We learn from our mistakes, right?

I never really paid attention to local State Representative races. I've always been interested and paid attention to the bigger races and I've voted in most elections since I turned 18. But I never thought about the local races and to be honest, never really thought that they mattered much.

Cut to 2 years ago, right around this time of year. I was on the PTA here in Newmarket and we were in the very beginning stages of planning the first Spring Auction. A friend of a friend connected me to Adam Schroadter, who owns the Stone Church, one of the places we thought might participate.

Adam and I talked on the phone and had a nice chat. I told him some of my thoughts about the event we were planning and he was very gracious about listening to my ideas. During the conversation, he told me that he was running for State Representative and we discussed that briefly.

And so here he was - a nice guy - young, articulate, owner of the Stone Church. And I admit it, I voted for him.

The problem is that I never asked him about his stances on issues important to me, and that's my fault. I didn't think about it. I didn't think it mattered.

But it does matter.

I started to pay attention to what was happening in the Legislature during the past couple of years and I got very, very concerned.

Here are a few reasons I WON'T VOTE FOR ADAM SCHROADTER in November:

• He voted in favor of HB 217, which added the death of a fetus to the list of acceptable victims under the state murder statute.
• He supported HB 1264--a bill that would have effectively legalized discrimination against gay people.
• He voted in favor of the State's new Voucher-Tax Credit system that will only hurt Newmarket schools.
• He voted in favor of HB 1659 which required doctors to tell women that abortion causes breast cancer.
• He voted in favor of HB 536 which would make gun permits optional.
• He voted in favor of NH's new Voter ID law.
• And according to this article in seacoastonline, Adam was only 70.6% of the time--missing votes on some important bills.

Don't get me wrong, I think Adam is a nice guy and it's easy to look at him and think here's this young person who owns the Stone Church and seems OK. But if you care about public education, equality and choice--he is NOT the person to vote for in November.