October 21, 2025 • 43 mins
Someone needed to ask: who would want to be governor of New Hampshire? Jon Kiper does! He ran in the 2024 Democratic primary and he's running again. He talks with Liz about why he's running and what exactly the governor does in New Hampshire.
New Hampshire Has Issues (including Liz!) does not endorse candidates. New Hampshire Has Issues (including Liz!) does, however, love to have a good chit chat.
And, of course, if the governor would like to come on the podcast, Liz would be happy to talk about New Hampshire's issues with her!
New episodes on Tuesdays.
Become a supporter of the show --> this helps Liz continue to make episodes!
Have an idea for an upcoming episode? Email Liz: newhampshirehasissues@gmail.com
Links:
- Jon Kiper's campaign website
- Jon Kiper enters NH governor’s race as Democrat, says Ayotte’s reelection isn’t certain (Seacoast Online)
- Conversations with the candidates in NH’s race for governor: Jon Kiper (NHPR)
- What is a New Hampshire governor’s job? (Granite State News Collaborative)
- 2026 NH Gubernatorial Primary (Citizens Count)
Podcast theme music by Transistor.fm. Learn how to start a podcast here.
New Hampshire Has Issues is generously sponsored by Seacoast Soils, an organic compost and topsoil provider for New Hampshire, Maine, and Northeast Massachusetts. Visit their website at www.seacoastsoil.com!
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Jon Kiper (00:00):
The worst part about running for governor is that
whenever you mess anything up,it's like it's like how is
anyone gonna ever trust me torun for governor if I can't keep
my phone charged?
Very relatable.
I mean, I I closed myrestaurant down, but it was so
bad when um when the restaurantwas open, because anytime we
would screw anything up, I wouldliterally just think, I'm like,
(00:20):
if I can't get this order of,you know, this quesadilla right,
like how is everyone gonnatrust me to remember governor?
Liz Canada (00:27):
I don't know how many quesadillas a governor
makes, but you know what, that'sa good question though.
How many quesadillas does agovernor need to make?
You're listening to NewHampshire Has It News.
(00:48):
And I am your host, Liz Canadafrom the future, to say I was
really excited to interview JohnKuyper.
He ran as a Democraticcandidate in the 2024
gubernatorial primary, and hehas announced that he's running
again for 2026.
The governor's race is everytwo years on the even numbered
years in New Hampshire.
(01:08):
This whole podcast, NewHampshire Has Issues, uh, kind
of begs the question who wouldwant to be the governor of the
state?
And John Kuiper says he would.
If you would like to supportthe show, you can visit
patreon.com slash nh hasissues.
Uh and for those who are myfirst Patreons, I am going to
send you a little gift thiswinter.
A special thanks to SeacoastSoils who generously sponsors
(01:33):
this podcast.
If you have an idea for anepisode, uh send me an email.
New Hampshire has Issues atgmail.com.
If you know someone who you'relike, Liz, you definitely need
to interview this person, sendme an email.
One topic that I really want tocover, and I haven't found a
guest yet, is about the cost oftuition in New Hampshire.
If you or someone you love issomeone I should talk to, send
(01:56):
me an email.
New Hampshire has Issues atgmail.com.
Thank you so much forlistening.
Welcome to New Hampshire HasIssues, the podcast that dares
to ask who would want to begovernor of New Hampshire?
All right, how about you?
Do you have a tagline for me?
Jon Kiper (02:13):
Sure.
I'm John Kuyper, and um I wantto be governor to put community
first.
Liz Canada (02:18):
Community first.
Okay, let's talk community.
I love that.
So I am your host, Liz Canada.
And joining me today is someonewho ran for governor in the
Democratic primary last time andis running for governor again
this time in the Democraticprimary, John Kuyper.
John, welcome to the show.
Thank you for being here.
Jon Kiper (02:38):
Thank you so much for having me.
I'm so excited to be here.
Liz Canada (02:40):
I've seen your TikToks, I've seen the social
media.
I'm excited to uh get to have aone-on-one with you.
So, a little bit of background.
Republicans have been in chargeof New Hampshire for a while
now.
They have been the party incontrol since 2021.
And since then, they haveeliminated the wealth tax, given
taxpayer dollars to wealthyindividuals whose kids are in
(03:03):
private school, cut funding forhigher education for colleges
and universities when our statealready has some of the highest
tuition rates in the country.
They banned abortion for thefirst time in New Hampshire's
modern history.
They made it more difficult toregister to vote.
They passed a so-calledparental bill of rights the same
year as banning parents fromgetting the health care for
their transgender teenagers.
(03:23):
They defunded energyefficiency, electric assistance,
renewable energy.
They removed tenant protectionsand made it easier to evict
people.
They cut funding for the ArtsCouncil and they added monthly
costs for those on the GrantAdvantage program who just want
health insurance.
So I like to start with asimple question, John Kuiper.
Why do you want to be governorwith all of those things that
(03:43):
have happened that will probablyrequire some changes?
So why do you want to do this?
Jon Kiper (03:48):
You know, it's really just a matter of frustration
and just, you know, really wantwanting to live in New Hampshire
and wanting to be, frankly,proud of my state.
You know, when I first startedsort of thinking about this,
which was probably, I don'tknow, mid-2000s, there was a
story about, and it was on theColbert rapport.
It was a story about thisreally young person, I was a
state rep, they're Republican.
(04:09):
They put in this bill that wasjust totally wacky.
I can't remember what the billwas.
But the funny part was that itwas a son and his mother that
were both state reps and theylived together.
And like, so he didn't have to,you know, work because he's
living with his mom.
And so that was when I startedto realize that New Hampshire
has got these systemic problems,you know, such as the lack of
pay for the legislature, thatwere preventing uh a lot of
(04:32):
people from succeeding in thestate.
And it was holding back notjust me and my business, but
holding back my whole community.
And that the education fundingin that formula was really at
the core of that problem.
And I'm just one of thosepeople that I just can't um like
when I see the bigger picture,I can't just accept it.
I can't just like relax.
(04:53):
I have to feel like I'm fixingit.
And and that's kind of whathappened where um it started
with I I opened my business.
Um, I I have owned a restaurantfor about the last 10 years,
uh, since 2015.
And what happened was I boughtthe building in 2016.
And the building that I'm indoes not have any parking really
(05:13):
nearby.
And when we opened, everyonesaid, You're never gonna make
it.
There's no parking down there.
Like you're never gonna makeit, no business ever lasts
there.
So when I bought the building,and I looked about moving to
Exeter or somewhere with morewith more parking, but it just
made more sense financially forme to buy the building and to
stay here.
And so I thought, I'm gonna getinvolved and I'm gonna get more
parking bill in New Market.
And it started out with I justI got on the first board that I
(05:36):
sort of could get on, which wasthe ZBA zoning board of
adjustment.
The very first uh meeting thatI went to for the ZBA, we had a
young guy who comes up there andhe says, I want to put an
apartment in my dad's barn.
He's getting old, I want totake care of him.
Seems reasonable.
And the ZBA says, Well, yourbarn's not attached to the
house.
And according to the ordinance,you can't put an apartment in
(05:57):
there.
And so I was sitting theregoing, okay, this must be just
like an error in the way thatthey wrote the code.
Like, surely it shouldn'tmatter if the building is
attached or not, right?
And so me and one other guyvoted to let him do it.
The other people on the boardvoted to not let him do it, so
he ultimately was not allowed todo it.
And I just assumed, naively asI was, that the people in the
ZBA would call at the towncouncil and say, hey, we've got
(06:18):
this issue with the zoning code.
Like you should be able to doattached, you know, or
unattached ADUs.
It shouldn't matter.
Low, you know, as naive as Iwas.
And then it turned out thatthis was intentional and that
they didn't want what theythought would be excessive
growth in the town by havingthese unattached ADUs.
So that kind of led me downthis housing um rabbit hole
(06:39):
where I realized that the lackof housing was fully
intentional.
There was no, there, there wasno mistakes in why we didn't
have enough housing, why I, as arenter, or not a renter, I do
own the building.
I was a renter, but I live inan apartment.
It's 740 square foot.
So I learned that my housingwas being limited by people who
own houses.
And if you have the planningboard or the zoning board and
(07:01):
it's all people that own houses,and renters aren't represented
because they're just not aroundas much, then you know, renters
are kind of being uh, you know,we're at the whim of the of the
homeowners who are protectingtheir investment.
So I sort of started to realizethat the government itself was
in many ways an obstacle to myeconomic success.
(07:23):
So not only was it this wedidn't have parking, but I
realizing this housing is kindof being caused by the planning
and zoning board's reluctance toallow more housing.
And then as I got into theparking issue more, I realized,
hey, we're spending, you know,at the time our tax rate was
$26.
20 of those dollars went to theschool, $6 went to the town for
the fire department and pleasand stuff.
So most of our money is goingto the school.
(07:44):
And I realized there's no moneyfor parking.
You know, there's just nomoney.
And my business is struggling.
And not only that, but youknow, my property taxes are
really high in Newmarket.
I mean, it's almost $8,000 ayear that I'm paying at my
building.
And so it was like every year Ifeel like I'm making money, and
then I get the property taxbill in the mail.
I'm like, oh yeah, I didn'tmake any money, you know?
(08:05):
And so just feeling likethere's these systemic things
that are holding the smallbusinesses back, and that
basically we have this fracturedeconomy where the rich get
richer in these richer townswhere they have lower property
taxes and the wealth kind ofaccumulates, and the rest of us
in these poorer towns are justsort of left to scramble.
And the attitude is like, so Iwent from the ZBA, it was on
(08:27):
another board called EnergyEnvironment, and eventually on
the town council.
And it just seemed like when Iwas on the town council, that we
were sort of just picking upscraps, you know, in terms of
how we were funding the town.
This is what a lot of peoplethink.
They think their town is beingmismanaged because the taxes are
high.
And then you look at thebudget, you're like,
everything's really underfunded.
(08:47):
And the issue is that theRepublicans in Concord are
cutting taxes for the rich,cutting taxes for corporations,
and no services get cut.
Um, I mean, initially, noservices get cut.
They don't tell you who's goingto get cut.
So what happens is either yourproperty taxes go up, or your
town road doesn't get paved, orthe water pipes don't get you
know replaced that are from1890, or your teachers don't get
(09:09):
raises, or the firefighterscan't buy new radios or
whatever.
So there's like thistrickle-down effect of the lack
of funding.
And fundamentally, and this iswhat I just I want everyone to
take away from my campaign.
And it's it's a pretty basicidea.
The state of New Hampshire doesnot is not raising enough money
to fund a state.
It's not.
And the people that are gettinghurt are the most vulnerable
(09:30):
people in our community, youknow, elderly people that end up
homeless, uh, you know,children that are in uh YDC
facilities, um, you know,children in the foster care
system, just the the mostvulnerable people, you know,
people that are on Medicare,Medicaid, SNAP benefits, you
know, all these things arereally struggling.
And it's it's gonna get so muchworse with the cuts that Trump
(09:51):
um is putting through in thenext couple of years.
Liz Canada (09:54):
So you were on the zoning board.
Yeah.
You were on the energy board.
It's energy and environmentcommittee.
Energy environment, yep.
And you were on the towncouncil.
Yeah.
So why town council to runningfor governor?
Why not something in between?
Jon Kiper (10:10):
The the number one reason is because the state reps
don't get paid and the senatorsalso do not get paid.
Liz Canada (10:16):
Now, wait a minute, John Kuper, they do get paid
$100 a year.
So they do get paid a littlebit.
So we can't say they don't getpaid.
They got $800 a year.
Jon Kiper (10:24):
The town council, I got paid $1,500, which is not a
lot of money.
But to me, it's like a bit ofit's about the principle of the
thing.
Where the principle ineconomics, I mean, I just could
not afford to drive to Concordthree or four days a week to
represent my town in aneffective way for no money.
I just couldn't do it.
So that's really where uh I waslike, and again, going back to
systemic issues, you know,that's such a big one.
(10:47):
When you live in a state that80% of our reps are rich or
retired, you know, we're theonly state that doesn't pay and
that doesn't pay very much, youknow, that's really why I'm I I
literally was I was sofrustrated.
I went to the Secretary ofState's website, and I mean, I
knew that the state reps didn'tget paid, but I thought maybe
the senators get paid.
And I'm looking through, I'mlike, they don't get paid, and
(11:08):
I'm going down the line.
Liz Canada (11:09):
$100 a year for the senators as well.
Yeah.
Jon Kiper (11:11):
Right.
And then the governor, I'mlike, well, he gets paid, and or
she gets paid, and and it'sonly $150 to get on the ballot.
So basically, my firstintention in 2024 was I'm gonna
raise awareness about this issuebecause people are gonna say,
they're gonna say, Why are yourunning for governor?
And I'm gonna say I just saidthat because the state reps
don't get paid.
And so a big part of that firstrun was getting people to think
(11:32):
about this.
And I, and this again is hownaive I am.
I was certain that theDemocrats would would hear my
message and go, light bulbmoment, like, oh, if we focus on
paying the reps, we can getyoung and working class people
in Concord, and then all of ourissues, all the things that you
listed will be easier to pass.
Because even the youngerRepublicans want housing, even
(11:54):
the younger Republicans wantcannabis.
And it and so I I assume thateveryone would hear this
message, they'd go, you know,because when I would tell people
in in my restaurant, I'd say,you know, they'd say, Why don't
we have legal cannabis?
Why don't we have enoughhousing?
Why don't we have good schools?
And I'm like, because rich andretired people aren't concerned
about those things.
And even a lot of the Democratsthat are are great people, if
(12:15):
you're like several stepsremoved from an issue, you know,
if you're not the renter or ifyou're retired, your mortgage is
paid off, you know, your kidsaren't in the school system, you
just are it's it's justimpossible to have the same
emotional need to solve theproblem as when you're living
it, you know?
Like I heard a state rep saythe other day, you know, we're I
(12:37):
was talking about free schoollunch.
Yeah.
And this state rep said, Oh,well, you know, it's very
expensive.
It's very expensive to for freeschool lunch.
And this person makes a lot of,you know, is is very wealthy.
I know.
And and I mean, not rich, butwell off.
And I'm like, what's the costof not doing free school lunch?
You know, like how many kidsare going to school hungry?
So they're doing poorly inschool, you know, they're
(12:59):
they're home lives are a mess,and and just not being able to
be fed at a place that you'remandatory, legally forced to go
to, and how does that hurt theirfuture?
And what does it cost us as asociety?
Just a little bit of money onfood, you know?
Liz Canada (13:12):
Free school lunch has such a significant impact on
students being able to learn,being able to focus, families
not having to stress about that.
Sometimes if kids are not ableto eat, you know, other times of
the day, like that could betheir meal for the day.
And so that is a policy thatwould actually cause that's a
(13:34):
policy that would bringsignificant benefits to a lot of
people, not just the one kiddoeither, like the whole
classroom, their families, theircommunities.
And yeah, that's been tried.
They've tried to pass somethinglike that, and it has not gone
through.
Jon Kiper (13:50):
Like people just make these kind of assumptions about
what we can pay for based onthe current budget.
And you look at Maine, Mainedoes free school lunch, like
they are not as wealthy as astate as New Hampshire.
Like, we're richer than them.
And people forget this.
New Hampshire is in the topfive wealthiest states in the
country.
Like, there's no reason for usto not be um feeding the kids.
And and I also think that whenthey do the projections, and
(14:11):
this is just a little side note.
When they do the projectionsfor free school lunch, because
I'm thinking about this a lot, Ithink that they're assuming
that more kids will eat schoollunch than actually would.
And I say this just because oftalking.
My son's nine, he's in the inthe public school system.
He loves school lunch, and soit's great because it's like two
bucks.
Liz Canada (14:29):
And I'm like, it's I don't have to pack a lunch in
the morning.
Fantastic.
Eat hot lunch every day.
That's great.
Jon Kiper (14:34):
Totally.
And he and he loves it.
But it's funny because I talkedto some of the other parents,
and a lot of them will say, Oh,yeah, my kid's really picky,
like he won't eat it.
Like my sisters will say, youknow, like she'll have to go
through and pick a couple days amonth, but her my nephew just
will not eat it all the time.
It's just one of those issuesthat I think, again, when if the
people that are making are inthe committee, if none of them
have kids in the public schoolsystem, no one would be able to
(14:55):
say, like, hey, you're doing themath based on 60% of the kids
eating school lunch.
And I think if you surveyed thekids, you'd find it's only
gonna be like 40 or something,you know?
Because like imagine all thesewealthy, you know, yoga moms are
probably not gonna have theirkids eat free school lunch, even
if it's free.
They're gonna want to packtheir organic salad.
Here's the thing.
Liz Canada (15:12):
Maybe they will kids are great at swapping.
They get at school and they'relike, Do you want this fancy
lunch that my mom packed?
Because I want the chips.
Like, that's just what happens.
That's how kids are.
They're they're greatnegotiators, the kids.
This is true.
You said the first time you ranlast year, you wanted to get
the word out about how littlepeople get paid when they're a
state rep or a state senator.
So, what about this time?
(15:33):
Why are you running this time?
Do you want to win?
I guess is my question.
Are you in it to win it?
Jon Kiper (15:38):
Oh, definitely.
Yes.
I'm running to win, and I thinkthis is what I learned in the
last run is after the primary, alot of people in my town who
were Republicans said, Hey, Iwish I could have voted for you,
but I I'm a registeredRepublican.
And and I even had people thatwanted to vote for me, but
didn't switch their ballot earlyenough because you have to do
it like in June, and they justdidn't think of it.
And I even had a guy who's whowas a Democrat, but he switched
(16:01):
his ballot to vote for NikkiHaley in the in the the
presidential primary and thenforgot to switch back and then
was like, Oh, sorry, I couldn'tvote for you.
And and and the Republicanswere telling me this was even, I
was at a meet at a one uhfundraiser, I think it was in
Epping, and there were twoRepublicans younger, they're
under the age of 40, that werestate reps.
And they came up to me and theysaid, We hope that you win the
primary because we want to votefor you, because we don't want
(16:23):
to vote for Chuck or Kelly,because they just don't really
care about our issues.
They're not gonna do anythingabout housing.
Kelly's made it clear she's notgonna like sign cannabis in.
We we want those two issuesaddressed.
And if if you're gonna do it,we'll vote for you.
And so I think I can, I think Ican win, frankly.
I think that I am particularlypositioned to win because I'm an
outsider, because I um havebeen running a business, because
(16:46):
I I think I understandRepublicans.
My parents were Republicansuntil Obama.
They switched ships aroundGeorge Bush Jr.
second term.
But I understand Republicansbecause I grew up with them, you
know, and I and and and Iunderstand the evangelical
Christian side because I grew upin that world.
So I too I totally could swapstories.
Yeah.
Well, and I think once you onceyou've done it, you kind of can
(17:08):
see through the the veil, ifyou will, and you can see like
how to get through to thesepeople in a way that I think
lifetime Republicans orDemocrats can't.
You know, even just basicthings like when I would talk to
a lot of Republicans that wouldcome into my restaurant,
they're not as radical as thefree staters that are in the
state house.
And many of them, their issueswere the same as ours housing,
(17:30):
property taxes, education, youknow?
And so I'm running to win andI'm running because I think that
um Kelly Acht is tied to Trumpvery clearly, and I think that
people are going to that we aregonna be in a position where
they're gonna really want uhchange.
So basically, I think thatKelly Acht is vulnerable um
(17:56):
because I think the economy'snot gonna be doing great by
September 2026.
And I think that I think it'shaving problems now.
Liz Canada (18:02):
I don't think we need it to even wait that long.
Yeah, I think it's having aproblem.
Jon Kiper (18:05):
Yes, exactly.
And I think it's gonna continueto get worse and worse and
worse.
And I think people are justbasically gonna stop trusting
Republicans um on the economics.
And I think they're gonna beready for a new uh uh a new
economic agenda and a new plan,and that's what I plan to bring.
Liz Canada (18:22):
So I wanna give a quick story to you because you
did run last time.
Jon Kiper (18:26):
Yeah.
Liz Canada (18:27):
My wife Molly, uh, she took the boys to the
candidate forum down in ExeterTown Hall, and it was last May,
so it's almost a year and a halfago.
Yeah.
And so she took the boys, theboys at the time they must have
been 12 and 11.
And afterwards, we asked them,What did you think?
You saw these three candidatestalk and they said, We liked
(18:50):
John Kiper.
That's who we liked.
And so, like, we chatted andthey told, you know, what they
what they liked.
And so, you know, of course, alot has happened since then.
It's been almost a year and ahalf later.
But I told them this week thatI was interviewing you for my
podcast.
And I said, What do youremember from when you saw him
talk?
And they said he wanted to stophomelessness.
(19:14):
I remember he wanted to makesure everybody had housing.
And they said he was he seemedreally relatable.
He seemed like uh like arelatable guy.
And then they also said heseemed old.
We think he might be 40.
So uh question one is 40 old orwhat's happening here?
My serious question for youthough is like when I'm
(19:37):
parenting these kiddos, likethese are young men, they're
gonna grow up to be men in NewHampshire wherever they go.
How do you view yourself as,you know, like a like a role
model or a figure for theseyoung men who, you know,
thinking of themselves asDemocrats or thinking of
themselves as people who careabout these same issues?
Like, how do you see yourresponsibility in sort of
(19:59):
leading the way for these youngmen?
Jon Kiper (20:00):
Yeah, I think it's I think it's really important.
You know, I think when lasttime on the campaign trail, I
started talking about the itwas, it was like the the
roadblocks to Joe Rogan to AlexJones pipeline, right?
And my campaign manager waslike, what are you talking
about?
And I was like, you don'tunderstand.
There's this thing where youngboys start watching YouTube and
(20:21):
it starts with Mr.
Beast and it ends with whitesupremacy.
And we need to be very carefulbecause we are losing young men
to the right because they arebeing offered it's snake oil,
but they're being offered, youknow, something.
You know, people are talking tothem directly and saying you're
important and you matter, andyou know, and come with us.
(20:42):
There was a point where it washard to be, frankly, a man or a
boy, I think, in some leftistcircles where there was this
feeling like if you're a man,you're partially responsible for
everything that men have everdone, you know, and this
attitude that like men havecaused a lot of problems and
that the solution will besomewhere else.
(21:03):
And and I've I felt that withthe Democratic Party at times,
you know, and and felt like thatthey were making it that it
mattered whether or not, youknow, that my gender mattered.
And and that, you know, peoplebrought this up.
This has been kind of an issuewhere I've been trying to get
the Democrats to realize.
And I had men come up to me andthey would say, Do these
candidates realize that they'regonna need men to vote?
I think people don't realizehow bad, um, how toxic
(21:26):
masculinity hurts men too, youknow, and and men have got this
ideal like I've got to be thebreadwinner and I've got to go
buy a house and have a family.
And when that's noteconomically possible, it's very
hard to be proud, you know, andto feel like you're you're
working towards something.
And a lot, I've met a lot ofguys under the age of 30 in
(21:47):
their 20s and stuff, who arejust literally living at their
parents' house.
They have no motivation, nodrive, because they just feel
like there's no hope and thatthere's nothing that they can
do.
And like, and my son, you know,I'm trying really hard to
instill in him a sense that weuh we have to fight for the
future and that we need to craftthe world that we want, and
that is an inclusive world thatincludes, you know, uh everyone
(22:11):
being equal and working togetherto fight for that sense of
equality that we should allhave.
And um, I mean, I think it'sit's important to me that boys
see me and that, you know, I amoffering them an alternative to
the Republicans and like in aworld that we respect women.
Liz Canada (22:31):
Imagine, imagine this world where we can respect
women.
Jon Kiper (22:34):
Yeah, and that you know, that we respect women.
One of the reasons that I hadmy restaurant was so that his
mother and I could not well,this wasn't it this indirectly
was one of the benefits was thatwe didn't have to have child
care because one of us would bewatching him and we would just
take turns working.
And it was really great.
I spent like, I I mean, thatwas probably the best part about
owning a restaurant.
I spent intensely significantlymore time than any of my uh
(22:59):
many of my friends with my son.
I mean, like, just so much moretime I was able to spend with
him.
And that was so crucial.
And it's something that I wantother men to want, you know, to
when they have kids, to spendtime with their sons and build
like better relationships than Ithink I had with my dad.
And now it's funny because meand my dad get along really
well, and my dad gets alongreally well with my son, and
it's just like we have a muchbetter bond um than I that the
(23:22):
three of us do than I ever hadwith my grandfather and my dad.
And I and I think that that'sreally important.
And um, and I hope that thatyoung people will see me running
for governor and saying, like,look, I don't care that I'm not
rich.
I don't care that I'm notpolitically connected.
Um, I I'm gonna fight for thisthing that I think is worth
fighting for.
Liz Canada (23:43):
So how are you so I've like I said earlier, um
I've watched some of yourTikToks, right?
Like I see you on social media,the boys and Molly obviously
saw you at the candidate forum.
How are you gonna get yourmessage out further?
Like, how are you gonna reachacross New Hampshire?
Because, you know, if you'rerunning against Governor Ayot,
(24:04):
she's the governor, so shealready has like that sort of
platform.
She raises a lot of money to beable to get her message out
there.
Yeah.
How are you going to get yourmessage out to the far reaches
of the state?
Jon Kiper (24:16):
Social media is pretty much the best way that I
have found bang for the buck toget message out there.
And and the hard part is thatyou have to sort of be
everywhere.
You have to be on the YouTube,the TikTok, the Meta, Facebook,
Instagram, even LinkedIn.
And then the other thing isjust going to people.
We went up to Claremont for oneof their school board meetings.
And so just, I mean, honestly,it's a lot of driving.
It's it's a lot of driving.
(24:36):
I was in Keene on uh Monday orTuesday.
Uh, you know, I was inManchester today for some
campaign stuff.
So it's just, you just got togo to the people.
And we live in a reallyfractured media environment
where you've got people gettingstuff from social media, you've
got a small group still gettingstuff from WMUR, you've got um
some people totally checked out.
And it's hard.
It's it's harder now than Ithink ever has been.
(24:58):
So there's not a one size fitsall solution for how you get the
message out there.
But I I'm pretty confident thatwhat we did last time worked
pretty well with the socialmedia because you know we did
decently in the primary, and Ithink that the momentum will
carry on, you know.
Uh, we're gonna need to raisemoney for sure.
We're gonna need to raise a tonof money, we're gonna have to
(25:19):
do TV ads and all that stuff.
But like, um, I was talking toI actually just got off the
phone with Chris Pappis a littlewhile ago, and uh he called me
just to check see how thingswere going.
And I didn't know this, but inhis first primary, he got
outspent four to one.
So the money's important, butit's not everything.
And I firmly believe, and Ibelieved this last night, but I
firmly believe like if I couldget a postcard or something, or
(25:43):
or somehow get in the brain ofevery single person, get my
message in front of every singleperson in New Hampshire, I
would win in a landslide.
And obviously, that's thehardest part.
So, you know, I had a greatstory on this girl put on a
comment in TikTok where she saidshe was waiting to get her oil
changed.
Uh, she's way up in Berlin, andthis old man's kind of
complaining about, you know,taxes and the price of the oil
change.
He's like, I got no money.
(26:04):
And she started telling themabout me.
And she was like, Yeah, thisguy's even talking about like
taxing the rich.
He's talking about, you know,all this stuff.
And this guy was like, youknow, very republican.
He was like, you know, maybeit's time we start taxing the
rich.
Like, I want to learn moreabout this guy, John Cyber.
So it's it's kind of funnybecause um that's how we win.
It's just like little storiesin cafes of people talking to
(26:27):
each other, these littleconversations, you know, in
cafes and bars and restaurants.
And and I and I try on socialmedia to get people to
understand that they have a lotof power and they can actually
save me a ton of money ratherthan me having to pay for text
messaging and social media ads.
If you just text five of yourfriends or you just reshare this
video, you just save me acouple bucks, you know.
So, and and you can do thatinstead of donating if you got
(26:49):
no money.
I think that's just the themost important thing is for
people to realize that rightnow, because of social media,
you cannot just help me, but youcan help any of your favorite
candidates in your state.
And and and everyone should bedoing that.
Like commit a little bit oftime to just reposting and just
intentionally sharing messageswith people, I think would go
really far.
Liz Canada (27:06):
I really want to have an episode about the
algorithm, because the algorithmon the social medias is
actively working against folkswho are trying to make change to
what's the current sort ofstatus quo, what's happening by
our state government, by ourfederal government.
(27:27):
Like the algorithm is activelyworking against.
So I I feel like I tell this topeople all the time.
Like, if you see something thatyou like, you should like it
and share it.
Because just like laughing toyourself, it's not it's not
helping anything.
So like you have to actuallyengage with the good stuff.
Avoid the bad stuff, engagewith the good stuff.
One of the reasons I was reallyexcited for you to come on the
show is because I've hadepisodes about the different
(27:51):
parts of the government.
So I'm hoping you can explainto the listener what does a
governor even do?
What's unique about the NewHampshire governor specifically?
Jon Kiper (28:01):
So, you know what's really unique about it is that
we have what's called a weakgovernor, which is kind of
funny.
Zing is also true, right?
Yes.
Yeah.
The the governor doesn't have alot of power.
Yeah.
Which is um, which is kind of awild thing.
You know, you think, why dopeople want a job where you
don't have a lot of power?
Um, but and the reason isbecause the governor can veto
(28:24):
legislation that uh the governordoesn't like, and but besides
that, a lot of what the governordoes is working with the
executive council, you know, andand getting, and so I'm sure
you guys covered this, but youknow, they do all the contracts
and um appointments and all thatstuff.
So the governor is reallyworking right with the executive
council to get a lot of the uhyou know, the stuff happened in
(28:45):
the background that keeps thestate functioning.
Um, that a lot of it's not sexystuff.
It's like, you know, approvinga new highway contract or you're
saying highway contracts aren'tsexy, John Kuper.
Liz Canada (29:00):
Is that the stance?
Is that the position you'retaking on highway contracts?
That is that is my stance.
Jon Kiper (29:05):
Um and so, you know, it's it's kind of funny because
like the the governor, thegovernor does have like a huge
role in terms of uh how do I saythis, but the um the vibes that
the governor is bringing to thestate and what you know what
their party, how their party isgonna sort of function, you
know.
And I plan to work reallyclosely with my friends that are
(29:26):
state reps that we can get goodlegislation written and um and
work with them to to uh addressthe things that I'm campaigning
on, you know.
And we're pretty much all thethe Democrats are really trying
to have a unified message, andthis was not actually
intentional.
I just was like, hey, we got tofocus on property taxes.
And it turns out other peopleare thinking the same thing.
(29:46):
So that's becoming a really bigissue.
Liz Canada (29:49):
That's the thing.
That's what's on everyone'smind is property taxes and how
much property taxes have goneup, how much health insurance is
going up, like all of thesecosts are.
Are definitely going up.
And yes, like the executivecouncil is a part of the
equation of working with oragainst the governor.
Like they can work together orthey can work not together.
(30:11):
And that's yeah, that's how itcan be.
Talk to me about the working,you know, the united message of
Democrats.
I'm interested to hear that.
Like, what's what is themessage?
I think people want to knowthat about Democrats.
What's the message thatDemocrats are bringing?
Jon Kiper (30:25):
Yeah, so I definitely don't want to speak for
everybody.
I think where we have gottensidetracked before is not having
a unified message.
So I think that the if I wasgoing to say there's one
unifying goal for the Democratsthis time, it's going to be
focusing on economic issues andrealizing that the independent
voters that we need that votedfor Trump and Kelly Aug last
(30:46):
time, their biggest concern waseconomics and how their you know
their wallet and and and thosekitchen table issues.
And when you look at that, thethe big ones are property taxes,
housing, and education funding.
And so the way that I've Andchild care.
Well, there are there are youknow, there's a ton of issues.
(31:06):
Um that's the whole podcast.
New Hampshire does have it.
There's sort of an infinitenumber of things that you can
campaign on.
That's true.
But we really, in my mind, Ihave to focus on three things
because that's really people'sattention span.
You know, that's how manythings that they can remember.
And last time I sort of madethe mistake of focusing on too
many things.
And I'm like, I want people tojust be able to walk away after
(31:27):
hearing me speak and know whatI'm doing and and how I'm gonna
do it.
And so this is what we're ourcampaign is based on this idea
of community-first economics.
And it's basically the oppositeof Ronald Reagan's trickle-down
economics, which was we'regonna cut taxes for the rich
people, we're gonna cut taxesfor corporations, cut, you know,
regulation for corporations,and then the money will
magically trickle down to poorand middle class people.
(31:47):
We now know that was BS.
That never happened, it wasnever going to happen.
There's not like a quirk of thesystem that was intentional.
So we need to do the exactopposite of that and invest in
our local community and ensurethat, you know, a single mom
doesn't have to work 60 hours tojust pay her bills, and that,
you know, elderly people aren'tgetting evicted from a mobile
home park because the propertytaxes went up, or that some kid
(32:09):
who's 25 and living in hisparents' basement has hope of
getting a good job and somedaybuying a house and starting a
family of his own.
And and focusing on theseissues that like Republicans
have these same issues.
You know, Republicans havehousing issues and uh especially
property taxes, property taxissues and education funding.
You know, they they generallymost people with kids want their
(32:29):
schools well funded.
Uh, and the thing about it isnumber two, the Republicans have
absolutely no good answer forthe question of why are my
property taxes so high and whatare you going to do to lower
them?
If you ask a Republican inConcord right now that question,
they will say, it's your localbudget committee's fault, it's
your local town's fault, it'syour school board has probably
got 50 admin.
(32:50):
You know, that's it's just it'sBS.
So they so we need to projectan attitude that not only are we
going to help the middle classand the working class, you know,
tell them how we're gonna do itin a simple enough way that
it's not super convoluted, butalso um make sure that they
understand that the messenger istrustworthy.
(33:10):
And I think people will trustme simply because I'm a poor
person trying to solve poor andmiddle class people's issues,
you know?
And so this is what happens, Ithink, is we elect these rich
people, right?
And they they hear our issuesand they, you know, they they
give lip service to them andthen they get in there and they
go, Oh, shucks, another twoyears, and we couldn't solve any
(33:32):
problems for poor people.
Like that stinks, but whatever,and then they move on.
When I'm gonna be driven tosolve all of these problems
because they are my problems,you know, and they will be my
problems after I'm governor.
They will be, you know, so thedrive for me and the the
accountability is is internal.
Like, I need housing to belower, to be more affordable, to
(33:54):
have a business that functions,or to literally move out of
this 740 square foot apartment.
Like, like these issues are arejust like I'm living the the
the struggle.
I I'm suffering with everysingle one of these problems.
And I think that um thesolution is pretty simple.
It's tax the rich, you know,and we used to tax the rich in
this state pretty well, and whenwe did, our our finances were
(34:16):
actually doing pretty prettywell, you know.
Uh we're we're not anextravagant state.
I'm not looking to add billionsof dollars to the uh you know
to the budget right now.
I uh we just need we just donot have enough money and we
need to increase that, you know,a little bit.
You know, we don't need a tonof money.
I don't want to live in aMassachusetts style state with
(34:38):
massive, you know, governmentspending because it has
downsides too.
You know, I talk to restaurantowners in Massachusetts and
they'll tell me like thepermitting is annoying, you
know, the the way they do theliquor licenses is expensive,
their insurance is higher, uh,the regulations on, you know, um
on the on the restaurants aremuch more annoying.
Like I don't want to live inthat world.
Like I actually like a lot ofthe way that New Hampshire does
(35:00):
things.
Um, I want to maintain NewHampshire's sort of character
and and the things that we like.
Like we're we're Yankees, we'recheap, you know, and and and
I'm okay with that.
You know, one thing in new inNew Market that's interesting is
as I was saying before, our ourdepartments are all
underfunded.
And our water treatment plant,the guys that run it are are
really great because theyactually um because they didn't
have enough employees, becausethe budget was so low, they
(35:22):
started using cameras and stuffto check the sewer pipes, and it
was actually much moreefficient than having humans do
it.
And they uh they got an awardbecause of how innovative their
their use of cameras andtechnology was.
And like that's great, but weare at this point where we we,
you know, Yankee ingenuity willonly get us so far, and we need
(35:42):
more money to function as astate.
And and what they're doingright now is the Republicans are
being penny wise and poundfoolish, they're cutting taxes
in the short term in ways thatcost us money in the long term,
if not just in property taxes,but also, you know, you look at
the the YDC lawsuits, and um,you know, because we didn't
spend 10 or 20 million dollarsover the course of the last 30
(36:05):
or 40 years in in humanresources, as in the people
running the YDC centers, we'renow gonna pay half a billion
dollars in lawsuits.
It just doesn't make any it'snot fiscally conservative, even
what the Republicans are doing.
It's just like foolish.
It just doesn't, you know, likeit's just it's it's there's no
(36:25):
logic there when it costs moremoney in the long term, but they
know like it's a two-year term,I might not even be around in
20 years when this comes home toroost.
But it it it is coming home.
The the fiscal doom loop is isreal in New Hampshire.
Liz Canada (36:39):
I want to pivot a little bit because when I think
about the governor's seat, yeah,of course I think about the
policies and the issues and thethings that I care about.
But I also care about howsomeone is as a leader.
Yeah.
And so how would you describeyourself as a leader?
(37:00):
Like outside of the policies,outside of the issues, like who
are you as a leader?
Jon Kiper (37:06):
Yeah, you know, with my restaurant, um, I really
tried to set people up tosucceed um kind of on their own
terms.
I don't like to micromanagepeople, I like to set
expectations and say to someone,you know, how you get from here
to there, I I'm not thatworried about it.
I'm worried about the finalproduct.
(37:27):
And one thing that I that Ireally like to do is explain to
people why every step in theprocess is happening.
You know, and when you'retraining people to say, um, you
know, here's why I've learned todo this a way that's different
than I was doing it before orwhatever, so that people
understand what they're doing,what you're trying to achieve,
and then but then have someautonomous uh autonomy to
(37:50):
achieve that goal um withoutbeing um totally micromanaged.
And and like I am a big fan of,hey, if you've got an idea
that's better than mine, bringit up.
Like if you like in myrestaurant all the time, I'd
say, hey, if you have moreexperience in in this world than
in if you've worked at otheranother restaurant nicer than
what, tell me how to do this.
(38:10):
Like I'm not, I don't want tobe the smartest person in the
room.
You know what I mean?
I want to be surrounded bypeople that are smarter than me
on all these issues.
And the biggest, I think one ofmy biggest uh or what I try to,
you know, try to maintain is asense of I'm gonna make
mistakes.
I'm not a perfect person.
I'm gonna own up to thosemistakes when I make them and
(38:32):
try to learn.
You know, you can't really makeyou can't really learn without
making mistakes.
It's it's really important.
And but also with the peoplethat I'm working with um have a
sense of accountability and thatthey're you know willing to,
you know, like I it's just it'sreally important that when
somebody messes up, they'rewilling to come to you and say,
hey, we just screwed this up, wescrewed up this thing, but
(38:53):
we're gonna fix it.
You know, um, that was a lessonI learned at one of my first
jobs.
I was working with thiscarpenter and he said, you know,
the difference between aprofessional and an amateur is
that the professional, when hescrews up, he fixes it, even if
it means tearing a whole walldown that you just built.
You know, the amateur will say,Oh, we're off by a couple
inches, let's just jam up some,you know, jam a little board in
(39:13):
there and we'll we'll cover itup.
And that's just something thatI've always held in in the way
that I ran my business.
And um, you know, in terms oflike the way the government
functions, I think it's reallyimportant that we don't get so
obsessed with the process thatwe fail to see if it get if it
is it giving us the outcome thatwe want.
Liz Canada (39:32):
You're the you're the first person on the podcast
who's uh actively running for anelected seat, right?
The first one.
I've had elected officials on,but you're the first one who's
like, I'm running.
So I thought I would testsomething out.
Jon Kiper (39:45):
Sure.
Liz Canada (39:45):
And I asked a non-political person, someone
who does not follow politics,what would you ask someone who's
running for governor?
Like, what's the question thatyou would ask?
And so shout out to Julie whogave me this question.
Jon Kiper (39:58):
Thank you, Julie.
Liz Canada (39:59):
If you're eating at a restaurant and it's packed,
it's busy, you've been waitingon your food, it's been a while,
the server's very friendly, butlike forgot to give you your
ranch dressing, forgot somethings.
How much do you tip the server?
Jon Kiper (40:15):
I always tip 20%.
I I never have made my tippingabout the service because it's
not the rest.
I mean, I just know enough toknow it's not the server's like
fault if the kitchen is messingup.
And um, I always tip 20%.
Uh, the only thing I will say,like, if I go to a restaurant, I
have a bad experience, I justwon't go back.
I'm not gonna leave a badreview.
(40:36):
I'm not gonna bad be a badtipper.
I'm just not gonna go back, youknow.
And I think that more peopleshould just do that rather than
leaving these long negativereviews.
I mean, sometimes, you know, uhwhen I was running my
restaurant, um, we occasionallydid have reviews that were
helpful, you know, negative onesthat would that would that
would say, like, um, you know, Imean, sometimes there's nothing
(40:58):
you can do.
Oh, you used to have this itemon the menu, now you don't.
Um, you know, I mean, one timewe got a bad review about like a
piece of art last somebodythought was satanic.
He was like, this it's satanicart.
And I'm like, that could be apositive for some people.
Hello.
Yes, yeah.
Um, right.
So I I I wish more people woulduh have a little bit more
grace.
Liz Canada (41:17):
All right, so the answer is 20% always.
If you don't like it, you don'tgo back.
Love to hear it.
My uh other question for you isHalloween is coming up.
Yes, and so at the Kuiperhouseholds, what are you giving
out at the door?
Are you a full-size candy barperson?
Are you little packs?
Are you a bucket outside with asign?
Jon Kiper (41:36):
Uh we usually do the big bowl um with you know
assorted uh assorted candies.
Um, it's kind of funny becausenormally I do it like through
the restaurant and I don't know.
We didn't sign up.
Like normally the recdepartment just goes around
because we're like, you know,and they they put a little flag
(41:58):
out.
And I didn't even really thinkabout it this year.
So I don't know if I'll bedoing it.
I guess I I probably should.
Liz Canada (42:03):
Yeah, that's it's uh that's the question we want to
know.
What will be at the Kuiperhousehold for for hunger?
Jon Kiper (42:09):
I I usually buy, I try to buy a few uh as many like
mixed bags of like, you know, Itry to get like a couple of the
good ones, you know, the thethe Reese's and the you know
peanut butter cups, and then youknow, also throw in a few of
the ones that are like thesweeties and like the little
sugary, you know, the ones thatpeople don't like as much.
(42:29):
I don't know.
I try to mix it up a little bitso that there's some options.
Something for everyone.
Yeah, you put in two moneyoptions and little kids.
I mean, some of them it's likea deer in headlights, they're
trying to pick out their candy.
Yeah, and mom's like, hey, wegotta go.
There's like 30 other places togo.
Liz Canada (42:44):
We've got other places to be.
Jon Kiper (42:46):
It's one of my favorite days in town because
everyone's just psyched, youknow, like they're going to all
the businesses and gettingcandy, and the kids are all so
cute and um pumped up on sugarout in their costumes.
Totally.
Yeah, it's it's a good time.
So I probably should.
I should probably I probablyshould sign up to to do that
because um people love camping.
Liz Canada (43:06):
All right, well, that's your homework, John
Kuyper.
You gotta go and uh figure outyour Halloween situation.
It feels weird calling youJohn.
I feel like in my mind you'reJohn Kuyper.
You have one of those superheronames.
Have you gotten that beforewhere it's like John Kuper?
Really?
Jon Kiper (43:27):
When I had the restaurant open, it was sort of
annoying because everyonethought my last name was Boston,
because my restaurant's calledJohnny Boston, right?
I didn't realize how manypeople like literally thought my
last name was Boston.
So I had to go through thiswhole process of being like, No,
I'm John Kuper.
Liz Canada (43:40):
And I have the name of Canada, so I get that a lot
anyway.
The worst part about running for governor is that
whenever you mess anything up,it's like it's like how is
anyone gonna ever trust me torun for governor if I can't keep
my phone charged?
Very relatable.
I mean, I I closed myrestaurant down, but it was so
bad when um when the restaurantwas open, because anytime we
would screw anything up, I wouldliterally just think, I'm like,
(00:20):
if I can't get this order of,you know, this quesadilla right,
like how is everyone gonnatrust me to remember governor?
Liz Canada (00:27):
I don't know how many quesadillas a governor
makes, but you know what, that'sa good question though.
How many quesadillas does agovernor need to make?
You're listening to NewHampshire Has It News.
(00:48):
And I am your host, Liz Canadafrom the future, to say I was
really excited to interview JohnKuyper.
He ran as a Democraticcandidate in the 2024
gubernatorial primary, and hehas announced that he's running
again for 2026.
The governor's race is everytwo years on the even numbered
years in New Hampshire.
(01:08):
This whole podcast, NewHampshire Has Issues, uh, kind
of begs the question who wouldwant to be the governor of the
state?
And John Kuiper says he would.
If you would like to supportthe show, you can visit
patreon.com slash nh hasissues.
Uh and for those who are myfirst Patreons, I am going to
send you a little gift thiswinter.
A special thanks to SeacoastSoils who generously sponsors
(01:33):
this podcast.
If you have an idea for anepisode, uh send me an email.
New Hampshire has Issues atgmail.com.
If you know someone who you'relike, Liz, you definitely need
to interview this person, sendme an email.
One topic that I really want tocover, and I haven't found a
guest yet, is about the cost oftuition in New Hampshire.
If you or someone you love issomeone I should talk to, send
(01:56):
me an email.
New Hampshire has Issues atgmail.com.
Thank you so much forlistening.
Welcome to New Hampshire HasIssues, the podcast that dares
to ask who would want to begovernor of New Hampshire?
All right, how about you?
Do you have a tagline for me?
Jon Kiper (02:13):
Sure.
I'm John Kuyper, and um I wantto be governor to put community
first.
Liz Canada (02:18):
Community first.
Okay, let's talk community.
I love that.
So I am your host, Liz Canada.
And joining me today is someonewho ran for governor in the
Democratic primary last time andis running for governor again
this time in the Democraticprimary, John Kuyper.
John, welcome to the show.
Thank you for being here.
Jon Kiper (02:38):
Thank you so much for having me.
I'm so excited to be here.
Liz Canada (02:40):
I've seen your TikToks, I've seen the social
media.
I'm excited to uh get to have aone-on-one with you.
So, a little bit of background.
Republicans have been in chargeof New Hampshire for a while
now.
They have been the party incontrol since 2021.
And since then, they haveeliminated the wealth tax, given
taxpayer dollars to wealthyindividuals whose kids are in
(03:03):
private school, cut funding forhigher education for colleges
and universities when our statealready has some of the highest
tuition rates in the country.
They banned abortion for thefirst time in New Hampshire's
modern history.
They made it more difficult toregister to vote.
They passed a so-calledparental bill of rights the same
year as banning parents fromgetting the health care for
their transgender teenagers.
(03:23):
They defunded energyefficiency, electric assistance,
renewable energy.
They removed tenant protectionsand made it easier to evict
people.
They cut funding for the ArtsCouncil and they added monthly
costs for those on the GrantAdvantage program who just want
health insurance.
So I like to start with asimple question, John Kuiper.
Why do you want to be governorwith all of those things that
(03:43):
have happened that will probablyrequire some changes?
So why do you want to do this?
Jon Kiper (03:48):
You know, it's really just a matter of frustration
and just, you know, really wantwanting to live in New Hampshire
and wanting to be, frankly,proud of my state.
You know, when I first startedsort of thinking about this,
which was probably, I don'tknow, mid-2000s, there was a
story about, and it was on theColbert rapport.
It was a story about thisreally young person, I was a
state rep, they're Republican.
(04:09):
They put in this bill that wasjust totally wacky.
I can't remember what the billwas.
But the funny part was that itwas a son and his mother that
were both state reps and theylived together.
And like, so he didn't have to,you know, work because he's
living with his mom.
And so that was when I startedto realize that New Hampshire
has got these systemic problems,you know, such as the lack of
pay for the legislature, thatwere preventing uh a lot of
(04:32):
people from succeeding in thestate.
And it was holding back notjust me and my business, but
holding back my whole community.
And that the education fundingin that formula was really at
the core of that problem.
And I'm just one of thosepeople that I just can't um like
when I see the bigger picture,I can't just accept it.
I can't just like relax.
(04:53):
I have to feel like I'm fixingit.
And and that's kind of whathappened where um it started
with I I opened my business.
Um, I I have owned a restaurantfor about the last 10 years,
uh, since 2015.
And what happened was I boughtthe building in 2016.
And the building that I'm indoes not have any parking really
(05:13):
nearby.
And when we opened, everyonesaid, You're never gonna make
it.
There's no parking down there.
Like you're never gonna makeit, no business ever lasts
there.
So when I bought the building,and I looked about moving to
Exeter or somewhere with morewith more parking, but it just
made more sense financially forme to buy the building and to
stay here.
And so I thought, I'm gonna getinvolved and I'm gonna get more
parking bill in New Market.
And it started out with I justI got on the first board that I
(05:36):
sort of could get on, which wasthe ZBA zoning board of
adjustment.
The very first uh meeting thatI went to for the ZBA, we had a
young guy who comes up there andhe says, I want to put an
apartment in my dad's barn.
He's getting old, I want totake care of him.
Seems reasonable.
And the ZBA says, Well, yourbarn's not attached to the
house.
And according to the ordinance,you can't put an apartment in
(05:57):
there.
And so I was sitting theregoing, okay, this must be just
like an error in the way thatthey wrote the code.
Like, surely it shouldn'tmatter if the building is
attached or not, right?
And so me and one other guyvoted to let him do it.
The other people on the boardvoted to not let him do it, so
he ultimately was not allowed todo it.
And I just assumed, naively asI was, that the people in the
ZBA would call at the towncouncil and say, hey, we've got
(06:18):
this issue with the zoning code.
Like you should be able to doattached, you know, or
unattached ADUs.
It shouldn't matter.
Low, you know, as naive as Iwas.
And then it turned out thatthis was intentional and that
they didn't want what theythought would be excessive
growth in the town by havingthese unattached ADUs.
So that kind of led me downthis housing um rabbit hole
(06:39):
where I realized that the lackof housing was fully
intentional.
There was no, there, there wasno mistakes in why we didn't
have enough housing, why I, as arenter, or not a renter, I do
own the building.
I was a renter, but I live inan apartment.
It's 740 square foot.
So I learned that my housingwas being limited by people who
own houses.
And if you have the planningboard or the zoning board and
(07:01):
it's all people that own houses,and renters aren't represented
because they're just not aroundas much, then you know, renters
are kind of being uh, you know,we're at the whim of the of the
homeowners who are protectingtheir investment.
So I sort of started to realizethat the government itself was
in many ways an obstacle to myeconomic success.
(07:23):
So not only was it this wedidn't have parking, but I
realizing this housing is kindof being caused by the planning
and zoning board's reluctance toallow more housing.
And then as I got into theparking issue more, I realized,
hey, we're spending, you know,at the time our tax rate was
$26.
20 of those dollars went to theschool, $6 went to the town for
the fire department and pleasand stuff.
So most of our money is goingto the school.
(07:44):
And I realized there's no moneyfor parking.
You know, there's just nomoney.
And my business is struggling.
And not only that, but youknow, my property taxes are
really high in Newmarket.
I mean, it's almost $8,000 ayear that I'm paying at my
building.
And so it was like every year Ifeel like I'm making money, and
then I get the property taxbill in the mail.
I'm like, oh yeah, I didn'tmake any money, you know?
(08:05):
And so just feeling likethere's these systemic things
that are holding the smallbusinesses back, and that
basically we have this fracturedeconomy where the rich get
richer in these richer townswhere they have lower property
taxes and the wealth kind ofaccumulates, and the rest of us
in these poorer towns are justsort of left to scramble.
And the attitude is like, so Iwent from the ZBA, it was on
(08:27):
another board called EnergyEnvironment, and eventually on
the town council.
And it just seemed like when Iwas on the town council, that we
were sort of just picking upscraps, you know, in terms of
how we were funding the town.
This is what a lot of peoplethink.
They think their town is beingmismanaged because the taxes are
high.
And then you look at thebudget, you're like,
everything's really underfunded.
(08:47):
And the issue is that theRepublicans in Concord are
cutting taxes for the rich,cutting taxes for corporations,
and no services get cut.
Um, I mean, initially, noservices get cut.
They don't tell you who's goingto get cut.
So what happens is either yourproperty taxes go up, or your
town road doesn't get paved, orthe water pipes don't get you
know replaced that are from1890, or your teachers don't get
(09:09):
raises, or the firefighterscan't buy new radios or
whatever.
So there's like thistrickle-down effect of the lack
of funding.
And fundamentally, and this iswhat I just I want everyone to
take away from my campaign.
And it's it's a pretty basicidea.
The state of New Hampshire doesnot is not raising enough money
to fund a state.
It's not.
And the people that are gettinghurt are the most vulnerable
(09:30):
people in our community, youknow, elderly people that end up
homeless, uh, you know,children that are in uh YDC
facilities, um, you know,children in the foster care
system, just the the mostvulnerable people, you know,
people that are on Medicare,Medicaid, SNAP benefits, you
know, all these things arereally struggling.
And it's it's gonna get so muchworse with the cuts that Trump
(09:51):
um is putting through in thenext couple of years.
Liz Canada (09:54):
So you were on the zoning board.
Yeah.
You were on the energy board.
It's energy and environmentcommittee.
Energy environment, yep.
And you were on the towncouncil.
Yeah.
So why town council to runningfor governor?
Why not something in between?
Jon Kiper (10:10):
The the number one reason is because the state reps
don't get paid and the senatorsalso do not get paid.
Liz Canada (10:16):
Now, wait a minute, John Kuper, they do get paid
$100 a year.
So they do get paid a littlebit.
So we can't say they don't getpaid.
They got $800 a year.
Jon Kiper (10:24):
The town council, I got paid $1,500, which is not a
lot of money.
But to me, it's like a bit ofit's about the principle of the
thing.
Where the principle ineconomics, I mean, I just could
not afford to drive to Concordthree or four days a week to
represent my town in aneffective way for no money.
I just couldn't do it.
So that's really where uh I waslike, and again, going back to
systemic issues, you know,that's such a big one.
(10:47):
When you live in a state that80% of our reps are rich or
retired, you know, we're theonly state that doesn't pay and
that doesn't pay very much, youknow, that's really why I'm I I
literally was I was sofrustrated.
I went to the Secretary ofState's website, and I mean, I
knew that the state reps didn'tget paid, but I thought maybe
the senators get paid.
And I'm looking through, I'mlike, they don't get paid, and
(11:08):
I'm going down the line.
Liz Canada (11:09):
$100 a year for the senators as well.
Yeah.
Jon Kiper (11:11):
Right.
And then the governor, I'mlike, well, he gets paid, and or
she gets paid, and and it'sonly $150 to get on the ballot.
So basically, my firstintention in 2024 was I'm gonna
raise awareness about this issuebecause people are gonna say,
they're gonna say, Why are yourunning for governor?
And I'm gonna say I just saidthat because the state reps
don't get paid.
And so a big part of that firstrun was getting people to think
(11:32):
about this.
And I, and this again is hownaive I am.
I was certain that theDemocrats would would hear my
message and go, light bulbmoment, like, oh, if we focus on
paying the reps, we can getyoung and working class people
in Concord, and then all of ourissues, all the things that you
listed will be easier to pass.
Because even the youngerRepublicans want housing, even
(11:54):
the younger Republicans wantcannabis.
And it and so I I assume thateveryone would hear this
message, they'd go, you know,because when I would tell people
in in my restaurant, I'd say,you know, they'd say, Why don't
we have legal cannabis?
Why don't we have enoughhousing?
Why don't we have good schools?
And I'm like, because rich andretired people aren't concerned
about those things.
And even a lot of the Democratsthat are are great people, if
(12:15):
you're like several stepsremoved from an issue, you know,
if you're not the renter or ifyou're retired, your mortgage is
paid off, you know, your kidsaren't in the school system, you
just are it's it's justimpossible to have the same
emotional need to solve theproblem as when you're living
it, you know?
Like I heard a state rep saythe other day, you know, we're I
(12:37):
was talking about free schoollunch.
Yeah.
And this state rep said, Oh,well, you know, it's very
expensive.
It's very expensive to for freeschool lunch.
And this person makes a lot of,you know, is is very wealthy.
I know.
And and I mean, not rich, butwell off.
And I'm like, what's the costof not doing free school lunch?
You know, like how many kidsare going to school hungry?
So they're doing poorly inschool, you know, they're
(12:59):
they're home lives are a mess,and and just not being able to
be fed at a place that you'remandatory, legally forced to go
to, and how does that hurt theirfuture?
And what does it cost us as asociety?
Just a little bit of money onfood, you know?
Liz Canada (13:12):
Free school lunch has such a significant impact on
students being able to learn,being able to focus, families
not having to stress about that.
Sometimes if kids are not ableto eat, you know, other times of
the day, like that could betheir meal for the day.
And so that is a policy thatwould actually cause that's a
(13:34):
policy that would bringsignificant benefits to a lot of
people, not just the one kiddoeither, like the whole
classroom, their families, theircommunities.
And yeah, that's been tried.
They've tried to pass somethinglike that, and it has not gone
through.
Jon Kiper (13:50):
Like people just make these kind of assumptions about
what we can pay for based onthe current budget.
And you look at Maine, Mainedoes free school lunch, like
they are not as wealthy as astate as New Hampshire.
Like, we're richer than them.
And people forget this.
New Hampshire is in the topfive wealthiest states in the
country.
Like, there's no reason for usto not be um feeding the kids.
And and I also think that whenthey do the projections, and
(14:11):
this is just a little side note.
When they do the projectionsfor free school lunch, because
I'm thinking about this a lot, Ithink that they're assuming
that more kids will eat schoollunch than actually would.
And I say this just because oftalking.
My son's nine, he's in the inthe public school system.
He loves school lunch, and soit's great because it's like two
bucks.
Liz Canada (14:29):
And I'm like, it's I don't have to pack a lunch in
the morning.
Fantastic.
Eat hot lunch every day.
That's great.
Jon Kiper (14:34):
Totally.
And he and he loves it.
But it's funny because I talkedto some of the other parents,
and a lot of them will say, Oh,yeah, my kid's really picky,
like he won't eat it.
Like my sisters will say, youknow, like she'll have to go
through and pick a couple days amonth, but her my nephew just
will not eat it all the time.
It's just one of those issuesthat I think, again, when if the
people that are making are inthe committee, if none of them
have kids in the public schoolsystem, no one would be able to
(14:55):
say, like, hey, you're doing themath based on 60% of the kids
eating school lunch.
And I think if you surveyed thekids, you'd find it's only
gonna be like 40 or something,you know?
Because like imagine all thesewealthy, you know, yoga moms are
probably not gonna have theirkids eat free school lunch, even
if it's free.
They're gonna want to packtheir organic salad.
Here's the thing.
Liz Canada (15:12):
Maybe they will kids are great at swapping.
They get at school and they'relike, Do you want this fancy
lunch that my mom packed?
Because I want the chips.
Like, that's just what happens.
That's how kids are.
They're they're greatnegotiators, the kids.
This is true.
You said the first time you ranlast year, you wanted to get
the word out about how littlepeople get paid when they're a
state rep or a state senator.
So, what about this time?
(15:33):
Why are you running this time?
Do you want to win?
I guess is my question.
Are you in it to win it?
Jon Kiper (15:38):
Oh, definitely.
Yes.
I'm running to win, and I thinkthis is what I learned in the
last run is after the primary, alot of people in my town who
were Republicans said, Hey, Iwish I could have voted for you,
but I I'm a registeredRepublican.
And and I even had people thatwanted to vote for me, but
didn't switch their ballot earlyenough because you have to do
it like in June, and they justdidn't think of it.
And I even had a guy who's whowas a Democrat, but he switched
(16:01):
his ballot to vote for NikkiHaley in the in the the
presidential primary and thenforgot to switch back and then
was like, Oh, sorry, I couldn'tvote for you.
And and and the Republicanswere telling me this was even, I
was at a meet at a one uhfundraiser, I think it was in
Epping, and there were twoRepublicans younger, they're
under the age of 40, that werestate reps.
And they came up to me and theysaid, We hope that you win the
primary because we want to votefor you, because we don't want
(16:23):
to vote for Chuck or Kelly,because they just don't really
care about our issues.
They're not gonna do anythingabout housing.
Kelly's made it clear she's notgonna like sign cannabis in.
We we want those two issuesaddressed.
And if if you're gonna do it,we'll vote for you.
And so I think I can, I think Ican win, frankly.
I think that I am particularlypositioned to win because I'm an
outsider, because I um havebeen running a business, because
(16:46):
I I think I understandRepublicans.
My parents were Republicansuntil Obama.
They switched ships aroundGeorge Bush Jr.
second term.
But I understand Republicansbecause I grew up with them, you
know, and I and and and Iunderstand the evangelical
Christian side because I grew upin that world.
So I too I totally could swapstories.
Yeah.
Well, and I think once you onceyou've done it, you kind of can
(17:08):
see through the the veil, ifyou will, and you can see like
how to get through to thesepeople in a way that I think
lifetime Republicans orDemocrats can't.
You know, even just basicthings like when I would talk to
a lot of Republicans that wouldcome into my restaurant,
they're not as radical as thefree staters that are in the
state house.
And many of them, their issueswere the same as ours housing,
(17:30):
property taxes, education, youknow?
And so I'm running to win andI'm running because I think that
um Kelly Acht is tied to Trumpvery clearly, and I think that
people are going to that we aregonna be in a position where
they're gonna really want uhchange.
So basically, I think thatKelly Acht is vulnerable um
(17:56):
because I think the economy'snot gonna be doing great by
September 2026.
And I think that I think it'shaving problems now.
Liz Canada (18:02):
I don't think we need it to even wait that long.
Yeah, I think it's having aproblem.
Jon Kiper (18:05):
Yes, exactly.
And I think it's gonna continueto get worse and worse and
worse.
And I think people are justbasically gonna stop trusting
Republicans um on the economics.
And I think they're gonna beready for a new uh uh a new
economic agenda and a new plan,and that's what I plan to bring.
Liz Canada (18:22):
So I wanna give a quick story to you because you
did run last time.
Jon Kiper (18:26):
Yeah.
Liz Canada (18:27):
My wife Molly, uh, she took the boys to the
candidate forum down in ExeterTown Hall, and it was last May,
so it's almost a year and a halfago.
Yeah.
And so she took the boys, theboys at the time they must have
been 12 and 11.
And afterwards, we asked them,What did you think?
You saw these three candidatestalk and they said, We liked
(18:50):
John Kiper.
That's who we liked.
And so, like, we chatted andthey told, you know, what they
what they liked.
And so, you know, of course, alot has happened since then.
It's been almost a year and ahalf later.
But I told them this week thatI was interviewing you for my
podcast.
And I said, What do youremember from when you saw him
talk?
And they said he wanted to stophomelessness.
(19:14):
I remember he wanted to makesure everybody had housing.
And they said he was he seemedreally relatable.
He seemed like uh like arelatable guy.
And then they also said heseemed old.
We think he might be 40.
So uh question one is 40 old orwhat's happening here?
My serious question for youthough is like when I'm
(19:37):
parenting these kiddos, likethese are young men, they're
gonna grow up to be men in NewHampshire wherever they go.
How do you view yourself as,you know, like a like a role
model or a figure for theseyoung men who, you know,
thinking of themselves asDemocrats or thinking of
themselves as people who careabout these same issues?
Like, how do you see yourresponsibility in sort of
(19:59):
leading the way for these youngmen?
Jon Kiper (20:00):
Yeah, I think it's I think it's really important.
You know, I think when lasttime on the campaign trail, I
started talking about the itwas, it was like the the
roadblocks to Joe Rogan to AlexJones pipeline, right?
And my campaign manager waslike, what are you talking
about?
And I was like, you don'tunderstand.
There's this thing where youngboys start watching YouTube and
(20:21):
it starts with Mr.
Beast and it ends with whitesupremacy.
And we need to be very carefulbecause we are losing young men
to the right because they arebeing offered it's snake oil,
but they're being offered, youknow, something.
You know, people are talking tothem directly and saying you're
important and you matter, andyou know, and come with us.
(20:42):
There was a point where it washard to be, frankly, a man or a
boy, I think, in some leftistcircles where there was this
feeling like if you're a man,you're partially responsible for
everything that men have everdone, you know, and this
attitude that like men havecaused a lot of problems and
that the solution will besomewhere else.
(21:03):
And and I've I felt that withthe Democratic Party at times,
you know, and and felt like thatthey were making it that it
mattered whether or not, youknow, that my gender mattered.
And and that, you know, peoplebrought this up.
This has been kind of an issuewhere I've been trying to get
the Democrats to realize.
And I had men come up to me andthey would say, Do these
candidates realize that they'regonna need men to vote?
I think people don't realizehow bad, um, how toxic
(21:26):
masculinity hurts men too, youknow, and and men have got this
ideal like I've got to be thebreadwinner and I've got to go
buy a house and have a family.
And when that's noteconomically possible, it's very
hard to be proud, you know, andto feel like you're you're
working towards something.
And a lot, I've met a lot ofguys under the age of 30 in
(21:47):
their 20s and stuff, who arejust literally living at their
parents' house.
They have no motivation, nodrive, because they just feel
like there's no hope and thatthere's nothing that they can
do.
And like, and my son, you know,I'm trying really hard to
instill in him a sense that weuh we have to fight for the
future and that we need to craftthe world that we want, and
that is an inclusive world thatincludes, you know, uh everyone
(22:11):
being equal and working togetherto fight for that sense of
equality that we should allhave.
And um, I mean, I think it'sit's important to me that boys
see me and that, you know, I amoffering them an alternative to
the Republicans and like in aworld that we respect women.
Liz Canada (22:31):
Imagine, imagine this world where we can respect
women.
Jon Kiper (22:34):
Yeah, and that you know, that we respect women.
One of the reasons that I hadmy restaurant was so that his
mother and I could not well,this wasn't it this indirectly
was one of the benefits was thatwe didn't have to have child
care because one of us would bewatching him and we would just
take turns working.
And it was really great.
I spent like, I I mean, thatwas probably the best part about
owning a restaurant.
I spent intensely significantlymore time than any of my uh
(22:59):
many of my friends with my son.
I mean, like, just so much moretime I was able to spend with
him.
And that was so crucial.
And it's something that I wantother men to want, you know, to
when they have kids, to spendtime with their sons and build
like better relationships than Ithink I had with my dad.
And now it's funny because meand my dad get along really
well, and my dad gets alongreally well with my son, and
it's just like we have a muchbetter bond um than I that the
(23:22):
three of us do than I ever hadwith my grandfather and my dad.
And I and I think that that'sreally important.
And um, and I hope that thatyoung people will see me running
for governor and saying, like,look, I don't care that I'm not
rich.
I don't care that I'm notpolitically connected.
Um, I I'm gonna fight for thisthing that I think is worth
fighting for.
Liz Canada (23:43):
So how are you so I've like I said earlier, um
I've watched some of yourTikToks, right?
Like I see you on social media,the boys and Molly obviously
saw you at the candidate forum.
How are you gonna get yourmessage out further?
Like, how are you gonna reachacross New Hampshire?
Because, you know, if you'rerunning against Governor Ayot,
(24:04):
she's the governor, so shealready has like that sort of
platform.
She raises a lot of money to beable to get her message out
there.
Yeah.
How are you going to get yourmessage out to the far reaches
of the state?
Jon Kiper (24:16):
Social media is pretty much the best way that I
have found bang for the buck toget message out there.
And and the hard part is thatyou have to sort of be
everywhere.
You have to be on the YouTube,the TikTok, the Meta, Facebook,
Instagram, even LinkedIn.
And then the other thing isjust going to people.
We went up to Claremont for oneof their school board meetings.
And so just, I mean, honestly,it's a lot of driving.
It's it's a lot of driving.
(24:36):
I was in Keene on uh Monday orTuesday.
Uh, you know, I was inManchester today for some
campaign stuff.
So it's just, you just got togo to the people.
And we live in a reallyfractured media environment
where you've got people gettingstuff from social media, you've
got a small group still gettingstuff from WMUR, you've got um
some people totally checked out.
And it's hard.
It's it's harder now than Ithink ever has been.
(24:58):
So there's not a one size fitsall solution for how you get the
message out there.
But I I'm pretty confident thatwhat we did last time worked
pretty well with the socialmedia because you know we did
decently in the primary, and Ithink that the momentum will
carry on, you know.
Uh, we're gonna need to raisemoney for sure.
We're gonna need to raise a tonof money, we're gonna have to
(25:19):
do TV ads and all that stuff.
But like, um, I was talking toI actually just got off the
phone with Chris Pappis a littlewhile ago, and uh he called me
just to check see how thingswere going.
And I didn't know this, but inhis first primary, he got
outspent four to one.
So the money's important, butit's not everything.
And I firmly believe, and Ibelieved this last night, but I
firmly believe like if I couldget a postcard or something, or
(25:43):
or somehow get in the brain ofevery single person, get my
message in front of every singleperson in New Hampshire, I
would win in a landslide.
And obviously, that's thehardest part.
So, you know, I had a greatstory on this girl put on a
comment in TikTok where she saidshe was waiting to get her oil
changed.
Uh, she's way up in Berlin, andthis old man's kind of
complaining about, you know,taxes and the price of the oil
change.
He's like, I got no money.
(26:04):
And she started telling themabout me.
And she was like, Yeah, thisguy's even talking about like
taxing the rich.
He's talking about, you know,all this stuff.
And this guy was like, youknow, very republican.
He was like, you know, maybeit's time we start taxing the
rich.
Like, I want to learn moreabout this guy, John Cyber.
So it's it's kind of funnybecause um that's how we win.
It's just like little storiesin cafes of people talking to
(26:27):
each other, these littleconversations, you know, in
cafes and bars and restaurants.
And and I and I try on socialmedia to get people to
understand that they have a lotof power and they can actually
save me a ton of money ratherthan me having to pay for text
messaging and social media ads.
If you just text five of yourfriends or you just reshare this
video, you just save me acouple bucks, you know.
So, and and you can do thatinstead of donating if you got
(26:49):
no money.
I think that's just the themost important thing is for
people to realize that rightnow, because of social media,
you cannot just help me, but youcan help any of your favorite
candidates in your state.
And and and everyone should bedoing that.
Like commit a little bit oftime to just reposting and just
intentionally sharing messageswith people, I think would go
really far.
Liz Canada (27:06):
I really want to have an episode about the
algorithm, because the algorithmon the social medias is
actively working against folkswho are trying to make change to
what's the current sort ofstatus quo, what's happening by
our state government, by ourfederal government.
(27:27):
Like the algorithm is activelyworking against.
So I I feel like I tell this topeople all the time.
Like, if you see something thatyou like, you should like it
and share it.
Because just like laughing toyourself, it's not it's not
helping anything.
So like you have to actuallyengage with the good stuff.
Avoid the bad stuff, engagewith the good stuff.
One of the reasons I was reallyexcited for you to come on the
show is because I've hadepisodes about the different
(27:51):
parts of the government.
So I'm hoping you can explainto the listener what does a
governor even do?
What's unique about the NewHampshire governor specifically?
Jon Kiper (28:01):
So, you know what's really unique about it is that
we have what's called a weakgovernor, which is kind of
funny.
Zing is also true, right?
Yes.
Yeah.
The the governor doesn't have alot of power.
Yeah.
Which is um, which is kind of awild thing.
You know, you think, why dopeople want a job where you
don't have a lot of power?
Um, but and the reason isbecause the governor can veto
(28:24):
legislation that uh the governordoesn't like, and but besides
that, a lot of what the governordoes is working with the
executive council, you know, andand getting, and so I'm sure
you guys covered this, but youknow, they do all the contracts
and um appointments and all thatstuff.
So the governor is reallyworking right with the executive
council to get a lot of the uhyou know, the stuff happened in
(28:45):
the background that keeps thestate functioning.
Um, that a lot of it's not sexystuff.
It's like, you know, approvinga new highway contract or you're
saying highway contracts aren'tsexy, John Kuper.
Liz Canada (29:00):
Is that the stance?
Is that the position you'retaking on highway contracts?
That is that is my stance.
Jon Kiper (29:05):
Um and so, you know, it's it's kind of funny because
like the the governor, thegovernor does have like a huge
role in terms of uh how do I saythis, but the um the vibes that
the governor is bringing to thestate and what you know what
their party, how their party isgonna sort of function, you
know.
And I plan to work reallyclosely with my friends that are
(29:26):
state reps that we can get goodlegislation written and um and
work with them to to uh addressthe things that I'm campaigning
on, you know.
And we're pretty much all thethe Democrats are really trying
to have a unified message, andthis was not actually
intentional.
I just was like, hey, we got tofocus on property taxes.
And it turns out other peopleare thinking the same thing.
(29:46):
So that's becoming a really bigissue.
Liz Canada (29:49):
That's the thing.
That's what's on everyone'smind is property taxes and how
much property taxes have goneup, how much health insurance is
going up, like all of thesecosts are.
Are definitely going up.
And yes, like the executivecouncil is a part of the
equation of working with oragainst the governor.
Like they can work together orthey can work not together.
(30:11):
And that's yeah, that's how itcan be.
Talk to me about the working,you know, the united message of
Democrats.
I'm interested to hear that.
Like, what's what is themessage?
I think people want to knowthat about Democrats.
What's the message thatDemocrats are bringing?
Jon Kiper (30:25):
Yeah, so I definitely don't want to speak for
everybody.
I think where we have gottensidetracked before is not having
a unified message.
So I think that the if I wasgoing to say there's one
unifying goal for the Democratsthis time, it's going to be
focusing on economic issues andrealizing that the independent
voters that we need that votedfor Trump and Kelly Aug last
(30:46):
time, their biggest concern waseconomics and how their you know
their wallet and and and thosekitchen table issues.
And when you look at that, thethe big ones are property taxes,
housing, and education funding.
And so the way that I've Andchild care.
Well, there are there are youknow, there's a ton of issues.
(31:06):
Um that's the whole podcast.
New Hampshire does have it.
There's sort of an infinitenumber of things that you can
campaign on.
That's true.
But we really, in my mind, Ihave to focus on three things
because that's really people'sattention span.
You know, that's how manythings that they can remember.
And last time I sort of madethe mistake of focusing on too
many things.
And I'm like, I want people tojust be able to walk away after
(31:27):
hearing me speak and know whatI'm doing and and how I'm gonna
do it.
And so this is what we're ourcampaign is based on this idea
of community-first economics.
And it's basically the oppositeof Ronald Reagan's trickle-down
economics, which was we'regonna cut taxes for the rich
people, we're gonna cut taxesfor corporations, cut, you know,
regulation for corporations,and then the money will
magically trickle down to poorand middle class people.
(31:47):
We now know that was BS.
That never happened, it wasnever going to happen.
There's not like a quirk of thesystem that was intentional.
So we need to do the exactopposite of that and invest in
our local community and ensurethat, you know, a single mom
doesn't have to work 60 hours tojust pay her bills, and that,
you know, elderly people aren'tgetting evicted from a mobile
home park because the propertytaxes went up, or that some kid
(32:09):
who's 25 and living in hisparents' basement has hope of
getting a good job and somedaybuying a house and starting a
family of his own.
And and focusing on theseissues that like Republicans
have these same issues.
You know, Republicans havehousing issues and uh especially
property taxes, property taxissues and education funding.
You know, they they generallymost people with kids want their
(32:29):
schools well funded.
Uh, and the thing about it isnumber two, the Republicans have
absolutely no good answer forthe question of why are my
property taxes so high and whatare you going to do to lower
them?
If you ask a Republican inConcord right now that question,
they will say, it's your localbudget committee's fault, it's
your local town's fault, it'syour school board has probably
got 50 admin.
(32:50):
You know, that's it's just it'sBS.
So they so we need to projectan attitude that not only are we
going to help the middle classand the working class, you know,
tell them how we're gonna do itin a simple enough way that
it's not super convoluted, butalso um make sure that they
understand that the messenger istrustworthy.
(33:10):
And I think people will trustme simply because I'm a poor
person trying to solve poor andmiddle class people's issues,
you know?
And so this is what happens, Ithink, is we elect these rich
people, right?
And they they hear our issuesand they, you know, they they
give lip service to them andthen they get in there and they
go, Oh, shucks, another twoyears, and we couldn't solve any
(33:32):
problems for poor people.
Like that stinks, but whatever,and then they move on.
When I'm gonna be driven tosolve all of these problems
because they are my problems,you know, and they will be my
problems after I'm governor.
They will be, you know, so thedrive for me and the the
accountability is is internal.
Like, I need housing to belower, to be more affordable, to
(33:54):
have a business that functions,or to literally move out of
this 740 square foot apartment.
Like, like these issues are arejust like I'm living the the
the struggle.
I I'm suffering with everysingle one of these problems.
And I think that um thesolution is pretty simple.
It's tax the rich, you know,and we used to tax the rich in
this state pretty well, and whenwe did, our our finances were
(34:16):
actually doing pretty prettywell, you know.
Uh we're we're not anextravagant state.
I'm not looking to add billionsof dollars to the uh you know
to the budget right now.
I uh we just need we just donot have enough money and we
need to increase that, you know,a little bit.
You know, we don't need a tonof money.
I don't want to live in aMassachusetts style state with
(34:38):
massive, you know, governmentspending because it has
downsides too.
You know, I talk to restaurantowners in Massachusetts and
they'll tell me like thepermitting is annoying, you
know, the the way they do theliquor licenses is expensive,
their insurance is higher, uh,the regulations on, you know, um
on the on the restaurants aremuch more annoying.
Like I don't want to live inthat world.
Like I actually like a lot ofthe way that New Hampshire does
(35:00):
things.
Um, I want to maintain NewHampshire's sort of character
and and the things that we like.
Like we're we're Yankees, we'recheap, you know, and and and
I'm okay with that.
You know, one thing in new inNew Market that's interesting is
as I was saying before, our ourdepartments are all
underfunded.
And our water treatment plant,the guys that run it are are
really great because theyactually um because they didn't
have enough employees, becausethe budget was so low, they
(35:22):
started using cameras and stuffto check the sewer pipes, and it
was actually much moreefficient than having humans do
it.
And they uh they got an awardbecause of how innovative their
their use of cameras andtechnology was.
And like that's great, but weare at this point where we we,
you know, Yankee ingenuity willonly get us so far, and we need
(35:42):
more money to function as astate.
And and what they're doingright now is the Republicans are
being penny wise and poundfoolish, they're cutting taxes
in the short term in ways thatcost us money in the long term,
if not just in property taxes,but also, you know, you look at
the the YDC lawsuits, and um,you know, because we didn't
spend 10 or 20 million dollarsover the course of the last 30
(36:05):
or 40 years in in humanresources, as in the people
running the YDC centers, we'renow gonna pay half a billion
dollars in lawsuits.
It just doesn't make any it'snot fiscally conservative, even
what the Republicans are doing.
It's just like foolish.
It just doesn't, you know, likeit's just it's it's there's no
(36:25):
logic there when it costs moremoney in the long term, but they
know like it's a two-year term,I might not even be around in
20 years when this comes home toroost.
But it it it is coming home.
The the fiscal doom loop is isreal in New Hampshire.
Liz Canada (36:39):
I want to pivot a little bit because when I think
about the governor's seat, yeah,of course I think about the
policies and the issues and thethings that I care about.
But I also care about howsomeone is as a leader.
Yeah.
And so how would you describeyourself as a leader?
(37:00):
Like outside of the policies,outside of the issues, like who
are you as a leader?
Jon Kiper (37:06):
Yeah, you know, with my restaurant, um, I really
tried to set people up tosucceed um kind of on their own
terms.
I don't like to micromanagepeople, I like to set
expectations and say to someone,you know, how you get from here
to there, I I'm not thatworried about it.
I'm worried about the finalproduct.
(37:27):
And one thing that I that Ireally like to do is explain to
people why every step in theprocess is happening.
You know, and when you'retraining people to say, um, you
know, here's why I've learned todo this a way that's different
than I was doing it before orwhatever, so that people
understand what they're doing,what you're trying to achieve,
and then but then have someautonomous uh autonomy to
(37:50):
achieve that goal um withoutbeing um totally micromanaged.
And and like I am a big fan of,hey, if you've got an idea
that's better than mine, bringit up.
Like if you like in myrestaurant all the time, I'd
say, hey, if you have moreexperience in in this world than
in if you've worked at otheranother restaurant nicer than
what, tell me how to do this.
(38:10):
Like I'm not, I don't want tobe the smartest person in the
room.
You know what I mean?
I want to be surrounded bypeople that are smarter than me
on all these issues.
And the biggest, I think one ofmy biggest uh or what I try to,
you know, try to maintain is asense of I'm gonna make
mistakes.
I'm not a perfect person.
I'm gonna own up to thosemistakes when I make them and
(38:32):
try to learn.
You know, you can't really makeyou can't really learn without
making mistakes.
It's it's really important.
And but also with the peoplethat I'm working with um have a
sense of accountability and thatthey're you know willing to,
you know, like I it's just it'sreally important that when
somebody messes up, they'rewilling to come to you and say,
hey, we just screwed this up, wescrewed up this thing, but
(38:53):
we're gonna fix it.
You know, um, that was a lessonI learned at one of my first
jobs.
I was working with thiscarpenter and he said, you know,
the difference between aprofessional and an amateur is
that the professional, when hescrews up, he fixes it, even if
it means tearing a whole walldown that you just built.
You know, the amateur will say,Oh, we're off by a couple
inches, let's just jam up some,you know, jam a little board in
(39:13):
there and we'll we'll cover itup.
And that's just something thatI've always held in in the way
that I ran my business.
And um, you know, in terms oflike the way the government
functions, I think it's reallyimportant that we don't get so
obsessed with the process thatwe fail to see if it get if it
is it giving us the outcome thatwe want.
Liz Canada (39:32):
You're the you're the first person on the podcast
who's uh actively running for anelected seat, right?
The first one.
I've had elected officials on,but you're the first one who's
like, I'm running.
So I thought I would testsomething out.
Jon Kiper (39:45):
Sure.
Liz Canada (39:45):
And I asked a non-political person, someone
who does not follow politics,what would you ask someone who's
running for governor?
Like, what's the question thatyou would ask?
And so shout out to Julie whogave me this question.
Jon Kiper (39:58):
Thank you, Julie.
Liz Canada (39:59):
If you're eating at a restaurant and it's packed,
it's busy, you've been waitingon your food, it's been a while,
the server's very friendly, butlike forgot to give you your
ranch dressing, forgot somethings.
How much do you tip the server?
Jon Kiper (40:15):
I always tip 20%.
I I never have made my tippingabout the service because it's
not the rest.
I mean, I just know enough toknow it's not the server's like
fault if the kitchen is messingup.
And um, I always tip 20%.
Uh, the only thing I will say,like, if I go to a restaurant, I
have a bad experience, I justwon't go back.
I'm not gonna leave a badreview.
(40:36):
I'm not gonna bad be a badtipper.
I'm just not gonna go back, youknow.
And I think that more peopleshould just do that rather than
leaving these long negativereviews.
I mean, sometimes, you know, uhwhen I was running my
restaurant, um, we occasionallydid have reviews that were
helpful, you know, negative onesthat would that would that
would say, like, um, you know, Imean, sometimes there's nothing
(40:58):
you can do.
Oh, you used to have this itemon the menu, now you don't.
Um, you know, I mean, one timewe got a bad review about like a
piece of art last somebodythought was satanic.
He was like, this it's satanicart.
And I'm like, that could be apositive for some people.
Hello.
Yes, yeah.
Um, right.
So I I I wish more people woulduh have a little bit more
grace.
Liz Canada (41:17):
All right, so the answer is 20% always.
If you don't like it, you don'tgo back.
Love to hear it.
My uh other question for you isHalloween is coming up.
Yes, and so at the Kuiperhouseholds, what are you giving
out at the door?
Are you a full-size candy barperson?
Are you little packs?
Are you a bucket outside with asign?
Jon Kiper (41:36):
Uh we usually do the big bowl um with you know
assorted uh assorted candies.
Um, it's kind of funny becausenormally I do it like through
the restaurant and I don't know.
We didn't sign up.
Like normally the recdepartment just goes around
because we're like, you know,and they they put a little flag
(41:58):
out.
And I didn't even really thinkabout it this year.
So I don't know if I'll bedoing it.
I guess I I probably should.
Liz Canada (42:03):
Yeah, that's it's uh that's the question we want to
know.
What will be at the Kuiperhousehold for for hunger?
Jon Kiper (42:09):
I I usually buy, I try to buy a few uh as many like
mixed bags of like, you know, Itry to get like a couple of the
good ones, you know, the thethe Reese's and the you know
peanut butter cups, and then youknow, also throw in a few of
the ones that are like thesweeties and like the little
sugary, you know, the ones thatpeople don't like as much.
(42:29):
I don't know.
I try to mix it up a little bitso that there's some options.
Something for everyone.
Yeah, you put in two moneyoptions and little kids.
I mean, some of them it's likea deer in headlights, they're
trying to pick out their candy.
Yeah, and mom's like, hey, wegotta go.
There's like 30 other places togo.
Liz Canada (42:44):
We've got other places to be.
Jon Kiper (42:46):
It's one of my favorite days in town because
everyone's just psyched, youknow, like they're going to all
the businesses and gettingcandy, and the kids are all so
cute and um pumped up on sugarout in their costumes.
Totally.
Yeah, it's it's a good time.
So I probably should.
I should probably I probablyshould sign up to to do that
because um people love camping.
Liz Canada (43:06):
All right, well, that's your homework, John
Kuyper.
You gotta go and uh figure outyour Halloween situation.
It feels weird calling youJohn.
I feel like in my mind you'reJohn Kuyper.
You have one of those superheronames.
Have you gotten that beforewhere it's like John Kuper?
Really?
Jon Kiper (43:27):
When I had the restaurant open, it was sort of
annoying because everyonethought my last name was Boston,
because my restaurant's calledJohnny Boston, right?
I didn't realize how manypeople like literally thought my
last name was Boston.
So I had to go through thiswhole process of being like, No,
I'm John Kuper.
Liz Canada (43:40):
And I have the name of Canada, so I get that a lot
anyway.
Popular Podcasts
On Purpose with Jay Shetty
I’m Jay Shetty host of On Purpose the worlds #1 Mental Health podcast and I’m so grateful you found us. I started this podcast 5 years ago to invite you into conversations and workshops that are designed to help make you happier, healthier and more healed. I believe that when you (yes you) feel seen, heard and understood you’re able to deal with relationship struggles, work challenges and life’s ups and downs with more ease and grace. I interview experts, celebrities, thought leaders and athletes so that we can grow our mindset, build better habits and uncover a side of them we’ve never seen before. New episodes every Monday and Friday. Your support means the world to me and I don’t take it for granted — click the follow button and leave a review to help us spread the love with On Purpose. I can’t wait for you to listen to your first or 500th episode!
Ruthie's Table 4
For more than 30 years The River Cafe in London, has been the home-from-home of artists, architects, designers, actors, collectors, writers, activists, and politicians. Michael Caine, Glenn Close, JJ Abrams, Steve McQueen, Victoria and David Beckham, and Lily Allen, are just some of the people who love to call The River Cafe home. On River Cafe Table 4, Rogers sits down with her customers—who have become friends—to talk about food memories. Table 4 explores how food impacts every aspect of our lives. “Foods is politics, food is cultural, food is how you express love, food is about your heritage, it defines who you and who you want to be,” says Rogers. Each week, Rogers invites her guest to reminisce about family suppers and first dates, what they cook, how they eat when performing, the restaurants they choose, and what food they seek when they need comfort. And to punctuate each episode of Table 4, guests such as Ralph Fiennes, Emily Blunt, and Alfonso Cuarón, read their favourite recipe from one of the best-selling River Cafe cookbooks. Table 4 itself, is situated near The River Cafe’s open kitchen, close to the bright pink wood-fired oven and next to the glossy yellow pass, where Ruthie oversees the restaurant. You are invited to take a seat at this intimate table and join the conversation. For more information, recipes, and ingredients, go to https://shoptherivercafe.co.uk/ Web: https://rivercafe.co.uk/ Instagram: www.instagram.com/therivercafelondon/ Facebook: https://en-gb.facebook.com/therivercafelondon/ For more podcasts from iHeartRadio, visit the iheartradio app, apple podcasts, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.com
The Joe Rogan Experience
The official podcast of comedian Joe Rogan.