NH Races: May 2008 Archives

Tom Brown announces that he's going to do something about it - from the Sun (page 7):

LACONIA — A week before the filing period opens on June 4, Tom Brown has announced that he will enter the Republican primary for one of the city’s five seats in the New Hampshire House of Representatives.

Brown, 38, will be making his second bid for a spot on the general election ballot in November. In 2004, when less than 17-percent of voters cast ballots, Brown ran seventh in a field of ten in the GOP primary, just one vote behind the two candidates tied for sixth place and 29 votes shy of the fifth place finisher. The fi ve Republican nominees — Don Flanders, Jim Fitzgerald, Frank Tilton, Ralph Rosen and John Veazey — went to sweep all five seats in November. Two years later, Fitzgerald lost his bid for the state Senate and only two of the four incumbents — Flanders and Tilton — held their seats as Democrats Jane Wood, Judith Reever and Beth Arsenault claimed the tree remaining seats.

“I didn’t even think of running in 2006,” Brown said, explaining that he had just begun a new job with HRO Plus, a small entrepreneurial firm that outsources human resources — health insurance, workers’ compensation, payroll and software packages — to national corporations. By 2007, Brown returned to politics as chairman of the Laconia Republican Committee and a regular guest on “The Advocates,” the radio talk show hosted by conservative and activist Niel Young.

“This time I’ve been thinking about it for months,” Brown said of his decision to join the race. “I’m concerned that Republicans aren’t getting a fair shake,” he said. “President Bush is not the whole party. It doesn’t start and end with him. I can’t stand to see Republicans being framed into something we’re not.”

Calling himself a “freedom Republican,” Brown said “I don’t want to lose the New Hampshire way of life. New Hampshire is an idea, not simply a state.” For him, that idea is embodied in the notion of limited government marked by laws designed to maximize personal liberty and policies intended to limit public spending.

“When you write a law,” Brown remarked, “you should ask ‘will it infringe on our freedom?’ It’s better not to have a law at all than a law that’s poorly written.” He said that if he is sent to Concord, his top priority would be to explore state expenditures with an eye to reducing them and “rolling back some of the recent tax increases.” At the same time, he would seek to promote economic development by encouraging entrepreneurial enterprise and commercial investment.

Public service runs in Brown’s family. His greatgrandfather was a supreme court justice in Massachusetts and his grandfather, after serving as an ambulance driver in the First World War, was elected to New Hampshire House of Representatives.

“I’m in this to do something,” Brown declared, “not for something to do.”

John Stephen for Congress


Good afternoon.  It’s important to get the chance to speak here today because it is so critical that we get Republicans back to fighting for Republican principles, and we need to start now.  When Republicans act and vote like Democrats, we lose.  When we got away from the values that made us a majority party in Washington, the voters told us loud and clear that we no longer deserved to be in the majority. 

2006 was a humbling time for Republicans, but no one should have been surprised.  We didn’t lose the majority in Congress, we squandered it away.  With massive deficit spending, huge new programs and cumbersome regulations, our own representatives gave up the high ground on fiscal responsibility, limited government and personal freedom. 

Today, more Americans trust the Democrats on the economy than Republicans, and the Democrats have already told us they want to raise taxes in the middle of an economic downturn!  The voters are trying to send us a message- unfortunately, it’s not getting through to our party.

Just this week, a more than half of Republicans in the House in Congress voted in favor of a bloated, pork-filled farm bill that raises the cost of food for Americans and spent billions of taxpayer dollars to do it.  When are we going to learn the lessons of 2006?  Thankfully, Senators Judd Gregg and John Sununu voted against this disastrous bill.  They understand that Republicans need to stand for something.

We saw this Congressional seat change from Republican to Democrat because the incumbent forgot what made Republicans a majority by voting for massive federal spending every year and sponsoring legislation like Real ID and Medicare Part D, which already has a greater unfunded liability than Social Security.  Voters may not have been able to tell who the Republican was.

Now, when the top issue for most Americans is the cost of gasoline, you would be hard pressed to find a difference between Jeb Bradley and Carol Shea-Porter on energy.  Both consistently voted to stop new energy exploration here in the United States by banning drilling in Alaska, off our shores and in the Rockies.  I thought Republicans supported new energy exploration to keep costs down and to protect our national security.  At a time when gas costs $3.75 and gallon and diesel is $4.50, voters need to know that there is a difference on this critical issue, but there hasn’t been one in this district for the past six years.

As a party, we need to change.  If Republicans are going to become the majority party again, it will be because we regained the trust of the people that we will return the core values that brought us to power- low taxes, limited government, less regulation and more freedom.  These are the very reason I am running for the 1st District seat.

Acting like Democrats is what cost us control of Congress.  Acting like Republicans, and convincing the public that we are serious this time, is the only way we will win.  It’s time to get back to the message that made our party strong.  It’s time to send people to Washington who have a track record of supporting Republican values.  It’s time to win again.

I ask you for your support and your vote.  Thank you, God Bless you and God Bless America!

(Concord)  Republican Grant Bosse today chastised Congressman Paul Hodes for introducing a bill to prevent the Department of Defense from communicating the ongoing progress in the global war against Islamic Fascism. Hodes has introduced an amendment to the 2009 Defense Authorization Act that would stifle the ability of military leaders to communicate military success to the American people, and could even threaten efforts of military recruiters nationwide.

“Paul Hodes has bought into the liberal fantasy that any news of American progress is propaganda, and the retreat-and-defeat agenda of the New York Times is to be taken as truth,” said Bosse. “This latest attack on the American military shows just how extreme Hodes has become.”

While Hodes would limit the ability of the Department of Defense to communicate its message to the public, he has repeatedly abused taxpayer dollars to aid his re-election campaign. Hodes has habitually used the Congressional “franking privilege” to mail politically-targeted literature to New Hampshire voters. He is even using the Congressional Record for political purposes.

“Paul Hodes said the Surge was ‘too little, too late,’ and didn’t even bother listening to the testimony of General David Petraeus,” Bosse continued. “Now he wants to prevent the American public from hearing the news the New York Times does not see fit to print, while reserving his own ability to print propaganda at taxpayer expense.”

By KEVIN LANDRIGAN Staff Writer
klandrigan@nashuatelegraph.com

CONCORD – The two possible Republican candidates for governor signed a pledge that would cap state spending at the rate of inflation plus population growth.

Sen. Joseph Kenney, R-Wakefield, charged that Democratic legislative leaders and Gov. John Lynch are bent on spending the state into needing a broad-based sales or income tax.

"We are being backed into an income or sales tax by this spending," Kenney told reporters.

"They want an income tax; there is no doubt about that."

Leaders of the New Hampshire Advantage Coalition insisted the pledge is meant to dovetail with – not dilute – the vaunted pledge to veto a broad-based sales or income tax.The group is staging a drive to get a local spending-cap petition before the voters in several communities across the state, including Merrimack.

Manchester Mayor Frank Guinta said lawmakers "fleeced" taxpayers by increasing state spending by 17 percent in the two-year state budget that concludes June 30, 2009.

Asked to give an example of the excess, however, Guinta offered a proposed reform of the state retirement system that GOP gubernatorial candidate Kenney voted for earlier this month.

"That's an example of fleecing the taxpayers," Guinta said.

The Senate passed its retirement reform proposal (HB 1645), 24-0. Kenney said he voted yes only to get it to a negotiated settlement that he hopes will generate a better, final product for taxpayers.