Swimming away in the Merrimack following the deed?
Most of you reading this have undoubtedly come to terms with the commonplace liberal bias of most of the bigger media organs. Fortunately in today’s world, there are now many choices and options available to simply bypass most of it and instead seek out the actual truth– i.e. blogs, etc. Generally, the response to the bias is to put forth the truth in another form and outlet and just ignore the slanted "journalism" altogether. As time moves forward, more and more people are gravitating away from those formerly holding a lock on mass communication, thus hastening their ultimate demise.
I’m not sure if the Hippo Press— a once-a-week Manchester paper– qualifies as ever having held any real impact, or if they are in fact considered part of the new wave of media (although with no letters provision or capability to post reader comments, it’s doubtful)– but it doesn’t really matter, because the old-style bias pattern is quite evident. The "hipsters" at the Hippo, based on a cursory read over the various editorials, are nothing more than yesterday’s big government cheerleaders slightly repackaged. I have no problem with this, as it is a free country and those that own the paper have a right to say whatever they want, just like we do here at the ‘Grok. What I do take offense from, however, is when in-depth reporting presented as news/fact reflects this same bias– and includes blatant untruths. Such is the case with the cover story of this week’s Hippo about the state of NH’s so-called anti-income tax pledge.
The piece in question is entitled "Is The Pledge starting to crumble? New Hampshire might just be ready to consider a different income tax". It is without a doubt one of the most stunningly one-sided pieces of reporting I have read in quite some time. While purporting to have delved into great detail on the question of the silly "anti-taxpayer pledge" question that appeared on some 88 annual town warrants here in the Granite State courtesy of the Granite State Fair Tax Coalition (GSFTC)– a front organization seeking to destroy the NH Advantage through broad-based taxes– the story in fact does nothing more than regurgitate the proponents’ talking points. I should know– I appeared on Arnie Arnesen’s Political Chowder TV show with the executive director of the GSFTC, Paul Henle, and heard it all first hand, pie chart and all. What is in the Hippo piece is pretty much what Paul had to say on the program.
As I stated at the top of the post, I would normally not get all that uptight about what gets printed in some left-leaning rag that I would never read anyway, so you might be wondering why I’m even writing about this at all. And actually, some of you are probably wondering why I even wasted more than a nanosecond looking at the Hippo anyway– as CNHT’s Jane Aitken said in an email, "It’s the Hippo- what did you expect?" Well, when somebody takes a shot at me or mine, I take notice. Buried within the lopsided propaganda piece was this:
In March, when the issues of taxes, spending and funding local government were at the forefront of most towns’ agendas, Henle placed the issue of local taxation on the table in about a quarter of the communities in the state through a special warrant article. The article asked if the voters wanted their elected officials in Concord to renounce The Pledge and work to get away from using property taxes to earn revenue.
To the members of Granite State Fair Tax Coalition, the problem begins and ends with an over-reliance on a property tax. The Pledge, they say, is simply a crutch used by Concord to keep the property tax in place and not bother to look for another way.
No problem, right? A simple recounting of the steps used by the GSFTC and the premise they are using to guide what they are trying to do. Unfortunately, the reporter followed those words with these:
Opponents generally blew off the article. The New Hampshire Republican State Committee said that town meeting wasn’t the proper place to debate state policy.
GraniteGrok, an influential conservative activist blog, simply threw up a repost from the Coalition of the New Hampshire Taxpayers attacking the coalition itself, and left it at that.
Huh?! Perhaps a reporter not doing his homework simply did a single Google search and left it at that. Had the reporter clicked on GraniteGrok’s "taxes" category, he would have discovered that there were no less than four posts here at GraniteGrok with a fifth at our "baby" blog, GilfordGrok. If the reporter had taken the time to read the posts, he would have discovered that while some certainly contained pertinent quotes from other sources, and yes, one was reprinted (with permission), there was much information and links contained to help a person become informed, and at the same time back up our claims. That’s what blogging is all about. But alas, the reporter is apparently clueless about how it all works, and how to follow links. But then again, this is the Hippo we’re talking about, and most likely they weren’t interested in an opposing point of view anyway.
In addition to the various pieces here on the ‘Grok, we also dedicated slots on the radio program several times about the topic, and Skip, myself, and several others spoke at town meeting in opposition.
Maybe everyone else statewide was asleep while this took place, but NOT us!
Don’t get me wrong– we appreciate the Hippo’s noting our influence, but it would have been nice had they got the facts right instead of simply mentioning us to bash us. Something else that people should remember is that unlike Henle and his comrades, we have NO donors with deep pockets hiding in the shadows funding us. What you see is what you get– two working stiffs who’s hobby is blogging and politics. There are no Mark Fernalds and similar ilk using us as frontmen in order to hide the truth.
As to the actual question of the present system used to fund the Granite State’s government versus some new one, for the sake of engaging the Hippo, I’m not going to spend time rewriting what has already been said (rather you can go back and read the previous postings here here here here and here). I would only add a headline and opening sentence from an article on the business page of the April 5th NH Union Leader (unlike the Hippo, a reputable news source)that sums it all up:
NH in better shape than most states
Manchester– New Hampshire’s economic situation, although weaker than it once was, remains stronger than the economies of other states, Gov. John Lynch has said.
Hmm. I wonder why? Because we’re better, more productive workers? Because of our state’s natural beauty? Because we have better politicians? I doubt it. What is the one thing that comes to mind that makes New Hampshire different than all the rest?
Yep– our tax structure! Too bad the propagandists at the Hippo and their pals at the Granite State Fair Tax Coalition are too blinded by their desire to grow government to see the golden goose that sits right before their very eyes!
After all, the problem is not how we are taxed. It’s the spending, as it always is…
