New Hampshire: The Real Facts

Thursday, June 26, 2008

Congressional candidates visit Keene
Republicans agree on many issues, including dumping the incumbent

David P. Greisman
Sentinel Staff

The Republican candidates for New Hampshire’s 2nd District seat of the U.S. House of Representatives agree on numerous topics, including that one term is enough for the incumbent, Democrat Paul W. Hodes.

The race will pit Hodes, of Concord, against either Grant Bosse of Hillsboro, Bob Clegg of Hudson, Jennifer Horn of Nashua, Alfred L’Eplattenier of Rindge or Jim Steiner of Concord.

Thursday, June 26, 2008

Wednesday, June 25, 2008

Dear John: We're sorry but this relationship just isn't working out, by The Valley News

Dear John: This isn't easy to say, especially after 3½ years. We had high hopes - we really did - that our relationship would grow stronger with the passage of time. And for a while there, back in November 2006, when the Democrats rose to power in the Legislature, we felt optimistic about our future together. But quite frankly, Governor Lynch, we feel a bit betrayed.

You said you'd work to make real progress on the issues important to New Hampshire families - improving education and all sorts of other good things. But we're beginning to think you have a problem with commitment, even ones you made.

Today, Foster's Daily Democrat newspaper highlights a recent article in The Weekly Standard which the paper says "every New Hampshire voter needs to read" before Election Day. The Weekly Standard article, written by P.J. O'Rourke, discusses John Sununu's commitment to limited government and describes the type of values and political philosophy he brings to his work in the United States Senate. The article is below for your review.Mr. Sununu Goes to Washington

P.J. O'Rourke
The Weekly Standard
Monday, June 16, 2008

“Sorry seems to be the hardest word…” Elton John was singing about lovers, but today Rep. John Murtha could take a lesson from the ballad.

As of right now 7 of the 8 Marines facing charges in the Haditha incident have been cleared. One was tried and found to be not guilty and the other six have been completely cleared, charges dropped.

These are the same Marines to whom Murtha referred in these words: “Our troops overreacted because of the pressure on them, and they killed innocent civilians in cold blood."

An elected representative of the people, with no knowledge of the circumstances, publicly denounced the protectors of our freedom as cold-blooded murderers.

He was wrong.

He should apologize.

The Battle for New Hampshire by E. J. Dionne on RealCLearPolitics.

HANOVER, N.H. -- The race for electoral votes could be so close in November that small states may well pick the next president. Among the diminutive states, New Hampshire is by far the most interesting.

Consider that in 2000, George W. Bush beat Al Gore here by 7,211 votes (Ralph Nader got just over 22,000). If New Hampshire's four electoral votes had gone the other way, Gore would have won and Florida would not have mattered.

New Hampshire is also one of only three states that changed sides between 2000 and 2004, and the only one that switched to the Democrats. John Kerry carried it by 9,274 votes.

Dear Fellow New Hampshirite:

If you have been following the news, you know New Hampshire’s state budget deficit continues to grow beyond the $50 million gap that Governor Lynch originally indicated. It maybe four times that amount. The Lynch Budget deficit exists even with the State of New Hampshire reported record high revenues. How can we have a budget deficit despite record revenues?

Out of control spending! To help pay for this gaping deficit John Lynch wants to add a new tax on poker, increase taxes on liquor distributors and wants to raise taxes on tobacco for the 3rdtime in 4 years!

We all know the effects that higher taxes aimed at business have. We will all end up paying with higher prices and job losses.

Kevin Landrigan
Nashua Telegraph
Published: Sunday, June 15, 2008

Explaining the $20m savings that never was

You may recall that at the strong call of Gov. John Lynch, the state Legislature convened a special session June 4 to ram through a balanced budget bill.

This was mainly to resurrect a Lynch plan to save $80 million by bonding school construction grants rather than paying for them in cash.

Well, the truth is this legal bonding scheme can only really save $60 million at most. More likely than not, it's going to be employed to save no more than $40 million.

This requires a lot of explaining.

Wednesday, June 11, 2008
Keene Sentinel
Retirement issues resolved: You lost, by Anne-Marie Irwin

Dennis Kinnan was apparently still asleep when I called him at 6:30 a.m. So I left a voice mail telling him I was on my way to the gym and would be having yogurt and orange juice for breakfast when I got back. I also called him to say I had finished folding the laundry and was taking my golden retriever, Alice, to the vet for a checkup. And I called him in the afternoon to say that my husband and I were thinking of going to the Chinese restaurant to have lemon chicken for dinner.

Below are plans being made by state democrats to attend the McCain Town Hall and try to disrupt and embarrass the Senator. The statements are appalling, immature, one in particular is out-right filth, and is an open display by a group who lacks respect for the election process, lacks the respect for a man who has given more to his country than they ever will in their lifetime.

I am sure as they bring in their 527 groups it will even sink lower as we witnessed in ‘06’. What really is a moment of contradiction is when I seen these same people lined up on a Saturday morning with the signs for peace and love.

I noted that several of the comments indicate the writers are parents; I wonder if this is the way they talk around their children?

SEN. JOHN SUNUNU has stood up for New Hampshire values and fiscal responsibility in Washington. He has been an independent voice for New Hampshire when it comes to reining in wasteful Washington spending.

John is a true fiscal conservative who understands that we have a budget deficit because of overspending, whereas some politicians think we should keep on spending and just raise taxes on hard-working families and small businesses in order to close the budget gap.

This week the Democrats in Washington proposed doing exactly that in their Fiscal Year 2009 budget, which included the largest tax increase in American history and would increase spending to record levels.

Keene Citizens Government Review Brief

Folks,

Unions have played a significant role in protecting the working class. I know. I grew up in a union family. However, when any group, unions or otherwise becomes too powerful then the old adage applies: "Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely”. To all New Hampshire politicians I caution you to be aware of greed and abuse. Please read the incredible story below. Don’t let this happen to New Hampshire and NH cities.

Carl A. Panza

Keene Citizens Government Review

Fat pensions spell doom for many cities
Vallejo, Calif., took the extreme step of filing for bankruptcy to get out of generous obligations to public employees. Other cities and states are watching.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
From: Vaillancourt, Steve
Sent: Mon 6/2/2008 2:20 PM
To: ~All Representatives
Subject: Road Toll Revenues Down As Predicted By Ways and Means Minority

Gas Tax Revenues Fall As Predicted by Ways and Means Committee Minority

By Rep. Steve Vaillancourt, Hills. 15
Ways and Means Committee member

A message from the Deputy Republican Leader.....
May 30, 2008

Next Wednesday will bring down the curtain on what
has been a painful two years for the taxpayers of our
state. From increased taxes to overspending, House
Democrats have put the state of New Hampshire into a
financial crisis that will have long range repercussions for
future legislatures.
I would like to thank all of you who served on a
committee of conference this week and who worked hard
to support the Republican position on many key issues.
The results that came out of a number of committees of
conference will certainly help in the coming campaign to
point out the differences between Republicans who fought
for the taxpayer at the State House and the Democrats

My View
May 30, 2008

Paul Hodes held a Town Hall meeting on May 27th via the telephone. I received a call approximately around 7 p.m. and the person on the other end announced that I had been invited to participate. It was obvious the conversations had been going on for some time but I was told by an automated voice message if I wanted to ask a question just press 1 plus star key, etc. It took about one minute to realize that the calls were being well screened and the questions being permitted enabled Congressman Hodes to present a well-rehearsed reply.

Sununu voted the right way on the farm bill

From Fosters.com:

Let's hear no more from Democrats that they're on the side of the poor and opposed to big business. The farm bill passed by Congress loaded $40 billion onto nutrition programs for the poor to the benefit of America's wealthy farmers.

The country's corporate farmers won the backing of Senate Republicans from the farm states as well as the Democratic majority this week. Meanwhile, the majority party, working to widen its margin in the upper chamber is trying to paint President Bush and GOP members of Congress as being insensitive to the needs of America's underclass.