Gov. Hassan and the Democrats Are Trying to Save Face. - Granite Grok

Gov. Hassan and the Democrats Are Trying to Save Face.

Just one month ago, the New Hampshire Democratic Party called the Senate version of the state budget “reckless” because it was based on a “Tea Party ideology;” namely, that state spending should not exceed conservative revenue estimates and that taxes and fees should not be increased at a time when the economy is just starting to show signs of life.

Two weeks later when the barely altered budget agreement won the approval of both bodies of the Legislature, Gov. Maggie Hassan, the Democrats’ top elected state official, called the result a “fiscally responsible balanced budget” that “will encourage innovation and help create jobs.” Now that the budget has passed, we can assure you that she’s right on these points. Yet, we can also affirm that Gov. Hassan and her Democratic colleagues had very little to do with this budget.


To be clear: the Republican budget that passed this year keeps state spending within conservative revenue estimates and does not increase taxes or fees. It is essentially the same budget the Republican Senate passed two weeks earlier. It is also a budget that continues the legacy of the O’Brien Legislature, which cut spending by roughly $1 billion and set the course for fiscal responsibility for years to come.

Because the Republican Senate stood its ground and resisted change to its budget plan, the current budget is a clear victory for conservative principles in state government and a nod to the O’Brien Legislature. Gov. Hassan and the Democrats, whose tax and spending plans were blocked outright, are now simply trying to save face.

With Democrats apparent political doublespeak, they’re hoping you don’t notice. Republicans know you’re smarter than that. Incidentally, our faith in the people is why we trust individuals to handle their own money and know they’ll do a much better job putting it to use than the state ever could. This principle seems to have proven itself within the last two years following the budget passed by the O’Brien Legislature.

Because the last Legislature’s tax and spending cuts actually resulted in more revenue for the state, the current budget writers were able to increase spending this year without increasing taxes or fees. Some of that increase was devoted to helping county governments cover the cost of our less fortunate neighbors’ long-term care. Resultantly, this Senate plan will also relieve the pressure on your county taxes.

The Senate budget also funds existing and additional charter schools, provides more adequate education aid to cities and towns and it preserves the O’Brien Legislature’s school choice tax credit, which will help less fortunate students attend the school of their choice. These Republican ideas will create alternatives to traditional public schools, without shortchanging them, which will encourage necessary competition in the education marketplace. Such competition will drive the quality of education while reducing the overall cost to parents and their neighbors.

To the Democrats’ great disappointment, four of the O’Brien Legislature’s delayed business tax reductions will take effect. There will be no increase in the gas or cigarette tax, no expansion of the failing Medicaid system, and no increase in the marriage license fee or the salt water fishing license fee.

The Republican budget also decreases the bloated bureaucratic burden on families and small businesses, with personnel reductions of $7 million in the out-of-control Health and Human Services Department, $25 million in other executive departments and $10 million of reductions in the general government. At the same time, state employees conducting essential services will receive $37 million in cost-of-living adjustments, which ensures happier public servants working in a more effective and affordable citizen government.

An effective and affordable government was certainly the message of the Tea Party, so Democratic Party officials got that one right. The fact that these principles are “fiscally responsible” and “will encourage innovation and help create jobs” is also indisputable, so Gov. Hassan got that right, too.

However, don’t let these Democrats fool you about who is responsible for the state’s current direction. Had Democrats failed to reach a budget agreement with Senate Republicans, the O’Brien budget would have continued without change as the default, and that was a reality the Democrats simply couldn’t face. Their surrender to the Republican Senate this year was nothing other than a political maneuver to claim credit for a conservative budget plan that is already working to restore the state’s prosperity and help all of our working families.

Bill O’Brien and the “Tea Party” Legislature he led set the state along this course, and the Republican Senate held the ground that the last Legislature gained with a fiscally responsible budget this year. We know the state will continue to flourish as a result. But as the summer passes and the election year begins, the Republican Senate will have to remain vigilant to prevent the predictable back-door attempts of Democrats to reverse course. With the honorable courage Senate Republicans showed this year, we know they have it in them.

>