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Republicans

GrokTV: Micro-Interview with John O’Sullivan

At the end of the Hillsborough County Republican Committee Lincoln-Reagan Gala, we started to breakdown the livestreaming equipment pretty quickly – it was late, it would take a while, and then there was the long drive home (and the Mtn. Dew WAS failing me!).  However, John O’Sullivan did come over to our disheveled table (a prime scenario for a disorderly conduct citation, audio equipment wise!) so Grokster Mike and I quickly thanked him for his willingness to extend his already long evening and started the camera rolling:

Sidenote: “…camera rolling” – such a quaint old fashioned term for recording an event, being that there is no longer anything (i.e., tape) to be rolling when all goes onto a flat SDmicro chip….

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GrokTV: Hillsborough County Republican Committee Lincoln-Reagan Gala – Kelly Ayotte’s Letter and L-R Award Winners

Continuing with the agenda for the Hillsborough County Republican Committee Lincoln-Reagan Gala, the next two items: US Kelly Ayotte (R-NH) sent a Letter to be read to the Committee as she could not attend – Kevin Smith did the reading Lincoln-Reagan Award winners – Former Congressman Frank Guinta (unavailable due to a family emergency) and … Read more

GrokTV: Hillsborough County Republican Committee Lincoln-Reagan Gala – Intro Ceremonies

Well, per our usual operating standards after livestreaming an event, we put up “smaller chunck” videos (and thanks to Grokster Mike for manning this camera).  For those of you that missed it: Last night was the Hillsborough County Republican Committee Lincoln-Reagan Gala where two Lincoln-Reagan Award winners were recognized: Former Congressman Charlie Bass and Former … Read more

Did some of those HB617 Republicans not like that Flashlight that shined brightly? Good – Mission Accomplished

gas pump oldOK, I know this is a couple of days old, but still worth posting as an object lesson.  We here at the ‘Grok raised a fuss and a big ‘ole stinkeroonie as we figuratively shined our flashlight into a dark corner – the kind of one where taxpayers end up paying for the mistakes that Government makes, either in actuality or in priority (e.g., not doing what it should be).  We berated those Republicans that voted to raise the gas tax (that Pike Industries loves so much) that would hurt ordinary working folks.

Well, our motto is to “Spank’em when they’re wrong and Thank’em when they’re right”; we did the former and now time for the latter:

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
March 19th, 2013
Contact: 603-271-3665

House Republican Leaders Comment on Gas Tax Increase Bill

CONCORD – Today House Republican Leader Gene Chandler (R-Bartlett) and House Republican Policy Leader Laurie Sanborn (R-Bedford) offered the following statements on the committee vote on HB617, a bill that would raise the gas tax. The House Ways and Means committee voted 11-7 to recommend the bill ought to pass with amendment. The committee amendment would raise the gas tax by 67%. Republicans on the committee were unanimous in their opposition to the bill.

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Guest post by NH State Rep. Jane Cormier: “Sleepless Nights”

It is now 4:45 am. I am wide awake, thinking about the vast number of things that need to be accomplished today. As a wife, mom, legislator, volunteer, and music educator, I can tell you there are lots of sleepless nights.  I suspect it is a difficult time for most of us as we struggle with the financial, personal, and political challenges of our time.  Life is definitely a test these days.

Much of my worry seems to be rooted in the insecurity of what is coming down the pike.  What country will our children/grandchildren possess as they grow older?  Will our children still have all the opportunities our generation enjoyed?  Will our grandchildren enjoy the personal freedoms we always assumed would be there for them?  All of these questions are overwhelming in scope and stop many of us dead in our tracks.  As our country becomes deluged with crushing, liberty-stealing debt and disingenuous politics, people are checking out.  Many folks have just become immobile under the weight of it all.  But, most frightening is the fear this is exactly what those in political power desire.  If “the people” drop out of the process and leave governing to others, (especially those who may not be looking out for our Constitutional Republic) well, let’s just say this is NOT what our Founding Fathers had in mind!

I joined the NH legislature because I could no longer be part of the silent majority.  I unequivocally believe the majority of our neighbors ARE for conservative principles of smaller government, smaller debt, and broader personal freedom.  But we are hitched to a leviathan of debt and corruption.  How can we possibly hope to stand under such weight?  One answer – we become politically active in the Conservative movements in our communities.

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Fool Me Once, Shame on You, Fool Me One Hundred Times….Call Me A Republican Senator

White-Flag-of-Surrender small

The Sunday Union Leader has a staff editorial in which it comes to the defense of Senator Ayotte accepting and attending  an invite to dinner with Mr. Obama and a number of other ‘Ranking’ (see also Rank) GOP Senators.

To suggest that there is no value in conveying that message to the President in person, in a casual setting in which a working relationship might develop, is to misunderstand the way politics works.

Last August, Sen. Tom Coburn (who attended last Wednesday’s dinner) came to the defense of the Tea Party during an interview on MSNBC. Among his points was that Tea Party activists “understand that you’ve got to have human relations to get along in this world.” It is amazing and disappointing that so many activists on both sides think that progress is made by refusing to work with anyone in the other camp.

This is the way politics works, except in the case of Mr. Obama’s politics, this only works for him.

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As Glenn Reynolds says, ‘Heh’

Via Instapundit: “This is probably why John McCain and Lindsay Graham have their panties in a wad: Rand Paul filibuster energizes Tea Party against GOP establishment.” Meanwhile, seen on Facebook:

Roll Call Examines Why The NH-GOP is Such a Mess

Roll Call has an article that will be making the rounds.  According to some people from around the Republican firmamanet…

The Granite State’s political infrastructure is “a mess,” complain out-of-state GOP consultants, and the state has become an increasingly difficult place to run campaigns.

The article goes on to observe some coincidences with problems in the national party, problems with turnover in the party structure itself, and in the control of the legislature.  It then quotes “Tea Party Critic” Fergus Cullen, which I suppose makes sense because he happens to be one of the GOP “experts” at standing idly by while New Hampshire turned Purple, or is it Blue?

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Only Taxpayers are supposed to Tighten their Belts

The Republican majority in the Belknap County Convention is fighting County tax increases. These Republicans seem to be the only people in any level of government showing concern for the bill-payers (taxpayers) most of whom are already struggling in today’s poor economy.

In January, President Obama raised working people’s taxes and everyone’s cost of living. Obamacare increased health insurance premiums and includes new taxes. And now we know that Obamacare costs three times what President Obama promised.

Since President Obama was inaugurated, the value of middle class incomes has declined by about $4000 annually. The percentage of people in the workforce is at a 30 year low, jobs are lost every month, and Obama’s regulations and tax policies are so anti-employer that few people are willing to take the risk of hiring more employees. Most middle income people struggle even before new government driven cost of living and tax increases.

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Even if it Causes Americans to Suffer, Defeating Republicans is Obama’s Priority

President Obama and the fawning mainstream media want you to think that the “sequester” and the harsh “sequester” cuts are being forced on him by others. These are deliberate falsehoods.

The “sequester” was President Obama’s idea to pretend concern, in anticipation of his re-election campaign, for our huge deficits by agreeing to future (small, less than 3%) spending cuts.

Are the drastic cuts that President Obama chooses to make today the ones he envisioned when he proposed the “sequester”? Or, when he promised to veto any attempt to avoid it (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Crt5J3XM_zk)? If yes, then the “sequester” was a bad idea. If he envisioned less severe cuts, he should implement those cuts now.

Every businessman and family can handle a 3 percent budget cut without cutting essential services, why can’t President Obama? Just eliminating the $125 billion that Obama’s GAO says is WASTED annually exceeds the “sequester’s” savings. Or, Obama could reduce the $50 to $100 billion in annual Medicare and Medicaid fraud. He could cut less important services and rein in excessively expensive programs. President Obama refuses to do any of these.

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HB617: Thanks to BOTH NH Democrats AND Republicans, filling up is going to cost us all $0.15 / gallon

Yup, that’s right.  The NH House’s Public Works and Highway Committee members decided that it was so durn important to fix roads and such, they couldn’t be bothered to really set a priority list and bump down others much less important (remember:  “Maggie the Marxist” – she choose diapers over students??  $2 million for adult diapers? great prioritization)  HB617 was just passed out of that Committee, 17-0, with nary a “limited government / less taxes” Republican throwing a single “Nay!”.  Not one Republican could say “er, is this really not a good thing to do right now with gas quickly heading towards $4 / gallon WITHOUT the State of NH helping it along??  Here are those Republicans:

Gene Chandler (r)
William Friel (r)
Edmond Gionet (r)
John Graham (r)
Walter Kolodziej (r)
Mark McConkey (r)
David Milz (r)
Franklin Tilton (r)
Kevin Waterhouse (r)

Yeah, one of them is “mine”: Frank Tilton from Belknap.  You got one too? Look at the first name, though: Minority Leader, Republican Gene Chandler.I guess in this time of skyrocketing gas prices for the regular folk, an 85% increase in the NH gas tax is but a mere pittance on behalf of the “Live Free or Die Leviathan”, eh? Not one of them asked themselves (as seen by their votes) “who needs their money more – us or them”?  Well, we know now BY THEIR OWN VOTES how they feel about “oh, you guys can make out fine with less“…  The current Highway trust account is so leaky, they have to create a brand new one?  And I forgot – raising ‘some” vehicle registration fees?  And the Republicans went along with this?

Nice messaging, dudes.  Lower income folks are already having to make hard decisions and you Republicans are just about to make it much harder…win friends, influence people, and gain Republican votes – GREAT GOING!  Good thing that Senator Chuck Morse has decided to be the adult Republican in the room and say “DOA when it comes over from the House”.  Yes, this is one bill I will be glad to see the Senate stop dead.

Yeah, I didn’t forget about the Democrats (after the jump)….they are probably loving the fact that the Republicans just gave them cover to raise a tax that hits everyone in the State.  I’m betting that somebody’s gonna have to go over and pick them up off the floor, they’ve been laughing so much….

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Dem NH Majority Votes To Kill School Scholarship Program

Children and poor families hit hardest

So which Republicans’ voted against private scholarships for poor kids in New Hampshire?

Ann Marie Banfield provided a list, with contact info, and reminds us (On Facebook), a vote against will actually cost taxpayers more.  (I talked about it here yesterday.)

The HB370 (repeal) passed 188 to 155 and now moves to the Senate where it had better fail-  that’s a hint.)

The lefts list of GOP guerrillas on the jump as well as the entire roll call.

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Fergus Cullen and The Other “Smartest Guys In The Room”

“Why don’t they pass a constitutional amendment prohibiting anybody from learning anything? If it works as well as prohibition did, in five years Americans would be the smartest race of people on Earth.”    —Will Rogers 

Fergus Cullen: "Smartest Guy in the Room"
Fergus Cullen: “Smartest Guy in the Room”

As I sit and read the paper over morning coffee, I read yet another hit piece on Bill O’Brien.   Fergus Cullen…former incompetent, do-nothing, New Hampshire Republican party chair periodically takes to the commentary pages of the Union Leader,  bestowing upon us his pearls of wisdom about all things, “Republican,” while eschewing the underlying foundational principles that once defined the Republican Party.

This from one of the crowd of “neo-cons” who brought us, “Vote for Romney! Only Romney can beat Obama!”. Fergus Cullen…just one of the

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Adventures in Babysitting

J.Robert Smith has a good article at American Thinker on Republicans taking back the tax issue, and that is certainly true,  but there were two things in particular that stood out to me… First, the current US tax code consists of almost 74,000 pages.  (What the…) Second, on one of those pages can be found this. (paragraphs appear here in … Read more

Words of Wisdom for the GOP – from Uncle Ted!

“Working hard, playing hard America is literally recoiling in shock and dismay on an hourly basis,” Nugent said. “Where is the GOP?”

Any person reading the ‘Grok for any amount of time know that we like Ted Nugent.  Why?  Rather simple, really – a true blue Patriot and Conservative , he knows what he believes, says it simply and FORCEFULLY, refuses to back down from those beliefs, and doesn’t put up with any crap from the Politically Correct Progressives (or mincing Old Guard Republicans either).  Stand UP, go BIG, and never go home with your tail between your legs (aka, Sarah Palin’s “Reload!”).

But, far it be for me to speak for The Nuge – here’s his advice to the Grand Old Party that can’t seem to get out of its own way (emphasis mine):

Nugent said Republicans are too focused on being polite and looking pretty than on winning the fight.

“They got to quit adjusting their ties and be more forceful,” Nugent said. “Did you see me fix Piers Morgan? That should be shown at every Republican gathering and say ‘this is how you do that.’ You don’t back off, you don’t acquiesce, you don’t stop your statement to allow him to attack you further. You escalate.”

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Hey! Dufus! Why the Hell Aren’t You Covering “This!?”

Both hands and a flashlightShawn Millerick, the head of the political fiction section at NH Journal, wanted to know why we at GraniteGrok were not covering the real world story about Ann McKluster Kuster not paying her property taxes.  The appropriate response was to provide a link to the story I actually wrote on February 5th about how Ann McKluster Kuster was not paying her property taxes.  A story I updated with additional comments from the Chairs of both political parties and a bit of exposition with regard to the sources.

It was a story posted the same day as the first story at NH Journal about how Ann McKluster Kuster was not paying her taxes, at roughly 6 am, perhaps even before NHJ pushed out their version; a story with the eponymous title…”Annie McKluster Doesn’t Pay Her Taxes?”

How hard could that be to find?  I’m pondering a pithy epithet for the NHJ Political Fiction Department that involves an ass, both hands, and a flashlight.

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Speaking of the NH GOP Area 5 Vice-Chair race….

“What Difference Does It Make?” – one of the other things that I didn’t mention was that one of the “defenses” that MacDonald tried to use was “well, it was an uncontested race?”.  Seth Cohn easily refuted that “yes, but you destroyed the chance of anyone who had gone to lunch, believing that the recess for lunch had been officially called, to nominate someone from the floor – a valid part of the process.  Well, that finally was the clincher and the decision was to bring it back to the floor to a decision – re-vote now, re-vote at the end?  And then Chair MacDonald voted “Present” and left it to the winner of the first vote, Alan Glassman (current Barnstead-Alton Chair, Belknap County Chair, and incumbent / re-voted Vice-Chair – a “triple Chair”) to make the decision: “Do you want to do this again”?  To his credit, he said yes and the decision was made to do it right then and that the rest of the Committee would formally cast the one vote for each of the uncontested races.

Jacob Avery, as the official NH GOP staffer, oversaw the election (with good humor but efficiency, I might add).  He asked for nominations from the floor after announcing that Alan was the sole nominee – and Seth nominated me out of Principle: “People should have been accorded a choice the first time around – and it was not”.  I certainly did not campaign for the position – heck, I wasn’t even wearing a suit (setting up the Grok livestreaming gear often means crawling around on the floor – jeans are a much more suitable attire for that).  Three minutes were allotted for speaking; Alan spoke first and then I used my full three.

Jacob then asked for questions or comments – I asked to be recognized and said in trying to be bridge the gap (as I am seen as being one of those right-wing crazy TEA Party type guys that actually believes that being a “good Republican” means following the Republican Standard of Quality – the Platform (secondary only to both US & NH Constitutions).  Not only that, but I have no problem in pointing out “Alan deserves credit for being a stand up guy for agreeing to do this a second time.”

Alan then also asked to make a comment – and then launched into a tirade singling out a new person who had asked him a simple question – yeah, such bridge building to make what should have been kept between two people was now made a public row.

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