Romney to Demagogue Historic Bridge Preservation?

John DiStaso reports Mitt Romney will be campaigning in New Hampshire tomorrow at the site of the Sawyer Bridge in Hillsborough. Romney will reportedly cite money spent to preserve and maintain the bridge as an example of “wasteful government spending.”

In 2010, Sean Mahoney made a similar charge during his failed run for Congress. My response first appeared in August 10, 2010:

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The arched stone bridges of the Contoocook River Valley of New Hampshire are the earliest examples of dry-laid masonry vaults that became the dominant form of stone construction for engineering structures in New England during the 1830s.

The largest and oldest single concentration of arched stone bridges ever built in New Hampshire is in the town of Hillsborough, which has five of the historic gems. The bridges are registered as historic structures by the Historic American Building Survey and have been recognized as a National Historic Civil Engineering Landmark, the second in New Hampshire after the Cog Railway.

$150,045 in stimulus money was awarded to the Town of Hillsborough to preserve and maintain the Sawyer Bridge that will no longer support vehicular traffic and will now become home to a small garden park for picnicking.

1st District Congressional candidate Sean Mahoney says there’s a problem. “It doesn’t go anywhere… The politicians in Concord asked the politicians in Washington for $150,000 to pave a real ‘Bridge to Nowhere.’” He issued a press release. He made a web video. He got a write-up on Andrew Breitbart.

It’s a cheap shot that tells you more about Sean Mahoney than all of his position papers and web videos ever will.