Frank Guinta - Misplaced Pages

This is an old revision of this page, as edited by LivefreeordieNH (talk | contribs) at 20:52, 8 November 2010 (→Political positions: If we are going to quote his positions on SS, lets give his exact statement and a direct quote). The present address (URL) is a permanent link to this revision, which may differ significantly from the current revision.

Revision as of 20:52, 8 November 2010 by LivefreeordieNH (talk | contribs) (→Political positions: If we are going to quote his positions on SS, lets give his exact statement and a direct quote)(diff) ← Previous revision | Latest revision (diff) | Newer revision → (diff)

Frank Guinta


54th Mayor of Manchester, New Hampshire
In office January 3, 2006 – January 5, 2010
Preceded by	Robert A. Baines
Succeeded by	Ted Gatsas

Personal details
Born	September 26, 1970 (aged 39) Edison, New Jersey
Political party	Republican
Spouse	Morgan Smith Guinta

Frank Guinta (Template:PronEng) (born September 26, 1970) is the 2010 Republican nominee for New Hampshire's 1st congressional district. He previously served as the mayor of Manchester, New Hampshire, an alderman, a state representative and a Congressional aide.

Early life, education and career

Guinta, the son of Richard and Virginia Guinta, was born in Edison, New Jersey on September 26, 1970. He graduated from the Canterbury School, a Catholic boarding school in New Milford, Connecticut, and Assumption College, a private, four-year liberal arts college in Worcester, Massachusetts, where he met his wife, Morgan.

After their marriage, the couple moved to Boston, Massachusetts, where Guinta worked for Travelers Insurance and other entities in the insurance industry. He also began his own insurance consulting firm helping reduce costs for smaill to medium size businesses. He attended Franklin Pierce Law Center in New Hampshire where he earned a Master’s Degree in Intellectual Property.

Mayor Guinta has also served on several non-profit Boards of Directors, including Neighbor Works, Intown Manchester, Helping Hands and the SEE Science Center.

Early political career

On November 7, 2000, Guinta was elected to a seat in the New Hampshire House of Representatives, representing Manchester, New Hampshire. He was re-elected November 5, 2002, to the same seat. On November 6, 2001, Guinta was elected Alderman representing Manchester’s Ward 3 and was reelected to that office on November 4, 2003. In 2004, he resigned his House seat to take a position as senior policy advisor to Congressman Jeb Bradley, a job which he held until March, 2005, when he left to run for mayor of Manchester on a full-time basis.

Mayor of Manchester

Guinta defeated three-term Democratic incumbent mayor Robert A. Baines in the November 8, 2005 election, becoming Manchester's youngest mayor in over 100 years. He ran on a platform of improving education, increasing public safety and security, revitalizing Manchester’s neighborhoods, promoting fiscal responsibility, and reducing property tax rates. He was inaugurated Tuesday, January 3, 2006. During Guinta's first term as Mayor, the city raised the complement of Manchester's police force by 22 officers to 225 and added a police substation on Manchester's west side. Guinta also tackled violence at local nightclubs. In 2006, at the urging of Guinta, neighbors, and other city officials concerned about violent crime, the state Liquor Commission refused to renew the liquor licenses for clubs Omega and Envy, resulting in their closure. Guinta emphasized community policing and cooperation between law enforcement and the community. With regards to taxes and spending, Guinta takes credit for Manchester's first tax cut in a decade.

Guinta was elected to a second term as mayor on November 6, 2007, defeating Democrat Thomas Donovan, a former school board member. Guinta received the backing of The New Hampshire Union Leader, during his re-election bid. The paper's editorial board praised Guinta as "a tax-cutting crime fighter... has pushed bureaucratic reform and improved services."

In June 2009, Mayor Guinta announced his plan to lower property taxes by reducing school funding by 7 million dollars. Guinta explained his budget by telling WMUR-TV "We've got to find ways to be more effective, more efficient so we can keep money in taxpayers and property owners' pockets."

The Manchester mayoral election of 2009 determined his successor, Alderman and State Senator Ted Gatsas.

2010 U.S. Congressional campaign

Main article: United States House of Representatives elections in New Hampshire, 2010 § District 1*

Republican Frank Guinta ousted Rep. Carol Shea-Porter in New Hampshire's 1st Congressional District on Tuesday, November 2, 2010. Guinta got into the race 18 months prior and built a sizable organization that helped him win a six-way primary in September 2010. In both the primary and general election, he promoted himself as someone who would cut spending and bring fiscal discipline to Washington.

Controversies

Guinta has been challenged on the origins of personal loans to his own campaign of $355,000. Guinta states that he saved this money over the course of his career from real estate deals and from consulting work, but has not provided supporting documentation. The issue was first raised by Guinta's fellow Republicans during the Republican primary, but Guinta won anyway.

In October 2010, New Hampshire Public Radio political reporter Josh Greenberg tried to verify the verifiable aspects of Guinta's claims. Guinta almost certainly made less than $100,000 from his known real estate deals (involving four residential properties in Manchester.) His other activities seemed unlikely to generate enough income to accumulate a quarter of a million dollars' savings. One of his past political jobs, as a New Hampshire State Representative, has a notoriously low salary— $100 per year— although like most of his colleagues he held down outside jobs during his New Hampshire House service. His two later political jobs paid somewhat higher salaries— but not high enough to explain his large savings, which were in any case not reflected on any of the many financial disclosure forms he filed over the years. (He made about $55,000/year as a Congressional aide and $72,000 a year as Mayor of Manchester.)

Political positions

Guinta and his opponent Carol Shea Porter described many contrasts between their positions in a public debate on September 27. Guinta also outlined many of his positions at a town-hall style meeting in August.

Economy

Guinta wants the Bush-era tax cuts extended for taxpayers at every income level, but he also wants to stop the growth of the federal deficit. Savings measures he has identified include abolishing the Departments of Energy and Education, and seeking a long-term solution to the solvency of Social Security.

Foreign policy

Guinta favors pulling the US out of the United Nations. He advocates stronger support for Israel as a solution to problems in the Middle East, and a continuing focus on the War on Terror.

Health care

Guinta opposes the Affordable Health Care for America Act passed in 2009, calling it a "trillion-dollar spending spree." He favors different changes to the US healthcare system, such as creating small-business pools for insurance purposes, allowing consumers to buy insurance across state lines, and tort reform.

Social Security

Guinta believes that the only way to "ensure Social Security's future is to cut federal spending, so we can maintain the commitments we've made to our nation's seniors. I believe we need a solution to preserve Social Security which does not privatize the system, does not raise taxes, and does not cut existing benefits."

Abortion

Guinta describes himself as "pro-life," and favors a ban on abortions with no exceptions.

Electoral history

New Hampshire First Congressional District General Election, 2010
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Republican	Frank Guinta	121,575	54
	Democratic	Carol Shea-Porter (Incumbent)	95,503	42

New Hampshire First Congressional District Republican Primary 2010
	Candidate	Votes	%
Republican	Frank Guinta	22,237	31.8
Republican	Sean Mahoney	19,418	27.8
Republican	Richard Ashooh	19,376	27.7
Republican	Robert Bestani	5,337	7.6

Manchester Mayoral Election 2007
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Republican	Frank Guinta (Incumbent)	10,381	53.9	+ 2.6
	Democratic	Tom Donovan	8,894	46.1

Manchester Mayoral Election 2005
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Republican	Frank Guinta	10,125	51.3
	Democratic	Robert A. Baines (Incumbent)	9,597	48.7	− 18.0

Sources

December 30, 2008
New Hampshire Union Leader editorial, "Guinta Ready to Lead City," January 2, 2006
New Hampshire Union Leader article, "Guinta Sworn In, Seeks School Reforms," January 3, 2006
New Hampshire Union Leader article, "It's Election Day," November 6, 2007.
http://www.guintaformayor.com/about.htm - Campaign Website biography

References

This article uses bare URLs, which are uninformative and vulnerable to link rot. Please consider converting them to full citations to ensure the article remains verifiable and maintains a consistent citation style. Several templates and tools are available to assist in formatting, such as reFill (documentation) and Citation bot (documentation). (May 2010) (Learn how and when to remove this message)