Scott Brown ran for Senate in New Hampshire. Thankfully, he lost. If you pay any attention to politics much, you know that Brown is a former Senator from Massachusetts. For most of his life, Brown has also been a citizen of our state. What gives him the right to run for Senate in an entirely different state?
In a debate recently, Brown defended himself.

“The first three years of my life I lived on Islington Street in Portsmouth,” he said.

Right off the bat, this sounded like a poor excuse for a connection to New Hampshire. You don’t need any further background knowledge to know that no one remembers his or her life at three years old. Personally, I can’t believe he would be idiotic enough to use that as an example of his connection to New Hampshire at all. It wasn’t even a good, dodgy, non-answer. Scott Brown is a seasoned politician and he should know this.

Brown also had the audacity to mention his vacation home as validity for his Senate race.

“But most importantly, my wife and I have been property owners and taxpayers for over 25 years,” he added in a debate.

When I picture someone with a vacation home in another state, I surely don’t imagine him or her being a citizen of that state. Vacation homeowners have nothing to do with the local people or economy, let alone the local rustic businesses. I grew up in an area of Connecticut that has many summer homeowners, usually from the New York area. The summer vacationers have absolutely no concern for the local citizens and in my experience, actually treat the year round population quite badly. You don’t even feel welcome in your own neighborhood when the summer homeowners are around. When I hear Scott Brown using his summer home as a justification for running for the New Hampshire Senate, I hear a cheap excuse. I hear the voice of a man using a community for pleasure, not concerned with its problems.

Brown also said that he used to often escape to New Hampshire to stay at his grandparents’ house because of problems within his own family in Massachusetts. While anyone can appreciate the comfort Brown might feel when he is staying in New Hampshire, I feel as though his usage of this personal history was over the top and pointless. While I do feel bad that Brown had a problematic childhood and I understand the mentality of needing an escape from such problems, that still doesn’t make him a citizen of the state. Mentioning this just served as an attempt to guilt the public onto his side. It was in cheap taste and irrelevant.

The popular term coined to describe Scott Brown is “carpetbagger” and I think he fits the title quite well. Carpetbaggers are known for moving from their respective homes to run for political office in another place simply as a power or money grab. Why else would Scott Brown be interested in an office in New Hampshire? It seems to me like he has played out his options elsewhere and is looking for another score.

Thankfully though, the people of New Hampshire knew better. Incumbent Jeanne Shaheen, a citizen that actually knows the state, and lives in the state, defeated Scott Brown. She may be from Missouri, but she has lived in New Hampshire for 40 years. The locals can live free without dying hard.

Ian Hagerty is a Collegian columnist and can be reached at [email protected].