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Welcome from the Lakes Region of New Hampshire, known as New England’s playground because of the beautiful surroundings of lakes, mountains and trees. It is said “this is what people move here for” but I have to tell you it’s more than that.

I am originally from the Phoenix, Mesa area of Arizona and I remember the conservative values of the state while growing up. Arizonans were a strong-willed people that weren’t afraid to jump into the middle of a problem and fix it. They are a very independent type that didn’t have a tremendous amount of friends, usually they were acquaintances. I always thought that the tough environment of Arizona’s desserts, mountains and plateaus built character but I was wrong. If you want to see a character building environment come to New Hampshire, especially in the winter months.

The people of New Hampshire are equally strong-willed and independent but they also have a strong sense of community. I have been to many different states throughout my life but I have yet to see politics in the most pure form than in New Hampshire. If you have attended any Town Meetings you will know what I am talking about. All of the members of the community come together in March to discuss the town budget, capital improvements, school budget, town and school staffing issues, etc… and nothing is done until a majority of the town residents in attendance vote for it. This is one of the main reasons people like me move here, you can actually have a voice in your government.Since the Civil War New Hampshire has seen a Republican majority in both houses of the Legislative Branch, Executive Council and Governors office more often than not. In fact the elections of 2006 gave the Democrats control over all the 4 main sections of the government, 2 Executive Branches and 2 Legislative Branches for the first time since 1874.
We have a history of conservative values, especially fiscal conservative. Ours is a place of no frills, you only buy what you need and can afford and nothing else. If there is something else you need then you better work harder so you can afford it. This fiscally conservative streak extended beyond party lines and is one of the reasons that we take pride in the fact that we have no sales or income taxes, because we control spending to keep taxes low.

In the 2007/2008 session of the State Legislature that was all changed. Democratic Governor Lynch, who has tremendous approval ratings because he never takes a stand on anything, presented his proposed budget to the House and Senate showing a 14.5% increase in spending. He made it clear that that was the most the state could afford without new tax revenues (sales or income). The Democratic controlled House and Senate decided on increasing the spending to 17.5% and the Governor never said a word. What is worse is that nobody from the NHGOP spoke out either. This should have been making headlines but all was quiet, until the economy started to tank.

Of course there was a lot of spin put on the shortfalls of the budget. “We didn’t know the economy was going to fail” or “This is the impact on NH from Washington’s mismanagement of the National Economy” and let’s not forget “This is because of George Bush’s War”, which at that time got a lot of press coverage. No matter how much we spoke out about the fact that this economic downturn was predicted by Charlie Arlinghaus from the Josiah Bartlett Center for Public Policy months before the budget was passed we couldn’t get any traction in the media.

These budget issues were at the top of everyone’s list of issues during the 2008 campaign. There were also some social issues in there too. Our legislature passed laws that said you can’t drop out of high school until you are 18, because you aren’t old enough to make that decision. We became the first in the nation to repeal a parental notification law because; as my opponent in the campaign said “13 year old women are old enough to make this decision on their own”. We saw government chipping away at individual and property rights, new and increased fees (see taxes) and controlling more aspects of our daily lives.

This past election had some promising results. With 6 open seats in the senate we didn’t lose one. The NH Senate has the “status quo” that was in the previous session. We did gain 17 seats in the house, even though we didn’t take back the majority.

We now have former Governor John H. Sununu, Senator Sununu’s father, as the only candidate for the NHGOP Chair. He has already started attacking the Democrats on the fact that NH achieved another first. We are the first state in the nation to have a deficit greater than 15% when measured against the general fund. He is letting the people know that

NH has the lowest credit rating ever and explaining how the social agenda being followed is destroying NH.
In 2010 things will be much different. I see the party being unified, the message becoming clear and concise and the message actually getting to the people. Gov. Sununu is still very much loved in this state and that forces the media to report what he is saying.

We can’t leave the job to Gov. Sununu alone. It is up to all of us to work together behind the scenes getting everyone involved. Yes, 2010 will be much different because I believe we can win back the majority at all levels of government and put an end to this fiscal and social madness we are seeing.