Republican Frank Guinta, who is running to regain the congressional seat he held for one term, says he and his opponent, Democratic incumbent Carol Shea-Porter, would have agreed on at least one vote. Guinta would have voted against the Obama administration’s current military campaign in Iraq and Syria.
In a conversation with NHPR’s Laura Knoy at the UNH School of Law’s Rudman Center, former Congressman Guinta said he would want more details on the president’s plan to arm moderate Syrian rebels.
“I would have voted against the action that came to the floor of the House, as congresswoman Shea-Porter did. Maybe for different reasons than congresswoman Shea-Porter,” he said.
Guinta said he believes the government’s actions in Syria constitute a war, and should have been voted on under the war powers act.
Shea-Porter was one of 86 Democrats and 71 Republicans who voted against the president’s plan. She said at the time that she did not believe the administration could be sure that any weapons given to rebels would not wind up in enemy hands.
Republican Frank Guinta says that if voters send him back to Congress this fall, he’ll focus on getting New Hampshire more resources to fight crime, improve education and bolster mental health care. Guinta also says he believes that Democrats and Republicans could find common ground on the issue of tax reform.
“In order to focus on economic growth we’ve got to have tax reform, both on the individual and the corporate side. And if we could get tax reform out of the way fairly early in the year, I think you could set up an opportunity to work with the Senate and the President,” he said
Guinta and Shea-Porter are facing off for the third time in New Hampshire’s First congressional District, which consists of the eastern half of the state. Shea-Porter held the seat from 2006 to 2010, before losing it to Guinta, who was formerly mayor of Manchester.
