WHERE ARE YOUR PAPERS???

As a fledging Probation Officer in Merrimack County in the early 70’s I dealt with a number of people coming out of the State Hospital on Probation.  As a matter of policy we would ask to see their discharge papers, make a copy and put it in their file.  On more than one occasion the person would say, “I just showed you my papers that say I’m not crazy, can I see yours?”  You know what, I could never produce mine and I always got a big chuckle when that happened.

The last Exeter Selectman’s meeting made me think of this when, in my opinion, the local chapter of the lunatic fringe, didn’t have their papers checked at the door.  The anger could be felt on TV and the attacks were way over the top.  If they acted this way at a hearing in the legislature, security would have been called and they would probably be removed while the hearing was recessed.

The direction of the attacks was the allegation that the Board of Selectman was trying to disenfranchise the voters on the budget committee warrant article.  If I remember right, and I could be corrected, the issues the angries were attacking the Board on were actually under the control of the Town Clerk.  What I saw was this situation has never happened in the Town in the past and the Town Clerk, who I have, a lot of respect for, and the Board of Selectman were trying to work to straighten this out, which did get straightened out, so what is the problem.  I know it was just another excuse to attack the Board or the Town Manager; this was all amplified by a full moon.

There was a funny side to last night and that was when Frank Ferraro was complaining that no one listens to him.  Well Frank, if that is the situation, maybe you should talk to the Board to see what they think of your credibility.  If you talk behind other selectman’s backs, if you do that, if you hang out with people who some have the opinion are a little different, and you actively campaign as a selectman against other selectmen’s campaigns, if that is the case; I might have an idea why people do not listen to you, if they don’t.

I met Dennis Brady and he is a likable person; but, he showed up at last night’s meeting with a display of anger that seemed to be choreographed with the angries.  I was disappointed with Dennis on this and it showed who his support group is and do not have the best interests of the town at heart.

Although I think the Board and Town Manager collectively could have explained this issue better, as to what the issue was, the problems surrounding it and more clearly state how they worked with the Town Clerk to resolve, they should all be congratulated(except for Frank) on how well they handled themselves in maintaining their cool.  They showed good leadership and deportment in how they maintained themselves and I was proud of Matt, Don, Julie and Russ.

My advice is, if you don’t have your papers don’t go before the Board and attack them if you don’t have all the facts.

The above is my opinion on what I observed.

WHEN IS DUMB REALLY DUMB???

 

Dumb is really dumb when a state rep goes before the Exeter Board of Selectman to do a legislative update and does not know about the legislation that they are supposed to be briefing on. 

Now really dumb is going before a legislative committee and make comments on how she isn’t sorry that other state reps didn’t win their elections.  What part of any legislative testimony is that?

The person that told me about this asked if there was any way we could give our Democrat State Reps an IQ test before we elected them to weed out the dumb ones.  I explained that would happen the same time we gave our Republican State Rep candidates a psychological test to make sure they weren’t nuts.

DID GOVERNOR MAGGIE WANT SPEAKER TERRY AS SPEAKER???

During the last speaker’s race there were a number of democrats loyal to Terry and friendly to Maggie that claimed they were not going to vote for Terry for speaker.  In my opinion, and knowing how the inside politics is played, it does not look like Maggie wanted Terry.

Dave Campbell got about 70 votes for speaker, which is about 30 or so more than most expectations.  It would have taken a little horse power to push more democrats into his camp; this certainly is an interesting discussion.

WHAT AN EMBARRASSMENT!!!

The recent deliberative session for the Town of Exeter is usually an informative cordial event; but this past Saturday it was anything but.  We have seen, over the past few years, a subterranean political agenda in Exeter; but, this last meeting not only proved it and showed who is behind it.

I ask everyone to go to the town website and review the meeting to get a flavor of the brain trust that is causing the turmoil and the behind the scenes back room politics/antics that spilled out at a public meeting.

They appear to be the self proclaimed Republican leadership for Exeter; but, after talking to some Republicans that were there it was agreed upon that don’t represent any Republicans that we know.

This group of political misfits added about 2-3 hours of debate that need not happen and angered a lot of people.  As Dorie and I were leaving someone asked me “what is wrong with those people” and the only answer I could give was, “I don’t think the psychology books have found a name for it yet”.

The crowning touch of this meeting was when a selectman, Frank Ferraro, got into a verbal argument with Fire Chief Brian Comeau about the ladder truck that is on this year’s warrant; I don’t know how I am going to vote on this issue, but it won’t be based on Frank’s argument.  It seemed to boil down to an issue of credibility between the two.  It is certainly my opinion that in a credibility issue, Frank and his little band of merry men are going to lose every time and I think they did.  Congratulations to the chief for maintaining his cool.