Paul R. Bergeron
State Representative Candidate – Nashua Ward 2 / District 29
Member – Nashua Public Library’s Board of Trustees
Nashua City Clerk for 16 years (through 2015)
NH State Representative (1973)
Phone: (603) 886-8164
Email: PaulBergeronforWard2@gmail.com
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/PaulBergeronforWard2
Twitter: https://twitter.com/PaulBforWard2
Website: www.PaulBergeronforWard2.com
OVERVIEW:
Currently, Paul is an Adjunct Faculty member at Nashua Community College in the Department of English and Communications and is a member of the Nashua Public Library’s Board of Trustees.
A native of Nashua, Paul R. Bergeron retired from his position as Nashua’s City Clerk in 2015 after nearly 16 years of service. Following his retirement, the NH City and Town Clerks Association made him an honorary, lifetime member of the association, a recognition that only a small number of city and town clerks have received since the organization’s founding 62 years ago. A Certified Archivist, Paul also received Distinguished Service Awards from the National Association of Government Archives and Records Administrators in 2014 and from the New England Archivists in 2010.
Paul has a long history of service to the community. He served on the City’s Cultural Connections Committee (formerly the Ethnic Awareness Committee) from 2003 – 2015; was a member of the Rivier College Advisory Board from 1975 – 1976 and again from 1982 – 1989; is a past president of the Heart of Nashua Foundation, an earlier downtown business and professional association (1982 and 1984); and served on the Nashua Children’s Association Board of Directors from 1980 – 1983.
He also served in the NH House of Representatives from 1973 – 1974 (Municipal and County Government Committee), was a delegate to the 1974 NH Constitutional Convention, and was the Democratic nominee for the State Senate in District 14 in 1981 and 1983.
Previous employment experience includes five years with the Manchester City Clerk’s office (elections and licensing), and 17 years in retail management (including 8 years in the family’s former menswear store, Bergeron’s, Inc., on West Pearl Street).
Upon graduation from Bishop Guertin High School, Paul attended the University of New Hampshire where he earned his Bachelor of Arts and Master of Arts degrees in English. He conducted additional studies in English at Texas A&M University and in Business at Boston College and received his Master of Education degree from Cambridge College.
PERSONAL INFORMATION:
Paul’s parents, Ann T. (Hansberry) Bergeron and the late Robert P. Bergeron, were also Nashua natives. His maternal grandfather founded Martin J. Hansberry Trucking (based in the Crown Hill neighborhood) while his paternal grandfather, Arthur Bergeron, established Bergeron’s men’s store on West Pearl Street and NH Tobacco Corporation on Merrimack Street.
Paul is married, has two daughters and four grandchildren, and has lived in Ward 2 for the past 13 years.
Why I am running:
I am running for the state legislature because:
• I believe in fairness and the obligation of the government to protect the most vulnerable among us;
• I believe that our children are entitled to a quality public education and that the state must meet its court-ordered obligation to support our public schools;
• I support efforts to ensure that those who have the right to vote may do so and to broaden voter participation, not restrict it;
• I support policies that will improve the quality of our workforce, strengthen our infrastructure, and enhance public transportation, including rail service;
• Common sense should tell us that guns have no place in our schools, except for those carried by law enforcement personnel; and
• I care about strengthening families and giving people tools to determine the direction of their lives.
I graduated from Bishop Guertin High School in 1968, and the events of that year certainly shaped my political views and focused my political energies. 1968 was the year of North Vietnam’s Tet Offensive, of Martin Luther King, Jr.’s assassination, of Robert F. Kennedy’s assassination, of Russia’s invasion of Czechoslovakia, and of Black athletes protesting at the Summer Olympics by raising their fists during the National Anthem. That June, our graduating class of 18-year-olds knew that some would be going to Vietnam, and not all might come home. And at 18, we did not have the right to vote.
The values of today’s Democratic party are not that different from those of the 70s and 80s. We believe in giving those who are in need a hand up, not a hand out. We believe in quality education. We believe that voting is a right and responsibility and not a privilege. We believe in fighting for the rights of women and minorities. We believe in expanding access to affordable housing. And we believe in, and embrace, the strength of diversity.
As a boy, I remember hearing residents conversing in restaurants, in stores, on buses, and in their workplaces in a variety of languages – French, Greek, Italian, Spanish, and Polish. Today, I know people who have emigrated to the United States, and I believe in their right to feel safe, to enjoy their liberties, and to achieve their aspirations and dreams for themselves and their children…just as our parents, grandparents, and great-grandparents dreamt for us.
These values are not just abstract ideals; they are also personal. My 89-year-old mother is able to live independently in the home she has owned for over 60 years because of government-funded assistance programs. I have a daughter and son-in-law whose family moved out-of-state in search of a better public education for their children and more affordable housing. I have a five-year-old granddaughter who described to me the safety drill she and her classmates had – hiding in a closet – in case “a badman came with a gun.”
Why am I running for the office of NH State Representative? Because I believe that we need to stay true to what makes New Hampshire, and its people, great. And because I think that, together, we can make a difference.