Amanda Allen for State Representative
I support Amanda Allen’s write-in candidacy to represent Peterborough in Concord. She is thoughtful, compassionate, energetic, capable and humble. Her policy priorities are on target: economic development, livable minimum wage, access to health and disability services, adequate public school funding, increased affordable housing, and environmental protection. Her background as a healthcare administrator and skill at listening will contribute to her effectiveness in “the people’s legislature.”
Incumbent Jonah Wheeler has responded to Ms. Allen’s candidacy with suspicion and conspiracy-mongering. In a recent YouTube video, he accused her of slander for requesting a recount, trivialized grassroots support for her campaign as “establishment oomph,” characterized her supporters’ door-to-door campaigning as invasive, and broadly painted her supporters as belligerent. On the thumbnail of his latest YouTube video, “Nasty” is superimposed over her face. Although he denies that he is a “petty, vindictive social media politician,” this crude memeification suggests otherwise.
On The Granite Discourse, Mr. Wheeler asserted that the Democratic Party is replete with “Marxist-Leninists” and has “fallen victim” to a “Marxist base.” He mocked the sincerity of and waved away feedback from constituents and fellow legislators, accusing them of committing “emotional terrorism” and subjecting him to Maoist-style “struggle sessions.” Peterborough residents, he claimed, are affected by “mass formation psychosis,” a faux-intellectual slur concocted to disparage supporters of public health measures during the COVID pandemic; public employees, he claimed, are part of the “deep state.”
Mr. Wheeler’s recent forays into red-baiting, hyperbole and conspiracism and his arrogance, dismissiveness and condescension towards those with whom he disagrees persuade me that it is time for him to move on.