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Wheeler vs. Pignatelli … again

MILFORD – Debora Pignatelli has announced she’s ready to go another round against Executive Councilor David Wheeler (R-Milford).

Wheeler, of Milford, is running for his sixth term as District 5 councilor. Pignatelli unseated him in 2004, served for six years, then Wheeler won back the seat in 2010. Then she was elected again but left the council in 2015 to have surgery.

Last week Pignatelli, of Nashua, announced she would be filing her declaration of candidacy with the secretary of state and cited her record on the Council as “a strong advocate for the people, businesses and communities.

“My health is great, and I want to get back in there,” she said in a press release.

Both have also served terms as lawmakers in the state House and Senate.

In a phone interview, Wheeler cited his positions against a commuter rail study and Planned Parenthood and his service to the Souhegan Valley communities.

New Hampshire would have to pay $10 million a year to subsidize train service between Nashua and Boston, he said, and rail would jeopardize the health of Boston Express, “one of the best run bus lines in the country.”

Pignatelli countered, saying the rail study had “strong backing of business, civic and municipal leaders in the district.”

Well-known for his stand against abortion, Wheeler said some of Planned Parenthood’s funding pays for the morning-after pill, which he considers a form of abortion.

Pignatelli, he said, let down local drivers when she allowed Merrimack highway tolls to double.

“Under her watch, she allowed State Police Troop B to leave Milford,” he said and touted his commitment to building a permanent court building in Milford, and pushing, with state Sen. Gary Daniels, for expanded days open for Milford’s motor vehicle substation,. That should happen, he said, by next fall.

Pignatelli, 70, called Wheeler’s votes against Planned Parenthood and against a contract to provide funding to develop a 10-year mental health plan “irresponsible and short-sighted.”

She also said she argued strongly against “unnecessary no-bid contracts, and for reasonable spending, open government, highly qualified judges, rail service to Nashua and north, toll fairness for Merrimack and the move of the DMV center to Nashua.”

Wheeler, 58, said a DMV move to Nashua would have been an inconvenience for Milford-area residents. He also cited his work to get Milford funding for the dredging of Osgood Pond and also getting Milford’s Swing Bridge on the 10-year highway plan.

He fought against the proposed gas pipeline that would have gone through Milford, Amherst and Merrimack while “she was AWOL on the pipeline.”

Both candidates have served as state lawmakers in the House and Senate before they were elected to the council.

A powerful group with wide-ranging responsibilities, the five member council approves the appointment of judges, oversees the state’s 10-year highway plan and approves the spending of much of the $3 billion budget approved by the Legislator.

District 5 includes Nashua and 30 towns to the west, including Amherst, Lyndeborough, Milford, Mont Vernon and Wilton.

If Pignatelli is elected, it would switch the council from 3-2 Republican to 3-2 Democrat.

Kathy Cleveland can be reached at 673-3100 or kcleveland@cabinet.com.