GrokTV – Jane Cormier for NH House – Questions 9 & 10

Well, it has been a wee bit of time since the last post of our interview series with Jane Cormier (running for the NH House in Belknap 8 – Alton, Barnstead, and Gilmanton) as we spent half of last week / weekend in Washington DC at the Americans for Prosperity’s Defending the American Dream event.  Thus, time to ramp it up again and finish up.

Question 9: can the NH Budget be further trimmed? How much if yes?

Question 10: Right To Know – For or Against?

  

Also after the  jump, it turns out that Jane was also in DC for the AFP event (I did not know that she was going), so when she strolled by in Radio Row, I invited her to sit.

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GrokTV-AFPF Defending the American Dream – Pam Bondi, Attorney General for the State of Florida

AFP - Defending American Dream 2012This past weekend was the Americans for Prosperity’s Defending the American Dream Summit; a gathering of free market and Liberty and Freedom loving activists who came to go to workshops to sharpen their skills and to listen to an impressive list of well known (and loved) speakers.  GraniteGrok was invited to come  and spent the weekend on Radio Row where, obviously enough, radio talk hosts came in to do their shows remotely and to interview some of the speakers and notables that were at the event (we were the only blogsite allowed and the only ones doing live video of our interviewees!). So besides the first interview series (“What is your American Dream – and Obama’s?“), we had a fair number of folks.  Most notable was Pam Bondi, the Attorney General of Florida; I learned two things quickly:

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GrokTV – NH State Senator Andy Sanborn – Question 8

Accomplishments?

We always try to spend “a little time with GraniteGrok” and with Andy Sanborn (running for reelection to the NH Senate in District 9), we came to the realization that we had spent a lot more time than just a little.  So, we decided to end our interrogation interview with him with this last question.

Question 8:

What things have you accomplished since our first interview last cycle? Not get done?

We did all agree that we needed to come back and yak with Andy strictly on some issues rather than on the concentration on how the State does what it does – but it is nice to know that SOMEBODY has this in their head that not only do Legislators create laws for the rest of us but also how the “back of the house” (as Andy the restauranteur would put it) is doing as well.  After all, they ARE supposed to be serving us, the citizens.

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GrokTV-Jane Cormier for NH House-Questions 7 & 8

#7 Are Government and Society interchangeable terms?  #8 Should they be?

Continuing on with our questions for with Jane Cormier (running for the NH House in Belknap 8 – Alton, Barnstead, and Gilmanton), we wanted to know which should be the driving force in the land: Government or Society?  Are they two different entities?  If not, should they be looked upon as such?  Jane did answer the question but we split the answer into the Federal level and then at the State level:

  • Question 7: Proper Role of Government-Progressive conflate Govt & Society; Conservatives split them. Your outlook?
  • Question 8: Same as Q7, but bring it to down from the Federal level to the State of NH.

  

Govt vs Society: Difference?                               Ditto, for State level?

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GrokTV: Jane Cormier, Candidate for NH House – Questions 5 & 6

# 5: Where on the Political Spectrum are you? #6: Proper Role of Government – Your outlook?

Labels, while not always completely describing who what is in politics, can generally give others a good idea of where one stands on the issues.  For instance, Democrats generally spend more and are more liberal than Republicans, who trend to greater fiscal frugality and more conservative social issues.  However, there are exceptions to the rules (like Zell Miller, who was a Blue Dog Democrat for years, being more fiscally tighter than most of his Democrat contemporaries)

On the other side of the aisle, there are also Progressive / Big Government Republicans that vote more in line with Democrat philosophies and, in the case of some, use the “R” next to their name as a cover.  A GREAT example of this is current NH State Rep Peter Bolster who calls himself a Republican but his voting record screams “I AM REALLY A DEMOCRAT!!”  and has admitted to such to some.  (think I’m wrong?  Do a search just on GraniteGrok and review the times he shown up voting AGAINST the Republican Platform!)

Fortunately, Jane Cormier is running against this “RINO to the max” in the primary in Belknap District 8 (Alton, Barnstead, Gilmanton).

  • Question 5: Where are you on the Political Spectrum (from Jim DeMint on the Right and Carol Shea-Porter on the extreme Left)?
  • Question 6: Should politicians be held accountable to their Platform?

  

Political Spectrum?       Adherence to Party Philosophy / Platform?

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GrokTV: NH State Senator Andy Sanborn (District 9) – Question 7

Question #7:  Adversarial relationship between State agencies vs ordinary folks?

To fix a perceived problem (which Questions 5 & 6 brought up), you have to know all about the problem – or at least the biggest and most influential parts of the problem.  In discussing State Agencies, we wanted to know if there was a sense of “us vs them”, if State Agencies had drifted into a condition of reversing the proper role of government serving the people and morphing into one of “we will ensure that YOU follow OUR rules”.

Question 7:

Adversarial relationship between State agencies vs ordinary folks?

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Grok Special Interview: Jane Cormier,Candidate for NH House – Questions 3 & 4: Too many uninvolved people? What are your values?

Having gone over the preliminaries questions of “have you done this before” and ‘why are you running” with Jane Cormier (running for the NH House in Belknap 8 – Alton, Barnstead, and Gilmanton), from her answers came the next two questions (heh!  It is ALWAYS better to ask questions from what people themselves have already … Read more

GrokTV Special Interview-NH State Senator Andy Sanborn (District 9) – Question 4: Administrative based taxes: have all taxes, fees, and fines set by the Legislature?

Increasingly, we see NH State Agencies setting their own level of taxation (fees, fines, et al) outside of authorization of the Legislature.  It is the Executive Branch to self-fund and making itself independent of the taxation authority of the Legislature.  And of course, it goes without saying that while Legislators are accountable to the voters, … Read more

Grok Special Interview: Jane Cormier,Candidate for NH House-Question 1 – Why are you running? 2-Why is “where’re we going” dangerous?

A little while ago, we were directed to a video that was taken when the “Values Bus” rolled into NH (sponsored by the Heritage Foundation and the Family Research Council).  While I recognized Karen Testerman and Phyllis Woods in the video, the person that was behind the podium at the time was someone that I had never seen before.  As I listened to her, I realized a couple of things:

  • This person speaks well
  • This person knows her mind and what she believes
  • She’s a first time candidate – this could be a good thing!
  • My gosh – she’s a female version of Jack Kimball!

Why that comparison? Forceful, a take no prisoner style of speaking, and you’d be hard pressed to not understand what she is for.  So, we got in contact with her and did an interview with her.

  • Question 1: From the Values Bus talk, you seemed well at ease behind the podium and in front of the camera; where does that come from and how will that translate in answering the question of “Why are you running”?
  • Question 2: “A Change of Course”: Where did we start from and where are we heading to, and why is where we are going, dangerous?

  

Why Running?                                 Why is “where we are heading” dangerous?

Jane’s campaign website is here: Jane4NewHampshire.com

The “Value Bus” video is after the jump:

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We Tried Our Plan and it Worked….

Red meat, low hanging fruit, softballs?  Call it what you like but whomever is charged with working the mouth on the Obama-Muppet this month is either an idiot themsleves, thinks you are all idiots, or is so disconnected from the reality of America Today that they are dangerous. ‘You didn’t build that’ was a great … Read more

GrokTV Special Interview-NH State Senator Andy Sanborn (District 9) – Question 2: Where did the idea of using scooters for door-to-door campaigning; why not Segways?

I HAD to ask this question, based on his Presser showing the cute little scooters that he is using in meeting the folks (“residents tell me that I am the first politician to ever stand at their door step and introduce myself,”) in Bedford that is the new NH Senate District 9.  Why would he … Read more

GrokTV Special Interview-NH State Senator Andy Sanborn (District 9) – Question 1: With everything thrown your way, why are you running again?

The ‘Grok was welcomed to The Draft (Concord, NH) when we interviewed NH State Senator Andy Sanborn (owner) as to why he was running for “virtual” re-election in a newly constructed district (“virtual”, as his original district was drawn out of existence).  We had all kinds of questions but did not get the chance to … Read more

That’s right, Andy has some experience with taxes

As this post points out, the ‘Grok started an interview series with NH State Senator Andy Sanborn which stimulated the hidden parts of the memory banks that brought up that Andy had been captured in a YouTube talking about all of the ways that the State of NH taxed him.  Here’s the link to that … Read more

GrokTV Event-Rumney home event for Ovide Lamontagne (Candidate, NH Gov.) – Question 10 – Come to NH but vote like still in MA?

And the last question for Ovide Lamontagne who is running to be the Republican nominee for NH Governor, and the person who asked it was genuinely concerned that the traditional lifestyle and outlook of New Hampshire is changing due to folks moving into NH because of that attracton, but continue to vote as if they were still “back home”.

Question 10:

A lot of people moved across the border  and they came to NH because they wanted the NH way of life yet they still vote the way they did in Massachusetts

Previous:

  • Ovide’s talk
  • Question 1:  The Speaker has announced that he wants to cut an additional 2% out of the budget. what are your feelings on that?
  • Question 2:  Last year, the health insurance at the bank increased by 7%.  We just got new numbers for this year:14%. You know, last time we talked you wanted to join the fight against Obamacare and now the Supreme Court has come out with their ruling. What can you do for the State of NH against Obamacare at this point?
  • Question 3:  Do any tort reform in the State in order to help us?
  • Question 4: Competition in the medical industry.  I want to have a test done and I have to pay for it myself.  I start to call around and I find the best place for me to have it done is Concord Hospital. But in order to go to Concord Hospital, I have to hire a physician at Concord Hospital because my physician cannot send me to Concord Hospital. There’s a problem with that system!
  • Question 5:  Ovide, one of the issues going on at the Federal level right now is this arms treaty at the UN and everyone is predicting that that’s probably going to go through and what its going to end up being is gun control. How do we protect ourselves here in NH other than Jerry shooting everyone?  How do we protect ourselves from them coming in and taking our guns?

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GrokTV Special Interview – Rick Parent (Candidate, Congress (NHCD-1) – Question 9 – too big, too small, or just right?

The last question for Rick Parent is the same as a lot of folks get from the ‘Grok – a simple question which immediately give us a clue as to how they view the relationship of Government and sovereign citizens – The Bigger the Government, the smaller the citizen.  A bigger Government is a more intrusive, more expensive, and a more meddling one while purporting to be a more “caring” one by Progressives.  A smaller government means more individual freedom and liberty, but also requires more responsibility from citizens for their own lives and to those around them.  So, we ask it:

Question 9:

What are your governing principles with respect to: government too big, too small, or just right?

Previous:

  • Question 1:  Why are you one of the sponsors [of the Smart Girl Politics / NH First Annual Armed and Fabulous gun shoot]? What possessed you to say, in this hot and heavy political race, “I’m going to help sponsor a gun shoot”?
  • Question 2:  Why are you running for Congress in NH-CD1?
  • Question 3:  What are your top three things? What do you bring to the table, besides being a working man and not in politics, that Frank Guinta that Frank Guinta didn’t or has failed to do?
  • Question 4: You were talking about the debt resolutions, the continuing resolutions, that your opponent in the primary voted for and raised the debt ceiling. If you see a bill that is going to spend more than it did last year (outside of the military because it is one of primary Constitutional duties of the Federal Government), how would you vote?
  • Question 5: Does Congressman Rick Parent introduce bills to respond to these kinds of issues you’re talking about or defund them?

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Lakes Region Porcupines, Free State Project, Liberty, Freedom, and self – responsibility

A while ago, a now former NH State Representative Seth Cohn urged me to come to a meeting at the New Hong Kong restaurant to, as he said, “talk some politics with folks that are involved”.  Little did I know what I’d be getting into – and that was fine!  Many of the folks that attend are Free State Project “members” in that they came to NH because compared to other states, it had a low overall level of taxation and better yet, small government.  I have interviewed Dr. Jason Sorens before, so I knew the overall mindset – we tolerate a limited government, let it do a few things very well, and then leave us alone – we can be responsible for ourselves (the absolute antithesis of Democrats, who all but worship bigger government with the mindset, as we are seeing, that no one can be successful without out).

Sidenote: with that mindset, aren’t all Democrats then assuming that we are all LOSERS from the get-go? And boy, don’t the Dems go absolutely bat-crazy as more of the FSPers get involved in local and state politics – because the Dems just cannot understand that most of us don’t WANT the larger government they do.

Anyways, after this Saturday’s meeting, some of them went out to go clean the highway.  You often see those signs along the highways saying that such and such is doing the litter cleanup?  While some of them actually do the work themselves, most hire firms that specialize in doing just that.  The LR Porcs, on the other hand, believe in that self-responsibility and doing it themselves.  If one is going to be in Society, then one cannot outsource that responsibility.  So, out they went to show, in this small way, that they are not the anarchists that Ray Buckley (NH Dem Chair) claims they are and out to kill off government completely.  A very quickly done video:

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