Congressional Candidate Guinta Stumps In Portsmouth

Congressional candidate Guinta stumps in Portsmouth

PORTSMOUTH — Former Manchester Mayor and Republican candidate for the U.S. House of Representatives Frank Guinta stopped by Portsmouth's Maine-ly New Hampshire store on Thursday as part of his 40-town tour of New Hampshire called "Let's Talk Frank About ..."

Guinta is stopping at coffee shops, retailers and town halls across the state on his seven-week tour that started Jan. 21 in Bedford.

Guinta spoke at the downtown Portsmouth business with a small crowd of mostly undecided voters about his stance on issues like nationalized health care, deficit spending and job creation. At the forefront of the discussion was fostering the growth of small businesses. "Businesses create jobs, not government," Guinta said.

Coming out against President Barack Obama's proposed health care plan, Guinta said small businesses should be able to purchase health care anywhere in the country, not just in their own state. He also said employers should be able to pool employee coverage in large groups to reduce expenses.

Guinta got a positive response from business owners when he spoke about the importance of tax cuts that he said would "help keep small business open." He condemned the regulation of business and does not support a cap-and-trade approach to cutting environmental emissions, saying businesses should be able to regulate themselves.

"I think we should have more incentive-based efficiency programs in all businesses that are not legislated, but encouraged," he said.

Guinta also discussed a strategy to cut costs in Washington. He suggested treating the federal budget like a business at which all employees are held accountable and know how much things cost. He credited himself with lowering taxes in Manchester for the first time in a decade while he was in office.

Maine-ly New Hampshire owner and Portsmouth City Councilor Kenneth Smith showed his support for Guinta at the store event on Thursday. "He's pro-small business and did a good job as mayor in Manchester, so I'm ready to see what he can do down in Washington," Smith said.

Guinta also visited Appledore Engineering at Pease International Tradeport Thursday.

Earlier in the day, he gave a speech to a crowd of students at the University of New Hampshire, who he said seemed uncertain about the economy, prompting questions about job creation.

According to a report released by the Federal Election Commission, Guinta raised $60,800 in the last quarter of 2009, while his incumbent rival, Democrat U.S. Rep. Carol Shea-Porter, brought in $174,200.

Guinta's next town hall stop will be Feb. 11 at the community center in Rochester.