NH Watchdog has moved. Please visit NewHampshireWatchdog.org.
Watch the latest business video at FOXBusiness.com
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edited by: Bob DeMaura,
New Hampshire Editor
NH Watchdog has moved. Please visit NewHampshireWatchdog.org.
Watch the latest business video at FOXBusiness.com
[...]
The Josiah Bartlett Center for Public Policy marks the one-year anniversary of its Watchdog Project by launching a news and information website designed to deliver the Center's ground-breaking reporting, commentary, and features. NewHampshireWatchdog.org will publish stories from investigative reporter Grant Bosse, Center President Charlie Arlinghaus's weekly column for the [...]
One year ago today, the Josiah Bartlett Center for Public Policy launched the Watchdog Project, promising to bring investigative journalism back to New Hampshire government. Over the past year, we've provided the best coverage of the state budget, the JUA lawsuit, and New Hampshire's implementation of the stimulus package.
Responding to rash of errors in its tracking of the $787 billion stimulus package, the Obama Administration has mounted a defense of its $84 million web boondoggle.
Obama special adviser G. Edward DeSeve writes on the White House website that the errors are minor compared to the overall to the [...]
Bill McMorris, who I quoted in this morning's story on the 440 phantom Congressional Districts that received funding under the stimulus.
The site’s monitors, however, are not too savvy about America’s political or geographic landscape. More than $2 million was given to the 99th District of North Dakota, a [...]
According to the federal government's Recovery.gov database, which tracks how state governments are spending the $787 billion stimulus package approved last year, 92.5% of all New Hampshire jobs "created or saved" by the legislation are concentrated in the State Capital of Concord.
[...]I had missed this story on Friday. The New York Times reports that the Food and Drug Administration blames to ban alcoholic beverages with caffeine, unless the manufacturer can prove to federal bureaucrats that they are safe.
In a statement, the Food and Drug Administration said it had told [...]
The late Julian Simon once bet doomsayer Paul Erlich that the price of a set of five precious commodities would drop from 1980 to 1990. Erlich thought that our limited resources would dwindle in the face of surging populations. Simon thought that human ingenuity would find ways to improve [...]
The Wall Street Journal reports that next year's state budget problems will likely be larger than this year's.
Short-term budget gaps have battered states as revenues plummeted during the recession. Aided by about $250 billion in funds from the stimulus package expected through the end of next year, states managed' [...]
That was a close one. Forces in Maine tried to remove our neighbors from the New Hampshire Economic Recovery Coalition by lowering Maine's income tax.
A law that would have lowered the state's income tax but imposed sales taxes on a variety of services is on hold now that [...]
Tom DeRosa asked me to stop by for the NH GOP's weekly podcast. We discussed the cost of downshifting, from the Congress to state budgets, and from the state to local taxpayers.
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Last month, we noted the efforts of Todd Shepard at the Independence Institute to get members of the Governor's Cabinet in Colorado to file their ethics disclosures, at required by Executive Order.
Then, we found out that Governor Bill Ritter had re-issued the order to require his Cabinet officers [...]
The Concord Monitor asks how much of what goes on at Town Hall should the public have the right to know?
The short answer: nearly everything.
Trouble is, reasonable - and sometimes unreasonable - people can disagree over the specifics. In New Hampshire and across the country, there will always [...]
Centralized planning claims another victim: Cuba's energy grid.
Cuba has ordered all state enterprises to adopt "extreme measures" to cut energy usage through the end of the year in hopes of avoiding the dreaded blackouts that plagued the country following the 1991 collapse of its then-top ally, the Soviet [...]
Well, if you live in the Manchester area anyway. Charlie Arlinghaus will be talking about the Verizon Wireless Arena bonds and municipal retirement stories this evening on "Two Live Joes" on MCAM, Channel 23 from 8:00 to 8:30.
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Yesterday, we highlighted the fine work being done by the Show-Me Institute to open Missouri government to the public. Today, we look at the Mackinac Center's ongoing battle to shine a light on the hidden workings of Michigan's government. After been given a bill of almost $7 million [...]
BIA President Jim Roche writes in the Concord Monitor on the need to examine the costs of the health care bills making their way through Congress.
It's remarkable, therefore, that health care reform under consideration by our congressional delegation in our nation's capitol seems very likely to add to [...]
(MANCHESTER) Mayor-elect Ted Gatsas says Manchester taxpayers and budget writers won't be on the hook if the bonds on the Verizon Wireless Arena default. The current State Senator and Alderman, and incoming Mayor reacted to the Josiah Bartlett Center 's report that changes in the state budget could prevent' [...]
WMUR's Josh McElveen reports on opposition to the Pelosi Health Care Bill because of its reliance on state budgets to pay for many of its mandates.
The question of what it could cost states has piqued Gov. John Lynch's interest. He spoke with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi about his [...]
The LA Times' Gregory Hess pens a useful review of Steven D. Leavitt and Stephen J. Dubner's Super Freakonomics, the follow-up to 2005's best-seller Freakonomics.
The world, however, has changed since "Freakonomics," and now everyone questions the worthiness of economists during our current financial crisis.
Further down in Kevin Landrigan's Sunday column is a note on a the Executive Council backing a loan for the new owners of the Claremont Eagle Times.
Sign of the Times
The council approved a state guarantee loan of up to $250,000 for the new publishers of the resurrected Claremont [...]
Remember how the stimulus was supposed to keep unemployment under 8%?
Thanks to Innocent Bystanders, which updates this chart every month.
Union Leader reporter Jim Fennell reports that the U.S Department of Labor has canceled the bid process for a Job Corps Center in Manchester, following a disputer over whether union work rules would have allowed any New Hampshire firms to build it.
Anagnost said he spent most ofAC yesterday [...]
Lead Investigator Grant Bosse will join WEMJ's "Meet the New Press" Saturday morning at 9:35am to discuss the Manchester Spending Cap, Cash for Clunkers, State Revenues, and whatever other subjects Doug and Skip bring up.
Listen Live at Granite Grok.
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Ed Mosca responds the Rep. Candace Bouchard's op-ed in today's Concord Monitor in our comments section. Since Bouchard led her column by claiming that "Edward Mosca gets his facts wrong", we're going to repost Mosca's complete response here.
The Representative's rant was a respnse to my op-ed, which exposed this' [...]
Dolphins at a research facility in Mississippi are trained to clean their own tanks by bringing any litter they find to their trainers in exchange for a tasty reward. Sounds cute. The scary part is that not only have dolphins learned to save their litter over time to increase [...]
In the Boston Globe, Jeff Jacoby shares three ideas to make health insurance more accessible and affordable.
Tear down the barriers to buying insurance across state lines.
[...]Diana Lacey launches another broadside against Governor John Lynch in this morning's Union Leader.
Lynch's layoff predictions were grossly overstated; the threat of "across-the-board" cuts was disingenuous at best. There were fewer than 300 full-time layoffs, and only in certain agencies.
The Union Leader reports on state revenues through October, which have come in below expectations, and added $38 million to the state's fiscal problems.
A monthly report from the Department of Administrative Services shows the state took in $204 million in taxes and other revenues last month, $12 million [...]
When politicians vastly outspend their opponents on TV ads and direct mail, they are accused of trying to buy votes. Think of Jon Corzine in New Jersey today, or Michael Bloomberg in New York City, or Craig Benson here in New Hampshire a few years ago.
But Lynn Walsh at Ohio [...]
The Union Leader makes its case for approving the Spending Cap on the back of the Manchester ballot today.
[...]Imagine is you will that a state wanted to build a massive commuter rail project connecting its largest city to the state capitol. In addition to hundreds of millions of dollars to build the rail line, the project would also lose millions of dollars annually, requiring taxpayer subsidies to operate. [...]
The Union Leader calls the "Cash for Clunkers" program a "colossal economic failure".
What that means is that instead of an average taxpayer cost of $4,000 per vehicle, as the Obama administration claims, the program's actual cost was $24,000 for each vehicle that otherwise would not have been sold.
The Obama Administration's War on Math continues apace. Annoyed that ABC's Jake Tapper would calculate the amount of stimulus dollar spent for every job that the Administration claims to have created or "saved", they call it "Calculator Abuse".
So let's see. Assuming their number is right -- 160 billion [...]
The Washington Post has obtained a copy of a report on the ongoing ethics investigation into more than 30 Members of Congress. The report was inadvertantly left on a public server before being sent to the Post.
[...]WMUR's Adam Sexton looks at both sides of the argument for and against a Spending Cap to protect Manchester taxpayers.
"This would give taxpayers a voice at the table," said Grant Bosse of the Josiah (Bartlett) Center for Public Policy. "The board of aldermen isn't willing to control spending'" [...]
WMUR's Adam Sexton looks at both sides of the argument for and against a Spending Cap to protect Manchester taxpayers.
"This would give taxpayers a voice at the table," said Grant Bosse of the Josiah (Bartlett) Center for Public Policy. "The board of aldermen isn't willing to control spending'" [...]
New Hampshire's monthly revenue reports are among the most anticipated public documents for State House insiders and those of us who cover them. The Department of Revenue Administration posts how much money the state took in from its various taxes, and how this total compared to its revenue plan. But [...]
New Hampshire's monthly revenue reports are among the most anticipated public documents for State House insiders and those of us who cover them. The Department of Revenue Administration posts how much money the state took in from its various taxes, and how this total compared to its revenue plan. But [...]
Concord recently started charging resident for each trash bag they drop off at the dump. Since the price went up, the amount of trash being dumped has gone down. Amy Augustine reports the figures in this morning's Concord Monitor.
In the first three months of Concord's pay-as-you-throw program, overall [...]
I'm a little overdue for a haircut, which means I'm not doing my part to support the backbone of the American economy, hairdressers. The St. Petersburg Times reports that $2.3 million from the stimulus package has gone to beauty schools in the Tampa area alone.
The stimulus money being [...]
The Concord Monitor wishes that critics of this week's Tax Summit are right, and that it was a step closer to an income tax in New Hampshire.
Yesterday, lawmakers attended the second day of a two-day summit held by the House Ways and Means Committee to hear testimony about [...]
The Union Leader argues now that the Ways and Means Committee has held a two day Tax Summit, it's time for legislative leaders to put the same attention into spending.
We were happy to see that so many competing points of view were presented at this week's tax hearing. [...]
Josiah Bartlett Center President Charlie Arlinghaus will join Bulldog Brian Tilton this afternoon at 1:05pm to talk about the recent Tax Summit.
Tune into "Bulldog Live" on 107.7 WTPL, or listen live at WTPLFM.com
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The House Ways and Means Committee has posted audio from this morning's panels.
10-22-2009 AM Session Audio Part 1
10-22-2009 AM Session Audio Part 2
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Charlie Arlinghaus- columnist for the Union Leader and President of the Josiah Bartlett Center for Public Policy.
Richard Ober- Vice President for Community Outreach and Communication, New Hampshire Charitable Foundation
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Peter Francese- Director of Demographic Forecast for New England Economic Partnership
Francese presented a series of statistics on long-term trends with New Hampshire's population, which will impact both tax collections and demand for services.
New Hampshire's population and household growth has slowed to about a 1/3 of the nation's growth. He says [...]
Daphne Kenyon- Economist and visiting fellow at Lincoln Institute of Land Policy. Kenyon also serves on the New Hampshire Board of Education and Windham School Board.
Dr. Kenyon points out that New Hampshire has by far the highest reliance on property taxes as a share of total state and local revenues, [...]
The secretly most powerful Committee in Concord is meeting again this morning. It's a light agenda for the Fiscal Committee, consisting of accepting federal funds already included in the budget, and some routine transfer within departments.
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President Obama must own stock in Fox News. That's the only logical explanation for his Administration's continued efforts to drive up ratings at the cable channel by singling them out for constant attacks. Not content to blame all of its troubles on a television channel, Obama aides are now [...]
Be sure to join us for the New Hampshire premiere of "Not Evil Just Wrong" at 8pm tonight at The Draft Bar and Grill, 67 South Main Street in Concord. Doors open at 7pm.
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Be sure to join us for the New Hampshire premiere of "Not Evil Just Wrong" at 8pm tonight at The Draft Bar and Grill, 67 South Main Street in Concord. Doors open at 7pm.
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The Portsmouth Herald says that the State Employees Association is responsible for the round of layoffs now hitting state workers.
While the SEA membership can have many reactions to the layoffs the one reaction they have no right to is surprise.
The governor made it absolutely clear that if the [...]
The Concord Monitor editorial page, never shy about advocating government intervention in the markets, comes out against extending the $8,000 first-time home buyer tax credit, which either goes to people who would buy homes anyway or pushed consumers into buying homes they otherwise couldn't afford.
That credit is slated' [...]
The Concord Monitor rans an AP article chronicling the staggering amount by which the federal budget deficit set a new record.
The federal budget deficit has surged to an all-time high of $1.42 trillion as the recession caused tax revenues to plunge while the government was spending massive amounts [...]
Phelim McAleer, one of the producers of "Not Evil Just Wrong" will be a guest this morning on Meet the New Press, 9am to 11am on WEMJ.
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Tom Fahey reports on the first round of layoffs following the rejection of the state labor contract.
Corrections, Environment, Health and Human Services, Treasury, Agriculture, Information Technology and just about every other area of government are seeing jobs cuts or transfers in moves to save $25 million in personnel [...]
State Senator Sharon Carson writes an op-ed in the Concord Monitor responding to Senators D'Allesandro and Reynolds justification of taking $110 million in JUA funds to balance the budget.
' [...]The Union Leader wonders what state employees were thinking when they chose layoffs over furloughs.
So why in the world did union members choose layoffs instead? The answer probably lies in this quote from SEA board member Chuck Koontz: "If you're laid off, you can always get rehired, but'" [...]
In the Telegraph, Kevin Landrigan says Governor John Lynch is moving forward with plans to lay off 250 workers and demote 60 more.
Some of the savings will occur through the elimination of vacant jobs that are paid for in the existing $11.5 billion state budget, Lynch told reporters.
The [...]
Nick Gillespia writes in Reason about the Obama Administration's continued War on Breakfast, as busybody regulators try to stop Cheerios' Reign of Terror.
The Wash Post reports on burgeoning efforts by the Obama administration to butt into even more aspects of everyday life and treat us all as if' [...]
UPDATE- The Concord Monitor's Shira Schoenberg has more solid numbers on the layoffs and demotions planned by the Governor's Office.
[...]Both NH Political Report and the Union Leader report that the State Employees Association has soundly rejected the proposed contract from the state.
By a vote of 2708 to 1875 the membership rejected a plan that would require about 19 un-paid days off over the next year. Without a [...]
Foster's weighs in on Senator Jeanne Shaheen's effort to extend unemployment benefits for workers in state with lower unemployment rates than their neighbors.
Shaheen's proposal calls for an extension of the federal unemployment surtax through June 30, 2011, otherwise scheduled to expire at the end of this year.
Continuing to [...]
Jonah Goldberg has an interesting idea. We're going to need a bigger House. A much bigger House.
Except for a brief effort to accommodate Alaska and Hawaii, the size of the House has been frozen at 435 members since 1911. A 1929 law, driven in part to keep immigrants' [...]
SHira Schoenberg reports in the Concord Monitor that state corrections officers are a step closer to breaking away from the State Employees Association.
The Public Employee Labor Relations Board ruled Thursday that the New England Police Benevolent Association can hold a new election, despite objections from the SEA. The [...]
The Union Leader points out that we have short memories when it comes to clearing tree branches from power lines.
"People like trees, but they also like electricity and heat."
So says Epping Town Administrator Dean Shankle, who faults Public Service of New Hampshire for scaling back a tree-trimming operation [...]
Barack Obama’s shocking selection as this year’s winner of the Nobel Peace Prize left some swearing, some giggling, and many simply stunned into immobility. But awarding the prize to a President who was in office less than two weeks before nominations closed isn’t the worst decision the Nobel Committee has [...]
Don Boudreaux cuts through the faulty logic of those who blame the loss of manufacturing jobs on international trade.
Harold Meyerson reveals a weak grasp of economics when he laments that "Manufacturing now employs just one in 10 American workers; the vast majority of new jobs in recent decades" [...]
In the Weekly Standard Online, Sheryl Blunt writes that the push for school vouchers in Washington DC is creating an odd alliance between conservative school choice supporters and traditionally liberal-leaning African Americans groups.
Supporters say the program has been a lifeline for D.C.'s schoolchildren, whose crime-ridden public schools rank [...]
Here is this morning's Political Roundtable, hosted by Charlie Sherman, with guests Grant Bosse, George Bruno, and James Pindell.
Part 1- UNH poll results
[...]Owning a gun is more likely to get you shot, according to researchers at the University of Pennsylvania. Jacob Sullum at Reason says maybe, just maybe, those likely to get shot are more likely to own guns.
[...]Kevin Landrigan reports in the Nashua Telegraph on the Amicus Brief filed last week by Democratic legislative leaders in the JUA Lawsuit.
Among the legal arguments was the assertion that taking the money from the Joint Underwriting Association was not simply to balance the two-year state budget but to [...]
The Union Leader runs an AP piece on efforts to repeal the recently enacted 9% tax on campgrounds.
Campgrounds were added to the state's rooms and meals tax in June. The tax, which went into effect July 1, applies to recreational-vehicle and tent-sites.
My buddy Joe passes along some interesting news:
Scientists discover new element
A new element has been discovered, the heaviest element yet known to science. The new element, Governmentium (Gv), has one neutron, 25 assistant neutrons, 88 deputy neutrons, and 198 assistant deputy neutrons, giving it an atomic mass of [...]
Here is a roundup of reviews from Bjorn Lonberg's "The Skeptical Environmentalist: Measuring the Real State of the World".
"This is one of the most valuable books on public policy - not merely on environmental policy - to have been written for the intelligent general reader in the past" [...]
Tom Fahey picks up on our recent study on vanity plates in his Under the State House Dome column in the Union Leader.
VANITY PAYS: Vanity license plates are still popular, despite higher fees, according to a review by the Josiah Bartlett Center. Cost of the plate went from [...]
There's lots of talk today about how President Obama staked his prosaic on convincing the IOC to bring the 2016 Olympics to Chicago. Pundits are pointing out the obvious parallels between Obama's flop in Copenhagen and the prospects of winning over other nations with good intentions and lofty rhetoric. It's' [...]
The Union Leader editorializes on the state's decision not to apply for $300 million in stimulus funds for a commuter rail project.
The rails the state wanted to use belong to Fink. When the state didn't let him bid on a separate rail contract this year, instead awarding it' [...]
House Speaker Terie Norelli and Senate President Sylvia Larsen today filed an amicus brief with the New Hampshire Supreme Court siding with the state's appeal that it should be allowed to confiscate surplus premiums paid into the Joint Underwriting Association.
Their argument can be justly boiled down to this: "We're the'" [...]
The State Employees Association is so upset that the Governor wants to share his side of ongoing contract dispute that they are filing an unfair labor practices complaint, according to the AP's Holly Ramer, published online by the Union Leader.
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Has the 60% increase in fee for vanity license plates spurred drivers to give them up? Find out tomorrow at NH Watchdog.
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The Valley News editorial page weighs in on the issue of layoffs versus furloughs, and says the state had a tough choice.
[...]The New Hampshire Department of Transportation has announced it will not apply for federal funds for a high speed rail project, placing the blame on Pan Am Rail Systems.
The New Hampshire Department of Transportation (NHDOT) has decided not to apply for $300 million in federal funding under the [...]
The Legislative Fiscal Committee this morning accepted another $20 million in federal funding through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, or ARRA. This funding comes on top of the $542 million New Hampshire had already received through the federal stimulus package approved by Congress earlier this year.
The $20 million will [...]
