Saturday, May 28, 2011

SOMETIMES IT DOESN’T PAY TO GET UP IN THE MORNING!!!!

While the House Leadership is trying to find the votes to break up the unions and lower the standard of living in NH they might be losing sight of the fact the state budget will be pushed out of the senate this coming weds. That might be good for the senate; but, bad for house leadership.

This past Weds it was shown that there is a razor thin line for a veto proof house. The speaker, after touting how he was going to make NH a right to work state and have the vote this past Weds, did not bring the bill forward because he didn’t have the votes. I think this was very embarrassing for him because politically he never left himself an escape route. I think he is losing some of his MOJO.

Now if the house passes the budget and the governor vetoes it the speaker will be fighting on both fronts to get the votes to sustain the budget veto and another hand wrenching fingernail biting fight on two fronts. There is more to dislike in the budget then there is in sticking it the NH workforce and calling the thousands of upon thousands of republican public sector employees, “thugs”, “goons” and a various assortment of names. These collective bargaining oriented republicans voted for the very republicans who we now find, many with psychological problems and not republicans, but will never again, what I’m seeing now I have never seen before, thousands of republicans walking away from the party.

There is a group of republicans who I am very proud to serve with, there’s about 40 of us who care more about you than the Concord political establishment and the moneyed out of state lobbying groups who are trying to run our state. We’re sticking together against RTW and may stand against the budget if we don’t like it. I am only speaking for myself; but, this happens when you lose respect for your leadership team and believe we are being lead into a huge political ambush in the next election. Republican voters are bailing on the politicians they elected in the last election. The free staters and the Looney tunes right wing groups will not be able to stem the republican back lash; we might make electoral mistakes as republicans, but we will fix them in the next election.

We know some of our votes in the house will be peeled off, I’ve heard Jeb Bradley is calling around trying to get state reps to cave and go with leadership, he might get a couple; but, overall I like Jeb; but, think he is done too much political damage to himself to win another district or statewide election. I think the same holds true to the house leadership and to some extent the senate too.

This isn’t Republican bashing; many of these people are not republicans and have crazy ideas on how to organize and direct government. You are the ones that are going to get hurt in this process and it will take 10 yrs or more to fix it. I do not believe many of those elected in the last election are doing what you elected them to do and going way over board on what they think you wanted. They cannot not tolerate different thoughts or ideals and attack anyone who differs.

Some collectively bargaining units are calling for our leaderships removal and I think that cry will get louder and may well happen, the time is not quite right, but may happen. The ideal situation would be for the leadership to sit down and rethink their actions/plans and chart a new course before we all get wiped out in the next election.

Sunday, May 22, 2011

THERE IS NO JOY IN MUDVILLE!!!!

The fortunes of our legislative leadership team are faltering in their desire to be the second coming of Christ. The free staters and other strange but; vocal groups failed to produce a victory in Bully O’Brian’s home district in Mt. Vernon in the recent special election, 58% to 42% against. In a pre-election broadcast the NH Free State leader sent out information to motivate the troops by saying how they had to win because that election was a referendum on the republican leadership and on the republican agenda (their words not mine). They also called for a quick $1600’s to push the campaign forward.

Well it was a referendum; but the spin masters on both sides are trying to spin it to suit their arguments. In reality, it was no more than putting out the crazy agenda we are being forced to adhere to and letting the voters decide if this is what they want and voted for; obviously it wasn’t and is merely a for warning of things to come and an echo of what I said in my previous floor speech against the right to work effort in NH; “this is not a war we should be in and a battle we cannot win”, another warning gone unheeded by a leadership group that not only has lost touch with the voters; but, their own republicans.

What is happening now is state reps are being, as close as I can figure bribed and threatened all in the same day. I have been told that the speaker is promising money for your campaign if you stick with him and vote for RTW by voting against the Governors Veto. Then I hear that the majority leader is calling state reps and threatening them to vote with leadership to override the governor’s veto. Couple this with some far right wingers that are crazier than an out house mouse directing calls to those republicans that are sticking by their constituents trying to get them to change their votes and you have a remake of the movie “One flew over the Cuckoos Nest”.

First they were asking and leaning on republicans to take a walk on the vote if they couldn’t support leadership. Then they reverted to the dirty, MA style of politics by threats and borderline bribes. The growing discomfort with our so called leadership team, is only going to split the house more and make it more difficult, if not impossible to hold a veto proof majority and may put the governor in a better position to negotiate a budget he is more comfortable with, due to the hard feelings and loss of respect for the current house leadership. In fact our leadership group is making their own case for why they should be removed.

It is worthy of note that the so called “big guns” have been called on to call state reps to support the house leadership on RTW. Well if CK Ayotte wants to get involved in a 350,000 vote political buzz saw that will come back and bite her, welcome aboard. Gov Sununu is active and people are talking he is upset with the unions for not supporting Chris when he ran for governor’s council, I don’t know if that is true; but, it wouldn’t surprise me.

NH is a non union state which is why RTW has not passed. NH’s economy, although not where we would like it to be is better than most with unemployment about half of the national average so we are doing something right and lets not mess it up. Pushing RTW is a political agenda, not an economic one and is bad for NH. Why these out of state odd ball groups with their odd ball agenda’s don’t just leave us alone and let us chug along in our blissful ignorance with our low unemployment and growing economy? I have so much confidence in NH that I don’t need any out of state low wage, low benefits and reduced quality of health care groups, coming to NH to tell us how and why we should lower our standard of living to match Alabama or any of the former slave states. I hope I haven’t missed something.

From the bottom of my heart I want to thank those state reps that are sticking by their beliefs and by you the voters and taxpayers of NH. I am so proud of each and every one of them, even though in the minority on this issue show the individual NH ruggedness that makes NH such a wonderful place to live. Their voters should be as proud of them as I am to serve with them By no means are we alone, in the minority in THIS HOUSE, yes; but there are thousands of republicans that are collective bargaining supporters who cherish NH’s way of life (they should they help make it happen) and they vote.

Wednesday, May 11, 2011

Gov. Lynch’s Veto Message Regarding HB 474!!!

By the authority vested in me, pursuant to part II, Article 44 of the New Hampshire Constitution, on May 11, 2011, I vetoed HB 474.



States should not interfere with the rights of businesses and their employees to freely negotiate contracts. That is unless there is a compelling public interest, and there is no compelling public interest in passing this legislation.



There is no evidence that this legislation will offer any benefits to New Hampshire’s economy or workers.



As I have said repeatedly, New Hampshire has an economic strategy that is working. New Hampshire has one of the strongest and fastest-growing economies in the nation. We have one of the lowest unemployment rates and one of the highest median incomes in the nation. We are considered one of the safest states and one of the healthiest states, and a high percentage of our citizens have private health insurance.



New Hampshire has a lower unemployment rate and a stronger economy than most states with so-called right-to-work laws. In states with a right-to-work law, workers on average have a lower standard of living, bringing home less in their paychecks and going without health insurance more frequently.



In my time as a CEO, in my years spent in the private sector turning around companies, and in my seven years as Governor, I have never seen the so-called right-to-work law serve as a valuable economic development tool.



In the last seven years of recruiting businesses to move to New Hampshire, not one business leader has ever even asked me if New Hampshire had a right-to-work law, let alone suggested it was a factor in the company’s location decision. No New Hampshire business leaders have ever told me that the lack of a so-called right-to-work law prevented them from expanding or hiring new workers here in New Hampshire. And no New Hampshire workers have ever told me they couldn’t get a job because New Hampshire doesn’t have a so-called right-to-work law.



The debate over the so-called right-to-work bill in New Hampshire appears to be largely driven by national outside interest groups, and is not a result of problems facing New Hampshire businesses or workers.



There is no justification in this case for state government to interfere with the right of private businesses to freely negotiate and enter into contracts with their employees. Therefore, I am vetoing HB 474.



# # #





Colin Manning

Press Secretary

Office of Gov. John Lynch

(603) 271-2121

colin.manning@nh.gov

Sunday, May 8, 2011

RIGHT TO WORK!!! (FOR LESS)!!!

HB 474, the right to work bill is a union busting/employee negotiating busting bill that originated out of one of the right wing groups from VA. Basically, what it does is makes it illegal to be forced to join a union or pay to offset the costs of contract negotiations (fair share). Currently state employees pay 59% of what dues is, if they don’t want to join a collective bargaining group. Some complain it isn’t fair to be forced to pay anything; they want the benefits at no cost to them and free load on the dues paying members. Others argue that if you don’t want to help pay for pay raises, insurance and other benefits, then you shouldn’t get them; interesting arguments.

I have been told, and as a former state union member, that the state employees, in a 20 year period gave up pay raises for 8 of those years to keep our medical (which is a very good program). As a state probation/parole officer I was willing to work for less money than the private sector to insure Dorrie and the kids had good insurance.

That is all well and good when the economy is doing good and NH has traditionally done better than the majority; but, when the economy goes bad, like this recession, then the private sector jobs and benefits are reduced and the right wing groups start complaining about the pay and benefits of the public sector; this us only one part of the complex arguments that are being thrown around.

They like to throw around the words private sector, private sector this and that. I’m trying to find private sector jobs that require them to put their life on the line fighting fires, arresting murderers, etc, etc. The public sector employees, police, fire, teachers and state employees in NH are not our enemies; they are our friends, allies and neighbors.

Why are we attacking them? The speaker of the house was on Fox News telling how he was going to make NH a right to work state. I hate to tell him this; but, NH is not a union state. Sure we have unions and bargaining units; but, not a union state; no one can be forced to join a union.

The RTW out of state advocates claim that if this legislation gets passed then it will increase jobs and we will all be on easy street; just like Alabama, SC, GA and the southern states. Lets pass RTW and lower our standard of living, our health insurance, health care and those benefits that make NH one of the most vibrant and desirable states to live and work in, mostly because of our public services.

If you ask 10 people what the NH advantage is, you’ll get 10 different answers; some will say our tax structure (wrong because NH is not a cheap state to live), we can’t say it is cheap electricity because we are amongst the highest in the country. We can’t say it is our low business taxes, because they are high. The reason is our educated and dedicated work force that is what is bringing business into NH. The largest business group in NH (NHBIA) did a multi faceted survey about NH business and RTW came in #14 (I was told) as an issue, so it was a non issue with businesses.

I think what bothers me the most is the misinformation that is knowingly and willfully being put out by our legislative leadership about how RTW is going to increase jobs, benefits and make NH a better place to live. They know better so why are they pushing a deceptive agenda of misleading information? It is obvious that the speaker is looking for higher office and wants to say how he broke the backs of the public sector workers and their families, how he balanced the state budget by denying services to the most needy, handicapped, homeless, and people in need of services. We all knew when we were running for office the state budget had to be cut; but, to try and build a political platform on the backs of those in need is not the NH Republican way and not what the voters expected. Maybe the people running the political show in NH are not republicans and brought the RIHNO virus into NH when they moved in a few years ago, they are wiping out the republican party with this crazy agenda.

Now the RTW legislation has passed the house and senate and the governor has vowed to veto it. That means we have to get enough votes to sustain his veto and send some of the right wing loonies back to VA. No matter what happens, sustain or over ride the veto (I’ll be working to sustain) this is not the last vote that will be taken on this, the last vote will be in November, 2012, when the pendulum swings back and cleans out the house one more time.

As a side note RTW has never passed the legislature and it has come forward each session for the past 10 years, the only difference is the people we elected in the last election.

WHY NO COMMENTS!!!

I have gotten many hundreds of emails and comments about the articles that I comment on and questions as to why I have no comments. When I set up my blog I decided not to allow comments; but, I have, on occasion allowed guest articles. The reason for no comments is I didn’t want to clog the blog with arguments and rants.

I feel, because of the nature of the blog articles, that if I allow one then I will have to allow them all. Quite frankly, not everyone out here is playing with a full deck and why put up with the aggravation.

Thank you for your understanding.