake. He responded in a timely fashion; it's all you can ask for.”