To the Editor:
I was interested to read of Burt Cohen's positions as reported in your article on Thursday, April 8 ("Underdog Cohen rallies support to defeat Sen. Gregg"). They seemed rather inconsistent or simply naive.
First, he says he is against NAFTA, and wants other actions that would essentially limit trade, yet then he says he wants to create jobs. It is hard to reconcile these two positions given that most of the jobs in New Hampshire are high value-added jobs, such as the biotechnology initiatives in the Hanover area that depend on open markets in other countries, especially Canada, to sell the products we produce.
Protectionist policy, which is what Mr. Cohen is essentially promoting, would cost us jobs in New Hampshire and has proven over the years to be especially damaging to high technology economies like the Hanover area. It is hard to understand how this would sell at Dartmouth, especially in light of the fact that the person he is running against has done so much to support research at Dartmouth in areas like cancer, health care delivery, high tech, counterterrorism research, nanotechnology and science. Judd Gregg has helped deliver over $100 million in research dollars to the Upper Valley and that has translated into real jobs.
The choice is an outdated, failed protectionist talker versus someone who understands the importance of trade to jobs in New Hampshire and has delivered on bringing good jobs to the Upper Valley.
