| Ann McLane Kuster | |
|---|---|
| Democratic nominee for United States House of Representatives NH 2nd District |
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| Election date November 2, 2010 |
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| Personal details | |
| Born | Ann McLane September 5, 1956 Concord, New Hampshire |
| Political party | Democratic |
| Spouse(s) | Brad Kuster |
| Children | two |
| Residence | Hopkinton, New Hampshire |
| Alma mater | Dartmouth College, Georgetown University Law Center |
| Occupation | lawyer, author, lobbyist |
Ann ("Annie") McLane Kuster (born September 5, 1956) is an attorney and nonprofit consultant from Hopkinton, New Hampshire. She was the 2010 Democratic nominee for New Hampshire's 2nd congressional district.
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Kuster was born in Concord in 1956. Both of her parents were politicians. Her father Malcolm McLane was Mayor of Concord and a member of the New Hampshire Executive Council. In 1972, he ran for Governor of New Hampshire as an independent. He got 20% of the vote, allowing Republican Mel Thomson to win the election with a plurality of 40% of the vote.[1] In the 1976 presidential election, he endorsed Republican Gerald Ford. In the 1980 presidential election, he endorsed Republican turned independent John B. Anderson.[2] Her mother, Susan McLane, was elected to the New Hampshire Senate as a Republican.[3] In 1980, she ran for New Hampshire's 2nd congressional district, but got second place in the crowded Republican primary with 25%. Judd Gregg won with 34% of the vote.[4] Annie's great grandfather, John McLane, was Governor of New Hampshire from 1905-1907. He was elected as a Republican in 1904 with 58% of the vote, defeating Democrat Henry Hollis.[5]
Kuster graduated from Dartmouth College in 1978 with a degree in Environmental Policy and from Georgetown University Law Center in 1984.[6] Then, Kuster was the director of Rath, Young and Pignatelli's education and nonprofit law practice group.
Kuster is a consultant and owner of Newfound Strategies LLC, "a consulting and training practice that works with nonprofit clients to maximize their effectiveness and sustainability through fundraising, outreach and strategic planning."[7]
She has worked previously as an "of-counsel" partner in the Concord law firm of Rath, Young and Pignatelli. Kuster's legal practice at Rath, Young and Pignatelli focused on education, nonprofit and health care policy.[3] Kuster has also worked for many years as an adoption attorney, having been involved in more than 300 adoptions since 1984, and is a member of the American Academy of Adoption Attorneys.[8]
Kuster has served as Chair and member of the Board of the Capitol Center for the Arts, as a Founder and Vice Chair of the Women's Fund of New Hampshire and as a member of the Boards of the N.H. Charitable Foundation, New Hampshire Public Radio, Child and Family Services of NH, the Alumni Council and Tucker Foundation at Dartmouth College and Womankind Counseling Center. [9]
Kuster's career has also involved many years of lobbying the New Hampshire State Legislature on behalf of clients such as Merck Vaccines; Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America (PhRMA) -- with whom she helped created the NH Medication Bridge program , a public-private partnership which provides free prescriptions to patients in need; Fidelity Investments - with whom she helped create the NH UNIQUE College Savings Plan to help families save money for college tax-free; Dartmouth College and Medical School, NARAL Pro-Choice New Hampshire, Bedford Ambulatory Surgical Center, and the New Hampshire College and University Council.[3][10]
In 2004, Kuster received the 2004 Marilla M. Ricker Achievement Award from the New Hampshire Women's Bar Association.
Kuster served on the New Hampshire steering committees of the presidential campaigns for Barack Obama in 2007-8 and John Kerry in 2003-4. Kuster also served as Co-Chair with Peggo Hodes (the wife of Congressman Paul Hodes) of New Hampshire Women for Obama. Kuster was a 2008 delegate for Barack Obama at the Democratic National Convention in Denver and a member of the 2004 New Hampshire Delegation in Boston. In 2000, Kuster received the Eleanor Roosevelt Award for dedicated service to the Democratic Party at the local, state and national levels.
According to the Concord Monitor, "For 20 years before her campaign announcement, she worked the halls of the New Hampshire State House as a lobbyist representing a range of clients. Kuster's government-relations work accounted for perhaps half of the comprehensive legal services she offered, in addition to her practice arranging private adoptions."[10] Kuster's longtime lobbying clients included Dartmouth Medical School, which receives monies from the State of New Hampshire to reserve places in Dartmouth Medical School for students from New Hampshire.[10] Working on behalf of the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America, Kuster's most prominent project was helping to create the NH Medication Bridge program [11] which provides free prescription medication to low-income patients earning under or near the poverty level. Since Kuster helped create the program in 2001, more than 16,000 New Hampshire residents have received over 1 million prescriptions valued at over $275 million. Kuster also fought proposed legislation that would prohibit drug makers from offering discounted drugs unless the discounts were offered to every buyer; the bill failed in subcommittee to strong bipartisan opposition. Kuster earned an average of $65,000 annually from 1989 to 2009 for this activity, according to reports she filed with the State of New Hampshire.[10]
Kuster's long involvement in lobbying was a source of controversy during the Democratic primary for New Hampshire's 2nd congressional district.[10][12], and her opponent in the general election, Congressman Charle Bass, also worked for the lobbying arm of a law firm Devine Millimet between his terms in Congress. [13]
Kuster ran for New Hampshire's 2nd congressional district against Republican nominee Charles Bass, Libertarian nominee Howard Wilson, and Independent candidate Tim vanBlommesteyn. It was an open seat as Democratic incumbent Paul Hodes was running for the U.S. Senate.
Kuster was defeated by Bass in a close race on November 2, 2010. Kuster received 47% of the vote to Bass's 48%.
Kuster is married to Brad Kuster, a fellow lawyer. They have two college-age sons.
Kuster and her mother, State Senator Susan McLane, coauthored a book titled The Last Dance: Facing Alzheimer's with Love and Laughter.[14] After her mother's death, Kuster and her father, Malcolm McLane, toured New Hampshire speaking publicly about aging and Alzheimer's disease and the burdens on families and caregivers that result.
Member, New Hampshire Citizens Commission on the State Courts
Member, The Trust for Public Land N.H. Advisory Council
Member, Board of Trustees, New Hampshire Charitable Foundation
Member, Board of Trustees, New Hampshire Public Radio
Member, Board of Trustees, Womankind Counseling Center
Co-Chair, Concord Regional Visiting Nurse Association's Capital Campaign for the Hospice House
Member, Healthy Beginnings Advisory Committee, Concord Hospital
Co-Chair, M.T. Mennino Legacy Fund-Capitol Center for the Arts
Former Member and Chair, Board of Directors, Capital Campaign of the Capitol Center for the Arts
Chair, United Way of Merrimack County, 1996
Member, Dartmouth College Alumni Council
Member, Board of Visitors, William Jewett Tucker Foundation, Dartmouth College
Vice-Chair (and a founding member), Women's Fund of New Hampshire
Chair, "Tribute to New Hampshire Women of the 20th Century," 1999
[6]