Sununu, Van Ostern meet in debate

On Wednesday, October 5 gubernatorial candidates Chris Sununu and Colin Van Ostern met for a televised debate at New England College.

A lot of the debate covered known territory. Van Ostern supports raising the state's minimum wage to $12, which Sununu opposes. Van Ostern criticized Sununu's vote against a Planned Parenthood contract last year; Sununu said Governor Maggie Hassan failed to investigate whether Planned Parenthood was selling fetal body parts in New Hampshire.

Both candidates want to end diversion of the state's liquor funds from substance abuse treatment, and both candidates oppose an income or sales tax.

The debate became more contentious when the candidates turned to their resumes.

Van Ostern said Sununu has mismanaged Waterville Valley Resort.

"I don’t think we can allow the sort of mismanagement that hurt Waterville to hurt out state. Since Chris’s family bought that ski mountain and he became CEO, skier visits have fallen in half," said Van Ostern.

Sununu noted Waterville is currently expanding, and said Van Ostern knows more about campaigning than he does about business.

"When he was a spokesperson and working on John Edwards’s campaign in 2004, I was cleaning up asbestos landfills in downtown Nashua," said Sununu.

The debate also got heated when it turned to Medicaid expansion. Van Ostern supports continuing expanded Medicaid eligibility, but Sununu is concerned about how to fund the program.

"We’re going to keep taxing the hospitals and the insurance companies, you don’t think that’s going to drive rates even further through the roof?" asked Sununu.

"Hospitals completely favor expanding Medicaid," answered Van Ostern.

"Today. When it gets to $300 million, we will see what their tune is," countered Sununu.

The debate also touched on whether New Hampshire should report mental health records to the federal background check system for firearm sales. Van Ostern supports sharing mental health information, while Sununu said letting the federal government define mental health issues is a "slippery slope."