MANCHESTER — Robert Tarr of Manchester says a family tragedy has prompted him to run for governor.

The 43-year-old Republican father of four lost his wife to a hyper-thyroid condition in January because, he said, they could not afford to have her take her medication regularly.

He said his income was a bit too high for federal or state assistance.

“In the last attempt, we tried to get her on Medicaid and they said, ‘We’re sorry,” Tarr said in a recent interview.

“Even though she was unemployed, because my disability payment was more than their allotment, we couldn’t even put her on Medicaid,” he said in a recent interview.

“She was unable to obtain the assistance she needed through the state or federal governments, and that hindered her ability to fight this disease,” said Tarr. “Because she wasn’t paying her doctor bills, they wouldn’t take her in anymore.”

“That’s kind of the reason I ran for governor,” he said.

Today, as Tarr still grieves, he says he is “a common man fighting for the common good.”

“There are people out there who need assistance in various things, and that’s pretty much my passion,” Tarr said.

“I’ve always been an advocate for people. I’ve had people tell me, ‘My town selectman is not listening to me,’ and I’ve told them, ‘I’ll speak for all of you and see if we can get some changes done.’ And I’ve gone to the selectmen’s meetings and done that.”

Tarr tried twice to run for the state House of Representatives, but lost both times, in 2008 and 2010.

But he said that in speaking with friends and neighbors, “They have told me they think I’d make an excellent governor.”

Tarr has twice been charged with molesting two young sisters during a sleepover in his third-floor apartment eight years ago. In November 2010, he was arrested and jailed for 108 days pending trial on two felony sex-crime charges. The two girls, who are now 16 and 14, alleged Tarr molested them during a sleepover in his apartment in the summer of 2004, when they were 7 and 6 years old.

But in March 2011, a judge threw out the case and ordered Tarr released from jail because prosecutors hadn’t met a 90-day deadline for a grand jury indictment after an arrest. Eventually, authorities did get an indictment, which also widened the period of potential abuse. Now it’s from as early as 2002 to as late as 2006. But in April, prosecutors dropped those charges against him, with assistant County Attorney Karen Gorham saying they were unable to locate at least one of the victims.

Tarr has a website with detailed plans on business taxes and regulations and proposed reforms in welfare and education.

He would reduce the business profits tax from the current 8.5 percent to 6.5 percent and proposes allowing new companies a “one-year tax-deferred allowance on many of the so-called ‘nickel and dime’ taxes so that they can reinvest in their companies for the first year.”
He also calls for reducing regulations on small businesses.

Tarr wants to reduce the state rooms and meals tax and eliminate the so-called camping tax.

“I’m opposed to all broadbased taxes,” he said. “I think it would hurt our economy more than it would generate anything. It would drive away what we already have coming into the state for revenue. More than it would generate revenue, it would drive away people and businesses.”

Tarr proposes a “welfare work program where those who require assistance must commit to 80 hours per month of community service for their town or city.

“This will reduce spending in each town or city budget and will assist people in finding permanent work.” He would make exceptions for those 55 or older, the disabled or full-time college students.

Tarr calls for voluntary drug testing for those who require state assistance.

“As governor, I will see that those who truly require such assistance are not turned away because of income or previous injury or illness,” he said.

Unlike his two GOP primary opponents, Ovide Lamontagne and Kevin Smith, Tarr is an opponent of expanded legalized gambling.

He said casino jobs are too low paying, and, “You would make much more money on manufacturing jobs.” He said too few dollars from gambling would be returned to the state.

And, Tarr said, casinos would draw people who are currently on public assistance.

“What’s to stop them from going and gambling away our taxpayer dollars?” he asked.

“We need to focus on bringing more science-based technology here and jobs that students can work themselves into and make $10 or $15 an hour. Casinos can’t do that.

“New Hampshire already has a great tourism and hospitality industry, and the way to enhance that is not with casinos, it’s to reduce the rooms and meals tax,” he said.

The state should do more to market its natural and commercial tourist attractions, said Tarr, especially in the White Mountains.

“If I could move up there and live up there, I’d be in heaven,” he said.

He also proposes full local control over public education.

He said the state is not “holding schools accountable, and that’s not right. We need better education for less money.”

Tarr was born at Wentworth-Douglas Hospital in Dover and lived in Berwick, Maine, for 22 years before returning to New Hampshire. He has lived in Manchester for 13 years and previously resided in Somersworth and Rochester.

A graduate of Noble High School in Berwick, he said neither he nor his family could afford to send him to college.

“I hope someday to go,” he said.

Although he is currently unemployed, he said he has held jobs in retail management at Ames, Family Dollar and “small mom and pop stores.” He has volunteered as a parent teacher organization co-president.

Tarr said that although, on paper, the state has a relatively low unemployment rate, too many people are under financial duress.

“We should not have this much unemployment,” he said. “We have a great state here — great tourism, no income or sales tax. We shouldn’t be losing businesses and having so many people unemployed.”

Burdensome regulations on small businesses, he said, creates “a ‘choke hold’ that creates a stagnant economic environment and stalls job creation, production and re-investment.”

He also supports having the state assume control of block-granted Medicaid and Medicare systems.

“Through the stakeholders, we can do that,” he said. “I think the state should look at the Medicaid system, reform it, bring more people to the table to really hammer out how we’re going to do it, and have a better system.”