Voters Guide: Art Craffey Jr. for Ward 4 Alderman

Name: Arthur T. Craffey Jr. 

Age: 56 

How long have you lived in Nashua? Since October 1991.

Background:

I have a diverse educational background that comes from both the military and civilian worlds. I have a degree in Financial Accounting, Respiratory Care Practice, Business Management and a Master in Business Administration and in Project Management. I am licensed to practice Respiratory Therapy as an Advanced Fractioned. In addition, I am a Registered Pulmonary Function Technologist, which is one of the hardest licensees to attain in my field.

I spent 25 years serving in the military, mostly in the Army Reserves, but approximately eight years on active duty. I served during two wars. During the first one I was a mobilization NCO, (Non-Commissioned Officer) helping deploy soldiers keeping their loved ones safe and sound at home and then ensuring that when they returned home the transition went smoothly to civilian life. During the second war, I trained soldiers in how to perform Combat Life Saver medic training. In addition, I taught the Medics the National Paramedic Refresher Course for combat.

In the US Army, I served in the Infantry, as a Nuclear, Biological and Chemical Warfare Non-Commissioned Officer. I was a Medic and supported many missions overseas to South America. I was a Trauma Specialist trained to handle ER and ICU situations and run ventilators. I spent the last 10 years as an instructor for the US Army Medical School and the last six-years as the Director of Instruction for the US Army at Lahey Clinic in Burlington, Mass., and the lead instructor for the National Combat Paramedic Course.

Experience/Occupation:

I have over 30 years of management experience of solving problems, getting to the root cause of issues and the ability to get groups to compromise without losing face. I have been a senior manager in charge of a large district as well as a Hospital Director in charge of two hospitals, one a union shop the other non-union. My whole management career has been about keeping the organization moving forward, watching the bottom line and looking for ways to streamline the process to cut costs while increasing efficiency, but I never forgot my roots. I started by working in a kitchen busing tables and washing dishes working hard for $1.90/hour.

Currently, I work for Health Alliance Hospital in Leominster, Mass., as the supervisor of the Pulmonary Function Laboratories. Since I started there in August 2010, I have brought stability to the department by increasing both productivity and efficiency. I have introduced new processes that have made the staff’s job easier spending less time on paperwork and more time interacting with patients, which is the more enjoyable part of the job.

Prior to that, I was unemployed for about two years in which I did some consulting work while looking for full-time employment. I umpired and did small jobs to keep income coming in to pay bills.

I also worked for Kindred Health Care as the District Director of Boston North for Respiratory Care and Program Development training long-term care facilities how to become short-term Rehabilitation Centers. In addition, I was also a Hospital Director for Kindred Hospital handling Respiratory Therapy, Cardiology, X-Ray and Laboratory for two Hospitals in Massachusetts, Springfield and Leicester, Mass.

I worked in Southern New Hampshire Medical Center for 10 years in the Respiratory Therapy Department working Nights by myself, a real learning experience. I rose to run their Blood Gas and Pulmonary Function Laboratories before leaving for Kindred Hospital. The Pulmonary Laboratory was identified as in one of the top three-percent Labs in the country by the College of American Pathologist.

I spent two-and half years on active duty serving as Director of Instruction at Lahey Clinic in Burlington, Massachusetts. In addition, I served as the lead instructor and instructor for the National Paramedic Refresher Course, the US Army ICU Medical and the Emergency Department Courses.

Prior to that, I worked 18 years in the financial industry from bookkeeping to collateral lending to auditing, preparing and publishing financial statements.

Prior Elected Offices:

The only other elected office is the two terms I have served on the Board of Aldermen.

Personal Information and Interests outside of Politics:

I tend to be a reserved person who is an enthusiastic reader. I like Tom Clancy and author who write similarly. I also read political books to understand both sides of an argument and make a better-informed decision

I love baseball and that passion is released by being an umpire. Being an umpire gives me the best seat in the house. It also has allowed me to become calm and collected under pressure, something you need in politics, which they do not teach in graduate school. You can only learn through life experience how to react under pressure.

I enjoy making people smile and kids laugh the feeling make me smile inside. Therefore, every year for the past eight plus years, my wife and I, sometimes our kids, join my parents as clowns and walk the Dorchester Day Parade to celebrate the founding of Dorchester, Mass. It is a great experience to have kids and adults laugh and have your picture taken with them. In some cultures, it is a sign of good luck to have a clown shake your hand or take a picture with you.

I like to play cards and occasionally will accompany my wife, Joan, to Bingo (I never win).

Should you be elected, how will you connect with your constituents to learn more about issues they car most about?

I attend all the meeting within the Ward that are currently posted. Going forward I want to reinstate the monthly Ward meeting I had in my first term. The attendance was not great but it gave people a chance to gather to meet with me.

The way they can get in touch now is by calling my telephone number posted on the Nashua web site or sending an email through the Nashua web site, which I encourage them to do. They can also call the Aldermanic Office and leave a message with the Clerk who will get it to me.

Why are you running?

There are many reasons why people choose to run for public office. They run the gambit from personal fascination and wonderment to personal pride and duty. Some run as a first step in a career of ultimate public service, an elected official. I run for neither extreme but somewhere in between.

1. The reason I run is I want to make a difference. It easy to be a Monday morning quarterback from the sidelines and shout your opinion after the fact from a crowd where you are safe from view. It is different to stand up and cast a vote or give an opinion that you know will disagree with the consensus and take the heat because you are doing what your constituents want you to do despite your own beliefs. It was Noah Webster that sad the following regarding candidates for public office:

"In selecting men for office, let principle be your guide. Regard not the particular sect or denomination of the candidate — look to his character...."

1. I run because I continue to want to give back both the country and city that I love. I was raised to believe that everybody should give back to the community so I served and defended freedom and liberty for 25 years serving in the US Army and Army Reserves before retiring. Now I want to continue to serve my fellow Citizens of Nashua, especially those without a voice, with the same dignity, honor and pride

2. I represent the entire Ward with a passion of a lioness protecting her cubs. This Ward is unique and diverse representing four sides of a pyramid. The Nashua River splits the Ward in two with homeowners with their unique problems such as Stop Signs, Crime Watches, Parking issues, Zoning issues, etc., living on the northern side of the river. On the southern side there is the Mill Yard, the Broad Street Parkway Project, further dividing the Ward, and creating a mostly transient (rental) housing on the south side that consolidate the City’s poor into a large neighborhoods. This is congested area with people from many different cultures from around the globe. Many of these people come from countries where you learn to fear the police and do not trust government.

The business community comprises the third side of the pyramid, and sits inside the Ward. These businesses present different views of what is good for them and the City may not always align with citizens' point of view.

Finally, the fourth side of the pyramid is those who cannot speak the sheltered, the housebound, the homeless, the new immigrant and those who live in the shadows and are down on their luck

As you can see from the preceding paragraphs this is a complex Ward. To understand the complexity takes time, patience and sometimes a little luck, but this is my community and I have chosen to devote my time and energy to understanding it. This, public service, is my way to giving back to a Country and community that I love. The twenty-five years of military service and six-plus years of government service is not enough for the freedoms and liberty that we enjoy is this Country. I want to serve more.

“Speak up for those who cannot speak for themselves,
for the rights of all who are destitute.
Speak up and judge fairly;
defend the rights of the poor and needy.” Proverbs 31:8-9

One of my favorite sayings when it come to serving on the Board of Aldermen

Why should the voters choose you over your opponent (what uniquely qualifies you to represent the public)?

I am an enigma in that I have no party loyalty within the City, State or Country. I believe in doing what is best for Nashua and the Constituents of Ward 4. When I first got on the Board of Aldermen, Alderman Richard “Dick” Flynn from Ward 7 took me aside and told me the following:

If you want to be an okay Alderman then vote with the crowd.

If you want to be a good Alderman, then vote for what is best for your Ward first

then vote what is best for the City next and forget about your personal feelings.

If you want to be a great Alderman, then follow the second piece of advice

then stand by your conviction, stand-up, take the heat and be heard

I have done this several times during my tenure on the Board of Aldermen challenging Pennichuck Water Works to explain the rate increases to standing up for the VFW and Veterans to supporting Hunters' Rights to the parking lot issue between the City and SNHMC. There have been others as well.

I believe that we need increase police presence especially in the downtown area. I believe that the Nashua Police Department should establish a sub-station in the downtown area to help decrease response time, increase their presence to help deter crime. This can only be done if the Police Department can be expanded and I look forward to exploring that possibility when they present the proposal to the full Board of Aldermen.

I would like to see more oversight of the Pennichuck Board of Directors and their selection process of both Board Members and the current Chief Executive Officer/President. The Current CEO/President was initially supposed to be interim position while a line of succession was established and a successor found. This has not happen and the City, specifically the Board of Alderman, as the single shareholder should voice its concern.

My top three priorities would be:

1. As mentioned above working within the Ordinances and RSA’s I would like to increase the police presence in Ward and surrounding neighborhoods.

2. Work with my fellow Aldermen and become a more open and transparent government. Show the people how business is conducted eliminate wasteful and unneeded expenses. The City government is currently very transparent now but with better communication between the branches in could be better.