Thom Bloomquist
Running for: NH House Merrimack County District 24
Completed our 2024 State Candidate Survey
Position on Issues
For| Read My Position
Citizens Count Issue Survey, 2024
Do you support the “Education Freedom Account” program, which gives students access to the per-pupil share of state school funding to spend on private school or home school expenses?
"Yes. No school system can meet the educational needs of all students. EFA’s allow the community to support individual students in need of learning structures not met by the public school system. Ideally these would, in turn reduce public school population to, in turn, support public education. A deterrent to public schooling is their resistance to parental oversight. Recent examples of public schools hiding critical information about student gender issues from parents is one example of why we need EFA’s. I support parental inclusion in student affairs."
Other| Read My Position
Citizens Count Issue Survey, 2024
Should New Hampshire ban abortions during the first trimester (e.g. after 6 weeks gestation)?
"First trimester abortion is legal by New Hampshire law"
Other| Read My Position
Citizens Count Issue Survey, 2024
Should New Hampshire ban abortions during the second trimester (e.g. after 15 weeks gestation)?
"Elective second trimester abortion is legal by New Hampshire law."
Against| Read My Position
Citizens Count Issue Survey, 2024
Should NH add an income tax on earned income?
"New Hampshire benefits by being able to attract talent and business with the lack of a sales and income tax"
Against| Read My Position
Citizens Count Issue Survey, 2024
Should NH add a broad-based sales tax?
"No. The lack of a broad-based sales tax has attracted industry, commerce and talent to New Hampshire and continues to do so. New business brings economic strength and new jobs."
Against| Read My Position
Citizens Count Issue Survey, 2024
Should New Hampshire lower business taxes?
"Now may not be the time. The current tax structure is needed to support the state’s financial responsibilities to the citizens."
Against| Read My Position
Citizens Count Issue Survey, 2024
Should New Hampshire add a tax on capital gains?
"No. Money made on the gains themselves flow back into our economy."
Other| Read My Position
Citizens Count Issue Survey, 2024
Should New Hampshire government do more to address climate change?
"At one point the planet had a reductive atmosphere - no oxygen. Thank God there was climate change! Those of us in the beautiful state of New Hampshire, of course, want clean air and clean water, and we all need to look for ways to avoid negative environmental impacts. 'Climate change' proposals must be sustainable, non-polluting, realistic and practical. Positive climate change proposals need to be affordable, make real changes, not mere gestures, be simple enough for the average citizen to use, and not put people out of work. Science is producing new solutions each day. A prime example of a bad idea to save the trees is the production and proliferation of plastic shopping bags permanently polluting our environment. Let’s not do that again!!"
For| Read My Position
Citizens Count Issue Survey, 2024
Do you support giving voters who register without ID on Election Day a ballot that only counts if they return identifying documents to the state before a deadline?
"Yes, It is hard to imagine not having a valid ID these days. They are required for doing almost everything from buying beer and cigarettes to opening bank accounts and getting into hospitals and physicians offices. Picture IDs are readily available from the Department of Motor Vehicles to all citizens. The argument that significant numbers of people don’t have valid IDs or that it is voter suppression are arguments put forth by those seeming to intend voter fraud. I am okay with this proposal of letting people vote with a ballot that ONLY counts if they return identifying documents to the state before a deadline."
Other| Read My Position
Citizens Count Issue Survey, 2024
Should the state do more to encourage municipalities to remove zoning barriers to housing development?
"Yes, but wisely and in close consultation with local representatives and zoning boards who know the land and the people in their area. I am aware that there are communities in the state that 'zone out' 'affordable' housing (the 'not in my backyard' syndrome). The lack of affordable housing has been a problem for several decades now. We need to find solutions that attract young people in business to New Hampshire to sustain a positive growth model."
For| Read My Position
Citizens Count Issue Survey, 2024
Do you support legislation to expand the net energy metering system capacity cap from 1 MW to 5 MW for all residential and commercial customers in New Hampshire?
"Yes. Gov. Sununu signed into law, B 315 making net metering and solar power generation more practical. This law allows renewable energy generating systems to sell excess power generated energy to utilities. This is an example of good environmental change policy"
Other| Read My Position
Citizens Count Issue Survey, 2024
Should New Hampshire guarantee the right to access abortion before 24 weeks?
"This is already New Hampshire law. New Hampshire women now have the same abortion laws they had with Roe V Wade and these laws cannot be changed for years. Elective abortion is legal up to six months. There is a provision in the law allowing physicians to be sued for violation. Having talked to colleagues in that field, they say the chances are near zero of that will ever happening. Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg advocated that this issue be handled at the state level."
Other| Read My Position
Citizens Count Issue Survey, 2024
Should the state increase funding for child care providers?
"Childcare is provided by many different levels of providers in many different settings, from loving family up through those degreed in early childhood care. All need to be fairly compensated and receive safety and child-rearing training and regular child safety and education training."
For| Read My Position
Citizens Count Issue Survey, 2024
Do you support New Hampshire’s current system of public school funding, with about two-thirds of total funding coming from local property taxes?
"Yes. Local control and responsibility is key here. Unfortunately, new or increased taxes support creates more spending, rather than a reduction in property taxes. Simply look at the millions of Covid $19 distributed to the city of Concord for the expressed purpose of reducing taxes. How much did your property taxes go down, as a result?"
Against| Read My Position
Citizens Count Issue Survey, 2024
Should New Hampshire legalize the recreational use of marijuana by allowing home-growing and private use without sales?
"Nonmedical use of marijuana is a gateway drug leading to further drug use and, when grown in noncontrolled/monitored settings, frequently is polluted with toxic pharmaceuticals or chemicals like herbicides."
Against| Read My Position
Citizens Count Issue Survey, 2024
Should New Hampshire legalize the recreational use of marijuana by licensing growers and private retail locations?
"No. 'Private sales' suggest safety and quality measures that would make legal marijuana very expensive. Such would still feed cheaper and more dangerous 'street' sales. Private sales would also open the door to the sale of marijuana contaminated with fentanyl, heroin, meth, and a host of other contaminants. Problems already observed on the street and these other contaminants are not reversible by Narcan. This one illustration of why we need knowledgeable and professional medical providers like me in the legislature."
Undecided| Read My Position
Citizens Count Issue Survey, 2024
Should New Hampshire legalize the recreational use of marijuana by establishing state-run cannabis stores?
"This may be a safer alternative, but those unable to pay for the more expensive store sales will still turn to the street for cheaper and likely tainted product. My concerns remain regarding drug dependency leading to addiction to more potent drugs."
For| Read My Position
Citizens Count Issue Survey, 2024
Should New Hampshire raise the minimum wage?
"Yes. Ideally, the minimum wage would reflect the cost of living to meet basic needs."
Against| Read My Position
Citizens Count Issue Survey, 2024
Should New Hampshire add legal protections for residents of other states who travel here for health care related to abortion or gender transition?
"No, as long as they are in compliance with New Hampshire laws"
Other| Read My Position
Citizens Count Issue Survey, 2024
Should New Hampshire repeal the ban on abortion after 24 weeks gestation?
"After 24 weeks gestation, the placenta grows deeply into the side of the uterus and doing an abortion becomes an extreme hazard to the mother’s life and health. If medically necessary, uterine evacuation at this time should only be done by a qualified healthcare provider in an institution capable of handling the possible complications, including rapid blood loss. Medically necessary abortions are always legal, even during this riskier period. This issue illustrates why the legislature needs more professionally experienced advanced healthcare providers like me."
For| Read My Position
Citizens Count Issue Survey, 2024
Should NH require local law enforcement to cooperate with federal immigration enforcement?
"Yes. The first responsibility of our government is the protection of its own citizens! National immigration law enforcement has its hands tied by the federal government and is currently powerless in the face of the massive invasion of illegal immigrants. Unknown numbers of unvetted illegal immigrants are being flown in. ICE has now identified tens of thousands of murderers, rapists, and other criminals convicted in their home countries among these illegal immigrants, all with the “permission of the current federal administration. (ICE letter data September 25, 2024.) New Hampshire law enforcement needs the freedom and authority to work with immigration law enforcement to protect New Hampshire citizens. We need all the help we can get. Granted, there are many more illegal immigrants who are not criminals; in many cases they too are in need of protection from the immigrant criminals that would do them harm. Let us remember and respect the legal immigrants that have done the work and taken the time to come into our country legally. How just is it to them to demean the immigration process they abided?"
Against| Read My Position
Citizens Count Issue Survey, 2024
Should NH pass stricter gun control laws?
"No. 1) people who use fire arms for crime don’t follow anyone’s laws! Background checks are already required for in-store and gun show purchases by FFL licensees and are already required by federal law. Red flag laws are not based on any evidence and would lead to confiscation by someone’s mere allegation; without evidence and without the accused’s knowledge or presence (ex-parte). This violates the basic tenet of our legal system which guarantees innocence until proven guilty and the right to face your accuser. This would revert our legal system to medieval level."
