Hassan: Facing Right to Know lawsuit
On February 29th, Governor Margaret Wood Hassan traveled to Chicago, IL to raise money for her senate campaign. She ended up raking in forty six thousand five hundred dollars according to campaign finance reports scrutinized by Citizens for a Strong N H. The governor’s February 29th trip fell within a six-week fundraising swing that included trips to Massachusetts, New York, and Washington, DC, which, in today’s day and age, is to be expected. She spent forty four days out of state raising money for her senate campaign.
What was not expected, however, was that taxpayers paid the bill for the governor’s security detail. According to The Concord Monitor, which investigated the cost of the Hassan’s trips during that time period, her security detail cost New Hampshire taxpayers forty two thousand dollars in salaries and overtime for their out-of-state travel. Hassan’s campaign did pay for her security detail’s flights and other travel costs.
Exposes taxpayer funded security detail
Derek Dufresne of Citizens for a Strong New Hampshire stated:
When it comes to fundraising, Governor Maggie Hassan does it the Chicago Way – sticking the taxpayers with the bill. We pick up the tab. She pockets $46,500.00. Governor Hassan owes Granite Staters a refund. If she wants to shirk her duties as Governor of New Hampshire and spend time raising money to advance her own political career, the least she could do would be to pay her own freight.
Horn: Files Right to Know lawsuit
Speaking of Her Excellence the Govern-mess, she’s being sued by the Republican State Committee. At issue are Right-To-Know requests the N H G O P has made seeking information on several scandals plaguing Hassan, including the apparent collusion and bid-rigging involving the recent thirty seven million dollar Dartmouth-Hitchcock contract to manage New Hampshire Hospital, the state’s mental health facility. According to party chair Jennifer Horn, Hassan’s administration has repeatedly stonewalled the release of these public records, often missing its own self-imposed deadlines, and in some cases delaying their release until after the election. In addition, documents that have been released have been excessively redacted without any explanation, as is required by law. Quote:
For months we have acted in good faith and filed Right-To-Know requests to access public documents that the taxpayers of NH have a right to see. In response Gov. Hassan has tried to stonewall, delay, and hide these records in an attempt to cover-up the scandals engulfing her administration. Granite Staters have a right to know if the bidding process was rigged to benefit the governor’s campaign donors…And they have a right to see these records before the election.
News from our own backyard continues after this.
Waldo: Looking Colin Van Ostern
Where’s Waldo? That’s what G O P gubernatorial candidate Chris Sununu wants to know. Actually, he wants to know where his Democratic opponent Colin Van Ostern has been. According to a press statement issued yesterday, Van Ostern’s gone AWOL at several scheduled appearances, including a debate at Rivier University on October fourth, a scheduled radio debate on October seventh, a debate on Salem Community T V on October twentieth, a forum with the New Hampshire Municipal Association on October seventh, an interview with New England Cable News “This Week in Business” anchor Mike Nikitas on October Twenty First and a Union Leader Voters First Interview on October nineteenth.
Sununu: Faces all questions
Said Sununu, quote:
Colin Van Ostern’s shadow campaign tactics might work in Washington, but not here in New Hampshire. Granite Staters are tired of no-show politicians who tweet more than they talk. I’ve made myself accessible to voters and constituents around the clock and I am always willing to answer the toughest of questions – no matter who’s asking. That’s how I’ve managed my business, it’s how I’ve served my constituents and it’s exactly how I’d govern New Hampshire.
Board meets
The Manchester Board of School Committee met last night and wrestled with some issues that made clear there are financial pressures looming. The board voted to discontinue the use of an interim assistant principal at Central High School, with several members noting the board’s referral of the matter to the Sub Committee on Finance earlier in the month did not authorize the hiring of a temporary person at more than five hundred dollars a day. The board also shot down a lingering request made by West High School to hire a strength and conditioning coordinator. The school wanted to use more than ten thousand dollars in stipends made available when three sports were canceled due to lack of student interest.
In addition, the board learned that the total amount of money spent on the schools, according to the filings that were approved to be sent to the state last night, was just shy of one hundred ninety million dollars.
Gatsas: Audit paying off
In an update on the dependent eligibility audit, which is scrutinizing participants on the district’s health and dental insurance plans, the board learned that one hundred thirty three ineligible participants had been removed from the program, savings yet to be determined. There are still thirty six people whose eligibility is in question. The board gave a deadline of November seventh for all those who’d failed to provide documentation to provide it or else they’ll be removed from the plan.
Vargas: Giving info in advance
Administrators told the board they were looking into the question of transgendered health benefits, which, if provided, would require the district to pay for hormone therapy and sex change operations. In response to a question by Mayor Ted Gatsas, Superintendent Bolgen Vargas said he wanted the board to have the information well in advance of a possible implementation date so it would have the necessary financial information for planning purposes. Hey, where did this guy come from?
Weekly yard waste pick up until Dec. 2nd
Weekly curbside collection of yard waste resumed yesterday in Manchester and will run through Friday, December 2nd. We would have told you about it in advance, but the city didn’t notify residents on their email list until after we went off the air yesterday and probably after a lot of folks went to work not knowing that weekly pick up had returned.
That’s news from our own backyard! Girard at Large hour ___ is next!
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