Report: 591 NH Residents, 58 Lobbyists Give Most Campaign Cash

A new report released today finds that New Hampshire is failing to meet basic standards of participation and representation that constitute a thriving democracy.

The Open Democracy Index, a first-of-its-kind assessment of six core dimensions of democratic health, finds large majorities of Granite Staters stay home in most elections; low levels of civic knowledge or engagement and electoral competition; extreme concentration of campaign funding and lobbying by a wealthy elite; and systematic under-representation of women and minorities in elective office, according to a press statement.

The resulting grades for democratic health in New Hampshire are mainly Ds and Fs.

The report is being released at a news conference on Thursday, featuring Open Democracy advisors Brad Cook, John Rauh, former State Sen. Jim Rubens.

“Although New Hampshire enjoys a long and proud tradition of civic participation, the evidence today is undeniable that Granite Staters are seriously disengaged from a political system that does not appear to represent their needs,” said Daniel Weeks, executive director of Open Democracy and a co-author of the report. “When a fraction of one percent of the population and out of state interests control the money in politics, is it any surprise the citizens are giving up on democracy?”

The Open Democracy Index analyzes previously-inaccessible and disregarded data on voting, civic engagement, election funding, lobbying, electoral competition, and diversity of representation. It is accompanied by a comprehensive new searchable database of state lobbying disclosures and independent campaign expenditures. Major findings include:

• Less than 20 percent of New Hampshirites correctly named their elected representatives and engaged in multiple forms of political activity including voting, volunteering, and contacting officials in 2014
  
• $106 million was spent on the 2014 election in NH, including $61 million from outside groups;0.06% of NH residents (591 individuals) provided a majority of all state campaign contributions.
  
• The top 58 lobbying clients accounted for a majority of the total $10.2 million spent on lobbying in 2014; the top ten clients spent $1.8 million and were all headquartered outside NH.
  
• Incumbents enjoyed a nearly 2:1 fundraising and spending advantage across all state races and a nearly 3:1 advantage for state senate in 2014, winning reelection 84% of the time
  
• 100 percent of executive councilors, 67 percent of state senators, 72 percent of state representatives, and 75 percent of city councilors in NH’s five largest cities are men; all except 1 percent of state representatives are white

The Index was developed over nine months by a team of researchers at Concord-based Open Democracy, a non-partisan nonprofit that works to increase civic engagement and accountable governance in the Granite State. Data were compiled and analyzed from official disclosures with NH Secretary of State as well as the Census Bureau, Center for Responsive Politics, National Institute on Money in State Politics, New Hampshire city clerks, and the Rutgers’ Center on American Women and Politics.

The full Open Democracy Index and accompanying data are available at opendemocracy.me/odi.