Good Job Roberto!

by: Andrew Sylvia

Tue Aug 12, 2008 at 16:43:46 PM EDT

Thanks to Roberto as well as the Mangipudis for all their hard work.  

Toll Booths

by: Andrew Sylvia

Thu Aug 07, 2008 at 14:54:06 PM EDT

Due to an emergency yesterday, I used the toll booths in Hooksett on I-93.

For many of you, that might not seem like a big deal, but I see using a New Hampshire toll booth the same way a Jehovah's Witness might see testifying in court or voting. I only wish I were as pious as they seem to be, i've lost track of how many times i've gone through the tolls this year, I suppose i'm fortunate that i've kept it in the single digits despite going from Merrimack to Concord and back just about every day.

Tolls are the second biggest issue from people i've talked to at doors, but unfortunately in their eyes it's tinged with the biggest issue: nobody can do anything about it.

For those of you who are reading this article from outside Merrimack, let me explain simply.

Our town has 1/20th of New Hampshire's population. We have 1/3rd of the state's toll booths. Last time I checked, we do not have 1/3rd of the state's wealth.

If that is not economic injustice, I don't know what is.

The story of the tollbooths comes from the late 1980s, we wanted our exits onto the F.E Everett Turnpike expanded. So, the state came to us and said "if you want your exits expanded, you'll need to approve 'temporary' tollbooths". Twenty years later and those temporary tollbooths have become permanent due to a multi-million dollar profit the state rakes in and a lack of organized resistance from the town itself.

That must change.

It will take two years, and it will take more than myself, but I have a three point plan to fight back effectively against the injustices of the Turnpike System.

First off, we as Merrimackers must stop using the tolls. I've tried to live the example I want to preach, only using the tolls in absolute emergencies, but it'll take hundreds of Merrimackers to stop using the tolls and start saving their toll money in a grassroots effort, led by the Town Council and our delegation in Concord. Executive Councillor Deb Pignatelli has already made a great foundation with her Tolltalkers group.

Second, we need to find more Deb Pignatellis: people from outside of Merrimack who are affected by tolls. This is not an issue about Merrimack, this is an issue of social justice, if we are to succeed in Concord, all of the effort cannot come from just Merrimack. Dover faces a similiar plight to us, and many other towns and cities feel the disproportionate focus on certain areas that the Turnpike System has.

And finally, we need to use that money saved from avoiding the tolls to build a warchest to fight the tolls. Legal fees, political action groups, mass media communication, all of it costs money and all of it will probably be necessary in order to make progress on the toll issue.

I cannot guarantee a timeframe on success, but I can guarantee that we will fail if we decide to give up or continue on without any effective strategy like the one I just said above.

How Voc Rehab Shoe Inserts Changed A Man's Life

by: Andrew Sylvia

Thu Aug 07, 2008 at 14:04:36 PM EDT

One day I was talking to a voter and all of the sudden his cell phone rang and he asked me to excuse him for a second. I was happy to, but I have to admit I heard his side of the conversation which consisted mostly of one word answers ("Yes", "No", "Sure", etc.)

He apologized, I replied that it was ok, but asked him out of curiosity who it was.

It turns out the caller came from New Hampshire Vocational Rehabilitation. The voter lives a subistence life, he couldn't afford a car, he could barely afford his rent and utilities, and he had just gotten a job as a cook at a local diner, but wouldn't be able to accept it unless he got special shoes with certain inserts that would not slip on the kitchen floors and could support him since he had some kind of osteoporosis.

However, since he could barely afford the bare necessities of life, he couldn't afford these special shoes, so he went to voc rehab.

The voter wanted to work and be a productive member of society, but he wouldn't have been able to without that little boost, and was grateful for the assistance he had gotten.

After I left, I thought hypothethically as to what the financial costs and benefits were to what must have been a $60 or $70 pair of shoes in this man's case.

The government probably got back their investment in one or two lunch rushes from meals tax. The owner of the diner might have gotten someone else to fill the job, but maybe they wouldn't be able to and would have either had to raise their wages to attract a new employee or turn to undocumented immigrant labor. And perhaps without that job, that voter may not have found another job and lost his apartment, and the landlord wouldn't have been able to pay the property taxes on the property and it would fall into disrepair, lowering the property values throughout the neighborhood degrading the tax base to the point where it would no longer be able to sustain the services expected by its residents.

Then again, everything might have turned out just fine. The thing is though, why leave that to chance in cases like these when the solution was as simple as a pair of shoes?

Dissecting HB 1: A Responsible Budget Comes From Understanding, Not Pledges

by: Andrew Sylvia

Thu Aug 07, 2008 at 13:49:13 PM EDT

I don't want to see an Income Tax or Sales Tax, but I would much rather prefer avoiding those taxes to come from an understanding of our spending and appropriations.

So that's why I want to begin the process of going through our state budget with you all on these journals, line by line.

Are they too high? Are they too low? Is it not clear enough what the expenditures actually are? Let's figure it out together.

Today are the line items from section 01-02, the Legislative Branch

Here's the Senate's line items for Fiscal Year 2008.

01-02-01-01-11 Personal Services - Members $580.00
01-02-01-01-12 Personal Services - Permanent $1,282,379.00
01-02-01-01-13 Personal Services - Non Permanent $195,889.00
01-02-01-01-20 Current Expenses $78,500.00
01-02-01-01-30 Equipment New/Replacement $5,000.00
01-02-01-01-46 Consultants $63,000.00
01-02-01-01-60 Benefits $519,820.00
01-02-01-01-70 In-State Travel $150,500.00
01-02-01-01-80 Out-Of State Travel $24,000.00
01-02-01-01-91 Continuing Education $5,000.00
01-02-01-01-92 President's Discretionary Fund $4,500.00

Here's the House

01-02-01-02-11 Personal Services - Members $2,000.00
01-02-01-02-12 Personal Services - Permanent $1,424,587.00
01-02-01-02-13 Personal Services - Non Permanent $183,833.00
01-02-01-02-20 Current Expenses $167,500.00
01-02-01-02-30 Equipment New/Replacement $12,000.00
01-02-01-02-46 Consultants $30,000.00
01-02-01-02-60 Benefits $719,887.00
01-02-01-02-70 In-State Travel $1,077,500.00
01-02-01-02-80 Out-Of State Travel $100,000.00
01-02-01-02-90 Continuing Education $3,000.00
01-02-01-02-91 Speakers Special Account $4,500.00
01-02-01-02-92 Maj. Leaders Special Account $3,500.00
01-02-01-02-93 Min Leaders Special Account $3,000.00
01-02-01-02-96 Contingency $50,000.00

92 Days, 3 Hours and 30 Minutes To Go: Empty Supermarkets, Lawns and Libraries

by: Andrew Sylvia

Sun Aug 03, 2008 at 21:11:12 PM EDT

I was walking down a street in Merrimack and saw the inhabitants of one of that street's houses on their driveway: a teenage girl and an elderly woman each with a lemonade and an elderly man with a beer.

It was a beautiful day, so I decided to walk on up and say hello even though they weren't on the list.

At first they thought I was a salesman, but I quickly let them know I wasn't selling anything or asking for any money, that I was only a local guy running for office and wanted to let them know about myself. The elderly couple each took one of my brochures, and I thanked them and started to walk away.

By about the time I reached the end of the driveway,  the elderly woman yelled to me "Hey, Andrew, come back here for a second!"

She liked the fact that I had lived here all my life. Then we started to talk about our town, and she started to talk about how nobody in town seemed to mow their lawns anymore.

I can understand her statement to a point, but there is a vast variation in terms of the status of lawns here in Merrimack. Some houses in town probably have thousands of dollars spent on them every year, some houses in town need machetes and various inoculations to be navigated through.

I don't think that's what she was getting at though. What I think she was trying to get to the heart of was our towns' past in regards to not liking to invest in itself.

For just about my entire life, a warrant article was on the ballot every year to get a new library. While I don't have the statistics, I'd have to assume that our town's library is the smallest in the state if you go by square footage per capita.

I'd estimate that Berlin's library is about the same size as ours, even though our town around three times as many people. Keene has slightly fewer people than we do and i'd be willing to guess that its library is five to ten times larger.

Yet each year, the article for a new library fails. In 2006, not only did the article fail, but an article to empty out the capital reserve fund for building a new library was emptied for tax relief.

So, while I can understand the people who disagreed with this woman (she was a registered Republican I later found out) in regards to a fair tax burden on our taxpayers,  but I definitely understand where she's coming from in that we do not invest in ourselves as a town nearly enough.

She then went on to talk about the proposed mall and asked why we were building it when the Old Shaw's Plaza had been empty for years and the Commons shopping plaza had been empty for years until it began to finally began to fill up a year or two ago.

I don't believe that we should tell businesses and industries how to run their operations, and I don't believe that we should invest wastefully (the library is worth an article on its own), but in the end, if we do invest in ourselves as a town, and for that matter, as a state, not only will it be easier for us to find tenants for places like the Old Shaw's Plaza and what we had with the Commons, but attract new businesses and industries to Merrimack that will recoup any investments we make.

Like the old lady with the lemonade might say, we need to make sure we start mowing our lawns.

92 Days and 5 Hours To Go: The Only Thing You Can Promise Is That One Day You'll Die

by: Andrew Sylvia

Sun Aug 03, 2008 at 20:06:01 PM EDT

A little while ago, I go up to a house, ring the door bell, and hear somebody yell "hey, somebody's at the door, go get it!"

So, I wait for 2 or 3 minutes until a young man comes to the door followed by what I assume was his grandfather.

The grandfather has no shirt on, and looks like a slightly shorter version of Telly Savalas, and I start to go into my script.

Apparently his most important issue is also what i've found to be the most important issue to voters, saying that things suck and all the politicians are crooked and only looking out for each other, so on and so forth.

Once he started talking about the municipal level politicians, I had to be more neutral due to my position on the Merrimack Ethics Committee, telling him about the Ethics Committee and letting him know that it's here for oversight of public employees and public officials and what to do if he thought a town employee or a town elected official was acting unethically.

However, I told him that even with the Ethics Committee, I couldn't promise anything in regards to helping him regain his trust in government, and for that matter I couldn't promise him anything other than the only three things I can promise anybody, and he replied with an interesting statement...

"I don't expect any more out of you, but the only thing anybody can ever truly promise is that one day they'll die."

We talked for another few minutes about things, and he wished me luck, thanked me for coming by as well as for running for office, and said I had gotten his vote.

Still, after that moment of clarity, I doubt that in the grand scheme of things that his or anyone else's vote is truly 100% guaranteed.

93 Days To Go: Taking It Easy

by: Andrew Sylvia

Sun Aug 03, 2008 at 19:16:40 PM EDT

One thing I learned the hard way in 2006 is not to burn out too quickly. Sometimes you've got to take a day off, and that goes for writing too.

Still, i'm making progress on the ground, so far I have more signs on lawns in Merrimack than all other State Rep candidates combined, I probably have about as many as Jeanne Shaheen, Barack Obama and John McCain for that matter.

Add to that pretty good fundraising numbers for a state rep candidate (about $600), an appearance on WMUR's Close Up this morning (i'll try to get the video of it up asap), and i'm more than happy to hold back a bit.

After all, the next few months are going to be busy. I gotta keep up this pace.

96 Days To Go: Regaining Hope

by: Andrew Sylvia

Thu Jul 31, 2008 at 18:55:54 PM EDT

In large part, the people i've talked to in Merrimack and throughout the state have had a different fatigue, and that is probably the biggest factor in what I have seen as the biggest issue our state and indeed, our country faces this fall.

It isn't healthcare, it isn't Iraq, it isn't the economy or gas prices, it isn't education or the environment or taxes or immigration or for that matter, any other thing we'd probably truly classify as an issue.

In reality, the biggest issue I see is that people might care about these or other issues, but they feel powerless to do anything about it, or they've stopped caring altogether due to the grinding and seemingly unjust nature of "the system".  Here in Merrimack, it's a lack of faith that we can ever achieve a fair and equitable turnpike system.

Before we solve any of the numerous problems our state and our country face, we first must address the the lack of faith, the lack of hope many of us feel towards the world beyond ourselves.

We must say to all people throughout our state and throughout our nation from all walks of life, from all ideological backgrounds, that they if work hard, and respect and do not harm others, they can have a chance to achieve whatever they dream, and we must say this not just with empty rhetoric, but with a tangible framework to facilitate their efforts rather than an all encompassing and strangling bureaucracy or an outsourced and soulless network that only helps a privileged few.

Because what we've lost as a nation and as a state doesn't belong to just one side of the political spectrum, it's larger than that. What we've lost is the hope of the American Dream, the unassailable belief that anything is within anyone's reach if they are just willing to grasp it, and we can reattain this if we choose to do so by working with each other rationally towards concrete solutions to the problems we face rather than engaging in endless dogmatic rancor like we have seen in the past.

I believe we can do this, but I am only human. At times I will falter, and I will ask you all to help me when I stumble towards this goal. And in return, if I am able, I will help you when you falter as well.

In the end, none of us can regain the hope we once had as a nation alone, but I am certain we will regain it if we keep on moving forward.

97 Days To Go: What Is The Most Important Issue To Voters This Year?

by: Andrew Sylvia

Wed Jul 30, 2008 at 22:46:36 PM EDT

This can be done pretty much anywhere in New Hampshire where there are people who are stationary and not engaging in a particular activity at that moment.

You can go to Market Square in Portsmouth, Railroad Square in Keene, Eagle Square in Concord. You can go to Mine Falls Park in Nashua, Victory Park in Manchester, or Androscoggin Wayside Park in Errol.

No matter where you go in New Hampshire, you're going to get the same results for the most part when it comes to the biggest issue on the minds of voters, and this goes for Merrimack too.

However, if you'd like to know what i've found in all those places, you'll have to read tomorrow's article! Until then my friends, it's 97 days and counting...

98 Days To Go: Signs and Rumors

by: Andrew Sylvia

Tue Jul 29, 2008 at 11:04:39 AM EDT

You ignore them, and they'll grow and possibly cause problems with those who can't feel bothered to verify what they hear before they accept it as truth. You take them too seriously, and then people will accept them as truth irregardless of their veracity. Either way, i've found that you can't let them rule your actions under any circumstances or it'll just drive you mad.

So, I was a little stunned a few weeks ago when I had heard I was breaking the law in regards to lawn signs.

Before 2004, RSA 664:17, New Hampshire's state law on lawn signs, said that you couldn't put them out before the last Friday in July. In 2004, that law was challenged in court, the court found that telling people that they couldn't put up signs before a certain date was unconstitutional, and then in 2006 the legislature passed HB 349, a bill that removed the the last Friday in July provision from RSA 664:17.

So now you can put up lawn signs at any time, provided they are on state owned rights of way or private property. Here in Merrimack, the zoning ordinance regarding signs on town owned rights of way isn't enforced, so it's a judgment call for the most part on where to put signs.

The rumor about me breaking this law that had been repealed a few years ago probably wasn't a big deal in the first place, but I figured it was a big enough of a deal to mention and clarify.

Not sure otherwise about the rumor though, so far i'm the only candidate in Merrimack  who has any signs up other than two candidates for Registrar of Deeds.

99 Days To Go: Education And Spaghetti Sauce

by: Andrew Sylvia

Mon Jul 28, 2008 at 12:33:06 PM EDT

She talked about two of her sons, one in private school, the other in public school. The one private school was older, she thought she would be able to put both of them in private school, but it turned out not to be the case, and she didn't want to separate the older child from his friends he had made and she could afford to send one of the two kids to private schools.

She wondered why the two children received such different educations despite going to schools only a few miles apart from each other. The private school child received much more emphasis on a core curriculum while the public school child in her eyes was not being challenged.

She also said the private school staff were being paid far less and received fewer extraneous assistance in teaching, yet the results she was seeing from the private school were greater than those she was getting from the public school child, who was getting far less homework.

I can't affirm or oppose her assertions in regards to the private school she mentioned, and while I was on the School Board Budget Committee last year, I have to admit that our job seemed to be one of oversight rather than real hands on fiscal policy in the school district, due in large part to the excellent job the School Board did before we convened shortly before the Deliberative Session in the spring.

However, when I was going over those budgets, it was difficult to discern what the value of each line item was, due in large part because there were so many.

This was part of why the woman I talked to wanted to see our town's school budget cut. "When I go to the supermarket, I see so many brands of pasta sauce now that I can't tell them apart, I get overwhelmed" she said. "So in the end, I just look for the price, and find the cheapest one."

I believe a government budget is no different than that woman's dilemma with the spaghetti sauce as well as how she viewed the educations of her two sons.

If the choices that need to be made within a budget are overwhelming and it isn't clear what value one would get from spending on a certain item, it's understandable that people would go into a default mode and make a decision on the clearest value you're going to see on just about any spreadsheet: price.

However, with her kids, she saw more than just price. She saw something that may well be intangible in terms of her childrens' education, but is never the less just as valuable as the money spent on it, if not more so.

It appeared that she agreed with my belief on budgets that any dogma of an extreme, whether it be cutting everything or spending indiscriminately without understanding of the cost, wasn't a particularly good idea.

We had a good discussion, and even though she didn't say specifically that she'd vote for me, she offered me a Fresca since it was a hot day, so i'm guessing i've gotten her vote.

And to top it off, I was actually aiming to talk to someone else in her house that wasn't home....

100 Articles in 100 Days From The Campaign Trail

by: Andrew Sylvia

Sun Jul 27, 2008 at 11:05:35 AM EDT

For us here in New Hampshire, we've already had a long journey towards this election due to our status with the First in the Nation Primary, but today is a milestone towards the beginning of the end.

For those of you who don't know me, my name is Andrew Sylvia. I am a candidate for State Representative in the district of Hillsborough 19, which consists of my hometown: Merrimack.

Over the next 100 days, I aim to write 100 articles about the stories I see on the campaign trail here at the bottom of the ticket. I will try to focus most of the stories here on Merrimack, particularly the stories of the average voter on the street.

I may write more than 100 articles, I may write less than 100 articles, I may write controversial statements, I may write stories you find dull, I may write partisan propaganda or post-partisan drivel, I may write about just about anything, but I will write and I will show you what I see because that is part of who I am, and who I will be if I am to be elected as a State Legislator.

There are only two things I can promise in these campaign journals.

Other than the only things I can normally promise, I will not use any names unless in praise of someone, if the person is already a public figure and it's necessary to advance the narrative, or i've been explicitly asked to by the person themselves.

I also won't share anything that people have asked me to keep confidential that isn't unethical.  I'm sure it will take alot up in Concord to build enough trust with other legislators to get the votes I'll need to pass the legislation my constituents will want, and it's hard to build trust when you're blabbing about what everyone else is saying and doing as I have found out the hard way.

I look forward to sharing this journey towards election day with all of you.

How Do You Stack Up Against The Current State Reps?

by: Andrew Sylvia

Fri Jun 27, 2008 at 17:54:24 PM EDT

There's also another sheet in this workbook that can show you which state reps you agreed with the most according to how you would have voted on each of the floor votes in the House this year.

You can download the spreadsheet here

Map of the NHDP Local Offices

by: Andrew Sylvia

Fri Jun 20, 2008 at 18:02:15 PM EDT

Here's the link

http://www.ezurl.com/yc

If you're frequenting one of the offices, please let me know and I can add you as a collaborator to the map!