Recently in Town Committee Meetings Category

The Laconia Republican Committee will be holding their regular meeting on Wednesday, March 10th at the Shang Hai restaurant on South Main Street in Laconia.

This months meeting will feature a meet and greet campaign event for Rich Ashooh, who is running for the 1st Congressional District Seat to send Carol Shea-Porter into retirement.

This event will start at 5 PM and last until the Belknap County Republican meeting starts at 6:30.

The county meeting will feature Rich and Jim Forsythe and George Hurt, the NH Senate District 4 candidates who are seeking to send Kathy Sgambati back to the private sector, if she can find a job in this economy.

I encourage everyone to take advantage of the opportunity to meet, listen to and ask questions of the three candidates that are working to represent us. The important issues we are facing include the massively expensive healthcare plan working its way through Washington, the economy and job creation; and the massive spending/debt situation going on right now. We also have state senators trying to control hospitals in this state with a potentially dangerous commission.

I feel that it is our responsibility to educate ourselves on all of the issues that affect us so we can make educated and informed decisions on who will best represent us and protect our freedom. Come join us to see what you can do to correct the direction our state and nation are heading in.

Please feel free to contact Greg Knytych, Chairman of the Laconia Republican Committee at 455-0114 or at greg@knytych.net if you have any questions.

Greg Knytych
Chairman
Laconia Republican Committee

5 Parsonage Drive
Laconia, NH 03246
Phone: 455=0114
E-mail: greg@knytych.net 

Date:        11/12/08 (Wednesday)

Time:       5:30pm   Buffet Dinner ($13)

                6:30pm   Meeting

Place:      Shanghai Restaurant
                331 South Main Street
                Laconia, NH
                (603) 524-4100
                (see map below)

Agenda:   

• No special speaker this month
• Want to be part of the State Committee?  We are looking for 18 candidates for the next meeting in December.
• Town committees planning for next 2 years.

Map of Shang-hai:
    (map)

The Gilford Town Republican Committee's next meeting will be Wednesday, August 27 at 6:30pm.  The location is at the Gilford Town Hall (lower level, lunch room).

Our special speaker will be Greg Knytych who is running to unseat Kathy Sgambati (D-Tilton) in NH's Senate District 4 that consists of Alton, Barnstead, Belmont, Gilford, Gilmanton, Laconia, New Durham, Strafford, and Tilton.  Any one from these towns (or any where!) are invited to attend to listen and ask questions.

If you have any question, please contact Skip Murphy for details.

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.”

At its monthly meeting, the GTRC voted to ask the Town of Gilford Selectmen, the Gilford School Board, and the Belknap County Commissioners to upgrade their websites to become even more open and transparent to their respective residents, taxpayers, and stakeholders.

The GTRC agreed with, and based its decision upon a plank in the NH Republican Party:

Promoting a limited government that is open, responsive and fully accountable to and in touch with its citizens without interfering in their personal, daily lives.

What can be more open than the local governmental entities providing all public information on the websites for which  local taxpayers have paid?

More can be seen at the Gilford Town Republican Committee website.

Last night was the latest meeting for the Gilford Town Republican Committee (new website can be seen here).  The special speaker was Fergus Cullen, Chair of the NH GOP.  His message was that while the Party in NH took a body blow during the last election, there are real reasons why we should be looking at an upswing.  In fact, he had 10 of them!  With a nod to David Letterman's Top Ten:

10) More than twice as many people voted in the recent Republican primary than did in the 2006 election.

9) The presidential campaign will be competitive. New Hampshire is an important swing state, and much attention will be paid to us. This will help set the stage for competitive races up and down the ballot. We will not see, as in '06, that same sort of "tidal wave" but instead more "equilibrium."

8) John E. Sununu's polling data and approval numbers are solid and improving. He has a 3 to 1 advantage in cash on hand over probable opponent Jeanne Shaheen.

7) The party has had candidate recruitment "coups" in all of the major positions

• Gov- Giunta (maybe); Keough (maybe); Sen Joe Kenny
• Cong- Jeb Bradley; John Stephen; Jim Steiner, Jen Horn, and maybe Sen Clegg.

6) Hodes approval: 35%; CSP approval: 33% (UNH survey)

5) The emerging Democrat scandal over the sale of the state voter files. Look for big news to come soon.

4) National issues are moving our way. With the success of the surge, the Iraq War is secondary. When people worry about the economy, the Republican message beats that of the Democrats.

3) State issues are moving our way. With the looming deficit, and Democrats in charge across the board, Republicans are positioned to benefit. They were right to criticize the 17-1/2% budget increase and were right on their call of using "overly rosy" budget projections. Lynch and his party are very vulnerable here.

2) 2008 is a "change" election. Given the current majorities and the governorship are Democratic, in NH, if people want "change" they'll vote GOP.

1) The Democrat Party has been taken over by the angry left wing. They have abandoned the center, proven by their record of "nanny-state" bills that most ordinary people find overly excessive.

(H/T: Doug, for taking better notes than I did)

For the webcam video of his talk, click here.