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This is my most recent column for the Conway Daily Sun:
Public Service Company of NH (our state's largest electric utility) is hoping to increase our electric rates. Their primary reason for this rate hike is that consumers have been using less electricity. Unitil Corp. is doing the same thing in the Seacoast area. They want a 9% increase, for the same reason. Remember those golden days of yesteryear when if you used less, you paid less? We should have realized those days were over when the phone company started tacking on a $3 monthly charge if you didn't make enough long distance calls.
The Headline from NH Political Report says it all:
Lynch attacked with 200k worth of tv ads from National Organization for Marriage
This is only the beginning. The address listed on the NOM website is in Princeton, NJ. Last I looked, that's so far from NH, I can't even see it from my backyard!
An out of state organization dedicated to curtailing individual freedom is pouring its money into New Hampshire to influence our next election. They will most likely be funding Republican state senate and state representative campaigns as well.
From the Wiki page on NOM,under the heading "Alleged Disclosure Violations" :
Accusations by Karger also lead the Maine Commission on Governmental Ethics and Election Practices to schedule consideration of an investigation.[57] Maine laws require that organizations which solicit more than $5000 for a ballot question campaign file disclosure reports.[21] NOM has contributed $1.6 million to Stand For Marriage Maine, as of October 23, 2009, without filing any disclosure reports.[21] The commission approved an investigation on a 3-2 vote, overriding the recommendation of their staff.[58] NOM responded by filing suit, claiming that the state's election laws violate the Constitution.[59] NOM used the likelihood of their suit's success as an argument to obtain a federal restraining order which would keep them from having to provide donor names before the date of the election; the request was turned down by federal Judge David Brock Hornby.[60] In January 2010, representatives of the group were subpoenaed to appear before the commission. In February, the group requested that those subpoenas be dropped, but the commission voted unanimously to deny that request.[61]
In Iowa, the organization faces accusations from the Interfaith Alliance of Iowa Action Fund and One Iowa that it has failed to properly disclose its contributors.[19] NOM's efforts in that state included spending $86,060 on the failed state House of Representatives campaign of Stephen Burgmeier.[62]
(Part put below the fold. - promoted by Dean Barker)
I received this email this morning from fellow Hampster and FB friend Jeff. He wanted to share what he is doing as a medic in Afghanistan.
Hello Friends,
I am writing to you tonight from Afghanistan at long last! Recently my first
"Official" day of work was our 100th day of our deployment! Yikes! 365 will come and
go pretty quickly at that rate! We spent a long time training to get here and now
we are on the ground and ready to do some good.
this was published as an op-ed in today's Conway Daily Sun.
Vernon is a small town located in the very south-easternmost corner of Vermont. Vernon is just across the Connecticut River from NH, and was once part of the NH town of Hinsdale. Vernon, VT is best known for being the home of the Vermont Yankee Nuclear Power Plant. VT Yankee has been making news recently, because of radioactive tritium leaking from the plant. Tritium is leaking into the Connecticut River, which is a source for drinking water in the area. Five NH towns are included within the ten mile evacuation zone surrounding the plant. They are: Chesterfield, Hinsdale, Richmond, Swanzey, and Winchester. The entire towns of Chesterfield, Hinsdale, and Winchester are within that 10 mile zone.
Economists are quick to tell us that our economy is showing signs of recovery. This seems to mean that Wall St. is doing well. Main St. doesn't seem to be ready to tap dance just yet. The unemployment rate for New Hampshire was seven percent in January. Those statistics are skewed to be lower than the real numbers of unemployed. They don't count folks who haven't been able to find a job long after their unemployment benefits ended, or those who weren't eligible in the first place. The real number is perhaps as high as 14%. More NH families are using food stamps than ever before. Our homes aren't worth what they used to be, though foreclosures seem to be slowing down. In other words, for the most part, the news isn't good. NH folks are having a tough time, and tough times always seem even tougher in the north country.
@nhpr and @nhkaren are live tweeting Lynch's State of the State Address. You can see it down there in our "As The Hamsters Tweet" widget or via twitter search for #sotsnh. WMUR is live Streaming as well.
Use this thread for your thoughts about the speech and the programs and initiatives announced.
Update: A few key tweets
@nhpr Lynch proposes "New Hampshire Working" program - three-part initiative to help businesses and workers during downturn. #sotsnh
@nhpr Lynch announces "Green Launching Pad" program to encourage growth in green technology. #sotsnh
@nhprLynch: Need for state HHS services is outpacing department budget. State must respond to economic conditions and protect services
@nhprLynch on school funding: "Until such time as an amendment has broader support, we must work within the current structure"
@nhkarenDisproportionate focus on economic issues was very appropriate in Gov Lynch's #NH #sotsnh
This was published as an op-ed in the January 8, 2010 Conway Daily Sun newspaper.
I've had a complaint about the way the text came out in this diary. My computer died just before Christmas, and I'm using my late husband's laptop, which does not have a word processing program in it. I spent half an hour trying to fix the text - to no avail. I'm sorry if it's annoying, but I assure you, it's not intentional.
During last year's NH legislative session, the minority party frequently accused the majority party of wasting time on unimportant issues, instead of focusing on jobs and the economy. They wailed and gnashed their teeth over the time spent on the issue of marriage equality - even though that was an issue of justice and civil rights. In looking over the bills ready to be worked on this year, it seems that the minority party has chosen to actually do exactly what they whined the other guys were doing all last year.
(And don't forget to hang out at Susan's place now and then. Great stuff there. - promoted by Dean Barker)
this was published as an op-ed in the 10/23 edition of the Conway Daily Sun
Ah, New Hampshire. This year we had a long, cold, wet spring; a cold, wet summer, and a glorious fall with spectacular foliage. It was a rancorous year in the NH legislature, with the budget being a particular thorny issue. Mel Thomson and William Loeb still dictate our tax policy from the grave, and Judd Gregg voted in favor of rape. It was a year blissfully free of electoral politics for most of us, but the end of the year is drawing near. Next year we'll be voting for 2 Congresscritters, one US Senator, the entire NH legislature, the Executive Council, and the Governor.
The NH GOP is unhappy about losing their divine right to run our state. Despite steady losses in the last 4 years, they have not been able to come up with a new message. They're still saying "no taxes and cut spending." It was a great message in 1910. In 2010 the reality is somewhat different. Things cost more, an elementary concept that the NH GOP is unable to embrace. Sure, there are ways to spend less money. At a time when many states are eliminating the costly death penalty as a way to save millions, NH is the only state looking to begin executions. The budget for lead paint testing has been cut recently, but we'll be building a death row and an execution chamber.
The Concord Monitor and the Union Leader are reporting that because of budget cuts, the state Department of Health and Human Services has closed its residential treatment program for repeat DWI offenders. This is very problematic because there is a mandatory sentencing law in effect for these convictions:
Per the UL:
The law mandates a 10-day sentence: three in the county jail and seven in a intervention detention center.
Edwin Kelly, who is administrative judge of the District Court:
"The requirements of the mandatory state sentencing law cannot be suspended, for budgetary or any other reason, except by the Legislature,"
So now the question is which private treatment programs are available and who is going to pay for them?
From the Concord monitor:
There are three private treatment programs - in Berlin, Manchester and Epping - with approved programs, but Kelly and lawyers who handle DWI cases said none provides a sufficient alternative to the HHS program. That's because all three charge at least half of their $1,200 to $1,550 fee up front, before treatment can begin.
The state charged more - $1,750 - for its week-long program but always allowed participants to complete the course and pay later if they had to. Concord defense attorney Andrew Winters said most of his clients need that option.
Associate Commissioner at DHHS Nancy Rollins says the state program has been running a deficit because of participants' inability to pay.
"Very, very, very rarely could they afford the private treatment program," Winters said yesterday. The numbers back that up: Last year, 75 percent of people sentenced to jail and a treatment program chose the state option, according to numbers provided by judiciary officials.
According to Rollins the rejection of the state employees contract made the closure necessary. She also said the closure is permanent.
Meanwhile, Judge Kelly has asked judges to hold off sentencing repeat DWI offenders until a solution can be found.
From the report by the US House of Representatives on NH-02 (PDF):
America's Affordable Health Choices Act would provide significant benefits in the 2nd Congressional District of New Hampshire: up to 16,900 small businesses could receive tax credits to provide coverage to their employees; 7,800 seniors would avoid the donut hole in Medicare Part D; 840 families could escape bankruptcy each year due to unaffordable health care costs; health care providers would receive payment for $87 million in uncompensated care each year; and 52,000 uninsured individuals would gain access to high quality, affordable health insurance.
Then there are some bullet points further explaining the details. The last bullet point:
No deficit spending The cost of health care under the legislation is fully paid for: half through making Medicare and Medicaid more efficient and half through a surtax on the wealthiest individuals...The surtax would not affect 98.8% of the taxpayers in the district.
The analysis was based upon information from The Gallup Healthways Survey, the US Census, Centers for Medicare and Medicaid (CMS) and the House Ways and Means Committee.
I saw a report today that our state led the US in receiving Federal aid in the recently completed Cash for Clunkers program (at least on a per capita basis).
This is pretty unusual. Normally NH's relative wealth and lack of a large lower-income population puts us near the bottom when it comes getting federal money. But we recieved about twice as much per person from the Cash for Clunkers program as the average state. For what it's worth, Vermont was second. The usual suspects- Mississippi. Alabama, New Mexico, and West-by-God Virginia- were near the bottom.
Well, I got a couple of tickets to the President's town hall meeting in Portsmouth this afternoon. It was a beautiful day for the drive; I went with a fellow Obama activist. It was amazing to us to be seeing him in New Hampshire again, not as a candidate, but as POTUS.
Once we found the school, parking wasn't the problem I'd thought it'd be. And the first person we saw was BH's own Jack Mitchell directing traffic at the intersection to the school parking lot. We had to go to a lot down the road, but very close. There were a lot of people there, but not the crazy scene I was expecting.
When FiveThirtyEight's Nat Silver writes about the National Republican Party, his words work just as well as a perfect description of my very favorite Zero-Population-Growth reject John Sununu the Elder:
Big Papi Sununu is nothing more than a grumpy, searching, direction-less, leadership-deficient, infighting naysayer offering no new ideas, too much feigned outrage, and opposition largely for opposition's sake - all as he steadily loses his grasp on the attentions and imaginations of New Hampshire voters...
I heard from a friend who was sitting in on a meetings regarding health care reform (they are not from NH, nor is the congressman they work for), that our Congresswoman Carol Shea-Porter told a group of stubborn congressman who were unsure about supporting the bill, something to the effect of...
Look, we're all getting attacked back in our districts for supporting heath care reform, but that doesn't bother me. We need grow some guts and pass this bill because this is what people need.
Again, I'm paraphrasing and this is all hearsay, but it really made me proud to have such a bold congresswoman. Apparently it was a pretty heated meeeting and CSP really kicked some butt (and also changed a few minds).
The motto "Live Free or Die" is not resonating with young people, and needs to be updated as part of a "rebranding effort" in order to attract more young workers to the state and keep the ones already here. This according to a report by the Young Workers Task Force set up last year by Governor Lynch to research why New Hampshire is losing its twenty-something population.
The report, released yesterday, and covered today by by Kevin Landrigan in the Nashua Telegraph outlines steps the state should take in order to stem the "youth drain".
In 2008, New Hampshire's population of 25- to 34-year-olds was ranked 46th in the country, and it was in the top third of states in growth of population of those 55 years or older.
According to the article, the top two reasons young adults are leaving the state are jobs and salaries. They feel they can earn more money elsewhere. Coming in at third place is what Greater Nashua Chamber of Commerce and CEO Chris Williams, who co-chaired the task force, called the "cool factor". In other words, there are not enough cultural opportunities for young people that speak to their age and interests.
As part of the effort toward rebranding the state
A new Web portal titled stayworkplaynh.org will be launched... Other task force recommendations call for creating a youth leadership program, offering incentives for affordable child care, work-force housing, apprenticeship, loan repayment and bonus recruitment awards.
Landrigan's piece ends with a list of the main task force recommendations. It's certainly worth the read. Feel free to add your own in the comments
Tom Fahey of the UL is reporting that the House and Senate Committee of Conference has come to an agreement on the budget. Each chamber has to vote on it as a whole as well.
Cuts to social services include assistance to the developmentally disabled. There is a waiting list for services for young people who age out of the school system. Often family members must quit their jobs to care for disabled adult children at home because no programs are available to them in the community. Last session, the legislature voted to fund these services. State workers may be asked to take one unpaid day off a month. Also, the state will give less support for special ed ($13 million cut in total).There will be money for charter schools ($5450 per student as opposed to $3450 for regular public schools), but there was also a moratorium placed on new charter schools. Allenstown homeowners are getting $650k for flood damage. Money for senior volunteer programs was restored.
On May 12, Bow will vote on SB2, the "Official Ballot Law". SB2 has been defeated six times here and with good reason: SB2 would give voters LESS say in governing our town and school district.
Under SB2 we would still have public meetings (in January),at which we could become informed about and debate budgets prepared by the School Board, Selectmen Board, and Budget Committee.Like our traditional meetings, a simple majority could amend, reverse, or block these and other warrant articles. However, the final vote would be moved to the polls on election day,allowing more voters to cast votes.
Much of SB2's appeal is getting to vote without attending a meeting. There's the rub! Without a final say at the public meetings, voter attendance at these "deliberative sessions" is extremely low. A handful of unelected people with special interests can control what the rest of us can vote on. It is therefore very easy for a partisan coalition to completely undo the work of our elected representatives on the Boards and Budget Committee.
Please join me in supporting the re-election of Jack Crisp as Selectman, Dee Treybig Independent for Budget Committee, and the re-election of Dr. Steve Elgert for School Board.
Vote no on SB2 on May 12.
Guy Chichester died on Sunday. He was one of the founding members of the Clamshell Alliance, the anti-nuke group that organized to fight Seabrook Station. The Clamshell became a model for groups around the country.
There are many Guy stories - I hope folks will come by and tell them. I love the one about the time he cut down the siren tower with a chainsaw, and just waited to be arrested. I was an 80's Clam, who had the great honor and pleasure of getting to know Guy.
This story in the Concord Monitor
tells it better than I can. He was a giant - in all senses of the word.
This is a slightly altered version of my editorial in the January 16, Conway Daily Sun:
Today our nation will celebrate Martin Luther King Jr. Day, when we honor the slain civil rights activist. Tomorrow we will witness the historic inauguration of Barack Obama as the 44th president of the United States, and the first African-American. We've come a long way in my lifetime.
