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Craig assembled the group back in 2003-2004. Critics said their titles made them sound like a Village People cover band: the Senate President, the Attorney General, the HHS Commissioner. But oh! when they started to play!
Remember (Lost My) Right to Choose Blues? Craig wrote the tune but the lyrics were by Two-Time Tom Eaton. That "pro-choice" intro followed by the slow dance backwards, silently nodding while his bandmates sang out the votes to criminalize choice? Eaton's moonwalk was reminiscent of Motown in the gracefulness of its choreography - at least, Motown in the Hummer era.
Craig and Tom introduced the song but Kelly took it to the top of the charts. And what single-minded dedication it took! Another AG might have been distracted by minutiae - you know, Ponzi schemes n' stuff. Not Kelly. She took the act on the road. The doubters told her to slow down - the legislature, the new Governor. But she was going to keep singing until she got that audition with the Supremes - no matter what it cost!
It was bandmate John Stephen who inspired Kelly's "Damn the cost, full speed ahead!" moves. His anthemic (There Must Be) 70 Million Ways to Bust a Budget made carping about a few million bucks to promote her favorite songs seem stodgy.
Craig won't be on stage for the reunion tour - comparisons to Brian Wilson are not near-fetched.
But the band will be rockin' with all their old hits!
If this is the music you grew up with, it will bring back memories you thought had faded away!
Special treat: For her encore, we understand Ayotte will do a solo of Bobby Fuller's classic I Fought the Law (And the Law Won).
At the moment, there's a mighty good chance I won't be running for reelection to the New Hampshire Legislature this November, after a bit too many years of being there off-and-on since 1969. But in all that time, I've never been prouder of our state government than during the past five years.
There was a dark cloud over our government for many of those years I've been there, with some glimpses of sunlight now and then with Governors like Walter Peterson, Hugh Gallen, and Jeanne Shaheen. These past five years, with Governor John Lynch, and Democratic majories in the House, Senate, and Governor's Council, the sunrise has come, and especially these past few months show why that is important to us all.
My take on the current review of the Financial Resources Mortgage Ponzi scheme is government working at its best. And despite some of the news media, Democrats should feel especially proud of some of the activities at the State House in recent weeks.
Years of information and records concerning FRM have been uncovered and released publicly, and those who have been hurt by the greed of a business are seeing that sunlight and openness has been brought to the process. That is a good thing.
Yes, some mistakes and oversights have been identified by agencies that should have prevented the Ponzi scheme of FRM from going on for so long. Mistakes occur in government as well as business. No process is perfect, and years -- decades really -- of cutting staff and making fewer and fewer state employees assume larger and larger volumes of work is bound to result in oversight not always being as good as it should be, or in follow-up action being limited. Employees can only do so much with the machinery and the personnel they have.
When you look at what was done and what was missed through the years, the fact appears to be that the Department of Banking did do most of the audits it was required to do and wrote the reports it should have. The Department of Securities did what it interpreted that under the law it had the authority to do, and took most of the follow-up action it should have done.
And the Attorney General's Office fulfilled most of the functions on those matters where it believed it had an enforcement role. From my detached point of view, it's not so much a matter of assigning blame for the past as it is clarifying responsibility for the future. We need better process, specific procedures, and clearer policies.
This was published today as an op-ed in the Conway Daily Sun.
John Stephen, former Congressional candidate, is now running for governor of NH. Stephen ran for Congress in 2002, and again in 2008. He lost both times, in the primaries, to Jeb Bradley, who lost the Congressional seat in 2006. Bradley will co chair Stephen's campaign.
It's long been rumored that Bradley was going to run for governor, but apparently he's decided to help throw his old foe to the wolves. The GOP hasn't had much success in fielding candidates against the popular Governor John Lynch. The last human sacrifice was former District 3 state senator Joe Kenney. The best that can be said about that matchup is that in other parts of the state people are still asking, "Joe who?"
Quietly making calls to arrange discussions with strategists and/or activists are Attorney General Kelly Ayotte, who's getting lots of encouragement to run for governor or the U.S. House, Merrimack County Attorney Dan St. Hillaire and 2002 gubernatorial candidate Bruce Keough.
...Health and Human Services Commissioner John Stephen was seen by some as beginning a 2008 campaign for governor with his Tuesday op-ed in this newspaper.
Kevin Landrigan's recent column dissecting Kelly Ayotte's contributor list, and the tens of thousands of dollars contributed to her by Benson and his Cabletron cronies sent me back to the Benson archives. It is interesting that Kelly Ayotte never mentions Benson in her speeches and that the campaign biography on her web site does not mention the critical stop her career path took in Benson's office, where she served as his spokeswoman and legal counsel.
So, in the interest of filling in the gaps, here is one story from the old Benson days. (I can't provide a link, but the quotes are from a June 15, 2003 Concord Monitor Capital Beat Column which was attached to a pleading in a NHDP Right to Know petition).
As you all may recall, Craig Benson had a troika of "volunteers" - Angela Blaisdell, Ray Marshall and Linda Pepin - working for him in the Governor's office. All three were former Cabletron employees (for more about the Benson "volunteers, here is a pretty good summary: http://www.nh.com/apps/pbcs.dl...
While eating lunch today, I perused the Frank Guinta FEC reports for the heck of it. This is not an activity I should undertake while drinking a soda, as there is a tendency to burst out laughing - especially when noticing that the campaign had an October 2 deadline to respond to a request for additional information on its July 15th report, but there is nothing on the site indicating that he has done so. However, I digress.
update: Guinta claimed to have raised about $126,000 this quarter; of that $4,000 was in kind donations of food, and $14,940 is reserved for the general since the individuals, like two relatives and his spouse, and Benson, had max'd out to the primary, so the real amount he raised for use in the primary is about $107,060 - a pretty pathetic haul for the NRCC's chosen one.
Guess who max'd out to Frank Guinta? With donations for both the primary and the general election: Yes, Craig Benson, $4,800! That is correct, an eyepopping $4,800 to Manchester's soon to be erstwhile mayor from Craig Benson.
http://query.nictusa.com/cgi-b...
For those of you who may have forgotten the foibles of Craig Benson, here are a few reminders:
1. Bulldozing the beach at his Rye oceanfront estate without a permit - and claiming he didn't know he needed one, despite having been caught for the same thing a couple of years earlier.
2. Failing to state on his financial disclosure report that he held a multi-million dollar mortgage on a golf course - a golf course that was subject to permitting from the state Department of Environmental Services.
3. Payments of brokers fees to "volunteer" Linda Pepin.
4. Appointing another "volunteer", Angela Blaisdell, to the position of homeland security liason, despite the lack of any qualifications.
The same Craig Benson who has promised to raise hundreds of thousands of dollars for Kelly Ayotte.
Craig Benson is becoming very active again in supporting Republican candidates.
Meanwhile, Ayotte is shopping for a campaign manager and a lead contender is a familiar face, Rob Varsalone, who was political director for Craig Benson's blowout gubernatorial victory in 2002 and later was a senior Benson adviser.
...Benson has become a member of Ayotte's inner circle and is said to have promoted Varsalone for the post.
The return of renewed scrutiny of the Benson era and Ayotte's role in it. I know I'm not supposed to look a gift horse in the mouth, but, wow, what a gift.
It's also amusing to see a triumvirate of Republican ex-govs (Gregg, Merrill, Benson) emerge to try to clear the field for her. But it's obvious Ovide's not backing down, and Fred Tausch, protected by his millions, isn't beholden to the NHGOP past:
"The authors of the state budget who felt it was OK to snatch private property to finance their dangerous growth in spending have landed the state in legal limbo that may result in a huge budget shortfall," Tausch continued. "The governor, attorney general and the legislators who passed the state budget are obligated to explain how they will make up the revenue if Judge McGuire's block on these funds stands. Will we end up with an income tax? A sales tax?"
Leaving aside how absrud it is for Tausch, who has lived in New Hampshire for all of about five minutes (and therefore can't run for gov and other state offices), to complain about the budget, this is going to be an ugly primary. And if Bass gets in, he could easily flank to the center to let the other three fight it out among the Tea Party base.
Three sources say they have talked with Benson in recent weeks about Ayotte. He is apparently pledging to raise hundreds of thousands for his former legal council and the woman he appointed to be Attorney General.
Benson appears to be in an Ayotte informal kitchen cabinet of friends including U.S. Sen. Judd Gregg and his former chief of staff Joel Maiola as well as Dave Wihby, Steve Edwards, Jesse Devitte, former Gov. Steve Merrill, lobbyist Liz Murphy, and Pam Kocher.
If it isn't obvious why this reprise from Governor Hummer is happy dance news, let me repeat Kathy's words:
There also will be questions about (Ayotte's) role in the controversies that overwhelmed former Gov. Craig Benson's administration. Did she approve the use of "volunteers" such as Linda Pepin, who had to resign over payments she received relating to a state insurance contract? Was Gov. Benson following Kelly Ayotte's advice when he refused requests from the Concord Monitor for information about the qualifications of another volunteer, Angela Blaisdell, to serve as his liaison to the state's emergency management team?
Ah, the Benson Era. I look forward with interest in revisiting Kelly Ayotte's role as legal counsel in Governor Hummer's administration. Blaisdell, Pepin, etc... Fun times.
But let's start with Christmas, featuring the CEO Governor, Deputy AG Ayotte, and Civil Rights Leader Kevin Smith. (UL,12/03):
Celebrating Christmas: At the breakfast meeting at the Bridges House before last week's Executive Council meeting, several councilors asked about the musical abilities of Benson administration liaison Kevin Smith. The governor suggested they go to the piano and sing Christmas carols.
The piano was out of tune, but the governor, the councilors, Press Secretary Wendell Packard and Deputy Attorney General Kelly Ayotte all joined in.
And Civil Rights Leader Kevin Smith had his own special carol, in part:
Finally, Gov. Benson, the elves know I'm your number one fan,
Your legacy shall live in New Hampshire lore;
They've carved out your profile to replace the Old Man."
MONDAY MORNING I followed behind an automobile while heading to work (at Dartmouth-Hitchcock) that threw me for a loop. It looked at first glance like a standard-issue winger's car: first the Support-the-Troops ribbon, then a Bush-Cheney bumper sticker (rarely seen around here) and amazingly a bumper sticker for former governor Craig Benson. Then, in the middle of these was one for Exxpose Exxon (with a Sierra Club URL listed). What are the odds on seeing that combination - did someone plant it on this guy's car as a gag?
Even in Wikipedia, Craig Benson can't get someone to put a picture of him up for free (he infamously stiffed portrait painter Romas Brandt $12,500 for his statehouse likeness):
Somehow it seems fitting that Benson lacks a portrait in the virtual world just as he does in the statehouse. "Running the state like a business", etc... Remember the virtual Easter Egg hunt?
My vote for the wiki photo (as well as the statehouse one - heck, we could print it out) would one of him driving a bus (scroll down the page to "Governors". Fits the whole "Governor Hummer is a Bummer" theme of his short but catastrophically bad tenure.
With this FISA business, I need some Hamsters to cheer me up. What's your favorite Benson story? Mine is when I was driving on I-89 and someone came barrelling down the left lane in a Hummer, easily going over 90. Atypical of me, I showed my displeasure with the recklessness of car choice and car driving with a one-finger salute.
As it passed, I noticed the NH Government plates.
And for those newer to our state:
Benson's administration came under criticism for claims of corruption stemming from scandals such as the resignation of Attorney General Peter Heed and the awarding of no-bid contracts to "volunteer" (and former Cabletron human resource administrator) Linda Pepin. Benson also frequently used "volunteers" in his office to do gubernatorial work, but would not say who they were or what they did. Reporters discovered that one of these "volunteers" (and former Cabletron director of operations), Angela Blaisdell, was New Hampshire's official liaison with the federal government on homeland security. In addition, the governor was accused of engaging in political payback when Dori Wiggin, supervisor of the Department of Environmental Services Wetlands Division in Portsmouth, was transferred to the department's Concord headquarters. Under Wiggin, the DES had fined Benson in 1998 and 2003 for excavating beach sand without a permit at his Rye oceanfront home.
HHS Commissioner John Stephen is stepping down a little early. This is the legacy he leaves behind:
He was appointed by former governor Craig Benson, a Republican, and the two shared a commitment to budget-trimming. Soon after taking the helm of the department, Stephen proposed restricting eligibility for the "Katie Beckett" Medicaid program, which assists children with severe disabilities. That plan was later scuttled amid outcry from disabilities rights activists.
Stephen's cost-cutting efforts continued. He ended the state's contract with Merrimack County's two support centers for people with disabilities. He proposed drastic changes to the state's Medicaid program, such as reducing the state's nursing home enrollment and directing money to home- and community-based care centers.
In 2004, Stephen announced plans to reduce the number of agencies that provide services to residents with developmental disabilities. His plan involved merging four of the state's 12 agencies into two, cutting the total number of agencies to 10. The decision sparked fear in the state's disabilities community, with many worrying that Stephen was moving too fast.
"What I've seen is an open hostility on the part of the commissioner to the health institutions," said Sen. Peter Burling, a Cornish Democrat, in reference to hospitals in his district. "The commissioner just seemed to think that these were worthy targets for whatever gouging he felt was appropriate at that given moment."
So, what's running for? Governor or Carol's seat? If I were Fergus, and considering the structural weakness of the NHGOP right now, I'd be playing zone and pushing him for Gov, but maybe they all realize that Bradley is weak and a competitive primary with Stephen coming out on top will help energize voters in the first district.
Help me out here folks. What does your crystal ball say?
If you're running in the New Hampshire Primary, and you haven't listened to Thomas Oliphant speak about it, well, good luck with that. I had the pleasure of hearing Oliphant speak several weeks ago at Keene State, and I've seldom heard a better explication of the peculiar political environment that is New Hampshire.
Oliphant began his speech by talking about his early work in New Hampshire, knocking on doors in Claremont in the 1968 primary to figure out what was going on in New Hampshire, this strangely anti-war Republican stronghold. The answer was not what people had thought:
Out of that [door-knocking and informal polling] came this famous conclusion... that people in New Hampshire were not interested in stopping the war because they were peaceniks. A lot of them were interested in stopping the war because they were sick of it. Some of the people I talked to wouldn't have cared if Johnson had dropped a nuclear weapon on North Vietnam, as long as it stopped the war.
It began to teach me the importance, at least in New Hampshire, of making sure you talk to people a lot because it will guide you away from that dangerous conventional wisdom that is so often correct nationally, and so often wrong up here.
Wolf Blizter, are you listening? Get out of Manchester. Talk to people. Watch an event from a place other than the press pen. Jog somewhere else.
Ever since Craig Benson left office, political discourse in the state has been a little bit poorer.
What happened to the negotiations with Killington to secede from Vermont and become a non-contiguous New Hampshire town? (We could have really socked them with the 'view tax,' eh?)
What happened to the web-based "virtual Easter Egg hunt" that was going to replace the one with candy and an in-person Governor?
What happened to the lightweight fiberglass replacement for the Old Man of the Mountains visage?
What happened to all the geniuses from Cabletron who were going to save us millions in IT spending?
What happened to the warm meetings between the Governor and the Free Staters 'from away' who want to take over various towns?
I wonder if voters realized they would lose all this when they voted Governor Benson out of office...
Remember (Lost My) Right to Choose Blues? Craig wrote the tune but the lyrics were by Two-Time Tom Eaton. That "pro-choice" intro followed by the slow dance backwards, silently nodding while his bandmates sang out the votes to criminalize choice? Eaton's moonwalk was reminiscent of Motown in the gracefulness of its choreography - at least, Motown in the Hummer era.
Craig and Tom introduced the song but Kelly took it to the top of the charts. And what single-minded dedication it took! Another AG might have been distracted by minutiae - you know, Ponzi schemes n' stuff. Not Kelly. She took the act on the road. The doubters told her to slow down - the legislature, the new Governor. But she was going to keep singing until she got that audition with the Supremes - no matter what it cost!
