My Turn
On Thursday the Concord School District Charter Commission will hold another public hearing at 7 p.m. at the Dewey School. Questions that may be discussed by the commissioners relate to fiscal autonomy of the school district, limits on bonding authority and scheduling of budget hearings. One issue that has been with us from the beginning is the question of whether the school board…
March 8, 2011
My Turn
Ed Mosca wrote a piece critical of our lawsuit to end unconstitutional delays in the courts ("Who should set judicial budget? Not judges," Sunday Monitor Viewpoints, Oct. 3). Who should decide when cases are not being handled promptly? Part II, Article 5, of the Constitution of New Hampshire says that the Legislature passes laws, but they are subject to one powerful restriction,…
October 9, 2010
Board of Contributors
A man sues a doctor for failure to diagnose cancer. His trial is cancelled this month and continued to June. He will not likely be alive then. A widow seeks return of money for a siding job that never happened. Businesses and doctors seek money from people who failed to pay for a product or service. But guess what? These cases are no longer heard in the biggest courts in our state.…
September 19, 2010
Board of Contributors
In America and New Hampshire right now there is a growing feeling that when it comes to the government, it is us versus them. Our nation and state were founded on the principle that we are masters and the government is our servant. That was easy to understand in the 1780s because when George Washington was president the total federal payroll contained only 300 individuals. Now government…
June 1, 2010
Board of Contributors
Why are the courts not like every other state agency when it comes to budget cuts? The answer is quite simple. The courts were created in the state Constitution of 1784 as a co-equal branch of government. To effectuate majority rule with protection of minority rights and to guarantee our Bill of Rights requires a strong and independent judiciary. This is part of the Anglo-American…
April 27, 2010
Letter
How much borrowed money will it take for us to go to Mars? According to the World Book at NASA, Mars is about 4.6 billion years old. Once we get our budget balanced and the national debt dramatically paid down would be the ideal time to start spending billions of dollars a year on going to Mars. President Obama does not seem to recognize that baubles like a trip to Mars costs tens…
April 25, 2010
Board of Contributors
An American airplane full of people on its way to a Detroit airport was nearly blown to pieces by a Nigerian jihadist with training by al-Qaida and the blessing of Osama bin Laden. Yet despite the fact that this man, in President Obama's own lawyerly words, "allegedly tried to ignite explosives" in an attempt to kill hundreds of people on Christmas Day, he is to be tried in U.S.…
February 14, 2010
Board of contributors
Full home rule may soon be coming to Concord. A legislative study commission has recommended that control of the school charter be returned to our citizens. Currently, only the full 424-member Legislature may amend our school charter. That means that unlike in all other towns and cities, if Concord citizens want a say on a $50 million bond issue or greater control over their schools,…
November 27, 2009
Letter
Next Tuesday we have a chance to send a dynamic person to represent Concord Wards 4, 8, 9, and 10 in the Legislature. Currently, every member of the New Hampshire House from Concord is a Democrat. It is in our interest to have a bipartisan city delegation. I intend to vote for Lynne Blankenbeker and urge you to do the same. Lynne is a 45-year-old mother of a Concord High School…
October 27, 2009
Letter
Concord voters concerned about higher taxes on a fixed income have a strong friend running for city council. Jim Baer, who lives on Washington Street, attended almost every budget hearing conducted by the council. He knows the budget better than any other newcomer. His remarks the final night of the hearings helped the council vote for no increase in the city tax rate. I urge support…
September 9, 2009
Letter
The Monitor's July 20 Opinion Page cartoon of Kelly Ayotte missed three Democrats who left early: Hillary Clinton left her Senate term unfinished, John Lynch promised to stay on the University System of New Hampshire board and not run for governor, and Jeanne Shaheen promised Judd Gregg she would finish her five-year term at the Kennedy School.
I guess their landscape did not change?
CHUCK…
July 23, 2009
Letter
In a letter to the editor, Frank Guimont pointed out that Penacook will have a 2.6 percent tax increase ("Not in Penacook," Monitor, June 30).
The reason is that the Merrimack Valley School District did not produce a spending reduction of $800,000 as did the Concord School District. Maybe it is time taxpayers get organized in the Merrimack Valley School District to restrain spending?
CHUCK…
July 6, 2009
Letter
Thank you to the 17 taxpayers who attended the final budget vote in Concord that kept our taxes flat for this next year. Mayor Jim Bouley, the council, city manager and finance director all deserve credit for working through a tough budget cycle in a constructive way.
June 29, 2009
Letter
I have attended most of the major budget hearings at Concord City Hall. What I hear every night is the refrain: "I wouldn't mind a small tax increase for fire" or "I wouldn't mind a small tax increase for police" or "I wouldn't mind a small tax increase for the library."
By the time we are done with all these little tax increases that each interest group "doesn't mind," we will…
June 7, 2009
