Candidate Profile: Lee C. Nyquist

Office Sought:

State Senate District 9

Political Party:

Democrat

Date of Birth:

6/3/1952

Background/Education:

• BA, Harvard University, 1974
• JD, American University, 1978

Experience/Occupation:

• Attorney, Shaheen & Gordon Law Office, Manchester, N.H.

Before joining Shaheen & Gordon as "Of Counsel" in July, 2011 I was a founding partner of the Manchester law firm, Devine & Nyquist and its successor entities for over 26 years. I began my legal career as Law Clerk to the Honorable Maurice Bois, Justice of the New Hampshire Supreme Court in 1978, and then practiced with Devine, Millimet & Branch until 1985.

Prior elected office:

• Town Moderator, New Boston. 1992-present

Personal:

My wife, Leslie Nixon, and I were married in 1983 in the Bedford Presbyterian Church and we have lived in New Boston for twenty-three years. I have served as the town moderator for New Boston for over twenty of those years, and proud to succeed my father-in-law, David Nixon, in that position.

We have had five children: Christina, a graduate of Smith College; Cliff, who died when he was fifteen and a sophomore at St. Paul’s School in 2004; Carla, a freshman at Colby College; and twins, Lincoln and Linnea, who turned five on May 7.

I have served as the president of the Manchester Bar Association and the New Hampshire Association for Justice. Additionally, I have brought representatives of business and labor together in my role as the chair of the New Hampshire Unemployment Compensation Advisory Council, to which Governor Lynch appointed me in 2005. I have also been a member of the Workers’ Compensation Appeals Advisory Board since 2008.

Finally, we support our community. I have been an active member of the Manchester Rotary Club since 1992, and I am a past director of the Community Church of New Boston, the Daniel Webster Council of the Boy Scouts of America, the Gunstock Ski Club, and the New Hampshire Lakes Association.

Priorities:

• Restoring civility, collaboration, and common sense to Concord
• Creating jobs and improving the economy, without a sales or income tax Building a stronger public education system, from K-12 to post-secondary Protecting personal liberties and freedoms

Why are you running?

I am running for the state Senate because, in my capacities as a father, a husband, neighbor, local volunteer, town moderator and an attorney, I have seen first-hand the impact these last few years have had on our families. We’ve all felt the consequences of the sluggish economy and we’ve all read about the divisiveness in Concord. I believe district 9 voters deserve a citizen legislator who can help steer New Hampshire clear of partisan politics and forge compromise on the key issues facing our state: improving the economy, preserving our personal liberty, promoting public education, and guarding the New Hampshire advantage and way of life.

I ask for your vote on September 11 and on November 6. Together, we can restore the traditions of collegiality and bipartisanship in state government and move New Hampshire forward. Thank you.