Washington, August 28 – The 2016 New Hampshire gubernatorial election will take place on November 8, 2016. The primaries will be held on September 13.
RespectAbility, a nonprofit organization working to empower people with disabilities to achieve the American dream, has asked candidates for New Hampshire’s governorship on both sides of the aisle to fill out a questionnaire on disability issues. Democrat Derek Dextraze is the first candidate from this race to respond to the #PwDsVote Disability Campaign Questionnaire for Senate and Gubernatorial Candidates for people with disabilities.
RespectAbility is nonpartisan and does not endorse candidates. The questionnaire is purely for educational purposes.
“This is my first time running for any office of government and I don’t know all the things wrong or even good things,” Dextraze wrote to RespectAbility. “I believe if I do win, that working with the people and the people at RespectAbility, that we together can come up with something that works for us all. I feel bad I don’t know all the issues but I am willing to learn them and help all that I can. My goal as Governor is to HELP as many people as I can.”
While he did not respond to all of the questions, he added that he is “fighting for the rights of people with disabilities” to his issues page.
RespectAbility is seeking responses from the remainder of the candidates in the race and will publish those responses when they are received.
Dextraze did not respond to all of the questions. We are presenting his answers in full below.
QUESTION 2: Is your campaign accessible and inclusive to people with disabilities? If yes, please describe.
ANSWER: My campaign events are held at locations that are ADA accessible.
QUESTION 5: Do you have a proven record on enabling, or a plan to enable, people with disabilities to have jobs, careers and to start their own businesses? Do you have specific strategies for youth employment for people with disabilities and/or sector strategies such as jobs and careers in STEM, hospitality, healthcare and elder care? If yes, please describe.
ANSWER: I believe all people have the same right to make $15 no matter what shape, color, sex or disability. That’s why I am in the fight for $15 minimum wage.
QUESTION 14: Do you have a plan for accessible, affordable, integrated housing to allow people with disabilities to live in the communities where they work or are seeking work? If yes, please describe.
ANSWER: I want to lower property taxes in New Hampshire for all people including those with disabilities. I don’t know how I would lower property taxes yet. But I do want to legalize marijuana and make state-run stores, so that is one way to lower property taxes.
RespectAbility has asked all the candidates for governor on both sides of the aisle to complete the same questionnaire. We will share responses from additional campaigns as we receive them.
The RespectAbility Report is a nonpartisan political commentary on the 2016 U.S. elections with a focus on disability issues. The RespectAbility Report has covered all of the Democratic and Republican candidates for president and has begun coverage of down ballot candidates. Coverage can be found at http://therespectabilityreport.org/. The RespectAbility Report is nonpartisan and does not endorse candidates.
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