NH-Sen: Commence the Deluge

Is he dreaming? (0.00 / 0)

Ovide is so far to the right that it makes my head spin.  Also, I am still stunned at the way he claimed that I supported an income tax when I did the Charlie Sherman show with him a few weeks back*, and basically snarled that Rahm Emmanuel was a socialist.

Plus, he ran and lost twice for office back in the 1990's. Make room for the next generation.

*well, I am not still stunned, I am actually still laughing.  

"When you get to the end of your rope, tie a knot and hang on."  Franklin D. Roosevelt    

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by: Kathy Sullivan 2 @ Wed Jul 01, 2009 at 17:52:57 PM CDT

as a State Board of Ed. Chair he turned down Goals 2000 dough... (4.00 / 1)

It would have forced NH to teach things like, I dunno, Evolution, Sex Education, Humanities with like books and stuff with hard words and some swears...

http://www.nd.edu/~rbarger/www...
"As someone who is responsible for elementary and secondary
education, my personal philosophical perspective is that the
federal government should not have a role in education.
Education is a state responsibility.The legislation contains
provisions that have philosophic underpinnings with which I
don't agree."--Ovide Lamontagne, chairman, N.H. State Board of Education

www.KusterforCongress.com

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by: JonnyBBad @ Wed Jul 01, 2009 at 18:35:51 PM CDT

[ Parent ]

This is comical, given (4.00 / 2)

that he is named after a Roman poet widely considered to be one of the racier authors.

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by: Dean Barker @ Wed Jul 01, 2009 at 19:23:45 PM CDT

[ Parent ]

The Egg-shaped Mountain (4.00 / 3)

It would have been a better name for Bill Zeliff or Bob Smith, but maybe it just symbolizes his chances: a giant goose egg.

(Yeah, I know, Ovid, not ovoid.  Sue me.)

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by: Tim C. @ Wed Jul 01, 2009 at 21:48:37 PM CDT

[ Parent ]

Say whuh- Ovide said this? (4.00 / 1)

Education is a state responsibility.

That ought to disqualify him from any consideration as a nominee of the Whackadoodle Party. They believe education is a local responsibility and the state has no role. They have been yammering this for years. A fair number of them go further and believe it is a personal responsibility and the local community should have no role.

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by: Michael Marsh @ Thu Jul 02, 2009 at 07:09:12 AM CDT

[ Parent ]

B-b-b-b-b-but... (4.00 / 1)

Meldrim would be proud.

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by: Dean Barker @ Thu Jul 02, 2009 at 07:18:54 AM CDT

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Jeb Laying the Early Groundwork for Guv Run (0.00 / 0)

Reading the 2X monthly one-sided half-truth, but detailed columns Jeb's been writing in the Conway Daily Sun, this writer senses the deliberate laying of the foundation for what he's been repeatedly rumored to be positioning himself for, and which he coyly dodges making any commitment to - a run for the governorship in 2010.

Of course, his winning seems a mathematically difficult proposition since the state is basically 50/50. No Dems will support him, and plenty of Reps and Indys still like Lynch, but still his actions are right on track for higher state office at the earliest and next opportunity.

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by: IrregardlessNH @ Wed Jul 01, 2009 at 18:42:08 PM CDT

I've "enjoyed" his columns, especially on the budget.... (4.00 / 1)

... in kind of the same way I enjoy a trip to the dentist. His little op-eds are outstanding examples of the selective misuse of information and false analogies to present a false picture. He does a great job of misexplaining what is happening in Concord and making crappy Republican solutions seem reasonable and necessary. Here are a few gems from his June 24 piece about the state budget:

Any gambling winnings will be taxed at 10% including those garnered outside of New Hampshire. Will we be sending auditors to Foxwoods and Las Vegas - or charitable events in New Hampshire - to guarantee tax collection?

Jeb actually knows that the DRA (NH's IRS) will rely on reports of income that taxpayers make to the Feds in their 1040s, just as it does in determining the tax on Interest and Dividends income. He actually knows this, but it would get in the way of a fun talking point: we will be sending state employees to Foxwoods and Vegas- at taxpayer expense!

Business owners were certainly dinged too. Business owners already are subject to an 8.5% tax on profits as well as a .75% tax on all payroll expenses.  Now however, business owners organized as limited liability companies or as partnerships will be subject to an additional 5% tax on any income distributed to an owner.

 

Jeb didn't mention that the current business taxes were raised by Republican legislatures during previous economic downturns. And you would never get from his description that the taxation of LLCs closes a loophole that allows business who choose this form of organization to pay lower taxes than identical businesses organized as corporations.

Desperate to raise revenue, DRA has recently taken it upon itself to essentially determine how much compensation a business owner may pay him or herself.  Should the business owner pay him or herself additional compensation beyond what DRA has pre-determined is allowed, the DRA with bureaucratic hubris will simply assesses the 8.5% Business Profits Tax on this so called excess compensation. If people are concerned about the Administration in Washington determining pay levels for executives - well it has been happening here in New Hampshire - right under our noses - with questionable legal authority for DRA to determine what is profit and what is income for a business owner.

This is a beaut! Jeb is counting on the fact that most people are not familiar with the situation. The DRA is doing nothing, as in not one single thing, that they have not done for the past 40 years. There have always been tax limits on what owners can claim as a reasonable salary from their business. Owners can pay themselves every penny of profit, but they pay the profits tax on any "excess compensation" above this limit.(otherwise owners would pay all of the profits to themselves as income and avoid our business profits tax completely). The only difference today from when Jeb was previously in the legislature is the Democrats are now in charge now, so Jeb is describing something that has gone on for 40 years as a new attempt by the state to intervene in what businesses can pay in salaries. It's not, Jeb knows this, but can't resist the chance to misinform and  cast blame.

The Rooms and Meals tax got increased 12.5%.

The tax goes from 8% to 9%. To most of us, this is a 1% increase. But that's not enough for Jeb, he has to make it seem bigger to make us angrier, so he uses a different method of calculation to arrive at 12.5%.

Nowhere in Jeb's letters will you ever find a word about the fact that the economy is in the worst shape in the past 50 years, that NH like every other state has seen dramatic cuts in revenues while seeing record demand for services. Nowhere do you learn that despite this, we are required to have a balanced budget, and the Democratic legislature and Governor went to incredible lengths to avoid damaging the economy while maintaining a minimum safety net. And they did this with virtually no assistance from the GOP, who decided to sit this budget out on the sidelines so they can grouse about it after the fact for political purposes.

And finally, nowhere in Jeb's letters do you see any concern about what budget cuts mean in the lives of people who depend on state assistance. It's as if they do not exist. All of his compassion and concern is reserved for business owners.

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by: Michael Marsh @ Thu Jul 02, 2009 at 06:20:12 AM CDT

[ Parent ]

Le Deluge, C'est Moi. (4.00 / 2)

"But, in the unlikely story that is America, there has never been anything false about hope." Si se puede. Yes we can.  

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by: Paul Twomey @ Wed Jul 01, 2009 at 19:05:12 PM CDT

Drips to the right (4.00 / 1)

Between Ovide and Kelly, the fight will be over all twelve of the whacko right wingers remaining in NH.

All Hodes has to do is be reassuring.  

No'm Sayn?

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by: BurtCohen @ Wed Jul 01, 2009 at 19:09:04 PM CDT

Only 12? In the whole state? (0.00 / 0)

Why I have 4 or 5 whackadoodlers living in my town alone.

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by: Michael Marsh @ Thu Jul 02, 2009 at 09:49:52 AM CDT

[ Parent ]

On behalf of young voters statewide, (4.00 / 5)

Who?

--
New Hampshire's stimulus: a train to Boston.
Visit NHBTI.org to learn about the NH Capitol Corridor project.

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by: Douglas E. Lindner @ Wed Jul 01, 2009 at 19:19:11 PM CDT

Mahoney (0.00 / 0)

not on my radar. Who can tell me what?

Other potential Republican candidates for next year's contest include former gubernatorial nominee Ovide Lamontagne, former congressional hopeful Sean Mahoney, Nashua businessman Fred Tausch and former Congressman Charles Bass.

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by: Dean Barker @ Wed Jul 01, 2009 at 20:12:27 PM CDT

Quite a GOP bench, here. (4.00 / 3)

Granted, it's a Group W bench...

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by: elwood @ Wed Jul 01, 2009 at 21:54:43 PM CDT

Nice (0.00 / 0)

So many layers to the "Group W Bench" quip.

www.KusterforCongress.com  

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by: Jack Mitchell @ Thu Jul 02, 2009 at 06:25:54 AM CDT

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