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Ian Freeman for Keene City Council At-Large 2021

Ian Freeman

  • Get Rid of the BEARCAT.
  • End Enforcement of Victimless “Crimes”
  • Abolish Parking Meters
  • Abolish Zoning & Code Enforcement
  • Make Taxes Voluntary

Stay tuned to this page for any media appearances the campaign receives:

Here’s my candidate statement that I have provided to the City clerk’s office, at their request:

I’m Ian Freeman, candidate for Keene city council in the at-large race. I’m running to bring a voice of liberty to the big government Keene council. Keene is a beautiful place to live as long as the government gang doesn’t get in your business or personal life. Unfortunately, they harm peaceful people, businesses, and homeowners all too often.

I don’t know about you, but I haven’t forgotten the police BEARCAT, or “tank” as one former councilor and mayor described the armored monstrosity that became the symbol for the militarization of police across the United States. Despite a massive outpouring of Keene people from across the political spectrum to oppose the BEARCAT earlier this decade when it was proposed, only a few city councilors voted against it. It’s time to send the BEARCAT back to its manufacturer.

Another major issue with the police in Keene is they hurt people who have not harmed others. These are called “victimless criminals”. If there’s no victim, there’s no crime, and the Keene police should not be spending time enforcing things like open container, prostitution, drug possession, gambling, or nicotine prohibitions. I would direct the police to only investigate crimes with a victim, like murder, rape, arson, battery, or property destruction.

The BEARCAT

Send Back the BEARCAT!

It’s tough being a homeowner or business owner in Keene with the ridiculous property taxes here. Most of it comes from the bloated government schools, but the City of Keene plays its role in unnecessary expenses for which they force us all to pay, or else they will steal the property we think is ours. It’s time to look at which city bureaucracies can be eliminated entirely, like the totally unnecessary and wasteful Parking Enforcement department, which the city gang spent about $100,000 taxpayer dollars on a pointless lawsuit to harass and libel the good people of Robin Hood of Keene for saving thousands of people from getting parking tickets. The city lost hard at the New Hampshire Supreme Court – that’s $100,000 down the drain into the city’s private attorneys’ pockets. Beyond that waste, the Parking department is unnecessary, which is proven by their own actions of taking a week off every year – during the busiest shopping week of the year. Let the market handle parking.

Another easy bureaucracy to eliminate is the zoning and code enforcement department. Cities as large as Houston have existed successfully for decades without zoning and other New Hampshire towns don’t have it. These bureaucracies just give busybodies the ability to control what you do with your property, without your consent. It needs to end.

There are surely plenty of other city bureaucracies than can be cut back or eliminated entirely, saving taxpayers’ money and boosting our economy – by getting government out of the way of homeowners and businesses.

The final and most important change to make is the nature of government itself. All the state knows is violence – its only tool. If you don’t do what they say, they’ll hurt you or take your property, even if you haven’t harmed anyone. City property tax bills should be voluntary donations, not coercive extractions. If a property owner is not happy with certain areas of the city government, they should be free to opt out from funding it, perhaps choosing to fund more efficient alternatives offered by business or charity. While it’s unlikely that the city council can change the nature of the system without state legislative moves in a similar direction, the council can refuse to vote to “tax sale” a property that is behind on taxes, which is a government euphemism for “steal”. I would never vote to “tax sale” another person’s property. Stealing is wrong, even if people vote for it.

You can learn more about my campaign at http://ianfreeman.nhliberty.info. Please vote for me in the 2021 primary election on October 5th and then in the general election on November 2nd.


If you have questions or would like to book an interview, feel free to reach out at 603-513-2449 or via email: ian at freekeene.com.