Statement from Mike Hamilton, executive Director, New Hampshire Republican Party:
BEDFORD – The Republican State Committee today elected former Governor John H. Sununu as Chairman of the State Republican Party. They also re-elected Wayne McDonald as Vice Chairman of the Party.
A very unified Republican Party gathered at the high school in Bedford, New Hampshire to lay the groundwork for the 2009/2010 election cycle. Speeches by a handful of Republican mayors, including the Honorable Donalee Lozeau of Nashua, Frank Guinta of Manchester and Ken Merrifield of Franklin emphasized the serious fiscal crisis the state faces. The mayors however made it clear that these problems were severe even before the financial collapse of the last few months.
They were very clear in their concern that the democratically controlled state legislature and Democrat Governor Lynch had been irresponsible in their priorities and excess spending in the last budget cycle.
Also in attendance, Executive Councilor Raymond Weiczorek emphasized that “…a clear and defined message from our party” would be the key to Republican success in 2010. Councilor Weiczorek accepted the Mel Thompson award for adhering to ‘Principles over Politics’.
In his remarks to the over 600 delegates that had gathered Gov. Sununu pulled no punches in making it clear that the “…Democrats were ruining the State of NH”. He too emphasized that although the Democratic Governor ran with fiscally responsible rhetoric, the Democratic leadership of the NH House and Senate produced a budget that was bloated with a 17.5% increase in spending and that the governor could not or would not insist that the legislature act more responsibly.
In addition to his comments on the huge state budget deficit, Governor Sununu pointed out that the NH education funding crisis remains unresolved, that evaluations of the quality of NH State Services now give us the lowest ranking in the nation, and he expressed a special concern over the billion dollar plus shortfall and mismanagement of the state public employees retirement fund.
The delegates at the convention were unanimous in expressing the need for commitment and hard work in the coming election cycle and they vowed not to let the Democrats outspend them 3 to 1 the next time around.
