News – Politics – Opinion – Podcasts
I recently re-watched the brilliant film Interstate 60. If you haven’t seen it, put it on your to-watch list. One of the characters, Bob Cody (played by Chris Cooper), is a former advertising man who got sick of lying all the time, and decided to spend the rest of his life promoting truth. Or more … Read more
Right Side Up is back for another episode, covering news and politics in your neck of the woods. This week, some national issues including one featured here on GraniteGrok. Speakers’ opinions are their own and may not represent those of Grok Media, LLC, GraniteGrok.com, its sponsors, readers, authors, or advertisers. Agree? Disagree? Submit Op-Eds to … Read more
Last week, Moody’s Ratings lowered the United States credit rating. Fitch Ratings and S&P Global Ratings had already lowered the US rating. This new downgrade was driven by Congress’s failure to make any efforts to reduce the almost 37 trillion dollars national debt. When Moody’s made its announcement, the House Budget Committee was scrambling to … Read more
The proposed reduction in the biennial taxpayer bailout of the University System of New Hampshire (for our purposes, UNH) has the donkeys up in a snit. I can’t see why. UNH makes notoriously poor spending decisions, too numerous to mention again (there are a few here if you scroll down). Suffice to say, there’s plenty … Read more
Concord, NH — The New Hampshire House Freedom Caucus today expressed serious concerns over the revenue estimates included in the proposed state budget, warning that they are overly optimistic given current economic uncertainties. The Caucus urged lawmakers to adopt a more conservative approach to safeguard taxpayers from potential shortfalls. In 2009, Democrats crafted a budget … Read more
Let’s start by taking a look at this video of last night’s Finance committee meeting in Nashua, skipping to 1h18min where the mayor stokes discord and vitriol in the chamber against the federal government for cutting some of its funding to the PD and FD, particularly special equipment that also benefits communities outside Nashua. There … Read more
As COVID-related funds dry up, either by sunsetting or someone in Washington closing the valve, the amount of stupidity on full display is astounding. It’s mostly among the enemy camp, both in the ruling class and their supporters. Though gratefully relocated far from the most troubled city in the state, I still pay attention to … Read more
As UNH faces heavy budget cuts, here are some areas it could easily trim (or even get rid of) and not only save money for UNH but save New Hampshire taxpayers millions. An added bonus from such cuts would be a decrease in State cover-ups of abuse of federal funds in cases relating to DCYF … Read more
George Caldwell – The Daily Signal When members of Congress return from recess this week, they will face challenges in their efforts to effect legislative change. The GOP is attempting to codify President Donald Trump’s ambitious agenda with narrow majorities in the House and Senate, all while a growing faction of Democrats is pushing for leadership to resist … Read more
Once again, on March 11, in Kensington and many small towns like ours in NH, just 1/3 of the voting population showed up to vote on essential items like budgets, spending, and taxes. In my last 37 years here in Kensington, citizens, young and old, rich and poor, have made unequaled Investments in education, yet … Read more
Stories drift in from around the state; some are happy, and others are not. What about? Tuesday, most New Hampshire towns had local elections: town and school board elections, budgets, and many warrant articles. Turnout is king and when it comes to local election turnout typically sucks. But not always. If you missed it Tuesday … Read more
What do the impending, across-the-board Trump administration and Congressional cuts to federal education, energy, and human services mean to Vermont? Ask this question to legislators and advocates in the State House and the response is like a Greek chorus chanting, ‘We don’t know, we don’t know, we don’t know.’ (Whether the play is a comedy … Read more
Today we began the day with a joint legislative session with the Senate to hear the Governor’s budget presentation. We learned that the Governor delivered to the House and Senate a budget that allocates more money to education and communities, contains no new tax increases, and focuses on the housing crisis and supports law enforcement. … Read more
Democrats in elected office tend to get bullied into doing what leadership wants, or they get primaried. Using New Hampshire as an example, it has long been the practice of House leadership on the Left to bully and intimidate members who won in more moderate districts to leap left or get the f out. For … Read more
Vermont voters screamed that affordability is the number one issue we want the legislature to address in 2025. While lawmakers have little control over what we pay for eggs and hamburger, what they do have control over – total control over at the state level — is what we pay in taxes, fees, and regulatory … Read more
Rand Paul was the featured guest speaker for the NRCC annual fundraiser, known as the Steak Out, on October 11. The cover charge included a copy of his new book, Deception, and attendees lined up to watch their copies get autographed in person after his keynote speech. Because I’m a slow reader and already had … Read more
This week saw a new twist in what has become a D.C. Christmas tradition. I am not referring to the lighting of the White House Christmas tree but to passage of a “continuing resolution” (CR) funding the government and thus avoiding a Christmastime government shutdown. It took the production of three separate CRs before one … Read more
Contracted legal fee agreements are approved by the Mayor and require no approval of the Board of Aldermen (BOA). The purchasing policy does not require the Finance Committee or Board of Aldermen to approve legal services above $25,000. The Mayor and Legal Office have unchecked control over the legal fee contracts and the terms and expenses associated with … Read more
Businesses not paying their fair share. Shrinking state revenues. A tax burden shifted from businesses to property tax payers. Those were the predictions critics have made since 2015, when New Hampshire legislators began a series of business tax cuts. Not only did those predictions fail to materialize, but the exact opposite happened. Since the rate … Read more
City of Nashua Budget FY2017 $263,823,554 City of Nashua Budget FY2025 $456,635,638 Difference $192,812,084 That is an increase of 73.08% This is all due to Mayor Donchess’ spending programs. So when are Nashua taxpayers going to wake up and realize taxpayers cannot afford to have Mayor Donchess doing our budgets? It looks like Mayor Donchess wants … Read more