April 24, 2008

Two wheels on the trail
Bob Clegg — Harley enthusiast, House candidate
By Alec O'Meara aomeara@hippopress.com

Senator Bob Clegg has served 14 years in the New Hampshire House of Representatives, and six years in the Senate. All but four of those years, Clegg served in some sort of leadership capacity, including a stint as Senate majority leader. Clegg worked his way from shoveling concrete to owning and managing his own concrete business. Clegg believes that his life experience combined with his work in Concord makes him the right choice for New Hampshire’s Second District in the House of Representatives.

Q:Why did you decide to run for Congress?
I’m running because there’s an awful lot of things that are affecting the country right now, and I don’t hear anything out of Washington other than partisan bickering. ... I think it’s time that we go down there and we get the job done.

When did you make this decision?
I’ve been thinking about it for well over a year, but I made the decision at the end of last year and made it formal on Feb. 6, which is actually my son’s birthday. And yes, we did arrange that. ... I said during my opening that if my campaign turns out like my son did, I’ll be very happy.

What are some of your priorities should you be elected?
Obviously the economy and jobs. Veterans issues are very near and dear to me. ... We need a full- service hospital for them, and until we can get one built, we need to be able to hand them a card the same as we do Medicare patients ... so they have the best care possible. I also think that when you look at what we’ve done with Medicare in the Medicaid system, and how they are looking once again in Washington to cut the reimbursement rate, it’s getting to the point where we aren’t going to have any doctors to care for that part of the population.

What sort of edge do you feel your experience in the state House and Senate gives you?
I have 20 years of volunteer service.... I have a record that anyone can look at. ...You may ask ... “Has he maintained his promises, like he said he would?” I’m the only one on the ticket that you can take a look at and say, “Yeah, he did.”

What’s something you enjoy doing with your spare time?
Many things, but I enjoy riding motorcycles. It’s one of the most relaxing things that I do. I enjoy riding with other folks.

What kind of bike you got?
Harley.

Yeah?
Road King. ... Let me tell you a story ... I used to ride, I had a Yamaha dirtbike cut up to look like a Harley, but I could never afford a Harley. And then my kids went to college and I made a promise that if they maintained a 3.25 average, Dad would pay the bill. I’m thinking no one can go to college and maintain a 3.25 average, especially in their first year. My kids did it to me, so I couldn’t afford a motorcycle. Every year at Christmas, my kids would give me a toy motorcycle and say, “Here’s this year’s Harley.” And the year they graduated, they ... said, “Here’s your Harley,” only this time they were serious ... it was one of the better things that happened that year.

How often do you ride?
I try to use it for all my work except legislative work, because I find that when I leave the legislature, I’m too tired to go ride a motorcycle, and I’d be afraid of causing other people just as much harm if I was forgetting where I was and drifting. I use it to go to the gym, I use it to go to the store. My wife thinks it is pretty funny, because if I need to pick up a number of items, I only end up picking up a couple, put them in my saddlebag, and say I have to go back when I get home .... She doesn’t like to ride so sometimes I meet her for an ice cream some place.

What else do you do for fun?
I sleeve for K-9 training for police dogs at the academy.

You mean you put the leather sleeve on and let the dogs bite you.
Yeah. I’ve been doing that for a long time.

That’s fun?
[laughs] Yeah, actually it is. I told you, I’m a little crazy. It started out at an Old Home Day, and a friend of mine, who’s a big K-9 guy ... it was sort of a dare and he told me I didn’t have to, but I told him to give me the sleeve. I put it on, and he sent the dog after me, and the dog almost took me off my feet. ... We traveled around the country actually, because he was nationally certified.

What is another reason you’d be the best candidate on the Republican side?
I’m one of those people that’s actually lived the American dream. I started off from a family that was very poor, a big family … We learned the hard way how to get things done. I was a paperboy, and I was a shoe-shine boy in Nashua. … I know what it’s like to not have the money to pay the mortgage. I know what it’s like to have to drive around in an old ratty car and find someone that’s really nice to you to put that inspection sticker on your car. I’ve been though all that stuff. … My success in the Statehouse has been that I’ve been able to speak from experience. There aren’t enough people that can do that.
— Alec O’Meara