Saturday, April 2, 2011

INTERESTING TIMES!!!

The budget has gone through the house with the funding (HB2) as well. This was a painful experience for those involved in recommending the cuts; the cuts were many and deep in most circumstances. But we promised when we were campaigning that this would have to take place to take the pressure off of the huge deficit.

Did the house budget go too far or not far enough? That will be decided by the senate and the committee’s of conference if there is no agreement. The senate now has to look at the house budget and make changes if they deem necessary and send it back to the house. If the house disagrees then they will go to a committee of conference to see if they can work out the differences. If that is done then it will be up to the governor to veto, sign, or allow it to become law without his signature.

I do not believe we have ever seen so many people show to our hearings. Some of the hearings were so well attended that they were held in reps hall because of the 3-4 hundred people that showed up in protest.

When the finance committee voted on HB2 there was an estimated 4-6 hundred public sector employees in attendance. The room, hallways, stairwells and the LOB lobby was so packed you couldn’t move. Our security staff was totally overwhelmed; but, with few exceptions, the observers were behaved. It was requested that the hearing be moved to reps hall but that was denied. I had a problem with seeing pregnant women having to sit on a hard floor. Our chairman did the best he could; but, we just so overwhelmed any plans we had for security flew out the window.

Then on Thursday, the day we voted on the budget there was about 4,000 people showed up to protest not only the budget cuts; but, how the legislature went after our state employees. We had an increased presence of state police to help our security handle the crowd and, with a few exceptions, the crowd was behaved.

What caused all of this? We have had to make serious cuts in the past; it was the unprovoked attack on our public sector employees. The complaint is they make too much money and too many benefits; but, instead of negotiating with them on this issue, the legislature attacked them and kept it up with almost 3 months of legislative attacks by putting in anti public worker bills and amendments, attacking active duty employees, widows, retired and injured state employees. The legislature then kept referring to the employees as “thugs” and “goons”, etc, so they were villainizing anyone who disagreed with them. When you attack someone using your power who is the real thugs? Certainly not the ones attacked; but, the ones doing the attacking.

When you are dealing or want to deal with unions or public sector employees it is always smart to sit down and talk to them or negotiate with them, don’t come out of the clear blue and attack them.

There is about 70,000 votes in the public sector, and that can be multiplied by 2-5, depending on how many friends, family and relatives they have.

Somebody made a threatening phone call to the speaker and he now has state police protection. Threatening anyone is not always the smartest thing a person can do; but it only shows that this situation is getting out of control.

The voters, I thought,told us they wanted the budget (spending) cut and taxes reduced and job creation. In this process everyone knew that there would be layoffs and program reductions. What I don’t think they directed was the horrific attacks on our public employees, police, fire, and state workforce that started a war you didn’t want and cannot win. Anyone who goes out looking for a fight no one wanted and they can’t win, has misread the tea leaves.

This process has been mentally and physically draining and painful to everyone concerned.

We will see what the next election will bring; but, I don’t think all of this craziness will promote any kind of political agenda, except change.

Sunday, March 20, 2011

WE’RE NOT DOING NO STINKEN COST SHIFTING!!!!!

Get ready the way the house budget is being proposed it looks like massive cost shifting to the local communities. The most apparent will be the social service cuts and probable retirement contribution cuts.

Some people are claiming that the legislature is out of control. I am more of an observer than an active participant because I am a republican not a libertarian or a Benson Free Stater (if you remember when Governor Benson was in office he promoted the Free State Project).

There appears to be a concerted effort by the legislature to dismantle state government. Whether it is through the budget process or individual legislation, it seems to be getting out of control.

Some of the more memorable comments from one of our chairman are, when asked about how do towns avoid these huge down shifted social costs, was to do away with the local social service programs and there would nothing to down shift too. Another one was how a chairman hoped all the state employees would smoke so they would die early and take the pressure off of the retirement system.

Let’s just talk about one bill HB 231 that would down shift 11 million dollars onto widows of dead troopers (who are on the state insurance system) and those state employees who were seriously injured in the line of duty and forced to take a retirement or get fired. When I discussed this with some fellow reps the response was, “we all have to feel the pain”. My response was (I’ll clean this language up from the conversation), you don’t think they’ve felt the pain? The people in our district that voted against this was Matt, me, Donna,Tim and Patty.

Now we get to the proposal to lay off almost 800 Department of Transportation employees so they can privatize their jobs. This was tried in the past and it failed. Now there is another proposal to eliminate the seniority rights for our state employees so if they are within a few months of retirement, they can be laid off with no retirement package to help save money.

Public employees know there has to be changes to the system and are willing to sit down and work on there changes; but, they have to be asked.

There were bills brought in to a committee to continue to cost shift health insurance costs on to the retirees. One such proposal was if your retirement payments are $20,000 a year then you would have to pay a 100% of your health insurance which would have been upwards to $18,000 per year. In short with all of these proposals, the state has broken its word to the state workers and, not only are we short on money; but, credibility.

You can hear the democrats smiling on some of the crazier votes such as HB231. This bill will be the bathroom bill that the democrats proposed.

My prediction based on what has happened so far is the republicans will lose a minimum of 125 seats in the next election. I believe we have broken our word to the voters by the craziness of what is going on and the voters will not forget. I think it is important that you contact your local reps and remind them of what you wanted us to do when you voted for us.

Saturday, March 5, 2011

I THOUGHT I HEARD IT ALL!!!

The new rant from the lunatic fringe is Matt is a democrat, HA, HA, HA, HA, HA. There seems to be a panic over some well known and established democrats for putting up Matt signs for selectman; which is causing quite a stir. Some people are asking why this is happening. We don’t know if we have the answers; but Matt is grateful for the support in this race.

Matt is very independent minded and during the last election we ran our own state rep campaigns independent of the Tri Town establishment and just asked to be left alone to run our own campaigns. That didn’t happen and we were attacked during the campaign more by the local republicans. In fact one of the losers in the last state rep race is running for selectman now and is attacking Matt every chance he gets; I don’t know if this just sour grapes and a bruised ego or wanting to work hard for the community as a selectman. I think I have the answer; but, I hope the voters come to the same realization on March 8th.

Another person who is a former selectman that seems to be having some issues is attacking Matt (and me, so I’ve heard) as being democrats or RINO’S. People are laughing at this and watching some of these actors on the stage of stupidity and negativity perform.

First of all we treat people the way they treat us. During the last campaign for state office, we committed to work with anyone who was willing to work with us; in fact we liked some of the democrats that were running for state rep and treated them with respect knowing that it was obvious that our political philosophies were different. We have always tried to work across party lines to get the job done and we both like people in general.

I believe when the democrats saw what the lunatic fringe was doing to Matt with their outlandish vicious attacks not only against Matt; but, the rest of the board of selectman and their blatant attempt at taking over the town, they stepped in and many asked Matt if they could help. More than anything else this shows that Matt can work with anyone and can cross lines to get the job done and by doing so makes a better town and state for all of us, our gratitude and respect go out to them because some must be getting questioned as to why they are supporting a republican and have a sign in their yard.

In a recent ENL article on the number of right to know requests in the last few years there has been about 500 hours spent on these. If we figure that people with salaries between $10-$20 an hour or more have been digging up information then the town has spent $5,000-$10,000 in taxpayer dollars to obtain this information. Some of this is probably legitimate some is for harassment purposes against the town; so much for false claims that they want to save the town money.

Matt and I have talked to many people about the misinformation that these people are putting out. I still haven’t figured out why they are so angry. Are they angry at the people of Exeter for not following them? Are they angry at the board of selectman? Are they angry at the town manager? Maybe they are just angry with themselves and how their lives are going and taking it out on everyone around them. This is why we need to rebuke these people, tell some of them to put the cork back in the bottle and seek professional help. Exeter will move ahead without them, but as the great town that we are, we will move ahead.

Saturday, February 19, 2011

EXETER AND ANTHEM UP IN A TREE!!!!

Well I think you know the rest of the little ditty. The two 900 pound greedy gorillas had their fight and it looks like Exeter Hospital came out on the losing side. They are going to have to trim their rates down from being the most expensive hospital in the state (and probably northern MA) to the most expensive but with a little less profit; ok, boo hoo, hoo, my grieving is done, over it and I’m all better now.

Let’s look at the reality that the newspapers don’t know how to get to. First of all on one of my earlier blogs I predicted this was how it was going to turn out, an agreement in place at the last minute. I don’t have a crystal ball; but, only experience in dealing with insurance companies, hospitals and their lobbyists in Concord. It is all about greed and both sides had huge cooperate egos and neither could afford to lose out on this contract.

I had met early on with the insurance commissioner and described my thoughts on how this was going to turn out, and he pretty much agreed. Since that was a private conversation I felt it should stay that way among other things we discussed. If you remember the insurance commissioner was the one (he oversees and regulates the insurance industry in NH) who, at my and Matt’s request jumped in and helped Exeter after the huge hail storm. I knew Roger, a retired VN Army Colonel, holds his cards close to his vest; but, does care.

Although Governor’s Councilman Chris Sununu got good publicity for offering to be a mediator in this problem, I felt it was not governments place to get involved in private or corporate contract negotiations. Basically, Anthem’s response was, “go away kid you bother me”, or was that W.C. Fields, after awhile they all look alike. In Anthem’s passion to prove how tough they were, they lost sight of the fact that they have about a 20 million dollar contract to administer the State of NH health insurance plan, which I think Chris Sununu might be voting on as a councilor. Now you can start to see why politics is like soap opera, you never know how it is going to turn out until the last act is played out and the last act is not played out yet. Chris, please be gentle.

Plague on both their houses for the way they caused fear and stress in the hospital patients; but, also the Anthem subscribers. I have never seen such a total disregard for the people who thought they could trust each of them to do the right thing; never forget that human greed is one of the most powerful emotions we have and unless your willing to do or say anything to win, please don’t get involved in the fight the other side will almost always win.

Friday, February 18, 2011

WHEN THE FRINGE ATTACKS!!!!!

At a recent selectman’s meeting there was quite an outburst from one of the regulars at the public comment part of the meeting. In part, my professional relationship with selectman Bob Aldrich was brought into question and I think it needs to be responded to.

I think Bob has done a very good job as not only a selectman; but, as vice chairman of the board. Bob is EXCELLENT on budget numbers; in fact Bob is a numbers cruncher, a very valuable position on any public board, Bob is the administrative type. Matt finds Bob an easy person to work with and a great source of knowledge. Both Matt and I have respect for Bob, not only as a person; but, a dedicated public official who works very hard for the people of Exeter. As a public elected official you cannot please everybody all the time; but, when you make decisions that are based on the best interests of the town, at least the sane members of the community will respect you. Bob has earned our respect by his hard work, dedication, and respect for the town of Exeter and its taxpayers. When or if, Bob runs for reelection I would be happy not only to support him; but, work on his campaign if asked. I don’t think there is any wiggle room on my relationship or respect for Bob.

Unfortunately, we have a fringe group that has nothing good to say about anybody or anything. I would like to cut a deal with them, if they stop lying about us, we’ll stop telling the truth about them.

At the last deliberative session this fringe group was stomped on when everything they proposed was killed by overwhelming numbers. This same group has been bad mouthing everyone that disagrees with them, Matt included and has two candidates running for selectman in the hopes of beating Matt and gives them more control of the town. This group has nothing good to say about Exeter or some of the people in the town that disagree with them have proven to be a dangerous element to deal with. They are coming across as a small out of control group; I’ve seen this in some groups in Concord where they attack anyone who disagrees with them, it is too bad to have one in Exeter. Whether this group gains traction in Exeter is up to the voters; but, right now John Childs and Matt might be the only line to hold not allowing these people to take control of Exeter.

Wednesday, February 9, 2011

AROUND TOWN!!!

The deliberative session is behind us one more time. The use of the new high school was just perfect, the seats were comfortable, it was warm, the rest rooms were very easy to get to and the refreshments were right on the spot. In other words it went the way people wanted it to go.

Some of the observations I saw were quite interesting. I saw about 200 people there and they knew what they wanted and didn’t want. The elected boards were all shot down handily, even after plenty of discussion and debate. The voters weren’t buying what a small group was pushing in their attempt to take over some functions of the town. We have a couple of issues; one being taking authority away from the board of selectmen and the other issue is changing the process that is used to appoint boards. Many people seem to feel that they didn’t want to change the process of how boards are appointed and some didn’t support the people wanting to make the changes. Another interesting observation is that no one ever quits a board in Exeter they leave because they put in enough time, several different reasons, the budget committee members didn’t quit, they resigned. The water sewer didn’t quit they resigned to protect their families from potential law suits; but, many of them wanted to get elected to the same boards they quit/resigned from. I think I’m getting old; they didn’t make a lot of sense to me.

Another issue was whether the voters could change the warrant articles at the deliberative session; they used the passage the day before of HB 77 that said you couldn’t change the substance or subject matter of the warrant article. The governor signed the bill on Friday and we were all trying to figure it out on Saturday.

I checked on this bill and talked to the bill writer who told me the intent of the bill was to prohibit amending a warrant article to say, “To see”, and that would be the warrant article. By not defining subject matter or substance, it was apparent the Exeter voters acted properly in how they amended the warrant articles.

Sam Bruno did an exceptional job of explaining the Comcast contract and the rates of 3% on just your television bill, so if your cable TV costs you $100 (just on your TV-not phone or internet) the cost would be $3 extra. Sam went on to explain the benefits and expanded coverage that the town seems to want. When Sam was done explaining the program there was no question that the opposition was putting out misleading and in some cases false information. I would just like to say thanks to Sam and quality shows, Sam your quality.

It was interesting to see each time Frank Fararo got up and spoke more votes seemed to go towards Matt and John Childs in the upcoming selectman’s race. I was taken back at the number of people that came to me asking what they could do to help Matt in the election, they were most encouraging. I really got the feeling that the fringe group has burned up its credibility and people were tiring of their constant negative tirades and a conspiracy behind every decision attacks on the town, the citizens will only tolerate this haranguing for so long and reject those who are doing it.

Saturday, February 5, 2011

Elliot Hospital Has a Clinic in Raymond!!!

To those who are worried about losing their health care provider in the Anthem/Exeter Hospital Fiasco the Elliot Hospital has a well stocked clinic in Raymond to deal with any ones health care needs.

Although I still believe the two warring entities will still reach a contract agreement there is an alternative just up the road; the following information is for anyone who is interested in a stabilized health care program:

Elliot Pediatrics and Primary Care at Raymond
Located in the Raymond Shopping Ctr., 15 Freetown Road, Raymond, NH
Phone number 895-8000

Elliot’s Raymond office is currently accepting new patients of all ages.

Elliot’s providers include the following three physicians who are all board certified in both internal medicine and pediatrics and one nurse practitioner:
Jason Emmick, MD
Nancy Husarik, MD
John Klunk, MD
Karen Fradette, APRN

If patients are interested in learning more about Elliot’s providers and their practice they can either ask for the Practice Manager, Julie Brayall or Practice Coordinator, Melissa Long at the above practice number.
If patients would like assistance selecting a physician, they can contact the physician referral line at Elliot OnCall at 663-4567.