Over at NH Insider was the following press release from the NH GOP Chair, Fergus Cullen:
CONCORD – Fergus Cullen, Chairman of the New Hampshire Republican Party issued the following statement today:
“The wallets of Granite State residents are getting killed at the pump these days, but Barack Obama doesn’t seem to mind. Even though he voted in favor of a similar gas tax holiday when he served in the Illinois state Senate, he’d rather see New Hampshire drivers leave more of their hard-earned paycheck at the pump this summer than live free from the federal gas tax. I guess you could say he was for a gas tax holiday before he was against it.”
and then it goes on to list Obama’s flips when he was an Illinois senator and flops now as a US Senator / Presidential candidate. One does wonder, why WOULDN’T Obama not be thinking "why NOT give citizens a break from taxes?" especially as gas prices are spiking (note: and a real reason is the federal regulations that mandate regional gas blends that make pricing worse).
That’s his job as NH Republican Chair – get Republicans elected. Often, this means pointing out weaknesses of the opponents. Problem is, Fergus has his own problem here within NH as he is going about doing his job; members within his own party are making it harder for him to do so.
Frankly, it makes no sense at all for Fergus to go after Obama for not lowering gas taxes when a member of his own party is advocating for raising the state gas tax here in NH (as Doug discovered):
Enter Rep. Fred King (R-Colebrook), who has filed a bill to raise the tax by 6 cents a gallon. The increase would raise an estimated $50 million for maintenance of the other 4,800 miles of roads not dotted with toll booths.[snip]
Gov. John Lynch, who said the need is urgent on the turnpikes, doesn’t want to talk about gas taxes. So Democrats who control the Legislature won’t cross Lynch by bringing in a bill..King said he checked with Bouchard first and found no one would touch the issue. "Nobody had the guts to do it, so I’m doing it," King said..He said he wants the extra money to go toward maintenance and repairs, not new projects. "If we’re going to have highways, we’ve got to have some money to spend on them," he said..Asked if he thought Lynch would sign a gas tax bill, he said, "I think the governor made this an issue when he ran against Jim Coburn and now he’s stuck with it."That’s his problem, not mine," King continued. "I didn’t take a tax pledge."
Won’t somebody please primary this RINO out of office? Are the Republicans really about to be the ones seen as introducing a gas tax increase here in NH? Can they be so stupid? Don’t they have eyes to see the types of waste as described above? Is the only option we have to raise taxes on the hapless ordinary people struggling to pay all the other obligations in their lives?
This is just a repeat of the toll tax increase: Fergus catigated Gov. Lynch for raising the highway toll tax and once again, Doug pointed out that the two Republican Executive Councilors that could have stopped the increase, didn’t
So, what’s the moral of the story here? Oh, this is going to get me into such hot water – but only with some.
The NH Republicans have got to get their house in order and right now, it doesn’t seem to be happening at a quick enough pace. It comes down to the following:
- There has to be a message from the Republicans to the general public other then "we’re better than the Democrats".
- It has to be a message that all Republicans are going to buy into
- Once bought into, it has to be put into action
- And then once in play, Republicans have to be kept accountable. Period.
Impossible? I don’t believe so! After all – we have a platform, right? In it are some very good ideas that should be acceptable that should not be crossed:
- Limited Government
- Promoting traditional family values
- Lower Spending
- Enhancing individual freedom
- Promoting free markets
Small number of categories – large area to cover. But it all comes down to a single word – Accountability. If the Party is not willing to use that word, to hold adults that profess to be Republicans, the "brand" (as our friend Jon Henke is wont to say) is not worth the electrons used for the effort.
After all, you cannot stand up and say that represent something when others run around and act contrary to that purpose.
It’ll make Fergus’s job a lot harder….and it’ll give the Dems the ability to pick up the thrown rock and throw it back at him.
