September 2011
48 posts
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O'Brien's Campaign Rhetoric and Legislative Record
Dean Barker compares state House Speaker O’Brien’s first legislative session with his campaign pledge to create jobs, educate our children and look out for our most vulnerable citizens.
“Creating jobs”: In the two months since the budget Speaker O’Brien crafted and championed became law, it has directly caused the loss of 1,376 mostly private sector, jobs.
“Educating our children”:...
August 2011
71 posts
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By the Numbers: 1,376 Jobs Lost to State Budget...
1,376. That’s the number of jobs lost in New Hampshire, since July 1, as a direct result of the state budget passed by the GOP-dominated legislature. The Portsmouth Herald reports hospital workers and state employees have been hardest hit by the budget cuts.
ORGANIZATION LOCATION JOBS NOTICE
Catholic Medical Center . . . . . . Manchester . . . 101 . . ....
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Ayotte Signed Petition on Behalf of Libertarian...
One of the reasons being cited by those seeking to oust Republican party chair Jack Kimball is his signature on a petition to place the Libertarian Party on the 2012 ballot. Howard Wilson, Libertarian candidate for Congress, says many of Kimball’s critics signed a similar petition in 2010 — including Kimball’s lead antagonist, Sen. Kelly Ayotte.
Now look back to 2010, when...
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Quote of the Day: Let’s Go to South Carolina
“Why would presidential primary candidates come into state with this going on? Who do you speak to without making someone angry, especially if you don’t have a good lay of the land? If I were running a campaign, I would say, ‘Let’s go to South Carolina for a while until this whole New Hampshire thing washes out.’”
— Jerry DeLemus, Granite State Liberty PAC chairman and Kimball...
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Dowdell Embraces Class Warfare as Campaign Theme
When President Obama proposes increasing taxes on high-income individuals to help reduce the deficit, Republican critics are quick to accuse the president of inciting “class warfare.” It’s a charge 1st District Congressional candidate Joanne Dowdell embraces.
When Joanne Dowdell talks about why she is running for the First Congressional District in 2012, she says it is all...
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In One Chart: Social Security Is Not a Ponzi...
Campaigning in Iowa, Gov. Rick Perry again called Social Security a “Ponzi scheme.”
“It is a Ponzi scheme for these young people. The idea that they’re working and paying into Social Security today, that the current program is going to be there for them, is a lie,” Mr. Perry told the crowd . He added during a later stop in Des Moines, “I haven’t backed off anything in my book. So read the book...
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Ana Marie Cox: Why Romney Will Lose
The conventional wisdom that Mitt Romney will win the New Hampshire primary ignores a key point, writes Ana Marie Cox. Granite State voters haven’t fallen in love.
[V]oters’ familiarity with his name has failed to make him especially loved: of the announced presidential candidates, Romney has the highest name recognition but lowest “positive intensity” score, as tracked...
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Bachmann: Hurricane Irene a Message From God
Michele Bachmann seems to believe Hurricane Irene — and last week’s earthquake — were a message from God to reduce government spending:
“I don’t know how much God has to do to get the attention of the politicians. We’ve had an earthquake; we’ve had a hurricane. He said, ‘Are you going to start listening to me here?’ Listen to the American...
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N.H. GOP: Defending Your Right to Bear Frying Pans
Members of the GOP House leadership have been vociferous in their defense of SB 88, which expands the legal use of deadly force, despite opposition from the state’s law enforcement officials. State House Majority Leader D.J. Bettencourt cloaked his support under the guise of protecting citizen’s Second Amendment right to bear arms:
“The truth of the matter is taking away the...
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Quote of the Day: The Hurricane of Horrible Laws
For the past eight months, Gov. John Lynch has been the only thing standing between the citizenry and the hurricane of horrible laws passed by a hyper-conservative Legislature. … The 2011 Legislature has done many things that need to be undone. Given the Republican supermajorities in the House and Senate, the odds that more bad law will be made in the next session are excellent. Undoing...
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Lee Quandt: Kimball Scapegoat for O'Brien Agenda
Reviewing the Jack Kimball imbroglio, Republican state Rep. Lee Quandt says Kimball is the fall guy for the blowback from Speaker O’Brien’s extreme agenda. Kimball needs to go, he concludes, but so does O’Brien.
So I can say that what caused the most problems in the Republican Party is the unprecedented attacks on our public sector employees: our teachers, our fire fighters,...
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Guinta Faces Constituents, Constituents Win
Washington Post:
In this same town, the residents of Greenland gather every spring to settle their differences in a civil, orderly, traditional New England town meeting. This month, Guinta couldn’t even get them to shut up long enough to finish a thought.
“I want everyone who’s here to have an opportunity to give their opinion,” said Guinta, a freshman legislator with the look of a crestfallen...
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Quote of the Day: No Magic About FEMA
“I live on the Gulf Coast. We put up with hurricanes all the time. In 1900, before FEMA, the local people rebuilt the city, built a seawall, and they survived without FEMA. … There’s no magic about FEMA. More people are starting to recognize that. They’re a great contributor to deficit financing and quite frankly they don’t have a penny in the bank.”
—...
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"The Tea Party is Dead, Long Live the Tea Party"
In his fight to keep his position as New Hampshire GOP chair, Jack Kimball characterized the conflict as a “struggle between the Tea Party and the establishment.” But Kevin Drum looks at the bigger picture and says that war is over. The Tea Party won.
Just like every other fluorescence of right-wing activism over the past 50 years, its destiny was to flare up, get incorporated into...
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Quote of the Day: 50 House Seats
The more you think about it, you can picture a scenario in which state Republicans lose more than 50 House seats in ‘12. And that’s likely low-balling.
— New Hampshire Business Review
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Romney Versus Romney: On Selecting a Vice...
Mitt Romney, August 25, 2011:
Romney dodged a question on which of his fellow candidates he’d pick as his running mate if his choices were constrained to that bunch. He said it would be “presumptuous” for him or any of the other candidates to begin thinking about picking a vice presidential candidate.
Mitt Romney, July 26, 2011:
Republican presidential contender Mitt Romney...
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Jack Kimball: "The Name of My Boat Is Never Quit"
Today, Sen. Kelly Ayotte, Congressmen Charlie Bass and Frank Guinta, state House Speaker Bill O’Brien and state Senate President Peter Bragdon released a joint statement calling for New Hampshire GOP Chair Jack Kimball to resign. Kimball responded by declaring, “I won’t step down.”
“Ever since I’ve been elected, there’s been a continuous crescendo of...
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Guinta: "I'm Not Familiar With This Group"...
Last week, a mailer went out across the state from the American Action Network thanking Congressmen Bass and Guinta for “protecting” Medicare.
The mailer is one of the most deceptive pieces of campaign literature I’ve ever seen. It accuses President Obama of ”trying to radically change the Medicare Prescription Drug Program with Medicaid-style price controls.”...
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Carol Shea-Porter on Leadership
Writing in the Bedford Journal, former Congresswoman Carol Shea-Porter says rhetoric of defeat and despair is “absolutely irresponsible.” “One of New Hampshire’s members of Congress told the tea party that the federal government was taking away all their individual freedoms,” she writes. “Are these current politicians aware of their great trust and their great...
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Bettencourt’s Derisive Attack on Law Enforcement
Oppose State House Majority Leader D.J. Bettencourt, and you’re likely to be attacked with derision and personal invective — no matter who you are. We saw that when Bettencourt taunted Catholic Bishop John McCormack as a “pedophile pimp.” We see it again today as Bettencourt unleashes his scorn on law enforcement.
When Manchester police Chief David Mara dared state his objection to SB...
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A Sad Goodbye from N.H. Legal Assistance
Friday, New Hampshire Legal Assistance closed its Nashua office due to state funding cuts. The group provided high-quality civil legal services to low-income families and individuals in the area. The wide-ranging services included helping the needy obtain Social Security benefits and unemployment compensation, assistance with rental housing and housing discrimination, and help gaining protection...
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Kimball Defies Congressional Delegation Call to...
Yesterday, Kevin Landrigan reported the state’s entire GOP congressional delegation — Congressmen Frank Guinta, Charlie Bass and Sen. Kelly Ayotte — along with state House Speaker Bill O’Brien and state Senate President Peter Bragdon, held a conference call Friday to discuss the future of party chair Jack Kimball.
Today, John DiStaso reports the results of that call.
...
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35 Years Ago Today: Clamshell Alliance Makes...
On August 22, 1976, 180 members of the Clamshell Alliance were arrested in Seabrook, New Hampshire while planting trees on the construction site of the Seabrook Station nuclear power plant. Eight months later, over 2,000 Clamshell protesters occupied the construction site. 1,414 were arrested and held in jails and National Guard armories for up to two weeks after refusing bail.
The Clamshell...
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Party Doesn't Matter, As Long As You're Republican
Tom Fahey reports state House Speaker O’Brien has appointed the members of ten House study committees — and they’re all Republicans. It’s just a coincidence.
O’Brien’s policy director, Greg Moore, said O’Brien picks members who will bring the best value to each committee.
“It’s not a matter of what party a person belongs to. It is a case of who...
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Those Wacky State House Reps
When state House Speaker Bill O’Brien notified House members that most would not be reimbursed for travel expenses in July and August, many — Democrats and Republicans — complained.
Things went downhill fast. Rep. Steven Lindsey, D-Keene, accused leadership of “penny-ante thinking that will make us the laughingstock of New England.” Majority Leader D.J. Bettencourt fired...
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Quote of the Day: He’s Got to Take the Flak
If he’s going to take credit for a lower unemployment rate — as he has pretty much since Day One — then he’s got to take the flak for when it goes up. And the argument that the new state budget has prompted the rise in the rate can be very, very easily made — at least for July.
Jeff Feingold, New Hampshire Business Review, on state House Speaker Bill O’Brien and the...
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Quote of the Day: Left-Leaning Lunatics
“I’ve been spending a lot of time on this and it seems like there’s no possibility for anything but a contested convention. The media and pollsters want this to be decided in primaries? Well, who gives a rip who wins New Hampshire? There’s a bunch of left-leaning lunatics up there.”
— Curly Haugland, RNC committeeman from North Dakota, on the likelihood of a...
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Jack Kimball's Greatest Hits
It looks like September 1, 2011 may be Jack Kimball’s last day as chairman of the state Republican party. The party’s executive committee has scheduled a meeting that day and Kimball’s ouster is sure to be on the agenda. Kimball’s brief tenure has been eventful. Here’s a look back at Kimball’s “greatest hits” as chairman.
January 22, 2011: Kimball,...
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Welcome to New Hampshire, Gov. Perry
In Portsmouth this morning, Rick Perry got his first taste of retail politicking, New Hampshire style. Here’s how one of his home state newspapers, the Dallas News, covered it:
Gov. Rick Perry hit a buzz saw of protest and pushback Thursday morning in this liberal corner of New Hampshire.
Hecklers drowned him out as he popped into a bakery to greet voters. They hardly had to bother;...
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Magellan NH Primary Poll: Romney 36%, Perry 18%
In the first survey of likely primary voters since Gov. Rick Perry entered the race, Mitt Romney maintains an 18-point lead over his nearest competitor in the New Hampshire presidential primary.
36% of those surveyed by Magellan Strategies say if the election were held today, they would vote for Romney. Rick Perry (18%), Ron Paul (14%) and Michele Bachmann (10%) trail.
...
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Frank Guinta's Malaise Speech
32 years ago, facing gas lines and a dispirited nation, President Jimmy Carter gave an important speech that became known as the Malaise Speech. In it, he described the energy crisis as a symptom of a larger “fundamental threat to American democracy.”
The threat is nearly invisible in ordinary ways. It is a crisis of confidence. It is a crisis that strikes at the very heart and soul...
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Kelly Ayotte Is a Doll
The company that brought you the anatomically correct Anthony Weiner doll has a new line of action figures, the Republican Lady series. Yes, for just $39.95, you too can have your very own Kelly Ayotte action figure.
The hand molded, hand painted doll includes your choice of outfit and accessories. The Ayotte action figure is available in one of several business suits, or the more provocative...
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Howard Fineman: Kuster "Is Probably Going to Win"
Huffington Post Senior Political Editor Howard Fineman said 2nd District congressional candidate Ann Kuster “is probably going to win” in 2012 and adds that she may be responsible for helping President Obama carry the state. The comments came during an appearance on The Chris Matthews Show. [Video]
Matthews: Howard, tell me something I don’t know.
Fineman: New...
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Quote of the Day: He Doesn't Believe a Word He...
No one doubts Romney’s intelligence or competence, but he has managed to run for president for almost five years without taking a single courageous or even remotely interesting position. The thinking person’s case for Romney, murmured by many of his backers, amounts to this: Vote for Mitt, you know he doesn’t believe a word he says.
— Ross Douthat, New York Times
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The Impact of Medicaid Cuts on One N.H. Mother
The Portsmouth Herald examines the impact of the state’s $230 million reduction in hospital Medicaid reimbursement by recounting the story of one New Hampshire mother — and calls it the GOP’s “worst decision.”
Exeter resident Suzanne Brooks said she will forgo her own medical needs to care for her young children, ages 1, 2 and 5, if she loses medical assistance as a...
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Speaker O'Brien's Nakedly Political House Session
Last week Kevin Landrigan described the motivation behind Speaker O’Brien introducing new legislation for the House to consider. No surprise, it’s political: fire up the GOP base and keep pressure on Gov. Lynch.
Today, Landrigan follows up on that point by reminding us that the Senate would also have to agree to take up the bills for them to become law — and Senate Republican...
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O'Brien's Arrogant Dismissal of House Gallery...
During the contentious House debate over the state budget last spring, Speaker O’Brien cleared the House gallery and locked the public out. Opponents decried the act as unconstitutional. The state Constitution does seem pretty unambiguous:
“The doors of the galleries, of each house of the legislature, shall be kept open to all persons who behave decently, except when the welfare of...
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The GOP Disconnect Between Illusion and Reality
Republican legislators are up in arms over reductions in service necessitated by the very budget cuts they enacted.
Case in point #1. After voting to reduce the state highway budget by $30 million a year for the next two years, state Rep. Gene Chandler is incensed that the Department of Transportation might have to reduce snow plowing this winter. ”What DOT is proposing is...
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Quote of the Day: Pot, Meet Kettle
The House Majority Leader lashes out at the governor’s Parole Board maneuver by saying — apparently with a straight face — that “it is disturbing that differing opinions do not appear to be tolerated in the Lynch administration.” He had to be paying more attention than that to what went on in the House last session, didn’t he?
— Jeff Feingold, New Hampshire Business Review,...
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EMILY's List Endorses Kuster in NH-02 Race
Ann Kuster, Democratic candidate for Congress in New Hampshire’s 2nd District, is one of five congressional candidates endorsed by Emily’s List for 2012. President Stephanie Schriock says the five represent districts that are key to winning back the House in November.
“These five strong Democratic women are running fantastic campaigns, getting voters energized and are eager to...
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Point / Counterpoint: Radicals & Patriots
This week’s “No Jobs Fair” rally in Concord highlighted the job losses accompanying the new state budget enacted by the GOP-dominated legislature.
The protest elicited a strong response from the GOP with some of the most unvarnished responses appearing in news site comments. The comments didn’t go unanswered.
GOP/Free State House Rep. Andrew Manuse took to the Union Leader to attack...
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Union Leader Issues Correction and Withdraws...
An editorial that ran in the August 11 Union Leader was removed from the web after a firestorm of criticism. The column praised Rep. Frank Guinta for holding town hall meetings “even though he knew full well that he was going to take flak” for his votes on the budget and raising the debt ceiling.
For that alone, he is an improvement upon his predecessor. After they voted for...
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Foster's Daily Democrat: "We Were Snookered"
The editors at Foster’s Daily Democrat, a self-described staunch Republican-leaning newspaper, take note of the “trouncing” Republican House candidates received in two special elections and conclude, “Republicans are doing something wrong.”
Gun rights, abortion, and voter I.D. are just a few examples of where Republican legislative desires missed the mark.
Had the...
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Quote of the Day: Radical Operatives
The people behind this protest, Judy Stadtman, Zandra Rice Hawkins and Mark MacKenzie, are radical operatives hired with George Soros’s money to turn New Hampshire into another socialist haven like Massachusetts, which can barely support its own weight. These radical activists should be taken about as seriously as if Karl Marx himself was handing petitions to the House Speaker.
—...
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Guinta's Two-Faced Community Health Center Policy
While touring the Manchester Community Health Center yesterday, Congressman Frank Guinta repeated his goal to repeal last year’s historic health care reform act.
New Hampshire 1st District Rep. Frank Guinta on Wednesday said community health centers could be an alternative to the Obama health care plan.
An alternative? The Affordable Care Act provides $11 billion to support and expand...
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NH GOP Jobs Program: "Move to Rhode Island"
36,550 New Hampshire residents were unemployed at the end of June — and that doesn’t include the hundreds of private sector health care jobs that were lost after the new state budget went into effect on July 1.
Speaker O’Brien’s House policy director, Greg Moore, has a solution: Leave!
“If having one of the lowest unemployment rates in the nation is something people...
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Bonus Quote of the Day: A Swift Kick in the Rear
To the extent that the downgrade serves as a swift kick in the rear to members of Congress who believe that the nation’s budget should be balanced entirely with budget cuts, it will be a good thing. Sen. Kelly Ayotte so believes that’s possible that she was the only member of the state’s congressional delegation to vote for default rather than accept a budget that didn’t...
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Quote of the Day: Running Out of Backyards
So a victory was pulled off in Bully O’Brian’s backyard, another in State Republican Chairman Jack Kimball’s back yard, I think the people behind these victories are running out of backyards.
— Republican state Rep. Lee Quandt, on Democratic special election wins
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NH Tea Party: Bat-Shit CRAZY
John Cresswell-Plant is a self-described high-function autistic who lives in England. He and his wife, who is also disabled, are disability activists despite being victims of hate crimes.
Recently, Cresswell-Plant made the mistake of thinking he could have a rational discussion with the New Hampshire Tea Party regarding the UN Convention on Rights of Peoples with Disabilities.
Here’s a...
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Democrat Bob Perry Wins NH House Special Election
Democrat Bob Perry won tonight’s special election for a vacant state House seat in Strafford District 3. Perry outpolled Republican Honey Puterbaugh by a 58% - 42% margin.
Update: Official results from New Hampshire Secretary of State:
Town Puterbaugh-R Perry-D Puterbaugh-R Perry-D
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