Featured Member Posts – July 2012 Archive (13)

By Paul Montrone

Claude and Tim--I definitely agree with many of your thoughts, but I do not believe our democracy is dying.  I think it is the opposite; we may have too much democracy. Since our country began, the U.S. has always had strong political parties and differences, but in the past party leaders had more influence on candidates, issues and when to compromise.  In retrospect, this may have been a better deal for our citizens.  Today, there is complete chaos,…

The first of the high-powered endorsements in the New Hampshire gubernatorial race occurred this week with former President Bill Clinton backing Democrat Maggie Hassan.



While the value of endorsements can be debated, they can certainly generate news coverage and headlines, which Hassan, the former state senator from…

By Steven Borne

This opening line from Rick Newman in the July 17 edition of U.S. News & World Report on the Senate's repeated defeat of the Disclose Act, "Corporations must be people after all, because they have the right to speak freely, in secret," pissed me off.

The Disclose Act is not a panacea for the billions invested to influence those who manage our government, but if it can be stripped of all "special…

By Tom Thomson

My father, Gov. Mel Thomson, issued the first modern anti-tax pledge to ensure that elected officials kept their word to the people, and to provide the people with a means to enforce that accountability if needed.



He understood as both a private citizen and a public official that too much power in the hands of public officeholders could be a bad thing and that once entrusted with any authority, officeholders would be unlikely to surrender it…

By Paul Briand



You have to wonder about House Speaker William O’Brien’s thinking..



He continues to support a conservative social agenda that includes the repeal of the state’s gay marriage law. Yet the very constituency he wants to please -- the business community -- as…

By Joseph M. Settipane

I am amazed at how many intelligent people have been conned by windpower. Here is an energy source that makes no economic sense without huge government (taxpayer) subsidies, produces tiny amounts of unreliable energy, and destroys our environment.

We willingly sacrifice the beauty of our mountains, the pride of NH, as we skin our mountain tops to replace trees with 400 foot…

No particular theme dominated the news cycles this week. It was a little dash of the governor’s race sprinkled with a taste of the presidential race here in the Granite State, chased down with talk about nepotism.



But all politics paused Friday as the nation mourned victims of the shooting at an Aurora, Colo., movie theatre showing of the new Batman movie.



Gubernatorial politics



The race to replace exiting Gov. John Lynch is getting into a rhythm…

By Mark Fernald

In November New Hampshire voters will be asked to amend the state constitution to permanently ban an income tax. It's an amendment that property taxpayers should reject.

The people who wrote our Constitution in 1784 understood that our government is strengthened if the cost of government is distributed fairly among the people. So they added a clause to the New Hampshire Bill of Rights that includes the following:

"Every member of the…

Political activity shifted from the halls of the State House to the campaign trail as candidate forums and endorsements in the race for governor dominated the news this week.



The two Republican candidates for governor -- Ovide Lamontagne and …

By Kevin Kervick

Which is a trap set by Progressives who wish to paint those that are against gay marriage as religious zealots.

My position on marriage is thus:

I believe the marriage between a man and a woman is the primary building block of a healthy community. Society has an investment in privileging this complimentary relationship because it provides an essential public good. Unfortunately, state laws sometimes undermine the marriage institution…

Chief Justice John Roberts is seen as both goat and hero in New Hampshire for being the swing vote in the ruling that upheld the core of the health care reform law.



Outside of his Route 1 business in Portsmouth, Jack Kimball, former New Hampshire Republican Party chair and chairman of the Granite State…

It was a near-perfect vacation week wrapped around the Independence Day holiday for lots of folks here in New Hampshire, including Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney.



He managed to mix a lot of presidential campaign work with relaxing alongside his very large extended family at his Lake Winnipesaukee home in Wolfeboro.



There was Romney eating ice cream, hanging out at the water’s edge and watercraft riding with his wife, Ann.



And there was Romney giving…

The tea leaves could not be any more clear in foretelling Kelly Ayotte as a top contender to become Mitt Romney’s running mate.



True, every time the presumptive presidential nominee comes to New Hampshire to visit, Ayotte manages an appearance.



She was at his side in…