John Lynch to Make New Media Appearance!

What a strange thing (0.00 / 0)

The group has identified a set of "Principle Issues" to examine:

1. Comprehensive Shoreline Protection Act
2. Gambling
3. Old Man Monument
4. Property Taxes
5. SB2 (school warrant process)
6. Coal Plant Scrubber
7. Seat Belts
8. Boat Speed
9. Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative

It intends to be "vigorously non-partisan" and to not actually take positions on these issues.

The list looks more like a grab-bag of personal pet projects than a list of key issues facing the state.

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by: elwood @ Sat Dec 05, 2009 at 07:40:11 AM CST

they must all live (4.00 / 5)

On Golden Pond

"Poetry is not an expression of the party line. It's that time of night, lying in bed, thinking what you really think, making the private world public, that's what the poet does." Allen Ginsberg

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by: JonnyBBad @ Sat Dec 05, 2009 at 08:05:32 AM CST

[ Parent ]

the old man monument? boat speed? (0.00 / 0)

Those don't seem like principal issues: some people are worried about them, but there are no big principles at stake.

It is odd, by the way, how we in New Hampshire like to use things as civic symbols which aren't there any more.  The Old Man on the Mountain is just one example The City of Somersworth, for example, has a mill on its seal which burned down a few years ago.  

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by: TimothyHorrigan @ Sat Dec 05, 2009 at 08:33:31 AM CST

[ Parent ]

The Frigate Raleigh (0.00 / 0)

...on our State Seal.

And Portsmouth's Historic District Commission just voted to allow demolition of our second oldest building on the Piscataqua Waterfront, which appears on our Portsmouth City Seal.  (I attended the public hearing this past week and opposed the action.)  We like to remember our past, I guess, but sometimes not honor it.  We're more interested in boat speed and gambling.  Life Goes On (I enjoyed that TV series!).

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by: Rep. Jim Splaine @ Sat Dec 05, 2009 at 09:04:11 AM CST

[ Parent ]

That reminds me (4.00 / 1)

of a few years ago when the City allowed the demolition of the only remaining wood-frame structure in Market Square to make way for the construction of a building that pretends in the most superficial way to be old.  Admittedly, the urban gesture is much nicer than the old building and adjacent parking lot, but it's Portsmouth, not Disney World!

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by: FrankLloydMike @ Sat Dec 05, 2009 at 09:07:10 AM CST

[ Parent ]

My aged house guest is very concerned about the old man. (4.00 / 3)

Every couple of weeks he wonders if they're going to fix it.  I think he identifies.

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by: hannah @ Sat Dec 05, 2009 at 15:14:36 PM CST

[ Parent ]

Brian Lawson (4.00 / 1)

Web Consultant

Maybe he knows Lynch from his prior jobs? Otherwise I don't know how any new site gets the gov.

 

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by: JimC @ Sat Dec 05, 2009 at 07:45:56 AM CST

Brian, a really good guy, is the person (4.00 / 1)

who actually let me know about it.

As for the Gov, there are a lot of Very Important People behind the site, so I'm guessing that, and the "non-partisan" thing, were the hook there.

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by: Dean Barker @ Sat Dec 05, 2009 at 18:03:16 PM CST

[ Parent ]

No such thing (4.00 / 6)

I don't believe there is such a thing as non-partisanship. Sometimes you can have bipartisanship or multi-partisanship, but non-partisan assumes a level of objectivity not found in reality.  

Plus there is an unspoken inference that partisanship is somewhat declasse, something for the unwashed masses. I like the unwashed masses.

 

"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 @ Sat Dec 05, 2009 at 12:04:36 PM CST

Yes! (0.00 / 0)

While I am happy that there is a site that will be talking about state issues, a site like this one has two big hurdles to overcome to become successful:

1) David Broderism Disease: This is exactly what you say - that non-partisan is really a chimera, or - worse - a coverup for stealth partisan agenda.  It will be really important for all of the Very Important People behind that site not to be pushing agendas in a hidden, high-minded way. (Besides how unbelievably annoying it is to read writers/bloggers who claim to be "above" partisanship, whatever that means.)

2) The comments sections of non-partisan or bi-partisan sites tend to devolve into extreme incivility - and thus unproductive pointlessness - very quickly.  There's a reason you don't really see very many successful "centrist" blogs out there.

That said, I like Brian Lawson and I wish him the best on this, and as I said above, if it does anything to bring more attention to statewide issues, something so under-covered now, I'm for it.  

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by: Dean Barker @ Sat Dec 05, 2009 at 18:10:36 PM CST

[ Parent ]

non-partisan (0.00 / 0)

Actually, the League of Women Voters has always been non-partisan. It never supports or opposes candidates or political parties. It does take stands on issues and legislation but that doesn't make it partisan. Over the past 80 years, it has tended to agree with where the public stands on various issues regardless of where the political parties stand.  

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by: calvin @ Sat Dec 05, 2009 at 13:54:21 PM CST

I'm beginning to think that "non-partisan" is a euphemism (0.00 / 0)

for authoritarian.  Until the concept of government BY the people got some traction, there wasn't much difference between the punitive (conservative) and indulgent(liberal) authoritarians/rulers.  They were all united in thinking that the elite rule and tell the rabble what to do.  The only difference was that one relied mainly on threats, while the other preferred bribes to keep the great unwashed in check.
The people governing takes some getting used to.

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by: hannah @ Sat Dec 05, 2009 at 15:19:33 PM CST

[ Parent ]

The LWV is a very good example of the (0.00 / 0)

meaninglessness of "nonpartisan." Their issue focus today is on: DC voting rights, election law (opposing Indiana's ID law for example), climate change, and health reform.

In each case their position is consistent with the Democratic Party and is opposed by the Republican Party.

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by: elwood @ Sat Dec 05, 2009 at 15:42:13 PM CST

[ Parent ]

nonpartisan (4.00 / 1)

But that doesn't mean they support the Democrats.  It just means they support issues that the Democrats also support. In the 1950s, 60s and 70s the League supported environmental cleanup laws that were supported by the Republicans but that didn't mean they supported the Republican Party.

Back to the original subject...I think New Hampshire's political culture offers political activists an opportunity for partisan activity that is almost impossible to ignore. I'm not convinced people will really be interested in a site that ignores that reality.    

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by: calvin @ Sun Dec 06, 2009 at 13:48:32 PM CST

[ Parent ]

These days "nonpartisan" means something dumber. (0.00 / 0)

Instead of "We examine issues and take positions without regard to the positions of the national parties" it seems to mean: "We actively recruit speakers/ writers/ members from both parties and give equal consideration to the positions of each. And we absolutely refuse to learn from experience, after rejecting either party's positions a hundred times."

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by: elwood @ Sun Dec 06, 2009 at 17:50:11 PM CST

[ Parent ]

John Lynch is a Democratic deprivator. He acts as if he thinks he's (4.00 / 1)

been anointed to rule, but does nothing that's too offensive.  So, he gets to hold on to an office that nobody else wants.

Read Shirley Jackson's "The Lottery."

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by: hannah @ Sat Dec 05, 2009 at 15:26:28 PM CST

I don't think he fits your model. (0.00 / 0)

Lynch worked to end the parental notification law that the right-to-life activists managed to pass. He presided over the passage of civil unions and gay marriage and vetoed neither.

New Hampshire is far too willing to sacrifice the public - the kids who won't get lead paint testing and the collapsing state parks are the latest examples. But that predates Lynch.

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by: elwood @ Sat Dec 05, 2009 at 15:47:20 PM CST

[ Parent ]

I keep reading their name as (4.00 / 2)

Live Free or Dalliance.

Must be Tiger's fault.

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by: elwood @ Sat Dec 05, 2009 at 18:05:15 PM CST

Wrong name (4.00 / 2)

The name doesn't work for a non-partisan organization. It doesn't get much more partisan than being willing to die for an ideology.  

"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 @ Sat Dec 05, 2009 at 20:19:56 PM CST

[ Parent ]

Great word that Dalliance (0.00 / 0)

and of course it reminds me of this

The Wedding Present Dalliance

Hope > Fear



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by: Mike Hoefer @ Sat Dec 05, 2009 at 21:02:59 PM CST

[ Parent ]