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Editorials published by the
Goffstown Residents
Association are written by various members and
contributing non-members of the GRA. |
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October 30, 2008
MEMBER EDITORIAL
Remember Shaheen's record
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The U.S. Census Bureau estimates that New Hampshire has 85,000 more adults than it did in 2002, when Jeanne Shaheen ended her last term as governor. That would be 85,000 potential voters who need a crash course in Shaheen 101:
-- Shaheen was elected twice on a pledge to veto a sales or income tax. Facing a budget hole, she dumped The Pledge in 2000, but refused to say how she would address the growing deficit. Democratic state Sen. Mark Fernald said at the time, "After four years in office, the governor's answer is, 'I don't know. Ask me next year.' I find it a shocking lack of leadership." Only after re-election did she propose a sales tax and say she'd support an income tax.
-- Shaheen in 2001 signed a budget that increased state spending by 5 percent. She refused to sign the tax increases that funded the spending, letting them become law without her signature. Even with the tax hikes, she had to order across-the-board spending cuts because she'd raised spending too high, and the state couldn't afford it.
-- In the five years leading up to 2002, New Hampshire received 247 consumer complaints against predatory lender Providian Bank. But Shaheen had received more than $25,000 in campaign donations from Providian's PAC and executives. The bank funded a nonprofit foundation and hired Shaheen's daughter, who had zero experience, to run it. That year, Shaheen signed legislation written by Providian lobbyists to relax consumer protections on the type of lending Providian did.
-- Under Jeanne Shaheen, state general fund spending grew at an average annual rate of nearly 11 percent, and taxes increased dramatically. Her popularity dropped by double digits in her last term.
A large portion of the electorate doesn't remember how poorly Jeanne Shaheen governed this state and how empty her campaign promises were.
If they knew the full Shaheen record, U.S. Sen. John Sununu would win easily next week, as he fully deserves to.
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