Is Ward 10 State Representative Jane Beaulieu using her position on the House Natural Resources Committee to intimidate a state agency into action against a Manchester condominium association? According to a letter obtained by Girard at Large, the Madison Heights Condominium Association in Ward 6 is alleging just that. The letter details not only Beaulieu’s attempts to penalize the association for removing hazardous trees from conservation land, something for which they obtained approval from the city’s Conservation Commission, which Beaulieu chaired at the time, but also Beaulieu’s attempts to punish them with action by state regulators after it was discovered that she’d been acting as the Conservation Commission’s chairman for nearly a year after her term expired. Seems that once she discovered she was no longer a commissioner, she switched into state rep. mode in an attempt to penalize Madison Heights for removing trees after commission approval. But wait, it gets more bizarre. Beaulieu’s complaint did generate an investigation conducted by Forest Ranger Neil Bilodeau. Apparently, his investigation failed to produce the results Beaulieu wanted and he was forced to investigate again with his supervisor two weeks later. Neither the forest ranger nor his department were able to produce a written complaint as Beaulieu filed it verbally, apparently making note that she sat on the committee that oversaw the department’s budget while doing so. Getting no response to their inquiries following the second inspection, the association contacted Ward 6 State Representative Will Infantine to seek assistance and filed a Right To Know Request requesting copies of any and all correspondence pertaining to the issue between Beaulieu, the Forest Protection Bureau and the Department of Resources and Economic Development. Association officials, who are confident they acted properly in removing the trees, declined to comment pending the outcome of the investigation. Infantine said he was concerned about the apparent abuse of power by Beaulieu and said it may result in an ethics investigation. He confirmed that House Speaker Terri Norelli is aware of the situation. We’ve posted the jaw dropping letter with this news cast at Girard at Large dot com and will keep you up to date.
News from our own backyard continues after this.
As you know, Girard at Large has been examining the campaign finance report filings of the city’s election candidates. Among the most interesting are those of Ward 10 candidate for alderman Bill Barry. Barry’s raked in a whole lot of cash from city employee unions whose contracts will be negotiated in the coming term and he got a surprising thousand dollar donation from the anti-gun Gabby PAC, the political action committee started by former Arizona Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords. We’ll talk more about this contribution later. More interesting than these union and out of state special interest contributions are Barry’s reporting of them. In his post primary filing, Barry reported three thousand one hundred fifty dollars in contributions; all of which was received BEFORE the primary, but did not report, as required, before the primary. Of that amount, nineteen hundred and fifty dollars was received on September sixth, the day he happened to file his pre-primary finance report. Sixteen hundred fifty of that day’s take came from unions and Gifford’s PAC. Barry refused to answer questions regarding his finance report, choosing to hang up on me instead. Don’t you worry, though, we’ll tell you all about it during this morning’s show. Frankly, his level of irritation at being questioned on the matter made me wonder whether or not he’d be able to have a gun if Gabby PAC had its way. BillBarry10daysbeforeprimary2013 FriendsofBillBarry10daysfollowingprimary2013
Second District Republican Congressional Candidate Gary Lambert, a former state senator, continues to hammer away at Democratic incumbent Annie Kuster for accepting her congressional pay while the government is shut down and workers are furloughed. Lambert released a statement saying Kuster should join the two hundred forty seven congressmen who’ve said no to or donated to charity their four hundred seventy six dollar a day salaries until the government is fully back open for business. Said Lambert: “It is no wonder why so many middle-class Granite Staters are so frustrated with Washington. Congresswoman Kuster has still yet to offer any sort of compromise to end this shutdown but has no problem continuing to take a pay check.” Memo to Lambert: Sacrifice is only for the little people, and that ain’t Annie Kuster! Didn’t you know that?
That’s news from our own backyard, Girard at Large hour ___ is straight ahead!
