Articles tagged as

Budgets

GrokTALK! Legislative Round Up

Max walks us through some legislation, including Poker, a bill to control abuses by child and family services, who voted for a 2.25% state sales tax, the Judiciary committee bailing on oversight over the judicial system, a tax on marriage to fund a domestic violence program, and the rhetoric on cutting expansions to the budget, … Read more

Tossing the Elderly Under the Bus

We are reaping the “benefits” of expanding Medicaid as “unexpected” cost overruns just a few months in require $58 Million in cuts to the Health and Human Services Budget. The Democrat governor is cutting funding to nursing homes and mental health patients and the Democrat party is calling these cuts ‘Responsible.’  

Gov. Hassan and the Democrats Are Trying to Save Face.

Just one month ago, the New Hampshire Democratic Party called the Senate version of the state budget “reckless” because it was based on a “Tea Party ideology;” namely, that state spending should not exceed conservative revenue estimates and that taxes and fees should not be increased at a time when the economy is just starting to show signs of life.

Two weeks later when the barely altered budget agreement won the approval of both bodies of the Legislature, Gov. Maggie Hassan, the Democrats’ top elected state official, called the result a “fiscally responsible balanced budget” that “will encourage innovation and help create jobs.” Now that the budget has passed, we can assure you that she’s right on these points. Yet, we can also affirm that Gov. Hassan and her Democratic colleagues had very little to do with this budget.

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“What To Cut”

Citizens for a Strong New Hampshire, a coalition of Granite Staters who support public policies that create jobs, limit government, lower taxes, and improve the economy, has released its first television advertisement, which will begin airing today. Titled “What to Cut,” the advertisement focuses on Senator Jeanne Shaheen’s deciding vote to pass Obamacare and the … Read more

Hassan-a-Saurous Bugetus Excalmitous Ignoramus Overexaggeratus

Chess Move

Grant Bosse has a great piece over at NH Watchdog that addresses the hyperbole of New Hampshire Governor Maggie Hassan on the state budget and its priorities.  Hassan has decided to ignore the striking similarities between her budget, the House version, and the Senate version, and has instead chosen to release her talking points to the professional left so they will be equipped to shout down anyone who dares point out the obvious.

Quoting Grant…

My colleague Joshua-Elliott Traficante at the Josiah Bartlett Center finds that the governor’s budget, the House budget, and the budget up for debate by the full Senate this week have nearly identical priorities for the critical areas that Hassan claims are at risk.

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GrokTALK! June 1st Guest Segment – JR Hoell

JR Hoell, New Hampshire Republican House rep,  stops by to talk about education, Charter Schools, the New Hampshire budget, Unions, and how we need need to help people understand when government policy is hurting them and their children. Listen Here Download this segment here You can get links to other segments or listen to the … Read more

New Hampshire State Senate Nixes Medicaid Expansion in Budget

By a vote of 4 – 2 Senate budget writes have ‘Just said No’ to the proposed Medicaid expansion option tied to the “Eliminate Any Hope Of Affordable Care Act,” frequently misrepresented as the ‘Affordable Care Act,’ or ObamaCare.  Speaking for the majority, State Senate Majority Leader Peter Bragdon, who happens to be State Senator, said something incredibly intelligent.

“I’m not a big fan of spending a whole lot of money on something that seems to me to have some doubts as to whether or not it is effective.”

To which I would add, “Oh, Yeah- so why do we still have RGGI?”

Cheap shot.  Sorry.

Well he happens to be right in this case.  And don’t be fooled by the fools like Senator D’Allesanrdo who say things like this…

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May 11th GrokTALK! Guest Segment – Greg Moore from AFP-NH

Mike and Steve continue their conversion with Greg Moore, the state director for AFP-NH.   In segment Two they move on to Medicaid funding in the New Hampshire budget, the failure of Medicaid in general, UNH sabbaticals, Lobbying,  funding, conferences, SB 11 (expanded intermunicipal water districts), and more… Download this segment with Greg Moore here … Read more

A New Hampshire Democrat Accounting Trick – Explained

In years past the New Hampshire Democrats have taken to all kinds of foolish ideas to hide the truth about their blinkered incompetence when it comes to managing other peoples money.  Here is but one example to give you some perspective. Let’s say my wife and I ran our budget like New Hampshire Democrats and … Read more

From the Desk of Representative William O’Brien

From the Desk of Representative William O’Brien If you don’t think that State Government should grow at 5% a year while the economy is growing at 2% a year, resulting in a two-year 10.2% increase in state spending, $263 million in new taxes, $31 million in revenue overestimates, $7 million in cost downshifting to local … Read more

Deficit – What Deficit?

The party that is bringing civility ( see here, here, here, here, here, here (sigh) here, here, a big one right here,…) ran on the idea that the New Hampshire Republican House and Senate was leaving New Hampshire with a deficit, a presumption only “slightly” less dishonest than the notion that Democrats are civil, or half as dishonest as the idea that democrat Carol-Shea-Porter even knows the gun laws in her own state. Turns out, as usual, they were wrong.

“At this point, if spending levels come in as predicted, the state could end the budget cycle (the result of the budget passed two years ago) with a $43 million balance…”

Now to be fair, 63% of this projected Republican Surplus is from a lawsuit windfall, the rest is just taxes being caught up etc, but either way the Republicans leave the new budget writers without the need to pay for 800 million in fixed spending for which there was no revenue, with something extra for the rainy day fund.

So yeah, about that…

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How Much More Does The State Deserve Your Money Than You?

Keep in mind that New Hampshire Democrats want to spend your money to achieve  immediate government growth of about 9-10% Boston.com Dennis Delay of the New Hampshire Center for Public Policy Studies told the Senate Ways and Means Committee Tuesday that New Hampshire’s recovery from the Great Recession is lackluster. … Delay predicted the state’s … Read more

NH Democrats Focused on The Economy

Hah!  No they’re not.  If that were true they wouldn’t be blowing out the state budget and growing spending five times faster than estimated growth.

Democrats.  Don’t you love them?

What they are actually focused on is off-shoring (that’s a metaphor) their own responsibility for managing our sovereign state.  Instead of standing up and running on the Democrat party stated position on super-duper enhanced background checks at the state level, they are passing the buck on to the Federal government.   It’s a big deal for them, “off-shoring” your state’s rights to the feds.

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There is No Ball

Do New Hampshire Democrats have their priorities straight?  Think about it.  The economy is creeping along.  No one is projecting even moderate growth.  Employment is likely to remain flat which means unemployment is as well.   All in all, the best we can hope for, according to all the ‘experts’ is to drift along for a while.  So what are New Hampshire Democrats doing?

In one of the safest states in the nation, with some of the most–dare I say liberal–gun laws in the country, they are investing their energy on harassing a Republican Senator (Kelly Ayotte) who doesn’t even have to run for office until 2016, over a vote that wouldn’t even do much if any good to solve the problem they claim it is meant to resolve; while at the exact same time,  asking New Hampshire taxpayers to let them grow the size and cost of government as much as 10%.

Economy sucks, maybe 2% growth if we’re lucky over the next few years–New Hampshire Democrats want to give the government a permanent 9-10% raise.

Talk about not keeping your eye on the ball.

Wait.  This is supposed to be like the Matrix, right.  There is no ball.  Look- Ayotte!

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April 27th GrokTALK! Guest Segment – NH House Rep Bill O’Brien

This week on GrokTALk! New Hampshire House Republican, and former Speaker of the NH House, Rep Bill O’Brien talks to Skip and Steve about budgets, deficits, dishonest accounting gymnastics, devolving power from Concord and returning it to the towns and the people, and how his exploration of a potential congressional run is going. To download … Read more

Did Mayor Gatsas Kick The Can Down The Road?

rusty canOn April 11th I swung for the fences in regard to remarks by Manchester Mayor Ted Gatsas and his desire to get some benefits concessions from the Teachers union to free up money in the budget..for education.  In the course of those remarks I pointed out how the Mayor had boasted about an agreement with the Manchester police and that he was just looking for something similar from the Teachers union.

A day or two after I published the post I received some intersting correspondence about that agreement with the Manchester Police; that while the union had made some very public benefits concessions there may have been other deals in the contract that could cost taxpayers even more down the road.  The unions may have actually come out ahead.

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