MTNP radio. Unleashing the [watch]dogs of war...
Starting Saturday morning at 9 am!
As usual, this week's broadcast version of GraniteGrok and AnkleBitingPundits brings an array of items and guests for your consideration-- ALL STARTING AT 9AM! As always, thanks to the technical wizardry and analytical skills of Skip, if you are beyond the broadcast area of Newstalk 1490 WEMJ, simply click here for instructions on how to connect and listen on the Internet via livestream. (Podcasts here)
Things have been heating up on all fronts at the state level with the ongoing budget work and the dispensing of federal "stimulus" dollars. Our friend Grant Bosse, AKA the NH Watchdog, and the lead investigator for the Josiah Bartlett Center, figured there's so much to discuss, he might as well join us in the studio for the full two hours.
Socialism: 75% of earnings to the government. Are you down with that? Are we too stupid and weak to make it without government?
We'll discuss the results of Town Meeting votes throughout the state and what message voters sent. Spending caps passed in five of six towns with it on the ballot, and spending measures, including a police department project right here in the 'Grok hometown, were defeated, despite last minute promises of "stimulus" money.
- This week, Grant released a new study for the JBC outlining how a legislative proposal to end revenue sharing would impact local property tax rates. Berlin taxpayers would face an increase of $3.16 per thousand in their tax rate unless state revenues were replaced by other sources. A dozen New Hampshire communities would face increases of over a $1.00 per thousand. The Bartlett Center relied on revenue data from the New Hampshire Municipal Association and local property values from the state Department of Revenue Administration in calculating the local tax impact across New Hampshire. Governor John Lynch proposed suspending the state's two largest revenue sharing formulas in his February Budget Address, cutting $160 million that would otherwise go to cities and towns. Lynch has since backed away from suspending one revenue stream, while continue to support suspending the other. Both sources of local revenue would be suspending under House Bill 2, know pending before the House Finance Committee. Says Grant Bosse:
"New Hampshire towns voted on their annual budgets [this week], but their tax rate might go even higher if the Legislature ends revenue sharing, Lawmakers would be forcing local taxpayers to bear the burden of their budget problem."
NHDOT Commissioner George Campbell and Josiah Bartlett Center President Charlie Arlinghaus are engaged in a pitched battle of words over highway fund transfers and the question of shifting dollars contrary to the laws of our state. Grant will explain. My reaction is how crazy does one need be to try to take on Charlie Arlinghaus?
- Kevin H. Smith is the Executive Director of Cornerstone Policy Research, a NH-based, non-partisan, non-profit 501(c)3 research and education organization dedicated to the preservation of strong families, limited government and free markets. As a designated Family Policy Council, Cornerstone conducts policy analysis, promotes responsible and informed citizenship, facilitates strategic leadership involvement, and influences public opinion.
In an email this week, CPR asked,
Is the CO 'Bathroom Bill' Coming to NH? If the liberals in Concord have their way it will! It is very clear now that some of our legislators are using the current economic crisis to quietly pass through the most radical far-left legislation New Hampshire has ever seen: enter House Bill 415, the 'Bathroom Bill'.
HB 415, similar to legislation passed in Colorado in 2008 which has since become known there as the 'Bathroom Bill', is a veiled attempt to allow for previously unthinkable acts, all under the guise of anti-discrimination and "gender expression". So why did it become known as the 'Bathroom Bill'? Previously, "establishments open to the public were allowed to restrict certain restrooms and locker rooms to one sex if it made sense to do so, as it almost always does. But under the new law, CO no longer has two "sexes"; they entered a brave new world with a myriad of "sexual orientations" that must not be discriminated against, upon pain of the substantial civil and criminal penalties contained in the bill."
Kevin will discuss the status of this bill in Concord, along with HB 436, the so-called "genderless marriage" bill. Yikes! And you thought lawmakers were busy trying to "fix" the economy!
And of course,
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