Groups turn in more than 5,000 postcards from people opposing sale of Verizon to FairPoint

Message to the Governor: “Don’t let New Hampshire take a wrong turn on the information superhighway!”

Concord, NH -- Showing the growing opposition to the proposed sale of Verizon to FairPoint Communications, a delegation delivered more than five thousand post cards in a wheelbarrow to a representative of Governor Lynch on October 30 asking him to oppose the sale.

The group was composed of representatives from first responders, small business, civic groups, teachers, and telephone workers -- all of whom want to make sure that Governor Lynch gets the message: Stop the Sale!

The post cards ask the Governor to “take a strong stand against allowing Verizon to sell its assets to FairPoint.” They were delivered to Senate President Sylvia Larsen who was designated by Governor Lynch to receive the post cards.

“New Hampshire’s economy depends on our success in requiring the highest quality telecommunications network for our citizens and our businesses,” said Larsen. “We join you in dedicating ourselves to that future.”

Participants in the delegation held a short briefing in the Lobby of the Legislative Office Building just prior to delivering the cards. State Senators Jacalyn Cilley, Martha Fuller Clark, Harold Janeway and Deborah Reynolds, many state representatives and Portsmouth Mayor Steve Marchand also participated.

“If this sale is approved it could send New Hampshire and its economy backwards,” said Mark MacKenzie, President of the New Hampshire AFL-CIO. “Cutting edge technology is essential to keeping good paying jobs in the state. FairPoint has not demonstrated it has the resources or the technology to keep pace with today’s world.”

“When seconds count, New Hampshire citizens depend on firefighters and paramedics,” said David Lang, President of the Professional Fire Fighters of New Hampshire. “In order to assess the risk of any emergency, we need reliable information. We depend upon a high quality ‘information superhighway’ to obtain it. The proposed FairPoint acquisition of Verizon’s Northern New England properties poses risks that your firefighters do not want to take. We would prefer that ‘Can you hear me now?’ remain a catchy slogan on television -- not a way of life for the people of New Hampshire.”

“As a small business person and retailer, I depend on the overall health of New Hampshire’s economy,” said Jason Howard, owner of Ross Furniture. “I don’t want state regulators to approve something that could put our state’s future economic development at risk.” Howard has been in the furniture business for 34 years in Dover.

“For generations the motto of the phone company was ‘the only thing we have to sell is our service.’ Despite many changes over the years, Verizon has lived up to that motto and it seems to me that Verizon is far superior to any alternative that we can see in the future,” said Representative James Pilliod from Belmont, NH.

“Verizon is the second largest telecommunications company in the U.S.,” said Jaime Contois from Working Families Win, a statewide organization based in Keene that works to empower citizens to hold elected officials more accountable on economic security issues. “It’s the responsibility of our government and industry regulators to hold it accountable and to do what’s right for the citizens of New Hampshire.”

“Our canvassers went door-to-door to collect many of these post cards,” said Karen Nussbaum, Executive Director of Working America, an AFL-CIO affiliate that organizes working families to fight for good jobs, affordable health care and secure retirements. “The majority of households still hadn’t heard about the proposed sale, but when they did, people understood how risky FairPoint could be and were eager to sign.”

Photos from the post card event may be viewed at: http://picasaweb.google.com/randwilson.aflcio/NewHampshireStopTheSalePostCardEvent

More information about why citizens are mobilizing to stop the Verizon sale to FairPoint is at: www.stopthesalenow.org and www.no-deal.org. For information about ending the digital divide visit: www.speedmatters.org.