"Simply, this "journalist" has decided that his is not to merely report the news but to shape it – and he hates to see Government spending cut."
IMHO, Mike Kitch is nothing but an ass who does his readers a HUGE disservice. News? Nay, propaganda! And extremely thinly veiled at that. Filed under "Journalism – not!" because once again, Mike Kitch shows in his Page 1 story in the Laconia Daily Sun that ANY attempt to slow a growth in Government spending must be stopped as pure sacrilege! Only one single mention of why this issue has arisen (a complaint that the budget is too high), and the rest of the story? Well, it seems he has no problem in distorting a story to make his point and carry out an agenda. You folks out there REALLY believe that Journalism is all about telling "just the facts"? Ha! Here’s what I put up on FaceBook:
So Mike Kitch, intrepid reporter for the Laconia Daily Sun, wants to start attacking TEA Party activists? Kitch is upset because your’s truly thinks that the Gilford School Board’s proposed budget is too high and wants to bring in a person who help write the NH Laws concerning Superintendents.
Hey Mike – your Progressivism is showing. Also can you do your interviews a bit louder with the former school board chair?
Why? An excerpt from Kitch’s page 1 / top of the fold story:
Tea party activist to give Gilford BudCom ‘expert’ advice on going without school super
GILFORD — The Budget Committee, which is considering eliminating funding for the position of school superintendent for at least a year, last night agreed to invite Jorge Mesa-Tejada of Hampstead, a Tea Party activist, to proffer advice on the state laws bearing on the structure of school administrative units (SAUs).
Notice the "Scare" quotes surrounding the word expert. Right in his headline, his goal is to discredit a man who has more experience at all of the areas of school budgeting, town budgeting, and had a hand in actually writing the RSAs concerning education process here in NH BEFORE talking about the story. Notice, too, that he decided to not lead the story with the fact that I made quite clear that Jorge was on the School Board for 8 years, alternating as Chair and Vice-Chair? Did he lead with the fact that he was on the Hampstead’s Budget Committee (as Chair) for five years?
Sidebar – heck, I made sure to list the above this past Thursday; you think Kitch could even write it down correctly? What does this say about his "journalistic" capability? Just this: "…describing him as a member of the budget committee and vice-chair of the school board in Hampstead…"
Did he mention that Jorge was on the State Dept. of Education subcommittee that wrote the report and then was the Chair of the subcommittee that actually wrote the law? No, only that he was "part" of the process. Gee, if he was part of the process, would that not have made him proficient in this field?
Only in further disparaging terms, by noting that this was done under the aegis of Ovide Lamontagne at the time – making the point that Ovide lost in his Senate bid – does Kitch "fill in the gap". He certainly took a slam, once again, at me via attacking Jorge Mesa-Tejada simply because I have had the temerity of holding him, a "journalist" to account. No, for Kitch, it’s not about simply reporting the happening at the meeting, it’s all about protecting Government and its programs. Protecting the taxpayers? Not so much.
And he goes on to state pretty much those that would preserve the spending and once again, tries to besmirch Jorge by noting, in a stealthily pejorative manner, is a director of CNHT (whose mission is to advocate for taxpayers when confronting situations when Government acts badly). And to no one’s surprise, he decides to color his upcoming talk to the Budget Committee by explaining that he appeared on my old radio show and has written for this blog in the past.
Simply, this "journalist" has decided that his is not to merely report the news but to shape it – and he hates to see Government spending cut.
In another FB posting (and have written the same here before):
Well, in his case, it’s both. He was VERY upset with me when I told him that he was bonkers when he said that since we did such a great job on our budget, we should send the surplus to folks that needed it – like California and Illinois. Seriously! He believes that I am just cold hearted and and a skinflint because I demanded that THOSE folks should manage their spending better and not to expect handouts from those of us that manage our affairs responsibly.
At the time, he was some angry that I "couldn’t see the light of helping people in need"; why would I punish people that needed the money simply because their politicians and bureaucrats had misspent their taxpayer monies badly? He just couldn’t believe it when I said "they elected them – their responsibility to bear the consequences".
And that is why, calling Jorge a TEA Party activist (one who advocates for a more accountable and smaller government that spends only within its means and follows Constitutional values) is about a bad a term as Kitch can hurl at someone from his Progressive perch.
Now for the back story that he DOESN’T tell you! After all knowing the story might actually make a difference!
Short version:
- Our Superintendent has announced his retirement.
- The cost to this town of 7,400 people, with <1,300 students, is $175K / year
- School Board want a budget raise about 3X that of inflation.
- We on the Budget Committee believe this is way too high.
The root cause is that in this tough economic time, the School Board wants 3.5% rise in their budget. I’m looking around at the landscape – we have 10% unemployment overall, the national economy sucks and won’t (IMHO) recover for quite some number of years, Feds have deficits that are astronomical and interest payments on our Federal debut will break the nation soon, and there will be no money coming from the State as it is now broke as well.
The Town’s budget came in flat, the Selectmen gave up their stipend, cut a couple of positions, gave up some projects, and brought in their budget just a hair under last years. Sure, it could have been less – but at least there was some "shared sacrifice" instead of taxpayers being the only ones taking the financial haircut.
The School Board’s budget? Not so much! We are a small town with < 1,300 kids in the school system (with a few hundred from our neighboring town that send their high school kids to us & pays tuition to do so). We have 3 schools. Period. And the enrollment is declining.
Thus, given that this part of Government wants to grow its budget more than what most average families are their incomes grow (inflation is what – 1-1.5% right now?), seeing how the RSAs are written, there is the opportunity to save some money, but only a small one. Why?
The dirty little secret in NH for towns that have what is known as SB2 type towns (where the townfolks vote with secret ballots rather than at the traditional town meetings with loud voices or raised hands), the Budget Committees (if they exist) can review and modify budget line items ONLY IF THEY ARE NOT CONTRACT RELATED. Most municipal budgets do not – most school budgets are. The NEA / NFT crowd (the teachers unions) have put the the vast majority of the cost of education strictly off limits from Budget Committee oversight due to contracts.
Sidebar: Frankly, I think that most School Boards are more staff / school system friendly than taxpayer friendly when it comes to expenditures. My suggestion to reopen the teacher contract, given the current environment, was not met well with those with whom I brought it up.
And I point out, that unlike the Selectmen that lead the Town side, the School Board members our right refused to go without their stipends.
Thus, because of the way that the School Board structures its expenses, there is little that the Budget Committee, whose State mandate is to protect taxpayer money, can do except around the far edges.
So with the Superintendent retiring, our job is to see "is there an alternative way to spend less of the taxpayer monies?" And that is what has brought this to the fore.
You think you’d get this from the Daily Sun? No, it would be distracting from the Statist narrative that Kitch embraces as a "journalist".
Video is being processed – you’ll be able to see for yourself!
