Editor’s note: This week is also the Free State Project’s Porcupine Freedom Festival. More information here.

LACONIA  –  Former NH Senator Jeanne Dietsch speaks on the corrosive impact of the Free State Project and extreme libertarian ideology on state, county and local politics at the Unitarian Universalist Society of Laconia, June 23, 6:30 pm.  The event is sponsored by nonpartisan groups Central NH Indivisible and Citizens for Belknap. 

Dietsch served a term as a NH senator, after a career as a tech entrepreneur. In 2020, she began researching the Free State Project’s activities and affiliations in New Hampshire. 

“Many Granite Staters don’t realize that a national group called The Free State Project decided in 2003 to turn NH into their libertarian homeland and get the rest of us to leave,” Dietsch said. “They’ve managed to take over the NH House and are trying to override townspeople’s local control,” she added.

The Free State Project is soliciting 20,000 libertarians from around the country to move to New Hampshire through social media and podcasts.  Many have run for local or state office, supporting policies to defund public schools and cripple municipalities’ ability to fund basic services.  In 2022, Free Staters in the town of Croydon attempted to cut the school budget in half.  In 2024, the group won control of the NH House majority caucus. 

Brian Beihl, organizer for Citizens for Belknap, said Belknap County is not immune.

“In 2022, a coalition led by then state representative and Free Stater Mike Sylvia attempted a libertarian takeover of the Belknap County Delegation and the Gunstock Area Commission,” Beihl said. “Gunstock Ski Area was almost run into the ground, despite providing hundreds of jobs and hundreds of thousands in county revenue,” he said.

Grace Garvey, co-founder of Central NH Indivisible, said she has many concerns about the Free State Project, not the least of which is that it appears to be funded, in part, by out-of-state billionaires. “Voters also need to pay close attention to the fact that their focus is gutting our budget, rules and regulations, and removing social safety nets,” Garvey said.

The event is free and open to voters and citizens of all parties.   For more information, please visit CitizensforBelknap.org, or CentralNHIndivisible.org.