Derry Budget Battle: It continues…
A special meeting of the Derry Town Council has been called to consider the petitions circulated by opponents of the cuts made to spending and taxes for Monday night. The meeting will take place at six o’clock in the Town Council Chambers in the Municipal Center. Under Derry’s charter, if residents obtain sufficient signatures, which appears to be the case in this situation, the town council has the option of either adopting the petition questions or sending them to the ballot for a special town election. In an interview earlier this week on Girard at Large, State Rep. and former Town Councilor Brian Chirichiello endorsed the eight petitions saying that, if passed, said the town would still see a decrease in taxes. Supporting the petition drive were several former town councilors in addition to the three councilors who dissented on the budget cuts and, if not especially, the town’s employee unions, most notably and vocally, the Derry Professional Firefighters, who were accused of disseminating false information about the impact the budget cuts would have on response times.
Metzler: Is the Emperor seen without robes?
The emperor just might start to be seen as having no clothes in the Timberlane Regional School District. At last night’s meeting of the School Board, Superintendent Earl Metzler gave the board a “School Status Change Request Form” the district sent into the state Department of Education with a set of minutes regarding the school board’s vote to approve his plan to transform Sandown Central School instead of closing it. The correspondence was dated June 8th and the DOE replied with an undated form letter acknowledging receipt of the change form. That’s apparently what Metzler is using as the basis of his recent claim that the DOE has approved the consolidation plan, in light of criticism of keeping the school open from the Danville Board of Selectmen. During the meeting Metzler doubled down on his position that the district can do whatever it wants with Sandown Central because they own the building. I’m thinking this isn’t going to end well for Metzler, but time will tell.
News from our own backyard continues after this.
Hassan: Veto thread confirmed
The war of words between Her Highness The Governmess Margaret Wood Hassan and Republican legislative leaders became a pitched battle yesterday as Hassan reiterated her threat to veto the budget that’s nearing its final votes in the General Court. In a press conference yesterday, flanked by as many Democratic legislators they could jam into the room, Hassan again condemned the budget as irresponsible, criticizing proposed tax cuts as unpaid for and benefiting big out of state businesses at the expense of everything from plowed roads, unfunded pay raises and, and this one is the key, failure to reauthorize the expansion of Medicaid.
Morse: Returns fire
Senate President Chuck Morse, Republican from Salem, fired back yesterday hammering the budget proposed by Her Highness as one that “increased state spending and paid for that excessive spending through an absurd scheme of increased taxes, higher fees, revenues that do not exist and gouging small businesses.” He defended the budget worked out by leaders from the Senate and the House as quote “a realistic budget that takes care of our citizens in need, helps our state’s businesses continue to grow and create jobs, while also making sure that state government lives within its means.”
Morse accused Hassan of putting her political ambitions before the needs of the state’s citizens, saying quote “We have worked with the Governor and House every step of the way through this process and found compromises when it came to issues like supporting Charter Schools, the Department of Health and Human Services, and on funding for equipment in DOT…Our citizens, said Morse, “expect better than threats of vetoes and shutdown of state services.”
Bradley: The deal was the deal
Senate Majority Leader Jeb Bradley, Republican from Wolfeboro, took aim Hassan over the reauthorization of Medicaid Expansion. Saying quote: “We have made it very clear to the Governor that we fully intend to take up Medicaid Expansion reauthorization in January when we have more data available about how the program is working. The Governor and the Democrats agreed to this review when the bill was signed into law. To now fabricate this faux emergency and mislead people that are depending on the program into thinking they are going to lose their healthcare is not only irresponsible but dangerous. This is not leadership,” Bradley said. Um, memo to Jeb and the rest of the Republicans who supported the expansion of Medicaid, how could you be surprised by this most predictable turn of events? C’mon, the rest of us saw this coming.
Anyway, Republican State Committee Chairman Jennifer Horn called on the governor to abandon her bid for the United States Senate, saying the people quote “deserve a governor who is dedicated to her job instead of her political career.”
That’s news from our own backyard, Girard at Large hour ___ is next.
