News – Politics – Opinion – Podcasts
Julie Smith 
Most people might already know that anyone who is eligible to serve in the office being sought can avoid having to become a Republican or Democrat just for the sake of having ballot access in November. Such candidates declare their intent to Secretary of State Scanlan’s office during filing time. While ordinary candidates are working … Read more
Roofer and former federal candidate Victor Orlando might have disappeared into irrelevancy after Scanlan certified the primary results last month, or he might not have, depending on whose perspective you consult. Let’s just say that Victor’s recent $55G roof job on the Coos Catalyst Center was indeed a CATALYST for bringing attention to the captain … Read more
Last night, username GASTON called attention to a WMUR story about Granite Staters suddenly being harassed by the registry for unpaid out-of-state tickets that were issued decades ago. If a prosecutor or plaintiff can’t unleash litigation over crimes and grievances that long ago, why should the registry get to? I wanted answers, and the WMUR … Read more
A WMUR headline story ran yesterday afternoon about the closure of the Queen City Bridge (QCB) in Manchester. Readers with no ties to Manchester might not care about the QCB because it’s “out of sight, out of mind,” so to speak, but I’ll explain why everyone should pay attention. No sound-minded person would want a … Read more
While the media circus and social media were abuzz with comments of all varieties following the resignation of Gordon MacDonald and the scandal surrounding it, Luz Bay didn’t waste any time. She became the first nonincumbent executive council candidate to air her opinion. She said the following: “Executive Councilors are elected to provide independent oversight … Read more
Have you ever attended a committee hearing with a large turnout? Whether or not the committee chair is a pleasant one, it’s common to hear the chair saying words like, “if someone else has already said your talking point, we don’t need to hear it again; please save all of us some time,” as people … Read more
When an untrained reader sees the words “Tuna Tuesday,” s/he might be thinking of standing menu items, like Friday Fish, Saturday Beans & Franks, or Wednesday Prince Spaghetti Day. That’s ok, but some background is in order, especially for readers who are not “cat people,” but first, congratulations to future “Rep. Mr. Carson” for being … Read more
The Singing Mailman, who just happens to be MY mailman, regularly leaves his business card with the latest schedule of upcoming tour dates. I’ve kept the newest one behind a refrigerator magnet for the past several days while I’ve waited for details to be added to his events page. As seen on the business card, … Read more
2024 wasn’t that long ago, but there might be new readers and people new to NH among us, so here’s my old article following that primary and a quick recap. Lily won her primary; Vikram made the phone call in a minimalist manner, or should I say “with minimal manners?” Think of Jennifer Aniston wearing … Read more
Seeing that I didn’t have a campaign home page, this article serves as my thank-you note to everyone who voted for me and/or supported my candidacy. I hope these words make it to all Howard Pearl critics who are being misrepresented by him in the upper chamber. My race was not completely in vain, as … Read more
Saturday was a great day for NH because it’s the day Annie Kuster became ineligible to be a judge. You might be thinking, “So what, she’s been a private citizen for almost 2 years, and everyone eventually turns 70, assuming that they live that long.” Annie was an adoption lawyer, and family court is in … Read more
Ever since Beth Scaer showed me the enemy camp’s calendar of events page, I’ve been lurking from time to time and thought a certain canine event had already passed, but it’s next Thursday. The Merrimack Dems, who recently held a rock painting party, are hosting Dogs for Democracy in Watson Park, which is not far … Read more
Walking back to my car from the state house, a silly thought occurred to me as I walked toward the library. A Concord local in a chat group made a comment some time ago about two public figures being “besties” in high school. “Why not,” I thought. I was curious to see what these two … Read more
A few days ago, Ms. Melanie Levesque was Mr. Marchand’s guest on his podcast, presumably because of her candidacy as Councilor Wheeler’s opponent. I tuned in because The Art of War tells us to know your enemy, and any member of the enemy camp (the Dems) is our shared enemy. It was 53 minutes of … Read more
Most people are familiar with those ads for ambulance chasers, like attorneys James Sokolove, Dane Schulman, and Barry Feinstein, in which the small print usually says “affiliates in NH & other states outside Mass.” Attorney Bolton, though not an ambulance chaser, is best known as Nashua’s “corporation counsel” and the bane of the L-Team’s existence. … Read more
I’m not going to pester Attorney Lehmann and the acting Senate clerk with an RTK request for all people with admin access to the FB page known as “NH Senate Republicans,” nor will I discourage anyone else from doing so if they so desire. For the sake of this article, when I say “NH Senate … Read more
Not everyone had time to watch hours of Veto Day livestreaming or archived videos of our legislature, so it’s important for NH dot gov’s webmaster(s) to make records available to the public in a timely, user-friendly way. Good job, House staff members! Once the whole body steamrolled Her Excellency with a 314-7 roll call in … Read more
I fired up (no pun intended) the computer this morning to be met with horrible WMUR headlines. Beanie’s is on fire. Think of when you (and everyone you know) learned that Notre Dame was on fire. Not only is Beanie’s a Loudon community pillar, but they deserve everyone’s support, whether we’re Loudon locals or not. … Read more
Are you familiar with Thorstein Veblen? I guess some background is in order because a family member made a casual reference to him several years ago, and I had never heard of him. He said Veblen was known for his 1899 book titled The Theory of the Leisure Class. The genesis of the conversation was … Read more
I will start by saying some kind words about a former FB friend, Comrade Ellen McDowell Ruggles. She’s a friendly older woman that I’ve crossed paths with in social circles of mutual interest, particularly hiking and paddling. Sadly, I found it in my best interest to cut ties with most of my fellow paddlers and … Read more