When the Live Free Press’s July 7 article titled New Hampshire’s Municipal Lobby Trains Its Fire on Republican Bills came to my attention, my blood boiled at first sight. I thought of that old Janet Jackson song, What Have You Done For Me Lately? I also remember Kevin Avard complaining about them a few years ago when I said: “Can’t you just sponsor another Senate bill that hog-ties City Hall from (whatever budget, tax, spending, or property appraisal issue was at hand)?” He claimed they’re a force to be reckoned with, and apparently not much has changed, except that Brodie Deshaies now works for them rather than the people of Wolfeboro.
As for who works for whom, we all know that our elected officials are supposed to be working for us, the voters. What about lobbyists and lobbying firms? The simple answer is that they work for their customers, and you might remember something from the Underwood books about education. The one paying for the goods and services in question is the customer, and the beneficiary is the one receiving said goods and services. If Anytown USA is paying the NHMA, then the town (or city) is the customer, but you, the taxpayer, are paying Anytown USA.
The article says “every NH town (and presumably city, also) funds the NHMA out of local property taxes.” The word EVERY made me think there are no exceptions. Then again, lots of people like to use words like all, every, always, and never, which create opportunities to “poke holes” in the statement. John E Sununu, while addressing the debate attendees on June 24, said that all Republican executive councilors have endorsed him, though I still can’t find such a receipt from Councilor Wheeler, but I digress.
I wondered if dues-paying membership in the NHMA was something that just happens by default, and if selectmen, aldermen, or even enough private citizens(by petition) would explore the idea of canceling their community’s membership. While the NHMA and the NRPC are not the same entity, I thought about Rindge because that red town withdrew its membership from the latter.
Furthermore, Rindge has buttressed its autonomy by way of warrant articles, one of which requires going to the voters to accept federal money. I won’t get deep into the weeds of Rindge, but I’ve had conversations with their head selectman when he was a private citizen, and recognized that Rindge is a trailblazer. What about YOUR selectmen (or aldermen, if you’re in a city)?
It’s already common knowledge that Granite Staters are indirectly funding all kinds of things that are repugnant to our values, and much can be said about it in separate articles, but as for the NHMA, I reached out to Ms Virginia, my head selectman. In an email, I asked how much Epsom pays and if she was interested in sponsoring a warrant article to cut off its share of the funding. Unfortunately, her reply called attention to a few things that one should not ignore. Here’s what she said:
“No, I would not want to do that. The Town uses their services for free trainings, for assistance on research, and for legal advice rather than going to our attorney for small generic questions, we can contact them. Obviously if it is something pertinent to only Epsom, we have to seek legal counsel, but if it has to do with a right to know issues, or some other issue that is covered by RSA’s ….they can provide guidance to the appropriate law or policy.
We also take some of the other trainings that they provide at a reduced rate.
I think highly of the amount of resources that we get for our membership fee.”
I thanked her for her reply, and in a follow-up email, I learned that Epsom currently pays $ 4,725. As for Rindge, I’ve been told $6G. Assuming that membership dues are a function of population, I inquired of some locals about Merrimack (a big town) and Nashua (the 2nd-largest city). The answers given to me were $17G and $32G, respectively. Interestingly, the astute Nashua person who gave me their number made an important comment that added to the value of what Virginia had said. In a separate reply, he retitled the subject line to “NHMA is My Friend” and said the following:
“The enemy of my enemy is my friend.” The NHMA went knuckle-to-knuckle against the free-stater “republicans” the past two years regarding free-stater HOUSING MANIA and ZEROING ZONING bills. So now we get NHMA bashing like this.
The above statement definitely complicates things regarding my feelings about the NHMA. I don’t want to be funding tyranny against me as a taxpayer and someone who believes that the government’s purpose is to secure my rights. Then again, I wonder what their dollar value is in each community, considering the resources that Virginia mentioned and their lobbying for local control. Think of Nottingham and data centers. How much does that town pay the NHMA, and are they getting their money’s worth? My point is that each town and city, despite their unique amount of dues paid, will receive a different level of value in return, depending on how targeted it is by predatory developers.
Right now, the matter at hand is the primary for state and federal elections, but it’s not too soon to start thinking about town elections and warrant articles for later this winter. If you’re in a city, you have more time because elections are in November of odd-numbered years, and there are no warrant articles. However, you can start collecting petition signatures just like the mayor did in 2021 for the failed police commission-packing ballot question.
