EDDIE EDWARDS (NH-01) Backgrounder | 1
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EDDIE EDWARDS (NH-01) Backgrounder | 1 Eddie Edwards (NH-01) Extended Backgrounder Significant Findings Edwards approved of the Republican tax bill and said he would fight to keep the tax cuts permanent. Edwards was disappointed that Republicans have not yet repealed and replaced the Affordable Care Act. Edwards was worth between $2.35 million and $8.25 million; as of September 2018, Edwards appeared to have failed to file his required second candidate personal financial disclosure. Edwards worked at the New Hampshire Liquor Commission’s Enforcement Bureau from 1995-2013, working his way up to Lieutenant and eventually Chief. Edwards’ tough childhood – with an abusive, addict father, and growing up in the projects of Atlanta – made him a teetotaler and an avid critic of alcohol and substance use. While working as Chief, Edwards opposed happy hour and flavored alcoholic beverages, wanted to strictly regulate night club dress codes and employees, and was known for being tougher on businesses than prior leadership. Edwards also advocated for increasing licensing fees on restaurants up to twentyfold, and argued it would not hurt the economy, despite evidence to the contrary. While Edwards received credit for cracking down on alcohol violations, he refused to seek the strongest charges on illegal gambling establishments. After the Liquor Commission, Edwards started his own lobbying firm which served alcoholic beverage companies. Edwards initially said the job was, “not a lobbying job in the traditional sense,” but was a registered lobbyist until December 2017. Edwards was a state lobbyist while simultaneously working for Rep. Guinta. While Edwards cleared the action with the House Ethic Committee, Rep. Guinta himself said that it was inappropriate and that he had not been made aware. While working for the Liquor Commission, Edwards became known as a whistleblower, accusing the Commission of illegally hiring a lobbyist, accusing the Commission of unfair bias in awarding contracts, and accusing a local politician of improperly inserting himself into a Commission investigation. In 2009, Edwards filed a discrimination charge with the EEOC and New Hampshire’s Human Rights Commission, alleging racial discrimination as a result of Edwards’ many whistleblowing attempts and strict enforcement practices. The case was eventually settled for $160,000 and Edwards’ retirement in 2013. EDDIE EDWARDS (NH-01) Backgrounder | 2 Edwards was a firm Trump supporter and received endorsements from Rudy Giuliani and Rick Santorum. While Edwards criticized his Republican opponent for sexual misconduct, he excused Trump’s behavior. Edwards was against imprisoning nonviolent drug offenders, calling drug abuse a “health crisis.” Edwards favored eliminating the Department of Education. Despite having previously been in law enforcement, Edwards was against banning bump stock or any other form of gun control. Edwards attended community college to earn his Associate’s degree, took online courses to earn his Bachelor’s degree, and has taken two short-term leadership courses. Court records indicate Edwards may have had a warrant in Florida until 2009 for driving on a suspended or revoked license in 1987. Eddie Edwards is a 50-year-old Republican candidate for New Hampshire’s First Congressional District, currently held by Rep. Shea-Porter. Edwards is a Navy Veteran and former law enforcement officer. He is currently a lobbyist and consultant for his own firm. Edwards was raised in a middle class family in Atlanta. In his teen years he moved to the projects to take care of an ailing grandfather. In his upbringing, Edwards saw problematic substance usage. As a teen he watched a drunk man beat his wife with a brick, and Edwards’ father was a crack dealer. Subsequently, Edwards has never had a drink of alcohol. Florida court records suggest that in 1987 Edwards was cited for driving with a suspended or revoked license, and a warrant existed for Edwards for this offense until 2009. In 1987, Edwards joined the Navy, and moved to Portsmouth. After leaving the Navy in 1990, Edwards worked as a corrections officer for five years before joining the enforcement division of the New Hampshire Liquor Commission. Edwards began working at the Liquor Commission in 1995, was promoted to lieutenant in 2002, and was made the chief of enforcement in 2005. Edwards took quick action against a number of Manchester bars, and the actions earned him a reputation for strictness from the press. Yet Edwards’ strictness seems to only have applied to alcohol. On three occasions, Edwards refused to apply the strictest punishments for establishments found to have illegal gambling, a felony offense. Edwards deliberately declined to aggressively enforce the law banning smoking when it first went into effect, and he favors decriminalizing of Marijuana. Edwards’ fervor for enforcing alcohol laws coincides with his views on alcohol generally. Edwards has expressed prohibitionist views, suggesting that those who do not abstain from alcohol are not courageous, and decrying communities that tolerate alcohol. Edwards has favored the prohibition of two mass-manufactured alcoholic beverages, backed policies curtailing nightclubs, and strictly enforced a law barring happy hours. Edwards also advocated for raising fees on restaurants which serve alcohol up to twentyfold, and argued that would not hurt the economy. Edwards made three allegations of ethics problems involving the Liquor Commission. He alleged that the Commission hired a lobbyist illegally, an accusation the Attorney General found baseless. EDDIE EDWARDS (NH-01) Backgrounder | 3 Edwards also alleged a New Hampshire House official exerted influence on the Commission to help a friend, and he testified against the Commission in a lawsuit, suggesting a bidding process had been rigged against a company owned by Brian Law. That lawsuit was settled in 2015, costing the Commission $2.5 million. Edwards left the Commission in 2013, announcing the formation of his consulting firm, and said, “it is not a lobbying job in the traditional sense.” Yet in 2017 Edwards attested that he was a lobbyist in 2016 for alcoholic beverage companies. Edwards quickly, and briefly, worked as the Chief of Police for South Hampton beginning in 2014. He then left that job in 2014, and ran for State Senate, losing by two thousand votes in the General Election. In 2015, Edwards worked for Rep. Guinta, a man Edwards said he admired, and called a friend. Edwards left that position in 2015, returning to his consulting firm where he lobbied. Background BORN: Eddie Edwards, 3/2/1968 EDUCATION: Northcentral University, B.A. in Business Administration; New Hampshire Technical Institute (Concord Community College), Associate’s degree in Criminal Justice; National FBI Academy, 10 Week Constitutional Law and Labor Law Program; Harvard University Kennedy School of Executive Education, Strategic Management of Regulatory & Enforcement Agencies PROFESSIONAL: President, Eddie Edwards Consulting, (2013-Present); Director of Community Relations, Rep. Guinta, (2015); Chief of Police, South Hampton, 2013-2014; Chief, Liquor Commission, (2005-2013); Lieutenant, Liquor Commission, (2002-2005); Corrections Officer, Strafford County (1990-1995) MILITARY: US Navy (1987-1990) POLITICAL: 2016 State Co-Chair for Dr. Ben Carson; 2014 Candidate for State Senate NON PROFIT: New Hampshire Disproportionate Minority Contact Committee; New Hampshire Endowment for Health; PIRE National Leadership Institute on Underage Drinking Enforcement; Partnership for a Drug Free NH; NH Chiefs of Police Association; NH State Advisory Group on Juvenile Justice; Easter Seals – Veterans Count; Cocheco Valley Humane Society; SPARK NH; National Organization of Black Law Enforcement Executives; FBI National Academy Association; Equity Leaders Fellowship NH; National Alcohol Beverage Control Association; Cocheco Woods Homeowners Association; Children of the Fallen Patriot; NH Endowment for Health (PAST); Clearwater Homeowners Association (PAST) Personal Life And Family Edward’s Father, And Eventually His Brother, Were Addicts Edwards’ Father Was An Illiterate Crack Dealer Who Abused His Mother Edwards’ Father Was Illiterate, With A Third Grade Education. “And even his father shaped him, as Willie Sr., who was illiterate and had a third-grade education, frightened him, but told Eddie he wanted his children to do better than he had. ‘He’d say there’s only one dummy in the house, and that’s (Willie Sr.),’ Edwards said. He said he harbors no lingering hostility toward his father, who finally first told Edwards he loved him when Edwards was 32 years old.” [Union Leader, 3/28/15] Edwards’ Father Was A Crack Dealer. “Edwards explained that his father was a crack-cocaine dealer and his grandparents were the main influences in his life. His upbringing is what motivated him to become a member of the Navy and a chief of police.” [Foster’s Daily Democrat, 8/05/14] EDDIE EDWARDS (NH-01) Backgrounder | 4 Edwards: “I Have Images Forever In My Head Of…My Father Beating And Hurting My Mother.” “‘I have spoken openly and honestly about how my childhood was one that was challenging. I have images forever in my head of my mother asking for the horrible things being done to her to stop. That was the hands of my father beating and hurting my mother. Those are the earlier memories I have as a young child growing up. Hearing your mother in pain. It’s truthfully something you never forget. But having the police come to your home. Those lights and sirens meant a place of safety for me. That’s why I joined law enforcement shortly after my active duty military service. I wanted to be in law enforcement because I was drawn to it. Those blue lights and policing has been a part of who I am. It has truly shaped me because I felt that they protected my mother.’” [WMUR, 8/21/18] Edwards Refused To Testify To Help His Brother In A Homicide Case Edwards Refused To Testify To Help His Brother In A Homicide Case. “His mother was on the line. She asked Edwards, who months earlier became chief of the New Hampshire Liquor Authority’s Enforcement Division, to return to Atlanta and testify on behalf of his older brother, Willie.